....I woke up at 6:30 and once the fog cleared from my head, I realized that I was going to meet my baby boy that day. My dad had just come home from the hospital the night before after knee surgery and an infection, he was on a few drugs and bit loopy. I remember clearly walking up the stairs and seeing my Mom at the top of the stairs and sheepishly calling her name and she just looked at me with wide eyes and said "No. No you're not." She was excited for the baby but leaving my dad alone that day seemed like a bad idea to all of us.
Around 7 the snow really started to pick up (of course, like anything else would happen in December in upstate NY) so my mom called my awesome Aunt J who came throughout the day to check on my dad and a little after 7:30 we hit the road. A little after 9 we arrived at my doctor's office. The receptionists were excited and asked how things were going, they told me I had plenty of time (not exactly the words I wanted to hear) and I believed them until I got back to the doctor who was asking me some questions and then stopped to say my contractions were not every 5 min but every 2 and that I really needed to get to the hospital!
I refused the wheelchair and walked across the street to the hospital and by the time I got to the L&D floor the woman sort of took her time getting to us and then said that the floor was booked up. I must have looked like a deer in the headlights at that point b/c I was now dying for a bed. I told her my doctor had just called and she rushed into action saying "you're the one who's 8 cm, I thought you'd be in a wheelchair!". I got the last room very quickly, my doctor came and hung out with me since I was likely the next to deliver. I had the crabbiest nurse ever and I was pretty freaked out so it wasn't exactly the happiest hours in the hospital but at exactly 1 pm my baby boy was born! He didn't have a name yet because I needed to talk to Brian first who was in Iraq. I called the Red Cross and sent a message right away. A few minutes later my phone rang and I can still hear my Dad's loopy voice asking "What ya doing?" I told him I just had a baby and he replied that that was nice and I was laughing, I could hear Aunt J asking for the phone! She got on and I gave her the details (since she was more likely to remember them). That evening my grandparents flew into Syracuse. What perfect timing that was - they had planned to be there for a couple of weeks and we were all praying they'd get to spend some time with the baby before flying back and he decided to be born that day!
Much of that day is a blur, we had many amazing visitors that day and the next which was a huge blessing. I loved having people visit and I loved spending time with my sweet boy! My amazing Mother-in-law came as quickly as she could and got in around 10:30 at night (she was at work when I called and had to pack and come from NJ). I was so relieved to see her! At midnight my cell phone finally rang! Brian and I got to talk and he could hear all the details about our perfect baby boy. When the phone card cut off our Moms looked at me and yelled "A NAME?!?" It was driving them a little crazy not to know. :) I told them that Brian was calling right back and they said fine, they left the room and said that when they got back there better be a name! :)
Brian called back and Benjamin Hyatt McGarry was named. My first perfect Christmas Gift. I am so blessed to be his Mom and I can't believe it's been 10 years!!! I'm so proud of you sweet boy, you're such a smart, funny, crazy boy with a big heart and I love you tons!
