A November to Remember

November 23 - Cherished Memory #17

Okay, okay, I'm behind, I'm away from home so I don't have access to all the pictures I want to use and I SERIOUSLY messed up because I should have posted about our youngest daughter's birth on the 20th, which was her birthday, her real birthday, her 20th birthday, but I just wasn't prepared!

Actually, this is exactly what her birth was like.  I just wasn't prepared!  From the moment we found out I was pregnant with her, she has been one special individual.  You see, I was 42 years old and we already had a boy and a girl and were not really planning on another child at that point (although my ideal family is four children, two girls and two boys so that each child knows what it is like to have a brother and a sister - but I digress).  

At any rate, I absolutely loved being pregnant and this time, since we already had a girl and a boy, we wanted to know what the sex was going to be so that we could plan better.  I had to have special tests because I was an "older" pregnant woman and once I had the ultrasound and amniocentesis to make sure everything was going to be okay and we knew it was going to be another girl, we relaxed.  

Well, sort of.  Since we were expanding the family, the house we were renting was only a 2 bedroom one so when I was 8 months pregnant, we packed up and moved.  Also, it was discovered on one of my exams that I had gestational diabetes again (I had had it with our son, too).  At least we already had the name picked out, Rachel Lauren.  

She was to be born in late November and I was holding my breath, hoping that she would wait until the new maternity ward was finished in our local hospital.  I was still working at the doctor's office where I was an office manager and I was also president of the PTA at school and we were due to have our meeting for the month when, at 5 PM on November 19, my water broke, at least a week earlier than scheduled!  

That was a new experience for me since the other two kids had been late and my water had never broken spontaneously with either of them.  Fortunately, I was right across the street from the hospital so I called the vice president of the PTA and told her that she would have to run the meeting, called my mom to ask her to take care of the older kids and drove myself across the street to the hospital!  I called my husband and told him what was going on.  He was working the swing shift so he wasn't due home until 11 PM and I told him that I didn't think anything was going to happen for a while so he didn't have to rush home, but he came anyway because the people at work told him he should be with me.  

And so the waiting game began.  Just because the water broke, didn't mean that the baby was in any hurry to come out.  The doctor came in and checked on our progress and said that if nothing happened by 6 AM the next morning, they would induce labor.  My husband was pacing the floor and driving me crazy so I told him to go home and I'd call him if anything happened.  

Sure enough, nothing happened and at 6 AM they came in to give me the pitocin again.  This time it worked much faster than the last times and I called my husband and told him that if he wanted to see this baby being born he better hurry!  At about 6:45 he came in the room.  He said he could hear me screaming down the hall (another natural childbirth - no meds for me!) and about 7:14, Rachel was born.

What a cutie she was with lots of black hair!  Maybe that's why I had had heartburn during pregnancy.  Unfortunately, she was born too early to be in the new maternity ward and they were in the process of packing up the maternity ward at the old hospital.  There were labels on drawers and things were in a bit of disarray.  It didn't matter.  She was perfect and such a wonderful addition to our family!

It is hard to believe that this girl is now 20 years old!  She has turned out to be such a terrific young lady and definitely continues to have a mind of her own!  We are truly blessed!  I am sorry I didn't make this post on her birthday for her, but she has to know she is definitely one of my most cherished memories!