Major life changes and Marcus' birth story

Major life changes. That's one way to put it.
In the last few months we have lived in three different countries.
Leaving Italy was necessary, nevertheless hard. Hard to leave our neighbors, friends and our little town, Petacciato. It was also hard to see Benjamin struggle with pain over having to leave his little classmates and friends. He is just old enough now to feel the pain of goodbyes. It about broke our hearts when on the last day in Italy we spotted him cooped up in the corner of the couch, holding his class photo, that they made especially for him, and cry. We were all heartbroken. We had to leave but it doesn't mean it was easy. We spent 19 months in Italy and had many beautiful memories. The sea...ohh the sea...was absolutely gorgeous. Driving to church on Sunday mornings was always a joy. The sea was bright blue and twinkled in the morning sunshine. The people were always very nice and helpful to us. Especially our neighbors with whom we became good friends. I will miss the gelato, sitting out at cafes, the many cheap fashion magazines, the delis with hundreds of fresh and delicious prosciuttos and cheeses, the fresh ricotta, the all-year-around fresh and local fruits and vegetables from the market, our car, summer days at the beach, church friends, speaking in Italian.... just to mention a few. Our time there has come to an end but we will never forget the dear memories we were blessed with.
All three of us teared up as we drove through the Italian-Slovenian border. Goodbye Italy!
Then we arrived in Hungary. We stayed at my parents' house for exactly two month. To the day actually. How nice it was to be with them once again. A few weeks into our stay we had Marcus. His birth was one of the best experiences of my life. I am so glad we had decided to have the baby in Hungary instead of Italy. I had a private ob-gyn we visited a few times before the birth. He promised I would have an easy delivery. At 39 weeks we made one last  visit and he told me he thought I would have Marcus that weekend for sure. If not, we should come in on Monday morning and he would move things along a little bit. That scared me a little..."move things along"? what does that mean?? :) All weekend I was very excited, but nothing happened. Monday morning we went in, he examined me and assured me that I would have the baby that day. He told us to go out in the park, take a walk, then when the contractions start go to the hospital. Was he right! We got admitted in the hospital at noon. They did some tests, exams and got me prepared for the delivery. In Hungary they do a flushing and shaving. I was scared of these procedures, to say the least,  but it was really not that big a deal, and later on I really appreciated that them. At 3 PM I started having medium intensity contractions. At 4 PM the doctor broke my water. Then the real ones started coming. Between 4 and 4:45 I was in considerable discomfort.....okay, I was DYYYYing of labor pain. Meanwhile Scott was sitting in a comfy chair next to me reading the news. I'm sure he wanted to help but didn't dare to do anything. I clearly told him this time there wasn't to be any knee rubbing (like it was at Benjamin's birth. It drove me nuts, I swept his hand away and yelled at him DON'T!!!). Anyway, I'm sure he learnt his lesson. This was something I had to do. At 4:30 I was begging the midwife to send the anesthesiologist with my epidural. At 4:45 she finally came and after a few tries she successfully inserted the needle. They asked Scott to hold my shoulders and what did he do? He got sick. Shouldn't have looked at the big needle. So she finally got the needle in place and just when she did, at 5, my pushing pains started. She told me I only got a few drops of meds because there was no time. But it was enough for taking the edge off at the pushing. I actually don't even remember pain anymore once I started pushing. The doctor and the midwife both got ready quickly, they put on hats and gowns and I was like..what? baby coming already? After Benjamin's 20 hour labor I didn't think I was gonna be done so quickly. But yes, there I was pushing, doctor helping, and before I new it, after 3 pushing contractions, at 5:29 PM there was little Marcus Anthony. He was warm and slimy and beautiful. I stayed in the hospital for 3 days. I loved being alone in the room and loved having Marcus with me. Those first few days were really special, I completely fell in love with my baby.
We spent two months in Hungary. My mom was so helpful in everything. I didn't have to worry about cooking, cleaning or anything. She took care of everything. It was amazing!
Our time in Hungary was great. Benjamin loved playing with the dog, Folti. He would hide his little white ball and Folti would go nuts about it. He picked strawberries and cherries in my parents garden and went skateboarding with my brother. We enjoyed many Hungarian delicacies, cherry, poppyseed and cheese curd pastries, cherry sodas, flavored mineral waters, all kinds of Hungarian foods and snacks. We took many strolls and bike rides in town and had fun browsing through the German second hand shops.
It was hard saying goodbye to our family and friends but we knew it was time for us to move on.
We have been back to the US for two weeks now. In a way it was like we have never left. In other ways, we have changed so much in the last two years that we are looking at things with very different eyes now.
We are ready to settle down for a while and see what God brings in our way.