Denali's 7!

7 years ago today I was entering the labor and delivery unit of Providence hospital in Anchorage, AK. The reality and uncertainty of parenthood still not within my grasp. We were full of excitement and a good dose of healthy fear. I had a great pregnancy and enjoyed every part of it, even the morning sickness. We would talk to the baby, Jesse would rub my belly nightly with a cocoa butter bar and watch my growing tummy as the baby moved and kicked. I had longed for a baby and now was about to know the joy of birth. I was strapped with machines and tubes, which I didn't understand the logic in all that but looked past it to the result. I had music playing in the background and focused on a tape case set up on the wall. Family would come and go. My parents stayed through it all. I think that relieved Jesse, who had to go for a drink of water/coke, not sure what but after seeing the nurse put an IV in my arm he went white real quick! I asked him to get get some air so that he could help me later. Labor progressed slowly and wouldn't you know it the doctor suggested pitocin and a epideral when I was 7 cm. Looking back it now I wish I would have just told him no and went with the flow. Oh well, by 6pm that evening our beautiful baby girl was born and the rest didn't matter. I have heard mothers and there admoration of their children at this moment, but got to experience ,first hand, the immensity of that emotion and extreme love a person can have for another human being.
The last 7 years I have cherished and stored away many memories of this miracle I call Denali. She is imaginative, exploratory, spirited, creative, and a blessing. I am thankful to be called her mother and feel unworthy of such a task but know that God is giving me what she needs to be who she is called to be. So here's to Denali and the years to come!
Happy Birthday