The Day That Changed My Life Forever

I can’t believe that it has already been 26 years…26 years ago I was at work when my water broke. It took me a minute to figure out that’s what was going on because, let’s face it, wetting yourself isn’t that unheard of when you are nine months pregnant with a baby kicking your bladder. But when the trickle didn’t stop I realized it was time to get myself to the hospital.  Of course I made a quick stop at home to shave my legs because a girls gotta be presentable when she’s bringing a newborn into the world 🙂 .

There I was, sitting in a hospital gown eating ice chips and starving because back in my day that’s all you were allowed to eat…they didn’t give yummy flavored snowcones the way they do now…and there were so many nurses coming in and out of my hospital room to check me that I finally gave up any hopes of preserving even a shred of modesty. Then I noticed the forceps sitting on the tray…oh the dreaded forceps…lets just say forceps are not your friend… Then I saw him, not my baby yet, but the beloved anesthesiologist who’d arrived to give me an epidural…I told him I loved him (again, the anesthesiologist)…in that moment, I really did…

I have to say it’s a surreal feeling right before you have your first baby. You are so happy that you are going to get this little person out of your belly and into your arms and you are super excited about the prospect of being able to look down in the shower and see your own toes again, but there is also this feeling of fear…Is this baby really going to come out of me? How bad is that gonna hurt?  And am I really ready to be a mother? Will I be good at it? What if I mess up? What if I don’t know how to do something he needs me to do? What if I’m going to be horrible at this? The next thing you know the doctors yelling push…push again…keep pushing… and then there he was (my baby boy, not the anesthesiologist), a 9 pound 7 pound  ounce baby was snuggled up against my chest and he was the most amazing thing in the world…and my life would never be the same again…neither would my heart ever be the same…he now owned it…completely…

I watched him grow from that 9 pound 7 ounce little boy to a 6’ 3” man.  But I have to admit that when I look at him I still tend to see that cute little boy with that twinkle in his eye and a “I’m about to get my way” look on his face…perhaps that’s because he still gives me that “I’m about to get my way” look all the time.  And 26 years later that little boy named Dalton…now a grown man, a husband, a father to his own son, and a soon to be father to his own daughter…still owns my heart completely.

I want to wish my son Dalton a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY May 8th.  I’m so proud of the man he’s become and I’m so grateful to have him as my son. Here are a few fun pics of some key moments with my son over the years:


Happy Birthday Dalton! And happy day to everyone else 🙂

~Amy Rees Anderson (author of the book “What Awesome Looks Like: How To Excel in Business & Life” )

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