Fifteen years ago, sometime in the middle of the night, my mom woke up to find herself in a bloody mess and she and my dad rushed to the hospital. I woke up the next morning with my Grandma Harrison there, and I actually remember her cleaning or something. Probably the mess in the bed. SUCH a good mom. Who would even offer to clean that up?! So anywho, my mom was rushed into emergency c-section; the only anesthetic was local (anesthesiologist was not going to be there fast enough? I guess. Some of this is from memory of a 15 yr old). Folks, my anesthesia worked less than it was supposed to, and it was uncomfortable. I can not even imagine the amount of pain she went through to bring him into the world (not to mention the ambulance trip she took during the pregnancy cause she had a seizure and stopped breathing...). This was an interesting time cause I just hated her, but looking back (tears rolling down my cheeks...) I guess she just trucked through the only way she knew how (and I now know that this was a hard recovery for her). I remember sort of being happy she was going to be in the hospital for a few days- and even more, she would be off to the UVRMC NBICU, since Joel was due March 4th (1995)- because then the neighbors were bringing in yummy food and I did not have anyone to ground me. Now I sort of feel bad for feeling that way, but really, it is just a reminder that teenagers think very differently from adults! Perspective is different because experiences and daily cares are different.
Anyways, so eventually he came home and he had a sleep apnea monitor and oxygen attached to him, and that monitor would go off ALL THE TIME! L O U D! In the night, sometimes my parents would sleep through it, and miraculously I would wake up {I really sleep deep, or at least I used to before my own kids' monitors were alerting me of awake kids all the time} or even when he was not on monitor any more, I would go get him and rock him in the living room on the recliner. He would squirm all over the place. It actually started my no-sleep-with-kids policy. But I enjoyed spending time with him. I took him to Kelli's house, changed his diapers, babysat, etc.
I moved to Kansas for a few months and when I moved home, I remember I had an appointment to get my hair done and I said to him- you know you will be sitting there for like an hour or more waiting for me??? And he was like yeah, sounds fun. Now I think what the heck! I let a 5 yr old kid sit in the front of a hair place while I WAS IN BACK getting my hair done for that long? On a busy street in Orem? I would never let Ethan do that! But he was there when I was finished, sitting in his chair, reading a magazine (I am sure a nice good child friendly one...) Good times. Now he is 15, plays with my kids, so helpful, nice to be around, cute, fun, etc.
Happy Birthday Joel!
