August 19, 2005

• Happy Birthday AllieMcNally!
  
  

  I remember feeling like the only walking whale on the planet stranded in Phoenix Arizona in August.  Praying to God to please just let me have this baby.  We were in the middle of a heat wave, the temperature was hovering at 112 degrees Fahrenheit.  Then after a day spent at what Arizonans laughingly call a lake it happened.  The first twinge.  At first I thought I imagined it, but it didn’t stop.  So I gathered my things, told my sister I needed to get going and without saying anything I went home.  I still wasn’t convinced it was true labor.  About 5 hours later I was a little more convinced.  Still, I never had those five minute apart contractions that everyone talks about, mine came when they wanted to.  Sometimes every ten minutes, then a minute, then 4 or 5.  Hmm, I thought to myself, is this really it?
  To this day I don’t know why I didn’t call one of my 3 sisters or my mom, but I didn’t, I instead went to a neighbors’ house.  She had 2 kids and I figured she would know what was going on.  Bear was working the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift at Luke Air Force Base and I was to excited to sleep so off I went.  She confirmed what I thought……the dreaded labor.  I immediately started to get scared.  And the bargaining that went on in my head……..Dear God, I will gladly stay the size of a whale forever if you don’t make me go into labor.  Yes, I was that afraid of the pain I knew was coming.  But God in his infinite wisdom let the pain roll on. 
  Martha was the kind of friend that didn’t care that I showed up on her doorstep at 1 a.m. she sat with me and kept me calm until Bear showed up at 7:30, he had got home and figured out pretty quick where I was even though I didn’t leave a note.  We went home talking about whether or not it was true labor because I still wasn’t having the expected every 5 min contractions.  We decided it wasn’t after all.  So he jumped in the shower, I got ready for bed.  He was standing at the foot of the bed and I sat up and said “well I guess I fooled you huh?”  And as soon as the words left my mouth, my water broke.   So that settled the question of labor pretty quick.   Poor man, by then he had already been awake for 16 hours and here we were heading for the Base hospital. 

  
  

  Things went downhill from there.  I renewed my bargaining with God.   I went thru all the humiliations they used to do in the dark ages, you know shaving, enema, stupid stuff that women now days don’t have to go thru while having contractions.  Then finally I got a bed of my own.   Bear never left my side from that moment on, a better coach and partner could not be found on this planet.  Neither one of us had had any sleep since the day before and I still wasn’t having regular contractions so they hooked me up to a monitor and gave me pitocin to speed labor.  I thought great, hell yeah, let’s get this over with.  Ha,ha!  What they fail to tell you is it greatly increases contraction strength, thus pain is increased as well.  I stayed in third stage labor for the next 5 hours.  During this time we could hear from across the hallway another woman in labor.  She cussed her husband, the doctor, the nurses and every person that walked by the door.  I remember one good one clearly.  She said to her husband…”If you ever touch me again you son of a bitch, I’ll kill you.”  For some reason this embarrassed me no end.  I apologized every 5 seconds to Bear, I apologized to the nurses, my mom and both of my sisters.  Every time someone came near me I apologized over the wails coming from the room across the hall.  By 6:15 p.m. I was trying to push.  This time I was telling God, “please get her out of me, please, please!”  So he did.  At 7:14 p.m. on August 19th 1982 in Phoenix, Arizona the best daughter in the world was born.   A gift from God above, a miracle if I’ve ever seen one.  From the minute I laid eyes on her it was the deepest and truest love I’ve ever felt in my life.  The only thing that will ever match it was the day my second daughter was born.  I thought my heart couldn’t possibly hold anymore love and I was proven wrong.  They are the embodiment of all that is the best and worst of Bear and me.  And we see their flaws and we see their strengths and we love them all the more for them both. 

  
  

  My wish for her today is that everyone click on the AlliMcNally link at the top of the page and go wish her a Happy Birthday.  Spread a little cheer and celebrate!

  
  

   

  
  

  And to you Allison, I wish for you today what I have wished for you every day since that day 23 years ago.  I hope you find happiness and contentment in whatever  you choose to be and wherever you are.   I Love you! mom.

  
  

   

  • 2:22 am
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