Sunday, February 10, 2008

Here We Go Again

February 13 is a special day at our house. Carmen was born! Our youngest will be 7 on Wednesday. It is both a blessing and a curse that her birthday is the day before Valentine's Day.

Consider this ... we have to spend the 12th making Valentines because the 13th is busy. And we hide our Valentine cards from each other until the 14th. Waiting 2 days is a long time for the youngest ones but we manage. And it seems like we always put up streamers and balloons in red and white because of the holiday. This year, I told Carmen we could use any color she wanted to decorate, thinking she might be tired of the same old, same old. But, no, she's fine with the status quo. As well as the heart-shaped cake she always gets. Maybe routine is comforting to her. And this is just fine with us.

When she was born on the 13th, I did get a few people remarking about a "13th" birthday but if you don't have any trouble with that number (we don't - it's just a number) then it's no problem. I do feel badly that she'll always have a birthday tied to a holiday, like me (I was born on Mother's Day - no fair!) But what can you do about it? Nothing! What you can do is make sure your husband buys you flower and/or candy for EACH special day. No skimping. No combining holidays. You can bet I'll educate her on that theory!!

I know I've posted about her birth before but it's so fun to write about, here it is in a nutshell.

On the 12th of Feb. in 2001, I thought I was in labor so we went to the hospital. At 11:00 pm, my nurse practitioner sent me home to sleep. The next morning, I was REALLY sure I was in labor but my n.p. wanted me to come to her office to make sure. We had already called the hospital but didn't go there due to her orders. But I didn't want to deliver at her office, either! So we went and parked by the river, timing my contractions and watching the river traffic. My contractions were 6 minutes apart, consistently. I was told to wait until they were 5 min. apart. Can you tell we weren't clearly thinking? At noon, Todd said, "Let's just go home and have lunch," to which I shouted, "I don't WANT to go home!" He immediately motored it to the hospital (2 blocks away) and when we walked down the hall to maternity, I had my first hard contraction (I hung on to Todd). A nurse said, "Where have you been - we've been calling all over for you?!" I was ushered into the "pink" birthing room and had Carmen less than 2 hours later. Whew! I dare say it was the easiest birth of them all. We also laugh about the fact that all three of my kids were born in the "pink" birthing room, not that it was ever planned that way. We got the room they gave us. And when we were in on the 12th, they had put us in the "green" room, so we just figure Carmen was waiting for the "pink" room to be available. Are you familar with the photographer, Anne Geddes? Remember the "baby surrounded by pink rose petals" photo? That photo is directly across from the bed in that room and I've spent a lot of time looking at that cute baby!

So, Happy Birthday Carmen Vashti! You are the feminine bright spot in our boy-filled home. You have a quirky sense of humor that I adore (and that you inherited, I'm afraid!) And the belly laugh and giggle to go with it. I look forward to watching you grow into the girl/woman God's wants you to be.

6 comments:

Cat said...

Happy Birthday Carmen!
Hope that you all enjoy a wonderful day celebrating Carmen's birthday.

Best wishes,
Cate

Mama Self said...

Ah, birthdays. Watching my "babies" grow up a bit more each year almost seems to be painful. I have to work at reminding myself to give thanks in all things and to practice contentment, not worrying about tomorrow and when they'll leave home. (I've been thinking about that a bit lately since Katy is spending the month in Israel and Trey will be working at a camp in MS for two months this summer.) Remember when Mary had Jesus and pondered the events in her heart? That's my mission: to ponder God's goodness in the time He's allowed for our family to be together. What blessings our families are!

Anonymous said...

Hey! I found your spot over here! Very cool. Are you double posting? I'm straddling the fence so far! But I'm glad to know you're here! Happy Valentines day, friend! Thanks for your prayer! How sweet! I just nursed the babe and put her back to bed...it's QUIET!! Yee-haw! You are so kind to have really prayed! Thank you!

Leingang Family said...

Happy Birthday Carmen.

Birthdays are a great time to remember when they were little and think about the person God is shaping them into.

Melissa Stover said...

how sweet! it's so much fun to look back on those birth stories. those are the memories that are most vivid to me.

Sharon said...

Try having the birthday of your first-born on the 13th Feb and your own birthday on Valentine's Day. That's how it is in our family! We sort-of celebrate Valentine's day in the evening and birthday in the morning for me, and we do a party for my boy on the weekend before, with my party on the weekend after. But we also do two cakes, which is fun. It gets *very* complicated!
~Sharon from Equip Academy