An old timer birth story

O.K. it's official.......there are just too many birthdays when you have a big family.  So, from now on I'll try not to do one every time I turn around.  I'm thinking about just doing a few every year and change them up, but today since birth stories are popular on the young mother blogs, I thought I'd write a birth story.......from an old mom, cause things were VERY different in the old days.

Today is David's birthday, his 34th, which means he was born in the last half of the 70's and Lamaze was all the rage.  Please keep the word rage in mind for later.

We already had one child and I longed for another.  Lost one to miscarriage when my first, Paul, was about  4.  Kept trying and watching it seemed like every other woman in the universe announce their pregnancies and all the excitement that went along with all that.  Going to baby showers and acting happy and actually was happy for that girl, just so dreadfully sad for us.

My kids are seven years apart so it seemed like an eternity before I even started some kind of fertility treatment.......I took clomid for a year before becoming pregnant.  Every time I went into the doctor's office, I would sit among a sea of pregnant women.  They were happy, chatting about names and baby showers and such.  I was usually buried in a book, not really reading just trying to hide the tears that just would not stop.

For years, every time I was mad at David, my mother would smile and say.......you took fertility drugs to get him!  

Finally, I was pregnant.  Wow...I had decided it wasn't going to happen, but at long last I was actually pregnant.  I think I started wearing maternity clothes when I was two weeks pregnant, that's how exciting it was.  I felt pretty good, never having had morning sickness with my first child I didn't have it this time either. I was however, very tired.

As the last trimester was coming to an end, the doctor told me to go home and stay in bed for the weekend and meet him at the hospital Monday morning to be induced because my blood pressure was becoming dangerously high and I had a history of severe pre eclampsia with my first child.  I was not a happy mama. I wanted to do this all the natural way.  It was my mother earth phase and it didn't last long.

We spent the weekend with my parents so I could stay in bed and Monday morning we headed off to the hospital.  I got all hooked up to the pitocin drip and about that time another woman came in 8 centimeters dilated so I was left to my own devices while they went to deliver a baby.  I immediately had a contraction that lasted and lasted and lasted, didn't hurt but my stomach was tight and I knew it was a contraction.  I had taken lamaze you remember!

By the time the nurse finally returned, she announced excitedly why you're already contracting!
We explained that I had been contracting since they first hooked up the pitocin drip and she said way too calmly well, lets just turn this off for a little while.  I thought nothing of it at the time, except that the doctor came in and took a look at me and said all was well and they started the drip again.

After a long and painful day of totally unnatural goings on, they came to take me to delivery at 2 p.m  A nurse leaned over and said do you think you want a spinal?  To which I hysterically replied How much longer can this go on?????  Another nurse, said honey, don't do it.....so I didn't and thankfully David was born at 2:08 p.m.

Remember what the doctor told me in the beginning of all this that labor was like pressure?????  Well I was sure in a rage about this time since I thought I was probably going to die and I knew it was a very painful death!  About the time he walked in to catch deliver David, I reached over and grabbed his arm and squeezed......I said This is pressure, what I'm having is NOT pressure, it's agony.  He just smiled, looked at my husband and stated .......you know men couldn't do this.  I'm thinking men wouldn't do this.

But in just a few minutes, when they held David up for me to see, it was all forgotten and I was crying tears of joy.

My 7 lb. 3 3/4 oz. boy was in the world.  If he had weighed that extra 1/4 oz. he may not have ever come out!  :)  Now, a few hours after birth, he began having seizures and so we had lots of tests which ended up stating "birth trauma"....but you know what I'm thinking don't you?  That way too long contraction with that baby's head pushing down on those bones?  Yea, that's my theory.  The seizures gradually went away and all was well until he started school. 


Oh, one thing he hates for me to leave out is that nursing was a breeze for him.  So much so that he nursed for 2 years and 3 months.  Did I mention I was in my mother earth phase?

So here are a few pictures of him through the years.....I actually tried to upload a lot more pictures, but for some reason I couldn't!  Blah.

It was a lot of work finding pictures to scan in for this blog and yes, there is a story to that too.  When Russell and I got married, we had boxes and boxes of pictures.  I started sorting them to put in albums, but it just got to be too much, so I just stuck pictures in the albums helter skelter.  As a result nothing is in any kind of order.  I had to pull all the albums down the shelves needed dusting anyhow to find some pictures for this post.  Oh, dear!!

And now I have to put them all back again!


This was after my six week check up and I thought I was skinny again.  I couldn't breathe in that skirt!

Big brother taking a turn rocking his new little baby

Poor daddy, his eyes were half closed, but look at David's expression.  He looks scared of his grandpa!

I think this was David's 5th birthday......maybe the only one he had someplace other than home or grandparent's pool.  He had a wonderful time at this party.  He's sitting here with his cousin Kim, who sadly died several years ago.

David the adventurer

David at Petticoat Junction

At a cousin's party.......obviously more extravagant than our parties

I'm thinking this may have been birthday #16

 Couldn't keep his fingers out of the icing!

More birthday celebrations in no particular order

Brothers

This year he has a new wife and daughter to celebrate with!

Happy Birthday David.  We all love you!  But especially mama!