An Early Birthday Present

Almost exactly 25 years ago, my mother went into labor. My parents lived in Westminster at the time, which is quite a distance from Rose medical where I was supposed to be born. My mother had a doula (who my mom had also been taking child birth classes from) named Debbie Sheets. My mother called Debbie on her way to the hospital and told her to hurry because I was coming.

I didn't make it to the hospital. I was born on the corner of 17th and Colorado blvd here in Denver. Fortunately, Debbie Sheets happened to be in traffic right next to my parents. Debbie realized who was in the car next to her and rushed out of her car and over to my parents. My mom had already delivered me, but Debbie saw that I was blue and wrapped me in her shirt because she thought I was cold. Once Debbie had helped get the situation under control, my dad continued driving towards Rose. Debbie left her car running in the middle of Colorado Blvd (with her purse on the seat!!) to help me and the placenta get to the hospital safely.

Within hours the doctors knew that I had a severe heart condition, and that I was going to need pretty immediate surgery, which required a blood transfusion. Unfortunately, no one in our family had the blood that I needed. My father called Debbie and asked her if there was anyone that she trusted with her life with O-negative blood. She said that she was a match, and more than willing to donate the blood to save my life. My mother had picked out a few possible names (one of them being Deborah), and chose to name me Deborah because of everything that had happened.

. . . .

Fast forward 25 years, and I am now pregnant with my own daughter. Because I have been nervous about labor, my mother suggested that I take a Bradley method child birth class. My mom used a lot of methods with her 6 kids, and found that the Bradley method worked best for her. Because my hospital currently only offers Lamaze and hypnobirthing classes, I decided to google "Bradley Classes Denver." The first search result was Bradley instructor Debbie Sheets! I could not believe my eyes; the name Debbie Sheets is one that I know as well as my own. I called her to sign up for her class and began asking her if it was okay to take the class if I was not completely committed to a natural child birth, because I am a high risk pregnancy. She was so sweet and explained that many mothers take the classes to become more prepared regardless of their situation. She then asked me why I was a high risk pregnancy. So, I figured I should explain who I was. I told her that my mother had taken classes from her in 1986 and that I was born in a car... and before I could get much further she asked, "Oh my goodness, are you Debbie?" I could not believe it! She knew immediately who I was! She then told me her version of my birth story.

Yesterday Vance and I got to go to our first child birth class with Debbie. She has a pretty impressive resume including being nominated nationally for Child Birth Educator of the year twice. To get this type of nomination you must be nominated by both students and the health care community.

Debbie and Debbie

Debbie's class was so informative an fun! She is hilarious, and I am so happy that I am taking her class. The Bradley method class is actually 12 weeks long, and puts a focus on preparing your body for labor. We learned a lot of exercises yesterday to do to prepare. Vance was so funny, he did them too and was really good at the "hula" exercise. Pretty funny. I think that he is the new teacher's pet. :)

Also, as I am trying to document my expanding mid section, here is a picture of me at 25.5 weeks, taken this weekend.

25.5 weeks