Happy Birthday Rachel!!

22 years ago today, I gave birth to a beatiful little girl. Okay, so maybe she wasn't so little...she weighed 10 pounds, 5 ounces!!! And she had a ton of black hair!

This is something I wrote for this blog about 3 years ago....Instead of rewriting, I just decided to repost it.

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I was 17 years old and a Junior in high school. I had no interest in being a parent, nor did I have the patience or funds to take care of a child. I decided the best decision would be to release her for adoption.

I lived in a foster home for about the last 3-4 months of the pregnancy. I can't say I enjoyed my time there. But I did enjoy being pregnant. I was still attending high school and even went to the last dance of the year dressed in a toga. I was 7 months pregnant at the time.

One morning, I woke up early just not feeling quite right. I went out and fed and watered the horses, then went inside and showered and shaved my legs. Why did I shave my legs? Who knows!

My foster-mom drove me to the hospital and Lacey was born a few hours later. She was the most beautiful baby in the world. I spent 3 glorious days in the hospital with her. I could have been released from the hospital before that, but since I was releaseing her, they let me stay with her.

I held her and cuddled her and loved her as much as I possibly could. Then, the day came I had to let go. I dressed her in a cute pink outfit my mother had brought for her. I wrapped her in a blanket that my grandmother had made. I said goodbye and turned and walked away from her. I could barely see because of the tears.

I don't remember the ride home or much of the next few weeks. It broke my heart to leave her there, but I knew it was for the best. She was a beautiful baby. I named her Lacey Rae after my mom. I knew her parents had named her Rachel Megan.

2 years later, I had my son Anthony. 1 year after that I had my son Lucas. 6 years after that I had my second daughter, Meghan.

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On Halloween of 2005, Rachel contacted me via the Classmates.com website. We finally got to meet again in April when we went to San Diego to see Anthony graduate from boot camp.

Rachel is as beautiful now as she was then. I am very proud to call her my daughter. Her parents have done a wonderful job raising her.

Happy Birthday, honey.