8 Features
Baby Boom
By: Elizabeth Fuller
Junior Sydney Moorman meets the love of her life
As the nurses rolled junior Sydney Moorman through the double doors and into the delivery room, she was not even nervous.
Hi.Life-October 19, 2006
“I knew that it was going to hurt, so there was no point in being afraid,” Moorman said laughing. Only hours after Moorman had checked into the hospital her son Chandler was born. “Chandler was born on June 13, 2006,” Moorman said Moorman got the surprise that she was pregnant about a year ago. “I was very shocked to learn that I was pregnant, Moorman said. “I wasn’t sure about what would happen next,” Moorman said. Like most girls think, Moorman believed that her parents would be furious when she told them the news. “I thought that they would be very angry, but they weren’t. My mom actually had to go out of town for business, so we didn’t really talk about it for a couple of weeks,” Moorman said. After the initial shock, Moorman’s parents were more than willing to help their daughter through the battles of pregnancy. Fortunately for Moorman, she did not have any morning sickness, weird cravings or swollen feet that most women experience. “I didn’t have to deal with the effects of pregnancy that you normally get. I did gain weight, so that slowed me down a bit, but nothing else,” Moorman stated. One thing that Moorman did have to deal with was learning how to manage her time between her new son, Chandler, and school. “I’m just always busy with school, and its taking care of my son. It’s a 24-hour job taking care of a kid. I don’t get out much, but every once and a while I do,” Moorman said. Even though taking care of an infant child is a full time job, it is the only way Moorman could ever have envisioned it. “I couldn’t ever see myself giving
him to someone else and watching them raise him,” Moorman said. At first her parents weren’t supportive of this decision but in the months leading up to the birth of their grandchild they came to terms with having another baby in the house. “Of course, now that he is here they don’t even like to mention that they wanted me to give him up for adoption,” Moorman said with a chuckle. Even though having a baby comes with a heavy load, Moorman would not change it even if she could. “I love him, of course, it would just be wrong if I didn’t,” Moorman said.
Daily Schedule 4:30-5:00 A.M. - “I usually wake up, and if he isn’t up yet I hurry and get ready for school. If he is up I feed him and get ready while he eats,” Moorman said. “After I get ready and he eats we usually sit around and watch T.V. for a little bit, because he likes it a lot,” Moorman said. 6:20 A.M. - “My friend comes to pick us up, and we drop Chandler off on the at the baby sitters on our way to school,” Moorman said. “Then I’m in school all day,” Moorman said. 3:00 P.M. - “My friend and my sister and I leave school and pick up Chandler from the baby sitters, then head home,” Moorman said. “After school he sometimes takes a nap, and I use that time to work on my homework,” Moorman said. 4:30-5:00 P.M. - “He usually has a bottle,” Moorman said.
Rock Abye Baby. Junior Sydney Moorman rocks her four month old son Chandler to sleep. “When he is sleeping it gives me time to get things done,” Moorman said. Photo / Courtesy of Sydney Moorman
“A little while after he eats my mom comes home from work. Most of the time she plays with him, which gives me time to do my laundry and finish homework,” Moorman said. “Then while my family and I eat he sits with us. Then afterwards we usually play before I feed him his last bottle,” Moorman said. 8:00-9:00 P.M. - “After his last bottle I put him down for the night. If I have anything else I need to finish I do that, then go to sleep,” Moorman said.