Where were you April 23, 1992?
Sixteen years ago.. at 10:30am...on April 23.... where was I?
I was in the maternity ward at an hospital in Montgomeryville, PA about to give birth to my second son. Today that little boy is 16 years old and over 6 ft tall. Happy 16th birthday Tyler!
The adventures before birth
Let me tell you about Tyler... he was in such a hurry to be born but then decided to stay in the womb after all. When I was 6 months pregnant, I was at work and contractions started. Since they continued into the evening, we went to the ER and I found out I was in early labor. I was given some kind of medication to stop labor. It worked.
Two major things happened after that... I was prescribed full bed rest (yeah.. had an excuse not to go to work!) and I was to have medicine 24/7 to prevent contractions again. This was a new thing back in 1992. Today they use the same idea for diabetics and their insulin injections.
The medicine came to me in test tubed shaped containers. We snap these tubes inside a credit card sized box. From that box, a plastic tube came out and a push pin type needle is at the end. That needle was jabbed into either of my thighs. The site for the needle had to be switched to the opposite thigh every other day. That became my husband's job as I simply couldn't tolerate jabbing a needle into myself. He was very gentle and very good to me (he still is!) and he always apologized for having to "hurt" me. It was only a moment of pain but for 3 months I was attached to that box. As I was on total bedrest, I could only leave my bed to go to the bathroom. I had to take sponge baths and wash my hair in the sink.
Blessings overflowed - God used others to help us
Wonderful blessings came during those 3 months. I was able to get medical leave from my job so we still had checks coming in. A couple from our church made up about 50 "TV" style dinners for us (WOW!) Our freezer was stocked! Friends from church came to help with cleaning the house and babysitting my oldest son who was 4 at that time. He was attending morning preschool and a mother of a classmate would come and pick him up and drop him off every day.
A time of rest and growth
I actually enjoyed those three months. Did a lot of reading and sleeping while watching my belly grow and everyone give me so much attention! There were no further problems with major contractions. I had a nurse who came to check on me every week and every day at the same time we had to call some company and give them the readings off my "monitor" that measured the contractions. I also had visits to my Dr. every week for checkups. That was the only time I left the house during those three months.
Finally the day came I was "unattached". We allowed our oldest son to "cut the tube". Now the contractions could come whenever nature said it was time. We waited 2 weeks and nothing! My husband's mother, niece and nephew had driven to PA from Michigan and were visiting with us that week. They wanted a baby too!
The big day finally comes!
On April 22nd, I thought I felt contractions hard enough to warrant a hospital visit. We were told while labor had started, it wasn't hard enough and I was barely dilated. They gave me some medication... sent me home for a good night sleep and told me to come back in the morning and see how it goes. The next morning, April 23rd we are at the hospital again and things proceeded slowly. Tyler was in no hurry at all! They decide to break my water and after that the action happened! Tyler was born later that afternoon. A healthy full term (really over term!) 8 lb baby boy.
It was interesting as we really thought Tyler would be a girl. We did not want to know the sex before birth but the Dr. had teased us that according the heartbeat, it was a girl so in my mind I had a girl. It was a delightful surprise to have another boy. Tyler had a head full of beautiful auburn hair...nothing like the bright red his older brother was blessed with.
Now here he is.. 16 years later. He has been a delight and a great kid. A quick sense of humor and quiet personality. I would thoroughly embarrass him if I talked more about his growing up years. I love him lots and very proud of him!
Happy birthday kid! Here's to many more!
