October is full of milestone events for my family. Starting it off is my mom's birthday, which I have missed (in terms of being able to be with her) for almost all of the last 13+ years I've lived on the island. That's been one of the hardest parts of living on an atoll, being so far away from family. It's amazing that I even lasted the first couple of years here as I had never lived more than an 1 1/2 drive from my mom before I moved overseas, and we have always been very close not only in distance, but as mother/daughter and friends. In a sense, we matured and grew up (each in our own ways) together. When I was 12, my parents divorced, and my brothers both left for college not long after, so it was just mom and me. We learned how to survive life with just each other and God to lean on, and I firmly believe that's part of the reason we are so close today and instead of having the love-hate relationship of so many mothers and daughters, we evolved into best friends and roommates. So, October is a very important month for me, not only because it gives me a chance to appreciate all my mom has been and done for me on her birthday, but also because my youngest son is an October baby.
My littlest darling came into the world a week early, but true to his personality, he did it HIS way. He would not move into the birth canal (comfy as he was in my womb), and he gave us a big scare because his heart rate kept dropping during my contractions, so they ended up performing an emergency C-Section right here on the atoll. I am very thankful for the hospital and staff on Kwajalein, and I believe their care is the best because they realize they do not have everything they need to deal with high risk situations, so they are especially careful with their patients, literally taking your life into their hands personally to make sure you are okay. Even though I did not want to end up having a c-section, I believe it helped save two lives that day. My son ended up having the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, and I realized how very serious the situation was when a couple of days after his birth, the Chief Medical Officer for the hospital told me he was so relieved to her my son's cries upon delivering him into the world. They were truly scared that he was not going to survive, which is a testament to their calm demeanor during the actual emergency situation because I did not feel that fear from them at all. In fact, I was irritated until the moment they put me under for surgery because I wanted them to give me more time to try and deliver him naturally. Good thing I wasn't the doctor and in charge of making those decisions! Now, my baby is almost 7 years old! He's growing up and maturing a bit more every day, and before I know it, he'll be ready to leave the nest and fly on his own, but for now, I will enjoy this month with him, day by day and look forward to celebrating his birth on the 28th.
This month marks another milestone for my son and my mom on their birthdays, another year of growth completed, and I am thankful for their presence in my life and for the fact that God chose for me the best mom in the world, and that he chose me to be a mom too and to such a precious little boy. Rock on, October babies! And in the words of my oldest son's third grade class, who decided to create a new expression combining the words great and awesome. You're grawesome!
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