10 years and 1 week ago... Hannah

I woke up on Sat. morning, Dec. 5th, and tried a little natural induction... Then I started to feel what I thought were more of those annoying braxton hicks contractions! (8:30 a.m.) Bill joked and said, "Don't even try to tell me you are in labor! It's day time, you only do this in the middle of the night and wake me up."

My friend Tandy had come from Maryland the day after Thanksgiving, and we were tired of just hanging around at the house, waiting for a baby to come. I decided I'd had enough! I told Bill Tandy and I were going to town (30 miles or so away), and we were going shopping!!! So I got in the shower to get ready for the day.

I had several more contractions, and Bill asked me if he should call for the midwife. I just wasn't sure, and didn't want them coming clear out to my house (about a 40-50 minute drive), for nothing. He went ahead and made the call to the answering service just to let them know, and as it turned out, it was a good thing he did. They couldn't contact my midwife Katia, at first. Finally after he called back they were able to get a hold of the aprentice MW, Heather, and she got on her way.

As I put on my make up and did my hair, I was having more and more contractions (ctx's), and it was more and more difficult to ignore them. I had started labor with my water breaking with each of my first three babies, so this was new and different for me. I wasn't entirely sure it was the real thing, and yet the ctx's were comming pretty fast and strong.

We started to get things ready, changing the bedding - putting a plastic sheet on the bed... Of course my little one (2 1/2 yrs old at the time) didn't want to be all that helpful, and decided to plop herself down and sit right in the middle of my bed - while we were trying to get the bed made up!!! Other than that, she only wanted daddy, and I decided that I was going to need his help, and that wasn't really going to work. The midwives, had asked that if the kids were going to be at the birth, that we would have an adult come help with them.

I had a whole list of friends I could call on to help out. It was sat. morning the first week of December, and people were busy... one friend, (Diane S.) couldn't come over because her husband had gone to the on post Army/Navy football game (we lived on a small Army post that had more Navy personel that lived on it than Army, so we had lots of friends from both services). There was quite a rivalry... Anyway, she couldn't COME to my house to help, since she had two or three of her own kids home at the time. Another friend had a horse, and it was about to have a baby as well, and so she was up early and out at the stables checking on her horse. Another friend (Marci F.)who had a kindergartener friend of Amanda - had just adopted two children (a 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 yr old brother and sister), in October, she had her mother out to visit them (the first time she got to meet her new gand children), and so she and her husband were going Christmas shopping while they had a chance, with free babysitting... :-) I couldn't blame her for that!

Yes, I had Tandy at my house, but I didn't want her to have to deal with the kids, if someone needed something - for example - if one of them got scared, or something and needed to go out of the room. I had Tandy come clear to NM to be with *me*!!! Not leave me to deal with the kids...

Finally, after dealing with my little sweetheart, I had an idea! I called my friend Diane back, and said, you can't come here to help with my kids, but... could you come GET my little one, and take her home to your house (around the corner) to play with your little one??? Brilliant solution! She came right over and got her and I could then get on with the business at hand, of having a baby!

Heather the aprentice MW showed up. She checked me and all was going well. I moved around a lot during the contractions, it was definitely an active birth. In between ctx's I would move and try different positions. I tried sitting on the birth ball, hands and knees on the bed, etc. What felt best for this birth was to lean forward. I would lean over and put my hands on my knees (thighs) in a kind of semi squat position during the contractions. I had a lot of cramping in my lower back and so a friend would apply counter preassure on my lower back during the ctx's. Even my sweet girls (Rebekah was 7 and Amanda was 5 at the time) would help rub mommy's back and put counter pressure during part of the labor.

At some point, my friend Marci showed up. She said, she jsut thought, I can go shopping any time... but how often am I going to get to be at a birth!?!, so she came on over.

As I continued on, my arms would get tired and my writsts sore, from holding myself up, so Tandy helped to hold my weight up so I could continue on with the ctx. My other friend Marci (who had thought about going to massage therapy school), would massage my arms, legs and feet in between the ctx's. That was WONDERFUL! It really helped to relieve the stress and tension in my body as I labored. My water broke and I continued on. The ctx's were very intense and fast!

My midwife Katia, arrived and was SOOOOO glad to have made it in time, from over an hour away! Katia jokingly thanked me for 'waiting for her'... like I had a choice, one way or the other! LOL! Something else sort of funny was that Katia and Heather had only ever been to my house one time before. It was not a very large post, ad not that much housing, but if you don't know where you are going really, it can be a bit harder to find your way around... Well, because it was the Army/Navy football game weekend, the Army had pulled some pranks on some of the Navy things like the huge anchor, in front of the main Navy Building on post. Well, the Navy guys had done their own pranks for the day. All of the street names, at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, are named after various Army Depot's or Army Missile Systems. However on this day, (I wish we'd thought to have someone go out and take pictures!!!), all the street sign posts had been covered over with signs that had Navy names, like names of Battleships, USS Nimitz, etc... That made the directions a little bit harder to navigate, with, and a bit harder to find their way, when Heather and Katia came to our birth.

We continued to labor, and as I felt the urge to push, I began to push along with the ctx's. My Midwives were mostly in the background, (Katia was actually a bit surprised that I didn't just want them to stay in the other room completely, since we had done an unassisted home birth with Sariah) while my friends, family and I managed the labor in whatever ways were the most helpful to me. As we got closer, Katia instructed my dear Husband, Bill, how and what to do exactly. Finally I decided to get back up on the bed, and I leaned back on Tandy while I pushed. When the head was delivered, Bill, 'caught' her, and Rebekah (almost 8), got to help catch the rest of the baby. Amanda (almost 6) got to announce what our new baby was (I had not had an ultrasound). Another Girl! Hannah Maree!

It was a very exciting and wonderful experience. We called my friend/neighbor, and had her bring Sariah back home to meet her new baby sister, very soon after the birth. (as a matter of fact - she didn't really realize till just a few years ago, she hadn't actually been there!)

After the birth, Hannah was placed on my belly, and then I got to hold her. Rebekah got to cut the cord. (Dad did the final cut later to shorten the cord). The midwives tended to me and made sure all was well, then they left us alone (and went out into the other room), to let us bond as a family for a little while. It was really nice. They came in later and actually asked when they could do her newborn exam. I told them now was just fine, and they did the exam right there on the bed with her laying next to me.

We had some snacks, and drank a toast (non-alcoholic bubbly stuff) to celebrate the occasion.

Hannah Maree Robertson was born at 11:39 a.m. on 5 December 1998. She weighed 6 lbs 12 oz. and was 18 3/4 in long.

That evening we had a 'Birth' Day cake and the girls sang Happy Birthday to Hannah. It was cute. (In the Birth Story I wrote at the time of Hannah's birth, I wrote "Sariah, still sings Happy Birthday to 'Pannah' daily. It's her favorite song to sing to her new little sister." I thought that was interesting, that Hannah has become Nannah and Amanda is 'Pannah' now... too funny!)

I wrote all of this to say... Hannah, I LOVE you!!! and I hope you did in fact have a very good and Happy 10th Birthday!!!!! (and even if it is belated... birthday wishes from me, your mom! I love you).