A year ago...

Yesterday was my daughter's first birthday.  As such it conjured all manner of flashbacks to last year:

My wife was induced on the evening of May 31st last year.  We had our dinner and went to the hospital as scheduled.  We watched Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals from her hospital room.  The initial drugs were given but no labor... until the morning of June 1st.

After waiting all day with little or no dilation, at 7 pm my wife's OB showed up and indicated that with such little progress on the dilation front it was time for a C-section.

So I tossed on some scrubs and was led to the recovery room while my wife was prepped for her C-section.  By the time my wife was finally brought in to be prepped for surgery, it was almost 8pm.  Her parents and sister were in the waiting room.  I was dressed to the nines (if you consider hospital scrubs to be chic that is!) and waiting patiently to be summoned to sit by my wife and offer my support during her surgery.

In the OR, I was glad I had the scrubs on.  it was downright chilly in there.  The scrubs didn't breathe.  They held in my body heat.  About 4-5 minutes after being brought in I heard a cry.  My wife & I had opted to NOT find out the gender.  So the doc asked me if I wanted to be the one to tell my wife what we had.  The doc instructed me to stand up so I could see over the curtain and pried my poor cold child's legs apart. 

From the moment I laid eyes on her I was a goner.  She had me wrapped around her little finger already.

One of the nurses cleaned her up and handed her to me so I could introduce her to her mommy quickly before my daughter & I were rushed into the recovery room so the doc could put the missus all back together.

I remember her eyes were open and looking up at me.  We'd narrowed the list of possible names for girls down to two.  Samantha and Olivia.  I tried both names out on her... Every time I tried to call her Olivia she started bawling at me.  Every time I called her Samantha she calmed down.  She'd chosen her own name.

Over the past year I've watched her firsts... First bath, first haircut, first time in the car, first time crawling, first teeth (she seems to get 2 at a time).  I've relished the joy and wonder in her eyes as she sees things for the first time. 

As she grows older I look forward to watching more of her firsts and grasp as frantically as I might to the sands of time to slow them down a bit.  The past year has flown and I know that time will only pass faster as she grows older.