It's Double Birthday Day!

Yes, I have two children born on the same day 12 years apart! When I tell people this most assume the 12 year old was annoyed or inconvenienced when he got a little sister for his birthday. Nothing could be further from the truth. When we told the kids we were having another baby and told them the baby was expected around March 20 the first thing Brendan said was "Have the baby on my birthday Mama." I told him he needed to pray about it because his Mama doesn't control these things.

All of my children have birthdays with 3's in them 30, 23, 13, 31. So when I went into labor March 3, we thought the timing was perfect. However, after a little test run we realized it wasn't perfect timing, just a nice dry run to make sure we were ready.

When labor started very late at night March 22, we realized March 23 would carry a double blessing. My labors with both children could not have been more different. With Brendan I had a lot of pre-labor starting around 28 weeks and spent the last 3 weeks of my 37 week pregnancy 5cm. One would think this would lead to a faster labor but you would be wrong. After 12 hours in labor at the hospital at 6cm I was sent home. I returned 4 hours later and Brendan finally made his appearance after 22 hours of labor. The worst part was how managed my labor and birth were. Every decision was made for me and against my will. Thankfully Brendan was born healthy at 5 pounds, 12 ounces and I took him home less than 24 hours later.

Lilia's labor was peaceful surrounded by people who loved us, she was born at home in our bathtub. Brendan had paved the way, because of his birth I vowed to not have any more children in a hospital if at all possible. She was born into Ken's hands weighing 9 pounds 3 ounces and to my shock she was a girl!

Shortly after the birth Ken ran upstairs to Brendan's room and announced "Happy Birthday Brendan, you have a baby!" Brendan could not be more pleased, he thinks it is very cool his baby sister was born on his birthday, he is her "Birday Brudder"

Watching my baby boy and baby girl blow out their candles last night I remembered watching Brendan blow out 12 candles while holding his new baby sister, I couldn't be more proud.