Bittersweet

A year ago today, I know exactly where I was sitting and what I was doing...or should I say eating. Jay and I had grabbed lunch at Chic-fil-a when my cell phone rang. It was the hospital calling to tell me that I needed to show up at 7:00, so they could begin the inducement process. Solon was a week overdue!

We were sitting there at the table, and we called all 3 of our parents to tell them to get on the road and get ready. Jay and I rushed home. I had some last minute things to take care of and Jay wanted to go up to the office for a couple of hours. So Jay left, and my first order of business was to make a gigantic bowl of chocolate ice cream. Very important...way more important than making sure I had my bags packed...or that the dogs had plenty of water. So, I was sitting at the dining room table eating my ice cream when my phone rang. It was the hospital. "We have moved up your arrival time to 4:00 pm." What!!!?? I called Jay and told him to come home immediately. I called my mom and dad and told them that I was heading in a few hours earlier. And then grabbed some tinfoil, covered my half-eaten bowl of ice cream and stashed it in the freezer.

Jay and I were situated in the delivery room when everyone started arriving. My dad, mom, Ann & Janie. We all sat around, chatted and took photos. I ate bits of fruit while everyone else stared at the monitor to watch for contractions. By about midnight, the contractions were pretty tough to sit through, so we all said goodbye for the night.

It was a long night of the nurse rotating me from side to side, so I hardly slept a wink. All the family arrived bright and early the next morning and waited for Solon's arrival! I didn't find out what I was having so once Solon was born Jay ran out to the waiting room to tell everyone. "It's a boy!" My dad got so excited and said "It's a boy!" My mom, who can't hear that well at times, turned around to him and said"Who told you!?" I think my mom thought that we DID know what we were having and had let my dad in on the secret. The confusion got cleared up quickly, and then everyone came into the room to meet him:)

The following day I got a big treat. I was lying in bed, and in strolls my dad. He had gotten up early in order to beat all the grandmothers to the hospital, so he could have some alone time with me and Solon. Janie showed up too. She had left the grandmothers at our house while they did tons of cooking and cleaning. So it was just the 4 of us for several hours. My dad held Solon for a long time, and I could hear him whispering to him. "You are going to be so strong. You are going to be so smart." He then told me that he knew babies, and I had myself a very beautiful baby. I recall snippets of our conversations. Mostly, I just remember how happy I was sitting there with them.

While in the hospital, we all spent dinner time together. One of the nights, my dad and Jay went out to pick up Chinese and some pear flavored faux-champagne for a toast. We all sat around and ate, and I think this is when the story came out. My dad started laughing and told me that he, my mom and Ann had found that bowl of ice cream in the freezer. I was busted. "Did you honestly think you were going to come back home and eat that ice cream?" my dad asked. I laughed.

(The top two photos are from the day I spent with Daddy, Janie & Solon. The 3rd photo was the first time my dad held Solon. The last photo was the night everyone arrived in Atlanta.)