Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Memories of a Year Ago

On a cold, snowy winter night a year ago this week, I received a phone call from my oldest daughter, with tears and fear in her voice. "Mum, the baby is coming, he's six weeks early. Can you come and stay with the boys." Of course, of course. Lloyd was out of town so I was on my own. I didn't even change out of my pyjamas but threw some overnight things in a bag, put on my coat, boots and gloves, and headed out to Lacombe after midnight, an hour and a half away. What else would a mother do?

Jenny's 4 boys (11, 9, 5 and 2) would be all right until I arrived there - they were all in bed asleep. Jenn and Anders had to head to Red Deer to the hospital before I could arrive.

Alberta's highway QE2 is not a pleasant drive in the winter, partially snow covered and dark. Luckily it's 4 lanes all the way. Once I was on the road I realized that no one knew where I was, in case anything happened. I pulled over and called the one daughter who I knew would be up working in the wee hours of the day at this busy time of year. So at least Sara knew what was going on.

I couldn't sleep once I got to Jenn's place and checked on the boys. I lay on the couch waiting for a phone call from Anders. It finally came about 2 hours after I arrived at the house. The baby was born safely and he and Jenny were doing well. Little Jammers (James Anders) was under six pounds, not the robust 8 and 9 pound babies Jenny was used to having, and was put into an incubator right away and hooked up to tubes for feeding and monitoring his breathing and other functions.



Anders got home just as the boys were stirring in their downstairs bedrooms. After talking to me for a minute or two he went down to tell the boys what had transpired while they slept. I heard the low murmur of male voices, then Jonah's excited "You mean he's born already", then a few minutes later "and Grammie's here too". They were an excited bunch that morning. Those boys love babies and were looking forward to having another brother, just not so soon.






I got to see the baby the next day - the first of ours to be premature and a bit sobering to see the tiny little body with tape and tubes on his nose and sprouting from all over it seemed. I was able to hold the precious little boy for awhile...such an emotional time. The prognosis was good from the start though so we tried not to worry too much. The family's main concern was getting him home for Christmas, and he ate and thrived so well that he made it home with a day or two to spare.





And just look at him now - a beautiful 1-year old boy, growing and developing at a wonderful rate with no apparent ill effects of his rush to get into this world. We're so glad you're here Jammers. Happy Birthday precious boy.



9 comments:

Anonymous said...

beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Well a year has gone by already! Happy Birthday to you Jammers! Your Grammie tells a lovely story of your 'birth'day!

bcgal00 Rae said...

What a great memory!

Brenna said...

Good story telling Pat...such a great memory to have

Anonymous said...

Jammers says thanks. All I really got out on the phone was, "Mum, can you come down?" and her immense spiritual gift for taking care of people filled in the rest.

Greg said...

Cute pictures, I don't think I had seen them.

Aleta said...

What a beautiful family and a heart throbbing memory - so many fears and yet... so much to hope for and look at him now. Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Dear Pat - a nice story :)
I just found all your blogs- and I am so happy to know how its going and that you all are very well :)
Its me, Kat - do you remember? Nice to see that your family is growing and growing and everyone seems to be very happy - I am glad about this!! I hope you are not too angry/sad that I didnt wrote that much - I wasnt shure about a lot, you know, but now I looked for your blogs and read what happened in the past few years and I cant just go away without writing you this message and whishinh you and the whole faily a very nice merry christmas!
I will never forget the time I stayed with you as my hostmother in your house and I thank you for everything you did for me, you know what I mean, and for shure I was and I am very sad that Emily didnt/couldnt enjoy her stay at my home in germany so much as I had hoped. You are such a wonderful person and gave me so much love and understanding that I will never forget you and the time we shared. I dont have a blog yet, and not enough time this weekend to start one because I have to learn for an exam next week at the university, so after finishing this message I will have to learn again, but I will tell you if I start a blog... Well, if you want to write me an email or something else, my email-adress is fanyo@gmx.de! Well, so I will have to learn now, and as I said:
I whish you and the whole family a very merry christmas and lot of love and regards to you and the whole family, and a big hug..!
from
Kat
=)

Greg said...

aw, you got a kat message too! cool!