Comments on: Birth Stories

By: Jennifer Armstrong

Jennifer Armstrong — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 05:05:00 +0000

Oh well, Dalia, maybe your son will ask you for it when he becomes a dad himself!Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

By: Dalia - Gen X Mom

Dalia - Gen X Mom — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 04:57:00 +0000

With my first the birth story was a long well-thought-out story.With my second I guess what you can call a poem.And my third, well, you know.And the irony is that my first is a boy and the other two are girls.The girls want to read theirs and the boy can care less :).

By: Jennifer Armstrong

Jennifer Armstrong — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 09:37:00 +0000

Laughing out loud!Great stories, even if they are mixed up!Thank you so much for sharing.

By: MaryBeth

MaryBeth — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 09:25:00 +0000

Ah yes, the birth story.I was one of 5 daughters, 2nd in line, 1958.My mother was unconscious at the time which was "the way."When we asked why, she responded, "Are you kidding?Why wouldn't I be?I used to tell them, 'Knock me out and hand me a Clean Baby!' and they did."I didn't get to see my birth certificate till she finally had to dig it out for my working papers - until then she couldn't even tell me what time of day I was born."When you have five, you mix them all up."I couldn't wait to have children to share with them all the details of those special moments; all the emotions that I had to only imagine occurred when I was born.
But here's what actually happened.My first born made her entrance in the Yukon while we were living in a cabin with no running water or electricity and nine sled dogs to tote around.We did get to a hospital but it took her 104 hours of labor to finally pop out and her first 10 days were in a neonatal unit in faraway Alberta after her first airplane trip (Medi-vac)(She recovered, she's fine.) But I was only semi-conscious and all I really remember is throwing up.
The second one was born 19 days late in a hospital in Cooperstown after a relatively uneventful (Unless you count pain as an event) 36 hours of labor and all I really remember is throwing up.
The 3rd arrived 7 hours after church on a Sunday which was mercifully fast, but...all I really remember is throwing up.
When I try to tell the story of my first daughter's birth to her, she immediately cuts me off.Can't deal with the emotion."Mom, I really don't care."
Daughter #2?Well she never really wanted to come out anyway.If it weren't for pitocin, she'd still be in there.Didn't really want to hear about that awful moment where the temperaturesuddenly dropped 20 degrees in an instant and she was hit with that bright light.
And the son?Well, if only I could remember something for him.But my mom was right, you get all mixed up.And anyway it happened so fast.We just tell him he was cute.
So you see, even though our generation has made the moment of birth out to be some sort of watershed moment, (HA HA HA) really, it is all the moments following that immortalize us to these kids. And maybe my mom had it right after all. That clean baby thing was a nice touch.

By: Jennifer Armstrong

Jennifer Armstrong — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 08:04:00 +0000

Thank you for your kind words, Thai Hoa!

By: ThaiHoa

ThaiHoa — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 06:52:00 +0000

What a touching post.Although you have no birth story for her.I think the day you held her in your arms as your daughter is just as wonderful.I admirer parents that adopted.

By: Jennifer Armstrong

Jennifer Armstrong — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 04:25:00 +0000

Thank you for sharing that sweet story, Mary.I also had the privilege of escorting an infant home from Ethiopia to her new family, and I have never delivered anything more special!Maybe we should revise our idea of birth story to "the moment you joined our family.":)

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 03:43:00 +0000

I am always interested in the emotion that comes with a mother sharing the birth stories of her children, whether she physically gave birth to, or adopted the child. A dear friend honored my children and I by inviting us to be at the airport when her husband brought home their adopted 6 month old son from Korea. I will never forget the beauty and love that surrounded everyone at that terminal, when the dad appeared with their newly adopted baby, followed by many passengers and crew- all clearly touched and hovering close to him. My friend's 5 year old yelled out for everyone to hear "I'm a big brother!"There was not one person in that section of the airport that did not share the joy this little one brought as he came home to this family. That is what I consider to be his birth story, and the story of the birth of our relationship with him. And perhaps even as important to me, when I haveasked my two teenagers about this moment, they have their own version of an incredibly loving, important memory of a new life and of the history of their friendship with this child.