labor and the five-day week

...brought to you by Obi-1 Kenobi.

It was Labor Day in 2003, a day set aside to celebrate the American worker. In the Kenobi family, it was a day we expected to meet our first child. Labor started in the morning with contractions 4 minutes apart, lasting about a minute each. These numbers meant nothing to me months earlier, but they were pretty much all I could think about on that day. Things were far more intense than I'd expected and we were certain that our little "Gummy Bear" would arrive at any moment.

And, technically, he did. Except that moment really came about 5 days later. Appropriately, labor had lasted a 5-day workweek: Monday morning through Friday evening. I'm sure American labor unions were proud. :) When he was born, Mr. Kenobi was first to see and announce to everyone that we had a son. Those moments are seared into my memory, part of a very foggy and yet remarkably detailed history of our family.

Obi-1 is now four years old. I cannot believe our little baby has grown into a boy. I look ahead, and we're closer to kindergarten than we are to those infant days. In many ways, celebrating his birthday is also celebrating the birth of a mother. I was a daughter, a sister, a friend, a wife. Now, I'm a Mama, too.

I remember looking at him shortly after his birth. Something welled up in me that I'd never felt before, and I turned to Mr. Kenobi and said, "I just love him! And I really, really like him!" I never questioned that I'd love my child. As soon as I saw him, I loved him with a new part of my heart. As indescribable as it can be, that love continues to grow as we grow older together. Perhaps what has surprised me a bit (not because I thought I wouldn't, but because I didn't think about it at all) is how much I like my boy. He is a genuinely likeable kid, a beautiful person inside and out, a kind-hearted, creative, funny, big-eyed, moppy-haired boy that is growing into a very interesting, intelligent, and loving person.

Happy Birthday, Obi-1. I love you, I like you, and I'm happy to be your mama, too.