Genny Genny, You're the Girl For Me!

The birth story. People have been asking so here it goes:

It was Monday morning (June 28) and I went for my regular appointment at the OB. Chris dragged me there. Lucky for me, both of the doctors were not in so I got to see the nurse practitioner. They hooked me up to the monitor for a while to see how baby was. Baby was great and I was having very mild contractions about 10 minutes apart. I didn't really think anything of it because I have a lot of false labor at the end of my pregnancies. We left the doctor's office planning on being induced the next morning.

I spent the day doing regular stuff. I went to the grocery store, did laundry, cleaned, etc... The contractions stayed with me getting a little stronger as time passed. My mother in law went with me late in the afternoon to pick out a new dishwasher (hooray!) and by that time, the contractions were quite a bit stronger. Chris researched the dishwashers online so I knew which one to get when we got to ABC Warehouse. I was so uncomfortable by this time, I could have cared less what features it had or what color it was. We got the dishwasher loaded in the van and a good friend came and installed it for us. By this time, Chris came home and I pretty much installed myself on the couch with a Coke while he took care of everything. I could tell he was getting panicked with each passing contraction because he kept thinking of last minute things he needed to take care of before we went to the hospital like paying bills and vacuuming. I think both of us expected the contractions to just stop like they had in my previous labors. But they didn't...they just kept on coming stronger and stronger.

Finally, around 11:30 I had Chris go get Anna so we could head to the hospital. The contractions were 3-5 minutes apart and strong enough that I could not talk through them. I found the coolest app for my Blackberry that kept track of them for me. We arrived at the hospital at 12:30 and they checked me. I was at 4 cm and had a bulging bag of water. So i thought they would break my water. By 4cm, that's what all my other midwives/doctors did. But not this hospital. If you admit in the middle of the night and water is not broken, they let you labor through the night and break water when your doctor gets there in the morning. I guess the delicate genius needs his sleep. :)

So I got my epidural and I labored. It wasn't so bad. I went from a 4 to 9 in 4 and a half hours. By 5am I felt like pushing. I also felt like the epidural wasn't as strong as it should have been, which was upsetting. They paged the doctor and, since it was middle of the night, it was a fill-in doctor. She ended up being really great. I had her and a midwife on staff at the hospital and two great nurses. The doctor finally broke my water, which was full of meconium. Started pushing and I could tell that it was not going to be good. It reminded me a lot of Calvin's birth in which I pushed for 2 hours and thought I was going to die. I was really scared I was going to have to go through that again. Then, her head turned in a more favorable position and I pushed twice really hard and she was out!!

There is nothing in the world like the sweet relief of pushing a baby out.


She had three knots in her cord, which the doctor said was very unusual and that it was a miracle that she was healthy. They took her and checked her for meconium aspiration. She did not aspirate it. It took a while for them to give her to me. I am used to being handed the baby right away on my belly. She weighed 9lbs and was 21 inches long. I nursed her for a bit. She had dark brown hair and a perfect little round head. Her ears weren't smooshed at all. Her little face looked just like her daddy's.

Then they took her away to the nursery for bath and other checking. This was also very unusual for me. Usually, they do this right in the room where I am. She was gone for several hours and I was getting impatient. I took a shower and ate breakfast but I wanted to have my baby! Finally they brought her into my room.

She had lots of visitors the first day: Jodi, Anna and kids, Grammy, Trish, Uncle Jeff...










Funny story: Anna brought all the kids up to see us Tuesday afternoon. She had mine minus Christopher plus Lucy, so six total. When she went to leave, Chris walked out with her to help and a desk lady told him, in a snotty tone, that only siblings can visit new babies. He said these are the baby's siblings. She looked at Anna holding Lizzie and said, even the little one? Her too, he replied, they are all mine. Love how proud he is of his kids.

We got to go home on Thursday. I missed all my babies so much and was so relieved to be home with them again.

Tomorrow Genny will be two weeks old. Where did the time go? I feel such a weird mixture of happiness, sadness, exhaustion, overwhelmedness, joy and loneliness. My emotions are taking me for quite a roller coaster ride. It is hard to explain and I'm hoping that it will pass soon and leave me with just the joy and happiness.

So I have 7 kids now. 7. It seems like a lot but also not quite enough. I love my little Genny and feel so happy snuggling her and playing with her little fingers and toes. Being a new mom again is wonderful.

Happy Birthday, Sunny Son!

Today is Christopher's 10th birthday! It is amazing to me that he is already 10 years old. Seems like just yesterday I held him as a newborn. Christopher was born 10 days early and I was quite caught off guard when my water broke on the afternoon of February 7, 1998. Chris' parents were visiting us in East Lansing that day and his mom and I had spent the afternoon shopping at Meijer for what seemed like a million 6-packs of Diet Orange Crush for Chris' uncle. He couldn't get this kind of pop up in St. Ignace and we found it at Meijer and loaded it from the cart to the car and then from my car into her car. Maybe it was all that lifting and straining with the pop, but soon after we returned home, I felt a little "pop" and knew my water broke. The funny thing was that there wasn't a gush of water like in the movies, just a little trickle. I called my midwife who recommended that I go to the hospital to be checked. Chris was at work and we couldn't get in touch with him to take me so my FIL had to take me. He got a kick out of telling the hospital staff that it was his baby. I wasn't so amused.

I got checked and, yes indeed, my water had broken. I was admitted and started walking to get the labor going. This was about 5pm. Chris made it to the hospital and we spent the evening watching the opening ceremonies for the Nagano, Japan Olympics. And breathing through contractions. Finally at 11:30 I was ready to push and did so for 7 minutes and out plopped this beautiful little boy weighing 8lbs 9oz. We didn't know the gender of Christopher before this moment and I had been sure that he was going to be a girl. I was so shocked that I said, "A boy? Does he have a penis?" The midwife and nurse thought this was pretty funny and assured me that he did, in fact, have the required boy parts. He was very beautiful and sweet and I held him in my arms and felt wonderful and scared at the same time.

My Emily was the light of my life and here was this stranger, a boy to boot, that I was supposed to love too. I didn't know how I could do it. I remember calling Chris from the hospital several times during the night, crying and asking him to reassure me that I could be a good mother to two children. The next day, little Em came to visit me and the new baby at the hospital. She was 23 months old and wearing the cutest little yellow outfit. I will never forget the moment she was lifted onto the hospital bed and reached out to touch her new little brother. My heart grew that moment to have enough love for both of these little children. I had lots of visitors that day including my dad and sister and many friends. The Erekson's brought me a cake with the phrase, "He has a penis!" in frosting in honor of my question right after he was born. All the nurses wanted to have a piece of the "penis" cake. To clarify, it didn't depict a penis, just had the word on it.

I spent some very challenging weeks at home over the next bit. Emily was trying to find her place in our new family dynamic and she did this by being as naughty as possible. Christopher could never have enough to eat and I spent ALOT of time feeding him. Reading my journal from this time reminds me of the frustration that I felt. It was difficult. Christopher grew into a wonderfully sweet tempered infant. My nickname for him was the "Sunny Son" because he was so sunny. Always a smile for me. He has continued this trend to become a very wonderfully sweet tempered child. I look at him now and often think that his future wife is going to be very lucky. He is kind, considerate and always sensitive of others feelings. I love my Sunny Son. Happy Birthday, Christopher!