I woke up this morning thinking about what was happening on this very morning at 6:57AM 26 years ago. I gave birth to our beautiful baby girl, TeaRae. She was 8 pounds 10 ounces and 21 inches long. She was born with the umbilical cord around her neck and wasn't breathing. We were terrified! What seemed like forever, but, was probably less than a minute, we finally heard her cry. Then we cried with joy and thanked God for saving our little baby girl.
I was remembering the joy and excitement that I felt when I found out that we were pregnant.
Raymond and I had been trying to have a baby and it wasn't happening the way "I" thought it would or should. After we went for fertility testing and it was confirmed that nothing was stopping me from conceiving, and that we needed to just relax, let go, and let God.
Within another month...It HAPPENED!
We were living in Hawaii at the time. Raymond worked hard and long hours. Matthew was in kindergarten and Briana in pre-school. I was determined to do everything right with this pregnancy. I had quit smoking three months before I conceived. Thank you, God! I was trying to eat healthy and get plenty of exercise. I had been in recovery for over 2 years at this point. I was feeling great!
We had been in Hawaii for a little over a year and I was missing home and all my people. I loved our time in paradise but, you can only go so far on an island. I was 4 months pregnant when we decided to move back to California. Matt and Briana were happy to be back home too.
My amazing friend, Laura, tells me all the time, that I got my personality while I was pregnant with TeaRae. I'm not sure if that is a dig or what? I thought I was always funny. Guess not. LOL
I remember it was a Monday evening, May 31, 1993 (Memorial Day). I had returned home from a women's meeting. Raymond and I were in our room talking. I was laying on my side on our bed when all of a sudden I felt a pop and instantly felt it! My water had just broke.
I called my mom and the the rest of the family to let them know that we were headed to Kaiser in Vallejo.Matt and Briana were being babysat by one of their Aunts and we were on our way to finally meet our baby girl. I felt an urgency to get to the hospital, thinking that this was my third child so it would most likely go quickly.
I wanted to have a natural birth so I asked that I not be given any medication. I wanted the whole experience. Man, was that a dumb move! It was 10 1/2 hours later before little miss TeaRae decided to join us.
These past 26 years have been amazing, beautiful, hard, sad, encouraging, eventful, scary, awesome, and I would do it all over again. The time goes by so quickly. I can't really wrap my head around the fact that our baby is a beautiful and amazing woman who has built a wonderful life.
Thank you TeaRae for being such a positive example of love, compassion, honesty, and beauty in this world that looks so ugly at times. I'm honored and blessed to be your mom. I love you!
