First Baby of the Year

On Tuesday, one of FaeryLady's moms had her baby. Our first of the year.

This lady was expecting her sixth baby. They had four boys and then a girl. She was assuming this one was a boy also. She had a history of fast labors and we weren't sure if I would make it or not.

I was in the parking lot, walking into my backup docs office when my cell rang with FaeryLady's ringtone (Morning by Grieg). She said the mom was in labor and the contractions were 5 to 10 minutes apart, and they had been going on for at least an hour. I had to drop PreacherMan off at his car, then take my eldest daughter home. It took me 40 minutes to get on the road.

I arrived at the couple's home at 5:30 pm. The mom was in her bedroom talking, laughing, joking and walking around. I was skeptical that this was really "it"! Her contractions were 2-3 minutes apart, but they would occasionally be 5-6 minutes. We ate some dinner, she got in the tub for a bit. Finally she said she was getting a headache from being hungry. It had been 7 hours since she had eaten. No wonder her contractions were petering out! A muffin, some OJ and some Emergen-C later, her contractions really picked up. Her water broke at 7:30 pm. Her husband walked out of the bathroom saying "two hours" under his breath.

She continued to walk around, sit on the toilet and get in and out of the birth tub By 9 PM she was making some pushing sounds. She had had all hospital births. At one point she looked at FaeryLady and said, "If you don't check me, how will I know it's time for me to push?" We explained that she would definitely know.

She got on the toilet then saying she had to have a BM. Well, there was some stool there, but there was also a baby's head. She moved to the birth stool and said, "Okay, it's time to push!" Three minutes later, we had a baby. She immediately began to cry, holding her baby and stunned that it was over and she had done it. Someone said, "Well, what is it?" The mom placed her hand between the baby's legs and the look on her face was just amazing. I wish someone had gotten it on camera. It was joy, disbelief, relief, amazement all rolled into one. "It's a GIRL!" She exclaimed and starting crying again. 7 pounds 9 oz. Sweetness.