On this day, February 9th...

On February 8th at 6:00a.m., five years ago, I went to the hospital to have a child. For five years it had been just Keegan, Dave and me. Our small but wonderful family. (Well, we did have 9 foster kids at the children’s home that we worked at…but our immediate family was three.)

We didn’t know if the baby would be a boy or a girl.

We also didn’t know if he/she would be healthy.

You see, during my pregnancy I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes as well as toxemia. You could probably guess what the gestational diabetes meant…I had ‘pregnancy’ diabetes. My first child (today ten years old, then five years old) had weighed 9.01 pounds at birth. I was/am hypo-glycemic (the opposite of diabetic where my sugar drops very low) and overweight. So, all those factors together helped form the pregnancy diabetes. Later in the pregnancy, we discovered I also had toxemia. A nice way of saying that I had pregnancy high blood pressure. It causes severe swelling and migraines. It also makes your body attack the infant like it is an intruder.

For these reasons, we had to schedule a slightly early delivery. I had to be hooked up to a blood pressure machine the entire time…very ‘un’-fun. Especially when they came to put in the epederal…having that machine tighten up my arm while I’m trying to lay on my side holding still as a needle the size of Phoenix is placed into my spine AND HAVING A SEVERE CONTRACTION ALL AT THE SAME TIME was not my idea of a picnic.

Evan was born at 1:08 p.m. on February 9, 2001. He was blue with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. The doctors and nurses were very quiet as they rushed him under the heat lamps to clean and warm him.

Thankfully, we heard his cry…it was a small sound at first but grew louder, much to the relief of all present. So, weighing in at 7 lbs. 4 oz., and measuring 20 ½ inches, our second boy was handed into my arms.

Later that day, Keegan got to come and welcome his baby brother. He was so excited to finally be a big brother!

Recovery was long for me. Toxemia lasted and lasted. The diabetes got better though, thank the Lord! I thought my blood pressure returned to normal, too. But I kept getting migraines. I thought it was just the normal female migraine thing. The doctor even prescribed migraine medicine…which you do NOT take if you have high blood pressure. Unfortunately, we all thought my high blood pressure was due to the migraine…but it really was the other way around. It took 3 years before realizing the mistake. After several days of a tight chest and pain when I lied down, I was finally diagnosed with high blood pressure. I haven’t had a migraine since.

Looking back through the last five years, I cannot imagine our family without Evan. I had lost one baby before conceiving Keegan and sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have had three children. He/she would have been about 13 years old now. Someday we will meet him/her. For now, I am so blessed with my two boys.

Keegan and Evan are a team. They play, fight, love, bug, tickle, shout, laugh, cry, and sing together. They truly are each other’s best friends.

So today, February 9, 2006, we are celebrating Evan’s 5th birthday. We’re going to one of those play centers with pizza, soft play, miniature golf, laser tag, and bumper cars.

What fun!

I love having boys.

Shhhh! Don’t tell, but we got him a Dragon’s egg (with dragon inside), a Lego knight, a ‘new’ Herbie car (green) with opening doors, and a huge pillow (just like Keegan’s…but with a different pillowcase).

Happy 5th Birthday Evan!

You are a sweet blessing to us.

We love you, stinker!