January 02, 2010 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

The first thing for my post today is to wish my oldest baby a very, VERY Happy Birthday! When I remember the day she was born, it brings joy to my heart! She holds a special place in the birth order in that she made me a momma first! There were soooo many firsts with her birth. She was such a pleasant and beautiful baby. From the day she was conceived and through her growing years she didn't give me any trouble (nothing I couldn't handle, anyway!). :P Bear with me while I reminisce about that beautiful day 30 years ago.....

Wednesday, January 2, 1980. I woke up at about 5:30 a.m. to go to the bathroom. As I sat there, I began to notice those labor pains. I began to get anxious! The contractions were coming pretty frequently and already about every 3 - 5 minutes. What do I do? Do I call mom? Do I call the hospital? Do I call the doctor? Do I wake Tim up? What do I do??? What if this is a false alarm? I was expecting the pain to be unbearable, but it wasn't! And I wasn't thinking about the fact that "he" was 6 days late from "his" expected due date of December 27th! When "he" didn't come by the end of the year (yes, we were looking for a tax break, lol!) I decided "he" could just come whenever "he" wanted to. Yes, she was supposed to be a "he" according to the doctor's prediction! I had gained 40 lbs. during this pregnancy and my stomach was HUGE!!! I felt absolutely GREAT during the whole pregnancy, except for the constant heartburn! So, I knew "he" was going to have lots of hair, anyway, lol!

OK, back to my story. I made the decision to call the doctor first. He called right back and I gave him the "stats" and he told me I better go ahead and go to the hospital. The contractions were a very even 3 minutes apart by this time. After I talked to him, I called mom and told her what was going on. I woke Tim up. He immediately went into almost-freaked mode. Moving about very quickly and nervously. Well, as big as I was, I wasn't moving around anywhere very quickly, lol! The trip to the hospital, traveling down River Road at break-neck speed was NOT fun! This is Route 8 in Northern KY that runs along the Ohio River. Our mailing address was Hebron, which is up on top of the hill from where we lived down on the river near Taylorsport. I don't know how it is now, but 30 years ago Route 8 was a mess of holes and patched-up spots in the road. A typical river road where lots of places in the road were sunken in! YIKES! Anyway, I just remember thinking, "if he hits one more bump I'm gonna have this baby in the car!" Thankfully, I didn't!

I don't even remember what time we got to the hospital. It is all a fast blur after we started the trip to the hospital! Of course there are admissions, which I believe Tim took care of while I was taken back for "preppings." I kept having to go to the bathroom (diarrhea) and finally the nurse knocked on the door and said, "if you don't get off of that pot, you are gonna have that baby in the toilet!" WOW! I wonder how many times that has actually happened?! I'm sure she knew what she was talking about! I'm sure it wasn't just a scare tactic.

Next thing I remember is being on the delivery table with Tim standing at my side and being able to push. What a relief that was! They had put that stupid belt thing around my stomach that kept track of the baby's heart beat! Boy, that was definitely uncomfortable during a contraction! I can still remember Tim's hands being cold and clammy, just like they were the day we got married! He was not going to stay with me during the delivery and mom had gone with me to the Lamaze classes I had taken, so she stepped in and took his place when the time came for the birth. Actually, I might be confused on that part. Tim might have been in the waiting room the whole time.

Anyway, I pushed hard, so hard I broke blood vessels in my eyes and around my eyes. I was sooooo tired by the time Jessica was born! And what a beautiful, BIG baby girl she was! She was born at 9:12 a.m. and weighed 10 lbs. 7 1/2 ozs. and was 21 1/4" long. I remember the tears of joy that mom cried for this bundle who was her first grandchild! I remember the tears dad cried when he came to see me after he got off of work that day. I remember Tim saying, "her eyes are open!" when he first saw her. I remember saying, "of course! She isn't a puppy!" :) I remember the pain of those first days of nursing! But, I remember the joy it was besides that! So many firsts to remember! But, I'll stop reminiscing for now since I've brought myself to tears, lol, with all of my remembering! :)

I LOVE YOU very much, Jessica, and hope you have a wonderful 30th birthday! I pray the Lord continues to watch over you as you carry my 8th grandchild (3 of them being in heaven already!)! And, I've been meaning to mention to you that you have officially been pregnant more times that I ever was! :)


My plans for the day are to go and get some groceries, take the Christmas decorations back to the basement, take dishes back to the fellowship hall, do some more organizing and go over my SS lesson that I didn't have to teach last week because no one showed up!

So, now for my pictures for today. This first one shows where the boxes of Christmas decorations have been sitting since I took everything down after the kids left on Wednesday! Today I am going to take them to the basement! :) Tim probably thinks I have intentions of making this their permanent parking spot by now! :) Scroll down to see my second picture.....
I'm thinking of leaving the tree and the garland up! I think it gives this corner of the living room a nice ambiance! What do you think! :) Have a very happy 2nd day of a new decade!