Let's start with the night before I was born... Mom and Dad met my Nannygoat and Granddaddy out for dinner, but what makes this dinner experience noteworthy is Nannygoat's prediction that I was going to be born the next day. She even made Mom and Dad take a picture while she said... "You're gunna have that baby tomorrow." Man, did she call it or what?
Something else I found interesting was that my Poppy (Mom's dad) also predicted I'd be born on January 27th and that I'd be a girl in Mom and Dad's baby pool. They had people pay five dollars to enter and with their entry they got to pick the day of my birth along with my gender. The person who selected the day and correct gender won 50% of the pot (which ended up being $65 in winnings).
Okay, on with the birth story... I woke Mom up at 4:14 a.m. for her normal pee during the night but this time it was different. Mom knew things weren't the same as every other time so she woke Dad up around 5 a.m. and sure enough she was right. As the morning progressed Mom kept in touch with the midwives but they kept telling her she wasn't quite ready to come in because she could still walk and talk through the contractions. Mom continued to labor at home while Dad did a great job of supporting her and keeping track of the length of the contractions. Dad called everyone to get them ready for a day at the hospital and Nannygoat rushed over to help support Mom and Dad.
At around 11 a.m. Mom knew it was time to go to the hospital because the contractions were getting quite a bit stronger and she definitely couldn't walk or talk during them so we packed up the car and headed to TGH. Here's more exciting video of Mom laboring at TGH. It seemed to be more comfortable for Mom to stand and rock back and forth than to lay down so that's how we spent many of the contractions that day.
Once in Triage Mom found out which midwife would be delivering her and as it turns out it was the one she had hoped for, her name is Beth. This photo was taken in between contractions when Mom could actually smile. Beth is the dark haired one, the other girl was Mom's nurse in Triage.
Mom was also lucky enough to get one of the two labor and delivery rooms that has a tub for laboring in. Once she moved into her new room she labored on the birthing ball for a bit then got in the tub to try and help with the pain. When Mom entered the tub she was dilated 4 cm, when she left it she was 8 cm... almost there.
Mom had to get in the bed so they could put in her IV and also because I had rotated positions and they wanted to get me back to where I needed to be. By this time Mom was in a lot of pain and was screaming like a mad woman. Once Mom reached 10 cm Beth broke her water and discovered I had already pooped in the womb. Although this wasn't the best news, everything else was still okay. After breaking Mom's water she went down to 9 cm dilated and was very upset to find out this had happened. After all, she was ready to push me out and kept asking..."can I push?" over and over again!
Mom was lucky enough to have Connie in the delivery room taking photos right before and after I was born. Connie got to the hospital right as Mom was entering the "transition" phase of delivery. She was able to capture some sweet moments between Mom, Dad and Nannygoat as they got ready for the big push.
At around 3 p.m. Mom began pushing and a little over an hour later I was born. The photo below is from the beginning of the pushing. About 15 minutes in they made Mom wear an oxygen mask because my heart rate dropped. They wanted to make sure I was getting enough oxygen as well as Mom for the big moments ahead.
Along with Nannygoat and Dad, Aunt Tara and my Mimi were also in the delivery room. Everyone was very anxious to meet me and for Mom to quit screaming. These were taken right before I was born.
During the pushing my head would make an appearance and at one point they shouted that I had a full head of black hair. What's interesting looking back is that I really didn't have much hair at all but because of all the gunk I guess it looked like I did.
I was born at 3:54 p.m. and up until this point no one knew if I was a boy or girl. Although they shouted, "It's a girl!" Mom and Dad didn't really even take note because they were so caught up in the moment of me being born.
Mom didn't get to hold me until they checked me out first. Because of my little "pre-poopie" they had to make sure everything was okay.
After I was all cleaned up and checked out. Dad brought me over to finally meet my Mom on the outside.
Up to this point I still didn't have a name. Actually it was the last thing on my parent's mind. They were just happy to be holding me. They had both boy and girl names picked out but hadn't decided on one particular name for either yet.
Dad was nice enough to stop by a mirror so I could see what I looked like. I could tell already we were going to get along just fine.
My first headshot!
Mom felt like Mad Madam Mim from the Sword in the Stone after my delivery. Her face got really swollen and immediately broke out into lots of spots. She even busted blood vessels in her eyes. Here she is getting ready to give my little tootsies some smooches. I know they'll be more of those down the road.
The day after I was born Mom and Dad decided to name me Jaye Tara after my Uncle AJ (who is fondly called "J" by friends and family) and my Aunt Tara. They actually called me Cora for the first 12 hours of my life but it just didn't seem to fit.
I'd like to end this blog by thanking God for my safe delivery and to say that I feel so blessed to be born into a family so full of love. Today is my first birthday, I can't believe it's already been a year since the day I was born!
