I must have been crazy to attempt this at my age. Some people were very pessimistic. Then again, the people who love me most, encouraged me to go for it. There were many times that I thought I would lose her, when I had to mentally say good-bye, but somehow she managed to survive. Last night  my much-anticipated miracle baby entered the world with all the hoopla I could muster.

The gestation period began six years ago with A Boy, A ball and a Book. In the early stages of development, I timidly shared my news with a few friends. Their reaction gave me courage and though, to most people I was barely “showing”, I was glowing! And then I started blabbing about it to anyone and everyone who would listen. I am pretty sure that I bored some of you to death, you know who you are, and that you began to think that this blessed event would never happen. Thanks for hanging in there with me. Despite the odds, my book began to grow, a book created to honor the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren, specifically, Janelle aka. “Grandmama.”

Preparing for this baby, I purchased a LLC agreement, a copy right, a business license, a checking account, a credit card, a web domain, an e-book developer, a pay-pal account, a Facebook page and a blog. I studied and read articles about publishing, dabbled in internet social marketing, asked advice of others, took advice from some, and weeded through scads of on-line help sites. I learned the difference between Android and I-things, tablets, pads, nooks and kindles. Apple, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Google, Go-Daddy, and WordPress, are now old friends, sometimes irritating, sometimes helpful.

Like my baby, I too have grown, especially in my struggle with control and collaboration, initiative, patience and faith. Here are a few things I have learned in the long period between conception and delivery.

Lessons About the Birthing Process

1. You are overjoyed at the initial prospect
2. You think and dream about her all the time/wonder what to name her
3. You are afraid that you are inadequate for the task/self-doubt escalates as time goes on
4. You hope that your baby will be early, or at least on time, beautiful and healthy
5. False labor occurs over and over/you have to relax, focus, regroup and wait
6. Real Labor eventually happens/much more is required of you than you ever imagined
7. There is a lot of excitement and pain/labor lasts a long, long, time
8. When you feel like you cannot push again, you push again
9. During transition, you may feel like cussing out everyone in the room.
10. When she arrives, you quickly forget all about the struggle to get her here
11. There is joy
12. You wonder about doing it all over again

To view the “baby” Click Here

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( This post has been linked to:)  GRAND Social