A Decade of Joy

Seth and best friends Ethan and Tommy swim at The Reef indoor water park to celebrate the day.











Yesterday was Seth's 10th birthday. As he kept reminding me, he entered into the DOUBLE DIGITS. I know it's true, but that doesn't make it any easier to believe. You see, it really seems like just the other day that he wasn't here yet. We had our four other children fairly close together, and for quite a while, we thought we were done. But then, when Eli was 5 or 6, I began to wonder if there wasn't one more child waiting for us. The thought didn't go away. I expected Gerald to totally shut me down with this train of thought, but he must have known on some level as well because he was entirely sold on the idea. So on June 14, 2000, when Eli was 7 years old and Luke was 15, Seth came to Earth and to our family. What a blessing to us all!

I remember the day I went into labor. It didn't seem to be convenient for anyone. I had been up all night with definite signs of pre-labor when the phone rang at 7:00 a.m. It was the school. One of our kids was out of lunch money on his account, and could I please come in and pay because it was too late in the year to charge. "Ah, I would, but I'm actually in labor right at the moment," which abruptly ended that conversation. I believe they went ahead and fed my child. It was also Shulamith's 8th grade graduation, which I would ultimately miss. My mom brought her by the hospital, so I could see her in her dress, powder blue to match her eyes. She was beautiful as always.

My labor was also inconvenient for the hospital, it seemed. Mt. Vernon is a small town, so when there are no mothers in labor or recovering, they close down the maternity ward entirely. Such was the case that morning. They had to open it up for me and ask an OB nurse to stay past her regular shift time in order to help me. Here's the irony. Teenage pregnancy is rampant in Mt. Vernon, and the nurse who was asked to stay had this to say: "I'll do it as long as it isn't another teen mom." Well, no problem here! I was what they politely call an "AMA patient." That stands for Advanced Maternal Age and applies to anyone having a baby at age 35 or over.

Seth's birth was positively lovely. My other four children were born without pain-relieving medication, in other words: natural childbirth (Read: excruciating pain.) Let me make this clearer. In all four cases, I felt as though my back was about to break in two, and I prayed it would, because in that moment, I'd gladly have lived the rest of my life paralyzed just to escape the present situation. There is a myth that mothers forget all this once their babies are born, but a myth is exactly what that is. I remember. In contrast, with Seth, I had this amazing, blessed procedure called an epidural. I highly recommend it. Enough said.

After Seth was born, they let all four of his siblings come right in. Isaiah and Eli (ages 9 and 7 respectively) helped give him his first bath. All four kids took turns holding him. Our family was complete, and we all seemed to know it.

The ten years that followed have sped by faster than I could have ever imagined. Some people have told me that having a baby later in life would keep me young. I'm not sure I agree. I suspect I would have "kept" young all on my own, with or without Seth. I'm just that way; I ardently refuse to join the "older generation" whatever that is. However, Seth has provided me the opportunity to continue on with primary functions, elementary school activities, play dates, sleepovers, all the things that go with having a young child. And I love that. Every bit of it.

He is a remarkable child, in my opinion. I always said I wanted strong-willed children who know their own minds and feel free to express themselves. I got my wish with all five, including Seth. He has had to contend with people much older than himself his whole life, and he does it quite well. But emotionally, he is still nine. Okay, ten. His sense of humor is still that of a 10-year-old. In closing, let me illustrate that with the following conversation we had just yesterday:

Seth: Can I just live with Shulamith and Matt forever?

Me: Only if Dad and I die.

Seth: Well then, could you hurry up and do that?