Eight years ago our first child was born. What a wonderful, indescribale moment. There is no way to describe the immediate and complete, unconditional love that comes over you. It is so fun to see her grow and become a little lady.
Kiley is definitely a unique girl.....Girly in everyway possible. She is kind and gentle. It's humorous to think Craig and I picked out her name because we thought it went well for a tall, athletic girl playing beach volleyball...HA, HA!! God sure does have a sense of humor and can change us in the most amazing ways. As an athlete, I would poke fun at the "non-athletic" girls....and now I have one and couldn't imagine it any other way. "PINK" is now in my vocabulary, put there by Kiley at the first opportunity when she was one year old. We still don't know where she learned "that" word!!! It didn't come from us and it has taken over her wardrobe!
In honor of her birthday, I'm going to tell the story of her birth. I often (not often enough), tell the girls stories of when I was a girl....called THE ADVENTURES OF DANA, here is one of those adventures:
Once upon a time, there was a young lady named Dana. She was married to a wonderful man and they were very happy. They lived in a small apartment and were starting their life in a new city. It was spring, and she wasn't feeling well. She had no appetite and just didn't want to be bothered by food. She thought she had the flu, but it was lingering on for days and days.
After taking a few sick days, she went back to work but still wasn't quite herself. A co-worker joked that perhaps she were pregnant. She chuckled at the thought, because the doctors had thought she would have a hard time conceiving a child. Later that night, she began thinking....humm, I wonder.....could it be??? She decided to find out...the test revealed that she was expecting a child!!! WOW!
Within a couple days she was so sick! She wasn't able to eat anything or even get the food to her mouth, and even drinking was a chore. She was told they call it "morning sickness", but the morning had little to do with it! All day long she was sick. Eventually they sent nurses to her house to start her on IV fluids and medications to help her feel better. After a week or so, she was feeling well enough that she was able to start working again. She was still ill, but was able to work. At lunch she would take a nap, and in the evening she would go to bed as soon as she got home. She was so tired all the time. Everything that had been normal for her, was not normal anymore. Her tastes had totally changed...she ate brocolli and banana popcicles and couldn't stand the thought of melted cheese or beef and she now LOVED french fries. She thought how amazing that a little life inside her could change her so much!
After a few months, she was now able to eat normally and even began to feel really good....even better than normal. She had so much energy and was so eager to meet this new little baby. Well, the young couple were preparing for her birth and were so excited. They moved to a larger apartment and began to get the baby's room ready.
From the ultrasound that had been done, the doctor seemed to think it was a boy, although he did say he wasn't able to see the picture very well. Dana was convinced he was wrong! You see, her whole life she had wanted to have boys. Three little boys to be exact. In fact, she told her husband they were going to keep having kids until they had at least one boy!! Well, when she found out that a baby was on the way, all she could think about was having a little girl. She knew it must be true! How kind of God to change her heart to desire what he had planned for her!
It came time for the baby to come. The day had come and gone, and yet no baby was here. The young couple was so anxious to have this baby. In fact, they went for a walk one night....a night that there just happened to have snow and ice on the ground. They wondered if a little fall might jolt the baby and convince the little one to come out. Of course, they wouldn't do anything to put the baby in danger, but they were so excited they wanted to see their new child.
One day after her due date, Dana was feeling a little different. About 8 o'clock in the evening she called her husband to tell her she thought she was having contractions. She was in no pain, but felt her tummy tighten every 10 minutes or so. It just felt like a belt was being tightened around her waist. She began to get very excited.
Her husband arrived home from work at about midnight and thought perhaps they should go to the hospital. However, the contractions were not yet close enough together. All through the night the contractions continued and began to cause quite a bit of pain. By 7 am they decided since they were much closer together, to head to the hospital.
The baby must have known about needles before birth, because as soon as they stepped inside the hospital, the contractions stopped. Once they were shown to their room, a young, quick-mannered nurse came in to inform them that since they were new parents, and new parents often come to the hospital too early, that they would check to see if the baby was ready, and send them home. Since Dana was no longer having contractions, the nurse assumed the baby was not on the way. Dana began to cry...she was so ready to meet her baby for the first time and felt the nurse was not very compassionate or encouraging.
The nurse checked to see if the baby was close to coming and was shocked to see that she was more than half-way there! Dana immediately asked for an epidural, to help with pain, but they were pretty slow in getting it to her. Escpecially since she was no longer in pain, since the contractions had stopped. They gave her a medicine to help her contractions begin again and by 1pm she was given an epidural. She was able to sleep until nearly 4:30. Then the nurses woke her and told her it was time to push the baby out. By 4:50, Dana began pushing. On the third push, at 5:02 pm the baby was there. IT WAS A GIRL!!! it's always a good sign that the baby cry, but the baby wasn't crying.... No, no...she was SCREAMING!!! The young couple burst into tears and couldn't believe the gift they had been given!
They named the baby girl, Kiley. Kiley continued screaming for 4 months (actually she only screamed after 3 pm), until she decided she was too big to go back into her mother's belly. Then she became a peaceful, cheerful, wonderful girl her parents enjoy to this very day.
And this is one episode of...The Adventures of Dana....
Happy Birthday Little Lady!
