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!

A November to Remember

November 8 - Cherished Memory #8

My daughter's birth on the 5th of August was my 5th Cherished Memory, so my son's birth on the 8th of July is my 8th Cherished Memory.

Jeff was supposed to be born on the 4th of July.  That day came and went with no sign of his appearance.  Again, we didn't know whether it was going to be a boy or a girl but we had decided if it was a boy his name was going to be Jeffrey Thomas.  I can't remember if we had any girls names picked out.  I think we really wanted a boy since we already had a girl, but our main focus was on healthy baby, no matter what the sex.

Again I went to the doctor and he said that since the baby had not shown any indication of wanting to be born yet, we could induce again.  He said that he was going out of town and if I wanted him to deliver the baby, it would have to be on the 8th of July.  That seemed like an easy date to remember, 7/8/88.  I certainly didn't want to wait until 8/8/88!

One more time we went to the hospital in the morning.  This time it was Mills Hospital.  Amanda had been born at Peninsula but in the two years since then, the local hospitals had done some changing and now all babies were delivered at Mills.  It is a little farther away from our house but not too bad.

My "focal" for this birth was Elmo.  He was a cute Sesame Street character that Amanda liked so we figured that she could have him after the baby was born and then she would have something to cuddle too.  Isn't he cute?


We were in the hospital about 8 AM and even though they started the pitocin right away, once again it took forever for anything to happen.  Complicating this delivery was the fact that I had developed gestational diabetes so they were really keeping an eye on both me and baby.  Finally the contractions started to come fast and furious.  I had already made up my mind that since I had delivered Amanda without an epidural or any pain meds, I could do it again with this one so it was a natural birth.

Just as I was starting to push, I could hear the doctor say that something was "stuck" and he had the nurse put the head of the bed way down so that my head was almost upside down.  It turns out that Jeff's shoulder was stuck so they had to push him back in a bit and rearrange him to come out head first.  I wasn't aware of that until after, but I think it was a little scary for a bit.

And then he was out.  What a cutie!  (Although at first he looked like a little old man, all wrinkled).  He was born at 6:23 PM.    

 

This year he turned 28 and what a fine young man he is.







So, that's my 8th Cherished Memory.  I am listing them in no particular order of importance, they are all equally cherished memories (just in case you were wondering).