It's all about ME!

Happy birthday to MEEEE! Okay, so my birthday isn't till next week. I wanted to give my siblings a chance to help me edit and update this post, so I'm making it early. You've read the kids' birth and adoption stories, so I thought I'd put my birth story in, just to have it down somewhere. I need to do Andy's, too.

So here's what I remember from the various retellings of the day I was born. I hope my siblings can add more of their own memories later. :)

I am the seventh of eight children.

Look, there we are! What a good lookin' bunch!

I was a difficult child from the get go, I guess. Haha. My mom was having a really difficult labor with me. She kept having contractions, but I just wasn't coming out. I remember her saying she and Dad went for a walk in the  park (walking was supposed to convince me to come? I don't know...), and when she'd have a contraction, she would have to hang on to a tree so she wouldn't fall down. I have a very clear picture in my mind of my tiny mom holding onto a tree, gritting her teeth through the pain. 

Our doctor finally put Mom on Pit and expected my arrival immediately. Mom was excited, because they had set up a mirror so she could see my birth; this was the first time she'd see one of her kids born. Contractions came, mom pushed. Doctor said, "I see...a FOOT!" But wait...no, not really a foot. It was my hand. "That's all I got to see," my mom told me once, "was your little hand."

As you can imagine, an emergency C section was done. I was positioned with my back down, one armed pinned under me (thus the little wave hello to Mom). The umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck, and all those big contractions had been choking me to death. I was blue when I was born. My dad never left my side when they were working on me. At some point, I came around. They washed me up and Dad followed me to the nursery to see me safely settled.

One of the nurses told my dad, "She must have a special mission here. That is the closest to dead I've ever seen a baby, and have it live."

So, here's the thing: I know there's holes in this story! I would LOVE it if my brothers and sisters would jump in and help me fill some of those holes. And I'm looking for pics of my adorable baby self. Maybe by the time it is my birthday, we can have a more complete story...so we'll call this post...To Be Continued...