Birthday Girl

Today is Alexa's birthday; she is seven now. All of my children's birthdays are special and sentimental in their own right. The birth of our first child where everything about it was a first; the last one because we knew it would be the last and they were twins. But, Alexa's is the most emotional of all of them.

She came five weeks early with no signs prior to my water breaking at the doctor's office while waiting to meet him for the first time. (We had just moved to our new town two weeks before.) I think my appointment was about this time 10-10:30 AM on a Wednesday. Rob had come along to help with Robbie and to meet the new guy too. We'd had to wait a long time, and Rob was about ready to give up and go back to work (at his new job) because he had a meeting he shouldn't miss. However before he left, my water broke and things started moving more quickly from there. Even though a lot happened fast in the few hours between waiting in that exam room to the time Alexa was actually delivered, I remember everything very clearly. And, that isn't even the emotional part!

During her second Apgar check, the nurses found Alexa's heart rate was racing and nothing they tried over the next hour or two was fixing it. A helicopter was called in and she was flown to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis who had a pediatric cardiologist on staff and a NICU equipped for such issues. Within 24 hours, they had her in good shape with just the use of medication. On Saturday morning, we got to take her home. We continued to give her medication until she was eight months old with cardiologist check-ups every two or three months. There has never been any indication of additional troubles; for that we are extremely thankful!

I only got to hold her once for a couple of minutes -about two hours AFTER she was born- before she was flown to the other hospital. We did baptize her before she left; a pastor from the local Lutheran church whom I had just met earlier that day while waiting to deliver came and baptized her while she was already in her special crib box to be transported. The nurse from the helicopter was there for that and prayed with us, and I remember thinking how special that was. I was released from the hospital on Friday morning (way too early for c-section delivery) so I could go to St. Louis, so on Friday afternoon (two days after she was born), I got to hold her again and nurse her for the first time. Like I said, they kept her one more day, taught us how to give her medicine, gave us a stethoscope, told us things to watch for, and sent us on our way.

Whew- it's been seven years, but I remember those moments like they happened yesterday.

Happy Birthday, Alexa!