hello world

21 years ago today, I met someone that changed my life, my whole world. At 11:07 a.m. Feb. 6, 1988, my son Benjamin Andrew was born. I spent 3 miserable days in early labor and the stupid hospital nurse said don't eat anything and keep walking. I saw my Dr. Friday afternoon, and she was most annoyed the nurses told me not to eat . I was tired, hungry,grouchy. I was in a very bad mood. Dr. Everett told me to go home, eat anything I wanted to eat , take a shower, and get some sleep.

I took her at her word, and we went to Howards the best hamburger joint in town. I ate the best grilled steak sandwich with french fries, a large ice cold coke with crushed ice. It was the best sandwich I ever ate. I was almost delirious. I was so exhausted from the stupid nurses walking regimen that I fell asleep in the car on the way to my moms' house.

My Mom kept an eye on me, I took a shower and went to bed. I woke up contractin about 4:00a.m, I took a shower, and rocked on the floor trying to get comfortable. When my Mom got up for work, she looked at me and said, your'e in labor honey, I'll see you at the hospital.

My sister Kathy and Ben were having a great time, yucking it up, full of jokes, and good humor, I didn't think they were all that funny. When Ben knocked the head of the hospital table I was laying down as I was having contractions, they almost fell on the floor laughing, I almost killed them both. We then started fighting about boys names again. I insisted my sons name was Andrew, and that was that. He wanted Christopher or Jacob, or Benjamin . I wasn't having any of that.

I had a pretty short first labor hospital wise. I was at the hospital less than 4 hours before I delivered, the nurses never checked on me until I started yelling I had to push, and then they got testy with me saying I had a premature urge to push. How would they know?

It scaired the whole family to death when my Dr. came running like a crazy woman off the elevator met by 2 nurses and they were gowning her on the way down the hall. They weren't expecting me to deliver until sometime that night.

My mother called it the longest 20 minutes of her life, but as soon as I got the pushing routine figured out it was a very short time, and I was looking into, the biggest brown eyes. He was so serious. As I looked at my newborn soon, he took my finger, and I thought your'e the one I have been waiting for my whole life, I am your Mommy.

Mommy, the most beautiful word ever. And in stealing a line from Andrews' favorite book, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be...as long as I'm living your Mommy I'll be

Happy Birthday Andrew!!!!