Six years ago today my precious baby Bethany was born into this world. It truly feels like only a short time has passed since then, but seeing how big she's becoming tells me otherwise. Everyone always tells you how quickly the time will pass and you don't quite "get" that until you see it happening to you, right before your eyes. Time doesn't stop or slow for anyone, and my six year old baby is proof enough of that for me.
It's quite a great story to tell about the days leading up to her birth. James had been in Kosovo since October on a six month deployment. While he was deployed, Morgan and I moved to my parents' house so I wouldn't be alone during the pregnancy and birth. Bethany was due on February 3rd. James and I arranged a flight for him to come home around that timeframe but it was a mess for him in trying to get out of Kosovo. We weren't allowed to book flights out of there. We had to book him a flight out of Germany to the States. Getting from Kosovo to Germany was all on him and he promised he'd do his best to make that plane at Germany. But he was at the mercy of the Army in making it out of Kosovo. He had to smooth talk his way onto various helicopter flights and bus rides, etc. I don't even think this would be "legal" nowadays but at the time he was told to do what he had to do to get out of Kosovo and not tell his superiors about it because if they knew they would forbid him to go.
So he worked some magic and arranged this ride and that flight and had things worked out so that he'd make it to Germany in time for the flight we'd booked him on, but Mother Nature had other plans. He hadn't counted on fog so thick the helicopters couldn't fly. So, needless to say, he ran into delays that we hadn't anticipated.
All the while Bethany's due date approaches and passes, and my doctor decides we'll induce on the 7th.
James' original flight from Germany to St Louis was to arrive on the 5th. However the weather conditions made it clear there was no way he'd make it on that flight. I called the airline to request they move him to a flight the next day and they took pity on our situation and changed his flight by one day but warned that if he couldn't make that flight there was nothing more they could do and we'd be out the $500 ticket we'd bought.
During all this James was sending me email updates whenever he happened to be somewhere along the way long enough to contact me, and give me an update on where he was and what the weather was bringing. I've saved all those emails to show Bethany someday just how hard her Daddy worked to try to make it home for her birth.
Miraculously, he did make that rescheduled flight which had him arriving at the St Louis airport around 10 pm on Feb. 6th. We were scheduled to be at the hospital 7 hours later, at 5 am on the 7th to begin the induction. Bethany's Daddy made it home with only 7 hours to spare.
This precious girl of mine, I couldn't love her more if I tried. She is everything I could ever want and so very much more. She's a reminder of my childhood, a dream of what will be, a sprinkle of sunshine into every single day, a princess in the making, a hug always waiting. Bethany brings joy to our hearts in ways that are only dreamed about.
Thank you, God, for every breath you've given us with Bethany. It is an honor to hear her call us "Momma" and "Daddy."
It's quite a great story to tell about the days leading up to her birth. James had been in Kosovo since October on a six month deployment. While he was deployed, Morgan and I moved to my parents' house so I wouldn't be alone during the pregnancy and birth. Bethany was due on February 3rd. James and I arranged a flight for him to come home around that timeframe but it was a mess for him in trying to get out of Kosovo. We weren't allowed to book flights out of there. We had to book him a flight out of Germany to the States. Getting from Kosovo to Germany was all on him and he promised he'd do his best to make that plane at Germany. But he was at the mercy of the Army in making it out of Kosovo. He had to smooth talk his way onto various helicopter flights and bus rides, etc. I don't even think this would be "legal" nowadays but at the time he was told to do what he had to do to get out of Kosovo and not tell his superiors about it because if they knew they would forbid him to go.
So he worked some magic and arranged this ride and that flight and had things worked out so that he'd make it to Germany in time for the flight we'd booked him on, but Mother Nature had other plans. He hadn't counted on fog so thick the helicopters couldn't fly. So, needless to say, he ran into delays that we hadn't anticipated.
All the while Bethany's due date approaches and passes, and my doctor decides we'll induce on the 7th.
James' original flight from Germany to St Louis was to arrive on the 5th. However the weather conditions made it clear there was no way he'd make it on that flight. I called the airline to request they move him to a flight the next day and they took pity on our situation and changed his flight by one day but warned that if he couldn't make that flight there was nothing more they could do and we'd be out the $500 ticket we'd bought.
During all this James was sending me email updates whenever he happened to be somewhere along the way long enough to contact me, and give me an update on where he was and what the weather was bringing. I've saved all those emails to show Bethany someday just how hard her Daddy worked to try to make it home for her birth.
Miraculously, he did make that rescheduled flight which had him arriving at the St Louis airport around 10 pm on Feb. 6th. We were scheduled to be at the hospital 7 hours later, at 5 am on the 7th to begin the induction. Bethany's Daddy made it home with only 7 hours to spare.
This precious girl of mine, I couldn't love her more if I tried. She is everything I could ever want and so very much more. She's a reminder of my childhood, a dream of what will be, a sprinkle of sunshine into every single day, a princess in the making, a hug always waiting. Bethany brings joy to our hearts in ways that are only dreamed about.
Thank you, God, for every breath you've given us with Bethany. It is an honor to hear her call us "Momma" and "Daddy."
1 comment:
Happy Belated Birthday to Bethy...and to her mama and daddy!! What a great story for her...it made my heart smile!
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