6 years ago today (10:09pm) I gave birth to my 2nd (and last) child. She was a beautiful ,albeit, tiny baby girl. Tipping the scales at a "whopping" 3lbs 11oz and measuring all of 15 inches.

At my last checkup she was noticed to be a tiny baby, even though throughout the whole pregnancy she was always a bit larger for her gestational age and that the amniotic fluid was low. I was put on modified bed rest and was told that if she hadn't grown, the fluid was still low, or a couple of other things that I would be scheduled for a C-section on 12/28 (my oldest daughters birthday). Well, she decided to come 12/23.

I woke up with a burst of energy, totally forgetting/ignoring the "stay off your feet, relax, etc rules I was given. I was a cleaning fool! You'd think that would have been a clue to me that maybe...just maybe I was close to starting labor. it wasn't. Since my first daughter was 2 mths premature I never went through those tell-tale stages a soon to be laboring mom goes through. I had a stomach ache all day but it wasn't anything that got my attention. After a few hrs, it was my 8 yr old daughter who said, hey Ma, you seem to stop what you are doing, saying you have a belly ache every few minutes!! Ahhh you think MAYBE you're in labor?! I laughed her off. I decided to run a nice relaxing bath..my "stomach ache" seemed to be getting worse. Thought maybe I had to use the bathroom (yeah, I know..how DUMB was I heehee). Tried to use the bathroom..nothing. But I did notice what I now was the mucous plug. Still in denial..I have things to do..Christmas was in 2 days! Around 9 pm my daughter, who had been timing these belly ache cramps, walked over, dialed the docs phone number and handed me the phone, stating YOU ARE in LABOR! Doc called back, commenting that he didn't think it was true labor and contractions since I was talking throught them and quite calm. (I have a HIGH pain tolerance and delivered my other daughter naturally..no drugs whatsoever.) but for me to go to the hospital to have them evaulated.

While waiting for my Mom to come over to watch the older daughter, the contractions got my attention. I was now very irritable, snippy and in some pain. Finally my Mom showed up (nasty icy night) We made the drive to the hospital, and i was jokingly thinking to myself, I'm going to have this baby on the side of the road. I got to the hospital, and was checked in, the L&D nurses thought after looking at me as I was talking through the intense contractions, joking with them etc that it was probably false labor. I was the only one on the floor that night possibly in labor. They had a couple of babies born the night before and 2 or 3 that day..but they were very quiet when I came in. Then all hell broke loose..LOL

I was in a johnny coat, in my bed at 9:45pm 6 or 7cm dilated. At 9:50pm nurse noticed my BP was going up and put me on my side. At 10:00 my water broke, i was now almost 10cm, the nurse told me NOT to push (mec stained). And at 10:09pm my beautiful daughter was born. Very quickly, very easily..thank Heaven!

Were you one of my nurses at St Vincents in Connecticut that night? It all went so quickly I never even got the names but I want to thank you if you were. All the ladies there were superb to me. Very attentive, very caring and ohhh so sweet to me. You all commented that you didn't even get a chance to do 1/2 the things you do before a baby is born. That my girl wanted out and she wanted out now. Yes, she was tiny, but she was perfectly healthy. No O2 needed, no interventions etc. Thankfully she didn't take in any of the mec. She stayed a few days at the hospitals Special Care Unit and did great.

To all the L&D, PP nurses in all the hospitals...hats off to you. You are my idols..seriously. Keep on doing that wonderful job you are. And if you have to work the next few days during the Holiday, you might not be with your families but you are there to witness and become part of another one starting. Years down the road your family not remember that in the year 2000whatever you were working and not home but I can pretty much guarentee you that the family you are the nurse for will remember forever that you were working that night when their precious new baby was born.

Merry Christmas to all of you and again..thank you.

Your post brought tears to my eyes. Thank you so much.

No, I wasn't there, but I would have been honored to have been. There is no greater privilege in my mind, than the trust that parents-to-be place in us in assisting them in childbirth.

Thank you for a lovely post!

Merry Christmas, and Happy Birthday to your girls!

this was such a very sweet post! thank you for sharing your story.

and although i wasnt one of your nurses at st. v's, i was born there 20-something years ago.... always nice to meet someone else from my hometown!!

happy birthday to your daughters and happy holidays!! :)

hmmm is that very bright, assertive, older daughter thinking of making ob a goal?....either nurse of doc?

hmmm is that very bright, assertive, older daughter thinking of making ob a goal?....either nurse of doc?

The older daughter was a Discovery Channel and TLC channel junkie when I was pregnant. I found her watching hours and hours of A Baby's Story when they had a 24 hour marathon. I think she knew more at that age about the birthing process than most grown adults do.

That child was so very terrified that her new baby brother or sister would be premature like she was. But she was scared that since although she was premature, she escaped all the problems that can and normally do happen, that her brother/sister might be born premature and have the problems she didn't.

Anyway, funny you should post this question. She honestly turned to me yesterday and said "I know you;ll say I won't be able to handle it, but I want to be a baby nurse like you are going to be one day" its my dream to be L&D and then onto NICU. I said what kind of baby nurse do you mean..a baby nurse like I want to be, one that takes care of the very sick and/or very small babies. Or a baby nurse that takes care of the baby that is born with everything ok. She instantly said, "Oh, No, Momma, I could never be a sick baby nurse, I'd cry if one was really sick and died..I want to be with the Moms when the babies are born and take care of the moms and babys when they don't have to be in the NICU like I was or in Special care like my sister was"

She keeps mentioning the medical profession. And she's finally taking a liking to A&P (she's taking college level bio and A&P in high school). Maybe she will end up in nursing.

The little one who turned 6 today..I honestly believe will be a doctor. she's had a facination with it since she was itty bitty. she'd much rather read my Medical/Surgical text book than anything else. Not only does she read it (she's a very advanced reader..she's at the 4th grade level and she's only in 1st grade) but she actually retains the info and understands it on a basic level. That kid had the pathway of the blood through the heart before I did..

This is a wonderful post...thank you so much! I have worked many holidays and weekends and nightshifts when I really wanted to be with my family. But it was always thanks enough when someone would give me a hug or ask me to hold the baby for a picture or sign the babybook so that they would always remember me.

Like you, I have someone wanting to follow me into OB nursing. I was never able to have children but I formed a very close bond with my first great niece. From the age of 4 or 5 she told me she wanted to be a nurse "where the babies are born" just like me. She graduates from high school next year and this is still her chosen career path.

:balloons:

I have such a smile on my face reading your post...15 years ago TODAY, 12/23, I was giving birth to my son! I also had a super-fast delivery and a great memory of the experience...since we're doing this, here's a shout-out ot the L&D nurses at St. Joseph's in Burbank, CA!

Happy Birthday to your daughter from another Christmas mom & baby!