Isaac is my third born.
He was a game changer. Terrifying and incredibly profound to my life since day one of conception. You see, life has a funny way of giving you everything you could have ever dreamed of in the least ideal of ways. From the end of my life as I knew it onward to today, this baby has kept me on my toes.
When I met Isaac’s dad, I was freshly separated and still living with my then husband, along with our two-year-old son and our four-year-old daughter. We had a generic, millennial, blind date meeting one snowy night and the rest is history. Why he didn’t ghost me after hearing about my living situation is beyond me.
Somewhere in this whirlwind romance and a few less than responsible choices later, my birth control failed. And along came Isaac.
My life changed drastically. I had been raised in the country and rebelled against every small town cliché there was. Randy was a farmer and basically knew everyone in his small town.
When we both decided to dive into our situation and make the best of it, I moved in with him. I won him over with the dog first and then the kids joined us. We killed his bachelorhood and he brought me back to the small town life.
My pregnancy with Isaac was terrible.
I guess if you want to know if the stranger that knocked you up loves you, almost dying does the trick.
Falling in love while pregnant is such a bad idea because you’re a bag of hormones and insecurities. To share that time with someone you barely know, yea, I know. I felt stupid. To top it off, Isaac had a two vessel cord, we couldn’t rule out down syndrome and I developed sepsis while 22 weeks pregnant and spent five days in the hospital. When I found out my right kidney had atrophied and that sepsis was why I was so sick, Randy, as busy as he was with farming, dropped everything to come comfort me. That day was when I knew it was for sure.
Seventeen and a half weeks later, a couple more nights spent in the hospital and two weeks of contractions and a stuck baby, I was finally induced.
Isaac was breech up until a day or two before he was born. He kept contracting without progress and I had been miserable. I had been in the hospital for a kidney infection and had a C-section scheduled. I was under close observation from my doctors. My morning doctor didn’t want to check me, told me I would be discharged and come back for my C-section. The evening shift doctor was more familiar with my kidney issues and checked me. He discovered Isaac was no longer face up.
Of course, Randy had gone home that night after spending several nights in the hospital with me. We did a slow induction without Pitocin. I slept through the softening pill and was having contractions on my own while I slept. The doctor woke me up at two AM to check me and broke my water.
At 4:30 am on October 7, 2017, Isaac Carter Richardson was born.
I remember Randy just being memorized and all the worry kind of melted away. Our baby was born on his grandma’s birthday. That’s one way to win over your mother-in-law.
Isaac has been a bundle of close calls and specialist appointments, but has always been given the all clear or had a minor issue. He has been a blessing all around. His brother and sister adore him. His dad is the best thing to ever happen to me and the older kids. It was all just meant to be.
As we come up to Isaac’s first birthday, our little Brady Bunch is such a house of love beyond what my heart can even stand, sometimes.
