Sep. 30, 2005 - a birth story
Yesterday was my Benjamin's 13th birthday. We had a wonderful day celebrating with family. As always we retold his birth story...We were living in a small town in Alaska at the time. Ben is the only child out of 6 who was not born within a day or two of his due date. He was exactly 2 weeks early. I had been having braxton hicks for several days and thought nothing of it. I left that morning to walk Kieran-6 and Emily-2 to storytime at the library. As I sat there during the story I noticed my contractions seemed regular and began to time them. Sure enough, 5 or 6 minutes a part, but nothing difficult. My friend, Jeannie, gave us a ride home and I mentioned that I might be in early labor. "Oh, I don't think so. Come over and sit in my big tub," she said. I met my husband leaving home from his lunch break and told him the same thing. "OK, honey. Let me know." Our last labor had taken 2 days to really get going so Dave didn't pay me too much attention either.
I nursed Emily and put her down for a nap. I called my best friend and midwife, Janelle, and she said she would come over and check me. We had planned a homebirth. Kieran and I made up the futon in the spare room, just in case. I settled into the rocking chair and watched Kieran build a train out of the kitchen chairs. Janelle arrived with her 4 children in tow. "If you're really in labor I'll take all the kids out to Christy's (a friend who lived 5 miles away)" Janelle said.
She checked me. I was 8 centimeters. Yikes!! We flew into action. Janelle called her assistant, Beth. I called Dave. He said, very sweetly, "OK, honey. I'll just make this last delivery and I'll be home in a few hours." I burst into tears and said "I need you NOW!" I asked Janelle if she was going to take the kids to Christy's and she told me there wasn't time. What were we going to do with 6 kids under the age of 7? I called my mom in Seattle to tell her our baby was on the way and we had noone to watch the kids. She suggested I call my brother's girlfriend (now his wife). I did and she left her job at the forest service and came right over.
Dave arrived in time for the birth of our beautiful son, Benjamin David. He was born within several hard contractions and a few pushes. There was a knock on the door minutes after he was born. It was the birthing stool I had ordered (now our faithful milking stool). There was another knock. It was Beth, the midwife's assistant. She had missed the whole event.
Within a few hours of arriving home from the library I was back in my rocking chair, my newborn son nestled in my arms. I called Jeannie and said "guess what I have in my arms?" :) Ben is growing into a wonderful young man. He is bright, handsome, talented and extremely loving with his brothers and sisters. He loves to hunt and fish, play sports and read long books...hmmm...we now have 3 teenagers in the family!
Comments
Oct. 1, 2005 - What a wonderful birthing story....
Posted by cynthiarobin
and I love the way you retell it to your son on his birthdays. I think it's so important to remind our children of their special entrance into our world and our hearts. My son loves to hear about the first *flutters* I felt in my womb with him....and he's 23 yrs old now! I'm truly enjoying your blog and your posts at TBKS....I'm adding you as a friend on my blog.
Hugs,
Cynthia Robin
Oct. 1, 2005 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Endoftheroad
What a wonderful story~ I look forward to viusitng your blog many time sin the future
Lea
Oct. 1, 2005 - Untitled Comment
Posted by lynan
I tell my kiddos their birth stories too! Its a sweet time of remembering. Wish I'd had one go as smoothly as your son's!
Nov. 15, 2005 - I love birth stories and...
Posted by lazearbeam
that was delightful! Thanks for sharing it. I have one of mine online. It is at: http://www.birthjunkie.com/serenas_story.html
I hope you enjoy it!
Love and shalom,
Serena
