A season of firsts

We are beginning a season of 'firsts' for our family.......our first Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's without Ian; the first scholarship given out in his memory, the first anniversary of his death.  We start all these with Ian's first birthday since he died - this Wednesday, October 24th; he would have been 20 years old.  He shares that birthday with both of his great-grandmothers - Alice and Ardith.  I like to thank that he'll be celebrating with them this year - so he'll still be with family.

It's funny that I remember the day he was born so clearly but then I remember all the births of my kids very clearly.  Ian was my only child to arrive on his due date - Alex & Amy wanted to 'bake' a while longer.  At 8lbs., 2 ozs., Ian was also my smallest baby.  My folks were coming over from Bakersfield for the day just in case Ian decided to make his appearance.  Eric was installing cement walkways in front of our old house on Ronald Place and I decided to take Alex & Amy on a walk (or waddle) around the block to try and help things along (I had already scrubbing floors by hand and other various tasks to try and get him here).  All of that must have worked since my water broke after I got home.  I remember calling Dr. Callahan and telling him my water has either broken or I've lost all bladder control.  Amy made her appearance in under 2 hours from start to finish, so I informed Eric that we needed to get to the hospital (Ian was also my only child born at the hospital - I had Alex & Amy at the, now closed, birthing center).  He wanted to know if he had time to finish the cement - I don't remember my exact reply but it was probably something sarcastic.

Luckily, my mom and dad arrived very soon after that and they were greeted with "Oh good, you're here - we're going to the hospital".  They were thrilled.  Eric & I took off for Marian and the labor pains didn't start until we were on the elevator.  As we were standing at the check-in counter upstairs, we kept hearing these LOUD utterances from the room next to the counter.  Anything you ever heard from a woman in labor in a movie or TV show was coming from that room; "Just get it out!!!", "I can't do this!", "OOOOOOO!" - it was amazing.  We got checked into a room around the corner, but not out of earshot.  I told Eric, I was not making a sound - and I didn't.  Ian was born less than 1-1/2 hours later with this perfectly shaped round head full of brown hair; he was beautiful and completely healthy.

A few weeks after that I was taking Alex to his Head Start class at Adam School around the block from our house and I ran into one of his teachers, who had just had her baby.  We began comparing notes:
"When was Ian born?"
"The 24th"
"Oh, really - my baby was born on the 24th too."
"Oh......really?"
"What time was Ian born?"
"12:26pm.  What time was your baby born?"
"Around that same time."
We both just stared at each other for a few seconds, both of us thinking, "Is she the screamer?"  Eventually, one of us said, "Did you hear that women screaming?"
We both laughed in relief that neither one of us was 'the screamer'.

Ian provided a lot of other funny stories in his short life, those are what I will try and remember as I celebrate my boy on his birthday this year.  I love you Ian and miss you more than you could imagine.

I saw a red robin this morning in our backyard, the first one I've seen since Ian died; I'm thankful for that small reminder that God is watching over us.