Happy Birthday Michael!

Michael’s 19th birthday is this Sunday, August 1st. I ask myself, as each parent does every year on their child’s birthday, “Where does the time go?” Yet for me that question takes on altered meaning when some days it’s as if I can actually hear the minutes ticking away without my fun-loving Michael.

Ever since Michael went to heaven in 2005, I haven't planned an August birthday party. But with strength greater than my own, I still choose to celebrate one of the happiest days of my life; the day Michael was born.

So come with me now down memory lane.....

It was the usual heat of summer and I was on my fourth week of bed rest with Michael tucked safely inside of me. Jessica could finally take a break from her daily announcement to who ever was in ear shot of “Mom’s throwing up again”. That daily ritual was now being replaced by very high blood pressure giving way to total bed rest, joining the previous condition of Placenta Previa which was diagnosed early on in my pregnancy. You can about imagine how much fun I was having with all that by the eight month of my summer pregnancy! Not to mention the very cute three year old blonde toddler girl that was also looking for her own summer of fun. None the less I loved being a Mother and the idea of another baby joining our family in spite of this kind of pregnancy was still exciting. I absolutely adore babies and everything about them.

It was suppose to be a typical follow up OB appointment on August 1, 1991 which in my case included a repeat ultrasound. It was the same type of appointment I had been having the last four weeks since the bed rest began. My husband had been coming with me to the other appointments but this week I insisted that I was just fine going myself. To make a very long story short, my appointment on August 1st did not go the way I expected and it definitely took us all by surprise. Early that afternoon, a little baby boy named Michael was born emergency C-section at Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville after complications were found during the ultrasound that morning.

Michael was small but perfect complete with ten fingers and ten toes. Even on day one he stunned the emergency team of doctors on stand-by who were anticipating a newborn transfer to Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis. Michael was doing fine and a transfer was never needed. That day was the first time we met our wonderful pediatrician, Dr Baker. Years later he admitted to me that Michael was one of the first patients he saw as a new doctor on call that day.

It was the beginning of a life for our family that would change us forever. I see now all the seeds that were planted in that birth experience, gracefully preparing us for what lied ahead. Once again I was humbled and blessed beyond the capacity of my earthly imagination. I thought I was going to teach my son everything he needed to know about life but instead he taught me.

Happy Birthday Michael!! Until we meet again one day I will continue what you started; Be the Change.