Jenna with a "G"

Today's ingredient is, baby number two.

We're in labor. It's time to go!

We ran around the trailer frantically trying to get a bag together. I definitely was not as organized as I would come to be and this baby daddy was sweet and kind but useless when it came to organization. 

How 'bout this? Do you need this? No, I do not need the bag of doritos but we do most definitely need our 18 month old son.

We finally got our shit together and headed out to the hospital.

I swear this boy hit every single bump and pothole on the way out of the trailer park.

Along with the physical pain, I was feeling a ton of anxiety.

Of course becoming a mom again at 18 had me tied in knots but also because we lived so far away from everyone we knew I had to leave my son with another military family while I was giving birth.

We knew the family and had hung out with them since we moved to South Carolina but we didn't KNOW them like we knew our folks back home.

I hated that I had to leave him.

Promise me you will check in on him and get back to him as soon as this baby is out.

His dad promised me he would handle it but to be honest I had little faith.

I was in labor for 19 hours.

Meanwhile my super supportive husband was asleep in the chair next to me.

I wanted to shake him until his teeth rattled.

Wake up!

What? I was awake.

Mmhmmm, most people snore when they are awake.

I was given Stadol for pain. It wasn't doing much and I was not handling the pain well. The doc came in to check on me.

Looking down his very snobby nose, he said this sentence-

You do know that yelling will not help you, right?

I looked at him very calmly and said, I'm gonna' throw up.

You are not gonna' throw up.

Yep, most definitely gonna' puke.

You need to get yourself under control young lady, you are not gon.....

And with that, I puked all over him. It was a lovely shade of green.

After that he left me alone.

After 17 hours of pure torture I was only dilated to 7. I just knew that I was not going to be able to do this. I was gonna' die this night.

Someone finally had the brilliant idea that I may need some help to get to 10. The nurse applied this magic gel to my cervix and bam 7 to 10 in two hours.

The pushing was the easy part. Three pushes and she was out.

The nurse in the delivery room said, I've been waiting all day for you to have this baby.

Ughhhh- YOU have?!

Our second baby was a baby girl. She was an itty bitty little thing.

6 pounds 7 ounces definitely isn't as small as they come but the only other baby born in the Naval hospital that day was a 12 pound baby girl. She looked like a sumo warrior princess next to our little peanut.

Her mama was a Marine and gave birth to her vaginally.

All hail to her, I had enough problem with my little six pounder.

At least there was no chance we were gonna get 'em mixed up.

She was a gorgeous little girl. Beautiful olive skin, green eyes and brown hair.

We named her Genna. Jenna with a "G", because her dad wanted it to be different.

Ask her today and I'm sure she would give him a big 'ole thanks a lot, dad.

Her entire life her full name has been "Genna, it's Jenna with a G".

A teacher once asked her if she was sure she was spelling her name right; she was in the 9th grade.

Shortly after she was born, I shooed her dad out the door to go get Aaron and take him home for the night.

Maybe an hour later a doctor came in and told me we needed to talk.

Fear overcame me. This could not be good. All the doctors had left for the day hours ago. Why was this guy even here much less in my room looking so somber.

We need to take your baby in for some testing. 

Testing for what?

We need to test her for spina bifida.

They had found a small dimple at the base of her spine and apparently this is a classic sign.

I was scared to death. What the hell is spina bifida?! Oh my God, isn't that what that little neighbor girl back home has? Jesus, she can't even walk without those giant crutches and she has to wear a helmet in case she falls.

Could this really be what we could expect in the future of this beautiful little baby we just had?! She looks so very perfect.

I called home to get her dad back up to the hospital to sit with me for the testing. I called and called and called - no answer.

Damnit, I need you. Where the hell are you?!!!

Finally after a million unanswered phone calls and what seemed like days but truly was only a couple hours the doctor came back and said nope, no spina bifida; she is just fine. Whew, thank God.

I was beyond grateful. 

I didn't hear from her dad 'til he showed up again the next morning.

Thanks for the support, dude.

Sorry, Aaron unplugged the phone and I didn't notice until this morning.

Life before technology.

I was sitting in my hospital bed with Aaron next to me when the doc came in to do rounds that morning. "Get out of that bed, young man" he said sternly to Aaron. "You aren't the baby anymore".

I was furious, how dare you talk to him that way, he's 19 months old.

There began my fierce desire to protect Aaron and not give him any less because of this new pretty little girl.

In doing this, I actually ended up giving her less.

Don't get me wrong, she was never neglected I just don't feel like I bonded with her like I did with Aaron; not at first

anyway.  

Three days later we were on our way home as a family of four.

Can we really do this?

To be honest we were not off to a great start.

The day we brought her home we laid her on her blanket on the couch for a nap.

I went into the kitchen to start dinner and the next thing I knew I heard her crying.

I ran back in the living room and she was on the floor.

What the heck, she's 3 days old, how did this even happen.

I checked her over and made sure she was ok. Hugged her up and calmed her down.

I put her back up on the couch and watched. Aaron walked right over to her and grabbed that blanket under her to yank it right off the couch.

Aaron!

What?! Mr. Innocent says......

Leave the baby alone!

He looked at me all confused like and just shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

Once he started talking Aaron would call her "My Genna".

I really think he thought she was just a little doll that belonged to him for the first five years of his life.

Yep, this was gonna' be a lot harder than we could have ever even imagined.