March Madness

Dear Hank,

Six years ago tonight Dr. Elfstrand came into our room and said, "Well, maybe instead of going home, I'll just take a snooze on the cot down the hall. I think this baby wants out tonight!"

We had arrived at the hospital around 8 p.m. and Dr. Elfstrand was sure she would be able to go home, have dinner with her family, sleep, come back in the morning and get you delivered. But you, my friend, had better plans. You said, GET ME OUTTA HERE!!

I said, "No medication for me! I want this baby to torture me now so I can set my threshhold of pain relatively high in order to gauge things appropriately in the years to come."

The NCAA tournament was on TV and your dad was able to catch the score of the Wisconsin vs.Fresno State game in between contractions. He kept his eye on the machine that showed a graph of those contractions and said (as each one of them started to ease up) Theeerrre you go. He was a peaceful influence on me during the whole 5 hour event.

I will never forget the images that came to mind while I rode those crazy contractions:

the sinking of the Titanic
the tornado in The Wizard of Oz
jumper cables trying to start The Gravedigger at a Monster Truck Rally in the Metrodome
being struck by lightning (in the UTERUS!) 57 times in one night

In case you ever want to know what it's like to be in labor...that's EXACTLY what it's like.

It was awesome.

And I would do it again 8000 times because you, Hank, are SO worth it.

You are the best six year-old boy any mom and dad could ever hope to have.

Love,

Mom