Matthew Kjaer

December 13, 2006

And now......
What a joy! Smiley, happy, lovey boy.
Happy Birthday!
I remember the night he was born like it was yesterday. I was 9 days overdue, and so very ready for this baby to begin his life on the outside. I decided that I would make my request known to God, and I was very specific.

Father, if I could have this labor go exactly the way I want, it would start this evening, with my water breaking, after the kids are in bed, and would end in time for Ken to come back home and be here when they wake up. Amen.

That evening, after putting the kids to bed I decided to fill out Christmas cards. And then the pangs began. But having had a few instances of false labor, I was ignoring them. I called my Dad. And the pangs kept coming. And got stronger. Soon I was walking around the house, in an effort to keep the momentum going. Ken was starting to think this may be it, and so was I. A couple hours of walking and contracting and I called the midwives in Cooperstown. It being my 5th labor, and being so far away, with contractions about 5 minutes apart, they told me to come on in. Ken's mom came to stay with the children, who were all in bed save for Andrew, and we headed to the birth center. We stopped for gas along the way and saw a young lady from church who blessed us with her excitement to be the first one to know we were on our way. As we drove, the contractions became stronger, and I wondered if I should tell Ken to hurry up, but didn't. I was still afraid it was false labor and decided that if I wasn't that far along and in this much pain I was going to treat myself to some pain medication! We finally made it there, and I was having some super strong contractions. We walked in and I stopped to bang, I mean rest, my head on the wall as another wave hit and the receptionist asked Ken if I needed a wheel chair. Ken said, "No, we're fine." (Yes, I hear you chuckling, I chuckled too) I waddled to the elevator, got to the room and the nurse discovered I was fully dilated! She broke my water and Matthew was born about 10 minutes after I got to the birth center! Not a moment to spare. And it was 11:30 pm. Plenty of time for Ken to get back home and wake up with the kids. God had graciously granted me the labor I had prayed for, save the water breaking...which I was so thankful for in the end because Matthew would have probably been born in the car!
And that's the story. Thanks for letting me reminisce!