9 Years Ago...

I can't believe my baby boy is 9!! I just thought I would share "Riley's Story" today.

David and I had been married for a few years when we decided to have kids. Well, to be completely honest, I wanted to wait just long enough after we were married that people weren't counting back on their fingers and thinking we HAD to get married!! David wanted to wait until he was 35, so we compromised, and waited 5 years. After having a miscarriage early on, I was desperate to be pregnant and have kids. I was on fertility treatments and we tried just about everything for over a year. I remember my doctor telling me this would be the last month he would let me take the fertility pills, the next step would be much more complicated, involving, and expensive. So, for us, this was our last hope for a while.

Imagine my surprise when several weeks later, after having several negative pregnancy tests, the doctor decides to do some blood work, and I get a phone call on April 15th that the blood test showed I was, in fact, pregnant! I couldn't believe it. And by that point, I was about 10 weeks pregnant! So my first trimester was already almost over, and I hadn't had any morning sickness or any other symptoms.

I had a pretty easy pregnancy. I did have gestational diabetes towards the end and had to check my insulin levels 4 times a day (with the finger prick) and do 4 insulin shots a day in my legs, that was such a pain. I was due November 24th, which was Thanksgiving that year. I woke up at 6 am on the morning of November 5th to go to the bathroom and tell David goodbye as he left for work, and as I got out of bed, my water broke. My first thought was that I was so huge, I had lost all control of my bodily functions!! I called the doctor and of course, my doctor was off that day, so the on call doc says to come on in, it's time!

I hadn't packed my bag yet since I still had 3 weeks to go, and I wasn't having any contractions, so I called everyone and told them to meet us at the hospital, started some laundry, packed my bag, took a shower, totally frustrated David by not just jumping in the car to go! The contractions started in the car, around 8:30, and they were about 4-5 minutes apart, but not too strong. I got checked in to the room, and I was already at 4cm. Things were going along great until the evil doctor I had that day showed up. She just wasn't very nice, but I won't go into all of it. She kept insisting that I would end up with an epidural (I didn't). Things got really rough around noon, the contractions picked up, but when it came time to push, after about 4 or 5, there was Riley! He weighed in at a tiny 6 lbs, 13 oz. He was a little bird baby!!

Riley had jaundice pretty bad initially, we took him home and had to have a light suitcase, and a light paddle strapped to him, but after a few days of that he was fine. He was NOT a good sleeper though, and would wake up about every hour and a half. He was 9 months old before he ever slept through the night. He was a handful as a baby.

We named him Nathan, which means Gift from God, and we wanted that name first, to remind us always that we went through SO much to have him, and he truly was our Gift from God. And Riley, which means Courageous, and even to this day, we see his courage on almost a daily basis!

I am amazed at his willingness to try anything, whether it be food (like recently, the alligator he ate in LA) or a new sport, like motocross (when he was barely 5!) or any of the other sports he's played: soccer, baseball, basketball, football, karate, just to name a few. He has such a sweet spirit, and he's very sensitive to other people's needs. I will never forget one time when we were camping with our friends and Baby Abby was fussing about something, and Tammy had done as much as she could for her, but she was still crying, Riley couldn't take it. He had tears in his eyes when he asked me, "Mom, do they just not care?" He's an amazing young man, and I can't wait to see all the great things he's going to do in his life.

Happy Birthday Baby Bird!