Thirteen

On May 23, 1995 I was laying in a hospital bed waiting for lung maturity test results to come back on the minion I carried. I was 29 weeks pregnant, for those not in the know a normal pregnancy is 40 weeks, and had been in the hospital for two weeks due to complications already. My doctor came into my room and said, “Looks like you are going to have a baby.” and that was it. Membranes were stripped and I was moved from the High Risk floor to the OB/Delivery floor. That was at nine a.m.

I spent hours in labor. Hours hooked up to oxygen and not allowed to get up. Hours being flipped around in every possible direction whenever heart-rates would drop. Finally, at 3 am, May 24th, 1995, my doctor came into my room and said, “Listen, he’s not tolerating labor and it’s time to do a C-Section.” I was tired and in pain and snarky. I waved a hand at my two coaches (one who was my sister the other my boyfriend) told them to decide who was going in and off I was rolled to surgery. I was wired for sound, epi turned up, curtained and ready to go.

3:52 a.m. My son was born weighing in at a whopping 1 pound 13 ounces. There were times that people didn’t think he was going to make it. I took one look at him and knew he would be fine. His feedings weren’t in ounces they were in cc’s. He wore diapers the size of post-it notes and didn’t get his first real bath until he was home. Up until that moment he had never been submerged in water. Sponge baths. He came home, at 3 lbs 10 ounces, 32 days later, before his due date was even upon us. We spent months slowly moving feeds up. He came home eating one single ounce at a time in bottles that looked like doll bottles. He gained weight and grew up.

On May 24, 2008, he turned 13. He is officially a teenager. The small baby that weighed about the same as 7 1/2 Big Macs now can eat a Big Mac, Large Fry and a Shake and ask for more. He’s entered the puberty stage. I often wonder why I even taught him to talk when he gets in a mood. His eyes roll so much I want to tattoo pictures on the other side of them so I have something to look at.

I wouldn’t trade any moment for anything in the world. Sometimes, I go in and watch him sleep. I’m just amazed that he is here.