Personal Narrative: My Birth Mother

For the past seventeen years of my life minus a few months, I have lived in the United States. I grew up skiing and bicycling in Grand Rapids, Michigan, until my family decided to move all the way out west to Flagstaff, Arizona. Many eleven-year-olds might become stubborn and defensive in response to such a massive, life-changing move, but I remember embracing it because I was with my family, and I was ready to face any obstacle that unveiled itself to me because I knew that my late comedic father, my worrisome mother, and my troublesome brother would be right by my side. As we made the two-day drive from Michigan to Arizona in our SUV together, we watched the numbers on the odometer crawl up more and more until there were 2,000 more miles on the car than there were when we started, and we

I wait at the door. I put on my solemn, grim face, I cannot let these children see me as a soft women. I am anything but that, well I guess I am, but we all need to hide our inner emotions some how. My useless husband, Hans, mumbles, “I see the car”. We step outside, most people think Hans and I are crazy for opening our home to these two children, but every little bit of money that we can earn helps. Plus, they can help with the laundry, I think and smile.

In chapter 19 of your book Edward deals with the loss of Sarah Ruth.Edward loses Sarah Ruth due to an illness.I have dealt with loss such as Edward did in chapter 19.I lost my dog/best friend to an infection.Due to the infection she couldn't walk or eat. I got Chivers when I was 3 and lost her when I was 13.That's a long time,she had grown on my whole family and nobody could believe what my dad had done.He put her down because he thought it was the best for her and I guess he was right. Edward and I don't deal with the same type of loss.I saw Chivers being put down from a mile away.Edward losing Sarah Ruth was a surprise. So she eventually had gotten very skinny and helpless and had to get put down so she would no longer suffer.

My interviewee is a second generation immigrant with one parent who was born in El Salvador and the other who has Mexican roots but was born in the United States. For the purposes of confidentiality my interviewee will be addressed as Ana from here on out. In this interview paper I will discuss the experiences that Ana faced growing up in a tri-racial household. I will also evaluate her experiences regarding assimilation to the lectures and reading assigned through out this course.

After the initial shock and awe of finding out I was pregnant after 10 years of struggling and wondering if I would ever have the baby I had been dreaming of for so long, I began to plan every detail of my birth. I found a midwife and birth center when I was 8 weeks pregnant. I hired a doula at 12 weeks. My birth plan was written and finalized at 24 weeks. Every detail was planned-I had even planned the song that would be playing when my son would make his appearance. I'm a recovering control freak.

I have for months been in apprehension that David would volunteer. Yet, joining the Army will be a terrible trial to me. He joined the Washington County Company commanded by Capt.Willet. They are now at Camp Cummings, the Fair ground. David sold his Pistol, got $25 for it, paid some of his little debts and we are preparing shirts with crochet work. He is very serious and deliberate about it, and the poor boy, he will be more so as the hardships thicken upon him. He was anxious to be called in.

Hey Nandi, just letting you know that you're a really amazing person. Honestly you're a unique person there is no other person I could meet on the planet that could out weight your personality. I've decided that since the day I was born, BAM, mother-child bond. You've always been a strong woman you've done everything from working two jobs, to go our every school events, and handling our family problems. You're extremely happy even in bad situations and your not afraid to show us discipline that has an impact. You're a woman of few words but when you do open your mouth something extraordinary comes out. You fight for us, love us, your kind to all people, help raise strong people by putting reality in front of us since we were little. The most valuable lesson you've taught me so far is, life's going to be extremely difficult at times but you have to be strong, because you are strong, you can fight, and if you go down swinging better make worth your while. Couldn't ask for a better woman in my life.

My prenatal development was normal. There were not any concerns or worries about my development. My mom had a fairly normal pregnancy other than preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is a medical condition in women who have not experienced high blood pressure, and developed in during a pregnancy (Preeclampsia and Eclampsia, 2016). High protein levels in urine and swelling of the hands, legs and feet are other symptoms of preeclampsia. My mom had an ultrasound at fourteen weeks. She did not have any other testing like an amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling. It was unnecessary.

Alexus Casidy is out of her teenage years and now twenty, with a whole life ahead. The name Alexus may be a common but, the story of how it was picked, was not. Her father named her after a nurse at a Psychiatric Hospital, that he said was pretty. Not only did he name her after a nurse but, he chose the spelling of the car, Alexus. She grew up with her two younger siblings in Beloit WI, and I am yet to wonder if her sibling’s names have a comical story behind theirs as well. My peer went to high school at Beloit Memorial, graduating in 2015. Where she was an active cheerleading and softball player, also where she met her boyfriend, of three years, Ryan. Most don’t see that she is a mother, student, girlfriend, and employee; holding many different roles in all statuses. Alexus studies at UW Rock County and is undecided with fulfilling her dreams for becoming a children’s nurse or a teacher. Also, is hard-working employee at the factory Prent Corporation in Janesville, WI as an Inspector Packer. Where the money pays for the house her and her boyfriend own, with their one year old, Brooks.

I picked to go along with her story as well as not tell her the truth about her parents dying because I did not have the heart to tell her that her parents died a long time ago. A lot of the other caregivers would do the samething. If I were to follow fidelity and tell her that her parents were dead, her sister died a long time ago and that she was living in a memory care in Dallas she would be even more upset. By going along with what she was saying and not correcting her, the situation would be resolved a lot quicker than if we were to tell her that her parents were dead and she lives in a care community. Not telling them the truth, when they will forget that they asked is a lot easier than telling them.

I remember when I decided to exclusively pump for my son. I had struggled with nursing him in the three weeks since he’d been born, and we’d been going to the doctor every few days for a weight check, because he still wasn’t back up to his birth weight.

The Birth of my first, Jayden, was pretty normal, and he was on time. I was in labor for

My adoption means the world to me. It makes me feel cool to be different from everyone around me. I love to see the reactions on people's faces when I tell them I am from Russia and what they do when I say my real name and when I speak Russian. To me, it is so cool and I love being Russian. I love being able to tell people that I am from that country but, I don't like the way I look to others, I have chubby cheeks, which I am insecure about, I have small eyes, which I get called Asian, and I have a weird voice, which I am insecure about because I have heard people tell me I sound weird when I talk. To me this journey of me being adopted has been the best yet the worst experience in my life, I hate the fact that I never saw my parents ever,

I believe, without my mother's independence and the way she raised me, I would not be applying to Queens today. I have had my share of ups although I've also had plenty of downs. I have two older sisters and a younger brother. My oldest sister chose a different path when she had the opportunity to choose a more successful path. She moved out at the age of 16 to flew across the country to live off of my grandpa's income. She dropped out of college, barely a semester in, with student loan debt. She could have been a multi-sport collegiate athlete on scholarship. I look at her and see what could happen if I don't make the right choices and take advantage of my opportunities. My second oldest sister made most of the right choices, and I look at her and see how successful I could become.

After my mother and I have an argument she usually smiles at me and says, it’s because we’re so much alike that we argue. She reminds me that our lack of communicating often stirs more trouble than why we were arguing. I used to get upset that my mom didn’t set time aside for our family to spend time together or make us eat together at the dinner table. I was upset because I was comparing our family to my friends’ families. I valued those things and assumed my mom didn’t, but I was wrong. My mom had so much on her mind everyday it was breaking her on the inside. Not only had I wanted my mom to be like my friend’s moms, now I had wanted my mom to be different because she was depressed. Bonhoeffer mentions that we desire images of others that we want, but aren’t the true image they bear as Christ’s (pg37-38). At first I was puzzled. How is a good image of mine, not Christ’s image for her? I learned that His image is neither right nor wrong, but simply uniquely divine. My mom could have done those things, but her whole life would have had to be different, and I would never want to change who my mom is.