Jaelyn's Birthday
Eight years ago this morning, 1:12 a.m. to be exact, Scott
and I were blessed with a beautiful red-headed little girl. It seemed like it took forever to get to that
point. Jaelyn was due on October 21,
2004. Yet that date came and went and no
baby. Scott and I did not know yet if
God was blessing us with a little girl or a little boy. We chose not to find out ahead of time. At my last prenatal appointment, I was told
to call the hospital on the morning of October 28th to see when to
come in to be inducted. We called early
on the morning of the 28th and were told to check back later that
day. After checking back a couple of
times, we were told to call back on the 29th. A friend who works in labor and delivery
told us later that the reason we couldn’t be induced on the 28th was
because Hershey Medical Center had a set of triplets, two sets of twins, and
three single babies born on that day.
We went in at 6:30 a.m. on Friday, October 29th. I was induced at 7:00 a.m. After having a very uneventful pregnancy, I
certainly didn’t expect any problems during labor and delivery. Jaelyn proved to be stubborn even before
birth. They had to keep increasing the
medication as my body didn’t want to stay in labor. I had an epidural which only partially worked
– I couldn’t change positions as Jaelyn’s heart rate dropped every time I moved
out of one position – as a result the epidural didn’t work completely. After experiencing almost everything that had
been talked about in child birth classes, Jaelyn finally decided to make her
appearance after eighteen hours of labor.
I remember being upset because they took her to clean her up
and then handed her to Scott. I was a
little bit miffed that after all that work, I didn’t get to hold her
first. It took a little bit of
convincing to get Scott to give her up so I could hold her for the first
time. He was such a proud daddy. We chose to name her Jaelyn in honor of her
Uncle Jason (Jason Lynn – his nickname was Jay).
Life changed that day and has never been the same
since. Jaelyn never liked to sleep, even
as a baby. She rarely slept during the
day – I think she was afraid to miss something – and didn’t sleep through the
night until after she was a year old.
She hit the developmental stages as normal until about eight months of
age. Jaelyn was a determined little girl
who wanted to get around on her own. She
took her first step alone at 9 months of age and was running two weeks later. I haven’t been able to keep up with her
since. Everything that she sets her mind
to learn she focuses on with unwavering concentration until she not only learns
how to do it, but masters it. Jaelyn was
jumping rope and double dutching with the girls at Milton Hershey by the age of
2 ½ to 3 years of age.
Scott was so proud of Jaelyn’s athletic ability. He took great pride in teaching her to play
basketball, baseball, tennis, and other sports.
He loved to take her kayaking and we bought Jaelyn her first kayak at
age six. Scott taught her how to ride
bike without training wheels. Scott
particularly loved water and swimming.
He was thrilled when she learned how to swim. He taught her how to dive underwater for dive
sticks and other things on the bottom of the pool. In the last three weeks before his death,
Scott taught Jaelyn how to dive. Scott
was so proud of her and told me that he thought that she was a better swimmer
at age 7 then he was at age 40.
I am grateful that Jaelyn had such a wonderful father who
took such delight in spending time with her and teaching her new things. I am grateful that she is old enough to
remember her father and with good memories.
Comments
Post a Comment