I was 40 weeks pregnant. We lived in Ft. Benning, Georgia. The temperatures were in the upper 90's with 100% humidity. My mother and grandmother were there to help and to see Georgia Katherine be born. It was an exciting time. Every morning I would take my four year old Hannah to swimming lessons. Then I would walk....down to the Columbus riverwalk, up the hills of Ft. Benning, around the soccer fields. I would walk and walk and walk and walk. But no matter how much I walked, labor would not start.
It's funny how those days dragged on and on. My mother and grandmother eventually had to leave, and Georgia still had not arrived. Even though we begged and pleaded with the doctors at Martin Army Hospital to induce me, they would not. I cried. I thought I would be pregnant forever. But finally, on July 2nd, my 43rd week of pregnancy, I went into Martin Army Hospital to be induced. When I got there, I found out that I was 2cm dilated and labor was beginning. Georgia Katherine was born later that day at 4:59pm.
That was twelve years ago. It's really hard to believe how fast the time has passed by us and how much has changed. She was only a year old when the planes hit the World Trade Center in New York City and our lives became tainted by terrorism, war, and deployments. MM missed several years of her early life. Georgia was three years old when he came home from Iraq one morning after being gone on and off for two years. We tiptoed into her bedroom and I whispered to her, "Daddy's home!" She rubbed her sleepy eyes and looked at him quizzically, then asked me, "Benjamin's Daddy?" I have always felt bad that MM had to miss so much.
Since then we have moved from Ft. Benning to Rhode Island to Hawaii to Florida to Germany. Everywhere we have lived, Georgia has been a shining star in school, in sports, and making friends. She is a true Army Brat and I could not be more proud of the young lady she is becoming. It is always bittersweet to watch your children grow up. July 2, 2000 seems like it was just yesterday.
Happy Birthday, Georgia Kate!
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