Diane Marie

"Girl, you pregnant!"

I still smile when I think of the skinny black girl saying that to me!  And, I'm so thankful I was pregnant!  It took us a while to adjust to the idea, but the closer it got to my due date, January 23, 1995, the more and more excited we got!  We could hardly wait to meet our daughter.  When we were dating Jeremy told me once, "When we get married, let's name our daughter after you.  Let's name her Diane Marie."  (My middle name is Diane.)  So, it was settled.

Now, we were just POSITIVE that Diane was a boy, and we were going to name him Stephen Paul.  So, when we found out at the ultrasound that Diane was a girl, we were shocked once again!  First the pregnancy, and then we find out she's a girl, not a boy!  But, from that moment on she was Diane Marie, and what a blessing she is in our lives!

Well, in November we traveled from Broken Arrow, OK to Hutchinson, KS to visit Jeremy's grandmother and relatives for Thanksgiving.  I was about seven months pregnant, and it seemed like I could feel every bump in the road on that trip!  That night after we got there, we were laying in bed, and I began having intense pressure in my stomach.  It continued for a couple of hours, and we wondered if I was in labor.  We sure hoped not, as my due date was over two months away, and we began praying.  We hadn't even taken our Lamaze classes yet, and we definitely did not want to have Diane in Hutchinson, away from our mid-wife.

Yes, we had decided on a mid-wife that delivered at The Doctor's Hospital in Tulsa, OK.  Her name was Laura, and she worked under a wonderful, Christian doctor named Dr. Aikman.  Dr. Aikman would be on call during the delivery, and if she needed any assistance he would come in to help.  And, she would stay with us throughout the entire labor and help, since we had decided on a natural delivery, with no drugs or pain medicine at all.

Well, I didn't go into labor that Thanksgiving, but when we got home and had a check-up we learned that Diane had dropped into the birthing position while we were in Hutchinson, and she was ready to come at any time, or so we were told!  Now, my mom had me exactly one month early, so because of that fact and this new fact, everyone was certain that Diane would be born early.

Well, she wasn't!  That little girl was nine days late, and those were a long nine days, as any overdue pregnant woman knows!  My birthday is January 29, and when that came and went with no sign of Diane being born, I was beside myself with anticipation.  The Sunday after my due date had passed I decided I was done wearing maternity clothes.  We were getting ready for church, and I informed Jeremy that I was going to wear my normal clothes that day to church.  I shouldn't be pregnant anymore, and I shouldn't be wearing maternity clothes anymore.  This was my reasoning!  Jeremy didn't say much about that, just that he would meet me downstairs when I was ready.  I tried on just about every non-maternity outfit I thought might possibly fit, and when none of them did, I put on a maternity outfit and stomped downstairs.

"Don't say a word!"  I said to him.

"I wasn't going to," he replied.  Yes, my husband is a very wise man.  And, we left for church.

So, finally on the morning of February 1st, I had the first symptoms of labor.  She was born that night at 9:58 PM, or so.  We quickly learned that The Doctor's Hospital was a very casual, laid-back hospital, and right after Diane was born the nurse asked Jeremy, "What time is it?"  He looked at his watch, which is usually set five minutes fast, and replied, "9:58."  And, then she wrote it on the document for the birth certificate.  We were so surprised by that, and Jeremy tried to tell her that probably wasn't the right time, since his watch was usually set fast, but she just said, "Aw, that's OK.  No big deal."  So we always tell Diane that she was born around 9:58 PM, though we're not sure of the exact time.

Several other strange things happened while we stayed at that hospital, but Diane was our first baby, so we didn't really know exactly how odd it was.  The next peculiar thing was that when we mentioned our pediatrician was Dr. Pfanstiel, they informed us that the doctor on call would see her.  That didn't seem correct, but we trusted them.  And, Dr. Pfanstiel never came to see Diane the whole time we were there, but we just assumed that was normal.

Also, I was very shaky for quite a long while after the birth, probably about 24 hours!  I was so shaky that I couldn't even walk without someone helping me.  Jeremy had fallen into a hard sleep, and I needed to go to the restroom.  It was the middle of the night and I wanted to let him rest, so I called down to the nurse's station to ask if someone could come help me walk to the bathroom.  The nurse said to just go on my own.

"I'm very shaky, and I think I might fall if I do that."  I nervously informed her.

"Well, if you fall, just pull the cord in the bathroom and one of us will come help you."

She seriously said that.  After I hung up with her, I woke Jeremy up and had him help me.  I didn't think falling would be a very good idea.

So, the hospital wasn't that great, but the important thing was that we had our precious, beautiful baby girl, and she was healthy and happy!  To God be the glory!