Happy Birthday, Rockstar!

In May of 2005, we were excited to find out that we were expecting our second child.  Baby #2 was due January 26th, 2006.  We elected not to find out the gender of Baby #2 just as we had with our firstborn.  I was nearly certain that Baby#2 must be a boy since he/she was so much different than Haley.  January 26th came and went and no baby yet.  Saturday morning, January 28th, I woke up early around 5:30 unable to sleep well.  I was having some contractions, not yet severe.  We had made a "false-alarm" trip to the hospital two weeks earlier and I certainly didn't want to do that again.  After a while of sitting in the living room, Cale got up to check on me.  I showered.  Cale got Haley up and going and called our friends for the expected need for childcare.  We left home sometime between 8 and 8:30, dropped Haley off to our friends and headed to the hospital 45 minutes away.  We arrived in the OB department sometime around 9:15 a.m.  It seemed the nurses wanted to make certain I was actually in labor, so I was placed in this tiny room where they placed me on a monitor and bp cuff and the first nurse attempted multiple times to check my progress - unsuccessfully I might add.  She went for another more experienced nurse who returned to my tiny little room and she quickly assessed that I was indeed well into labor at a "good" 6 cm dilated.  They made arrangements to move me to a labor and delivery room across the hall.  As the nurse was prepping my IV's and pushing the antibiotics that I needed prior to delivery, I informed her that my water had broken.  Once again, she checked my progress and discovered I was at 9 cm quickly nearing 10 cm and almost ready to deliver. At this point the room got a little busy with the hustle and bustle of several nurses.  The younger nurse I started with yelled from my room door down the hall to the desk to call the Doctor STAT.  While the other nurse calmly explained to my husband that it is very possible the doctor will not make it in time to deliver the baby.  She tried to comfort us by letting us know that this is not a first time for such occurrence and that they are capable of seeing us through the delivery until the doctor arrived.  At approximately 10 a.m. I was given a dose of 30 minute pain medication to ease the pain of my contractions.  My doctor did arrive in plenty of time to deliver our precious baby girl at 10:45 a.m.  Aspen Mackenzie weighed in equal to her big sister at 8 pounds 14 ounces.  We then called our parents, who did not know we were at the hospital, to announce the arrival of their newest grand-daughter.  

Since her arrival in our lives, Aspen has provided much energy, excitement and joy to our family.  She loves to sing and dance.  She frequently makes up new songs of great content and sound to sing to us.  As we were driving to school one day, she asked me if she could be a rockstar when she grew up.  I told her that I thought she could be a rockstar, as long as she sang about Jesus.  Content with my response, she determines at this young age to aspire to become a rockstar when she grows up.  Thus the nickname, Rockstar.   Regardless of her chosen occupation in the years to come, she will always be a rockstar in the eyes of her parents.

My sweet Rockstar, may you continue to nurture your sweet spirit and kind heart.  I pray you continue to grow in wisdom and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  May you be filled with love for the Lord and serve Him with your whole heart, soul and mind that you might be a Rockstar for Jesus all the days of your life.  I pray that I will be willing to commit you to God's loving care and control and release you to serve Him wherever He may lead you across this great globe.


Happy Birthday, Rockstar!  I love you!