Happy 1st Birthday, Madeleine Rose

I'm not going to post much in-depth about Maddie's birthday, mostly just because it was incredibly quiet and private, but I thought that this was beautiful in its own way, and wanted to remember it.

JTD unfortunately had to work today from 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. (he has a huge project that is going in place this weekend).  Since he won't be home until well after dark, I picked up several balloons and took them in for us to release together at the hospital (which is where he works, and also where we were one year ago today).

We let go of the balloons, and most of them rose together and started off on their flight as expected, in a path going directly east with the wind.  One of the balloons, however, was very, very slow to rise.  It stayed near us for a while, and finally started rising - but it went north (where we could see it much better).  Rather than going the same direction as the others, it made its own way where we could see it.  As the balloons rose, it started to sprinkle (it rained a year ago today, too) - and the one balloon kept going north.  It got several blocks north, and then circled back a little bit with the wind before finally heading east.  It slowly made its way out of sight, probably 5 minutes after the others had disappeared. 

I'm not even sure what all of that means, but it reminded me so much of how Maddie was such a fighter.  She was the embryo that stuck through the FET, she grew and blossomed, and she didn't want to come out when my body went into labor.  She kicked up until almost the end (I remember her last kick, as if she was saying goodbye), and they had to do several rounds of Pitocin (she was delivered feet-first).  Much like that balloon, she stayed with us for as long as she could.  I am so grateful for every second that we had with her, and that we continue to have with her.