14 years ago my life was forever changed. I became a mother. I will admit that I was somewhat indifferent during my pregnancy. I fretted that I would be a bad mother. I had no experience with babies whatsoever, and I was rather selfish. That all changed once I gave birth.
Katherine's was a difficult birth. I was induced on December 27th, 10 days after my due date. I spent the whole day hooked up to pitocin to no avail. That evening inserted some sort of gel into me (prostaglandin gel?), and the next morning the nurse hooked me back up to the pitocin. Then the doctor broke my water. Labor started shortly thereafter. I wanted to go drug free, but the pain proved to be more than I could handle. Turns out Katherine was face up. After 3 hours of pushing, the doctor manually turning her face down, a 3rd degree episiotomy, and a vacuum extraction Katherine was born at 5:33 PM. She weighed in at a whopping 9lbs 9oz and had a head full of black hair.
While I was pregnant I worked nights as a billing clerk at at trucking company, and Bill worked crazy hours at a grocery store. Our plan was that I would quit my job and look for one with better hours when the baby was 6 weeks old. Ha! 6 weeks stretched into 3 months into 6 months into 12 months and here she is, 14 years old, and I still haven't gone back to work. Other than a brief, disastrous stint in preschool Katherine has never been in an institutional school setting.
I discovered from a very young age that Katherine was a bit of a square peg. Rather than sending her to school and forcing her to fit into a round hole, I decided to keep her home a create a square hole that she could thrive in. It's working out pretty good.
She's not your average 14 year old girl. She has absolutely no interest in boys, fashion, or current music trends. She reads 1-2 books per day. She loves the Science Channel. Her favorite thing to study is theoretical physics. She is very into politics and knows more about current events than most adults do. She is obsessed with Pokemon and the Warriors book series.
It has been a fantastic 14 years. Raising Katherine has led me to stretch and grow in ways I never imagined possible. In some ways I almost feel like we have grown up together. I love her more than she will ever know.
Wendy
Having been present at this miraculous birth (and more to follow) I can tell you that I suffered right along with you. So did your poor dad who was sitting right outside the door! Your children won't have a clue how much you love them until they have babies of their own. By the way, do you miss that fat, currly-headed baby as much as I do?
Your loving mama
Posted by: jdm1203@bellsouth.net | January 01, 2010 at 02:47 PM