Junie B

One of the hardest days for me, was when my niece, June, was born. It was one of the hardest days so far but also the best day this year. Hard because Mama wasn't there when June arrived, but also wonderful because we finally got to meet our June Bug.  It was super hard being there without Mama, but I wouldn't have missed it for anything. 

Mama loved baby June. She called her Junie B. She bought her a little outfit that said "Lil Miss February". Mama was always there when one of her grandchildren was born. She did everything in her power to be there for her daughters. When Amos, her last grandchild was born she and I traveled together to Atlanta, determined to be there until Amos' arrival. My sister, Sam, went into labor within  hours of us getting there and the next day Amos was born. It was great getting to spend that time with my mother and sisters. I wasn't in the room when Amos was actually born, but I was there at the hospital and I had been in and out of the room with Sam.  Mama was there the whole time. Sam had a water birth with Amos and Mama was fully supportive even though she didn't understand it. She just hated seeing Sam in so much pain, BUT she was planning on being there again when June was born. The fact that she wasn't able to be there was heartbreaking to me. I HAD to be there for Sam and Clay. I had been there before to "help" her through labor and had planned on being with her again. I wanted nothing more than to be there with them this time. It just hurt my heart that Mama wasn't there too. I was so excited to finally meet June and witness again the whole birth process, which is just amazing to me. I absolutely think that it is one of the most incredible things to watch a baby come into this world! There was so much joy that day and I tried not to be sad on June's birthday, but I just missed her Nana so much. June was able to distract me for most of the day, though.
Sam went into labor with June at about midnight. I had just gone to bed and she didn't want to wake me, because she knew that I needed sleep. Clay had just gotten home from work and she told him that he needed to get some sleep too, because they just might be in for a  long day. Then SHE went to bed and rested as well as she could for several hours. At about 5 that morning I got a phone call from my sister Suzanne who told me that across the hall from me Sam had been in labor for hours. Sam wanted me to sleep, but Suzanne reasoned that if she were the one across the hall, she's want to know that her sister was in labor. Suzanne said that she and her kiddos were loading up and heading to ATL  to hopefully be there by the time June arrived. So I got up, got dressed and went to Sam's bedroom, where she was reading her Kindle beside a sleeping Clay. She told me that she started labor at about midnight and she was pretty comfortable. She told me that Daphne and her husband Austin were on the way to pick Amos up. Since I was awake, Clay woke up too and we made sure that we had everything ready for the hospital. I got Amos up and dressed and got him his breakfast. Sam and Clay were hungry too so I got them something to eat as well. Daphne and Austin were there by about 8:30 or 9. Without Amos at the house Sam roamed around the house trying to find the most comfortable spot to labor. Clay and I followed her to nearly every room in the house. She was most comfortable in a hot bath, but her water heater couldn't keep up. Her second favorite spot was the rocking chair in Amos' room. At about 11:30 she started calling her doula to come. She needed about an hour to get her kids situated and get there. By 1:00, she was mad that her doula wasn't there yet and insisted to Clay that we just go to the hospital without her.  She finally got there at 1:15 and again Sam insisted that we go to the hospital.  Her doula tried to tell her to wait and reevaluate at 2:00.  Ummm...No.  Sam wanted to be at the hospital right then and started to insist, but threw up instead.  When she stopped, the doula was convinced that Sam was right and that she needed to be at the hospital. (The doula should have listened to Sam and gone when she wanted to anyway).  In Triage, Sam said that she hoped she was close and the nurse said, "you better hope not, b/c there isn't a room available".  When the nurse checked her, she was further along than Sam had hoped - She didn't even care that she didn't get to have a water birth this time.  Thirty minutes later, her midwife came in and checked and realized that the baby was coming. Sam was still in the triage area waiting for a room and the midwife helps her out of bed and walks her down the hallway to this pretty big spare room (not even a delivery room).  Sam  took two steps into the room and started to have a contraction. While she was having  the contraction, her midwife yelled at ME to throw the bedsheets on the floor underneath her and then told Sam to push!  After a couple of minutes of standing and pushing, she decided to get on the bed.  She pushed for two more minutes and our June Bug was born!!  Suzanne got to the hospital in time to give her kids to Daphne and Austin and make it to the maternity ward in time to hear Sam giving birth down the hall. Suzanne took off running and burst into the make-shift delivery room as June was on her way into her new little world. That 4-5 minutes was a little traumatic, and I'll admit that I was more than a little weak at the knees. In fact, if I didn't think that Suzanne was going to pass out, I probably would have done it myself. Neither of us actually did pass out, but we were both a little woozy. But we now had our little Junie B safe and sound!
I think that just the fact that were at the hospital again made it scary that day. Less than two months before we had been there for Mama and we thought everything was great, and we lost her. Even knowing that June was healthy and that Sam was recovering nicely I was still nervous. We thought that Mama was ok too. Thank God that Sam and June ARE doing well. Junie B is a little over six weeks old now and just precious. We are so thankful for her!