As we left off last week, I dangled a carrot for you my readers...Shellie was my friend and I was dating her adorable brother, Wayne. Shellie had moved a few hours away from Toronto, both to be closer to her boyfriend and to get out of 'the Big City'. When she came home for a visit in October of 1997, we both had great news to share with each other...
Being the sweetie that she is - she let me go first, since she could see I was bubbling over with excitement! I had to tell her we were becoming sisters! Wayne and I had gotten engaged the week before after going ring shopping - he was applying for grad school in the States and we didn't want to take the chance that I couldn't go with him when he went... and so we had picked our wedding date to allow for any paperwork and such to be completed ... right after we both finished our BA's - May 30, 1998. I rambled on about the details that I had already planned... (if you missed that story check it out here) and finishing up my long winded explanation by asking her to be a bridesmaid...
She hesitated for a second, which isn't like her, then said "Well, that's just peachy! but I can't be a bridesmaid... my due date is June 5th" We laughed, we cried, we hugged! We thought about changing all the wedding plans, but she convinced me that it would all work out okay and she'd do her best to be there if she could, but not to change all the plans already in place...
Shellie was so excited that she was pregnant, having not been able to conceive during her marriage, and I knew that she would make an excellent mommy! We sat there that Thanksgiving weekend plotting baby strategy and wedding strategy, and having a great time...
The next several months passed by in a blur.. I was finishing school, planning the wedding and working almost full time, but we'd talk when I was at work on Wednesday nights, since all I was doing was working the office shift at a small rec centre and Wendesday nights was ball room dancing - those wild and crazy dancers rarely got out of line... We'd compare notes on the week, the next week and beyond... until the last week of April 1998... Shellie had gone to the hospital to be monitored on the 22nd of April, because she had started having contractions... she also had previous medical conditions that made it likely that she'd stay in hospital until they got her completely sorted out...
She made plans for a long stay and we settled into a new routine of talking every day if we could... I honestly think she just wanted someone to complain about the wonderful food she'd been served that day... they were able to stop her contractions but wanted her on almost complete bed rest and had her hooked to a bunch of monitors so the farthest she could travel was to the bathroom and back... and of course at almost 8 months pregnant, she was getting a pretty good workout in...
Almost exactly a week later, we were talking during our usual Wednesday night... I was working on reports for work and she was shooting the breeze about a roomie that had delivered and left earlier that day... when she asked me to time something... 5 minutes... 4 minutes... she knew right then and there that she was in labour again and that the doctors wouldn't stop it this time, having done a battery of tests on the baby and mom, and knowing that it would be the safest thing for Shellie... so I gave her my love, hung up and called my future inlaws to tell them Shellie was in labour!!!
They didn't even ask how I knew, I just told them to hop in the car now - her labour was progressing rapidly and if they wanted to be there... it was about 7 pm when they hit the road...
by 11 pm, Robyn Anne Loucks had made her appearance, small but healthy at 4lbs, 11 oz and breathing on her own...
As Shellie said, her daughter had impeccable timing - they were going to keep her in the hospital for about a week to monitor them both and then they'd have 3 weeks to get used to each other before making the trip to our wedding :) Everything was going to be peachy keen :)
So that's what they did... Robyn Anne made her public debut as the star attraction at our wedding, picured here with her mom and dad:
If you haven't had enough yet, there is one more story to tell next week... sadder and more poignant, but worth reading here.
Thanks for letting me share my Sunday Family Stories
