This Sunday will be my first Mother's Day as a Grandma! It is also my grandson's 4 month birthday, my daughter's first Mother's Day and Parent/Child Dedication at our church. A day of "firsts"! I love "firsts". Have you noticed yet that "first" is really a weird looking word?
Each baby born into the world is special, but Zach's birth had some special circumstances. At the beginning of last year my daughter and her husband, after about 4 years of trying to become pregnant, were told that it probably wouldn't happen – definitely not without the help of medical science. Both had reproductive issues, so, they started saving all extra cash and were scheduled to start fertility treatments in Sept, 2008. In the meantime, and for a few years, some close friends along with our small group Bible study were praying for a baby: the desire of my daughter's heart. Mother's Day 2008 came and went; a miserable day for a childless woman.
The week after Mother's Day, my husband was going over to the kids' house in the evenings to work on an art project for our walls. My daughter is a custom artist and was helping Danny get his masterpiece just right. Each evening my daughter would complain of queasiness and being so tired. My husband joked with her maybe she was pregnant. She laughed it off, never giving it a second thought. That Friday night my son-in-law had a 24 hour softball tourney and Sara went to watch. About 3 in the morning, she asked her husband to take her home; she had to lay down. A couple hours after that she found her 3-pack of pregnancy tests, used one and could not believe her eyes when that little piece of plastic clearly stated the positive results! She called her husband, still at the ball park and told him to come home immediately. He hurried, probably thinking something was wrong.
Sara's doctor's office takes walk-ins on Saturday morning and when the doors opened my kids were there. After affirmation from the doctor, they called us and asked to come by. We figured they were on their way home from the tournament and welcomed them for breakfast. After all the planning of how they would someday tell us we were going to be grandparents, all she could do was blurt out "I'm pregnant!" What an exciting day. As we visited, we realized my daughter was pregnant on Mother's Day; she just didn't know it yet! All I could do was thank God!
The months went by quickly, even for my daughter, and her labor was short. Little Zach swallowed meconium during his journey to our world and had to stay in NICU for about a week. He was treated for a slight infection and they monitored his breathing. He used a feeding tube for a couple days until his respirations were normal. Our little guy seemed so fragile hooked up to all the machines that beeped and whirred. We were assured he was healthy – the docs said he was mainly there for maintenance.
In the four months since my grandson has been born, I have learned some things.
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I now realize why women in their 50s don't have babies. Seriously. While I totally love the time he is with me, I am thankful that he goes home.
- It is impossible to give my grandson just one kiss. It turns into mwk,mwk,mwk,mwk,mwk,mwk,mwk! And never fewer than seven. Yep, OCD comes out a little and I count them.
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Being a grandparent is way more fun than being a parent.
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I am one of those grandparents. You know the kind…the ones who have a ton of pictures and stories about their wonderful grandchild and make funny faces and sounds to entertain their precious gift from God. Yeah…didn't see that one coming.
Most importantly, I have a fervent desire to teach him about his Creator. Each time I see him I tell him "God loves you, Jesus loves you, the Holy Spirit loves you and Grandma loves you!" It is important that he grows up knowing this. When he is in his teens, I will still be telling him this. I am grateful to my friend and mentor for teaching me how to sum up all I want to tell him in a short, easy way he will understand as he grows a little older. I pray for him to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus at a young age. I pray for his choices as he grows. I pray Col. 1:9-12 for my whole family, including my grandson. I pray for his future spouse. I pray for my grandson's children. I spend more time praying and trusting God than ever before.
It really is different with grandkids. People told me, but I didn't believe them. How could one little guy make such a difference in my life? But, he does. I'm in the Grandma Club! I am blessed!
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