i don't have a great memory by any means, but i remember Jan. 27, 2005 like it was yesterday.
my mom, my mother-in-law, and grandma-in-law [nini] were visiting us in colorado from texas as we anxiously awaited the arrival of our first baby. a girl. on this day 4 years ago, the 5 of us went to the mall. it was cold outside. it was a thursday and hubs took off of work to spend time with us. the mall was not his favorite place to go, but we were on a mission: have a baby. and walking the mall somehow seemed like a natural way of inducing labor. so we did. we walked. and shopped. and at one point - in the middle of the mall - i was doing squats, coached by hubs and cheered on by mom, mil & nini, nicknamed that week "the dream team."
that night we celebrated a belated Christmas. we had our traditional spaghetti dinner and opened presents. we got a fleece throw with a snowman on it from aunt debbie. that's how vividly i remember this day.
after dinner, the dream team put in a dvd and popped open a bottle [or two] of wine. hubs made me an Oreo milkshake. i downed it and shyly asked for seconds. he happily obliged.
i was stuffed and exhausted, and not interested in the movie they were watching, so hubs and i went upstairs to go to bed.
a few hours into dreamland and i was rudly awoken by the worst cramping ever. contractions. i fought thru the pain. i breathed. i moaned and groaned. i gripped the edge of the bed.
hubs called in my prescription for sleeping pills, prescriped by dr. ross on Jan. 25 because braxton hicks were causing me to lose some sleep. i had no idea then what i'd be going thru now.
at midnight hubs hit the walgreens drive-thru to pick up my drugs. i stayed in bed and experienced the worst pain i'd felt in my entire life. i took the pills and slept 3-5 minutes between the contractions. all the while totally oblivious [or in denial] that THIS WAS LABOR.
somewhere between 5 and 6 am hubs told me we had to go to the hospital. i think i was waiting for the pain to just go away. i think hubs was the only one in that bedroom that night who knew the only way thing i could do to make the pain go away was have a baby. why that thought didn't occur to me i don't know - maybe my brain shut down so my body could take over and fight thru the pain. if so, it worked.
at a little after 7am on Jan. 28, after a couple of pushes, with no pain reliever, an on-call doctor, and a handful of angels [nurses], our precious daughter was born. just barely 6lbs. pink and healthy, "cute as a button," so we put that phrase on her birth announcement.
a gift from God. my unconditional love, joy, and happiness personified.
happy 4th birthday Big Girl. i love you, and i'll always remember this day. it was, afterall, the best day of my life. 
