Heidi's 22!

Friday, October 01, 2010

There are some things that happen in your life which bring such vivid memories that you’re suddenly feeling the emotions that pulsed through your body when the event actually happened…regardless of the amount of time that has passed.

Heidi was born on October 1st, 1988. She was our second child and, to be honest, I remember very little of the actual events of the day that brought us to the delivery room. I can’t remember for sure the time of day, how much difficulty Holly had, her birth weight, how long it all took…any of that stuff. I do however remember quite distinctly that, as she exited the womb, she had something wrapped around her neck. My brain probably processed that it was the umbilical cord, though I don’t remember for sure, but I knew enough from watching Jason four years earlier that it didn’t belong there. I watched intently, waiting for her to cry. Holly seemed to know instinctively that something wasn’t completely right and asked me, but I tried to assure her it was fine…though I had doubts. Then the delivery doctor said something like “what’s going on?”

I noticed that Heidi was turning shades of blue and that someone was wrestling with the cord and trying to loosen its hold on her neck…unsuccessfully. It occurred to me that this should be a simple procedure and that maybe I should take over. It also occurred to me that time was wasting…dragging slowly…and entirely too long. Come on, people get it done!

And finally, the doctor, who had taken over at some point, released the cord and Heidi began to cry. So did I, though no one noticed or heard me. I’d probably been crushing Holly’s hand during that couple of minutes that had felt like hours. It is quite amazing how quickly you are completely and irreversibly tied to a living being, but from the moment Heidi had come into this world with a cord on her neck and not making a sound, I know I’d felt that way. The helpless feeling one gets from watching a loved one suffer makes and indelible imprint on the mind…and every October 1st, I go through it again.

With people coming to the house around 6:30 p.m. for her birthday dinner/party, I needed to move fast to get in a run. Still leery about my hip, I figured to keep it around 30 minutes and to run gingerly on the down hills…the up hills…and the places in between. I suspect I will have these feelings while running for at least as long as I worried the old calf injury would return this past spring…which is to say a month or so. It felt good, though I did have a pain in the buttocks late in the run that I can attribute to…nothing, in particular. In fact, if not for the hip injury, I’d have never given it a second thought. It was supposed to rain tomorrow and maybe I’d just take the whole day off from working out. I’d done something for the last six days and knew it was time…not that I ever pay attention to the good advice I give others for their training regimens.

Heidi’s party was great…I ate too many ribs and other fatty calories…but enjoyed a house filled with all of my wonderful children, their friends and grandparents. I’m glad you were born, Heidi, but I sure don’t like the way you went about it.


Run duration: 32 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 550.