7 years ago

7 years ago yesterday (Sunday, February 18, 2001) I was 36 weeks pregnant with our first child. Despite the fact that I was the size of a house and swollen beyond recognition from my head to my toes...(I could only wear bedroom slippers because my feet were so huge)...I was a happy as could be. The baby was right where I wanted him/her to be. I remember my sister-in-law asking me "Isn't any part of you just ready to have this baby?" To which I replied "No, right now this baby is EASY, I can take him/ her with me whereever I go and I don't have to take any supplies." I should have kept my mouth closed...because only a couple of hours later my water broke. I still had 4 weeks. I was not ready. No bag packed. The house not cleaned. The nursery

was not finished. We hadn't even bought our rocking chair yet. This was not happening.

Well, yes it was. We went to the hospital just to make sure, and yes we were staying, my water had indeed broken. However, I had not even begun to dialate. We waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, around 8am (Monday, February 19th 2001) the doctor came in. I was about 2-3cm and still needed to have my water broken some more. With that out of the way, and needing some sleep, I opted for the epidural...it was GREAT. I couldn't feel a thing..not even when my leg would fall off the side of the bed. We waited some more. Around 4:30pm I finally reached 10cm and we were ready to push! YIPEEE! I was now ready. Once everyone was in place and the doctor was in the room we began. After just a few pushes, our Beautiful Baby Girl was born at 5:12pm. She was perfect. Head full of black hair, blue eyes, and she looked just like me. (smile). She was 7lb 3oz and 21 1/2 inches long. (Yes, big baby for 4 weeks early). She is named after both of her Grandmothers (just like I was). It was truly love at first sight. And we still cannot get enough of her, and we love her more and more each day!

We love you, A! Happy 7th Birthday!

We are so proud of you.