For as long as I can remember I wanted to be a mother. Every year for my birthday or Christmas I would get a baby doll as a present. I had diapers and bottles and cribs and everything a little girl would need to be a mommy. I never knew that was to be my vocation. I just knew that I loved little babies.
I’m not sure I was a lot of help when my little brother was born but I do remember being a big help to my aunts with my younger cousins. I just knew that I couldn’t wait to be a mommy.
When I married I knew that having a baby was the next step. But, that was not to be. I tried for 5 years to have a baby. We went through 5 years of infertility. Each month there was a sadness when I realized that I was again not pregnant. I avoided friends who were having children. I finally joined a group called Resolve which was a support group for families who could not get pregnant. I was encouraged by some who “resolved” their infertility through adoption or pregnancy. I won’t scare you away with some of the conversations we would have about resolving our situation but I will share with you that everyone of my friends in this group did resolve their infertility. In my case it took surgery and time but there was a time that I finally got pregnant. I made the OB/GYN write a note to my mother because she did not believe that I was finally pregnant. I wish I still had that note.
I was due to give birth the end of July. When I was a little overdue (2 weeks) my doctor decided to do a non-stress test. He wasn’t impressed with that so he sent me over to the hospital to do a stress test. This is where they give you a little bit of pitosin and monitor the baby’s heartbeat. Well, my baby didn’t like that and his heart rate went from 50 to 250. The next thing I knew my doctor was standing beside me and made the decision that we were going to induce labor. I had never been in the hospital but I knew that I didn’t want an IV. They made me get one. They had the pit drip open for 8 hours on full strength. At one point, after being totally nauseous and vomiting, the nurse asked me if I wanted something for pain and nausea. I turned into a demon and said “hell yeah!” This went on with no progression in my labor. The doctor came in right before midnight and told me that we could do 8 more hours of this and be forced to do a c-section or they could do a c-section now. The demon came out again and said “get this baby out of me!” It wasn’t 10 minutes later that I became a mother.
My sister tells the story of her and my mother waiting in the waiting room. My sister went to the restroom and when she came back my mother was crying uncontrollably. My sister was sure that I had died. When she asked Mom what was wrong Mom said “It’s a boy!”
And so I became a mother. On August 7, 1984 my life changed forever. My life changed towards complete happiness. I named my son Jamison, after Parker Jamison from Simon & Simon (I liked the name). I named my son Dale, after my daddy. I named my son Pierce, in honor of my daddy and my family name. I named my son Gravatte, after his daddy. So, Jamison Dale Pierce Gravatte became “Jay” and has grown up to be a wonderful man, husband, father, teacher and coach. I couldn’t be more proud. He was worth the wait.
