20 Years Ago Today…

Wednesday, September 9, 2009, by Sherra

I was in labor…

With gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, the Kell antibody in my blood and I was labeled “High Risk” since all those factors coupled with that pesky head injury and coma of ‘87 seemed to be in my permanent record.

Just a few hours before, they told PhilBillPaul it was going to be a long night and he should get some rest.

So he promptly went to sleep on the empty hospital bed next to me.

While I laid awake for several hours after the nurse told me I might experience some “slight cramping.”

Yeah, it was nice to know that PhilBillPaul got some rest while I was pretty sure I was going to DIE as I watched that bottom number on the blood pressure monitor keep rising.

I beeped the nurses and said that if this was “slight cramping” then they could just kill me now because I was never, ever going to live through the actual labor.

Surprise, surprise – I was in labor and they kicked it into high gear.

I demanded an epidural.

And when the doctor arrived, he had the gall to say to me “Oh, you’re too far along but I can give you some Demerol to take the edge off.”

Natural childbirth was not my birthing plan.

In spite of the grudge I still hold (just towards the doctor), I birthed a perfect little baby boy.

Grandad

Who, today, leaves his teen years behind…

On this milestone day of 09-09-09.

Not only does the date look good in marketing promotions, but it also represents the last set of repeating, single-digit dates that we’ll see for almost a century (until January 1, 2101), or a millennium (mark your calendars for January 1, 3001), depending on how you want to count it.

Beyond the Cocoa Krispie Nightmare and his using pot in front of us, he is smart and funny and seems to be turning out okay in spite of being surrounded by estrogen, chaos and dysfunction.

He continues to bless our lives…