Thursday's Child

It's a snowy Saturday and I feel like writing.  It's occurred to me recently that while I've written about Alex's birth (Alex, I was shocked to look back and see that this was in 2011 - see the "15 Years Ago Today" post )....  I haven't written yet about Rob's birth.  Time to do it Rob, since you are already 17 !

This poem has been running through my head....

Monday’s child is fair of face,Tuesday’s child is full of grace,Wednesday’s child is full of woe,Thursday’s child has far to go,Friday’s child is loving and giving,Saturday’s child works hard for a living,And the child that is born on the Sabbath dayIs bonny and blithe, and good and gay.

I'm glad neither of you were born on Wednesday.  And obviously Alex hit the jackpot, having been born on Sunday.  Rob, you were born on Thursday...  and drat, I thought is was Thursday's Child who is full of grace!  Instead it seems you have far to go, as do we all.  I'll add a brief comment, Rob, that I do think you are full of grace.....  "grace" in its meaning as courteous good will i.e., being polite, having good manners (although not so much in the meaning of elegance or refinement of movement).  Rob, I know you are grateful for what you have, appreciate opportunities that come your way, and that you value friendships, volunteering to help others and treating all people fairly.

Well, on to my memories about your birth.  We were enjoying the summer weather of 2002 - I remember being incredibly hot at times at the end of the pregnancy, which I could only describe as being hot from the inside out.  It felt absolutely fantastic to swim in Grandma's pool.  As August came along, I was getting regular checkups.  Rob, you were measuring on the larger side and Dr. Ferraro wanted to be sure you would arrive around your due date - so scheduled me to be induced on Thursday Aug. 8th.  This meant I needed to arrive at the hospital Wednesday night, which we did around 7 pm after Dad finished work.  It turned out I was already having contractions - this made me very happy since likely I wouldn't have to have a medication like pitocin to speed up delivery.

Things were quiet overnight (Dad went home to get some sleep, then came back by 7 am), a bit later contractions started in earnest.  (It's quite a treat to watch the "contraction meter", which allows you to see one starting even before the pain hits.)  When it got really painful, I was lucky enough to get an epidural that worked perfectly.  Dr. Theresa Baseski, who I knew from Trinity Episcopal Church where we went at the time, was on call.  So she saw me, then unexpectedly Dr. Ferraro came in to check on us.  He decided my water should be broken, and after he did that the monitor over my belly showed your heart rate immediately dropped.  I had to roll on my side, then it came back to normal (what a relief!).  Dad was not in the room when this happened, I remember being so glad when he came back.  Around 4 or so, I felt the baby move lower but since Dr. Baseski wasn't in the room we just waited.  She came back around 5, checked and said "the baby is almost here"!  I pushed 3 times, and out you came!  We heard the exciting news - "It's a boy!"  I was happy (although I admit, I had expected a girl) and Dad was thrilled.  Both Aunt Pam and Aunt Julie told us they had "seen" you as a boy before you were born.  It was one of the very sweetest moments in my life.  You were born just before 5:30.  You weighed 8 lbs, 8 ounces and your first Apgar score was 8 (out of 10).   In combination with the date being August 8th, the doctor was amazed.  Then your second Apgar score came back as a 9, breaking the streak.  So 8 is definitely your lucky number.

You were beautiful, with a little fine blond hair and of course blue eyes.  Your nose was flattened a bit, likely from all the time you were "almost here".  That didn't last long.  By the next day, I noticed your very long blond eye lashes.  We had visitors of course, the first ones being Aunt Pam and Grandma.  Dad went home to get Alex, who came to see you later in the evening.  The next day came the problem of naming you.  I had picked out girl names, but not boy names.  I suggested naming you Jonathan Dodge after Edie's partner Jon.....  but Dad wanted to name you after his father.  So in the end we named you Robert after your father & grandfather Carroll, and Buchanan which is also the middle name of your grandfather Rivers.  Now and then we talk about our heritage as part of the Scottish Clan Buchanan via the McCausland family.

You were a good nurser from the beginning, and ate about every 2 1/2 hours (less at night).  You were also very sleepy the first week or so; after we got home you lost weight so I had to start waking you up to eat.  You were a cold baby, always needing to be wrapped up tight.  This was true even when it was in the 90's.  Oddly, if you were in air conditioning you would get a heat rash - which didn't happen if the AC was off.  You slept in a bassinet in the living room, and I slept on the couch for a while.  I remember taking Alex out to swim, and sitting by the pool holding you.  He did announce that watching you nurse was absolutely "disgusting".  Just a few weeks later, Alex started kindergarten.  It was special family time, since I wisely stayed home for the full length of my maternity leave until you were 7 months old.

Rob, you are now a junior in high school.  As you get older, it will be interesting and exciting to see just how far you do go to college and beyond.