On September 10th, 2001 we went to the doctor for an appointment. I can remember the weather that day was absolutely perfect. The temperature was not even a little hot or cold. The sky was a bright blue and there were puffy clouds in the sky. I was in a great mood. After getting weighed and having my blood pressure checked the nurses suspected I had pre-eclampsia. They made me lay down because my blood pressure was so high. The doctor came in, took one look at my chart and said, "It looks like we're going to have to get this babe out."
Your dad and I were pretty nervous. We were told to immediately go over to the hospital for tests because they may need to admit me right then. Well everything had come back fine so they let me leave, told me to eat a big meal because I might not get to eat again for a while and then come back after 5pm. (They weren't kidding. That was Monday and I didn't get to eat again until Friday!) On the way home I literally had to tell your dad a couple times that this was it, it was go time. It just wasn't sinking in. We went home, I washed some clothes, packed a bag, called family and we headed to a buffet, lol. Neither one of us could really eat. I remember sitting there almost crying because I was scared and excited. There's nothing like knowing your life is about to change forever. As we were both sitting there not talking we realized the song we danced to at our wedding had just come on. It makes me almost tear up thinking about it.
Well we got to the hospital, I got hooked up on every machine they have and a cot was brought in for your daddy. You developed quite a reputation at the hospital, even before you were born. You did NOT want to stay on the monitor so they could track your heartbeat. At one point a very kind and patient nurse was in my room sometime after 2am just rubbing the monitor all over my belly trying to find your heartbeat and keep it. She would find it, hook everything up and you would move. She must have done that over and over for almost an hour. Your dad slept peacefully the whole night. Even snored. I on the other hand watched every stupid thing on TV. The 1st shift nurse came in the next morning and said, "Oh. I've heard about THIS baby." She wasn't having your games. She went up there and stuck a little thing just under the skin on the top of your head and they monitored you that way, lol.
Around 6:30am the doctor came in, started me on pitocin and broke my water. A couple hours later I was on the phone with your Aunt Lisa, who was at work, getting ready to open the bank. Daddy and I were watching The Today Show. I was only half paying attention to the TV because I was on the phone but it was then that the first tower was it. When I was still on the phone the 2nd tower was hit. We hung up and it was all your daddy and I could watch on TV. I'm pretty sure the entire nation felt the same. At that point I didn't want you to be born on that day. As my contractions got stronger I secretly wanted you to just wait. Don't be born today. It's a terrible day to bring a baby into the world. Please wait. Sometime around 7pm we couldn't watch any more. We turned the TV off and put on a CD of instrumental music I had brought. It was a huge contrast going from something so violent to something so peaceful.
I wont get into the long dreary details of everything that followed but needless to say, you waited. You waited until 4:58am on September 12, 2001. I wasn't awake when you came into this world. Through crazy circumstances that don't matter I was put to sleep while Dr. Patrick took you from my belly. Your daddy got to be the luckiest man in the world at that point. He got to hold you first, feed you first and change your first diaper. He also got the stress that followed when mommy didn't wake up. I know he was scared but everything came out fine. I finally got to see you that afternoon. Do you know why I got to see you finally almost 9 hours after you were born? Because your daddy
You were the best baby. You never cried unless you wanted something. You slept through the night from the first moment you were born. We never knew if you were teething until a tooth showed up. You definitely had us spoiled once Blake showed up!
Your first word was "mama". You said it on Easter Sunday, 2002. We watched you crawl, take your first steps and destroy a Teletubbies cake on your first birthday. We worried every time you got sick and cheered at every school program and dance recital. We put band-aids on scrapes and scratches and held ice to that giant goose egg you got on your head in preschool. We cleaned up puke when we realized the hard way that you were allergic to eggs. Your face was so swollen I seriously thought daddy was giving a bath to an asian baby and not you.
We've gotten mad at your sometimes, like the time you poured water into the big can of formula we bought for Blake with our last $20. We've also celebrated the little triumphs like getting yourself dressed and finally mastering 'cat's cradle' earlier this week.
You are one of the biggest joys in our lives and I can't imagine my life without you being in it for the last seven years. You make us laugh everytime you laugh. Just seeing you smile makes me smile. I can't wait to watch you grow into a young woman, (just don't be too quick about it, ok?)
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