A Brief History of Me as Mom

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This month at the Not Just A Mom Link-up we are talking about how we became moms. We're not JUST moms, but the fact that we ARE moms is what got us involved in this link-up in the first place, right? So this is our chance to share how we got here―birth, adoption, fostering, step-parenting, or maybe something else I haven't thought of!

For me, I get to tell a little bit of the birth stories of my four children, and in the interests of time and privacy, I'll try to keep it brief, like the title says!

I became a mom for the first time in 1992 when I had our first baby. The pregnancy was healthy and pretty uneventful, but I made a choice that was a little unusual at that time in Alberta. I wanted a midwife assisted birth and to do it naturally rather than an obstetrician and lots of planned interventions. Luckily there was a pilot midwifery program at the hospital closest to us, and since I had a low-risk pregnancy, I was able to take advantage of that. It wasn't quite as natural and at-home as I would have liked, but it turned out to be a good thing as I went more than a week past my due date, and then had no contractions even after my water broke! After an evaluation it was decided that I'd need an induction so there went my hopes of no interventions. Not only that, but the L&D ward was full to capacity when I was checked in, so I couldn't get one of the newer suites that were prioritized for midwife deliveries. So I did most of the labor in a shared evaluation room. While hubby and I listened to the baseball game on the radio! Our Toronto Blue Jays were playing for the American League pennant, so it was important! The labor did go very quickly though, a total of between four and five hours. Harrison was 8 lb 13 oz.

(okay, here's the thing . . . Let it never be said that I don't have baby photos of Harrison or Spencer - I have a ton of them! But I don't have the baby albums here so I can get photos, and I don't have them on the computer's hard drive either. Or maybe I do, but I don't know where they are saved, and I'm out of time. Sorry!! It's already very late and I still haven't published or linked, so I'm going to do that now and maybe when I can get at photos, I'll add them later on.)

Two years later I had our second baby, the day after Harrison's second birthday, in fact. That pregnancy was a little more complicated as I had a low-lying placenta throughout so I had to be careful. All was well by the time I finally―again, more than a week late!―went into labor. I had midwife care that time too, although we'd moved to New Jersey by that time. They actually had me labor in the bath for awhile, which was nice until I got nauseous . . . enough said about that. Spencer was an even bigger baby at 9 lb 9 oz.

After we'd moved to Maryland, we decided it was time to add to our family, and I had another healthy but lengthy pregnancy, going past the due date once more. I was due shortly after Christmas (on my birthday, actually) and I really hoped the baby would arrive on time, because I had two little boys to look after, and my in-laws were coming for the holidays. My obstetrician was on a long vacation that winter and my last several appointments were with various doctors that were covering for her. None of them took me seriously when I asked again and again for an induction if nothing had happened by the due date, despite my having had two very big babies and being late. I argued that the baby was ready and was just putting on weight at that point, to no avail. I waited until my doctor got back and she ordered my induction early in January and of course there was a blizzard that day. Our pastor came to the hospital early on to keep us company and the moment he was out the door I told my husband to call the nurse because I needed something for the pain. She came in immediately but told me they couldn't give me anything because I was ready to push! We always joked that if the pastor hadn't left, I would have birthed that child and not made a sound. As it was, because of the snow, my own doctor barely made it in time to catch the baby. And just as I'd predicted, he was a big boy! Landon was 10 lb 4 oz! 

Landon

I had our fourth baby a couple of years after that, and although the pregnancy was uneventful, I had the worst time dealing with all the things that made me nauseous. My due date was in July and I was determined that this baby would not be allowed to linger past the due date, because any baby bigger than Landon would have to ride his own bike home from the hospital! I was so hoping for a Canada Day baby, which didn't work out, but even more importantly, I was hoping for a girl, and that wish did come true! We even had the same L&D nurse that was with me for Landon's birth, and I think she was as excited as we were to hear, "It's a girl!" Kennady was 9 lb 11 oz, but somehow didn't look nearly that big. They weighed her three times to be sure! 

Kennady

During our kids' growing up years, it wasn't that unusual for their good friends that spent a lot of time at our place to call me "Mum" as well, and I was always honored when they did. Two of our sons are married and I'm so proud of our two beautiful daughters-in-law that call me Mum, and I love them as much as my own. We have two grandkids as well, and they call me Nonny. 

What a fun trip down memory lane! Hope you enjoyed coming along for the ride!

This post will be linked up with the Not Just A Mom Link-up hosted by Adrienne, Dara, Jen, Joanne, Lauren, and Sarah.

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