HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY, JENNIFER NICOLE

 Happy 16th birthday Jenn,....First of all I can NOT believe my baby is 16!!! And I want to Thank God for her being here. 
  My pregnancy was filled with complications, was on bed rest at 5 mos pregnant, which was hard with 4 other children at home, and all the bickering, "why can't he do it" or "I just did the dishes" it was endless, and so hard to just lay on the couch, one day as I lie there I see what looks like a tsunami coming, I am screaming for a kid, anyone, after all there are 4 of them home, FINALLY, someone came out, the dish washer over flowed and there was water, EVERYWHERE, the kids cleaned it up pretty well.
 What we had to do was each of the 3 older children took, 3 days of school off, and then the next and so on, we spoke to their teachers and they worked with us, Terry couldn't miss work.
  I guess if one is going to be on bed rest, now was the time, The OJ Simpson murder trial was going on, so it gave me something to do all day.Then all night it was Larry King and all the pundits talking about that day of the trial.
It was a Thursday morning, Daniel had the mommy shift, which not only consisted of me, it was also Cody, who at the time was a just a little over a year, and decided to go on a food strike, unless I fed him, he would refuse to eat and cry momma, momma etc. SO the family joke is momma means food, GREEAT, that made my day! 
 Daniel & I put on the news, as we did every morning and it was April 19, 1995 Oklahoma City, we just sat there for hours glued to the TV, never have we seen anything like that, little did we know!
 Megan & Scott had their Science fairs at school & Terry took them, and Daniel is home with me, and what do you know, my water breaks, a good 6 Weeks early, Daniel is FREAKING out, he sends my friend Tish to the school to get Terry, and off we went to the hospital.
 They decided because her lungs were not developed they would put me on medication to stop the labor, so the lungs could develop. I was not comfortable with that, and I learned a hard lesson on going with your gut. 
 I was admitted Thurs night and Fri night they informed me I had Beta Strep the # 1 killer of newborns, and they needed to give me anti-biotics, and induce me in the morning. They also warned there could be complications,basically because my water broke, I developed an infection. I did not sleep a wink all night.
 11am they induced me, I have had all 5 kids w/o medication, or epidurals etc, and this time would be no different. 
 The labor was slow and was not progressing,I couldn't believe my last child was going to be the longest & hardest labor out of all 5. I had 34 min labor with Megan!
 My dad comes walking in, and says ARE YOU DONE YET?? Talk about wanting to kill someone!!! No dad, I am just having fun, and I don't want it to stop!!!
 Finally, 12 hrs later 10:50pm, Jennifer Nicole LaVoie was born, and I did not hear her cry, I could tell by the faces & the panic in the room something was not right, they didn't even tell me her sex, I kept asking, & finally got it's a girl, like that didn't matter right now, so I became very nervous!!!
 They took me to my room, and we found out she had beta strep & pneumonia, and was going to be air vacced to ST JOS., I signed myself out of the hospital, against doctors orders, and went straight to ST. Jos, and hardly ever left the 11 days she was in there!
 Jennifer is probably the most independent of all my kids, and I think it comes from her experience at birth.
 She is also the most intelligent, along with her brother Daniel, the difference is Daniel was so into sports that's all he focused on and could have done much better academically, but, he knew better, because it worked for him, he is a sports writer!!
 Jenn will be starting College as a Junior in HS next year, she will spend 1/2 the day in HS and 1/2 the day at PVCC, we are so proud of her.She is a cheerleader, and gets involved in a lot of extra circular activities.
 As with any 16 year old, we have our ups & downs, and they usually have to do with BOYFRIENDS!!! but, I know it is normal, and having a 25yr old daughter, I know it gets better.
 Jennifer was come to be known as The Momma girl at our house, when she was little she only wanted me, so I now joke, and say what happened to the momma girl?? I kid you not, I used to say, if Jenn could climb back in my uterus she would!!!
 Jennifer, we are very proud of you and love you very much!!!    XOXOXO