Today is my niece Addison's first birthday. I can't wait to see that little girl dig into her smash cake or ham it up for the camera. Til then, I'm going to share with you the story of her birthday, a story I'm sure will be told to her COUNTLESS times since it was quite a story!
Kara's due date was September 29 and still no Addi, so they told her they were going to induce her on the 30th.
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| If you can't read it, the onesie says "If you think I'm pretty, you should see my mommy." Well, we can see your mommy, Addison, but we want to see you!!! |
I woke up at 3:00am the morning of the 30th to the sounds of rain dripping into our bedroom. It had been a really weird week of heavy rain several days in a row. Jason and I tried to temporarily fix the window, and then decided to stay awake instead of trying to get back to sleep.
I got dressed and went to Millbrook that morning, because I was scheduled to teach and video my lesson that day for a grad school assignment. I was supposed to teach all day, but worked out with the teacher that I would only stay for first period. When the students were in lab, I kept running into the stock room to check my messages. Had the baby come while I was teaching anatomy students about the bones of the legs and feet? Nope, not yet.
I rushed home at 9:00am, changed into "people clothes" (vs. the "teacher clothes" I had been wearing) and waited for Jill to pick me up on her way east from Charlotte. We were in heavy rain the whole ride to Washington, but we got there about 12:00 or 1:00. Mama and Daddy called us to give us updates, and when we arrived at the hospital, there was still no Addison.
The rain kept getting worse and worse. At one point, they made an announcement over the hospital intercom that one of the parking lots was flooding, so people needed to go move their cars. At around 4:00, Daddy went home to feed Charley and let him out for a while. By 6:00, Washington was flooded, and Daddy couldn't make his way back to the hospital. By around 7:00, Washington was on a mandatory curfew. No one was supposed to be on the streets, and emergency vehicles weren't going to be able to come help you if your car got flooded or if you ran off the road. We were at the hospital... which meant we were going to have to stay at the hospital until the curfew ended at 6:00am the next morning.
Addison was born around 9:00 or so (I'm sure Kara and Kelly know the exact time), and we got to see her around 11:00 after she was cleaned and measured and all the other stuff they do to new babies. After an hour or so of congratulations and talking about how beautiful Addison was, we were all ready for bed.
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| Proud papa showing us Addison through the viewing window |
Um... but we were stuck at the hospital. After some choice words with the hospital staff who told us we were all (about a dozen total Bowens and Davenports) going to have to sleep in the waiting room, we were eventually given cots and beds in the mostly-empty maternity ward. Jill and I, two grown people, shared a TWIN hospital bed. Not how I expected the day to go!
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| Driving back to Washington the next day after the waters had receded... yes, this is LESS water than there was on Addison's birth day |
That little baby girl we saw that first day is quite different from the one who is turning one today. She knows her parents and grandparents, runs around like crazy, has a love affair with shoes (like her Mama!), and looks forward to her walks (or rides, I guess) around the neighborhood in her stroller or wagon. Ten years from now, 15 years from now, she'll be a whole different person again. But that said, she'll still probably have to sit through several family members' versions of the story of the day she was born.
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| Day 1 |
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| At 9 months |
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