The Story of Harmony's First Year.
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It's hard to believe (and yes, I always say that!) that my oldest child, my sweet Harmony will be 6 years old next week!
If only I had known when I was pregnant with her what I know now!
Harmony Michelle was born at 8:14am on February 4th, 2004-- her Uncle Bubba's (her great-uncle Tommy) birthday! I spent more than half of my pregnancy alone: Josh was at basic training and got the news that he was going to be a daddy during a weekly phone call! He claimed he already knew.. but I still claim that's hogwash- lol!
It was really rough on me, then. My momma lived 450 miles away and Josh's family thought we were making a big mistake getting pregnant so soon after getting married. It didn't really matter to us though. We'd lost a baby a mere six months beforehand and desperately wanted to be parents. I quit my job as a NA at a local nursing home almost as soon as I found out I was pregnant, I couldn't handle the smell of butter, much less the myriad of smells that come from a medical facility and I was terrified that lifting as much weight as I did each day would somehow hurt the baby. (I wish I still had that particular luxury! During my last pregnancy, I was moving homes and hauling toddlers around!)
We moved to a bigger rental house, and I endlessly re-arranged the nursery, and re-folded clothes, and re-made the bed. There wasn't much more I could find to do! Going from a 40-70 hour workweek to a stay at home prego is a HUGE change! I had horrible morning sickness well into my seventh month, and horrible heartburn and back pain afterward. It wasn't a pleasant pregnancy, physically, but I still loved every minute of it.
We were planning to wait until she was born to find out her gender, but at the last minute, we realized we couldn't wait a minute longer! We started throwing out names immediately and couldn't decide on a single one. My favorites were Olivia and Charlotte, and Josh loved... well he couldn't make up his mind, but he didn't like mine!! One day, in my eighth month, we drove a friend of ours to the hospital for a doctor's visit. Josh and I decided to peruse the gift shop while we waited. We were still at a loss for a name and had come down to tossing out crazy ones: "How about Book? How about Sunshine? How about Bear? We'll just call her Mountain!" I shuffled through gift store merchandise and suggested the name of each as I found it. "What about diamond? How about Cubic Zirconia? I know! We'll name her Turtle! No, no, no! We'll name her Peace! Love! Harmony!"I remember like it was yesterday! Josh stopped in his tracks. "What did you say?" I looked at him. "Harmony?" He smiled and asked "Where'd you see that?"
I called him over and showed him the virtue stones I'd been picking through. "Right here. Harmony. I was kidding but I actually like that!"
He laughed and said, "We've found a name! Hi, little Harmony!"
I went into labor at 1:30 on February 1st. We were visiting with Josh's grandparents for the week, and staying out in their camper. I was so excited! I just knew before the next night I would be holding my baby!
Of course, it didn't work out like that. 31 hours, and 3 trips to the hospital (because of a terrified husband and great-grandparents) later, Harmony finally joined us!
Less than a week after she was born, we got the news that Josh had been transferred to Mississippi. We packed up all our baby stuff and whatever else we could fit into the u-haul and headed out when Harmony was only a month old. We moved in with Josh's father (who luckily lived less than 60 miles from base!) until we could find our own place. When we moved, Josh lost his second job and I went back to work to try and make up the difference in living costs. We never were able to rent our own place there before he was transferred to Fort Benning, GA six months later.
Shortly after we moved to Georgia, we bought a piece of property from my dad, and I found a good job. My mom, who lived next door, took care of Harmony while Josh and I worked 10-14 hours a day and made our hour long commute to and from work. There were days that I didn't even see my baby. We would get home so late that Harmony would already be asleep and we would crash on Mom's couch until we got up the next day to do it all over again.It wasn't a way to live, and I am so glad it's over!
Josh was discharged from the army because of a serious back injury, and we could finally come home to Tennessee! We announced to the world on Harmony's first birthday that we were expecting our next baby (and of course, we all know now what happened there! We got two instead of one; but that's a whole other post or two all by itself!!)
I think I will close there for now! That's the story of how Harmony came into the world and the sad craziness surrounding her first year: a mom and dad who worked long hours and left her with her grandmother, four moves into different states and different homes, and the journey from only child to oldest child.I will continue this later, on who this wonderful girl has turned into and how incredibly blessed I am that I have her in my life!
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