The Night Bethany was Born

Hard to believe that my youngest, Bethany, is 11 today.  It only seems like yesterday that I had just finished the largest burrito on earth, only to have my water break.  Three weeks early.

My wonderful friends Cindy and Regina, jumped into action, washing baby clothes and setting up a Pack and Play bassinet.  For months, Mark slept in the crib while Bethany slept in the Bassinet side by side.

I'll never forget that night, what a comedy those two days were.  Mark, who turned 1 that year two days after Bethany was born, had to accompany me to the hospital because Bethany's dad was out of town.  So funny, walking into the ER with a baby in the stroller, to tell the nurses that my water had broken.  The looks on their faces....still cracks me up.

I then proceeded to wreak havoc on the OB ward.  First I had a whole slew of visitors, for hours into the night.  Once I had successfully sent everyone home to sleep (even Bethany's Dad), I knew I had to get out of my room or else I would go crazy.  You see, I don't use epidural's with my deliveries, therefore it takes a huge amount of concentration to keep under control--the key to dealing with pain is to relax as much as possible through the pain.  With so much visitor and nurse traffic, I was starting to panic a bit in the pain.  So, immediately after the nurse had done her rounds,  I completely unhooked all the monitors, grabbed my IV pole and snuck out, slipping around the corner when the nurse entered another mom's room.

I think started to explore the hospital to find somewhere where I could labor alone.  I found an empty room, stepped in and shut the door.  I sat on the chair in that room, working on breathing and calming the panic down.

Well, appaaarrrraaantly, a patient is not supposed to do that, so I set off a minor panic and a search party of nurses, who hunted me down and then lectured me.  I didn't hear much of the lecture, I was too busy breathing my way through rolling contractions.

 Only I would rebel sneakily in a hospital, in the midst of labor.  :)

Unfortunately the contractions were night enough, and so they added Pitocin.  Wow.  That did he trick---the contractions were so hard and fast that I was reduced to only being able to whisper, and the nurse kept having to put her ear up to my face in order to get the answers to her questions.

But oh, all of the pain was, as it always is, so worth it.  God gave me a beautiful baby, who is now growing into a beautiful young lady.

I am so proud of my girl, and the young lady she is becoming.  She has a huge heart, and is intelligent and works hard at everything she does.   I am so thankful and humbled that I'm allowed the gift of raising her, though it seems that I am often inadequate for the task.

Please God, teach me how to best parent her, and her siblings.  Like Moses in Exodus 33, I don't want to take another step forward in parenting without your help.  I can not do this alone.