What a perfect way to end the week...

As many of you read (if you haven't read the "December 8th" entry then you should before reading this one) I had a difficult day on Monday. Like I said in the entry I knew by Tuesday I would be fine. I woke up Tuesday morning feeling energized and ready to take on the world. The rest of the week went well. Thursday we were finished contract negotiations at my work, thanks to a federal mediator. Friday I got to work from home and I finally was able to return all those phone calls that came in over the week that I hadn't had time to do earlier in the week.

Then early Saturday morning I received a phone call from one of the administrators (Jan) from a care home that one of my clients lives at saying that Ashley's water broke during the night and she was admitted to the hospital. She wasn't due until December 31st so it was pretty surprising to get the call. I had given Jan my personal cell phone number when I was out visiting Ashley a couple of weeks ago because I was going to be on vacation on the 31st and wanted to be able to go and Ashley while she was in the hospital. I told Jan to keep me posted and once Ashley had the baby to call me and I would come by and see her. I was getting kind of nervous Saturday evening when I still hadn't heard anything from Jan. Then around 8:00pm I received a phone call from the hospital saying that Ashley was alone and they needed me to come and sit with her until she had the baby. I was surprised to get the call but I was also concerned and worried that there was no way that I could go and sit in and help her. I would be an emotional wreak. I told the nurse to call Jan at the care home and ask her to have one of the staff at the home go and sit with Ashley. She said that was fine and would call me back if they needed further assistance. About 10 minutes later I received a call from Jan saying that they didn't have any extra staff at the home so she couldn't go and sit with Ashley and wanted to know what to do. Immediately I said that was fine and I would go and do it and call her once Ashley had the baby. After I hung up I wondered what I had gotten myself into. Not only was I watching Noelle, I had just put her to sleep, but I had just gotten over my emotional roller coaster. I sat and thought for a minute and called my Mom and asked if I could drop Noelle off while I went to the hospital. Of course she said yes. I packed Noelle a bag and myself a bag and off we went. I said a long prayer on the way asking that I would have the strength to help Ashley and be able to support her in the ways that she needed me to. I got to the hospital at about 9:00pm. I was lucky that she was at the hospital that Kelly works at and was able to park in the emergency lot and she walked me up to the floor where Ashley was. When I got to her room she had just thrown up and the nurse was helping her get cleaned up and cleaning her bed. Again I started thinking about how I was going to handle this and questioning whether I would be more a nuisance than a help. I was getting really nervous and I became a little teary eyed and then decided to say another prayer. I sat back relaxed and got myself together and then I sat and talked with Ashley for awhile. While talking to Ashely I had an amazing feeling come over me that I could handle this and everything would be fine. We had a long evening!! Ashley didn't really understand that she was having the baby that night and she really didn't understand how it was going to work. I tried explaining the best that I could but she wasn't understanding. She didn't want the nurse to help her with anything so I helped get her up to the bathroom, turning her and get her to drink the water that she really didn't want. We got about 2 hours of sleep. Then at 2:15am the nurse came in to check Ashley's progress and low and behold she was very very close. She started to prepare the room and I asked if she was going to give Ashley any pain medication. The nurse said she didn't think Ashley needed anything. She had gotten a shot of Demerol at 9:45 and that was all she thought she needed. I didn't think that was cool but what do I know? So Ashley started pushing at 2:40am and at 2:50am a beautiful baby boy was born.

It was the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed. Ashley asked that I hold the baby because she was scared so as soon as the cut the cord they handed him to me. I thought at that point I was going to loose it but I didn't. I was very strong and new that I needed to be strong for Ashley. While the baby was getting cleaned up, I sat and talked with Ashley and explained to her what they were doing and what would happen next. Then I got to go with the nurse to take baby Justin to the nursery to get a quick bath and all the other things that they do to the new baby's.

I am a strong believer that God never gives you anything that you can't handle and this made me more of a believer. I never would have ever thought that I would be able to witness this kind of miracle and not become an emotional mess but I did and I got to help and I was just fine!!! I am so proud of Ashley. She did an amazing job. Not once while I was there did she cry, scream, or get upset. She did what nurses and I asked her to do and she was amazing.

Once again I have been blessed. I was able to go and help someone that needed me, and I was able to witness the miracle of childbirth. WOW, this was an amazing week filled with sadness and JOY!!!

**for confidentiality reasons I changed all the names of the people involved**