Friday, April 19, 2019

Happy 22nd Birthday to Benjamin, Mason, and Claire!!!!


Today is the 22nd birthday of my amazing trio. And I will just tell you that birthdays while your kids are in college are for the birds. I haven't been able to see them, hug them, celebrate them all day. When they were growing up, I always let them take the day off from school so we could play -- but today was the final regular class day for Benjamin before his finals exams and one of the last for Mason and Claire. We couldn't just take the day off and play.

We also had tornadoes in the area all afternoon. So I couldn't just get in my car and make the college rounds.

No, rather, I have sat and watched a feast of sappy rom-coms with my 13-year-old who I think was missing the celebrating as much as her mom.

It occurred to me the second or third time Cate and I had to jump into the closet because the tornado sirens were going off that today wasn't that much different than their actual BIRTH day.

I didn't get to see them that day either.

Sweet first photos!




On April 18, 1997, I had been already been in labor for ten weeks. I had been on bed rest in the hospital for nine of those, not even allowed to wiggle a toe off the edge of the bed, never sitting up. I had taken a myriad of shots on a daily basis to promote lung development and we were praying them to a safe delivery date.

My due date was July 7. I knew they would come early, but I was shooting for May 27 -- my daddy's birthday. It never occurred to me -- never -- that we would have April babies!

But my body had done all it could do. Physical changes for me -- not the babies -- mandated a C-section on that April day. 




All together in one swing in the NICU!


As I was wheeled into the operating room, my nursing team filed in to kiss my cheek one by one. They had been caring for me -- and for these three -- for months. They all told me they were praying.

The room was full of medical personnel. Doctors and nurses for me, and an entire team for each baby.  Poor Wade, I was too scared to talk and he had NEVER seen me unable to speak. I think that scared him most of all.

The doctor warned me that the babies might not have enough lung strength to cry upon delivery. I was prepared. But each one of my mighty three gave a cry to greet the world before being whisked into the waiting hands of their own personal medical team.




I did the smocking for these little outfits while lying in a hospital bed -- my
dear friend Linda turned them into heirlooms for their baby dedication!

 I was taken to the recovery room and vividly remember just being so cold. My doctor got me this wonderful heater that blew hot air under my blankets. (Honestly, I dream about that heat some days.)

I was so anxious to see my babies but I wasn't yet stable enough -- my body just had had enough. Those precious recovery room nurses saw my angst and one of them dug through the cabinet until she found a Polaroid camera. She handed that camera to Wade and told him to go get me some photos. Wade was so hesitant to leave me but he too, was eager to see our babies. I needed him to go to them. He came back with my first visual of the little people I had been talking to for months. I have never loved three photos more.

I would be wheeled down to meet them myself 24 hours later when it was deemed safe for me. They were the most beautiful little bitty things I had ever seen.

Those tiny babies would spend the next weeks in the NICU where one would have a good day, one might stay steady, and one would take two steps backwards all before switching it up the next day. I very vividly remember thinking that as long as the days in that NICU felt, I was going to blink and they were going to be grown up. And I was so very right.

Today, they are finishing their final semester of college. All three of those babies who spent their childhood doing every single thing together -- will graduate in just a matter of weeks. And all three of those babies who were born almost three month too early, make me so proud I could burst!!!

They better be ready to celebrate the 22nd Anniversary-of-the-first-time-I-got-to-see-them-with-my-own-eyes tomorrow -- because that is totally a thing!



Buzz, my three, and the little sister!


Happy birthday, Benjamin, Mason, and Claire! You are seriously more loved than you can ever imagine!




Carol - The Blessings Counter

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