Worley's World: Happy Birthday, Courtney!

One of the things I hear often when birthdays roll around is “What were you doing this time [x] years ago, Mom?” The memories start coming back and certain details always remain clear about each child’s birth.

Courtney’s G-Rated Birth Story

Due to the busyness of “undecorating” Christmas, today – well, I guess yesterday -- it is now in the wee hours of Sunday, January 8, 2012. And, ah yes, I well remember what I was doing 14 years ago right about now. Some friends had invited us over for dessert on January 7, 1998. Mick, Rachel and I had a great dinner of chili then spent a fun evening visiting. Courtney was due on January 17, so I was close to delivery, but apparently closer than I realized. I do remember having some Braxton Hicks contractions while we were at our friends’, but that was very normal for me. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling ill … very ill. I figured I must have picked up some sort of bug. As the night wore on and it started getting light, I became aware that I was having fairly strong contractions. Mick got up at his regular early hour (probably between 5:30 and 6:00 am), did his usual 5-minute morning routine and started heading out the door. Right before he got to the door, I became aware that he was leaving for work. I remember weakly saying “You’re not going to work, are you?” He stopped and looked at me and I said “I think I’m in labor.” I was actually surprised to hear myself say that, because I don’t remember being consciously aware of being in labor. I had a doctor visit already scheduled for later that morning, so we took the suitcase with us and dropped Rachel off at the Orrs’. I still remember Kelly standing in the doorway and waving wildly at me with a big grin on her face while we were pulling out. I tried to muster up a smile, but I was still very queasy, weak and exhausted from being up all night. It was an unusually warm January day and there was a light drizzle – perfect for me to have the window down and get some fresh air. I remember the drizzle felt heavenly on my face. I think that was the only thing that kept me coherent on the 40-minute drive to the doctor.

After a quick check, the doctor happily announced that it was the “baby’s birthday” and let’s “head over the hospital to have this baby!” We were admitted to the hospital around noon, settled into a room, parents were called, medications administered, uh-oh: medications began wearing off, medications re-administered-- and very heavily, I might add. It was then that I learned that too much of a good thing is not a good thing. Two things happened almost simultaneously: 1) I was completely numb from about the chest down; and 2) Courtney’s heart rate dropped suddenly. Thankfully, I was ready to push, but unfortunately I couldn’t push because of reason #1. There was some scurrying around the room by the staff at that point, during which my calm-cool-and-collected OB came right up beside me and calmly explained that she would need to perform a forceps delivery and that the baby would be checked out by a NICU team as soon as she was delivered. It all happened very quickly and it was very unnervering, but one funny thing happened during all this. My OB was very petite, and when she sat on my bed to talk to me, the nurses had already started raising the bed to prepare for delivery. The bed raised up to the point that her feet weren’t touching the floor and she had to holler at them to drop the bed down a little! LOL!!

Courtney’s delivery went very smoothly and efficiently and she was whisked over to the NICU team, who checked her out for a few minutes and declared her to be just fine! Apparently, the sudden drop in heart rate was due to her gripping the cord, because she was was born with a tight grip on it!

So, from as long as she can remember, Rachel has been a big sister. She and Courtney bonded very early on and have been close ever since. I distinctly remember the day we brought Courtney home from the hospital. Rachel was holding her and looking at her when she suddenly looked at us and said “More." Neither of us said anything for a minute, then I said “More what?” And she said “More babies.” LOL! Who knew?

We do have some darling pictures of Rachel and Courtney together from their earliest days, but most of them are still in photo albums and boxes, patiently waiting to be scanned in and shared on this blog. Until then, I’ll post some more recent pictures.