Happy Birthday Yam!

Monday

July 22, 1991

3:30 AM.

I wake up, turn over in bed and hear/feel a pop.

My water has just broken.

It is 3 days before my due date.

There is no Colonel to wake and say, "It's time," to. He is in Korea on a Remote Tour for a year (he has 5 months under his belt already).

We both agree its best and I have chosen to stay behind in Washington State because of the pregnancy. All is well; I am participating in a study about first time pregnancies and low doses of aspirin and its effects on, or preventing pregnancy induced hypertension. This study affords me extra and special care throughout my pregnancy. I learned later that I was one of the subjects given a daily baby aspirin and not a placebo.

One benefit of the study was regular ultrasounds. It was wonderful to see Yam before she was born. Each ultrasound I would ask the doctor Yam's gender, but Yam would not cooperate with us. I did not know she was a girl until the last month's ultrasound.

I am alone.

I dropped my eldest sister off at the airport in Seattle on Friday the 18th. She had been with me, anxiously awaiting Yam's birth, but had to leave before Yam arrived. My mom was scheduled to come and stay with me next for "Baby Watch". I had the weekend to get through before my mom was to arrive on Monday the 22nd.

I passed the weekend quietly.

O.K...so my water has broken and I am alone...

I get on the horn and call my friend and neighbor Tammy, who was on call if I needed her.

"Sorry it's so early Tammy, but it's time."

Next I call my mom. She is up getting ready for her flight.

"Good morning Mom. It's me. My water has broken, so I will be in the hospital when you arrive. Sport (Tammy's husband) will pick you up. I've already told him your name, flight info and what you look like, so he should be able to find you. Have a nice flight and I will see you later."

I hang up the phone, get ready and wait for Tammy to arrive.

I am very calm. I am not having any contractions yet.

We arrive at the military hospital and I am admitted.

Tammy is a wonderful coach. It is all very fresh in her mind. She had her son almost exactly one year before.

9:00 AM and my contractions are starting to get uncomfortable, so much so, that I tell Tammy to shut the television off because that #%*$ Kathy Lee of "Regis and Kathy Lee" is really starting to cheese me off and by the way, please don't breathe on me, thanks.

My contractions get stronger and the fact that my OB nurse is Korean (probably a G.I.s wife) and I can hardly understand her accent begins to wear on me too. I think, "I could be in Korea right now with a Korean nurse who I can't understand too well either, but at least The Colonel would be with me as I was having our baby".

Tammy has become a wonderful translator too.

Yam arrives at 1:17 PM.

She weighs 8lbs 7oz and is 21 1/4" long.

My mom arrives about an hour later.

Mom stays with Yam and I for two weeks. She is a great help, especially through my trials and tribulations of trying to nurse Yam (I had a Lactation Specialist in my home with her hands all over my mammary glands, Yam was miserable, I was miserable, finally I decide the bottle is best for us both). I did continue to pump so that Yam could have all the benefits of breast milk from the bottle.

It became comical for my mom and I. I would start up the machine, feeling like a Holstein cow and when Yam heard the machine's sound it was like Pavlov's Dogs and she would cry to be fed. I soon after put Yam on formula alone.

When Yam was three weeks old The Colonel came home from Korea for his Mid-Tour break.

He would be home with Yam and I for three weeks before he would leave for Korea again. We would not see one another for another seven months.

Here are some of our favorite photos of Yam.

Happy 19th Birthday Yam!