When Sal and I got married in August of 1993, we were young. I was three months shy of 20 and he had just turned 22. We started dating in early 1989. I was a sophomore and he was a senior. We are high school sweethearts. Let's be honest, the odds were against us. We wanted to get married, we didn't HAVE to get married. I think that we waited a little longer to have kids because I wanted to make sure that the right amount of time had passed before anyone could question that. We lived in a very small town of thirteen thousand people. Also, we really did want to travel and have fun and experience life. Blow our money away and if we had a penny to our name the day before payday, then we didn't have to worry about another mouth to feed.
Sal and I had been married for a little over a year. One night, I was visiting with my parents one and my dad asked me when we were going to have a baby? It surprised me because it was just not something I expected him to ask. My parents were older. I was a complete and total surprise. My older sister was 17 when I was born, and my middle sister 11. I became an aunt at five years old. There seemed to be some urgency in his voice, but nothing that I caught onto at that time.
Looking back, I think deep down he may have felt that his life was going to end sooner than later. Sadly, my dad passed away eighteen days before Kassie's first birthday of a massive heart attack. He was 61.
After that conversation, I talked to Sal and decided it would be the right time to try. It wasn't easy. Several months passed with no results. I did not worry, I knew I was young, and that it would eventually happen.
In January of 1996, I took a pregnancy test, and it was positive. I was so excited, and I couldn't wait to share the news. I was at work and Sal happened to have the day off. I called a friend of ours that owned a flower shop and asked her to put together four bouquets of pink and blue balloons. One set for Sal, one for his parents, one for my parents, grandmother, sister and niece that lived in the same home and the last set for my other sister, her husband and daughters. She delivered them, and everyone instantly knew. Everyone was so excited. On my side of the family there had not been a grandchild for 11 years. Sal's sister had just had a daughter in December of 1995 and his brother a son in November of 1994.
After my first appointment, I was told that my due date was September 16th, 1996. I laughed, Mexican Independence day. That will be fun! It's funny now, but the first thing I needed to confirm was if the due date was within the Virgo range. Darn, Scorpio's and Virgo's....this should be interesting.
My pregnancy was very uneventful. Normal morning sickness, not horrible. My appointments were all within normal limits. Never any concerns. Around July, I was swelling a little too much, and retaining a lot of fluid, but again, no concern. My blood pressure was great, so I had to avoid salty foods. And granted it was the middle of Summer. All in all everything looked great. Her ultrasounds had been perfect. For me extra perfect. Her last ultrasound confirmed that she was girl, and that she was going to be a dancer. From day one she was not shy, it's as if she knew we were watching. She was on stage. Showing off and yes, dancing. I am not exaggerating, she was turned out in second position and was doing plies. She looked like a little frog. Every time I was around music, she would "dance" in my belly.
Once we confirmed that she was a girl, we instantly decided on her name. It was easy because we had picked her name when we were still in high school. Kassandra with a K and Paulyna with a Y as her middle name. We both had always loved the nickname for Kassandra so Kassie it was. The middle name was for a Mexican singer named Paulina Rubio that I really liked and also super model Paulina Porizkova. I just wanted to change the spelling a little bit. As she grew up, she really disliked her name, and always asked why we didn't make Paulyna her first name. We told her she could always go by her middle name if she wanted, but she said it was too late. She was stuck with Kassie.
With Kassie being our first, and the first grandchild on my side of the family for a while, she was instantly spoiled. She probably had about 40 to 50 pairs of shoes before she was born. Her closet was to be envious of. At least I was. I didn't care. My mom, sisters and nieces went nuts in preparation for her arrival. Everyday someone would come with a new gift for her.
Sal and I worked on her nursery for a few months. We even had her pink carpet special ordered. The theme was carousel horses. At the time, I loved and collected carousel horses. I even made a big huge pink bow for the door. She was to be our present. Little did we know the complications that she would have. And that her nursery came so close to never being used.
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