Personal Narrative: My Daughter's Birth

She had notified my mom and sister that they would be performing the C-section later on that afternoon. My mom and my sister had gotten up and said they would be back by that time, they had to run some more errands for my baby shower. Then they left out of the door and not even ten minutes after they left, the nurse comes back into my room to rush me back. I was all set to go, I had already had my epidural and morphine, except I had nobody there with me to bring this precious little baby girl into this harsh

Throughout life I have experienced numerous events that have shaped me into becoming the person I am to this day. Out of all these events, my adoption has been the most significant and life changing event of my life. Two weeks before my first birthday in, I was adopted from Nanchang, China. As I grew up, my parents never once tried to conceal my adoption. Without them, I believe I would have grown to be a totally different person. Although I was adopted and brought in by my adoptive parents, I see myself in the everyday. I see them as nothing less than my real parents and I aspire to be as generous and compassionate as they are. Without them, I would have never been able to experience half of the life changing events I have gone through. As

I recall tugging at my nether lands, and a swoop of hands into my womb. The doctors got the baby and she let out a cry that sounded triumphant. They showed me the baby and it seemed like they whisked her away too quickly. There is a fog around the edges of that memory. The doctors said that my baby was doing fine. My body started to shake and wouldn't stop. I was wheeled into recovery and then all was dark. I didn't bond with my baby until the next morning- seven hours later. She was beautiful but I felt very unfulfilled.

On March 30, as of three thirty in the morning, my life has officially changed. The labor pains had set in and it was time to have a baby. I had never felt a pain so excruciating in my life, and I thought that cramps were terrible, labor pains do not even compare. I climbed the stairs to my aunts room to let her know that it was time to go to the hospital. After watching her run around the room frantically she finally was able to rush me to the hospital. She zoomed through street lights rushing for fear that I may have the baby in the car and she would pass out. Had

The diaper pin represents when I took my first breath on July 12, 1989 in St. Cloud, MN. I was born on a clear morning just after 8am, and I was 7 pounds 11 ounces measuring at 21 inches long. I also had a head full of curly brownish red hair, the only one of my 2 older brothers and 2 older sisters that had hair. My parents were married at the time of my birth, and there were no significant issues with my mother during the pregnancy that impacted my development. I was however, a C-section baby, due to my brother being a C-section baby just 1year and 11 days before my birth. After my mom returned to work, my aunt watched my siblings and I until I was about 1 year old when my neighbor became my permanent daycare lady.

I tried to keep my head, I was awake and alert. I had dreamed about those first moments, getting to breastfeed right away, all that. And so when I had to go to the hospital, it was a shock.

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.

After getting out of the showering and drying my hair, I drag myself back to bed. I wasn’t positive on  how to take this. It was overwhelming, to start with a new family. I had been in the foster care system since I was five, when my parents

First, I got ready then finished packing mine and Bentley's bags. I made sure I had everything for the hospital, then mom and I left the house. We went to room number 1209 and I put my gown on and filled out some papers. About 6:00 a.m the nurses came in to put the iv in my arm for penticilin. A little later my boyfriend and his aunt showed up. We prayed for everything to be ok and talked to each other. Dr. Citty came in around 7:30 to break my water. After they cleaned everything up I changed my gown and laid back down to try and go back to sleep. My granny and my sisters showed up around 8:30.

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.

At about 8:30 I had already dilated to 8 and man I was in a ride this whole time. I was in constant pain that I wanted it to stop and curl up into a ball and cry. It finally came around to have my son and it was the worse pain ever. It felt like having cramps but stronger, sharp and painful. As the time kept passing the pain would come and go and it started to come repeatedly and constantly. I saw nurses going in and out of the room telling each other that it was time and we needed the midwife. I thought to myself that doctor or not this baby is not waiting and I wanted him out. The midwife came just in time and we were set to have a baby. As I was pushing to have my son all the memories came to me form me wanting to give him up for adoption to changing my mind and raising my son. I guess when people say the best blind date is when a mother finally meets their child. I came back to reality and realized I just needed to push one more time and my son would be out. When I finally did, I heard him cry and the nurse cleaned him up before handing him to me. As she finished she finally laid him on my chest and I heard her say,

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.

Z cut the cord. The NICU Dr was there and said he was perfect. She took some blood and handed him to us. Oh he was perfect! Z yelled "I'm a father" with the most pride I've ever heard. I went to recovery and fell asleep. When I woke up I got to hold Wy but they were telling me he had to go to the NICU a few floors up. Z and I had taken the hospital tour and knew there were two NICU's. The one on the third floor was more severe than the one on the fifth floor. He was on the fifth floor. That was a relief in that moment. I was taken to the maternity ward. I kept dosing off that night, and Z was up and down the elevators between us. I could hear babies crying but not Wy. It was truly

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.

A tired mother reclines before a long mirror, beginning to prepare her ten-year-old daughter for bed. As she works out the last few tangles from her hair, the woman’s gaze turns to her reflection—the dulling of her once youthful body palpable in the company of her youthful daughter. Author Sharon Olds uses the narrative of a mother-daughter relationship to address issues of aging, death and replacement, juxtaposing the youth of a ten-year-old with the maturity of the thirty-five-year-old. “35/10” takes readers on one woman’s journey of sorrow as she copes with the loss of her youth, but deeper than that, her confrontation with grief as she realizes her daughter will one day replace her. The woman feels as though she is beginning her life’s decline just as her daughter begins her ascent into womanhood, inquiring, “…Why is it / just as we begin to go / they begin to arrive…” (lines 4-6). Olds takes on the voice of this despondent woman in her poem “35/10,” using rich, honest language and metaphoric comparisons to communicate observations about the cycle of life and the pattern of replacement.