Sunday, July 5, 2009

Ginger Baby Is 10!


Another birth story.

Ten years ago today I woke up around 5am with pretty consistent contractions. Like all my babies, this one was over due by at least a week, maybe more, but unlike the others, I hadn't had days of on and off contractions. Somehow though, I knew that this was it. I woke Doug up and he helped me get our room ready, changing the sheets, getting out the baby things etc. He also got the kids up and called our awesome friends Kristin and Jason who came and whisked the other three kids away for the day (by that time we had adopted our nephew and so all of a sudden we were going to have four kids!).

And after awhile we called our midwife, who came up about mid morning. It was a beautiful hot and sunny day (nearly all summer days in Utah are hot and sunny) and after walking around as much as I could, I finally laid down on my side and enjoyed our peaceful, light filled bedroom. Doug and the midwife sat on the bed with me and between contractions we laughed and chatted. It was so wonderful, relaxed and peaceful. Finally just after 1pm, my breathing changed and even though I had noticed it too, I remember still feeling surprised when our midwife told Doug that I would soon be pushing! Oddly I was surprised that the baby was actually going to be coming out!

By this time my uterus and cervix knew exactly what to do, and so this little baby just easily came right out after about ten minutes of pushing. Even though we had chosen not to have an ultrasound during the pregnancy, I knew this one was a girl too (my instincts were right with all my babies) and sure enough I was right. The other thing I knew within moments of holding my baby was that she was the last baby we would have! It would not have been unusual for us to have another baby, or three, hehe, we were living in Utah after all! But when I looked at this baby I knew she would always be youngest in our family. It was a most interesting feeling and I still recall it to this day.

Of course some of that may have been due to the horrible hemorrhoids I had in the last few days of this pregnancy! The pain of all that even almost had me questioning my firm intent to not induce labor!!!

Anyway, we had a few names on our list for this baby. Annie, Rosie, Ramona (my favorite) but within a few minutes of looking at her, I told Doug, this is Ginger and he agreed. Our son had mentioned the name a few months earlier because he knew a girl in school named Ginger, but we didn't really think about it again until we saw her.

Ginger was in perfect health, but within an hour or so, she started humming. It was the cutest thing, but our midwife was a bit concerned and kept checking her stats and breathing. She even gave us some advice about how to handle the situation at the hospital if we had to take her in (the local hospital wasn't too happy about home births and most of the doctors wouldn't talk to the midwife), but since Ginger seemed totally perfect otherwise, she finally decided we didn't need to take her in. We all surmised that the humming was just Ginger's way of settling into her new life outside of me and we sat back and enjoyed it. She hummed for well over a day, even while she was nursing and sleeping, and eventually it tapered off. I missed it a little bit when it ended, because it really was so sweet!

Around dinnertime Kristin and Jason came back with the kids and the first thing Sophie (she was two at the time) said when she came in was "give me my baby" and she got right up on the bed and held her little sister. I still get teary eyed when I remember that. Of course eventually she bit Ginger's fingers a few times, poked her eyes and now they fight and yell and pull each other's hair fairly often but when not doing all that they are very close. heh.

The other thing that the kids talked about for years after the day Ginger was born, was how they spent a good portion of the day cleaning out our car with Kristin and Jason. I was horrified to learn they had done this because man, that car was so filthy!!! But I can't deny that it sure was wonderful to get into a sparkling clean car with my new baby. And every time we cleaned the car after that the kids talked about how much stuff they found under the seats on the day Ginger was born.

And of course Ginger has grown up to be quite the character. She keeps us all hopping with her bubbly energy and enthusiasm for everything. She has had a few close close calls too, including the time she fell out a second floor window when she was two (she broke her wrist and had a skull fracture) and of course now her Type 1 Diabetes keeps us on our toes too.

Oh and the other thing I loved about Ginger's birth was how I just woke up one day, had some labor, gave birth to a baby and went to sleep that night at my usual bedtime. The others were practically all nighters and I was always so tired from being awake for so long which was way worse than giving birth!

9 comments:

Janelle Goodwin said...

Happy Birthday, Ginger! That's the cutest birth story I've ever heard, especially the part about the humming!

Melody said...

Beautiful memory........

Jason and Kristin said...

It gives me chills reading it! I LOVED that day. Thanks for letting us be a small part of it. And for the record we were just trying to entertain the kids with the car cleaning :). The longer we've been married the more I'm learning about Jason and his need for our cars to be clean. I don't seem to have the same need. Happy Birthday Ginger!

Takeyce Walter said...

Aww, so sweet! Thanks for sharing. You make this labor business sounds so easy! I hope it will be like that this time for me too.

Shanster said...

Awww - how cute is she? Happy birthday!

Tracy Helgeson said...

Thanks Janelle, yeah, we liked the humming, it was so cute ;)

Thanks Melody, glad I have finally written it all down!

Kristin, I totally understand about keeping the kids busy and how cleaning the car does that! I was just embarrassed, because, wow, was it ever filthy! I don't usually let my car get that bad, but like you guys, Doug DOES keep his car cleaner than mine. At least he doesn't expect me to keep it that way for him ;) Love that you two were a part of all that!

Takeyce, I hope it is for you too! I can't recommend The Bradley Method enough! That's how I got through all the births with relative calm ;)

Thanks Shanster, she IS a cutie! (and she knows it too)

Deborah Paris said...

Happy Birthday Ginger! And thanks for sharing such a lovely birth Story.

Natalya Khorover Aikens said...

cool story! thanks! happy bday!

midwifetomine said...

Hi Tracy !
So nice to connect again,
Happy belated Birthday to Ginger..
you will have to update me on your life, and your kiddles !This Chris Miller by the way.... I found your blog by accident and had to create one of my own to connect to yours. of course as computer illiterate as I am , my blog won't win awards...I love your work !! I am so impressed!