My Proudest Moment.

Hello friends,

This is day 5 of the blog post challenge. If you are following along I thank you and hope you are enjoying.

The sickness at my work place continues. Four people have had the flu, several have had colds, two have bronchitis and a couple of people have sinus infections. It’s not who will call out on any given day but more so who will be able to make it in. The whole flu thing scares the crap out of me because of Mark being on the immunosuppressants. I felt a little sick over the weekend. Mark had a terrible cold over the weekend but he is on the mend. Today I am feeling like crap. I hope it is only a cold. So far no temperature. I guess if I get a temp I will deal with it then. I headed home at 3:00 PM to put my jammies on and get in bed.

My most proudest moment is actually two moments. When I donated a kidney to my husband and when I witnessed the birth of my nephew Tyler and cut the umbilical cord.

I know that you have heard the kidney story a million times. If you haven’t you can check it out here and here. I think the reason I feel proud is that I know not everyone can donate a kidney even if they meet all the criteria. Some people just can’t do it. I guess more than proud though I actually felt grateful and blessed that I was a match and that my husband did not have to spend a minute on dialysis.

It was February 24th, 2011, the morning of the surgery, Mark and I were in the same hospital room and we were being prepped for the surgeries. I would be taken to the operating room first at 7:00 AM and the surgery for the removal of my kidney would begin. They would bring Mark down just a little while later and put him in an adjoining room. The doctor literally took the kidney from me and walked it over to Mark and they put it in him. I had never seen my father in law, cry he was so tough. He was a Korean War Veteran and very matter of fact about everything. The morning of the surgery we could have one person each go back to the prep area. Mark’s dad went with him and my Sister Sandy went with me. Just before they took me down to the operating room Poppy, Mark’s dad, came over and grabbed my hand. This is a man who never showed emotion of any kind. He had tears in his eyes while he squeezed my hand. At that moment I felt so proud to be able to do this for Mark. And I saw in his eyes what it meant to him for his son.

It was Dec 7th 2001 my niece was pregnant with her first child. It was a boy. It was a Friday night. It was cold rainy and foggy. My sister called to tell me my niece was in labor. The plan was for me and my sister to be in the delivery room with her. I would cut the umbilical cord. I was beyond excited. I have no children of my own and I had never seen a baby be born. Except on TV. I think my niece did this for me because she knew how special it would be for me. I was about an hour from the hospital so I took off. It was around 11:30 PM.

When I got to the hospital she was in labor. Me being me, I tried to tell her she wasn’t breathing correctly. FYI you should never tell a woman in labor this. Especially when you have never gone through it yourself. After I talked her into not throwing me out of the room, ha ha, we settled down to wait for the baby. Well I settled down in a chair and promised to keep my mouth shut. She continued having contractions.

Around 4:00 AM things started getting real. Baby Tyler was born at 5:32 AM on December 8th. Just as he was about to be pushed out I took one look at that tiny head appearing and promptly passed out. Luckily I regained consciousness in time to cut the umbilical cord. The nurse said all the excitement and standing for so long probably caused my knees to buckle. But let me tell you that precious boy being born is the best thing I have ever seen in my life. What a miracle!!! It changed my heart forever. I was so proud to be a part of him coming into the world. I think the doctors and nurses that get to see this every day have the best job in the world.

A picture of Tyler and his mom when he was just a few months old. I was spending the day with them and took this picture. It will always be a favorite of mine.
These older pics are not the best quality this is before the great cameras on cell phones.