Megan turned 12 today. It does not seem possible for 12 years to have gone by since she was born; yet, so many things have happened, that 12 years somehow seem reasonable - yet still unfathomable.
12 years ago today, Blake and I headed to the hospital for my 11:15 am doctor's appoint ... a doctor's appointment that I had already decided would be my "last" as a pregnant woman. You see, Megan was "technically" 4-days past due that morning, but in my mind, she was over a week past her due date because my doctor had told Blake just before July 4th that there was no way that I would make it through the weekend. Well, I made it through the weekend, through the Independence Day movie (which excited Megan tremendously because she kicked and turned and pushed again my ribs throughout the very loud movie), through my doctor's week long vacation, through a visit with his partner (which was awful), through many, many laps around the 3rd level of the Galleria (during which I visited the McDonald's bathroom at the end of each lap because my bladder was so compressed), through mowing the yard in the Texas heat in the middle of July, and much more. Despite the fact that he told me that he would more than likely have to allow his partner to deliver my first baby because he was unfortunately going to be on vacation, I arrived in his office at 11:15 am on the very first day he was back at work after his vacation ready for him to make the delivery.
Earlier that morning (about 1:oo am to be exact), I had awoken with mild contractions and had been unable to go back to sleep. Throughout the early morning hours, Blake and I watched several movies to pass the time before we showered and dressed for my 11:15 am appointment. Although the contractions had continued throughout the morning, they ceased completely on our way to the doctor's office. Just after our arrival, the nurse greeted us and began to assess my status. She noted that my usually low blood pressure was rather elevated and that I was 4 days beyond my expected due date. Then she said, "I am going to check with the doctor, but I am pretty sure that he is going to want to admit you and deliver this baby today." To which I responded, "I brought my suitcase with me. I am not leaving this hospital until this baby is born." You see, I had reached the point of being done, and I was not interested in going home again as a pregnant woman. I had carried this child for 9+ months, and it was time for him/her to enter the world. (For those of you who don't know, we did not find out that were were having a girl until she was born. We wanted it to be a surprise.)
Within a half hour or so, we were checking into the hospital and preparing for delivery. They gave me some medication to get the process started, and while it worked, we played cards, watched television, and visited with my mom and sister. Then, I had my first big contraction. After it was over, I looked around the room to find that it had emptied. When I asked Blake and my mom what happened to my sister, they both responded, "Oh, she left. As soon as she saw that you were in pain, she packed up her books and was out of here." We enticed her to come back for a while, but after she saw me in pain again, she was gone.
Finally, the decision was made to break my water to speed the process along. That did the trick. About four hours later, at 7:55 pm, our precious baby girl was born. She was 8 lbs. 3 oz. with rosy cheeks, dark hair, and blue eyes. She was healthy and beautiful and scored a perfect 10 on her APGAR test. She was just as beautiful on July 16, 1996 as she is today!
I am proud of our baby girl - proud of the things she has accomplished in her first 12 years, proud of her for being her own person, proud of her for being so passionate about certain things, proud of her love for drawing, reading, and writing, proud that she knows and loves Christ as her personal Saviour, and proud of her for so many other things that I can't put into words at the moment. I have been blessed by the first 12 years with my precious little princess. We have all been blessed; blessed by her smile, her laughter, her silly faces, her stories, her drawings, her drama, her hugs, her cards, and so much more. I can't imagine my life without her. I am truly blessed that God gave me such a precious little angel to nurture and to love, and I thank Him for making my life fuller through His gift of her.
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