Wednesday, March 21, 2007

You Say It's Your Birthday...

Eight years ago today, my sister-in-law white-knuckled Diane and me to Overlake Hospital in Bellevue, WA for the birth of our first child, a girl. It was shortly after 1:00 am when Diane was blindsided by her REAL contractions prompting us to cram into the backseat of our '94 Olds Cutlass Supreme where we were rushed to the hospital by my pale-faced and sickly looking sister-in-law. Diane twisted and writhed in pain as I did my best to rub her back and legs in a vain attempt to comfort her. "HELP ME!!" She bellowed. "I AM!!" I retorted. I realized that she was in pain, but I was doing everything I learned in that stupid, useless lamaze class, and she didn't appreciate it. I think that the two of us screaming at each other did more to take her mind off the pain than any rubbing I could do. Debbie stepped on the gas.

We arrived at the hospital and were escorted to a room where Diane's first words were, "Epidural, please." Moments later, she received her epidural and was able to rest until it was officially time to push. Kailey was "pushed out", as she likes to say, roughly seven hours later. I remember everything like it was yesterday, and I can't believe that eight years have passed. Where did my baby go? She has grown into a beautiful, fun, creative, athletic, and hard-working little girl. We are so proud of you, Kailey. Happy Birthday.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

THank you DAD. Love Kailey

batteredham said...

You're welcome, Sweetie!!

Anonymous said...

I remember that day well too, as I got to hold my first grandchild (a granddaughter) in my arms. How my life has changed since then. Many people told me, wait until you are a grandmother, you won't believe how your heart feels. My own children, I loved as much as a mother could love, but OH, the responsibility of parenting. Grandparenting is totally awesome, most always all fun and games. Happy Birthday Kailey, you made me a Grammy. Love, Grammy