Kelly Megan is 17 years old today. Kelly Megan is 17 years old today. Kelly Megan is 17 years old today. Maybe if I keep repeating it, it won't be true. Having a fifteen year old "baby" is one thing.Having a 17 year old child of any kind is another. Just a minute ago we were playing with stuffed animals before going to 1st grade. Just a minute ago we were watching silly movies together and giggling...oh wait...we still do that! Just a minute ago I was taking care of this baby while Kristie would cruise to her weekend job. I remember thinking "what on Earth am I doing....being in charge of a human being?" I still think that...but now that human being is 17 years old, getting ready to take her SAT's and be a "grown up".
I remember when Kristie was pregnant with our first baby, we didn't know or want to know the sex, but truth be told, I was certain that it was a boy. Kristie would talk occasionally about names and I don't really remember the choices for girls...because his name wasn't going to be "Lindsey" or whatever. His name was going to be Peter or maybe Benjamin. About the only reason for Peter is that my dad's nickname is Pete...so good enough I figured. But that's about all remember...other than I hoped he'd be a left handed closer in major leagues....
The couple of weeks preceding Kelly's birth were hot...wicked hot. Kristie would pour herself out of the bus (she took the bus to her job downtown up to the very end) and we'd whisk off to one of two exotic locales: the mall or the movie theater. It was all about the A/C. We saw a lot of movies in those last couple of weeks and I didn't loathe being at the mall nearly as much as I do now! And to top it off, she was late. I think there's nothing worse than the first child being late...you've got a couple of unknowing and overthinking parents-to-be, absolutely stressing over the fact that their child is late. In hindsight, the whole pregnancy thing is such a bunch of guess work...the fact that they get it right as often as they do is a pretty nifty accomplishment.
It was cooling off a little, so on the night of the 20th of July, we stayed home & watched a movie (Mystic Pizza) and then we called it a night. While I was busy sleeping, Kristie was up dealing with labor, and ended up staying awake almost all night. Finally around 6AM or so, she woke me up and told me it was time. It wasn't one of those Hollywood style, frantic husband running around and forgetting the wife scenes, but I do recall "stepping lively" to get out the door. We cruised over to the hospital, only a couple of miles away from our little house. They were doing construction on Broadway at the time and there were these ruts running perpendicular to the lanes...I will always remember the jolt that our little Honda Civic experienced and Kristie's less than thrilled expression.
We made it there on time though. They checked us in and Kristie was not in a good place. The baby wasn't imminent and she was very wiped out. So she made the decision to have an epidural. Kind of a goofy reason, but she wanted to get some sleep. In hindsight, the epidural and it's related drugs probably delayed the birth, but she did get in a nap. So I did the only thing I knew how to do: I split and got some food. And rented some videos...they had a nice TV & VCR in the hospital room, I was just trying to keep Kristie entertained! I returned with a few nice vids (Field of Dreams, Everybody's All American and Fletch) and we, well I, sat back and watched TV while Kristie snoozed.
And we waited. My parents showed up sometime after dinner, still no baby (this was their 2nd and the first one that were present for!) The evening got later, and later. And then finally, near midnight, it was time. But the baby still wasn't quite ready. So Doctor Lee showed up, a little groggy but still ready for business. It was late, Kristie had been in labor for a long time and we had the baby's health to worry about now. So he decided to use the old-fashioned forceps, to shoe-horn the baby out (his exact analogy). And that's exactly what he did. And a few minutes later, around 12:35AM on July 22, our baby came into this world.
It was quite a night, and it's been quite an adventure ever since. My little girl has grown up into a beautiful young lady. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful daughter. Happy Birthday Kel-Bell.