Thursday, April 12, 2012

Big News

As most of you know by now the Bailey family has recently had a BIG announcement, the engagement of our daughter, Alicia.  Be sure to watch the video attachments with their T.V interview and the Big Proposal!

We are beyond excited for this upcoming special day and even more excited because of who she will be spending this day and the rest of her life with, a man named Chad.  Chris is excited because he finally gets a boy!  I am excited because she gets a man, who is just like my husband.  With this excitement also come some emotions and a time of reflection for me.  You see, Alicia is my life changing baby and there is a bond between us that can never be broken. Therefore, I thought I would use this blog as a small way to pay tribute to my precious child and to our great God as I tell our story through the upcoming days and pages.  There is much the world needs to know about them both.
It was late evening July 17th, 1990 that I felt the first of many child bearing pains.  It wouldn’t be until the next day I would hold a sweet baby in my arms that was delivered in the same hospital I was and by the exact same doctor.  As I reflect on that day I am fully aware and confident that it was July 18th, 1990 at 3:30 in the afternoon that God planted the very first seed of hope in my life, and her name was Alicia. 
(FYI, that's a picture blemish above her eye)

 As I sat in that hospital room I was flooded with many emotions, along with a huge craving for spaghetti, which by the way did not work out so well for me!  I had such joy and excitement along with such worry and fear.  By no means was I your typical mom.  I was a teenager who carried with her a life of hurts and struggles, and I was a broken girl in a very broken relationship.  I wasn’t alone but yet I felt so very alone.  I was still a young girl myself who now was expected to be a mom.  I was so overwhelmed by the task but yet also felt so capable, not because I was but rather because I knew I would be out of my great love for my child.  When I stared down into her sweet little green and bloodshot eyes and rubbed her mostly bald head I knew at that moment there was nothing I wouldn’t do her.  Alicia made me come alive.  She brought a fight out in me that I never knew I had.  I knew I wanted so much more for her life even though I was clueless as to how to achieve it.  Little did I know that little seed of hope that was planted was about to be watered and fertilized over the next several years.  It would be a journey like no other, one I would never want to go through again but yet one that I am ever so grateful for. 
As I continue this blog there will be many stories, some of them sad, some of them hard and some of them funny and joyful, but because of God’s grace, all of them full of hope and purpose!  It is impossible for me to tell complete stories in one day without leaving out important details, so I will stop and use today as an introduction and close it with the details of my first 9 months carrying sweet Alicia. 

I first found out I was pregnant a few days before Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving was when I REALLY found out because I could not stop throwing up.  Little did I know the sickness wouldn’t stop for another 6 months and would only be coupled with gestational diabetes.  I developed a condition called hyperemesis (aka LOTS of vomiting!).  This led to hospitalizations and IV fluids on numerous occasions.  I feel as if I earned every ounce of Alicia’s amazingness!  The whole time I think I gained a mere 23lbs.  As I pull out old pictures of me while I was pregnant I realize how easily I could embarrass Alicia now.  I had big round glasses, bleach blonde BIG hair and wore tie dye t-shirts.  There was however a perk to being a skinny teenage mom, I could fit into regular clothes and be spared of the hideous sailor outfits with big red bows that could only be found in Sears Maternity section.  So for that Alicia, you are welcome! 
(See what I mean about the hair? Yikes!)
When the sickness ended for me I still battled with the diabetes and would stop at Circle K on my way to work and buy a 5lb bag of ice and finish eating it before my day was over.  I would then wake at 3am or so to have my mom crush more ice cubes for me with a hand crusher (oh the days before ice dispensers!).  I also fondly remember each night at 9pm on the dot Alicia would have the hiccups.  This lasted for months!  Besides the ice, I craved vanilla ice cream, even though I was not supposed to have it, and McDonald’s salads.  So my days flew by with much relationship turmoil, throwing up, eating ice, dressing like an 80’s pregnant Diva and painting a nursery purple while climbing a ladder to put a little sheep border up with my mom.  Some days were fun, but most were very stressful, regardless, every single day was worth it. 

Finally, Alicia came into this world after 17 hours of labor, a week early and weighing 7lbs and 9oz.  She had squinty little green eyes that were bloodshot from how fast she came out, a round face and hardly any hair.  She was adorable and she was mine.  Over the next 12 months and still to this day, Alicia being in my life changed everything and I mean everything! I can’t wait to share more with you later!!

4 comments:

  1. I can't wait to keep reading this blog!! I love you Jamie. Thank you.

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  2. I second Amy! It sounds like you have an amazing story to tell Jamie.

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  3. I am going try and read but the tears are so big that I can barely see through them. You are amazing!

    Shawna Lee

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