Another meaningful day

There have been a handful of truly meaningful days in my life which I suppose is not unusual for a woman my age.  May 20 is one of those days because it is Michael's birthday.

Michael's birth as well as Sarah's, is both a gift and a miracle. It never occurred to me that I would have a second child for any other reason than that so many things have to come together in perfect sync to make a baby. I've lived that and I don't take that for granted.

But you know how it happens. One day you wake up and you feel different and you know that you have a baby inside of you. There is no other feeling that comes close to how you feel when you're pregnant. I knew at five weeks that I was pregnant because this time I had morning sickness. I was sick first thing every morning. Sarah would crawl in bed with me and we would watch television. I love you Mr. Rogers!

I was so distracted by the nausea, it didn't occur to me that I was behaving differently. I must have glowed. When I was pregnant with Sarah I glowed like a maniac. Some men love pregnant women. I got hit on so many times I lost count. Sure enough, one morning I was with Mom and Daddy when they "boxed" me into a corner and grinning like Chesire Cats, they say, "YOU'RE PREGNANT!" I am dense and I am slow. I stammered and said, "I guess that I am." To this day, I have no idea how they knew.

I was pregnant. Excited and nervous. Extremely nervous. Nervous to the point that toward my last month I talked to my ob about how in some ways the pregnancy had been stressful because I worried about all the things that could go wrong. She said that in all the years that she had been delivering babies (20+yrs.), she had more deliveries go right than go wrong. She also told me that I was normal (!). With a second pregnancy comes the knowledge of what can go wrong. First time parents have the luxury of ignorance.

I survived and loved every minute of being pregnant. I've always said I could do it ten times and I could. Before I knew it, it was almost over and that was sad because I knew that two was a good time to stop. I savored those last few days before Mikey made his entrance.

Entrance it was! Not one to be late to his own party, Mikey missed his due date by just one day and then arrived after only two hours labor. He was skinny and long like he is today, and aced his first test in the delivery room. Perfect Apgar.

Michael has brought laughter, joy and much entertainment into my life. ***For that Michael, I thank you.*** Happy 19th Birthday!

Sarah 3yrs. & Mikey 1yr. - 1993

Mikey 5yrs. - 1997