Alyssa

Rainy days are the best, especially for desert dwellers, since they are so few and far between.  I think the rainy days at the end of April, 1984, were made especially for me.  They sure did make me happy.

It was good, because I was over nine months pregnant, anxiously waiting for Alyssa to come into the world, and I was really in need of something to cheer me up.  The winter and spring before she was born seemed to be the longest four months of my life.  I blamed knowing that I was having a girl for part of the trouble.  It was fun knowing what the baby was going to be, but at the same time it took some of the excitement out of the pregnancy. 

Another reason I was blah was the fact that I had looked forward to moving into a new home for longer than a year, and now we were moved there was nothing left to look forward to.

I was also  tired of taking care of kids.  Not my kids, other people's children.  I was tired of babysitting.  I still had the the two little girls I had taken care of for the past four years, plus three new children who lived in our new neighborhood.  They were nice kids, but having eight children to care for every day got old real fast.  The topper was the day their mother was an hour late picking them up. 

"Sorry I'm late," she quipped when she finally showed up.  "Things came up at work, but I knew it wouldn't bother you since you're always home anyway.  I mean, it's not like my being late is going to change what you're doing or anything."

It really doesn't sound so bad written down, but it sure did rub me the wrong way when she said it.  I couldn't help thinking, "So you think I don't have a life or something?  You think all I do is sit around the house and goof off all day, so it's OK if I have your kids as well as mine?"

In truth, I had just as much a life as this working mother did.  I couldn't pick up and go to the store or run errands as long as I was babysitting her kids, just the same as she couldn't run around while she was working.  But she could take off during her lunch hour and on her way to and from work, and she didn't have to take her kids with her.  After she came and I got to run my errands I still had to take my kids along.  Plus, I didn't get to talk to other adults or go out to lunch or any of the other perks of being a working mom.  Anyway, she ticked me off.

So, what with being cranky because I was pregnant, cranky because I was unappreciated, cranky because I had spring fever and was tired of the same old, same old, I was pretty darn grumpy that April.  As my due date came and went I really had a hard time. 

My one consolation was our yard.  When we moved into our new house all we had was dirt, but Sheldon had worked hard laying brick planters, and I had filled them with flowers. We'd also  planted trees in both the front and back yards, and as soon as it got warm we planted grass.  By April little shoots began to pop up and soon there was a light green haze over the whole yard.  Of course, along with the grass weeds began to grow too, so I spent hours in the yard pulling them.  I'd hoped all the exercise would help Alyssa come faster, but no such luck.

Then, the last Saturday in April, I woke up to a dark, overcast, drizzly cool day.  It was so lovely!  I'd begun having labor pains about 2:00 in the morning, and although they were far apart they were consistent for about six hours, until they stopped.  I had contractions on and off all day, but by evening I still wasn't in labor.  We went out to dinner with mom and dad and my little sisters, and then we took Julie and Sharon back to our house to watch a Disney movie.  About 9:00 the pains started up, three minutes apart this time, and they didn't stop.  I called the Doctor at 9:30, then left the kids with my sisters and went to the hospital.  I wasn't dilated very much, but they decided to let me stay anyway.  About four hours later Alyssa was finally born.  It turned out that she was laying on her back instead of her stomach, so she couldn't come.  The doctor had to turn her over, which was miserable, but once she was in position she came quickly. 

You know, it really seemed like Alyssa did not want to be born, or at least like she was trying really hard to teach me how to be patient, but the second she got here and I saw her it made everything worth while.  My baby, my beautiful special little friend and gift from Heavenly Father, was worth all the trouble, and I sure was glad to have her here!