Happy Birthday Sam!

Today is a big day around our house! My oldest boy is 7 today! It's so hard to believe he is getting so big! It seems like just yesterday he was born & now it's been 7 years! I can well remember the day I found out I was pregnant! It was such a amazing thing for me since we didn't know if we would ever be able to have kids! After I had been dx with Endometriosis & went in for a 2nd surgery. We knew that the Endometriosis was bad but we didn't know that I could have to lose one of my ovaries. So when I woke up from surgery I was told by the nurse that they had to take my right ovary. I just remember being so devastated thinking there was no way I would be able to have kids. The GD & I were engaged by this time but I just remember thinking there is no way I can let this man marry me when I probably won't be able to give him any children. Of course he told me that was not the most important thing & if we weren't meant to have our own biological children then we would adopt. But it still ate away at me. The second night I was in the hospital my Mom had gone home & I was alone. Now of course who can sleep in those places! So in the bedside table I found a Gideon Bible. And I immediately went to the story of Hannah & Samuel. I cried & cried reading through Hannah's story knowing it could be similar to mine. I prayed & begged the Lord to allow me to have just 1 child with my husband. I felt a peace wash over me & I knew God was telling me that He would give us a child & were were to name our firstborn Samuel or Hannah. I swear it was as if the Lord himself stood at the end of my hospital bed & told me. It was the middle of the night & I could hardly wait to call my soon-to-be hubby to tell him. I am sure he thought I was crazy at the time but I just knew! When we got married several doctors told us it would take us years to get pregnant IF we could at all! And sure enough in God's timing (and sense of humor I might add) 3 months later we were pregnant!

After what seemed like just a few months (& yet 5 weeks early) Sam decided it was time to make his debut. It was our 1st anniversary & I was HUGE! I felt miserable & didn't want to do anything! It was a Sunday morning & the GD had to go to church to run the slides for graduation Sunday. I remember getting up off the couch & feeling like I was leaking. And I thought am I peeing on myself? But I remembered reading in What to Expect when your Expecting that a lot of the time when your water breaks it's a small trickle. So I thought maybe I was in labor. I called my doctor's office & they told me I should go to the hospital & be check out. I start calling David & couldn't get him on the phone. I finally had to call the church & get someone to find him to call me back. I remember the sound of Davids voice so frantic trying to get home to me! It's so funny how we thought I needed to be at the hospital so fast! Little did we know it would be 30 hrs before we would get to meet our firstborn!

I stayed at 2 cm for 24 hrs & on Pitocin, before I finally got my epidural. And then they finished breaking my water at about 9 AM Monday morning. By noon I was at 8 cm & then by about 1:45 I was 10 cm. I pushed for 15 minutes before the nurses told me to stop that he was coming too quick. I remember that was the only time I snapped at David because the nurses kept telling me to stop pushing. But as most of you Mommy's would agree, it's almost involuntary that your body pushes. I couldn't stop! David looked at me & said "Baby they need you to stop pushing." I snapped my head around to him & said "SHUT UP!" (I apologized later!) At 2:12 pm May 19th Samuel Philip made his debut & made me a Mommy for the first time! He weighed 5lbs 15oz & was 19.5 inches long! He had to be taken to the NICU after I got to hold him about 30 seconds because he was struggling to breathe. He stayed for the next week before he finally got to come home! And since then he has been the light of my life!

Sam-Man I can't believe you are 7 today! You have gotten to be so big & you are the best blessing I could have ever asked for! You are headed into 2nd grade & I am so thankful you love school so much. I hope that last! I so love hearing you read & figure out what words mean! I can't think of anything better than when you walk up to me & say "I love you Mommy!" Or when you give me a hug or kiss. I know those days are numbered before you want nothing to do with me so I am enjoying them while I can! You are so much like your Daddy! Everything from temperament to your artistic side & I know he loves that. You mean the world to your Daddy & Mommy & we are blessed to call you our son! While I don't wish away these years, I can't wait to see the man you become for God. I pray daily for your future, for your wife, for your life. But most of all I pray for you to know Christ as your Savior, knowing there is no true life without Him! You are the first sweet miracle that made me a Mommy & no one can ever take that away!
Happy Birthday sweet boy! I love you to the moon & back!

"For this child I prayed & the Lord has heard my cry!"
1 Samuel 1:27

Cass