HAPPY 29TH BIRTHDAY KRISTEN! (2 days late...)
I had just sat down to write this on Sunday, January 21, 2007, Kristen's birthday,
when her husband Jeff called me and asked if I would watch the kids while he took Kristen out for some ice cream. So I happily went over to see the grandkids after not seeing them for a week.
Normally, we would have celebrated Kristen's birthday this past weekend with a birthday dinner, but Kristen, Jeff, Kyleigh, Jaeger and Keaton traveled to Universal Studios in Hollywood last Thursday for a Kyleigh's gymnastics competition, and just got back home Sunday night about an hour before Jeff called. So they had spent 8 or so hours on the road, coming back from southern California.
What I remember about my pregnancy with Kristen, was that I was so happy to be pregnant. I had always wanted a child, and particularly a daughter. I had had a very upsetting experience the previous year of having a miscarriage and I was very nervous this second time around. My pregnancy with Kristen seemed to go OK at first, I was given a due date of February 14, 1978. During the first part of my pregnancy, we sold our condominium in Del Mar, and were in the process of having a house built in La Costa, and were living with John's parents, and watched their house while they visited back east. I kept gaining a lot of weight during my pregnancy and was really bloated up, but my doctor said not to worry about it, I could worry about it after I delivered. I kept being told by the doctor I would probably have a boy. We moved into our new house and I painted the baby's room blue, and it had a sailboat mobile. I happily decorated our new house, and planned my flower beds. And I kept bloating up. The middle of January, John and our friend Mark went skiing. John came home with a bad cold, and I got it, a deep bronchitis. The next week, on Thursday, when I went to the doctor, the nurse came in and told the doctor my urine was 3+ protein, and they checked my blood pressure and it was high. The doctor told me to go home and not go to work the following day, just stay at bed rest. I went home, and that night could not sleep. The covers on my legs were painful. John rigged a TV tray under them so they would not rest on my legs. My pulse was pounding in my head. I finally went and laid on the sofa, but was in excruciating pain. So John told me to call my doctor, who happened to be in the delivery room and told me to come to the hospital, the delivery area. We got to the hospital about midnight, and they took my blood pressure and it was 200/100. They gave me 3 shots of morphine, and said they would do an ultrasound the next day, and determine if the baby was OK to deliver. The nurse in the delivery room at that time told me I was having a girl.
Kristen Alys Hurd was born via C-section on Saturday, January 21, 1978, 5 pounds, 7 ounces. Her doctor kept commenting on how she had a perfect head. That night, I cried all night, because I missed John, he had been gone the previous week skiing, and came home sick, and didn't want to stick around the hospital because he was sick. The pathologist that I worked for, came and and looked at me and said I looked awful. Sunday morning, I asked the my doctor, and the pediatrician if I could go home, which they allowed me to do. So John came and got us. We went home and took a nap, and woke up about 6 hours later, and Kristen had not made a peep, I thought she was dead, but she was just sleeping. Apparently the phenobarbital I was taking to bring my blood pressure down, although they assured me would not affect breast milk did, and it zonked her out. The whole time I was taking the Lamaze classes prior to Kristen's birth, I kept thinking to myself, none of this mattered, I was not going to need it anyway.
I was so proud to have this tiny little being in my life. Kristen and I attended her baby shower, given by our friend Susan, a week after her birth together. The attendees were so thrilled to get to meet her.
When Kristen was born, John was the Lab Manager at Mission Bay Hospital in San Diego.
Barry Manilow had a song out about the time Kristen was born, "Can't Smile Without You" and I sang that to her whenever it came on.
This picture was taken when we were visiting my parents house, who only lived about 1/2 hour from us at the time in Vista, California.
The little yellow outfits in both of these pictures, John had brought to the hospital right after she was born.
Probably shortly after this picture was taken, John accepted a sales position for lab equipment, and we moved to Sacramento in April. We lived in an apartment in Sacramento, while looking for a house. We meanwhile had our house in the San Diego area for sale, after having lived in it for 6 months.
I am blessed with having 2 very special daughters, who also happen to be my best friends.
when her husband Jeff called me and asked if I would watch the kids while he took Kristen out for some ice cream. So I happily went over to see the grandkids after not seeing them for a week.
Normally, we would have celebrated Kristen's birthday this past weekend with a birthday dinner, but Kristen, Jeff, Kyleigh, Jaeger and Keaton traveled to Universal Studios in Hollywood last Thursday for a Kyleigh's gymnastics competition, and just got back home Sunday night about an hour before Jeff called. So they had spent 8 or so hours on the road, coming back from southern California.
What I remember about my pregnancy with Kristen, was that I was so happy to be pregnant. I had always wanted a child, and particularly a daughter. I had had a very upsetting experience the previous year of having a miscarriage and I was very nervous this second time around. My pregnancy with Kristen seemed to go OK at first, I was given a due date of February 14, 1978. During the first part of my pregnancy, we sold our condominium in Del Mar, and were in the process of having a house built in La Costa, and were living with John's parents, and watched their house while they visited back east. I kept gaining a lot of weight during my pregnancy and was really bloated up, but my doctor said not to worry about it, I could worry about it after I delivered. I kept being told by the doctor I would probably have a boy. We moved into our new house and I painted the baby's room blue, and it had a sailboat mobile. I happily decorated our new house, and planned my flower beds. And I kept bloating up. The middle of January, John and our friend Mark went skiing. John came home with a bad cold, and I got it, a deep bronchitis. The next week, on Thursday, when I went to the doctor, the nurse came in and told the doctor my urine was 3+ protein, and they checked my blood pressure and it was high. The doctor told me to go home and not go to work the following day, just stay at bed rest. I went home, and that night could not sleep. The covers on my legs were painful. John rigged a TV tray under them so they would not rest on my legs. My pulse was pounding in my head. I finally went and laid on the sofa, but was in excruciating pain. So John told me to call my doctor, who happened to be in the delivery room and told me to come to the hospital, the delivery area. We got to the hospital about midnight, and they took my blood pressure and it was 200/100. They gave me 3 shots of morphine, and said they would do an ultrasound the next day, and determine if the baby was OK to deliver. The nurse in the delivery room at that time told me I was having a girl.
Kristen Alys Hurd was born via C-section on Saturday, January 21, 1978, 5 pounds, 7 ounces. Her doctor kept commenting on how she had a perfect head. That night, I cried all night, because I missed John, he had been gone the previous week skiing, and came home sick, and didn't want to stick around the hospital because he was sick. The pathologist that I worked for, came and and looked at me and said I looked awful. Sunday morning, I asked the my doctor, and the pediatrician if I could go home, which they allowed me to do. So John came and got us. We went home and took a nap, and woke up about 6 hours later, and Kristen had not made a peep, I thought she was dead, but she was just sleeping. Apparently the phenobarbital I was taking to bring my blood pressure down, although they assured me would not affect breast milk did, and it zonked her out. The whole time I was taking the Lamaze classes prior to Kristen's birth, I kept thinking to myself, none of this mattered, I was not going to need it anyway.
I was so proud to have this tiny little being in my life. Kristen and I attended her baby shower, given by our friend Susan, a week after her birth together. The attendees were so thrilled to get to meet her.
When Kristen was born, John was the Lab Manager at Mission Bay Hospital in San Diego.
Barry Manilow had a song out about the time Kristen was born, "Can't Smile Without You" and I sang that to her whenever it came on.
This picture was taken when we were visiting my parents house, who only lived about 1/2 hour from us at the time in Vista, California.
The little yellow outfits in both of these pictures, John had brought to the hospital right after she was born.
Probably shortly after this picture was taken, John accepted a sales position for lab equipment, and we moved to Sacramento in April. We lived in an apartment in Sacramento, while looking for a house. We meanwhile had our house in the San Diego area for sale, after having lived in it for 6 months.
I am blessed with having 2 very special daughters, who also happen to be my best friends.
2 comments:
What great memories, Karrin! That's the kind of post every child should read on their 29th birthday. =)
I enjoyed reading about Kristen's birth. I didn't realize that our girls were the same age. Kate will be 29 in April.
Great pictures of the kids too!!
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