June 16, 1986, we sat on the front porch teaching our baby girl to roller skate. Her 3rd birthday was on the 15th and she had gotten a pair of roller skates. I was 9 months pregnant with our second child who was due on the 17th. We had my daughter's birthday party at McDonald's the day before, so I could sit and watch the wee ones run around without the stress of a party. I had carried this baby completely different from my first. I was pregnant from my forehead down to my toes. On the 16th, my husband and I soaked up as much one on one time as we could get with our daughter, knowing this would be the last time she didn't have to share our affection. I have a picture of her and my husband as he rocked her to sleep in the nursery. They were both were tanned with sun-bleached hair from swimming. Bright and early on the 17th we left the house for the hospital to be induced. My parents were down so we left them with our daughter to come to the hospital later. I expected the labor to be short and the delivery to be perfect just like the first. They got me settled into the bed and began the IV. My husband went down to the gift shop to pick up some magazines. When he came back up he sat calmly by my side fed me ice chips and read. When the contractions started, I was getting a little peeved at his magazine reading.... "I'm trying to have a baby here dear, think you could put that down for a second?" As the words still formed in my head, nano-seconds before speaking them, the nurse ran into my room, began tilting the head of my bed down and the foot of my bed up. She was in a very BIG hurry and my husband and I didn't understand what was going on. She quickly snapped an oxygen mask on my face, then ran out of the room. I heard her call for other nurses and the doctor stat! She ran back into the room checking the IV and informed us our child was in danger and they were doing a c-section. The anaesthesiologist came in and began grilling my husband on how long it had been since I ate?... Exactly how many ice chips had I taken in? I watched in total panic at my disappearing husband as they wheeled me quickly down the hall. I remember them scrubbing my stomach and then I remember nothing. I could hear someone calling my name really loud. I felt like I was in a deep dark hole and just wanted to tell them to use their inside voices and let me sleep. The voices persistently called my name and then I heard my husbands voice... "Jackie, wake up.... We have a beautiful baby boy.... wake up.... You have a boy." The baby!!! My baby!!!! I could feel the tears coming.... All I wanted to know.... "Is he okay, is he okay?" Yes, he is okay and he is perfect, open your eyes and you can see him. I opened my eyes to see a beautiful baby boy with dark hair and his daddy smiling from ear to ear. Then the darkness scooped me up again, but not for long. A c-section wasn't exactly in my "plans", but with the life of my baby in jeopardy, I was thankful we were in the hospital being monitored. The next day my baby boy slept quietly in his bassinet next to my hospital bed. My husband walked in and I smiled and said.... "He's going to be our quiet one." What I later learned was I could always expected the unexpected with this little one, because he was anything but quiet and life with him in the house was anything but boring. Happy Birthday Sweet Seth.
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