Celebrate Today and Every Day (and a personal share)

Tomorrow my beautiful daughter is going to be 6 years old!  It's hard to imagine when you sit down and think about it, the time does go by so fast!  I don't even want to think about her getting older, boyfriends, moving out of the house....how weird!  My card is coming up next, followed by a sad and then funny story about her birth, so stick around if you want to.

Paper: cardstock (PTI); designer paper (Echo Park)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black; Copics
Stamps: The Greeting Farm; Paper Smooches
Other: Glossy Accents; Stickles; dimensional foam adhesive; sewing

Six years ago tomorrow was a tough day for us!  I was in South Africa, my husband was in Paris, in a taxi, driving to the airport for his normal trip home.  I had been in hospital for what seemed forever, because I went into premature labour.  I remember that Friday, the 9th of December 2005, I was sitting up in bed, feeling not quite myself, different to what I had been feeling the last month or so in hospital.  Almost like I was coming down with the flu.  I couldn't shake it off, I felt cold and "weird".  All my vital signs were the same as they had been, no fever, nothing different on the monitors.

I got out of bed and decided to pace the corridor, it was around 5h30pm.  One of the nurses came up to me, and she touched my arm, and, the floodgates just opened, tears that is, tears because I was not feeling well and I was frustrated because I did not know why!  Do you ever get like that?

Well, needless to say, by 7pm I was in the operating theatre and moments later my daughter was born.  I'll save you all the other traumatic details, save it to say that Natasha only came home from the ICU on the 1st of January 2006!

But in hindsight I can look at that last hour before going to theatre and really, really laugh!  The gynae was called, he did his thing and told me there was no time to waste, it's me or the baby, we go to theater NOW!  I proceeded to become the MOST unreasonable person on planet earth!  (And I AM a medical person!).  I refused, I screamed, I swore, I shouted....what was he thinking, my husband was in a taxi, in 13 or so hours he would be home and he could be here and witness the birth of our baby....oh no...I pulled out my cell phone and got hold of Michael, he wanted to speak to the doctor and basically told him not to listen to me and do what he needed to do!

Ok, so now, I capitulate, but I am not going through this alone, oh no....I need to round up some support....my sister lived a 20 minutes drive away, my best friend was 5 minutes drive away but was entertaining business guests from India for dinner at her house...I just told them that probably only one of them would be allowed in theatre with me, so first come, first serve.

Now I am in theatre, waiting to see who would win this race!  My friend makes it first, yippee, at least I am not on my own.  About ten minutes later, after the epidural, a green garbed "person" with glasses comes in. I have no idea who this is, they are greeting me so sweetly and I say, "and who are you?"!  Umh, it's my sister!  Double yippee!  One on each side.

If you are still with me, this is the funny part.  The C-section barely begins and my friend says she is feeling light headed, so I, round up some forces and shout instructions to bring a chair, let her sit down, take some deep breaths, and I am rubbing her hand gently in the hope she feels better soon, not 2 seconds later, on my other side, my sister says, "oh gosh, I think I am going to faint, I feel sick"....ok, another chair please, breathe through your nose, nice deep breaths sis, just keep breathing.....

You see, there is always another side to things.  I was so glad to be with people I love. Natasha is as perfect as any child out there.  My husband was at the hospital within an hour of landing.  All is good!

Thank you for sticking around.  I'm trying to think of why I decided to share this today....I think that it's because when I think about my Natasha I beleive in miracles...and I just wanted you to know that miracles do happen!

Warm hugs!