Baby Celeste Marjorie was born slightly after midnight on Feb. 14. Her name means "heavenly, celestial" and is referred to in 1 Corinthians 15:40 "There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another." Marjorie is my paternal Grandma's name, and fits with our tradition of "M" as the middle initial for our girls (same as me). Our boys all have "W" as theirs, which is the same as Greg's. Marjorie means "pearl", which is beautiful too (in my opinion, of course).
Anyhow, the day of Feb. 13, I somehow knew that was baby's day. In the morning at breakfast I told the kids, "Well, today looks like a good day to have a baby." They agreed. We then all went to the library to get our stack of ordered books and movies (which had been waiting for us through our big snowstorm and that was the last day of holding them for us). We dropped Grandma Somero off at Walmart, went to the library and then while waiting in line there, I had this "I've got to get home" urge. I didn't know if it was that I was still weak from being sick the two previous days or what, but I figured I had better listen. We had talked about getting a coffee from Red Leaf on our way out of town, and so I stopped there and nothing on the menu looked good. That had NEVER happened before! So, I got a coffee for Grandma and a smoothie for the kids to share and we went back to pick up Grandma from Walmart. We got home, had lunch and then I laid down for a nap. Except I didn't nap. Baby was kicking me so furiously that there was no way to sleep, but I did rest. About 4 p.m. I knew something was happening, but still no active signs of labor. I thought perhaps I should call Greg to get off work early (he's never got called home for any of our babies, and wishes he would for once) but didn't, since things were still pretty slow.
When he got home at normal time (5-ish), we had supper (I had no appetite, but knew I should eat) and then we laid out a plan since it looked like baby was coming that night. I was dreading the inevitable so had trouble knowing what to think/do. Grandma suggested taking all of the kids into her bedroom and having a movie night with them and then Greg could just put them in their own beds once they fell asleep. Then nobody had to go anywhere and the house would be quiet and the kids contained. Plus, we had just got that whole new stack of movies from the library that needed watching! It was then that the contractions did start. They were pretty slow, but turned steady at about 7 p.m. They remained consistent at 10 minutes apart, so we called the midwife (she wanted them consistent before she came). We later found out why they were far apart.
The midwife (Laura) got to our house about 8 p.m., and then checked me. Only 3 cm. That was kind of discouraging. I was hoping we were further along than that but, oh well, what can you do? After that I rested for a while and then started walking through the house again. Laura had been up the whole night before with a challenging birth, so we told her to nap while we just waited for things to progress. Greg got a bit of a nap too, since he was tired from a long week. I just walked and focused on getting through the contractions. The house was quiet and dark, and very peaceful. By 10 p.m. the contractions were getting quite a bit stronger, but still remained at 10 minutes apart. I could feel progress happening, but didn't want to get my hopes up in case it was slower than I had hoped.
By 11 p.m. the pains were pretty intense so I got into the bath, which helped immensely. I didn't want to get in too early, but instead use it as my last resort for the pain. I was in there for an hour with the pains getting incrementally stronger. Greg was pouring water over me when I would have a contraction and that would help diffuse the pain a bit. Finally I asked him to go and wake up Laura so she could check and see where we were at. He did, and she came back and was going to check how dilated I was (and break my water if I was at 7-8 or more) on my next contraction. When that happened, the water broke and she said, "Oh, the baby is right there. Push her out!" So, in that same contraction I pushed and baby came out. And then a second push to get her body out. Done. Whew! So relieved that I just held Celeste and cried for the longest time. Then we checked the clock to see if she had been born before or after midnight, to see if she was a Valentine's baby or not. It was 12:15 a.m.
I couldn't believe we were actually done. This Bible verse has given me alot of comfort with all of our babies. I dread the process, but when it's done, the joy is unspeakable and the pain is gone. Not just less, but gone! John 16:21 "A
woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but
as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the
anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world."
We then took care of the rest of the details and then settled into bed for a few hours of rest before morning. The midwife left at about 2 a.m. (on her way to go grocery shopping, as is her tradition) and we (Greg, myself and Grandma Sue) tried to sleep and marveled over the events of the night. The kids awoke to a great surprise, which was quite fun for them.
All in all, a beautiful experience. And now our sweet baby Celeste is finally here! It seems like it takes forever waiting on the other end of things, but is so nice when it's all said and done.
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| photo by Aunt Julie Crites |
The weeks prior to her birth were rather chaotic, I must say. Grandma Sue came early as things were kind of crazy. The kids each got sick one by one. Then Grandma got sick. Then our washer broke (the drain pump quit, leaving a washer full of half washed clothes). Then we got 8" of snow and the roads were horrible. Then I got sick to finish it off. Thankfully mine was more of a head/sinus cold rather than the flu/fever that the rest of them had. Then our washer part finally arrived so Greg could fix it. Then Greg got all done with his pressing jobs at work (his boss wasn't too happy to let him have time off if that certain job wasn't finished, although he would have done it). Then the snow melted. And Grandma got better. And then Celeste was born. Things just fell into place in their perfect time, but before the birth we couldn't see how they could. God's hand was over all and we are so thankful for that!
