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 28^th to see when to come in to be inducted.  We called early on the morning of the 28^th and were told to check back later that day.  After checking back a couple of times, we were told to call back on the 29^th.   A friend who works in labor and delivery told us later that the reason we couldn’t be induced on the 28^th 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 29^th.  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.