there is no snow in the forecast today!

although it does not seem remotely possible, today is G's 16th birthday! several years ago i was able to *finally* finish his baby book, and of all the children he has the best birth story, hands down! today i'd like to share it with you.

we had planned to have a home birth, but the baby (and the weather) had other plans! i woke up that morning in labor, in the midst of a huge snowstorm. (which later came to be known as the Blizzard of '93) we quickly came to realize that we would not be able to get to our midwife, Mary, nor would she be able to get to us. Dad called the emergency dispatch center of Union County, just to make them aware of our situation. they sent us a frantic, sweaty and nervous EMT on a snowmobile. one of the first things that he said to me was to ask if i thought that i would have the baby soon, and he blurted out that he had never delivered a baby before, he had only read about it in a book! i ended up reassuring him that should it become necessary for him to deliver the baby, i was confident that he would do fine. (actually, not really, but what was i supposed to say?) my labor ended up stopping for a while , so while i took a nap, he played Candyland with M. eventually, Dr. Ward, a retired doctor from a nearby town, came out to the house. after checking me, Dr. Ward informed me that i wasn't even in labor! anyway...my labor did progress, and it was time for us to head to the hospital. normally, our road was one of the last in the township to be plowed, but that March 14 we were the first to be cleaned off! the ambulance came, and more frantic EMT's came down the driveway. before i could let them in, i had to haul off Jake (our dog) who was ready to defend me to the death, barking his head off and lunging at the door. (and this was in spite of several painful contractions!) after coming in the door, the EMT's indicated that they expected to carry me up the driveway in a stretcher! yea, right! no thanks. i walked up on my own, stopping to breathe several times as i had even more contractions. finally, i was in the ambulance, and fairly settled. the ambulance followed the snowplow, and dad followed along behind in the mini-van with M, D and N. it was a very slow and bumpy trip, but we finally made it in to the hospital. Dad took the children to a friend's house, and Mrs. Hied watched them for us for a while. we had called Dr. Brown, to let him know i was in labor, and to see if he was willing to come into the hospital to deliver the baby. (he was, even though we had caught him in the middle of a bath!) i went upstairs to L&D, and was worried that dad, who was downstairs filling out paperwork, and Dr. Brown, who had to stop off at his office for my records, would not make it in time. having a baby will wait for no one, and it came time for the baby to be born. dad did get through the mountain of paperwork in time, and Dr. Brown came skidding in at the last minute, still in his coveralls, and barely managed to catch G as he was born! Dr. Brown said "it's a boy!" and even though i had been sure that this baby was a girl, and was really looking forward to another daughter, i remember thinking- oh boy, I'm so glad that it's a boy! i wasn't even disappointed for 1/3 of a second. however, it did take several days to convince the children that the baby was a boy, and his name was not Rebecca! then they thought that his name was Donald Duck, but by the time he was a week old, we had it all straightened out and everyone was calling him G.

after the hub-bub of getting to the hospital, my stay there was fairly uneventful. most of the nurses had been on duty for 3+ days, as most of the other nurses could not get to the hospital to relive them. somehow Dr. Ward came to the hospital, i think to do rounds for another doctor, and when i saw him in the nursery, i refrained from asking him if he still thought i wasn't' in labor! we did not have any visitors, as it was still impossible to travel for several more days. the children came to gramma's house, so dad was able to walk them over for a little visit to see their new baby brother.

soon, we were able to go home, and on the way, dad drove around town, so i could see all the snow that we had gotten. it was amazing, and to think that i had missed it all since i was so busy having a baby!

interestingly enough, there still persists one of those local urban legends, which says that i rode to the hospital on the back of a snowmobile. (while in labor, no less!) of course, that is not true, but even today i will encounter that bizarre fact in casual conversations, and try to tell briefly of story of the day that G joined our family.

the whole crowd, just a few months later. M is 4 1/2 D and N are 3, and G is 8 months old.