Jaicie Christina Clayton

Tonight, I have been reflecting on the past 8 years. I decided to write Jaicie a letter as part of her birthday present. Tomorrow is her 8th birthday. On Saturday, she gets baptized. She is changing right before my eyes! It is kind of shocking!  Anyway, as part of the letter I wrote her, I told her a little about the day she was born. I thought I would share a little bit of that letter here:

8 years ago, I lay in a hospital bed as your father handed you to me for the first time. From the moment that I met you, I knew you were amazing.  I don’t know if I have ever told you about your birth, so I wanted to tell you a little bit about it. The doctor that helped you be born was named Donna Wylie. She was a great doctor and through my entire pregnancy, she took such good care for you. One day, I went in for one of my doctor’s appointment and Dr Wylie asked me why I wasn’t in labor (which is what happens when a baby is born). My body was showing signs that I was, and so she sent me to the hospital and helped start labor a little more. Another doctor came in and gave me some medicine that would help a little bit more. It helped so that it didn’t hurt so badly. Sometimes, when a baby is born it hurts a lot. Once they gave me medicine to help you come and make it not hurt so bad, you were born really fast!  It only took 4 and a half hour for you to come to me. Dr Wylie took great care of you when you came out. She and Nurse Nancy took great care of you. They cleaned you off and wrapped you in a blanket and gave you to your daddy. He was the first of us to hold you. And he gave you to me pretty quickly. The picture above is the very first picture I ever got to take with you. Daddy mentioned you had a big head when you were born.  If you look at the shape of your head, it was kind of long at first. But it was so cute! This picture was the very first picture that was ever taken of you. Aren’t you cute?!  Soon after you were born, your body was getting a little bit too cold. So they had to take you away from me for a little while. They took you down to the newborn nursery and gave you a bath, you didn’t like that very much. But then they laid you on a bed with a special light above it that helped your body get warmed back up. You liked that a lot.  You can tell the difference in these two pictures. Crying and peaceful!  You were happy! There is a song that I once heard that said I knew I loved you before I met you. The moment I felt you move in my stomach I knew I loved you. You have always, since the first day I knew you were coming to me, held a very special place in my heart. You are so important to me and mean so much to me.