I Missed a Birthday!

I know I don't update here very often, but I can't believe I didn't post on Elijah's birthday! Never even crossed my mind, because I emailed birthday pictures to just about everyone who is likely to see them here anyway.

Baby turned two on May 27th. He was very excited about his "Happy Happy". We celebrated twice - once at Nana and Grandpa's on the weekend, and again at home.

Elijah is my miracle baby. Three weeks before my due date the placenta detached. I was bleeding internally, and I'm told that we were lucky to survive an emergency c-section. The doctors had Koty sign paperwork for a blood transfusion and life support, and told him there was a chance that one or both of us would not survive. He was not allowed in the operating room, and I was completely out with anesthesia. I fell asleep crying and praying the Hail Mary.

My beautiful boy was born at 10:01 PM, and I wasn't even awake to see him come into the world. My sister Karen ran to the hospital that night. I didn't even know she was there, but she surprised me with framed pictures of my little one the next day. She'd been there - she did what she knew I couldn't. She caught those once-in-a-lifetime pictures where baby is weighed on the scale, his umbilical cord is cut, and Daddy holding him for the first time. I treasure those pictures, because they fill the gap in my memory.

I woke several hours later and finally got to hold my baby at 3:00 AM. The doctor said that Elijah had been surrounded by blood, rather than the healthy amniotic fluid that he needed to breathe. Yet he was perfectly healthy. 6 lbs, 2 oz. They said that under anesthesia I was mumbling about my Grannie saying something-or-other. My Grannie who had passed away the summer before. Her spririt was there. She was our angel and she got us through that crazy night.

Happy birthday Elijah - my miracle baby! You were meant to be mine.