By now you’ve all realized that we put the fate of our family in God’s hands. We trust in His plan and thank Him for the many blessings He bestows.

Baby Waite number two was a surprise we really weren’t expecting.

It was just over six months since giving birth to our son Ryan. Dave had driven me to a follow up appointment and Ryan was securely tucked into his car seat in the back. The boys came in with me to enjoy the cooler temperatures of the waiting area at Mary Greeley Medical Center. I was called into a room and sat down on the exam cushion that was covered in thin crinkly paper insuring that every move I made was noisy. It was a routine exam; the nurse checked my vitals and the doctor examined me further. It felt similar to a physical and like a physical blood was drawn. When the nurse entered the room with some of the preliminary results on a sheet of paper she smiled at me and handed the sheet to my doctor. He looked over the results and gave me the news that could have knocked me over with a feather. Pregnant, and so soon…that was not on my radar and just wait until I told Dave.

The rest of the appointment covered the basics of which I already knew having just gone through it. He gave me a due date in January, a prescription for prenatal vitamins and a hand shake congratulating me. In a happy daze I got dressed, grabbed my purse and walked out of the room.  Wow, another baby!

Back in the waiting area Dave had Ryan on his lap. They were playing with a water filled toy, pumping air into it causing tiny rings to float up and come back down. My heart felt overflowing at the sight of them and coupled with the news I’d just received I couldn’t wait to share. Dave looked up as I got closer and asked if everything was okay. I assured him it was but didn’t want to share such personal news in a packed waiting room. Dave stood up as I gathered the toys and teal Winnie The Pooh diaper bag. We exited the building and walked towards the car. Dave put Ryan in his seat,  locked all the clips and walked around to the drivers’ door. I sat down in the passenger seat and waited until he got in to give him the news.

Dave started the car and turned on the air conditioning as I spilled the exciting news like a volcano erupting, my words were all a jumble. We sat in the parking lot, one excited and bubbling over with thoughts of another baby and the other of us with thoughts of responsibility. Dave had already received this news once before and the second time was just as unexpected. He had really stepped up during our first pregnancy and afterwards he was the Dad I always knew he would be.

It was after the lunch hour when we finally drove out of the parking lot, both of us were starving and had a forty-minute drive ahead of us to get back home to Perry. We pulled into a fast food drive through and ordered roast beef sandwiches and fries.

The next few months passed by quickly with us in the busy part of parenting and life. We went to appointments, Dave took on a second job working on his days off from the store and Ryan went to daycare while I worked the lunch shift at a local tea room. Then came another curve ball.

Dave’s second job was working for a local contractor. He reroofed houses mostly but on the day that we received this second curve ball Dave was part of the construction crew building an addition to the tea room where I worked. A nice shiny black sedan pulled into the back-parking lot and out stepped a sharp dressed business man. Dave was up on a ladder and noticed the out of place gentleman. As the man got closer Dave recognized him and hurried down the ladder. Wearing working man clothes with dirty hands he greeted the Fareway supervisor with a firm hand shake. The two proceeded into the air-conditioned vehicle and when Dave stepped back out he had news of his own.

The following Monday left me without my husband in a house we had to sell, a toddler and a spirited little baby who was due in three and a half months, starting our tradition of Dave getting transferred when I was pregnant. Dave had left the night before and found a cheap motel we could barely afford in Algona. I’d packed up a suitcase and made sure he had enough work uniforms to last until the weekend when he’d come back.

Thankfully our house sold quickly and the garage Dave had built enhanced the property making us a little profit. We rented an unoccupied home on the marker that the owner wanted someone to live in for the coming winter months. It was a spacious ranch that was dated but clean. It even had new carpet in the main living areas. Our meager possessions left empty spaces but I unpacked and made the house a home.

Fast forward a couple months. The holidays were upon us and Dave was swamped at work. He even took work home with him, writing the crew’s schedule at our kitchen table. He worked extra hours he didn’t sign in for but was learning so much in the process. Ryan was walking and by the time we fell into bed each night we were both exhausted.

December 23^rd dawned just like the previous day. It was chilly outside and I wrapped my robe around me when I got up. Dave had already been to work for a few hours. I walked into Ryan’s room, he was already awake with all of his blankets and stuffed animals thrown out of his crib. He stood up quickly and put  his arms up to be lifted out of bed. At almost nine months pregnant my belly was round and tight, the extra weight carrying Ryan was an exercise in itself. I set him down on the floor where he went to his toy box and dug out a ball. I needed to get his pull up changed and get him dressed. That’s when the first pain seared through my stomach. It took my breath away and I grabbed the crib to steady myself. I didn’t think too much of it as I’d been having these Braxton hicks contractions off and on and the baby wasn’t due for a couple more weeks. Ryan had been born after his due date, surely this one wouldn’t come before the date.

Somehow, I managed to wrangle my squirrely son and change his clothes. I dropped his pajamas into a hamper and took the wet pull up with me to the trash in the kitchen. Ryan followed me and I put him in his high chair. I pulled out the box of cheerios and got a fresh sippy cup from the cupboard. After spilling some cereal on his tray, I filled his cup with milk and poured a glass for myself.

I sat down at the table and ate a few pieces of cereal watching Ryan. He was getting so big. His light brown hair stuck up at odd angles and hazel eyes seemed blue one day and green the next. His hairline was an exact duplicate of his fathers, his nose like mine. I wondered what would our next child look like?

After breakfast, Ryan was content in the living room surrounded by toys with Franklin on TV. I set off for the bedroom and started making the bed. As I threw the top blanket up, another sharp tightening gripped my mid-section forcing me to sit down. I couldn’t be in labor I thought to myself. It was two days before Christmas, Dave barely had his head above water at the busy grocery store and I still hadn’t packed the baby bag for when we rushed to the hospital.

By nine o’clock the pains were more frequent and I sat timing them in the living room where Ryan was building a tower of blocks. Dave and I had decided to have the baby in Ames where we had Ryan and were familiar with. The drive there was just under two hours. I felt nervous calling Dave away but also wanted to be assured my doctor would be the one to deliver our baby. I picked up the cordless phone and dialed the store number. It took Dave a while to get to the phone and another pain had just subsided when he said hello. I explained my morning and together we decided it was time to call the hospital and listen to their advice. After hanging up with Dave and calling Mary Greeley I went to Ryan’s room first and packed up the diaper bag. Who knew what all he would need. I called grandparents that were hours away and explained what was going on. Two days before Christmas everyone was busy. I heard Dave come home and in through the garage as I was packing a small bag for myself including a baby sleeper. My steady husband came into the bedroom and gave me a reassuring hug as awkward as it is at nine months pregnant. He changed his clothes quickly and helped Ryan put shoes on. I used the bathroom one last time and climbed into the car with Ryan’s old baby car seat already in place. I wondered when Dave had thought to do that. We pulled out of the garage as another pain struck and I closed my eyes thinking soon I’d be holding our second child.

Ryan slept the entire way to Ames. A blessing and a curse. When we arrived and got settled into our room he was wound and bouncing off the walls, in some ways he was a welcomed distraction. A nurse checked my vitals and hooked up an IV. She wrapped a bracelet around my wrist and did the same with Dave. It was close to lunch time but neither of us were hungry, our minds were full of other thoughts. The contractions weren’t regular and had started to stall. I kept thinking about how fast everything went with Ryan. He was born within five hours of arriving at the hospital. 

An hour passed and with it came an unexpected visitor, actually two.

To this day I’m not entirely sure how I feel about my adopted father bringing my estranged mother to the hospital. I’m sure he had good intentions. The blessing was that they took Ryan and entertained him while we concentrated on giving birth to their second grandchild.

There was no washcloth throwing like there was for Ryan, (The Start of the Waite Six) this birth seemed much more relaxed than that. The doctor decided to speed things up a bit with instructions we could follow and some medicinal help. Waite #2 arrived at 9 pm on December 23^rd. Dave was a trooper the whole way through and knowing what to expect I assume helped him as much as it did me. He cut the cord and grinned from ear to ear as the doctor announced it’s a girl.

Our girl was wrapped tightly in the thin hospital baby blanket and brought to my chest. She had the roundest face I’ve ever seen with pink skin and puffy closed eyes. She captured my heart instantly. Her barely existent hair was light colored and she was perfectly content. She weighed in just one ounce under her brothers birth weight, 8 lbs. 5 oz.

The doctor finished his job and left the room. The nurse took our new born for her first bath. I laid my head back against the pillows of the upright bed and sent a silent prayer of thanks to the One who blesses us. Dave gently sat down next to me and leaned over for a sweet brush of his lips against my cheek. No words were really needed in the quiet moment of bliss.

I glanced out the big windows that overlook Duff Avenue and saw that it had started to snow. The outside lights highlighting the tiny flakes as they floated to the ground.

When the nurse came back in she was pushing the bassinet with our girl who was wide awake from her bath. Dave got up off the bed and with the practiced hand of an experienced father he picked her up and brought her over to me.  I felt reenergized and excited for this next chapter to begin. We named her Sarah and for her middle name I choose Anne for a character in the books I loved reading as a young girl.

Eventually Ryan and company showed back up and he was introduced to his first sibling. Dave still had one full day of work left before the holiday and when our company said their good bye’s, Dave gave each of his girls a kiss, grabbed the diaper bag and picked up our now sleeping son. He drove home through the snow storm and met his mom at our house where she could watch Ryan the next very busy day. On Christmas Eve, after a few hours of work Dave returned to Ames and brought his girls home. 

I told you once before that I would eventually write about the births of our four children. Sarah’s birth has been playing on my heart for a few weeks now. You see, our Sarah shared with us some of the best news parents can get. Her and her husband Mitchell are expecting their first child and guess when the baby is due. January. 

Memories of these precious moments in life flood my heart and love overflows. For the girl who is so reliable, dependable, responsible and loving we are so very proud of you and excited to share in this next chapter of your life.