Of all my grandchildren — five from my children and two step-grandchildren, the boys outnumber the girls. However, my two oldest granddaughters are amazing. Another item to note is they were born in within six months of each other in 2011. It was a year of baby showers and furnishing baby bedrooms.
I was there when my daughter’s child was born. Not there-there, but in the waiting room. The evening ended with a Caesarian birth, but the mother and child came through with flying colors. After surgery, the nurse brought the newborn out for weighing and the first snapshots. It was February.
The second little girl came into this world when I wasn’t looking after a few false alarms, but I was able to visit her within the first 24 hours of life.
I’m not sure where the time went, but they are 12-years-old this year. Well, almost, there’s a birthday coming up this month, August, and for a few months, these cousins will be the same age.
As much as I love these three grandchildren and two step-grandchildren, I am envious of my friends or relatives with nine or 15 grandchildren. It may have helped if I had had more children of my own. That’s a story for another time.
In the summer of 2022, my numbers changed. My daughter moved to Huron after the divorce taking one of those two granddaughters with her. Then, out of the blue, a few months later announced the arrival of a second baby girl in December. At first, I was shocked at the news. It was rather unexpected after 12 years to be expecting. But it was thrilling to be a grandmother again, even if this time it meant a long-distance relationship.
But that wasn’t the end of my good fortune.
A few months later, my son and his wife invited us over to dinner and announced they were also having another baby, a third child. What? Another grandchild, bringing the total to seven. And again, so very close together in age. How cool was this?
As I may have said last week, I cleared my calendar in December and expedited Christmas so I would be available to travel to South Dakota for the birth of our new baby girl. Naturally, all the grandparents, parents and nurses thought she was the most beautiful baby ever born on Dec. 30, the last birth of 2022.
Regardless of how they look, newborns smell delightful. My friend, Shelley, refers to smelling a new baby as “Baby Huffing.” I have to laugh because, in addition to baby huffing, I’m also a book “huffer.” I think she is also.
Isn’t it funny how we see all minutes-old babies as the most beautiful thing on the planet? We are snapping photos and sharing photos. A month later, we scratch our heads thinking, “Boy, doesn’t that baby look like an alien.” It doesn’t matter at the time because as parents and grandparents, we are so proud and excited, and our offspring are beautiful in our eyes.
My visit was not long out of respect for the new parents. We all know that having a baby wears one out, but I made arrangements to return at the end of the month.
And, I was still coughing.
By the time I was ready to leave Huron at the end of January, my cough had deepened and sounded raw. Some bouts took my breath away. I seemed to sleep longer in the mornings than was normal for my usually early-bird schedule. My daughter took note of the worsening cough and encouraged me to go back to the doctor. I said to the doctor in December, “I feel something is not right with me.”
With her encouragement, I called before I headed home with my oldest granddaughter and was able to schedule another appointment on Feb. 6.
I was fully expecting to have bronchitis or pneumonia.
INDYchildrendotme 
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