Monday, May 28, 2012

John Gregory - The final stretch


Dear Johnny,

We are so excited for you to join our family in the outside world.  You should know that you are already a special part of our family.  Cara gives you a hug every night before bed, and everyone loves it when you are moving and they can feel or watch your tiny body parts through my tummy.  When Andy asks if he can "squish" you really he just wants to feel you.  (You can worry about getting squished when you are out.)  When Ali hits it is really out of love.  You do like to move a lot, but I am sure you are getting cramped in there.  At 34 weeks my tummy was measuring 6 weeks big so either you are going to be a really big boy or you are swimming in a lot of water.  

You should also know that you are grounded at least until you are 10 for making life so difficult for the last 8 months.  You can make up some of that time by being an especially good baby!  This last stretch is no exception to the problems that have been create by having your sweet body in mine.  At 35.5 weeks my body decided it was time for you to join us.  I have something called Toxemia.  It is dangerous for us both, but I am checking my blood pressure many times a day and going into the hospital to make sure that you are doing well.  I am on strict orders to take it easy so Grandma took Andy and Ali and I am sitting with my feet up so that you can stay in for a few more days, even though I would rather snuggle you on the outside.  At home I walk with a cane because of my back pain; I have given you everything that I can.    

Choosing your name was a fun process.  It is a lot of pressure to decide what a person will be called for their life.  As soon as we found out you were a boy I started brainstorming.  (If you would have been a girl we would have named you Emma Lee after Grandma Romer and Grandma Sharon, but we had to think hard to come up with the perfect boy name.)  All of your siblings have special family names so I wanted to give that to you too.  Dad wanted you to have a J name like him.  We had thought about naming Ali Gregory had she been a boy, but that didn't seem right for you.  We went through a lot of J names but feel great about naming you after my Great Grandpa John Gregory.  We have a full life history for him that you will enjoy because he was a wonderful man.  His life was hard, but he was always faithful and an extremely hard worker.  He loved the temple and family history work, and he especially loved his family.  My Grandma Odessa always spoke of how wonderful he was.  Grandpa Neil's middle name is Gregory and John is also a very special bible name.  We hope that you will live up to the wonderful people you have been named after.

We are so excited to meet you, and to love you, and to have you join us for all of our crazy family adventures.

Forever and Always,
Mom

3 comments:

Kar said...

Oh, Care. A cane? The things we do to bring these little kids into our families. Take care of yourself and hopefully you can cook him for as long as possible in there. :)

The Ravsten's said...

Sorry things are so tough, but such a sweet letter that you and he will cherish for a life time! Take care and we'll be excited to meet the new little guy, hopefully next week when we are there! Love ya.

sorichfamily said...

You can do it lady!!! In a few weeks it will all be a memory! You are being such a great mama!! Can't wait to see his cute face!! You're in my thoughts and prayers!! Love ya!! ps...cute name!