Nonpareil

RE,

A year after I graduated from BYU I was watching Dad play softball with Lloyd Jensen and Jason Watt in South Provo. It seemed like I was "late", and I was never late. I left the game and drove to Kmart in East Bay and bought my first-ever pregnancy test. I remember I did not have my wedding ring on and felt embarrassed. I waited until we were back home and took the test alone in our master bath. Dad was waiting on the bed. When I came out and said I was pregnant Dad went berserko; we now call it the "Terrell Davis". It involves running down the hall and leaping onto the bed like you're tackling someone in the end zone and then kicking your legs up in the air while you hoot and holler. I told Dad I wanted to keep it a secret until we knew the sex. Greg said he wouldn't tell anyone until I told someone. I kept the cat in the bag for four long days.

I bought What to Expect When You're Expecting which explained what to look forward to every week of pregnancy. Every week listed "flatulence" as a side effect, which I looked up in our paperback dictionary. Talk about bursting my bubble!

I sucked on a peppermint while I drove to the Oreck store each morning, punched in the code to quiet the alarm, and threw up in the trashcan directly beneath the alarm. This happened for 8 months but once I got over the morning hump I was generally okay.

I ate wild berry Tums like they were chocolate and had a constant stampede of charley horses. Dad was so good at getting me the things I craved (grapefruit, mint chocolate chip milkshakes from One Man Band, plain hamburgers from McDonald's) and rubbing my calves every night. I read that women who craved beef when pregnant usually had boys. This scared me because I only wanted a girl.

You would not open your legs during the first ultrasound. I had to beg to get a second ultrasound a week later. I drank 32 ounces of Sprite an hour prior because a friend told me the sugar would make you hyper and immodest onscreen. Sprite was the trick and you were a GIRL! We called the families and announced you were a girl who would be named Aurora. I still can't believe I blabbed the name so soon. Someone could have stolen it!

I did not like my doctor's office. It had creepy dolls and ugly wallpaper (and the standard fish tank) and smelled like vanilla mixed with a guaranteed hour wait. I was supposed to rotate through all four doctors so that when I delivered I would have met my doctor at least once. I met Dr. Brent Lind for the first time the night you were born, but I was fine with it because he was the senior partner, had delivered the most babies, had about ten kids of his own, and didn't watch cable.

I didn't show until five months and from then on only looked like I had a basketball under my shirt. No one could tell I was pregnant from behind. I had dark chloasma on my cheeks the last trimester. 

Dad loved to poke you through my tummy and you would always fight back. It cracked Dad up. We loved to go on dates when we were pregnant with you, especially meandering through any store's baby aisle. We couldn't wait for you to arrive. Neither could our best customers at Oreck! The O'Very's gave us a gift card to The Children's Place, Grant Court's wife crocheted you a white blanket that ended up being the blankie you never let go of, and Paul Foster, our freight driver, bought us a really nice baby monitor PLUS D-batteries. I was so touched that customers did that sort of thing! It made me a more observant shopper.

At my 37-week appointment the doctor said I was 90% effaced and already dilating and to get my mom out here because we'd never make the due date. So Grandma flew out and nothing progressed. We furniture shopped, cleaned the baseboards (again), drove to Foothill Blvd twice for grapefruit salad, and washed all your tiny clothes in Dreft. I eventually had my membranes stripped three times because we needed you here now.

I woke up at five in the morning with what felt like really bad cramps. I sat up and realized it must be labor! I walked down the hall to the guest room to wake Grandma up but as I grabbed the doorknob to twist it the door flung open. She exclaimed, "I knew it! You're in labor! I just had a feeling when I was saying my prayers last night! I could tell by the way you were walking yesterday! Call the doctor, honey!" She was so excited. I called the doctor and he said to take a shower and get things in order and come to the hospital when the contractions were two minutes apart.

I showered "Greg-style" aka until all the hot water was gone and crawled back in bed to try and sleep some more. This was a mistake because my hair dried all wonky and I had "hatchet head" in the blurry 35mm film birth photos. Live and learn. I made sure to look good for Archer's birth. That sucker got a mom wearing bronzer, mascara, and curled hair.

Dad woke up and started to do his happy freaking out thing. He wasn't as scatterbrained as he was with Archer's birth (i.e. backing out over my suitcase) but he was still flustered. At two minutes apart Dad gave me a blessing and we headed to the hospital. Labor and Delivery was overflowing because a big storm had blown in and apparently severe changes in barometric pressure send women into labor. They sent me back home and told me to come back when I'd dilated more. Dad drove over the train tracks by the Post Office over and over to see if the bumps would shake you out, dropped me off at home, and drove to work (yes, you read me right).

Grandma fed me mashed potatoes between gut-wrenching contractions and I watched a VHS that we'd rented. I felt a warm gush and changed my clothes, embarrassed I'd wet my pants. Grandma, who has never been afraid to sniff anything be it chunky milk or fuzzy fridge food, smelled my pants and said it was amniotic fluid. My water had broken! We called Dad, who drove faster than he ever has on I-15 and returned to the hospital. I was not even dilated to a 3 but they had to admit me because my water had broken. They did a litmus paper test to prove my water had broken. I wanted to ask them if they were seriously doubting my Mom's nose.

IVs, heart monitor, etc. I had the nurse tape up my whole arm so I couldn't tell where the needles were inserted. I wimped out shortly, got an epidural, and fell asleep about a minute after I was pain-free. During this time Greg drove to Wendy's because he had skipped lunch working. This is a decision he will hear about for the rest of his life. The nurse checked on me an hour later and I was a fully effaced 10. Dr. Lind exclaimed, "Let's have this baby!", which produced an impromptu freak out with tears. It was overwhelming to straddle the point of no return. Kids are yours forever, you know?

Greg made it back from the drive-thru in the nick of time and stood at the foot of the bed cheering me on. Once he saw your head he screamed, "Wass! She has so much hair! I can see it!" Mom stayed up by my shoulder and helped hold my legs back. She also stroked my hair and rubbed my neck and did all kinds of soothing things. My mom should have been a doula. I hadn't planned on having my mom at the hospital but I'm glad she was there.

Five pushes later you came out at 9:18 pm and screamed, "Waaah! I'm here!" I asked Greg three times if you were really a girl. (My friend's ultrasound said "BOY" and she engraved his boy name into their crib...and then had a girl. I did not want this to be my fate.) I was so relieved you were, in fact, a healthy 8 lb 2 oz girl. The doctor thought you were going to be six pounds but you were huge. "Where were you hiding that baby?" It was news to me I had to push the placenta out. This was due to me taping shut the last section of What to Expect When You're Expecting because I didn't want to know about childbirth or see any gross pictures.

Dad called his parents from his cell phone outside because cell phones weren't allowed in the hospital. I called my dad from the hospital phone. Aunt Cristall and Uncle Harper were your first visitors at the tail end of their 14-hour Seattle roadtrip where Cristall had stalked Bono at a U2 concert.

I got wheeled to my room while Dad and Grandma (you made her a grandma, you were the first Durkovich grandchild!) observed your first bath. Dad said you loved having your hair washed. (You still go through shampoo and conditioner faster than anyone I've ever known.) Your hair was short, black, thick, and spiky. You looked like a hedgehog. The nurses tied you hair bows in every color of ribbon because you had the best hair in the nursery. I shared a bathroom with another mom and didn't think it was weird or ghetto or anything. I had absolutely no hospital expectations. I for sure didn't have a birth plan or a videographer.

The next morning was Easter Sunday. Dad wanted to announce your birth at church so I was alone with you, a hard-boiled egg, and a daffodil. I put a bunny headband on your head but you hated it. You also hated your hospital hat. As I held you I felt our eternal bond welding. You were the girl I always wanted.

You were all mine for 13 years. I didn't know I could love you more until I saw what kind of a sibling you are to your brothers. You are a rare one, a nonpareil of a girl. Not because you alphabetize DVDs for fun or prefer adults to teenagers, but because of your steely inner strength and alert senses. I can't believe you fly the coop in a year. I dread the day for selfish reasons. I love you, my big-eyed Bug! This morning you were sixteen going on seventeen but tonight you are officially the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen. 

Photo lyric from "Sky Blue and Black" by Jackson Browne. Thank you to my BYU roommate's Catholic boyfriend for having excellent taste in music. Still one of my favorite songs, especially since Aurora means "dawn" and she really was my sky unfolding.

nonpareil: noun, an unrivaled or matchless person or thing.

synonyms: best, finest, crème de la crème, peak of perfection, elite, jewel in the crown, ne plus ultra, paragon, nonesuch

RE's 17th Birthday Menu (per her request):

Breakfast: baked oatmeal, candied bacon

Lunch: Dave's Killer Bread smeared with spinach artichoke dip, turkey, medium cheddar

Dinner: meatloaf, twice baked potatoes, asparagus

Treat: shortbread chocolate chip cookies