Welcome Little Hostage

In February of 1981, my other half and I were living in Grafton, W Va. Teaching jobs were not to be found in W Pa at the time, so we traveled "south of the border" (the PA border anyway) for Jon to teach. That's a whole other tale. By February 1st I was very very pregnant, in fact, overdue with my first child. My due date was Jan 20th. On that day, (jan 20), Ronald Regan was inaugurated, and the hostages were freed from Iran. I, however, still had a little hostage inside of me. On that day also, I was RELEASED from the hospital, having come down late in my pregnancy with bronchitis. I felt it was so unfair that they released me ON MY DUE DATE WITHOUT A BABY.
On Sun, Feb 1st, I thought I had a slow leak of amniotic fluid....I had a doctor appointment on Monday the 2nd, and as the doctor and hospital were close to 30 miles away, I did not want to travel the snowy roads "over the river and through the woods" to the doctor unless I had to. When I called the doctor, he said, yes, come. I didn't take my hospital bag of packed belongings with me because I thought that would jinx the appointment.
My sister-in-law drove me from Grafton to Morgantown for the appointment. The doctor decided I should be admitted. He was sure labor would start at any time. Jon got there as soon as he could...but labor did not. Tuesday morning they decided to induce me. VERY SLOW LABOR. All back pain. The thing about back labor is, it doesn't ebb and flow like normal labor. There is no relief with back labor. They finally let me push around 11:15pm.....but by 12am when my little hostage had not moved, they decided I needed a C-section. Because it was not planned, Jon was not allowed to go into the operating room with me. He was a wreck. I was fine because I just wanted this baby out of me!! It was Wed morning, 12:51 am when he was born.
All was definitely worth it when I got to hold my baby boy, 8 pound, 4 oz Joshua Jon Grubbs. JJ had a slightly pointed head from the attempts to push him down the birth canal where he didn't fit. Luckily, that soon went away. I can honestly say it was love at first sight with my firstborn son. My first flowers were delivered that morning to my room. They were from my parents and the card read "Welcome Little Hostage".
Through these past 28 years Josh has brought great joy and pride to our family. I challenge you to find a more interesting person who can converse on such a variety of topics. Don't debate him; you will lose. He has loved words, both written and spoken, from the beginning. He walked before his feet were big enough to fit into any shoes that were manufactured. He read coupons with his Grandma Grubbs at age 2. Learning has been a quest for him. As a child he always loved maps, globes, and is the only person I know that read the glossary from beginning to end in the back of his textbooks.
I could go on and on about one of my favorite subjects (josh) for a long time. But instead, I will just end this with a big Happy Birthday Josh from your biggest fan.
Love,
Mom