And then there were 6 . . .

We had been waiting and waiting on my very good friend, Amberley, to have her baby. And finally he came . . . full force . . . literally the wrong way.

I received an email from her husband, Chad, yesterday. He said this:

Valerie,

I thought you would like to know that our fourth child was brought into this world at 1:51 A.M. Friday. Unfortunately, he came with one heck of a traumatic event. When we arrived at the hospital we discovered that he was frank breach (butt down, head and feet up). With the speed with which Amberley progresses a surgical team was called immediately and a c-section was performed. By the time she was rolled into the OR our son’s rear end was already starting to come into the world. They acted quickly, put Amberley completely out and brought him into the world surgically. Mother and child are doing fine, but unfortunately Amberley has no recollection of anything that happened. We named him Levi Edward after my grandfather and great-grandfather. He weighed 7lbs 15oz and was 20 inches long.

. . . She is doing quite well and is expected to be discharged from the hospital sometime on Sunday. Her spirits are quite high even though she is very disappointed not to have any memory of the birth. Any support or advice you might have for her will be much appreciated, I am sure. When she gets home I am sure she will email pictures for you to see.

Either Am told Chad about me going through the same thing, or else he remembered. Many of you don't know that when I had Noah, I ended up being intabated and put completely out in order for my doctor to preform an emergency c-section just like Am. It was scary and I had a long hard recovery from it . . . bedrest for almost 6 weeks! Like I told Am, I think this is one of the reasons God put us together as such good friends . . . just one more thing we can share. I'm just so thankful Noah was ok and now Levi is ok, too. Thank God. Maybe this is Am's sign to not have anymore cutie dumplins? Levi makes 4! And what a beautiful family they have.



I won't make a huge long story of this, but I have to tell a tiny bit about Am and how we are friends. She actually lives in Iowa right now, but we met in the current place I live in now . . . 31 years ago! We were born on the very same day. I'm the oldest by a few hours (ha!) but I guess it's how you look at it because I turned 30 before her (darn!).

Am's mom and my mom were best friends. Still are very close. We all did so much together growing up. We went on summer trips together (all the time), went to church together (that's where they/we met!), I knew her grandparents and she knew mine. We had a special bond from the very beginning and even though we're hundreds of miles away now, we are still very close. When we see each other it's like time hasn't passed at all. When I see her parents it's like this also. They've just always been such a close very important part of our family, almost like they always have been family but without the blood relation. And I know first hand that blood doesn't necessarily mean a thing :c)

Here we are a long long time ago. Am, me and her older sister, Kim on one of our many family vacations.

With all that said, I want to congratulate Am and Chad (and their other children, CJ, Alex and Emily - same age as Maia) on their new beautiful addition to their family! I cannot wait to meet him. I wish you, Am, very quick healing -- emotionally, mentally and physically, because I know this sort of birth drains of you of all! I also wish you many more beautiful memories as you grow as a family. You are a wonderful family. A family I admire. A family I'm honored to call a part of my family. Love you!