Today my "baby" is fifteen years old.Wow, do I feel old.
I can remember when she was born like it was yesterday.....
We once again had a July birth...so Kristie had to do the worst part of the pregnancy in the hottest part of the year. (We've never been all that good at planning). Kelly didn't really have any idea what was going on...hardly a shock since she was only 24 months old! Our vision was to have Kelly sleep in the "nursery" for a few months and then she would move into the loft that my dad & I had just converted to a bedroom. But initially, the baby would be sleeping in our room. So we had it all set up and ready to go...we just needed a baby.
Since we were veterans at the whole birth thing, we operated at a much more relaxed pace. Kristie woke up on the morning of the 16th and was pretty sure that it was the day. So she showered, checked on Kelly and then woke me up. I (seriously) casually got up, showered, fed the dog and the cat, got Kelly up and we proceeded to drop her off at Grandma's...and then headed to the hospital. Because of health insurance, we had to go to Swedish hospital, so it was a longer drive, but again, no rush....
We checked in around 10AM, got all situated and Kristie was doing fine. So remembering two years ago, I figured it'd be many hours until baby time, Kristie was in good hands and I was hungry. So I cut out to grab a bite to eat and maybe screw around to kill some time. Swedish Hospital in Denver is located by what was then a mall called Cinderella City. At one time, this was the retail center of the Denver metro, but in 1992, it was on the decline. But it still had the obligatory selection of fast food (I chose Burger King) and still had a mall...but it wasn't what it used to be. But it had been years since I walked around in it and (you can tell how long ago this was...I actually didn't mind (much) walking around a mall). So after I chowed down on a BK Chicken Sandwich and some fries (health food...), I decided I go cruise the mall for old time sakes. But for some reason as I headed over there, I thought I should probably check in to the hospital first. This was before the era of cell phones (at least for Kristie & I) so I could only check in physically. So I bopped over to the hospital again to see how things were going.
When I walked into the room, Kristie was doing fine. We exchanged those numbers that about-to-be parents exchange like experts: contractions, dialation, effacing...all that stuff that now fifteen years later I have no idea really what they mean. But I do remember one thing still: this baby was about to happen. Good thing I decided to stop by...
So about 10 minutes or so and the "baby team" mobilized and I took my obligatory seat in the front row, ready for the show. I whipped out the video camera, set to document the birth...careful to remain shooting only Kristie's face...there are some things that we all good live without capturing on video! A few minutes of labor and she was ready to push. In literally a couple more minutes I remember the nurse screeching out that she could see a lot of hair on the babies head. A minute or two later, the baby was about half way out (not trying to be gross here...) and the same nurse decided that all that hair could only mean that this was a boy, since it looked like a "boy's head of hair" or something like that. When the rest of the baby appeared, she immediately realized the mistake of that statement, since it was obvious that Kristie and I were the proud parents of another daughter. Our nurse friend then picked her up to clean her up and described her as a "cute little peanut". And that's how my little girl got her nickname of Peanut.
So happy 15th birthday Peanut...I'm so glad you came to live with us all those years ago!