We left on the 30th of December which happens to be my wedding anniversary and also the birthday of my fourth child. THAT was certainly an eventful year! I've only blogged about one of my childrens' births so now I need to do the rest of them.
So. Katrina. Let me set up the back story. Between 1985 and 1989 we had three sons born to us. Riding home from the hospital with number three I remember thinking "what am I going to do with 3 boys?"
Well, life was pretty crazy for some time but about the time our youngest son was 3 years old I had resigned myself to the fact that I would be the mother of only boys. And I was okay with that. Sure, I had always wanted a daughter but maybe that was not to be. So I had gotten to the point where I could walk through the baby clothes section of a store and not want to cry when looking at girl clothes.
And then I got pregnant. I won't say that we were really trying to have another baby because maybe I was. Maybe I just did not inform anyone else about it.
Worthy of note would be the fact that I "looked" pregnant very quickly. In fact, I remember a friend at church asking me if I was expecting because her husband wondered if I was. Yup. With number 4 there is no denying the truth. And of course everyone was hoping we would have a girl even though no one wanted to say it out loud.
That was a rough summer and fall for me. Not because it was a difficult pregnancy but because of a lot of emotional stuff I was dealing with in my life. I don't really want to share it all here but it was a rough time in my life.
And all the time I was dreaming of how great it would be to have a little girl but not wanting to hope for it too much. Now for a really conceited sounding sentence: What I really wanted was a little girl who looked just like me.
I'm adopted so I really never looked like anyone the way I wanted to in order to feel like I "fit". So having a girl who looked like me was my shot at this. With all that was going on in my life my self esteem was at an all time low. The lowest of low. But my dear friend told me that she would pray for me to have a girl who looked just like me and that I should not disbelieve that God would want to give me what I desired. Which was very unselfish of her since she also had three sons. (She does now have the three most amazing daughters in law, so she won that lottery.)
All throughout my pregnancy I hoped, prayed and dreamed for a daughter. I won't go so far as to say that I had a feeling it was a girl but we did wait until the ride to the hospital to finally pick out a boy name.
Or I should say the second ride to the hospital.
You would think that by the time you are having your fourth child you would truly KNOW when you are in labor. Let's just say that I was desperate to give birth.
Katrina was due December 26th. Christmas. I had settled my mind to accept that I would probably be in the hospital on Christmas day and miss being with my three precious little boys on that special day. I can't remember for sure but I do believe we did make a run to the hospital on the 24th. I was so embarrassed to have a false alarm on kid #4. The pictures of me from that Christmas show a very large, very sleep deprived mommy. But we had a great time.
We were living in a little town at that time and I remember that since we lived a block from the little grocery store my kids got asked almost every day if we had had our baby yet. One night sitting at the dinner table, Adam, who was just five years old declared " I think every man, woman and child in this town is waiting for our baby to born!" Probably true!
My parents and sister came to spend Christmas with us and were hoping to see a baby before they left. My husband was hinting (okay, more than hinting) that it sure would be nice to get that extra tax deduction in before the end of the year. I was under so much pressure to deliver this child!
When the day of our wedding anniversary arrived and still no baby I was getting a little anxious. What an understatement! About mid-morning of that day I was sitting in our lazy boy recliner and my water broke! This had never happened with any of my boys until I was already in labor and at the hospital so this the undeniable sign we were happy to get. A while later we went off to go to the hospital and the wheels of history were put into motion.
As I said before, we finally agreed on a boy name on our drive that day. Alex Michael.
I assumed (again, falsely) that by the time you have your fourth child the labor and delivery will be super duper easy. Let's just say that pain was again my foremost friend. I can remember just staring at a red light on a piece of equipment in the labor room and thinking how if I had a girl the pain would be SO worth it.
Finally, it was time to deliver this baby and as always, it seemed as though the doctor showed up just in time. It is common knowledge to the child who was soon to be born that day that I remember saying "get it out, get it out" right before I was delivered of her.
Doc B. told me to relax as the head was being born and the baby began to cry. He said, "it must be a girl, it is already screaming." I thought that was a horrible thing to say in case it was a boy because he was getting my hopes up. Then she was born. I heard those words "It's a girl" from my beloved doctor and saw the huge smile on his face.
Katrina Johanna Polson.
If I had been able to I would have done a cartwheel! The joy in that room was palpable. She was such a girl. She was pretty and pink and so beautiful. After the details of the moment were taken care of and we held our precious daughter I was told to get up and walk to my room across the hall. I attempted to and promptly passed out. A few days later I passed out again in the bathroom. Having a daughter was so wonderful but my body was in bad shape. I was extremely anemic.
Since it was close to Christmas, Craig had put a giant wreath up on our big, 1914 house. After Katrina was born he put letters on it covered in foil that said "It's A Girl".
Our oldest son, Nathan, who was 8, called our next door neighbor and said "We have our baby and it is just the one we wanted!" He had been wanting a sister from the time he was 2.
We truly did have just the one we wanted. God is so good!
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