The idea of her was conceived a few months after meeting my husband, we were just sophomores in high school. One day at lunch he asked me what my middle name was and I told him “Alexa.” He promptly said, “One day we will get married and have a little girl with dark hair and name her Alexa.” Pretty profound for a 16 year old boy, some years later that dream came true, our first child.
I remember the moment I found out I was pregnant; I placed my hand on my belly and thought “Wow, there is life in there.” While I didn’t feel any different, I knew our lives were soon to be.
Bill read to my belly almost every night, she loved the sound of her father’s voice and always moved gently as he read. She was surrounded by words, as her father was in grad school and working on his thesis, I helped by typing his thesis, and as his thesis grew, so did my belly.
On a Friday morning, ten days after she was due, labor began; I timed them for a few hours before calling Bill to come home. We labored at home for a few more hours before heading to the hospital. The hospital was very busy and we started out in a recovery room, Bill and I laughed as we heard another couple also in labor arguing over whether they we suppose to “Hee, hee ho” or “Ho ho, hee.” We had taken Bradley and were just trying to relax and breathe deeply. We were finally moved to a labor room where we continued to labor for a few more hours; I remember thinking at one point “Am I doing okay?” I heard several other women screaming and I thought, “I am not screaming, I am okay.”
A few hours later they moved us to the Birthing Room, where they wouldn’t let Bill in until he scrubbed and put scrubs on. The nurses pushed me in a wheel chair down the hall in hard labor and then said “Hurry and get in bed before the next contraction” and then walked out of the room. Bill came running in a short time later asking if I was okay, and I responded “Get me in bed, cover me up and shut the door!” They checked me and I was 9 cm. dilated, I thought “I am going to get the urge to push soon, but what if I don’t?” A short time later the urge hit, they checked me and said I had a small “lip” of my cervix left and not to push, and left the room. I breathed and breathed until I could no longer resist and Bill yelled out the door “She is pushing and I am not stopping her.” They came in and said “Oh yes, you can push.” Twenty minutes later, our little girl came into the world, I began to cry, she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. She was our dream child. The nurse was carrying her and Bill walked up to her and said “Well hello, little miss ruby red lips,” she turned right to his voice. Bill later said “Wow, there is nothing like looking into your child’s eyes for the first time, it is instant love.”
Alexa amazed us from the beginning; she grew into a strong willed little girl with the funniest sense of humor, who loved listening to her daddy read to her and helping her mommy out. Now she is a grown woman, a UCLA grad and well, words still surround her as an assistant editor. She is still stro
ng willed and has that quirky sense of humor, and yes, she still continues to amaze us . . .
