One of the best things about being a teacher is all the days off: 3 months during the summer, 2 weeks at Christmas time, Spring break and all the holidays in between. So, I was very excited about starting my 2-week break from work until I found out I had to spend the first day of my vacation at the hospital getting lab work done. Fortunately, I was able to drop Logan off at daycare and I headed to the hospital at 8:00 in the morning for what was going to be a 3-hour procedure. A week earlier, I had failed my initial glucose screening that tests for Gestational Diabetes and I was ordered by my doctor to fast overnight, drink this really awful tasting drink and then have my blood taken 4 times within a 3-hour period (pure torture for a pregnant lady!). I tried to look at the positive aspects of the experience...3 hours all to myself, time to read my book and get some school work done, time to people watch :) and time to relax and enjoy the live Christmas musibeing played on the piano in the lobby of the hospital, but the longer I sat there, the grumpier I got. I was nauseous and hungry and tired and cold...I just wanted the whole thing to be done so I could go home and eat something and take a nap. At about 2 1/2 hours into the procedure, I heard a noise that would have made me very uncomfortable in the past...a newborn baby crying. In the past, hearing the sound of a newborn baby crying made me uncomfortable because I just knew that that poor mom must be exhausted and frustrated, but on that day, the first thing I did when I heard that baby crying was smile. I even surprised myself how comfortable I felt with that sound coming from the other side of the waiting room. All I could think about was how lucky she was to have that baby and what a blessing that baby must be to her family. And, then I thought about my own family and how lucky and blessed we are to be expecting this baby girl. During this entire pregnancy, I have had this feeling that something is wrong with the baby. I think it is partly because I am a special education teacher and I'm surrounded by kids that have disabilities and I can't help but think about all the things that could be "wrong" with this child. But, hearing that baby cry and feeling myself smile, reminded me that it doesn't matter what this child looks like, acts like or thinks like...this child is a child created by God and it is my job to glorify God through the parenting process. I feel so blessed to have this job! After all this realization in a hospital waiting room, I went in for my final blood draw and was greeted by a different nurse than the one who had been taking my blood earlier in the day (I soon found out that she was put there to take my blood for a reason). Somehow she started telling me about her grand kids...she has two older grand kids (in their teens) and twins who are 9 years old. One of the older grand kids is deaf and one of the twins has cerebral palsy. The nurse went on to tell me that her daughter had had the two older children and was finished having children and so she had decided to have her tubes tied, but when she went in for the procedure she found out she was pregnant instead...with twins!!!! The doctors had told her that the twin daughter with cerebral palsy would never walk or talk, but she does both just fine and she actually gets better grades in school than her twin brother. What an amazing gift God had given that family! I walked out of that hospital with a different attitude...not because I had some time to myself, not because I had gotten a bunch of school work finished, not because I finished my book I was reading and not because of the beautiful holiday music. I walked out of that hospital with a different attitude because I felt so blessed to be a parent and I was bubbling over with excitement about meeting my baby girl in a few months...the best Christmas present I could ever ask for!
(By the way, I passed my glucose test with flying colors...phew! I also had an ultrasound and doctor's appointment yesterday and baby girl is doing great!)
