SAM - 2000	Home	My Site Map

	WAITING FOR SAM (pre-April 25th): Sam's first picture. Ultrasound about 3 months. My little peanut
	WAITING FOR SAM (pre-April 25th): This a picture of me on about November 27th. I'm about 5 months pregnant.
	WAITING FOR SAM (pre-April 25th): This a picture of Sam's bedroom. I decided to decorate in a Curious George theme of red and yellow. At first I wanted a beautiful sleigh bed from the Pottery Barn for Kids; however, my more practical side won out and I decided to go with a very sturdy model from JCPenney that had a changing table on the end. Once I got it into the room and set up it worked out great. The bed also transitioned into a toddler bed to take Sam into his early youth (I'm thinking 5 or 6). After that I can get him a single bed, or maybe a bunk bed with a desk underneath. Sam's room is very colorful with lots of pictures on the walls, a mirror, bookcase, chest of drawers, and toy chest. I found them all at a consignment shop up near my sister's house in Greeley. I brought them home and promptly went on travel. During my trip, my mother was so sweet and took all the pieces and painted them white for me. The all fit great in the room and make it so cozy. I also found this cute red rocker at the same consignment shop.
	SAM'S ARRIVAL: I went to the doctor April 24th (two weeks overdue) for an ultrasound to determine if baby Sam was in good shape. After the exam the doctor said my amniotic fluid was low so he sent me to the hospital at about noon. I checked into the hospital and a flurry of friends and family began to appear. My doula Ginny and her apprentice Christi made an appearance and we arranged to have me induced with a small pill that is placed under the cervix to soften it and begin contractions. The nurse stated that she had never seen anyone need more than three doses before labor began. Well, about 20 hours later and some 10 doses, I still had not begun labor. Around 10 am my doctor (Baer) came to check on me and broke my water to begin labor. That did it. The contractions began and so did my screaming for an epidural. They put that in around 11 am. I took a nap until about 4 pm. The nurses checked my progress and I was about 6 cm dilated. My doulas did not think my contractions were progressing long or hard enough to push the baby out. They told my mother that I might need a caesarian section delivery. About that time, the epidural medication began wearing off. So, I went from numb to the hardest labor in about 15 minutes. Contractions are a strange sensation. They build like a wave and then crash. They cause such a helpless feeling because you just don't think you can stand another wave coming. I equate it to the Chinese water-drip torture which, as you can imagine, will slowly drive you to be a drooling idiot. Anyway, my dilation went to 10 cm in about an hour and it was time to push. Push! HA! You could just lie there and those contractions would push that baby out (not long and strong enough phwey). I pushed three times and the head was out. Then the doctor told me to stop pushing so he could clean out the baby's mouth and nose. Now how do you tell your contracting body to just stop pushing? DUH! On the next push out came those two shoulders POP! POP! I hadn't really felt the head, but man I felt each one of those little shoulders! I think I had a huge rush of adrenaline after I had the baby. I felt great. The contractions ended abruptly and all I wanted to do was to talk to everyone about how the labor went (since I was so out of it I could only remember a foggy haze of pain - must be how you can convince yourself to have more children). And then he was there. My little angel that I had been waiting for for 9-1/2 months. They laid him on my tummy and I couldn't help but cry to see the little miracle that I nurtured in my body and will continue to nurture with my being forever.
	SAM'S FIRST PROFESSIONAL PHOTOS (10 days old) - I wanted an Ann Geddes look to these photos. I thought black and white gives you such a classic look. Even now when I look back at these photos I experience wonder at how tiny my baby was and how I managed to take care of that helpless creature (successfully I hope) all by myself. Being a single mother is a gift most of the time. You share an extremely intimate relationship with your child. You realize you are the center of their universe. I think often about how I am helping create my child's memories to be cherished by him when he is a man. These thoughts humble a person.
	MAY - Near the end of May and early June I had a baby shower thrown by my good friends Susan and Robin. My best friend Tina came down from Alaska and my grandmother flew out from Indiana. I had a great time passing the baby around to all my friends and family. We played silly games and they gave me wonderful gifts for the baby (I used every single gift I was given!) I had a wonderful visit with my family and my friend Tina.
	JUNE - This was Sam's first father's day and he spent it taking Grandpa to the movie Dinosaur. Sam was very impressed with about half the movie, then he slept through the rest of it.
	JULY - Here I am getting Sam and I back into my exercising routine. Mom and I took him for a walk down to Monument Valley park which is a long trail (about 5 miles round trip) that runs along the Monument Valley Creek. Sam really liked getting outside for a walk. At the end of the trail we stopped at the swings and pushed Sam for a bit.
	AUGUST - Sam and I live in a house built in 1907 and it does not have the best insulation. Therefore, in the Winter it gets cold, and in the Summer it gets downright unbearable. So sometimes the boy needed to throw off his clothes and COOOOOOL off!
	SEPTEMBER - Sam made his first visit to the Venetucci Pumpkin farm to pick out a pumpkin for Halloween. This is a working farm and there is a lot of equipment around. Including tractors. Sam really enjoyed sitting in the drivers seat of tractor and the hay wagon.
	OCTOBER - For his first Halloween Sam was a baby convict and I was the warden. I found this cute black and white striped outfit with a pumpkin face on the front. We stayed home this year (it was very cold) and the sad news was that we had no trick-or-treaters. Not one! Poor Sam!
	NOVEMBER - This was the month that Sam began sitting up by himself. My father got him this cowboy hat at the Colorado State Fair at the end August and by this time he really liked to wear it. This was the same outfit he wore to see the Winter Steakhouse show at the Flying W Ranch near Garden of the Gods.
	DECEMBER - Sammy, my little Christmas elf. Sam wore an elf outfit and hat for Christmas. Sam had three Christmas'. First we went to my sister's in Greeley to exchange gifts about a week before Christmas. Then, on Christmas morning the boy and I opened all the presents Santa had left for him under his own snowman decorated tree. Then, we went over to Grammy and Grampy's house for more baby gifts (including a big plastic Snuggle Bug). Finally we finished off the day with dinner at the Cheyenne Mountain Conference resort.
More miscellaneous pictures of Sam in 2000: Sam 2000

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