On July 12, 2005 I laid on the couch watching after dinner T.V. – “Rock Star” to be exact. You had been abnormally still in my tummy all evening. I wasn’t worried, but pulled out all of the books to make sure I didn’t need to worry. I drank juice, I moved around, I laid still and could not get you to do your normal flips and flutters. Just to be safe, we called the doctor, who asked us to come into the hospital for some monitoring. They temporarily put us in a room on the labor & delivery floor to monitor your movements. It was past 10 o’clock on the 12th and I remember Daddy saying “wouldn’t it be nice if we could just stay here and have the baby?” Little did he actually know. Everything looked fine and they said you were just “sleepy”, so they sent us home.
We got home and spent the next couple of late night hours calming down after the excitement of what might have been. I got up to go to bed, and I knew it right as it happened….my water leaked. Daddy and I talked about how funny that timing would be – I mean, we were JUST at the hospital! The next morning, July 13th, it happened again and again, so back to the doctor we went where they confirmed “go pack your bags and come straight back to the hospital – you are having a baby today!”
Since we were 2.5 weeks away from your true due date, I wasn’t quite ready, nor was the house, for any guests. Thankfully, you have wonderful Grandparents who came over, tools and cleaning supplies in hand, and worked on our ½ way remodeled kitchen and cleaned the house top to bottom.
Back at the hospital (in the same room we were in only 15 hours earlier!), they started pitocin and we waited…and then it started to hurt, so they made me feel better with an epidural. We waited and napped and waited and napped for the next 18 or so hours. Finally, at 7:30 am on 7/14/05, you were ready, and so were we. We were so excited to meet you! As we worked and worked to meet you, the mood in the room went from happy and chatty, to quiet and concerned. My heart started racing and I started getting scared. Dr. Foster, the greatest doctor ever, told us that your heart rate was doing some concerning things and we no longer had “time”. We needed to get you out now. Nurses started to get me ready for surgery. In the process, they wanted me to take my bra off so that they could hook heart leads up to me. I was so “wired” with IVs and monitors that there was no where for my bra to go, except to the very top of the IV pole, where it remained as we wheeled through the waiting room to the surgical suite. It was my honor flag, I suppose.
Only minutes later, at 10:30am, we heard you cry, which as a parent is the strangest, most beautiful thing to hear! In the previous 9 or 10 months, you expect a baby: little toes, little fingers, wrinkly skin, tiny lips and eyes, but I had never imagined your “voice”. It was amazing. You had a ‘cough cry’ – and it was so precious. You were so quiet, mellow and the most beautiful thing I could ever have imagined. You had the umbilical cord wrapped around your neck…two times. What could have been a scary ending, was actually a beautiful beginning and a moment that has completely changed my life forever.
Your sweet, quiet, easy-going demeanor, many, many dimples, long black eyelashes and beautiful smile melt everyone’s heart around you. While you love to challenge your brother sometimes, I see how caring and loving you are with him when I am not in the room and I was amazed how you included him in the family from the moment he was born. You are talented story-teller, remember the most oddball songs, could entertain yourself quietly for hours and a lover of all things “boy” like dinosaurs, trains, trucks, dirt, bad guys, snakes and Star Wars. Though, you know exactly what a mommy needs and when, like “help” in the kitchen, a snuggle, finger “mails” to paint, a big hug or a fill of your infectious giggle or hysterical belly laugh.
You made parenting a baby so easy. Daddy and I truly didn’t understand what all of the other whining parents were talking about. From the minute you were born, you fit right in our lives and we didn’t want to spend even a second away from you. It has been so fun to watch you grow and learn over the past 4 years. If I could bottle you up and keep you this age forever, I probably would. But since I can’t, I will gladly walk this adventure with you, show you right from wrong, remind you to brush your teeth, go to the bathroom and to be nice to your brother and will love every single minute of it.
Happy Birthday sweet Henry…..I love you.
We got home and spent the next couple of late night hours calming down after the excitement of what might have been. I got up to go to bed, and I knew it right as it happened….my water leaked. Daddy and I talked about how funny that timing would be – I mean, we were JUST at the hospital! The next morning, July 13th, it happened again and again, so back to the doctor we went where they confirmed “go pack your bags and come straight back to the hospital – you are having a baby today!”
Since we were 2.5 weeks away from your true due date, I wasn’t quite ready, nor was the house, for any guests. Thankfully, you have wonderful Grandparents who came over, tools and cleaning supplies in hand, and worked on our ½ way remodeled kitchen and cleaned the house top to bottom.
Back at the hospital (in the same room we were in only 15 hours earlier!), they started pitocin and we waited…and then it started to hurt, so they made me feel better with an epidural. We waited and napped and waited and napped for the next 18 or so hours. Finally, at 7:30 am on 7/14/05, you were ready, and so were we. We were so excited to meet you! As we worked and worked to meet you, the mood in the room went from happy and chatty, to quiet and concerned. My heart started racing and I started getting scared. Dr. Foster, the greatest doctor ever, told us that your heart rate was doing some concerning things and we no longer had “time”. We needed to get you out now. Nurses started to get me ready for surgery. In the process, they wanted me to take my bra off so that they could hook heart leads up to me. I was so “wired” with IVs and monitors that there was no where for my bra to go, except to the very top of the IV pole, where it remained as we wheeled through the waiting room to the surgical suite. It was my honor flag, I suppose.
Only minutes later, at 10:30am, we heard you cry, which as a parent is the strangest, most beautiful thing to hear! In the previous 9 or 10 months, you expect a baby: little toes, little fingers, wrinkly skin, tiny lips and eyes, but I had never imagined your “voice”. It was amazing. You had a ‘cough cry’ – and it was so precious. You were so quiet, mellow and the most beautiful thing I could ever have imagined. You had the umbilical cord wrapped around your neck…two times. What could have been a scary ending, was actually a beautiful beginning and a moment that has completely changed my life forever.
Your sweet, quiet, easy-going demeanor, many, many dimples, long black eyelashes and beautiful smile melt everyone’s heart around you. While you love to challenge your brother sometimes, I see how caring and loving you are with him when I am not in the room and I was amazed how you included him in the family from the moment he was born. You are talented story-teller, remember the most oddball songs, could entertain yourself quietly for hours and a lover of all things “boy” like dinosaurs, trains, trucks, dirt, bad guys, snakes and Star Wars. Though, you know exactly what a mommy needs and when, like “help” in the kitchen, a snuggle, finger “mails” to paint, a big hug or a fill of your infectious giggle or hysterical belly laugh.
You made parenting a baby so easy. Daddy and I truly didn’t understand what all of the other whining parents were talking about. From the minute you were born, you fit right in our lives and we didn’t want to spend even a second away from you. It has been so fun to watch you grow and learn over the past 4 years. If I could bottle you up and keep you this age forever, I probably would. But since I can’t, I will gladly walk this adventure with you, show you right from wrong, remind you to brush your teeth, go to the bathroom and to be nice to your brother and will love every single minute of it.
Happy Birthday sweet Henry…..I love you.
Your Birthday:
Your first bath:
1st Birthday:
3rd Birthday (Your 2nd birthday pictures were eaten either by the computer, or the camera!)
4 years old!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment