When we married, we knew that if I had a chance of becoming pregnant, it had to happen quickly. Joshua was born 17 months later. A difficult nine months; I developed gestational diabetes & severe edema. I gained just 23 lbs., but at five feet & normally 110 pounds, by all appearance, I was carrying multi-uplets! I’m not the least bit tempted to get BOTOX lips. I’ve got pictures that prove-an over inflated mouth-doesn’t suit my facial structure. 😀
On a snow forecasted March Thursday night, I’d been in labor all day so Mama decided it would be best to go to the hospital rather than get snowed in. When I got there-the nurse did the standard exam & determined that it was false labor. Come back when the pain’s REALLY significant & contractions are regular. I was only 22, but, I’d been sick most of my life, I knew pain & had a high tolerance for it. When I made my first appearance at the ER Thursday night, I wasn’t crying or yelling like pregnant women do in movies. I should have! We repeated that trip several times only to hear- False labor. Come back when the pain is unbearable and the contractions are regular.
When we made our daily trip on Saturday afternoon, the on call obstetrician breezed in from a golf game and asked how much I had dilated. When he heard, 2 centimeters , he laughed. You haven’t gotten started good yet, little lady. But, I’ll give you something for the pain to help at home.
Sunday morning-standing over the kitchen chair that became my only salvation from the unbearable pressure on my lower spine, I told Daddy that I couldn’t stand it anymore. See, I’ve got this thing about crying when I’m in pain-I just don’t cry often. It’s a coping mechanism-I don’t recommend it-you get more prompt attention if you’re begging for morphine. I’ve been in the ER with a bowel obstruction & had someone with a sprained toe-get beyond the waiting room faster than me! GOTTA be MISS TOUGH STUFF!
Anyways, when we got to the hospital, the same doctor was on call. He spouted off at Mama, I gave her enough Demerol yesterday to knock an elephant out! At two centimeters, there’s no way she’s in the kind of pain she’s describing. When Mama reported the latest evaluation to everyone else, Daddy told the doctor that if they didn’t admit me, he’d take me elsewhere. Fine–but, she’d be more comfortable at home than she’ll be laying up here.
It was the first time a fetal monitor was attached to my stomach. Oh my..suddenly, there was a show of sympathy for this naive girl who didn’t know what REAL pain was. Seeing that my contractions were spiking OVER the top of the chart, the nurse said, Maybe, I better get the doctor. He shook his head in disbelief & put on an exam glove. She must’ve dilated at once-he remarked deliberately. He never admitted that he’d been wrong-he just looked at Mama and said-Still at 2. She’s is in for a long, hard, labor.
Really, Doc? Three days in, I’d earned something more befitting than a long, hard labor. Whilst this doctor was not familiar with my complex history- I was 3 WEEKS LATE, my kidneys were literally protruding and still, he let me lay there to dilate some more.
MONDAY afternoon my regular doctor walked into my room & for the first time, I began crying. I told him-I was NOT in false labor when I came the first time four days ago. He apologized for the way that I’d been treated and promised to stay until a decision was made about what to do. How about get this baby outta here!
Hours later, Daddy was looking at the monitor & noticed that the baby’s heartbeat dropped & stopped. No beep-no alarm. Daddy limped out to summons a nurse. Next thing I knew, people rushed in, yelling-Call Dr. Doctor S.! That was one of the most frightening moments of my life-a memory as clear as yesterday. Is my baby okay? I asked while nurses jabbed in needles & prepared me for emergency surgery. I’m afraid we’ve waited too long-we’ll have to wait & see. I drifted out of consciousness with wait & see in my head.
Joshua Themos Morgan was born at 9:47pm on March 28th, 1983-28 years ago, today. When I woke up, my first words were-Did the baby make it? The nurse smiled. Your son’s fine. (I had babies when you didn’t know if it was a boy or girl til it was born.) When they brought this breathtakingly beautiful baby boy to me, the first thing about him to capture my heart was his eyes! He had the biggest, BRIGHTEST eyes that I’d ever seen! Oh, and he weighed 10 pounds! For days to follow, I heard-LOOK at that one sittin’ up in a car seat! Look at those big eyes already looking around! (The nurses propped him up so that he could look around-his eyes stayed wide open). Then I’d hear-Have you seen his Mama? He’s nearly as big as she is!

Joshua looks like me-but he came into this world just like his Daddy. FRANKLIN EUGENE MORGAN, JR. (Chipper’s official name) weighed 10 pounds and 11 oz. The doctors called him GENERAL MORGAN! 😀
A day later, we learned the TRUTH about how close we came to losing our son. When the surgeon made a normal c-section incision & got a glimpse of this child, he asked for the scalpel again & added three inches to both sides. Over the years, I’ve had to explain the HIP to HIP scar to surgeons who suspect that I’ve had a tummy tuck. My little, big baby, had outgrown the confines of mommy’s small tummy & was desperately trying to break free. Problem was, nobody had detected-I have an abnormally shaped pelvis (genetic birth defect) from whence no baby would’ve ever been birthed. Joshua had gotten stuck in my birth canal & was literally hitting his head against the wall! 😀

We got a miracle with our miracle! If Joshua had pushed himself an 1/8 of an inch further down, his eyes would’ve been irreparably, permanently damaged. He could no longer move & because he’d been fighting hard for weeks, he was exhausted; that’s when his heart stopped. Mama still teases Chipper about his reaction when he first saw Joshua. When the nurse unwrapped him for the family to see him, everyone gasped in horror-but, my Chipper was so mortified-he said out loud-Oh my LORD, he’s HIDEOUS! Joshua could’ve been a front man for the CONEHEADS! Now, by the time they brought him to me, he was perfect-the only evidence of his traumatic birth was the faint ridge across his forehead.
Joshua was abnormal. Abnormally smart, that is. He walked at 8 months, was fully potty trained at fifteen months, could recite his ABC’S & count to fifty by 18 months. Before he was 2, our pediatrician suggested testing his IQ. He scored exceptionally. Josh could read,write, spell & do basic math before kindergarten.
A week after he started first grade, the Louisiana Board of
Education made a recommendation to move him up to second grade immediately & place him in the advanced
gifted program. We agreed, but there were times when Chipper & I certainly second guessed that decision. Josh stayed at the top of his class, played sports & participated in extra-curricular activities. He was well rounded, but it was harder for him socially than we realized it would be. Being 1-2 years younger than classmates brought challenges, but, he handled the obstacles with maturity & poise. Josh is the epitome of go getter!
At age twenty, Josh earned his anthropology degree at Canterbury University in Christchurch, New Zealand. He came b
ack to America & worked full time while putting himself through nursing school. The day that Joshua took his Nursing Board Exam-he finished in less than an hour. Now, it was a big deal because a student must answer a certain number correctly to pass. Once an appropriate number is reached, the test automatically stops. Students are allotted hours to complete the exam and wrong answers are not counted against them. Joshua answered the minimum number of questions in record breaking time. That’s my baby!:D

Josh has always had a unique way with kids; he’s a bit like Peter Pan himself. He has a toy room & my manchild writes out a Santa list, too. His boy charm never fades…and I love that.

GOD has our son exactly where HE wants him to be. He was offered a position straight out of nursing school-where else but the PEDIATRIC wing. In just a year, he moved into the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of one of the country’s top hospitals. Joshua is personal, compassionate and thorough with both his little patients & their frantic parents.
He not only looks like his Mama-he has many of my personality traits- randomly meticulous-emotionally charged-passionate about how people are treated. He and I lock horns way too quickly-but, we’ve always shared an extremely close bond. Not long after he moved away, he called to discuss a personal issue with me. As I listened to him talk about something that-as a Mom-wasn’t so easy to hear-still, I thanked GOD that my son and I had the kind of relationship that merited that kind of a call.

It’s hard sometimes to see my child as a man. I often call him Joshy, my little Ricky Rudd, (I do NOT know why since we’ve NEVER been Nascar fans). Our son is a wonderful, successful, young man-whose eyes sparkle as brightly as the day he was born! When I hear his gorgeous laugh-when I witness him as unafraid to express his opinions about any subject from religion to babies to politics-I’m so overwhelmed with pride & joy! Joshua T. Morgan is truly an incredible person.
Sometimes he calls me in the early morning hours to tell me about one of his patients-many times, he’ll ask me to pray for one. When I hear his voice tremble as he gives me a summary, it melts my heart to know that my son is making such a valuable contribution to our world everyday. Happy Birthday, my baby boy-
what an priceless blessing you’ve been and still are!
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