The Baby Shower (7-30-05)…

So today is the day. For so long I wondered if I would ever be the one to have a baby shower. After trying to get pregnant for so long, I know that I wondered if we would ever have a baby. Throughout the years, I have thrown about a dozen baby showers for friends. Most of them were fun for me to do, however, once David and I began struggling with our own infertility, the joy began to diminish and eventually I had to make the decision to stop throwing the showers. But today’s shower was in honor of me and Zoe. David kept saying how extremely happy he was that it was finally my turn. It meant so much for him to see me happy and being honored in this way.

Martha, Eric, and Tanya stayed at our house last night. I woke up early and T and I took a short walk through the neighborhood. When we got home, Eric and Martha were still asleep, David was out doing a bike/run and T and I decided to start breakfast…chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes (separate, not mixed). We woke Eric and Mart up when we were finished with the cooking and David came in the door as we were serving it up. So, we all sat down and had an enjoyable breakfast together. We finished eating at about 9:30, the kitchen was a mess, and I only had a short time to get ready before my parents arrived at our house. I jumped in the shower and when I got out, I could hear my parents talking to David out in the living room. The girls all finished getting ready and we left for the shower at about 10:30. The boys stayed at the house…David watched Hannah and Josiah until his dad arrived at the house and my dad cleaned the carpet in Zoe’s room.

The shower was absolutely wonderful. There were 28 girls there. Most of them were part of the Living room ministry. Karen (David’s stepmom) and her daughters, my mom and Kelsea, and Martha and Tanya were also there. Everyone was so kind and it felt so supportive to have all of them there. There was a beautiful cake and Nichole had bought an adorable willow tree of a mother holding her little baby. It was called Angel of Embrace. I loved it especially since I collect Willow Trees and this one had significant meaning. Sarah led us through some fun games, one of which is the “guess how big Christina is” game where everyone cuts a piece of yarn equal to my waist measurement. We also played a name that tune game where all of the songs had the word baby in it. Sarah asked if I would hum the songs. Baby Got Back and Ice, Ice, Baby were the most fun to hum.

After the games, I opened up gifts. Everyone was so generous. I was really grateful that I did not get too emotional looking at all of the adorable gifts wondering if Zoe would get to enjoy all of them. I figured this would be my reaction. However, I stayed happy and upbeat throughout the entire unwrapping process. Nonetheless, I did get extremely hot from the amount of focus on me in addition to the surge of pregnancy hormones.

After unwrapping the gifts, Nichole had asked Martha to pray for me and Zoe. Nichole had asked a couple of others but they had all said that they were afraid they would cry too much. Martha was also afraid she would cry but she agreed to pray anyways. Martha prayed in a very slow, deliberate manner to avoid “embarrassing herself”. It was a wonderful, sweet prayer that obviously did make me cry. She prayed for my protection and for Zoe’s healing. Throughout the entire shower, people were asked to sign a journal for Zoe where they could write prayers or thoughts for her. I am so glad that Nichole initiated this. It will always be an invaluable possession and a constant reminder of the love and compassion people have for our little girl.