When Juniper Was Born

I HAVE to write this down before I forget everything. Since the 12th of this month marked 4 months since our beautiful little Juniper was born I'm pretty sure this post is overdue. Birthing pun intended.

June's birth story starts long before I even saw those two little lines on a pregnancy test. Curtis was 5 months old. I was sitting in the chair at the dentist office, enjoying a little mommy break (yes, dentist appointments are like a day at the spa when you're a mom) and for the full hour or two I could only think of one thing. Over and over in my head all I could hear was,"Mom, I'm ready to come." It was a still small and very persistent voice and I knew by the end of the appointment that it was not my own thoughts but a message to my heart from my Heavenly Father that it was time to have another baby, and this baby was anxious and ready to come soon. It was a very special and sweet experience.

Here's Maggie and Curtis when he was 5 months old.

I guess I lack some faith because I waited a few days and kept thinking that this was crazy. I had thought that we were going to wait awhile before we had our third but I know that the Lord knows more than I do and I knew what I had felt. I told Clancy what I had felt and he said, "Oh crap! I have been feeling the same thing but I was to scared to say anything."

Fast forward to October and Curtis is 9 months old now. We find out we're pregnant! I was sick but ginger Altoids got me through many poopy diaper changes.

Fast forward again to June. My due date was June 24th but with my high blood pressure making me deliver Curtis 3 weeks early I suspected it might be a little before then if my body did the same thing. The doctors watched my blood pressure closely and it was always looking good but as the date got closer they had me watch for warning signs that it was going up. On Tuesday, June 10th I was feeling very dizzy and had a headache that wasn't going away. I stopped by the dr. office and sure enough my blood pressure was 90/120. They sent me to the hospital. They monitored me for a few hours and it came down but ultimately it was decided that if on Thursday it was still high then we would deliver the baby that day.

Wednesday June 11 I took it easy and I had a bad headache all day. Nurse Tricia was nice enough to come and check my blood pressure for me at my house just to calm my fears that my blood pressure was getting too high. Maggie brought me dinner in bed and we took a few pictures of my belly.

Thursday, June 12 Clancy stayed home from work. We just knew it was the day. We went to my doctor appointment with Dr. Drewes and sure enough my blood pressure was high. They sent us over to the hospital. It was baby time! We got there around noon. They started me on the group b antibiotic, started my pitocin and I just happened to be able to have Nurse Tricia there to be my nurse!

We spent a few hours just hanging out, chatting, and watching my contractions on the monitor. We also continued to debate if her name should be Juniper or Hazel, we still couldn't decide. Around 3 things started picking up! I got my epidural, they broke my water, and then Tricia told me to let her know if I felt a lot of pressure and she would come check me. This was the very best epidural I've had so far. I could move my legs, feel pressure, feel when I was having a contraction, but very little pain. Around 4 pm each contraction I had I could feel A LOT of pressure. I kept calling Tricia in to check me and sure enough each time she had good news. Dialated to a 7. Dialated to an 8. Dialated to a 9. She went to call Dr. Woolsey to come and deliver me but he was in a C-Section and needed just 20 more minutes. Each contraction I felt like the baby was coming and that I needed to push soon. The thought of holding on for 20 minutes did not sound appealing at all! Thank goodness I didn't have to. My nurse called my group of doctors to have someone hurry over to deliver me. (the office is just down the street from the hospital). Dr. Drewes came over SO fast and I felt so relieved that I would be able to push soon and that he would deliver. He had delivered Curtis and I had such a great experience with him then.

Clancy was doing great. He seemed like he was a pro at this now! How lucky could a girl be? I was able to have a great nurse (that's also my best friend) on one side of me and my amazing husband who knows just what to do and say to calm my nerves on my other side. After just 2 sets of 3 pushes my beautiful sweet Juniper Jo was born into the world at 5:12 pm. She weighed 6 lbs. 14 oz. and was 19 inches long.

They put her right on my chest and I just knew that this little girl was glad to be here and happy to be with her family. It's absolutely amazing the feeling of the pain and pressure one minute and the next minute to be holding a precious brand new baby.

I know that June will do great things in her life. She's a determined girl. She'll be a determined woman. She's a wonderful part of our family and I can't believe she's here! We all love you so much Juniper!