Happy 27th!!

age 1 week

On March 29th at 10:00 a.m. Mrs. Johnson was at her sister Launa's house getting ready to make some curtains. When the pains started. Mrs. Johnson could not be more thrilled, because she was already 2 weeks overdue. Not to mention the fact that she had gestational diabetes and had gained over 100 pounds since becoming pregnant. Luckily it was a Saturday and Mr. Johnson was at home. Mrs. Johnson promptly left Launa's house and headed for home about 10 minutes away. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson left their 7 children at home with Martha, the eldest girl in charge. They had to go to Panguich, which is about an hour from Orderville. Lynnette made her appearance approximately an hour after they arrived, 2:05 in the afternoon. Mrs. Johnson had Lynnette with NO PAIN MEDICINE. (remember that it is important for later, none, nada, not even a Tylenol.) As soon as Lynnette was born, the nurses whisked her away to get cleaned up, and make sure everything was functioning correctly, so Mrs. Johnson didn't get to see her baby right away. A little while later Mrs. Johnson overheard the nurses talking about "the biggest baby they had ever seen!" Mrs. Johnson knew that her friend Mrs. Franklin was in the hospital having a baby also. Mrs. Johnson thought, "OH poor Rhonda! She went and had the biggest baby those nurses have ever seen!" A few minutes later the nurses brought little old 12 pound 4 ounce Lynnette in to see her mommy. (remember the NO PAIN MEDS... um yeah.) Mrs. Johnson looked at the baby that the nurses had just handed her. She was painfully fat... BRIGHT red, and she had bent pinkie fingers... but she was still perfect. Her baby was the record breaking fatty pants, not Rhonda's! Baby Lynnette had a blood disorder, that was causing the extreme redness. (Nobody seems to be able to recall the name of the disorder.) Thankfully one of the doctors in Panguich knew how to treat the blood disorder, otherwise baby Lynnette would have had to go to a special hospital to get the treatment she needed. The procedure involved taking out some of the blood and replacing in with fluids and medication that would thin the blood and relieve the immense pressure on Lynnette's heart. The doctors had to repeat the procedure every 2 hours for 2 days (48 hrs). Mrs. Johnson would just get Lynnette nursed and settled back down, and they would come in to get her... She had to listen to her poor little baby scream for about 1/2 hour, then they would bring the fat sobbing little thing back, and they would do it over, and over and over again. In those days they didn't know how to do a pic line yet, apparently, because they had to poke every single time in order to do the transfusion. After Three days in the hospital mommy and baby were both ready to go home. Mrs Johnson had one little problem though, she had brought a 0-3 month outfit to bring the baby home... and well, it wouldn't fit! So Mr. Johnson brought a 3-6 month outfit... it was a TIGHT squeeze, but they got it on her!

age 1 age 3

age 4

age 5

age 8

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Age 16 (spoiled rotten with a trip to Hawaii to see my sister and swim with dolphins!)

Age 18

Fast forward 27 years. Why, why, why am I the one getting presents????? Thank you mommy, for giving birth to me, Thank you for loving me, and being such a great mom. I think all the birthday gifts should go to my mom, because she went through an awful lot to get me here, and I could never thank her enough. P.S. I am really not fat, I just never lost my baby weight ;)