You are 6 Today

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANTHONY!

It is hard to believe that 6 years ago today I was sitting on my couch when the labor pains hit me. They were not close together, but they were extremely painful. This was my third pregnancy and I hadn't felt labor pains this strong so early in the process. I was home alone with Lee (6) and Champ (5). I live 20 min. away from the hospital on back roads (very curvy, winding and steep).

I had the phone right next to me and I couldn't pick it up and dial it because the pains were so strong. I asked Lee, in the calmest voice I could muster, to call his dad at work. I told him the number and told him to ask to speak to Frank please (explaining that there were other 'dads' that worked there). I guess his 6 year old instincts knew something was up because when the secretary answered the phone Lee excitedly said, "I need my daddy!!!!! I need my daddy!!!!!"

The secretary asked to talk to me. With her voice quivering, she said, "Jena. He's gone to lunch and I don't know where he went. What should I do?"

I told her the pains weren't that close together, but I did need him to call me as soon as he got back from lunch. Frank told me later that several of his co-workers met him in the parking lot before he even got out of his vehicle.

Background information: We have a small farm and Frank gets the boys actively involved in it with him. He had been teaching Lee to drive the lawnmower (with out the blades engaged) in low gear (Frank walking beside it). Lee was learning to steer and brake and basic things like that. Frank had a small trailer hooked behind the riding lawn mower and had fencing supplies in it. Frank would ask Lee to pull up a little (Frank walking right beside him) and stop so he could repair the fence. They had been doing this for a few weekends.

When I got off the phone, Lee asked if daddy was coming. I told him not right now. He began to get worried. He said, "Mommy, I can take you to the hospital. I know how to drive the lawnmower, you can ride in the trailer." It was precious. There is so much humor there and unless you knew where we lived, you cannot appreciate that statement to its fullest. But I think you can appreciate the sweetness of it.

Side note: My first labor was very long, we induced my 2nd child b/c the Dr. was going out of town, and I didn't experience a lot of pain until I was getting close to delivery so we had discussed me driving myself to the hospital and Frank meeting me there.

Frank called (it seemed like forever, but was less than an hour after I had called his work) and said, "Do I need to meet you at the hospital?"

I told him there was no way I could drive and that he needed to come get me as quickly as possible. (His work is about 20 min. away from our home and then there would be another 20 minutes to the hospital and then somewhere along the way we were going to have to drop off Lee and Champ to stay with someone - I needed him to hurry!)

Well, we made it and I could barely walk into the hospital. (You know those movies where the pregnant women scream when they are delivering their baby? I never got that, until now. When a labor pain hit me, I couldn't do anything, literally. Every time a labor pain hit me as I was walking into the hospital, I had to stop and Frank would have to help hold me up. I felt like screaming - I had never felt like that before).

They took me in and hooked me up and did all the routine hospital stuff and left me there with Frank. They would come in occasionally and check on me. I was in tears and asked about an epidural. The nurse said it wasn't time yet. After the nurse telling me to relax and me getting short with her, she finally said "Honey, your contractions aren't close enough together. You've probably not even dialated yet." She paused and then said, "I guess I could check you."

She did and then she looked surprised. I was dilated to 6 or 7 (can't remember exactly). The nurse said, "You're contractions must be very strong, because they are not close enough together to make you dilate." I'm thinking this whole time "That's what I've been trying to tell you." She immediately ordered my epidural, but of course the anesthesiologist was busy with someone else. She paged him several times over the next few minutes. She didn't leave me after she checked me until he arrived.

A short time later we had our beautiful bundle of joy. I am so thankful that God gave me this child (along with my other 3). Motherhood is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I am so blessed.

Blessings

My mother was a great mom and an even better grandmother. She took the kids (quite often) because she wanted to spend time with them and as an added bonus it would give me just a little "me" time (to clean, run errands, craft, rest, etc.). She was my sanity saver (among other things).

A week to the day after my mother's funeral, I found out that I was expecting my 3rd child. It was wonderful and sad at the same time (the new one on the way helped me cope with my grief, but he/she would never know his/her grandmother).

It was very difficult, I had no one to help me (Frank did what he could, but he worked). After my 4th came along I was getting desperate. I nursed all of my children, but they took an occassional bottle (that gave me just a short while to get out of the house alone). Rance (#4) refused to take a bottle. At all. When I had oral surgery, the surgeon told me that I couldn't nurse him for 48 hrs. and had to pump out all of the "tainted" milk - due to the medicine. I needed to store milk ahead of time to prepare. I was concerned and spoke to his pediatrician about him not taking a bottle (we tried every bottle, nipple that we could - to no avail). He said not to worry, if he got hungry enough that he would eat.

Well he didn't. So after I had recovered and was able to nurse him I knew that I would not be able to leave him. He went with me everywhere. (I live 20 min. from town and if I had errands to run he had to go with me.) I would nurse him in the vehicle before we went into the store and I would have to nurse him in the vehicle again before our trip home. He went straight to a sippy cup from the breast and I 'finally' had him weaned at 14 months.

I say all that so you will understand that I truely do love my children, but every mother needs a break occassionally. I feel that it makes us better moms. I also feel it is good for children to know that even though mommy leaves, she will always come back. For 14 months I did not get a break (at all). During my pregnancy with Rance, Frank and I were introduced to this sweet couple through mutual friends. I will call them Mr. & Mrs. B.

They have been a blessing to us. They absolutely love the kids (they have become surrogate grandparents). Every so often Mr. & Mrs. B watch the kids so I can have some very cherished, and longed for "me" time. I can also ask them (between volunteer times) to watch my kids. Mrs. B is retired and Mr. B takes off work when the boys go over to their house.

Mr. & Mrs. B watched the boys for me today. When I picked them up she had my supper ready (as usual). Can you believe that? She watched my kids and fixed my supper. Wow! Did I mention that they are a blessing? They are what I would call 'A God Send.' She had salad and meatloaf for Frank and me and she sent a pizza home for me to bake for the boys! [It's almost too good to be true.]

Every time they watch the boys, she fixes my supper. When they were living near the school (where my 2 older children attend) she called me one night and told me to come by after I picked the boys up from school and she would have us some vegetable beef stew for us for supper. (She also had bread, a salad (with all the toppings), and salad dressing.) The next day school was closed due to snow. She brought supper to us. I was going to go get it (the roads weren't bad and since she no longer had kids in school I didn't think that she would know school was closed), but I didn't have too.

They get the kids birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, and even school supplies when school starts. They are fantastic. They have had one of my tires repaired for me (when I came to pick up the kids once I had a flat tire and Mr. B took it and got it fixed for me).

Do you want to know the best part (if there is a 'best' because it is all good)? Before we met Mr. & Mrs. B, I was talking to my Aunt on the phone and she said that she wished she lived close enough to help me. I said that I wished the same thing too. I said that I had several people that would watch my kids to help me out, but I wished that I had someone that 'wanted' to be with my kids (not 'just' to help me out). Mr. & Mrs. B are exactly that. I know they want to help me, but as an added bonus I know that they want to spend time with the kids too. They are an answer to my prayers.

God does bless us. Even though losing my mother was a tradgedy, "All things work together for good to them that love the Lord."

Be a blessing to someone today.