November 19, 2000- A Day I Shall I Never Forget....

My sweet little Benjamin is growing up. He is almost as big as Nathaniel, despite the more than three years difference in age. (His initials DO spell BIG after all) He is very smart and very strong. (Not very brave, but we are trying to work on that one) He is sweet and tenderhearted. An all-around great kid. And he is eight.
Let me tell you about the day he was born. He was due to be born December 3rd. Aww... a sweet little Christmas baby. We were actually a little worried what we going to do if he was born the same day as our church Christmas play, since Mark was in a special song. (Benjamin actually got to play Jesus in the Christmas play :-)) That was a non-issue after all. He came a bit early on November 19th. It was a Sunday. The Sunday before Thanksgiving. (I have never been so thankful to not be pregnant in my life)
That Saturday, I could not sleep. I stayed up all night cleaning the house. Especially the kitchen. I rearranged things, mopped the floor, scrubbed things... you get the idea. Then I stretched out on the love seat and propped up my swollen feet. (about 5:00 am) A few hours later I woke up with a weird feeling. I stood up, walked in to the kitchen, and my water broke. Right on the floor I had just mopped. I got a roll of paper towels and threw them over the big mess. Then I went to get Mark up. In my flusteredness, I have to admit I was a little snappy. I said "Aren't you going to get up?!?!?" He looked at me dazed and said "What time is it?" I told him was 8:00. He wanted to know why I was getting him up so early. (we lived very close to church so he was not going to get up until 9:00) I snapped "My water broke-we need to get to the hospital!"
So he gets up and showers (yeah, he stopped to take a shower)while I am calling my parents to get them to get Nathaniel. No answer. I called a few more times, still no answer. So I called Mark's parents. Mark was not sure what time he'd be able to eat, so he warmed up some pizza from the night before and got a thermos of tea. As we are about to leave the phone rings. We answered to hear Mark's mother say "Have you been outside?"
Well, I would BE outside if you weren't calling right this moment! "No, why?" I ask. There was SNOW ON THE GROUND!!!!! I kid you not. Snow. In November. In Alabama. I have lived here many Novembers. That is the only one I can EVER remember having snow in it. Not only was it snowing, but it was COLD in order to accommodate the snow. We got to the hospital and discovered, TA DA-they were doing a construction project and had the emergency entrance blocked!!! (is that LEGAL????) So, we had to park not right by the door, to put it mildly. Nothing like walking across a parking lot in freezing weather soaked with amniotic fluid. Not the kind of thing you forget easily. So the day of his birth was very unusual for us. We have laughed many times about my way of waking Mark up. Also about the fact that even though I was in labor, I had to hold my husband's pizza and tea going down the road. And we have had many MANY laughs from the young man whose middle name (Isaac) means laughter. Happy Birthday, Benjamin!!