HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AUSTIN DEC. 4TH

Austin's birthday was this week. He turned 13! Wow, he is now stepping into those wonderful teenage years. It seems like yesterday he was my little boy.
Austin was a surprise pregnancy. I really thought that my family was done, but I guess God had other plans. The pregnancy went very smooth. I was never sick and the time passed so quickly. I knew he was a boy early on. During my labor I was told that I had meconium and I was terrified. I knew someone whose baby had died from this. The doctors wanted the room to be very quiet when he was delivered. This was hard because I had my husband, sister, sister in law, best friend and 5 doctors in the room! Austin came into the world on Dec 4th, 1994 weighing in at 7lbs 4oz. He seemed so tiny and frail to me. (His brothers were all big babies.)
His tiny feet were badly bent and he had dark red places on his eyelids and forehead. But to me he was perfect and beautiful. As he began to grow people would ask me if he had a cold, or what was wrong with his eyes. I grew fearful that this would get worse, but by the time he was 2 they were completely gone. As he began to walk we put him in some corrective shoes and the problem with his feet was also completely repaired. God also blessed him with this beautiful blond curly, curly hair. Oh, how people loved his hair. When he was old enough to start school, he wanted it all cut off. He did not like his curls at all! So most of his young life he wore it short. Now, at 13 it is long and curly! LOL! This is one of my favorite school pictures of him. He is just so cute. When Austin was in third grade he underwent plastic surgery for a rare condition of trichofolliculoma. This is a tumor of the hair follicle that usually develops in older women and presents itself in one or two places. Austin however had hundreds of them on his face. They were tiny clear bumps and you really could not see them from far away. He was misdiagnosed by many doctors and I was told he would out grow them. But they actually were multiplying. I finally got a biopsy done and found out what they were, but no one knew what to do. Generally they remove one or two but he had so many and some close to his eyes. I spent many hours emailing various plastic surgeons but no one wanted to touch him for all the uncertainty. I finally found Ram Kalus http://www.plasticsurgerycarolina.com/ in Columbia and he was so wonderful. I cannot say enough about this man. He changed Austin face like you would not believe. You can not even see his scars. It was a six hour surgery but worth every tense minute. Austin is now a perfect, handsome teenage boy.
As I sit here this morning typing this and remembering back on these things, I find it hard to believe that my baby (he will always be my baby!) is 13. Each year I long so much for him to stay the age he is at. It just tears me apart to know that he is growing up. Over that past year he has visibly 'grown up'. Everyone cannot get over how he has changed this year. He is becoming a man. I want to hold onto him as long as I can. I cannot imagine the day that he leaves home. I am afraid my world will crumble. I still have time for that so I will enjoy each and every moment in his life now as he ventures into his teen years.
I love you Austin- my baby!
Happy Birthday.