Dear Baby, This is Your Story

Dear Behr,

As December rolled around your January 3 due date seemed closer than ever yet still endlessly far away. I wanted to meet you and stay pregnant longer. My feelings were certainly mixed. The pregnancy had gone smoothly, and I was enjoying being pregnant. Having you so close, effortlessly joining me everywhere was a wonderful experience. You kicked all the time and I truly loved it. I was blessed to have a relatively easy pregnancy, especially once we got past the first trimester. So I was not in a rush to have you physically separated from me. And yet I was convinced I would deliver early.

Your Yia-Yia, my Mom, gave birth well past her due date with all four of her children. I was going to be different. Your Dad and I decided to forgo visiting family for Christmas and stay close to home despite the doctors assurance that there were no signs of early labor. Call it mother's instinct or excitement, but I had a feeling that you were going to be early. I was so convinced, I told just about everyone we knew to stay by their phones and get ready to meet you.

Christmas and then New Years both came and went. As each day passed, I searched for early signs of labor. Not a single one. And yet, it felt like you had not only dropped but were continuing on your early dissent. On your due date, January 3, I wrote to you about how the day seemed just like any other. On January 5 I went to the doctor where again, we were told there were no signs of your arrival. The next day, January 6, I walked seven miles in an effort to encourage you along.

Your arrival was beginning to be quite prolonged, and I had no idea what was yet to come. But before I share the rest of this story, I want you to know, it was all worth it. Every moment of pain and discomfort that brought me closer to meeting you was absolutely worth going through.

You were worth it.
You still are today.
And you always will be.

This is your story.

Love,
momma