Happy 6th Birthday Noah John.......

.....Oooops, I mean, Bethany Faith!!! This is how the story of her life started for real! Let me take you back 6 years ago.

When we had our ultrasound, they told us she was a boy. Although I thought I had seen that she was a girl, I trusted the dr's doing the ultrasound. We were excited about having a boy and quickly decided on the name Noah John. Caleb, Austin and Alana were also excited about having a brother. They would talk to Noah often throughout the pregnancy as would Daddy. We bought boy clothes. We bought a Noah's Ark nursery theme. We were thrilled.

Then the big day comes. I was being induced and was told to come in on July 16 at midnight to get some medicine to help prepare my body for birth. I was then told I would probably go home and to come back first thing in the morning and they would start the pitocin. I was given the first meds, but started contracting quickly. The nurses could not get a hold of my dr (another long story) so they decided to go ahead and admit me into the hospital.

The next day, they started the pitocin that morning which made my contractions much stronger. Daddy decided to run to his office (2 minutes away) to pick up some paperwork to be working on. During this time, the dr. comes in to check my progress and while checking me tells me she is breaking my water. Wait! I'm thinking. I know I do not have long labors. I have only had a little pain med through an IV. My husband is not here. What is she doing? I needed my epidural!!!! I call Daddy right away and tell him she just broke my water and he needed to get back here immediately. Before he gets back, we (my mother and I) learn that the anastesiologist was in surgery and would not be out for another hour and a half which means I would not be getting an epidural, because my labors do not last that long! I am lying on my side, clinching the bed, thinking this is all a bad dream! I can still see my Mother's feet pacing the floor as I lie in the bed getting completely uncomfortable VERY QUICKLY, still waiting for my husband to return. When Daddy gets to the hospital, he can hear me from down the hall. He tried talking to my Mom to find out what was going on, but all he heard from her was that I was going to surgery. She had tried to explain about the anastesiologist being in surgery. Once that was all cleared up, I started telling anyone who was listening that baby was coming. Mom asked me if I wanted her to get the nurse. I said yes! Nurse comes in the room and proceeds to tell me that I was ok, etc. I said, no, baby is coming. She asked if I would like her to check me. I said yes, for certain that baby was coming. I was dialated to a 9 (from a 5, 45 minutes earlier). She told me everything was going to be ok. They tried calling my dr (again who they couldn't get a hold of) and started getting the room ready for baby. Fortunately, I had 2 nurses because one was in training for the labor/delivery floor. I had 2 frantic nurses trying to get the dr, prepare the room, and keep me from pushing! I finally kept telling them, baby is coming! Baby is coming! One nurse grabs the phone and calls "Any dr to room XXX STAT!". No dr. shows. At this point, I am pushing baby into the world. I have 1 nurse over top of me and another nurse at the bottom of the bed. After the head was delivered, on a bed that was not broken down and ready for delivery, and seeing that her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck, one nurse whispers to another "What do we do now". Fortunately, only Daddy heard her say that! By this time, baby is born, and I hear them saying "It's a girl. She is beautiful!" I was so relieved that the birth was over I hadn't even seen the baby yet. I automatically thought that this was not a funny joke. How could they think of something so not funny at this traumatic time as having a baby without an epidural! Daddy finally came up to me and assured me that she was, in fact, a girl and she was beautiful! I started crying because we had nothing for a girl, not even a name!

Above: the 2 nurses who delivered Bethany.

Above: New Daddy with Bethany.

My dr. finally made it to the hospital in time to deliver the placenta. Imagine that!

Baby did remain nameless for awhile since we had not decided on a name. We decided on her middle name first. Daddy and I met at Faith Baptist Church, so Faith is her middle name. Bethany was my Mom's favorite girl name, so we decided on that for her first name.

Above: Bethany Faith Sikorski
July 16, 2002
7 pounds 15.5 ounces
19.5"

The funny story about that, is when we called our Assistant Pastor's wife to tell her that our boy was actually a girl, she thought we were kidding. After Daddy told her the baby's name, she said she knew we were kidding. The Assistant Pastor's wife's name is Beth and our Pastor's wife's name is Faith. We never even put that together until afterwards when she was telling her story about the phone conversation!

That is Bethany Faith Sikorski's story and it seems the drama hasn't stopped yet! She has been with us for 6 years now and we wouldn't have had it any other way!

She has already gone on a breakfast date with Daddy to Chik-fil-A. We hope you have a wonderful, joyous birthday! Happy Birthday, dear, sweet Bethany Faith Sikorski!