I still vividly remember the day of my daughter's birth. I had attended childbirth classes and thought I was so prepared. Only thing was...I didn't pay attention when they talked about c-sections, because I had planned on "natural" childbirth. Little did I know, or even imagine, that I would end up having a c-section. Without going into details that would bore you, it basically happened because I was young and naive and trusted a doctor who did not have my best interests at heart. For years I struggled with feelings of inadequacy as a woman who could not birth my own child. It took years for me to realize that I'm an imperfect woman, living in an imperfect world, so there can be no perfect birth. I took comfort in the fact that the nurses told me it was better for the baby to go through some labor even if they were born by c-section. (I had gone through about 12 hours of labor). I was given a beautiful gift from Jehovah...does it really matter how she got here? Needless to say, during the whole time my beautiful daughter has been pregnant, I've thought about my own experience and hoped that her experience would be so much better.
So...on the afternoon of March 30th, Joel and Brittany came in the back door and announced that she had been having contractions. They had walked up to our house, Joel with clipboard in hand, notating each contraction. They stayed a few minutes and then decided to walk back home. They wanted to gather things together in case it was time to leave for the hospital. We also sprang into action, brushing our teeth and changing our clothes to be ready, just in case. In just a few minutes, we got the call to come and pick them up. Overall, I believe that we were all very calm and played our parts perfectly.
Once at the hospital, we began what seemed like a long wait, but in actuality, for a first birth, it wasn't long at all. We had so much family at the hospital that almost the entire labor & delivery waiting room was full. In the beginning, everyone was pretty lively, chatting and texting people and the children practicing jumping rope, but without a rope. At one point, Joel told us that they were predicting it would be another 5 hours before Ronan would be born. Everyone in the waiting room was getting tired...some were dozing, some were reading, some were watching TV...I knew I had to do something to stay awake. I decided to go out to the car and get the laptop, figuring that I could email a few people and kill time playing Scrabble. No sooner than I had set up the laptop in the lobby, I got a call from Joel saying that Brittany would begin pushing in about 30 minutes! Knowing that I was to be in the delivery room with her, I quickly put up the laptop and headed back upstairs. I will not go into details of Brittany's labor. She may or may not want to share that with everyone at some point in time, but I will say that both she and Joel were very calm, and I was proud of the way they handled everything. And, there are no words to describe the feeling of watching your grandson being born! Despite the fact that it was just past 3 a.m., we were all wide awake! We started taking pictures and sending them out to the ones still in the waiting room. I thought that he was the prettiest baby ever, next to my own two, of course. The funniest thing was the way Austin, Sierra and Cheyenne reacted. They had been allowed to stay up all night so that they would be there when Ronan arrived. When I opened the doors to go back out to the waiting room, they were all three sitting in a semi-circle on the floor in the hall and they jumped up, ready to go in to see Ronan. It may not have been that funny in reality, but to me it was so funny at the time. We stayed at the hospital until the new family had gotten settled into their room, and then headed home to catch a few hours sleep. Thus ended our long wait to see our new grandson, and began a new chapter in our lives. I can't believe that Eric and I are now grandparents. Oh, and I decided to be called "Grandma." LOL Yeah, I know...it's not very creative...and probably sounds like an older lady, but hey, I AM a grandmother now.
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| The new family! |
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| Proud Grandparents! |
And, at this time, I feel that I should acknowledge Austin. Throughout Brittany's pregnancy, when she was so sick, he did everything he could to be helpful. Many times, he pushed her in a wheelchair in Wal-Mart so that she would be able to buy her own groceries. I was so proud of him for being such a good brother, and I know that he will be a good uncle to Ronan.
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| Uncle Austin & Ronan! |
