Goober's Story

Eleven years ago today, my life changed forever. I became someone's mother. I was young, just 21, but I wasn't scared. I was ready and I'd been looking forward to it almost my whole life. Josh and I had married only fifteen months before, and Josh was still in college. Most people wouldn't consider our situation ideal, and it was hard, but Goober has brought us so much joy, I wouldn't trade those early years for anything.
I still remember the excitement when I first began to suspect I might be pregnant. I've always just known with each of our three kids. It was still too early to test, but I couldn't wait. I took the test in the morning and it came up negative. I was half disgusted that it wasn't positive and half relieved that it wasn't. I tossed it into the wastebasket and covered it with some tissue and left for work. Much later that night after working my two full-time jobs, I came home and couldn't help but check again. This time, it read positive! I knew better than to get excited, but I couldn't help it. I think I called and begged my mom to grab another test for me. She brought one over and it came up positive right away. Waiting for Josh to walk in the door was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I was so impatient! I think I tried a few times to read and couldn't. I re-positioned the test on the end table several hundred times. Finally, I heard his key in the lock and got a serious case of butterflies. I was sitting cross-legged on the couch with the test behind me when he walked in. He looked so exhausted after a full day of school and work. I had a moment of, "what am I doing?!" My face must've given me away. He looked at me and said, "what?". Everything I'd rehearsed in my head flew right out and I just handed him the test. He took it and stared at it for a second and I started to get nervous, but when he looked up, he had the goofiest grin on his face. We were thrilled, but it meant some hard decisions. We knew that we wouldn't be able to keep paying rent on our duplex when the baby came and I stayed home with him. A few months later, we moved into a bedroom in my parents' house. A few months after that, Josh was getting ready to get out for a much needed break. I think he and his best friend were going to drive out to his friends' family cottage on the river and just blow off steam. Earlier that day, I'd begun to suspect that labor had started, but I didn't say anything until Josh came home and then got ready to head back out. My dad let him borrow his beeper just in case and they left. About half an hour later, it became VERY clear that I was definitely in labor. I called my Dr. and they told me to come on in since I was at the point of no return. I felt bad about calling him back, when they probably hadn't even made it halfway out there, but I did and he showed up a little while later. I don't think it had quite sunk in for Josh, yet, he was very calm and nonchalant, but his friend on the other hand, lol, got a little nervous. He hustled us into his car and got us to the hospital in good time. I don't remember much of the next couple of hours, I'm assuming it was just the normal check-in and getting settled business, but I DO remember them determining that things weren't progressing fast enough for their liking, so they started a pitocin drip. Oh, if I only knew then what I knew now, I would've told her to back herself right back out of my room with that bag of pure, concentrated evil! I also remember that night. Turns out, Goober was head-down like he should've been, but he was facing backwards- which meant viscious back labor. Back labor is hard to describe, but the closest I can come is- it's like a massive charley horse in your lower back. I didn't feel anything in front, it was all in the back. Needless to say, it made for a long sleepless night. No matter how many times a nurse would come in and admonish me to get some rest, it wasn't happenin'. I lay there staring at the ceiling, gritting my teeth with tears streaming down my face. Josh wasn't having any problems sleeping at all. He was stretched out in the chair in the corner snoring. Well, I wasn't in the best of moods. I (unreasonably) figured that if I had to suffer, so did he. I called his name a few times, but he was out cold. I took my pillow and threw it at him. He only woke up enough to take the pillow and stick it behind his head and then resumed his snoring. So, I lay there the rest of the night in pain and with no pillow!! ;). Sometime the next morning, I had progressed enough for them to okay an epidural. I had been on the fence, but after the night I'd had, I just wanted a few minutes of relief. Well, that was when I learned the lesson, "if it seems too good to be true...". The anesthesiologist came in and began poking that long needle around in my back. He hit several nerves. It feels like an electric shock going through your whole body with each nerve that gets hit. He finally got it in, but I didn't notice much difference. There was a little pain relief, but I still felt sensation, even though they told me I shouldn't be able to. Why do they ask you a question and then tell you your answer is impossible?! Anyway, to this day, I still have some nerve damage from it. Every now and then, I'll get a jolt that feels just like it did when he was poking around in there. It only lasts a second or two, but it definitely stops me in my tracks. A few hours later, Goober was ready to make his entrance. Right before, I felt something that felt really weird. I said, "what was THAT?!" They looked up startled and said, "you felt that?!" I said, "yes" and she laughed and said, "your baby just flipped himself over!". Right in time to be delivered :). About one-twenty in the afternoon on Wednesday, October 11, 2000, Ethan Joseph made his entrance. He weighed seven pounds, five ounces and was perfect in every way. Even though he had a wrinkled little newborn face, anyone could see right away that he was a miniature of Josh. "Love at first sight" doesn't even begin to explain it. I couldn't stop looking at him and hated handing him over to anyone. He's been a wonderful, amazing son who has blessed our lives in so many ways and we wouldn't have done anything differently. Happy 11th Birthday, Ethan, we love you!