It All Began...

Hi.  I'm Jaye Anne.

When I was eight years old, my sister was born.  It was a rather warm morning at 6am, and my mom had awoken with what she thought were gas pains and a few minutes later realized it was in fact labor.  A few minutes was important because this baby was coming.  FAST.  My dad got us all up (I thought he was joking but decided to get dressed just to humor him), and hurried us out to the car.  It didn't matter much though.  We hit traffic (did I mention I live in Northern Virginia?) and about 2 miles down the road we had to pull over because my sister was going to be born headfirst into some pants.  With one gutteral groan the baby fell out onto the seat.  Then there was much commotion and concern and finally my mom lifted up a screaming Michela and announced, "it's a girl!"

One, I was excited.  After two brothers (booring!), I was so happy that it was a girl.  Two, I am pretty sure I thought that was my baby.  Being present for that birth changed my life and set me on a course to love birth, babies, and definitely pregnancy.

I am so happy that my sister was born in the car.  If I had not witnessed that birth, maybe I would have believed all the hype on TV and in movies.  To me, normal birth did not require doctors or even any type of bed.  Birth did not have to make a lot of noise or harbor a lot of fear.  It could be peaceful and even occur in a moving car.  I must have gone through this serene scenario a thousand times in my mind while I was pregnant with both my kids.

I know now that my parents were probably more stressed out about it than they let on at the time, but I definitely didn't notice.  All I saw was this wonderful miracle unfolding while I sat in the back seat.  Pregnancy and birth indelibly became intertwined with my life.