birth day - a special guest post from the one and only Lizzie B

Last night, as I was wrapping up my final ten blog post, I got a call from my mom. After giving me a hard time for not going to bed earlier to ready for the race, then very humbly accepting my praises of her meatballs and jarred tomatoes, she told me that she had an idea. What would I think of having her write up a brief little recap of my birth day to put up as a guest post? I don't think I let the entire thought occur or the words come out of her mouth before saying yes! Of course I would want my wonderful, amazing, brilliant mother to rehash those painfully awful hours of her life. This morning she sent me this email, appropriately titled "Birth day", and I'm sharing it with you here along with the photos she attached. Enjoy:

Dave's timing

It started with a little ache. I was staying at my mom & dad's since Dave worked nights. I was nearly 10 days past my due date. Mom said, it's time, call dave and tell him to come home to be with you, you will be having the baby some time tomorrow afternoon (side note: my grandma was a nurse so she knew things.) He picked me up at about 1AM. We drove home to wait. Three hours later, the ache was more of a pain and Dave, who always follows the rules, started keeping track. He said contractions had to be regular  for a few hours before we were supposed to call the doctor, (we learned this in Lamaze class.) But things were moving too fast to go by the rules, so he called the doctor's service. The doctor called right back and said "Get her to the hospital! You don't wait when the contractions are minutes apart!"

We drove to Princeton Hospital in the MG (another side note: this is an MG,) with the headlights not working and running red lights. They put me in a bed in the labor room. Dave and I tried to get comfortable thinking we'd be there for a long time. You know the drill - not enough centimeters, not dilated, you don't need the doctor yet. Then, before you know it, as any mom will tell you, the next scene is a blur. Dave kept helping me to say "hehehehe heeeeeee" (breathing method,) feeding me ice chips, while I'm screaming "Get this out of me!" Dave is jumping back due to a tidal wave of water gushing out of me, Dave runs for the nurse because - well &*%^$, this baby is in a hurry, and at 9:19AM a little girl came out fast.

The nurse cleaned her up and gave her to Dave. Daddy said "Hi Jillian Lee," I smiled at her and said hi Jillybean.

Oh I love love love her. Jillian may have wanted to hang around inside me extra long, but when she was ready to join us, she moved fast and with a passion. Nothing has changed in 30 years. Happy Birth day to me and to my daughter, Jillian Lee. My friend, thank you for 30 years of adventures. Happy Birthday!

I'll admit this made me all gooey and emotional. Thanks Lizzie B for sharing this story with me and my darling friends. And thanks Daddy-o for getting us to the hospital in one piece. Happy Birth day to us all, indeed! xoxo, bean