May 5, 1993 – The arrival of Shelby!

Our little baby girl was suppose to make her arrival a little later but she had other plans.  Or should I say God had other plans.  I began spotting with Shelby and in light of the placenta rupture with Cody, who was eight weeks early, the doctors told me to get to the hospital immediately.  However, it was 4:00 or 4:30 p.m.  They told me I must get there before 5:00 or everyone would have left for the shift and they would have to call people back in.  I thought that was odd that no one would be there, but we rushed out to the hospital.

I was excited, but worried.  I had to rush so much and just leave Cody quickly without much explanation to him and with someone he hardly knew.  I had to find a sitter because my mother and my sister’s family were exposed to chicken pox because my nephew had it, so they should not be around Cody and expose him when we would be bringing home a new baby girl!

I was even more worried, because she, too was a little earlier than expected.   Would everything be okay with her?  Would she be too small?  I could list the many fears, but you can imagine what was going through my mind.  She was not that much early as we had a c-section scheduled already, but the c-section was scheduled early, so I was worried. I think she was 3 – 4  weeks early, but I am not certain. I was excited because I could see my baby girl.  I was excited because this time I would not be alone.  I would get to share this with my husband and experience that.

So, nothing is ever as planned, you know!  We arrive at the hospital and everyone is waiting for us.  We are rushed in to a room and Wes gets to scrub and come in.  They have questioned and questioned me about the type of anesthesia.  I wanted the local so I was completely aware like I was with Cody.  I am not sure if they made a mistake or if they were just not giving me a choice.  The anesthesiologist started an IV.  I told him that it was to be a shot in the spine.  He informed me that he knew what he was doing and I informed him that was not how it was done at Carle Clinic (we were now at Sarah Bush for Shelby’s birth). I was explaining what type of anesthesia I had requested again.  Suddenly, that is the last thing I remember.  When I came to, I was so upset about that!  My husband was there and I have no recollection of it whatsoever.  The first thing I vaguely remember is the nurses trying to have me breastfeed Shelby.  I cannot remember much of that, just a vague memory. I also remember them telling me to wiggle my toes.  That is all!  GRRRRRRR!

My husband told me later that he would talk to me and I would answer, but, like a man, he really did not remember anything that was said, of course.  It makes me wonder if the hospital just asked me to be nice but had planned all along to do the anesthesia like that or if the anesthesiologist made a mistake.  In any event, it was not right and I felt it was not fair.  BUT!!!! . . . I had a beautiful little baby girl!!!!

Shelby came into this world at 6:29 p.m. and  was 6.0 pounds and was 20 inches long!  Wow, she was not a preemie.  (At least I thought not, but she was still small.  All of the preemie clothes we had for Cody were big on her, too).  She was completely perfect!!!  Once I was out of recovery, I never let her leave my side!  The nurses kept asking to take her to the nursery but I told them she was fine with me right where she was. Thank you God for taking care of Shelby and I!!!!  I love you Shelby Logan Sanders.  I guess now, as of two days ago, it is Shelby Logan Sanders Williams.

What I would say about Shelby as a person today . . . She has a great sense of humor, you will always hear her laughing when she is around, she loves music, loves the outdoors, board games, all games in fact, almost any type of social activity, loves to be around people, loves nursing and taking care of people.  She likes to make a difference in people’s lives. She loves to take care of anyone actually.  If she hears that you have an issue she wants to fix it.  She is so loving and compassionate. She is my favorite nurse and excels at her job as a nurse! She is intelligent and a very quick learner.   She does love the Lord.

As a little girl . . . (and maybe still the same today) very, very sensitive, loving, caring, loves family, loves a good joke and played several on us all of the time.  She would always get joke books and tell jokes all day long to us.  She loved legos, mario and nintendo games. Loved Disney movies especially Beauty and the Beast.  Loved camping and swimming.  She loved webkinz!!!  We were always on the search for new ones.  She loved music, played piano and guitar.  She loved the Lord! She was always reading the Bible and Bible stories and writing in her journal what she read.  She recorded her favorite scriptures as she would read them. She LOVED reading!  I think that her favorite books were The Velveteen Rabbit (although she cried through it) Winnie the Pooh books and we had several books that were collections of childhood stories and she loved those.  Actually, it would be hard for me to say what her favorite was as a child.  She just loved so very many.  She wanted every single book we had read to her!  When she could not read it herself and we were too busy to read to her, she would just open the book and tell a story like she was reading it.

I almost left out the two things that Shelby loves the most.  Haha.  EVERYONE knows that Shelby, to put it mildly, has a thing for cats!  Especially her beloved Cheeto.  She also has a thing for her little stuffed animal, Twinklen!  He has never ever left her side! She, to this day, even as a wife, sleeps with her little Twinklen!

Anyway, HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Shelby !!!  I am having a hard time realizing that I do not always get to see her on her birthdays any longer.  I feel like I have only missed one but I may be mistaken.  If that is so, today makes two.  I actually feel like today is the first day that I do not get to see her on her birthday.  I am thinking of you all day, though, Shelby Logan “Honey” “Pippi” Sanders Williams!

**The explanation of names…. She was named Shelby Logan Sanders.  My father’s middle name was Logan.  I thought the two names sounded nice together.  (Later we realized she was named sounding like a tornado warning.  Haha.  Shelby and Logan counties were always named together in warnings as they were close to each other.)  When I told my mother, sister and niece that I was naming her that, my mother immediately said, “What?!  Why not Shelby Rene???”  I explained that I thought that sounded like a diaper medicine.  Haha.  My niece said, “Why not Shelby Lea??”  I told her it did not flow together. My sister, Honey, immediately said, “Why not Shelby Honey??”  That was also from the movie Steel Magnolias, they were always calling Shelby in the movie, Shelby Honey.  I firmly said, Shelby Logan.

With Shelby and her love of reading, and her little pig tails that she loved to wear, everyone started calling her Pippi (from the book Pippi Longstocking) and Shelby started referring to herself as Pippi.  Also, Shelby loved Aunt Honey so much and Aunt Honey persisted in calling her Shelby Honey so Shelby decided to go by that on facebook, etc. Now, if any of you are her friends on facebook, instagram and other things, you now know why she goes by so many different names. I have my own nicknames for her.  I call her Sweet Pea and Shelby Girl.

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  THANK YOU, GOD, FOR THE GIFT OF SHELBY!