My birth stories - the final chapter...

Here is my fourth, and final, entry in Michelle's birth story contest. There's still time to participate - the rules are listed here. You can read my other stories here, here, and here. I kinda cheated with this one - it was originally posted on The Jib's first birthday. I have added a few details to increase the "WOW" factor - hey, I'm trying to WIN A CONTEST HERE, PEOPLE!!

That's right folks, Phil Says Six More Weeks of Winter BIRTHDAY!

Phil's official forecast as read 2/2/08 at sunrise at Gobbler's Knob:

Here Ye! Here Ye! Here Ye!
On Gobbler's Knob on this fabulous Groundhog Day (aka Ande's and The Jib's Birthday), February 2nd, 2008; Punxsutawney Phil, the Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators, Rose to the call of President Bill Cooper and greeted his handlers, Ben Hughes and John Griffiths.

After casting a weathered eye toward thousands of his faithful followers,Phil consulted with President Cooper and directed him to the appropriate scroll, which proclaimed: "As I look around me, a bright sky I see, and a shadow beside me. Six more weeks of winter BIRTHDAY it will be!"

Okay, he didn't QUITE say that, I took a little bit of "artistic liberty" with what he said...(hey, the media does that all the time, don't they?)

Yeah, right about this time last year, I was begging the doctor to just PULL HER OUT ALREADY joyfully pushing my giant headed beautiful baby girl, The Jib, into the world. I had actually gone in on February 1st to be induced (a full week before my due date) because I had extra amniotic fluid and the doctor was a little concerned that the baby was getting to be pretty big.

My husband, Ande, had joked with my doctor about making it so that I didn't actually have the baby until February 2nd, which just so happens to be Ande's birthday. I was not amused. After the anethesiologist came and did the equivilant of tattooing the entire Constitution into my back (yes, he missed SEVERAL times), I was ready to just say "forget it" to the epidural. He finally got it in, but as soon as the meds started, I started feeling VERY strange. My ears started ringing and I felt really warm all of the sudden. I'm not sure how low my blood pressure dropped, but I do know I got some sort of shot to get it back up again. Once that was under control, Ande was allowed back into the room, and I was still hoping for a Feb 1st birthday. However, apparently God thought The Jib would make the best birthday present EVER for Ande, and she ended up not making her appearance until 11:11am February 2, 2007. There was much hard pushing and crying on my part, and of course by the time she was born, the epidural had worn off, so I pretty much felt everything. When she finally arrived, she was not doing the greatest with her "stats", so the pediatric team took her right away. Ande went with her. I had the same issue with my placenta as I had previously, but we were all prepared (except for the one nurse who stood too close too soon - I think I may have ruined her shoes.) The best news was that I DIDN'T POOP ON THE TABLE THIS TIME!! YEAH!!

The Jib weighed in at an impressive 8lbs 13oz and was 20 inches long. She is the biggest of all of my babies - she outweighed her Bubber by 7oz (although he was 22 inches long), Bug by 14oz, and Puckey by 1lb 7oz. Nans isn't biologically mine, but it seems like Ande told me she was around 6lbs or so, so The Jib outweighed her by at least 2 lbs!

The Jib will be our last biological child. Someday we may adopt or at least do foster care. Right now we're just enjoying being a family of 7!