Hidden Among The Toys

     It was shortly after the 2000 year.  I was visiting with my sister being very much pregnant with my third child while our little children played together.  Her oldest daughter is 18 months older than my oldest son, who was 3 and a half at the time and who is a year older than my daughter.  Having them all close in age made it fun for visiting and watching the children play and interact with one another.  My sister also had twin boys around 6 or 7 months old at the time.  Although the children loved looking and holding the babies they weren't quite mobile enough to keep the older children's attention much of the time.  The older children were much happier playing with the toys in the bedroom.

     At the time my sister lived in a small apartment getting ready to buy a house.   We were in the kitchen starting to get a late lunch ready.  We decided to feed the twins first then the older children since they were happily playing in the bedroom.  My sister and I talked and laughed as she fed one twin and I fed the other jarred baby food mixed in with a little baby cereal.  Moments passed when her daughter entered the kitchen area looking around. 

     "Where's Bam-Bam?"  she asked.  Bam-Bam was the nickname we had given to my oldest son, Christian.  He had beautiful white hair and was a solid little guy like the cartoon character from the Flintstones. 

     Lisa and I looked at each other bewildered.  "What do you mean 'Where's Bam-Bam'"?  I asked her.

     "Oh, he's just gone."  she says in a matter-of-factly childish voice.  She turns around and prances off, her blonde pigtails bouncing off her sholders.

     "GONE?"  my sister and I shout out.

     We both stand up from the table and dash into the bedroom.  My daughter Beth and Abbie resumed playing with Barbie dolls on the floor.  Other than that the room was quiet.  My sister opens her bedroom door and looks around.  No little boy to be found.  I look into the bathroom which is directly next to my nieces bedroom and across from my sister's bedroom.  Even though he wasn't fully potty trained yet I was hoping to see him on the toilet.  Nothing.  I met up with my sister in the livingroom.  From there we can see every room in the apartment.  We stood there in awe looking around trying to make sense out of the whole situtation.  From the kitchen table we can see the only door in the apartment and we didn't see it open.  Besides, it was locked with a sliding chain lock. 

     "Do you think he could of tried to open the door and was able to squeeze through the opening?"  my sister asked me as we both stared at the door. 

     My brain went numb.  He never tried to leave the house before.  But there is always a first time.  I shrugged my sholders and shook my head, "I don't know.  I am not sure." 

     "I am going outside to look.  Stay here with the kids."  she directed to me. 

     I go back into the kitchen.  Could he have climbed into the cupboards and we didn't notice?  I thought.  The twins were happily slapping their hands into their plates of mushy goo and sucking on their fingers.  I bend over and open up all the cupboards.  Nothing.  My chair was up against a sliding glass door which let to a small porch.  I know he wasn't out there.  I could hear my sister calling Christian's name from outside.  The windows are open?  Could he have pushed on a screen and fall out?  My sister's apartment was 2 stories up.  I run into my sister's bedroom.  The screen was intact.  I jolt into my niece's room.  The screen was intact there too.  Where could he have gone?!  It seemed as if time was standing still.  Seconds were dragging on, so it seemed.  I looked at my niece's bed and quickly bent down to look under it.  Nothing.  I look around her room.  In her closet was her toy box with chalkboard sliding doors.  The doors were closed.  I had to look.  I slide one door open and there was my son!  He was fast asleep in the toy box.

     I went over to the window and called out to my sister to let her know I found him.   She runs upstairs and flys into the apartment.  "Where is he?"  she calls out relieved but wanting visual confirmation. 

    I smile and point her over to the toy box.  She looks in and sees him sleeping.  My daughter and niece laugh at the site of Christian in there.  "There's Bam-Bam!"  my niece calls out.





Christian asleep in my niece's toy box.



His feet on the other side of the toy box.

     

 

    

I slide him carefully out of the toy box and lay him down on the couch.  He never once opened his eyes as I transferred him to a more comfortable, and noticable, location.  I don't know what made him think to fall asleep in the toy box and not in another area more comfortable like the bed or the couch.  I know I will never know.  I don't think I took my eyes off of him for the rest of the day. 

The Birth of Ashton



After Ashton was born we used 3 different
size of diapers for our 3 children.



     A few weeks before I turned 23 I found out we were expecting our third child.  We were happy.  We just bought our first home on Bond St. in Allegan and Brian was working at B&B Trucking over in Kalamazoo.  We had a three year old boy and a two year old girl still running around in diapers but I guess we were going to add another one to the mix. 

     Our neighbor was also expecting.  She was due October 14 and my due date was set at October 7th.  We would talk, during the summer, of our pregnancies and how they are both developing.  She found out she was having a girl and my doctor didn't see a need in having an ultrasound so it was going to be a suprise for us.  We guessed our first two children correctly and I was thinking this was going to be a boy.  It didn't matter to us if we had a boy or a girl.  We already had one of each so we just focused on having a healthy baby. 

     Our last two children were born in Grand Rapids and we decided to have our next baby born at Allegan General Hospital.  We were maybe two miles from the hospital and it would be easier to deliver there instead trying to get the children ready and find a babysitter and drive 50+ minutes to Grand Rapids when we both know my labors are quick.  I told my doctor that both my last two children were induced and I wanted to go into labor naturally.  He knew my requests and worked with me on it. 

     Our due date came.  Later on in the afternoon I was outside playing around with the kids.  Our neighbor pulls into the driveway all excited.  He said his wife had her baby earlier that morning and they are both doing great.  I rubbed my bellying thinking I was supposed to have this baby first.   A few days later they all came home and I was able to see the new baby.  It was so odd looking at this baby, who wasn't supposed to be due until a week later, who was perfect in every way a baby can be perfect and imagined that right now my baby is fully developed the same way.  She can now hold her little one and mine is still incubating on the inside not wanting to come out.   I was happy for them all yet a little jealous that her pregnancy pains and labor are all done and over with and she can now enjoy her daughter.

Our neighbor's daughter (just turned 1) on the left and her sister in the middle. 
Ashton, on the right, was just a week before turning 1 year old.

     The waiting after the due date is the worst.  Every ache and pain you wonder if this is going to be the big one to set me off into labor.  At one doctor visit he mentioned that we really shouldn't go too much longer after the due date.  I pleaded with him that I wanted to experience going into labor naturally.  I took a stress test and all was well.  So he said we will talk about it more at the next appointment. 

     Sunday, October 15 started out like any other day.  I remember it was a warm day outside.  We did some grocery shopping and even bought a cake to be made praising the republicians to be given to my mom the next day at her office in honor of the Bush vs. Gore presidental election coming up in a few weeks.  She is a democrat and we always taunt each other during elections.  This was going to be our prank to her.  A few people had yard sales going and we stopped and looked around.  Later on that evening my sister came down from Grand Rapids with her almost 5 year old and her one year old twin boys.  Her husband and Brian went to Brian's mom's house to work on a car.  Everyone was having a good time.

     It was getting late and my sister was packing up to head home.  She looks at me, "Are you okay?"

     "Yea, I feel great."  I replied.

     "You are not going to go into labor now, are you?"  she asks.

     "No!  I am fine.  Just sore from running around all day.  I am good.  You can go home.  Brian and your husband are over at his mom's."

     Lisa gave me a weird look and figured I was doing okay so she left.  Christian and Elizabeth were winding down watching a taped Blue Clues on the VCR and I was picking up all the toys and putting them away.  Suddenly and without warning it hit.  CONTRACTION!  It brought me down to my knees.  I was doing good then all of the sudden there it was.  I looked up at the clock so I could time them.  It was exactly 9pm.  It lasted for a short moment.  I looked at the kids.  Their backs were to me so they didn't see me drop down.  They looked so precious just sitting there side by side.  In a few hours they are going to have a sibiling and they don't even know it yet, I thought to myself.  I stood up and a quick moment later another contraction hit.  Okay, this time I knew for certain I was in labor.  I needed Brian.

     I managed to get to the phone and called Brian.  "Hi hun, Can I give you a call right back?  I am waiting for a phone call from Mark about advice on the car." 

     I thought for a moment, "Sure.  Call me when you are done."  The words slipped out of my mouth.  There are times when I can be too polite and this was one of those moments.  I should of told him I was in labor but I didn't want to disturb him if he was busy.  I started getting things ready to head out to the hospital and waited for Brian to return my call.

     Twenty minutes goes by.  Contractions were coming and going.  The phone finally rings.  "Hey hun, what did you need."  It was my husband's voice.

     "ummm, I am in labor.  I kinda would like to go to the hospital now." I said patiently.

     Brian stumbled over the phone and said he would be right home.  Soon Brian and Doug entered the doorway.  I was in the diningroom on my hands and knees breathing hard.  Doug takes one look and says, "Yep, she is certainly in labor."

     Doug stayed with the kids and we went straight to the hospital.  We must of got there shortly after 10pm.  Labor was fast and hard.  Suddenly I had to use the bathroom.  I needed to sit.  I was scared to.  I didn't want to push the baby out thinking it was a bowel movement.  I told the nurse my fears.  She asked if I wanted something to make using the bathroom easier.  I agreed.  She gave me an enema.  Trying to use the bathroom and having hard contractions was not an easy task even with the enema but boy oh boy did that ever clean my backside out.  Brian, who is very sensitive to smells, could not handle the poisonous gas that was escaping from the bathroom.  It was so bad he had to leave the room.  Brian was out in the hallway, bending over, gagging ready to throw-up.  A nurse approached him and patted him on the back, "Is this your first baby?"

     "No, it's our third.  My wife just used the bathroom."  Brian said without looking up dry heaving.  The nurse started to laugh. 

     We ended up moving to another room to ease my husband, and probably the nursing staff and doctors, sense of smell.  I do not remember what I ate that day or the day before but it was taking its vengeance out.

     The rest of the labor went smoothly as much as labor could.  At 11:43pm a new Moyer entered the world.  "Congratulations!  It's a girl!"  said the doctor. 

     "A girl?"  Brian and I said at the same time.  We both were thinking this was going to be a boy.  She was going to be called James Reagan.  We even called her James when she was developing in my belly.  We did think of a girls name but we put that name in the back burner of our brains.  For a moment we didn't remember what we agreed upon.  Finally we remembered it.  Ashton Kae.



North and South's naughty southern belle Ashton Main with Bent.



     We chose Ashton from one of our favorite books and TV series that we both enjoy, North and South by John Jakes.  We both enjoy learning about the civil war and even though the character Ashton in the book was something of a not nice southern lady, we still thought the name was pretty.  Kae is from Brian's mom's middle name but we changed the spelling to adapt it to a part of my maiden last name.  It sounded nice together.

     As soon as my sister made it back to her apartment my mom called her to let her know I was in labor.  They immediatly drove back down to Allegan to the hospital to see the new baby.  They arrived  at a set of doors and there was a security guard sitting there in a chair.  The hospital was in the middle of a make-over and there was a lot of the hospital torn up and you had to take different ways to get to certain parts of the hospital.  "Are you here for the lady that was having a baby?"  he asks my mom and my sister.

     Bewildered that he knew that was the reason of their visit they responded, "yes, we are."

     "I think she just had it.  There was a lot of noise coming from that window," he points to an opening in the wall to where a window should be a few floors up, "then I just heard a baby cry."

     "That must be Jill." my mom says and the guard showed them how to get to my room. 

     They enter the room and I was already holding Ashton.  My sister looks at me, then around the room.  "Do you realize there are not window's in your room?!"  All I could do was laugh.  The whole floor was turned around due to the renovations. 

     Ashton's entrance to the world was nothing short of a comedy.  Personally, I like things quiet and private when I am in labor and this was so far from it.  Part of me expected Candid Camera to come around the corner to let me know this portion of my life was a joke and I can redo it to the way I wanted it to happen.  A week later we still ended up bringing my mom her political republician cake to her office but I also got to show off my sweet little new daughter along with it. 



Ashton Kae just a few weeks old.