A day to remember

Today is my daughter, Mary Elizabeth's first birthday!






The first time I saw your face



When I look at Mary Beth, I see hundreds of prayers answered. I see God's love for me and his desire to open the floodgates of blessings on me.

Growing up, I always wanted a daughter. My mother and I are very close, and I desperately wanted that same relationship with a daughter of my own. Through God's infinite wisdom, he blessed me with two sons first. Although I felt a pang of sadness when I found out they were boys, the moment they were born, I wouldn't have traded either one of them for all the pink dressed, bow headed, doll holding, tea party throwing girls in the world. I loved them dearly, but there was always a part of me that wanted a daughter.

On December 10, 2003, Thomas's 2nd birthday, I was sitting in a Beth Moore bible study and the question was asked, "What is the deepest desire in your heart?" I confessed that I wanted a daughter in addition to my two sons. That somehow I didn't feel completely whole without her. The very next day, I found out I was pregnant with Mary Elizabeth!



My pregnancy was happily uneventful. I survived the last trimester of pregnancy by spending a lot of time at the pool and even went to Schlitterbahn twice. At the beginning of August, I told my doctor that I was tired of being pregnant and he agreed to induce me on either Thursday, Aug 12 or Friday Aug 13. I told him that I did not want my daughter to be born on Friday the 13th! He laughed and agreed to induce me on Thursday August 12. I also thought that this would be a nice birthday, because it was my great aunt's (my grandmother's sister) 90th birthday.

Bryon went out of town the week of my induction because he had a meeting he couldn't miss. He took the boys down to Conroe and I had 4 days to relax and get ready for the birth. Bryon came home on Wednesday night and Thursday morning around 1 a.m. I started having contractions.



By the time I went to the hospital at 5:30, I had been having regular contractions for a few hours. My doctor checked me at 7 and said I was still a 1 and I would more than likely be there all day long. By 9 a.m. I was in serious misery and the anesthesiologist came in to give me an epidural. This is when the fainting incident occurred that I blogged about previously! The epidural didn't take, and I was sweating and wanting to pull my hair out with the doctor asking, "Did you feel that?" I wanted to kill him.


She's here!
Finally around 9:50 the doctor agreed to do another epidural because the first didn't take. The nurse checked me and said I was a 5. Bryon called my mom to tell her she better hurry up and get to the hospital. I was still in misery, the worst pain I have ever experienced, and the doctor saying, "Did you feel that?"

The nurse checked me at 10 a.m. and I was fully dilated. She calls my doctor and he came in around 10:05. My mother came in around the same time. I pushed twice and my precious daughter was born at 10:13 a.m! This is right about the time that my second epidural kicked in!




The moment she was born, I felt a wave of peace like I had never felt before. I had my children, God had blessed me with a daughter, my family was complete.





I can't believe how quickly this year has gone. Not only did God bless me with the daughter of my dreams, she also looks like me, and she is the sweetest, happiest baby that I could imagine. She loves to dance, "talk", and be apart of the action. She always seems happiest when she is on the floor with the boys watching their antics. The boys adore her, Bryon has a new appreciation for the term "Daddy's Girl", and I have my prayers answered.

Life is good, God is good. Happy Birthday, Baby Doll!