The Day you were Born ~ 11/14

Have I ever told you how that all went down?

Well, you were born on a Saturday. Friday night, I was having some stomach pain at the lower front that was unusual, so I called and spoke with the on call physician for Dr. Nicky, who told me to use a heating pad on low temp. Didn't really have any appetite, so just had a little bit of mashed potatoes for dinner. All night long, I couldn't get comfortable so we went up to the hospital ~ this was like the 12th time we'd gone up ~ just to make sure this wasn't it again. Well, Dr. Nicky told them to keep us and start inducing labor because according to their guesses we were nearly two weeks overdue with you. I say their guesses because I calculated you would be born about the 16th, and they, being the highly educated folks that they are, would only go as far as November 2nd.

That was pretty early in the morning. Your dad was supposed to be at work at 6am, so he ran the keys to work and came back. I really don't remember much after he left. The medication they gave me to induce labor sorta left me loopy. From what I gather, Grandma was in there (my mom) and they had to ask her to leave because I was so out of it, I was getting confused. They had to break the water and you might have panicked because your heart rate got really excited. They had me in a birthing room and moved me to a delivery room, don't remember that either. I remember that room, and the last few contractions, and there you were, all red and gooey. Black curls all over your head and teeny, sweet red lips. Your dad was crying, but it must have been a stressful day for him. In fact, he could probably fill in a lot of other details that they never told me about that day. Probably the closest to be drunk or stoned that I'll ever be. You know, not able to recall the events of the day I was very much a part of . . . You were born about 6:30pm. You weighed just under 8 pounds, about 20 inches long. Perfectly baked, as far as the due dates were concerned, not overdone at all.

I remember your Other Grandma coming in, she'd been pretty stressed because she'd made airline reservations to go see your Auntie K in SoCal and was afraid she was going to miss seeing you before she left. So, she was taking lots of pictures to share. Your Auntie C came in and I remember she thought you looked like Snow White.

I was at the hospital for a couple of days, I think they sent us home on Monday or Tuesday. I really didn't care for the hospital, they kept complaining about you not latching on to nurse, but they wouldn't let you stay in my room for any length of time and certainly not in the bed with me, and they'd given you that stupid pacifier! The first night, I was wide awake from having slept all day, starved and all they could get me for dinner was a sandwich. But the room was at the end of the hall, where they had a little waiting area with windows. We watched for your Grandma's plane to take off from there and waved to her.

There was snow on the ground when we brought you home. We lived in a tiny one-bedroom house and had set up a bassinet (it was your Auntie C's when your cousins were born) in the corner of the living room, just for you, with a little dresser nearby and Winnie-the-Pooh on the wall.

Ever since that day, it has been my priority to make sure you were happy because you brought so much light to my life. Love you, baby. ~mom.