February Memories

For the past five years, February has been a month filled with sadness for me.  On February 1st, 2007, my mother suffered a brain hemorrhage which took her life two weeks later.  Those were two of the longest, most difficult weeks of my life spent waiting and praying, and ultimately accepting that my world would never be the same.

February 1st, 2012, was another day filled with anxiety and waiting.  But this time I had reason to expect a happy outcome.  My daughter was admitted to the hospital to give birth to her first child, my first grandson.

February 2nd was delivery day.  Or so we hoped.  Because the baby was overdue by nearly two weeks, labor was to be induced at midnight.  The waiting began.

With two school-aged children and an undomesticated husband dependent upon me for their sustenance (and clean clothes),  I was forced to remain 400 miles away from the big event.  There's nothing worse than being so far away from your hospitalized child and not knowing what's going on.  Except, of course, if you are a world-class worrier and you happen to see all the complications unfold right before your eyes.  Luckily, I wasn't there to witness all the medical drama.  I simply sat by the phone waiting and worrying, and with each passing moment I played out terrible scenarios in my mind.   And since my husband seemed to be holding it together quite well, I decided to share these with him.  No reason to suffer alone.

Finally, just about the time my husband seemed poised to go to bed and leave me alone to face my fears, the phone call came. Baby Logan had arrived weighing 7 pounds, 8 ounces, and measuring 20 inches long.  He wasn't the record-setting large baby we were expecting based on the size of my poor daughter's belly and the length of time she spent growing him there.  But he still couldn't make it out the non-surgical way we had hoped.  My daughter gave it her all, but after 20 hours of labor and 2 1/2 hours of pushing with all her might, it was obvious the little guy was demanding a more dramatic entrance.

My daughter had been determined to have a natural birth, but even with all her planning and preparation, that wasn't to be.  Such is life. But mother and baby are doing well, and today they're heading home with the proud father, ready to start this new, exciting chapter in their lives.

February will always hold sad memories for me, but as I look at the sweet face of my new grandson, and hear the pride and love in the voices of his parents, I know it will now be the month that gives me renewed hope and happiness.  I feel certain my mother is watching from Heaven and enjoying the beauty of it all.

My newest obsession.

Isn't he precious?