What a difference 10years makes

Ten years ago today...

I checked into Baylor Hospital in Irving, Texas and by 7am my baby girl had been delivered via a scheduled c-section and was in the hospital's nursery. Little did I know that day, as I laid in recovery, that she and I both would undergo many challenges within the days and weeks ahead.

April 17, 1998

She faced a heart murmur & pneumothorax (several holes in her under-developed lungs), while I suffered from a heart condition of another kind. A broken heart and a crumbling marriage, abandoned by a young husband at the most difficult time of my life as I knew it. Those days were dark and troubling for both Ivy and I, in different ways of course...but we both fought through it and are stronger people today for what we endured during that time.

Ivy and I share a bond that only a mother who's child has almost been ripped from her earthly arms can understand. She is strong and stubborn, never admitting her faults, or handing out apologies...but she can also be kind and gentle, still and sweet...she can show honest care & concern for others who are hurting or down. She is my girl! A girl just like me! I understand her when no one else can. We are 2 peas in a pod, cut from the same cloth, Like mother, Like daughter... She is MY GIRL! A girl just like me!

Happy Birthday My Dear Ivy-Brooke

Mother's Day 1998