Happy 14th Birthday, Axel

14 years ago, my son, Axel was born. To this day, I still cannot believe that the baby I held in my arms not so long ago is now a young man.

People would sometimes say that Axel is my favorite. In a way, I guess that might be true. But it is more because of the fact that having him was against all odds at that time. I wasn't supposed to have any more children, at least not so soon after the first. I had a herniated disc 4 months after giving birth to Kyla, that even after 3 years, my doctors didn't think it's safe to have another one.

Pregnancy was hard, I had to take medications to make sure I don't lose him during the first trimester. Then after that, I almost lost him at 6 months because I had UTI and that started my contractions. Same thing happened at 8 months, and by that time I was scared. My doctors were great and I kept thanking my friends sister and sister-in-law for recommending her. The situation was made worse because I did not tell my parents that I got pregnant. They had to come here to the United States to see my sister, and I knew that had I told them, my Dad would never have left. Thank God for friends!

Giving birth was a breeze. None of the difficulties I had while pregnant. Axel made sure I know he wants out at 2:30am of August 20th. Called my cousin (a surgeon) to make sure it's not a false alarm (wouldn't want to go all the way to PGH from Biñan, Laguna for nothing), called my Aunt, who in turn woke up a policeman friend of theirs to drive us. Turned out to be a good thing, he had all the lights flashing and the horn blowing all the way to the hospital. Made it possible for me to make it ;p Once there, it took a right hook to a nurse (making her nose bleed, yes, I punched the nurse because she yelled at me to stop pushing when all the while I was turning blue from not breathing trying to stop the baby from coming out... so I'm a bitch!), a mad dash for the delivery room, an argument because I refused to let another doctor deliver the baby, and a joke about getting what I want and Axel is crying his lungs out. All this, in less than 15 minutes. Have I mentioned that everything about Axel is a mad dash all the time? My Aunt and my now ex-husband were still waiting for doctor's orders so they can get a room when the nurse came out saying that I have given birth and was ready to be taken to my room. Whew!

The first year of Axel's life was touch and go. Although he doesn't have any serious illness we ended up going to the hospital almost every month. All the nurses, doctors and interns knew us by then. It's always one thing or another, and it's hard to divide time with a 3 year old and a sick baby.

Axel's always been an easy baby to take care of. He lies quietly and was sleeping almost through the night after a week. He plays on his own and only cried out when he's hungry or needed diaper change. He started late walking, but once he did, we had a tough time trying to catch up with him. It was hard when I had to leave him with my parents to come to the US. It was harder still, when I asked him to take care of his Grandma when his Grandad passed away. All these he took in without complaining.

And now, he's finally here with me. I am discovering what I missed while he was growing up. And he's grown up to be a fine young man. My baby... who's now bigger than me and is looking after me and his sister more than I am. You have such a long way to go still. Life is just beginning, enjoy it like only teenagers can. Believe and it shall be.