This page is going to have all four of my children's birth stories on it. Enjoy!!!

Seeing as how Cassidy's the oldest, we'll start with her. I was due July 10th, so when I she dropped the end of May, I got worried. The doctor said that was OK and not to worry. June 10th, I went into the doctor's because I thought that my water had broke. Just losing my mucous plug. Saturday, the 13th, I took a nap in the afternoon. Slept till late evening. When I got up, I was hungry so I had two bowls of babnana and strawberry ice cream. Very shortly after that, I started having contractions. Classic pregnancy story...2:00 Sunday morning, I went to the hospital. I wasn't quite ready to go then, but I was far enough along that they told me I had to stay. A few hours later, I was given an epidural. I went to sleep. During my nap, my contractions slowed way down so I was given Oxytocin to help get them started again. My epidural wore off. No time for another dose because at 1:05, I was ready to go. At 1:35, Sunday afternoon, my daughter, Cassidy Mae, was born, 4 weeks early, but weighing in at 7 pounds and 2 ounces!

Cheyenne's went a little bit quicker. On a Saturday afternoon in early August, I was out walking for 4 hours with her father. We were yardsaling and he swore that he knew where a street was but come to find out, he didn't. That's what started everything. The following Monday at about 10 PM was when the contractions started. Josh was at work so I waited for him to come home, which wasn't until 1:30 AM. My contractions were only about 15 minutes apart so we went walking around to see if they'd speed up any. At about 6:15 AM, Tuesday, the 8th, we went to the hospital. The nurse came in and checked me. I was well over half way there, but my water still had not broke so she got the doctor. The doctor came in, broke my water and told me that she'd be back in about 15 minutes to deliver the baby. She was right! Cheyenne was born at 7:35 AM. She was only 2 weeks early, but she weighed in at 6 pounds and 10.7 ounces. Very healthy, though.

Jeremiah was the fun one!!! We, Josh and I, were taking Cheyenne out trick-or-treating for Halloween when my contractions started with him. He was due November 27th but it was only October 31st. His father's birthday is on Halloween so we had agreed that if Jeremiah was born on Josh's birthday, then he'd be a junior. When we got home about 9 PM, the contractions were getting stronger, but not quite strong enough to go to the hospital. At about 2 AM, they were so we went up. The nurse gave me something in my IV that was supposed to take the edge off of the pain but instead it stopped my labor completely. Once again, Oxytocin was used. By the time they had gotten my labor started up again (no pain-killer at all this time) and I was ready to have a baby, it was 3:10 PM, November 1st. He came out quick once he decided to come out. Jeremiah was born at 3:22, Thursday afternoon. He weighed in at 7 pounds, 1 ounce even though he, too was 4 weeks early.

And last but certainly not least! My darling little Andrew "J.R.", the youngest of the bunch. I basically went as quick as possibly with him. I had no sign that I was dilating at all with him until right before he came out. Robert, his father, the kids, and I were all walking around the Albion Fair, enjoying the weather and letting the kids look at all of the animals up there. Robert had to go to work that day so we didn't spend as much time up there as liked. I started having really sharp pains about 12 noon. They didn't hurt bad enough to make me think that it was labor and I was only having about 2 every hour. We got back home about 2 PM and they just hit me. They still didn't hurt but they were coming about every 8 minutes so we decided to call the doctor's office. The nurse said to go ahead and go up to the hospital. We get up there, sign in and the nurse comes in to give me more paperwork to fill out and she's laughing and joking with Robert and I. We get done with the paperwork and she told me that it was time to check me and find out if any progress had been made. She told me right out that she didn't think that I was that far along at all because I was in almost no pain and I was as relaxed as could be. When she checked me...her jaw DROPPED!!! She freaked!!! I was already 7-8 centimeters dilated and almost 100% effaced right then. I had slight discomforts, but no real pain. That was about 4:30 PM on Wednesday, September 10th. The nurse ran out to get the doctor. Meanwhile, another nurse came in and started setting up the "birth tray" and that made Robert nervous. This is his first kid and it all happened soo quickly he never had the time to adjust to what was happening! The doctor came back in at 5 PM. She broke my water and checked me again. I was ready to go. She told me to give her a few minutes to get dressed for the mess and then I could push. Still no pain and no painkillers. I had about 2 1/2 pushes and Andrew was born 5:25 PM. I guess that he, being my last, had to top them all off coming in at 7 pounds and 3 ounces. He, also, was early, but only by 3 weeks. But, the only health problem that he faced was the jaundice that he got. He had bruising on the top of his head from coming out so fast and when the bruises started to fade, he got jaundice really bad and had to be wrapped up in a Wallaby blanket to help get rid of the bilirubin. Poor baby. But he cleared up in about 1 1/2 weeks and is absolutely fine now!!!

And those are the stories of my little darlings. Thank you for taking the time to read them!