A Guest Birthday Post from My Mam

In honour of my 30th birthday today (I will not get used to saying that) my mum has written a blog for me (with a few additions by me).

Get your tissues ready......


"The Most Precious Gift of All"

Thirty years ago I was seven and a half months pregnant with my first child. At 4.00 pm on Thursday, 22 February I had my first fortnightly checkup with the obstetrician. At the end of the consultation the doctor phoned the hospital and booked me in for 8 am the following morning and booked the theatre for 4.30 pm that afternoon (Friday 23 February 1979). The baby had not moved for a month and did not have a very strong heartbeat (A fact now known as me sleeping soundly - do not disturb!). I was having major problems as well, so the decision was made to bring the baby into the world the next day by caesarian secton. We, as parents, were bitterly disappointed but we realised that the health of the baby came first.

At 4.40 pm on Friday 23 February 1979, a beautiful little baby girl entered the world. In those days, Fathers were not allowed in the theatre so Dad waited outside with Nanna and Poppy. When our precious little bundle was delivered the nurse brought her out to Daddy to hold her. He was so proud as he was the first one in his family to have a daughter as his firstborn. He had picked her name when we were first married and he never faltered from his original choice - even with much coaxing from me to include family names. When I was brought into recovery, the nurse placed her beside my head and she immediately curled her tiny body into the curves of my neck and kept crying, "Ooh Lah, Ooh Lah, Ooh Lah" (Not much has changed - I still like my snuggles). She felt so soft and cuddly and tiny. Later on that night when I had recovered a little more I asked to see her. She was in the premmie nursery in a humidicrib. I was told I had to wait till morning but the wait was worth it. She was so beautiful - and that special little cry was something that will remain with me forever. When I was allowed to nurse her, she curled her little fingers around my index finger and held tight.

Time wore on and she grew from a tiny baby into the crawling stage, then walking and teething. Her laughter pealed out loud during her playtimes, mealtimes - in fact, all waking moments. She was such a happy little girl who grew up to have a wonderful sense of humour. A brother came into our little family just over three years after her birth, and she cared for him and protected him and looked out for him during all their childhood years. Her love for him is the kind of love that all Mum's and Dad's would love to see exist between their children. That love for her brother has never faltered.

She cares for her friends deeply and is the best friend a Mum could ever hope to have as well. She has grown into a compassionate, loving, caring woman and still retains her great sense of humour.

For her birthday today, she arranged for a huge bunch of roses to be delivered to our house for her Mum. They arrived at the exact time she was delivered 30 years ago (I seriously did not arrange for them to be delivered at that time - just a freaky coincidence). They are so beautiful and each one of them represent the beauty I see in my wonderful daughter. A daughter who has come so far in her life - not in years - but in the way she cares for her friends, Mum, Dad, brother and sister-in-law, aunts, uncles, cousins (a very special cousin included) second cousins and her beloved pets - her two kitties. She has battled with major illness and beaten it and is settling well into a new life in a new State - a brand new start. I look at her each day with pride brimming from me and I am sure that her grandparents will be looking down upon her today from heaven with pride in their hearts as well.

Happy Birthday to our beautiful Honeybunches. May all your dreams come true and may life always treat you kindly. Continue to approach life in the same manner you do now and with your great sense of humour. We are so proud of you. You have brought so much happiness into our lives. May God Bless You Always.

Lots of Love always
Mamma and Dad