HOPE'S BIRTHDAY

I feel horrible. Hope turned 16 on September 16th and I didn't post her birth blog until today. What kind of mother am I? Obviously, a forgetful one.

Hope's birthday was quite involved as I've shared in other blogs. Suffice it to say we were the talk of Rogue Valley Medical Center on that Setpember day. They don't get many families where Mom, Dad and baby are all admitted at the same time, same day.

We love our Hope and thankfully, she was the healthiest one of us all. I couldn't go up to Scott's floor without putting her in the neo-natal unit. She looked like Godzilla in with all those teenie tiny's. A nurse from the maternity floor had to wheel me up to Scott's floor because I was not permitted to wander the facility. I felt silly, but rules are rules. Scott was hooked up to his oxygen, I was in the wheelchair, we were holding hands, watching Star Trek reruns. We looked pathetic. Now we laugh, at the time, not so much.

Hope and I got to go home the next day and Scott had to stay for another few days. Hope and I had gone shopping, gone to church, picked up sisters from school . . . all before Scott even got to hold his new baby girl.

She was a beauty and burst into the world with pomp and circumstance and hasn't slowed down yet.

I love you, my sweet Hope Josephine Roderick.