Personal Statement : Birth Interview

I was born in Kaiser Permanente at night. My mom said that my aunt drove her to the hospital. During that time my dad was at work. My mom said that I took the longest to be born and that I was the hardest to be born. My mom didn’t know my gender so it was a surprise when they found out I was a girl. I weighed about 7 pounds and I was about 20 inches tall. She also said that i was a clean baby and that I had smooth skin. She was happy when I was born but it wasn’t very emotional when she first held me because she already had 4 children before me. When my mom found out that she was pregnant she told my siblings so it was no secret. She told me that my dad had chose my name.

It was late February in 1998 when I found out I was expecting another child. I was 16 years old. It should have been a happy day it was my daughter’s 1st birthday party and everyone was there. The house was full of family and friends and smelled of chill and cake. Please don’t get me wrong, it was a happy day for the most part until I found out I was pregnant. Scared and not knowing what to do, I kept this what most would call exciting news to myself. You see I was dating a man and he was not a very nice person he was mentally and physically abusive to me most of our relationship and he was the soon to be father. A month or so went by after I told him and we were both somewhat excited him more than I. I was more scared then anything. He managed to get himself into some legal trouble and was sent away for a long time. Where did that leave me? I was scared to death

January 31, 2015, is a date I will never forget, that day my angel was born. Her name is Patrice Penelope Harris, I was so happy I couldn’t hold my tears back. When I first found out I was pregnant I wasn’t the happiest girl in the world, my daughter’s dad (Will) and I were not getting along for nothing in the world. We found out June 8th, I told him that I had been feeling sick for about 2 weeks and that we should take a test together. Well, of course, he had his reservations about being the dad because we weren’t together at the time but I assured him that he was indeed the father. So after going to the pharmacy, we bought a test and went back to his place.

Today I am going to talk about when I was born and where I was born. Where I fit in with my family. I will also talk about my first words, what my favorite song was when I was a baby.

It didn’t take long for my mom to become pregnant, only two months, but at first, she didn’t know it was happening. “I was having horrible stomach cramps, really terrible stomach pains for gosh, two weeks, really I didn’t feel well. And finally I just couldn’t take it anymore, my stomach hurt so bad. A Friday night in the Emergency room sounded like such a bad idea, but sure enough, I went and I had an ectopic pregnancy.” When the doctors had first asked her if she was pregnant, she had been sure that she wasn’t, but after a series of tests they determined that a) she was pregnant, and b) she needed emergency

Before I was born, I went through a lot. One day my mother went to a doctor’s appointment and found that she had Gestational

At the age of 22, I found out that I had cervical tumors. My mother had asked the doctor if there was anyways I could ever have a baby, in the future. His answer, very unlikely. A week later, I went to the doctor’s office to get blood work and to get ready for my surgery. I was getting the tumors removed. Two days later, I was told I could not get the procedure done. I was pregnant. Very excited and shocked, hung up the phone and drove to my boyfriend at the times house to tell him the news. After four months of excitement. He told me he was getting to attach to the baby and left us both. About two months later, I meet a guy. He was nice, funny and was willing to take on the responsibly of being a father. We got married a few months later.

The birth of my baby girl what a feeling I will never forget, so many emotions my heart was going through. It was 3am Wednesday morning of April 14, 2012 the world and I was introduced to Angel Marie Woods. My gift to the world was here, it was a long wait. Angel was 6lbs and 5oz. It was everything I thought it would be seeing my baby being pushed out her mom’s stomach. Tears almost ran down my eyes seeing the birth of my little girl. The Dr. asked me did I want to cut the umbilical cord I was to nerves. Maybe the next baby I will cut the umbilical cord.

I might have been six, but I still wanted time with my parents without a nuisance running around the house. My mom had asked me two weeks ago if I wanted a sibling. I said I wasn’t sure, but I would think about it. Without my answer, she had told me she was pregnant. I was excited, but then I was scared. What if I had a sister that I could dress in cute clothes and we could have fun parties? What if I ended up getting a brother that would run around being annoying? I was confident that my mom would have a girl, until she said I needed to come to the ultrasound. As we were walking inside, it felt like my heart was beating out of my chest. We went to the waiting room and I didn’t talk at all, I was just imagining it being a girl that I could

According to my birth certificate, I was born Austin John Penny to my parents, Julie and Charles Penny. My birth occurred at 1:25 A.M. on April 19, 1996. I was born at Spalding Regional Hospital in Griffin, GA. My pediatrician who took care of me was Dr. Jim Dunaway, Sr.

Shortly after arriving, I went to see my primary care manager to begin the process of fertility treatments; however this process was wrought with difficulty. I would make an appointment but time after time I would have to cancel it for whatever reason. Finally, in July I noticed that I was late but I did not know for sure if I wasn’t pregnant. At the time my husband was getting ready to go to town to pick up a few things so I asked if he would get a pregnancy test; I told him not get excited because I feared it would be negative. So many times I thought I was pregnant only to take the test for it to say I was not. Once my hubby returned home I immediately took the test and within seconds the result showed. I couldn’t believe my eyes, I ran into the living room and asked my husband if he was seeing it as well; he assured me that he also saw the positive sign. To make absolutely sure the test was accurate we went to town and got a test that actually says pregnant or not pregnant. All the way to the store, and back home again I had butterflies and could hardly quit smiling. I was trying as hard as I could not to get my hopes up but it was impossible. Not wanting to wait until morning I went ahead and took one of the tests and sure enough it said PREGNANT in big letters. I ran out of the bathroom and showed my

Come to find out, he told us it was a girl. The feeling I had was so weird. Its not that I didn't love this child but I was visioning a boy not a girl so I was a little upset. My husband luckily was still so excited and ready for the challenge against three woman. After feeling like I had to get to know this growing baby in my stomach all over again, I started seeing if anyone else had the feeling I was experiencing. To my surprise, there were many stories of the gender being wrong, even up until birth! It was nice to feel their was a community of women who felt exactly as I did. I was disappointed, and felt disconnected. Some might think that's just crazy, but I totally understand why I felt that way. Good news is it went away within a couple days when I started thinking about another cute little mini me running around in pretty dresses. It does suck not to get the gender you want, and its okay to feel dissapointed about it. There are so many positives to each gender and there is always adoption! Something I plan on doing when I am done making my own little monsters (yes I can call them monsters because I find it fascinating how much they can destroy a house in

Most women will say that nothing compares to the amazing feeling of carrying a child for nine months. Some women would say that besides the sickness they had the perfect pregnancy. That's not the case for me. I was extremely depressed during my pregnancy. The goal was never to work two jobs eight months pregnant by a man who hated an unborn baby. Everything was telling me not to have this baby, but somewhere in all the darkness, something told me to go through with it.

I looked over to the side as the doctor's were cleaning her up and did not feel the overwhelming emotion that I had with my first one. I looked over at my husband who moved to the side very excited and kiss my head. I wondered secretly why I felt different this time. Recovery room In the recovery room, I made sure that my daughter was always with us. My husband thought this was just because that is who I am. Secretly, I felt if I spent more time with her I would feel the bond that had to come. It would come. Right? I never let her sleep in the nursery and tried to bond with her every chance we got. However, the forcing of the feelings made it only harder to bond. I became to wonder if this was how all mothers felt after their second born. At home When we got home, I tried to force the emotion for just awhile, and then gave up. Although, I would breastfeed her I would not look down at her. I felt like there was not much of a point. Besides feeding the baby, my husband did everything else. It made perfect sense for her to smile at him while she seemed to give me no emotion. She was just giving off what she got. His fault These new strange feeling I had became my husband's fault. Everything he did was wrong or just not good enough. In fact, it would not be a stretch to say I would yell at him for just breathing. He was annoying to me at this time in my life. I am surprised looking back that he

To the nurse that said “Congratulations” I think about about you a lot. The story of my daughter doesn't start out like a lot of pregnancy stories. It wasn't one of those sweet times in a couples lives where they decided to have children and within a couple of month they we're pregnant. However, I didn't give up, I didn't lose faith and then without any symptoms I had a weird inkling to take a pregnancy test. After five long years of trying, our world suddenly and wonderfully changed. Our precious Aurora Rose existed , five years of wondering and waiting we had our baby. But I never got that excited feeling. While I was filled with love for my child, I always felt uneasy in my soul. I tried to ignore it, and start doing all the things you