My first born son, Zachary, was born on October 16th, 2001 and I won't ever forget the 24 hours previous to giving birth to him.
The night before I went into labor with our daughter, Samantha, Jeff and I had gone out for a nice steak dinner at the Five Pillars and by 5:30 am the following morning I had started labor. So with that in mind we decided we should try the same concept with this baby and see if the steak dinner could coax this one out too. So we decided to head to Silver Creek (not sure what the name of the restaurant was there at the time to be honest) with our friends the Bichlers and try our luck. Well I'll tell you, I thought it had worked again because sometime during the night I started having strong pains and they continued into the morning but then sometime during the day they stopped. Bummer.
Well after a little break they started up again and by 9 pm on that Monday evening we dropped Samantha off at my brother's house and we were headed to the hospital to have our second child. Needless to say, this little one was apparently pretty darn comfortable in mama's belly and kept me on my toes all night long! When I had gotten to the hospital I was at 4 centimeters and at 6:30 am the following morning I wasn't much more than that and well, I was very tired and not at all comfortable! See, I had done natural childbirth with Samantha and was going to do it again this time. Finally when my doctor made his presence known at about 7 am (the first damn time I'd seen him since we got there) he decided to break my water and from there it escalated and by 8:42 am I had given birth to a rather large baby boy. Zachary weighed in at 8 pounds 5 ounces and was 22 inches long, thus earning the title "The Big Show" from his Grandpa Dahm.
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| Our family together the day Zachary was born. |
I'll never forget Jeff's reaction the day Zach was born. Like I said in a previous post, he loved his daughter like crazy the instant he was introduced to her but there is something to be said for a Dad being able to have a little boy. I think that, combined with the fact that he was already a father and not scared to death about raising a baby for the first time, brought instant tears to his eyes as he held him in his arms for the first time. He was absolutely beautiful, with a full head of dark hair and the most handsome features. He still has these today.
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| Samantha and Zachary - Easter 2002. |
One of the first thoughts that went through my head was that our family was now complete. We had the sweetest little girl and now the most handsome little boy, what more could we want although I was a little nervous about having a little boy now.
I can't deny there was a part of me that wondered if having a little boy would be nearly as much fun as taking care of a little girl? I mean, picking out little girl clothes was soooo much fun, and fixing her hair from little on and buying all the "pretties" for her hair was sooo much fun too. I just didn't know if the excitement I got from my little girl was going to compare to my feelings for this new little boy.
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| Zachary being held by Jeff on our trip to Arizona in March of 2002. |
I also wondered if he would eventually push me to the side and want to spend every moment with his Daddy instead of me? Of course that wouldn't be a bad thing, but it was still something that entered my mind.
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| Zach at the County Fair. |
I will tell you though, any concerns or questions I had about the love I would have for this new little man were quickly erased and the love a Mom has for her son is a pretty serious thing as well. There's something to be said for the term "Mama's Boy".
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| Zach dressed up like a Lion for Halloween. |
It sounds funny, but I literally wanted to "eat him up". I wanted to take in every little piece of him and savor it and squeeze his cheeks all the time, and touch his hair, and just show him off to everybody. To me he was simply one of the cutest little baby boys I had ever laid eyes on, yes I'm biased.
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| Zach playing at the school playground. |
Now, one thing I picked up on right away was that Zachary had a lot of my family genetics. He looked a ton like my brother, who has a dark complexion and dark hair. He had flaired up, wacked out eyebrows like my nephew Derek and well, he seemed to have the Degnitz temper from an early age. Shoot! Not that I'm not proud of my family's heritage and all BUT that temper thing is something you would probably not wish on your children. Man is he bullheaded! Now let me tell you though, it seems to affect the men in the Degnitz family, not the females, because I of course don't have that at all...........
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| Zach waiting for candles in his birthday cake. Looks like that Degnitz temper pissed him off before this picture was taken? |
Okay so yeah, I have a son who can be more emotional at times than some females, combined with very good looks, so a lot of people, especially his Grandma Dahm, have a hard time saying no to his requests. Not a good combination!!! And add intelligence in there and you got a super bad combo. He soooo knows how to work the right people. Argh! I'm doomed!!!!
Forget about locking up our teenage daughter! We are going to lock him up way before then :)
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| Zach posing for his baseball picture. |
You know what though, I love him so much, despite the challenge he can be at times. And he does have such a soft side too. He can be one of the very sweetest little guys around. He will sit down and watch A Walk To Remember With Me, he also loves the movie The Notebook (I skip through some of the scenes obviously) and he makes me some of the bestest cards and pictures ever. I truly think that in time he will make some lady one hell of a husband, that is a Degnitz trait too with the men.
So here is to The Big Show, Zachary Allen Dahm, my hot tempered, handsome looking, Mrs. Mountain loving (his elementary principal-visits her too much) son. I love you so much and look forward to all of the adventures and turmoil you will be throwing in my direction. I know you'll test me and won't let me down.
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| Zachary - From the Greek name 'Zacharias'. He is active, energetic and restless and is always ready to respond to any situation. |
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