Twenty-three years ago, in 1988, was an exciting time in my life. I was 20 years old, newly married, and about to give birth to my first baby. I love this story because it is all about synchronicity and Life...
Sometime in March, 1988 I was given terbutaline to stop early labor in my pregnancy. My husband at the time, Jeff, and I had gone to Mexico for our delayed honeymoon in December and I'd contracted a salmonella infection when I was 4 1/2 mos. pregnant. I am thinking this is what may have caused the early contractions a couple months later. Who knows? Anyhow, I took terbutaline for 4 weeks while the baby continued to grow and develop and I was allowed to discontinue the medication three weeks before my due date of May 19.
The day I discontinued the medication, my dad, who lived nearby at the time, called to tell me he was going on a three week work trip, he was a pilot, and told me that he didn't want me to have the baby until he came home. I told him that of course I'd wait to have the baby until he returned (of course I was thinking that the sooner I have the baby the better!)
The days and weeks went by, and I celebrated my first Mother's Day that year, May 15, still pregnant. I was at a Mother's Day classical concert in which my mother was playing and that baby danced and danced inside my belly. The next few days I spent nesting like crazy, washing baby clothes, cleaning the house, and whatever else I could do with all of that extra energy. May 18 was especially 'nestful'. We went out to eat for a huge dinner meal and came home and crawled into bed.
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Spring 1988 - Waiting for Alan, Golden, CO
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Literally, for me, it was crawling into bed. Because of the low height of the stair ceiling in the apartment in which we were living, we weren't able to use our double box spring and the bed mattress was on the floor. At 9 months pregnant, I had to lower myself carefully using the dresser across the room to the floor, and crawl/roll into bed. Jeff was already snoozing, and I started to drift off...
Suddenly the phone rang. The phone was downstairs. I rolled out of bed, crawled across the floor, pulled myself up the dresser, and ran my big pregnant body down the stairs. I answered the phone, and it was my dad was on the other end. He told me that he was back in town and that I could go ahead and have the baby. I'd totally forgotten my promise to him. But, at that moment, literally, my water broke. My dad was telling me all about his trip while I was trying to figure a way to let him know that I needed to check on this new development. Finally I told him that my water broke and I needed to call the hospital.
I woke Jeff up and told him we needed to go to the hospital, so we went, and with every bump on that ride I sat in a new pool of water. The next morning, 8:24am, May 19, Alan was born.
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"Uncle Dave" (Grandpa) holding Alan a few weeks after he was born.
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One of my favorite pictures from that time is one of my dad holding Alan. It was worth the wait!
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The new family, 23 years ago
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| Alan graduating from WSU, 2010 |
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| Alan exploring his new digs in Cambridge, MA, 2010 |
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| In the twenty-three years since that day have been amazing. I am honored to be his young man's mother. I am proud of what he has accomplished but even prouder of the kind, generous, loving, thoughtful and compassionate human being he is and has always been. Thank you Alan for beginning my journey through motherhood! May your Birthdays be Happier and Happier! Love, Mom | |
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Alan
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Fall, 1988, Alan - Golden, CO
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Hooray! This is such a fabulous story!!!!
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