A Special Mother's Day Gift

Eight years ago today at 6:46 a.m. Mountain Standard Time after nearly 26 hours of labor, this happy smiling boy made me a mother five weeks earlier than he was expected to arrive. My water broke at 5 am on May 7th. Since he was early, they gave me drugs to slow down labor as much as possible to give him a little more time in there, which is why my labor was so long. I wasn't even having contractions when I first went in, at least none that I could feel. He weighed 6 lbs and 2 oz at five weeks early.

Because he was early, he didn't have a strong sucking reflex and couldn't nurse. So they whisked him away to the NICU and fed him through a tube that went though his nose down to his stomach. He stayed there for two weeks, until he could maintain his own body temperature, gained back his birthweight, and could eat enough in a 24 hour period through sucking. We brought him home on May 20th.

And my life has never been the same. Today I reflect on that transformation, when I left my childhood behind and had to become selfless. That is the day I had to put someone else's needs above my own. And today, we get to celebrate him turning eight as well as the day I became a mother. He won't be baptized for almost another month, but it's hard to believe that my oldest child is already eight years old.

Here he is a couple weeks ago on Easter helping me out by giving a bottle to his baby brother. They are seven years, ten months, and five days apart. He has been such a wonderful big brother to all his younger siblings, so I know there is a reason he came first.

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mothers out there!