On September 2nd, 2006 our Bubs ~ Salem Charles Babcock was born.
This is his story.
we found out we were pregnant in January 2006. so excited is an understatement.
the pregnancy was going great. at 20 weeks, we found out Salem would be a boy. his due date was September 4th, and we couldn’t wait to meet our little man.
life was grand with our sweet Soleil. we were pumped for her to have a little brother. P.A. was also pumped to [finally] be having a little boy.
so the months went by and summer came. june was a hot month and I was one hot mama. i had been through pregnancy before with soleil’s birth and was pretty much an expert. i began to think, ‘let’s just skip these last few months of ankles swelling, raging hormones and increasing crankiness’…
and just have a baby.
but it doesn’t work that way… still, there were some days i even managed to convince myself i would go into early labor. i was in such a hurry to have him. once i thought i really was in labor and we went to the hospital early, only to be sent home. finally, September rolled around on the calendar. i was so anxious. on that Saturday, September 2nd, i woke up at 4am and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I read my Bible and wrote in my journal.
labor had begun.
…
however, i had myself convinced it wasn’t labor. i didn’t want to go back to the hospital only to be sent home. so i talked myself out of it. i muffled my way through contractions that day and we went on our merry way. my mom had just come into town the week before. we went to run errands: Sam’s club, Marshalls, Kohls. and for lunch we ate mexican food [a big mistake] i would find out later. and as we were sitting at the mexican restaurant, i hesitantly began to believe i was really in labor. we started timing my contractions only because my mom made me.
yes, did you realize that even at age 29 your mom can make you do something?
it’s true.
my mother knows best. thanks mom.
otherwise, he might have been born under the table.
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| playing with daddy’s hand at the restaurant while i’m in labor |
after lunch, we walked around the mall at Easton and went to Barnes and Noble where Soleil played with the “chu-chu” for a little while. i figured lots of walking and activity could only help progress this lil’ labor to move along, so i was all for never going back home. and procrastinating going to the hospital for as long as possible. at Barnes and Noble, we timed my contractions, as they increased in strength and intensity, until *again* my mom made me strongly suggested we prepare to head to the hospital. and she was right *again*. here we are waiting for our friend Stacy to pick up Soleil, before we went to the hospital.
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| 3 generations 🙂 |
the next few hours were a whirlwind of activity and waiting. we arrived at the hospital around 7:30pm, and my friend Amy met us there. i had my support posse in place, and found out i was dilated btwn a 3-4. things were moving along, but not really fast enough for me, so we took a little walk around the maternity ward. that was fun until i threw up my mexican lunch from earlier all. over. the. carpet.
“Clean up in the maternity hallway!”
i continued laboring in the room and was barraged with a bunch of labor questions from one of the nurses. she had impeccable timing *during* each contraction. i had answered so many questions prior to labor and filled out a laundry load of paper work, so i didn’t understand why she was asking me again the same questions. i was growing irritable. i was waiting for her to ask me, “do you prefer Dr. Pepper or Coca Cola?” “Is your favorite color blue?” etc… Adam & my mom fielded most of the questions and Amy made jokes to keep me distracted. jokes are one of her spiritual gifts.
finally…
a few hours, a few strong contractions and a few pushes later at 11:27pm ~ 8 lbs 3 oz of awesomeness entered the world.
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| Big Sissy! |
Our Bubs ~ now he’s a big six year old! Salem is an amazing boy full of energy, compassion, love and laughter. we are so grateful to have him as our son. he brings us joy every. single. day.
Birthday Boy~loves his homemade Super Mario characters from Soleil 🙂
Happy Birthday Bubs! We love you and are so excited to share your birth story today!
Half Written Records 
Every child is a gift from God. I loved your story! He is a handsome young man. 🙂
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Such an amazing story! Still remember you coming into Marshalls, contracting & looking like a million bucks:)
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