20 years ago

Today my first baby turned 20.

From the day he was born Ian was determined and self willed. He was three weeks late when they finally decided to do something about getting him out. There I was, lying in a hospital bed, upset that I was disappointing my natural childbirth instructor, while they pasted sensors on my belly and prepped me for induction, but before the nurse could even get the IV started Ian did a little flip and suddenly alarms were sounding. The umbilical cord was pinched and they couldn't find a heart beat. Within a minute my room was full of staff. I have a vivid memory of a harried, gray haired Asian nurse telling another nurse to stop messing with the monitor and get a doctor NOW. For the first time I really appreciated our HMO insurance that forced me to give birth at a huge teaching hospital rather than the newly remodeled birthing suite at the little local hospital... because there was an obstetrician on the floor and I was wheeled into surgery (as the bossy nurse cursed the new-fangled birthing bed that didn't roll fast enough) immediately. The last thing I remember was telling the surgeon "His name is Ian." as they knocked me out and delivered him... a mere six minutes after the alarms started going off. He was in amazingly good shape for a baby that required an emergency cesarean. I wasn't in such good shape but I survived. Everyone joked that Ian had decided he wasn't going to go through that labor crap and just found another exit... I wonder if we set the stage for a life of doing things his own way?

Nah.. he really was that determined.

Happy Birthday Ian!