Today I turn 32. It's not a fun round number into a new decade. It's not a birthday that comes with any new privileges.
But it's already my favorite birthday.
It's the first birthday I get to celebrate with my favorite pumpkin: Lila Rose.
I know it's cliche to say, "Having a kid changes everything," but really...it does!
On my first birthday post-baby, here's what it's changed: my appreciation for my mom on this day.
It was on this day 32 years ago, that she checked in at Beauregard Memorial Hospital, ready to deliver an impatient baby.
She had given birth two years earlier to an almost 11 pound baby girl, so I can only imagine her anxiety going into this delivery!
It was before a time of crisp ultrasounds that can show the hair on a baby's head, let alone a definitive answer on gender. It was a 50/50 guess.
It was also before a time of birthing suites where you can pile in friends and family to see the miracle unfold.
It was just her and the medical staff.
That afternoon, I arrived.
And just like that, October 30 became about Britney Leigh Glaser.
That's how I thought it should be, until this birthday.
After going through the life-changing experience of growing another human, followed by the labor and delivery of bringing her into this world, birthdays have taken on a whole new meaning!
Today is not just my birthday, it's my mom's delivery day!
I'm sorry I have not celebrated you on this day for the previous 31 years.
You were always the one in the background on my birthday, baking the cake, creating a Halloween-themed costume party, stuffing treat bags, and blowing up balloons.
I know that while you were celebrating me through the years, flashes of your delivery day were running through your mind.
I wonder what you felt like: nervous, excited, scared?
I wonder if your reaction to seeing me for the first time was the same way I reacted to seeing my own child as she was born.
I wonder if you got on the hospital room phone to call friends and family and share the news.
I wonder what it was like watching Dad walk into the room to see me for the first time, and make sure you were okay.
I don't have any pictures of you on delivery day. I know it has nothing to do with you not being put together. I'm certain your hair was hot-rolled and your make-up was on, just like your two daughters on their delivery days.
I don't have a picture of you holding me at the hospital, but I can just imagine that you had the same pride and love beaming from your face that you show me today.
October 30 changed both of our lives forever.
Today - for the first time on my birthday - I celebrate YOU, Mom.
Happy Delivery Day!
-Britney
