One Year, Twelve Months, 366 Days

Whenever one of our kids has a birthday it's as much a celebration for me as it is for them. I love to reminisce about their birth. Today is Aeris's first birthday, so bear with me as I remember the day she was born...

This was my third pregnancy. My due date was July 27, three days after the last special occasion in July and just over a month before the school deadline, putting her three years behind Logan in school. I spent the month riding a 4-wheeler, working in my garden, and bouncing on the Dinosaur Bop ride at Lagoon. If none of those activities caused early labor, nothing would, right?

When I woke up at 5:30 the morning of July 25 feeling a little funny I denied the possibility that it was labor and tried to go back to sleep. After a half hour of tossing and turning I took a shower. It would be nice to have a good start to the day since it was Jade's first day of first grade at a new school. I looked forward to walking her into class and settling her in.

Once I'd gotten dressed I just couldn't shake the feeling that something was going on. Nate rolled over, half asleep, and asked me why I wasn't sleeping. When I told him we'd be going to the hospital his first question was, "Are you sure?" Yeah... I'd just spent the last 45 minutes trying to decide that very thing. He asked how far apart my contractions were. Nice... I hadn't even thought to time the contractions. I looked at digital clock in our room as the next one came on. It said 6:14. The next one started at 6:16. That was all the information he needed.

While he showered, my water broke. So in between trying to pack the last minute items (make-up, toiletries) I kept making trips into the bathroom. By the time we walked out the door Nate was about crazy. The drive to the hospital was pretty comical. Nate was freaking out at any car in our way. We hadn't really hit the morning commute traffic, so I thought it was quite pleasant driving, but Nate was on edge the whole time.

We checked into the hospital and were settled into a room by 7:15 am. By 7:30 I started feeling the contractions. Immediately I began having flashbacks of Logan's delivery and decided that I didn't want to deliver a baby after all. I had promised Nate that if he agreed to stay in the room I'd order an epidural if I thought the contractions would be miserable enough to scream. The anesthesiologist was available right then, so he had it all put in by about 7:50. In the mean time, my doctor hadn't arrived yet, so he'd told the nurses to grab another doctor, because the baby might not be willing to wait. I was already a 10 and 100%. Once the epidural took effect, I wasn't feeling the need to push anymore, so they waited for my doctor to arrive. Aeris entered the world howling at 8:26am.

That moment, that tiny voice... amazing. There were so many people in the room and yet I heard only her. The bond between mother and child solidified for me right then. I felt such an overwhelming love for that baby. I wanted nothing but to snuggle her close so I could kiss her cheeks, count her perfect little fingers, whisper in her ear and soothe her. Because of the meconium in the amniotic fluid the respiratory specialists spent time checking her lungs and letting her cry to clear them. It was an eternity before they handed her to me. Looking at her was like seeing a familiar face.

I absolutely love to take her picture. I probably have a dozen "favorites" of this same pose, all with different facial expressions. I love this one because it's her crinkle-nose smile.

We celebrated with a little gathering on Sunday evening. I alternated between still and video shots all evening. Unfortunately, I kept the video camera rolling while she smashed up her cupcake, but missed taking even one still shot. She dug right into it with her fingers, but had to be forced to taste it. She's great at playing with her food, but needs some more practice feeding herself. We invited some neighbors who have babies/toddlers close to her age. I missed getting them all in the group picture, but Emersyn and Julia are in the pictures below, helping Aeris open her presents.