One of my favorite things to do is celebrate birthdays, well, others birthdays that is! J This past Friday my daughter turned 2 years old. We had some cake and steaks with our parents, oh, and a ‘few’ presents. Wait, did I say 2 years old?!? Where did the time go? It seems like only yesterday Stephen and I were staring at each other that first night saying: “Why does she keep crying?” haha The following morning we were at his parents’ house for some much needed help AND sleep. We stayed for the whole week….it seems just like yesterday. I cannot believe how much Hadley has changed in just these 2 short years. And one day (Lord willing) I will be writing a blog about her first day of school, her 13th birthday, her time in high school, and her 16th & 18th birthday, not to mention baptism, boyfriends, weddings and children. *sigh However, I don’t want to think about what is to come, but instead focus on what we have enjoyed so far with this little stinker!
I found out I was pregnant with Hadley the week of Valentine’s Day, 2009. A month after Stephen and I had decided that maybe having a baby just wasn’t in the cards for us at this time, 3 weeks after the Ice Storm that tore throw the Bootheel leaving devastation and many people still without electricity (including us!). I was so excited! I had prayed for a very long time and both of my closest friends has already conceived back in July 2007, so in my mind I was “behind.” But at that point I was just so thankful that God had blessed me a baby of my own, I didn’t much care that my child would be 6 months younger than my friends’ little girls. Stephen’s reaction to the news was disbelief! I mean, we had been trying since I found my friends were preggers, so he was quite stunned and unsure of the “cheap” (as he called it) pregnancy test. So, for Valentine’s Day I bought an expensive digital test that plainly stated “pregnant” or “not pregnant” and but that baby in an old bracelet case I had. I wrapped it up and gave it to him as one of his Valentine’s Day presents. Needless to say, when he opened that baby up, he read “pregnant” on it. Can’t get much plainer than that! By the next week, I had horrible, horrible, horrible morning sickness. I don’t even want to think about it! *ugh! But I made it through, and it was definitely worth it. Besides the sickness (and the fact that I blew up like a hot air balloon) I had a very enjoyable pregnancy. In fact, I miss being pregnant, knowing that a child is growing inside of you, that you are nurturing something to life. Ok, back to the story…..so Monday, October 13th rolls around and I go to my weekly visit (my due date was for Sunday, October 18th). Dr. Graham informed me that she would be going out of town Wednesday, but if I wanted to I could try a homemade recipe of hers to induce labor since she was on call on Tuesday (the next day). So I bought the nasty stuff (gaster-oil? Or something like that) and went to drinking the concoction Tuesday. No baby Tuesday, but bright and early (ok, not so bright; it was like 5 am or so) the next morning my water broke right before I got in the shower to get ready for work. I was like “Did I just pee on myself?” LOL And it was soooooo NOT like in the movies, it was barely a trickle and it continued every so often till after I was admitted to the hospital at 11:30 am.
Now, I didn’t mention that I did NOT know the gender of the child I was carrying. Stephen was the only person, besides the ultrasound tech, that knew the gender. My mom, his mom, me and him spent most of the day discussing boy names, b/c we just could not agree on one. Eventually the pitosin became too much and I had to break down and get an epi. (Yes, I was planning on natural childbirth) That was around 9 pm or so that night. I told Stephen to go ahead and get something to eat since I was better, so he took off. When the nurse came in about 30 minutes later to check me, she said “You’re ready!” We called Stephen and told him to get back ASAP! He hadn’t eaten yet so he brought it back to the room. LOL But you can’t really blame the guy, I checked in at a 5 and had only dilated to a 6-7 when they gave me the epi. Who would have thought I would have dilated to a 10 so quickly after that epi?
At 10:27 I gave birth to a beautiful daughter, Hadley Elayne. Stephen actually announced the gender before the doctor could! I had forgotten all about not knowing the gender, I had envisioned myself hurrying to get the baby out so I would know, but it wasn’t even a part of my thoughts during labor. Originally, we had planned on her middle name being Elise, but after the birth we chose Elaine instead. Then Stephen called the next day and wanted it spelled with a “y” instead of an “i” so that is how that worked out. Her first name we saw in a car ad in the Thrifty Nickel one Friday night at McCormicks. We fell in love with it and never deviated from it.
Now that Hadley is two, it’s hard to believe that night in the hospital was so long ago. She is walking (well, more like running) everywhere and is sharper than a tack. Her speech skills are really great for her age and I know every day that God has truly blessed me beyond anything I deserve. What a great Father we have! Well, I hope I haven’t bored you too much with my story of Hadley’s journey. J
This first picture is of Hadley before I went to work on Friday morning. And the second is of her eating her Causbies cake on Friday night.
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