Last week my oldest daughter, Kate, turned 9 years old. I can hardly believe it. She's such a beautiful girl. She has these gorgeous blue eyes and cute round face and perfect lips (she didn't get those from my side of the family). ;) She has been in charge from the beginning. I was pregnant with her 3 months after Brandon was born. Can we say, "Surprise!" She was ready for this earth life, I guess, and wasn't going to wait any longer.
She didn't want us to know she was a girl until she was born. I think we had 2 ultrasounds while I was pregnant and they couldn't tell us for sure boy or girl, so we assumed she was a boy since we already had one and figured this would be another. He was going to be named Tyler Benjamin. One week before her due date I woke up early in the morning feeling some back pain (around 6 am). I sent Ben off to work not thinking much of the pain since with Brandon I was in labor for 27 hours. This one wouldn't be any different, I figured.
A couple hours later my sweet mother-in-law called me to check in as they were going on a day trip to the other side of Michigan to see Ben's ailing grandmother. I told her I wasn't feeling very well and she suggested I call Ben and tell him and then to call the hospital and see what they thought. I called Ben and told him, but again, we weren't in any hurry since we'd been sent home from the hospital twice while in labor with Brandon. We had a long day ahead of us. This was at about 9:30 am. The contractions were not regular, but I was very uncomfortable and in quite a bit of pain. The nurse at the hospital suggested I take a hot shower to ease the back pain and call back in an hour. Ben arrived home about 10 am and we called his brother, Andy, to come and stay with Brandon so we could head to the hospital. The pain was not letting up and it got worse when I was in the shower, so off to the hospital we were ready to go. Andy arrived about 11 am and he and Ben were "chatting" on the sidewalk by the car as I was writhing in pain in the front seat. I finally yelled to him that we better get going or I wasn't going to make it to the hospital. We lived on the outskirts of Ann Arbor and had to get to the U of M, downtown.
It was like a scene from a movie, as I remember. Ben was weaving in and out of traffic, impatiently waiting at red lights, and honking his horn at everyone in his way. I had the seat back and trying not to push as my body was involuntarily doing. Ben kept telling me NOT to push and I kept telling him I'm NOT pushing, the baby is!!! I did not think I was going to make it. He called the hospital on the way to tell them to have a wheelchair ready at the door to help us upstairs to the labor rooms. I was in horrible pain as we got there. The finally realized this and let us through to a room without all the registering and paperwork. We got into the room and they had me change into a gown. In the process my water broke. They got me onto the bed and checked me. The nurse said, "You're 9 1/5 cm!" They rushed me into a delivery room. My dr. was not able to rush up in time (her office was in the building next door or something like that) and there was a midwife on call. She was amazing. There wasn't time for an IV or any kind of medication so this was a completely med-free natural birth. She was able to slow everything down so it wasn't too crazy and 20 minutes after we arrived at the hospital we heard the news, "It's a GIRL!" I could not believe it! Really, a girl? I was so excited!
She had the most perfect little round head (poor Brandon had the worst conehead I've ever seen) since she was born so quickly and a bunch of dark hair. She was so precious. She weighed in at 6 lbs 14 oz and seemed sooo tiny. We made a bunch of calls to very surprised family members and that was a lot of fun. I felt so good, too, after having such a quick labor! I felt like I could have gone home that afternoon. They did keep us overnight and we took our sweet girl home the following morning. Now I had 2 babies at home! Brandon was exactly 11 months old when Kate was born. I have to say, I don't remember much about those next couple of years when it comes to the day to day happenings. I was busy with babies!
Now she is 9, going on 15, at least. She's quite a character. She loves to draw and color and write stories. She's a dancer and singer and plays the piano. She is a great speller and a very creative kid! She loves to play with her friends. Kate loves animals and wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up and a mom. She also loves to talk! She'll talk to anyone and everyone. This is not such a good thing in the middle of class at school. :) She's working on it, though. Another love of hers is shoes! She spent all her Christmas money on new pairs of shoes, I spent mine on books. LOL! She's a sweet, sweet girl (when she wants to be) and we love her very much!
She didn't want us to know she was a girl until she was born. I think we had 2 ultrasounds while I was pregnant and they couldn't tell us for sure boy or girl, so we assumed she was a boy since we already had one and figured this would be another. He was going to be named Tyler Benjamin. One week before her due date I woke up early in the morning feeling some back pain (around 6 am). I sent Ben off to work not thinking much of the pain since with Brandon I was in labor for 27 hours. This one wouldn't be any different, I figured.
A couple hours later my sweet mother-in-law called me to check in as they were going on a day trip to the other side of Michigan to see Ben's ailing grandmother. I told her I wasn't feeling very well and she suggested I call Ben and tell him and then to call the hospital and see what they thought. I called Ben and told him, but again, we weren't in any hurry since we'd been sent home from the hospital twice while in labor with Brandon. We had a long day ahead of us. This was at about 9:30 am. The contractions were not regular, but I was very uncomfortable and in quite a bit of pain. The nurse at the hospital suggested I take a hot shower to ease the back pain and call back in an hour. Ben arrived home about 10 am and we called his brother, Andy, to come and stay with Brandon so we could head to the hospital. The pain was not letting up and it got worse when I was in the shower, so off to the hospital we were ready to go. Andy arrived about 11 am and he and Ben were "chatting" on the sidewalk by the car as I was writhing in pain in the front seat. I finally yelled to him that we better get going or I wasn't going to make it to the hospital. We lived on the outskirts of Ann Arbor and had to get to the U of M, downtown.
It was like a scene from a movie, as I remember. Ben was weaving in and out of traffic, impatiently waiting at red lights, and honking his horn at everyone in his way. I had the seat back and trying not to push as my body was involuntarily doing. Ben kept telling me NOT to push and I kept telling him I'm NOT pushing, the baby is!!! I did not think I was going to make it. He called the hospital on the way to tell them to have a wheelchair ready at the door to help us upstairs to the labor rooms. I was in horrible pain as we got there. The finally realized this and let us through to a room without all the registering and paperwork. We got into the room and they had me change into a gown. In the process my water broke. They got me onto the bed and checked me. The nurse said, "You're 9 1/5 cm!" They rushed me into a delivery room. My dr. was not able to rush up in time (her office was in the building next door or something like that) and there was a midwife on call. She was amazing. There wasn't time for an IV or any kind of medication so this was a completely med-free natural birth. She was able to slow everything down so it wasn't too crazy and 20 minutes after we arrived at the hospital we heard the news, "It's a GIRL!" I could not believe it! Really, a girl? I was so excited!
She had the most perfect little round head (poor Brandon had the worst conehead I've ever seen) since she was born so quickly and a bunch of dark hair. She was so precious. She weighed in at 6 lbs 14 oz and seemed sooo tiny. We made a bunch of calls to very surprised family members and that was a lot of fun. I felt so good, too, after having such a quick labor! I felt like I could have gone home that afternoon. They did keep us overnight and we took our sweet girl home the following morning. Now I had 2 babies at home! Brandon was exactly 11 months old when Kate was born. I have to say, I don't remember much about those next couple of years when it comes to the day to day happenings. I was busy with babies!
Now she is 9, going on 15, at least. She's quite a character. She loves to draw and color and write stories. She's a dancer and singer and plays the piano. She is a great speller and a very creative kid! She loves to play with her friends. Kate loves animals and wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up and a mom. She also loves to talk! She'll talk to anyone and everyone. This is not such a good thing in the middle of class at school. :) She's working on it, though. Another love of hers is shoes! She spent all her Christmas money on new pairs of shoes, I spent mine on books. LOL! She's a sweet, sweet girl (when she wants to be) and we love her very much!
