I'm going to post about what we do these next two Saturdays for his day but not now. Right now I want to remember when he was born. For each of our children, we found out we were expecting them in the midst of some sort of turmoil in our lives. REH's news came when we were living with my sister-in-law because our house had been flooded by the air conditioner. Our house had mold that needed to be cleaned and rotted floors that needed to be replaced. On top of that, my husband was trying to finish his degree. He had this one class that had been hanging over his/our head/heads before he could officially receive his degree. He HAD to finish it by a certain date because the catalog was about to change and then he would need more than just that one class. He had a huge paper to finish for the class...away from our own home...with a wife beginning to feel completely exhausted and blah...and he was commuting an hour to work. So this is the condition our family was in when we found out we were expecting: displaced and stressed.
Otherwise, my pregnancy with him went very well. My first pregnancy ended with pregnancy-induced hypertension and we had decided to induce at 37 weeks. My pregnancy with REH had no symptoms of hypertension. The only complaint I had at 37 weeks was that we had decided to not find out if he was a boy or girl and I was getting TERRIBLY impatient to know!
On April 1st, 2005 I was at the end of my 40th week of being pregnant. I had been 3-4cm and 80% effaced for the last two weeks (felt like 2 years) and I was ready to go. I had been having contractions for the night before but I knew they weren't productive enough. I had called my midwife but she told me to go back to sleep. Even though I new I was not far along in labor, I called my midwife the next morning to come to the house and I called my sister-in-law to come and get TJH. Turns out, the midwife had felt bad that she had not come the night before and she had come and sat in my driveway for most of the night so that she would be there as soon as I needed her.
My labor and delivery with REH was the most intense that I have had. It was downright painful at times. Not dull, labor pain like usual but stabbing, "OUCH GET THIS THING OUTTA ME!" kind of pain. A thunderstorm blew in that evening and as the lights started to flicker in my bedroom from the thunder and lighting, my little one was born. He was a nice, healthy 8'4" kid.
The next two months were very rough. We dealt with a misdiagnosed case of thrush that became out of control. As soon as that was properly diagnosed and treated though we could see that we had another sweet little boy.
REH was a late talker but as soon as he was able to speak well at 3 he didn't mind to assert his rights. If interrupted you could expect to receive the reproof: "HEY! I AM TALKING!!" He has loved orange and tigers for as long as I can remember. He enjoys going to the gym with his Daddy and he loves to run. He also likes to act like he is a farmer, that is until a bee flies around him and then he is done with the outdoors. REH is a child that will correct us, his Mom and Dad, if we are not being gentle with each other. And he is becoming more and more thoughtful about God and his sin and how God forgives our sin because of Christ. REH never fails to pray for more siblings (OK, specifically sisters). He has always been very protective of his siblings and has always wanted to touch the babies all the time...specifically their ears!!
