Wednesday, December 30, 2009

who would have thought it would be today...

It all started back in May.

May 23 to be exact.

I was heading out the door for a wedding in Stone Mountain while the rest of the family was staying home and grilling out for Ruthie's graduation. We had a baby shower for Jessie that morning, so babies were on our mind. So as I walked out the door, AB offered to help me carry my overnight bag.

We got to the car and she said something to the affect of, "I wanted you to know that we are going to tell the family today that we are having a baby!"

Oh. Ama. Gahh.

AB & J were going to be parents! And I had to miss the family announcement! After debating on whether or not to go to the wedding (yes, being there for the announcement was THAT important), I decided to head to Atlanta. I thought about this little baby all night.

7 LONNNNG months (and 6 days) go by and here we are.

Last night after having coffee with the girls, I couldn't sleep and normally, coffee doesn't keep me awake. Strange. I finally went to bed around 1 a.m. only to wake up several times in the middle of the night. I was so frustrated thinking about having to get up by 6:30 and here I was wide awake. Well, 6:48 rolled around and my snooze alarm was going off. I debated sleeping for ten more minutes, but decided to go ahead and get up so I could pick up a coffee at Starbucks on the way in to work. Give me a little pep in my step, you know?

For some reason, I finished getting ready really fast this morning and headed out the door. I pulled into Starbucks about 20 minutes later, decided it was a Triple Venti kind of morning, drove around to the window to pay and got ready to pick up my morning BOOST.

And then my phone rang. I saw that it was my Mom.

Now this is a pretty normal occurrence for her to call me in the mornings. Sometimes she checks to make sure I am up and haven't slept an hour past my alarm (which I frequently do) or to remind me of something going on at the house later that day. I answered the car speaker phone as I gave my money to the barista and I heard Mom say, "AB is at the hospital and she is already dilated 4 and a half centimeters!"

Hold. The. Phones.

"AB is not scheduled to deliver little Cotton until January 13th, two weeks from today," I thought to myself. But Mom reassured me that we were going to get to meet Cotton two weeks early!

So I rushed to work, sat in the parking lot for 2.5 seconds, then decided I would go on to the hospital. Luckily, my boss was very understanding!

I sped all the way down Vineville and then onto 75 and finally to 16. Thoughts were flooding my head about this little babe that was soon to enter our world. I was the first one to get to the hospital and walked in to find Joel near the waiting room. He told me that she was progressing pretty quickly and that they were doing the epidural as we spoke.

He eventually went back to be with AB and I sat in the waiting room texting, calling and emailing any one who would listen.

Later family and friends began to arrive. After spending about 3 hours in the waiting room with all of them, we got the word that she had reached 9 centimeters but were going to go ahead with a c-section. As we stood in a circle as family, we joined hands and lifted up in prayer our sweet AB and the little one that they were about to deliver. A sweet memory that I'll always remember.

A few minutes went by and Ruthie, Madie and I decided to take some pictures on our computer to document Cotton's birthday. As we were taking the first, someone else in the waiting room told us that they had just brought a baby to the delivery room and that the Dad was with the baby. I jumped out of my seat and RAN to that nursery in my skirt and 3.5 inch heels. (praise the Lord I didn't bust it!)

And there HE was. Little Cotton. The baby that I had felt move around in AB's tummy for all those months. Little Cotton was a BOY. Joel came out shortly after and made the announcement that our little babe that we had called Cotton for the past 6 months was named Kale Bryant Sizemore.

BLESS. I love this little boy, Kale.

So today was yet another special day for our family even though some couldn't make it or are on another continent right now.

Our family went from 16 to 17.

December 30, 2009. Two weeks earlier than we expected.

We as a family are so blessed.

1 comment:

tp said...

thanks for sharing this :) i LOVED reading...