Birth Day
April 27, 2026
Hello Friend!
On Saturday my youngest daughter celebrated a birthday. She's all grown up now with a family of her own, so I didn't spend any time buying little party hats and poppers, but I did watch Logan for a few hours while she and Josh enjoyed drinks with friends downtown. Amanda has always been a wonderful daughter, and now she's an amazing wife and momma. I'm so proud of her.
The interesting thing is, on that Saturday morning I did what I always do when one of my girls celebrates a birthday. I remembered.
There's something that happens when you live through an important, life-changing event. Your brain is able to tuck away some of the smallest details, to be lifted out and remembered even many years later. I know this if true for both wonderful and terrible events, but in the case of the birth days of my two daughters it's a very good thing.
I woke up at 5am, in the dark, with the first pains of labor. There really isn't much comfortable sleep at that stage of pregnancy, so I'd spent most of the night flopping my whale sized self around in bed. But this pain was definitely different. I'd delivered my oldest daughter three years earlier so I knew exactly what was coming. Oh goodie. Equal parts relief and terror.
By the time I had my three-year-old up, dressed and ready to spend the next few days at grandma's house, the rain was coming down in buckets. I remember pulling the hood of Lindsey's little raincoat over her head as she ran out to jump in my mom's car. I knew the next time I saw her I'd have her little sister in my arms.
As the morning, and my pain, progressed, I spent several hours pacing in our little rental house. I can still clearly see Jon sitting at the tiny dining room table writing checks, paying the bills before we had to leave for the hospital. I'd learned from my first go around that I did better by walking, and I planned on delaying the trip in as long as possible.
By the time we climbed into the car for that grumpy, uncomfortable ride to the hospital, the sun had come out. I remember thinking what a gorgeous spring day it was, and how I really, REALLY couldn't enjoy it.
I'll skip all those fun memories I saved from the final few hours, not all of them were pleasant.
And I MAY have alarmed the labor and delivery room staff when I reached up and gave Jon a pretty convincing choke hold, telling him very energetically that I was NOT going to have any more children.
But enough of that. At 3:10pm Amanda Michelle was born, healthy and hollering. Labor had delivered, and the hard part was over. Well, except for that sleep deprivation thing that comes with taking care of a newborn...but that's another story.
