Whitney's birthday

Ohmygosh!!!! I cannot believe it's been 24 years and I can still remember it so well....me, who can't remember what I had for dinner last night!!! I guess it's a mother's gift (or curse, but in my case, it's a gift) that I can recall the entire event so vividly. On this day, I woke up very early and immediately knew that I was finally in labor. My due date had been August 1, so we had all been on pins and needles, anxiously awaiting ANYTHING resembling labor. Since our childbirth classes taught us that first babies take their time, I went on the inservice training and Dad went to the barber shop as usual. The day was uneventful as my nervous sister timed my contractions all long. I assured her there was no need for alarm and that I had EVERYTHING under control (what a moron I was!!) so I calmly went about the business of preparing for another year of kindergarten. I didn't expect to go to school the next day, so when my contractions abruptly stopped mid afternoon, I was devastated. Calling my doctor in Jackson, I frantically begged them to tell me what to do to keep things going. I WANTED YOU OUT!!!! So they advised me to walk, and walk I did.... up and down our road until finally contractions began again. Still, there was no urgency so dad decided to go to bed early as he expected to be awakened in the night. YOU had no intentions of letting dad sleep, however, and around eleven, my water broke, leaving me looking like a beached whale!! I figured we still had a while to go, so I bravely tried to handle things on my own, since dad is a bear when he doesn't get his nap out. But at midnight, contractions were too hard and coming too fast and THE PANIC SET IN!!! We had to get to Jackson fast!!! Dad drove like a maniac and when I started last-stage labor breathing, he screamed, "You can't do that!" Like I had a choice!!!!! Thank GOD there's not much traffic at one in the morning and we arrived all in one piece. Dad wasn't too happy about having to properly park our car...he really thought he might miss the whole thing. But you gave him a break and patiently waited until he and Kay and George and Mom and Dad got to Jackson. After much pain and pushing through the Lamaze natural childbirth, here you came...all 8 pounds 6 ounces!!!! I KNEW you were a girl all along, so you already had a name and about two hours after we got to the hospital, we met Whitney Lauren for the first time. I had never been so in love!!! As soon as the sun rose, I began calling everyone I knew to tell them about the best thing that had ever happened to me....and you still are, my precious baby girl. So happy, happy birthday and all my prayers and best wishes for all your dreams to come true for you today and forever!!!!