For this first post I cheated and asked my mom to write it for me. I figured that it would be more meaningful coming right from her rather than me re-writing what she told me.
1979 My parents about 2-3 months before I was born
Here is my birth story in my mother’s words:
“It was early Sunday morning 09-30-79, two weeks late and ready to burst, when finally a glimmer of hope that I wouldn’t be pregnant forever appeared, of all places…in my underwear!
(I was two weeks late! This isn’t unusual for me as I seem to always be late even today!)
We called the doctor’s office and to my delight they said “If you’re not in labor, we’ll induce. Go to the hospital.” The sun shone…the angels sang…I was elated! I would finally get to meet my little baby…girl…boy…we didn’t know…we wanted to be surprised!
About 11:00 A.M. they broke my water, after an hour…nothing…so they induced. Labor pains started immediately but after 5 ½ long hours still…nothing. The doctor came in and told us that the baby was getting stressed and the heartbeat was slowing and they would have to do a C-section. My husband looked as though he was going to throw up! I on the other hand didn’t care if they pulled the baby out of my nose with a spoon, I just wanted the baby out and I told the doctor as much!
They prepped me for surgery and at 6:15 p.m. We finally got to meet our little baby girl, Jennifer Rian, for the first time! You know with all that was going on in the operating room, I don’t even remember if she cried, but I did.”
09-30-1979 Me 2 hours old
I forgot to ask my mom to write about naming me, so I called her to be sure I got the story straight. Here’s what she said:
“I’ve always liked the name Jennifer, so I named you Jennifer. I always imagined Jennifer having blond hair and blue eyes and I don’t know why but I always pictured you running through a field. We wanted to do something different for your middle name so we took the first two letters from your dad’s name and the first two letters from my name and came up with Rian.”
I’ve always loved the meaning behind my middle name. I think it’s unique and I really like it (Although for a time during high school I thought it would sound better pronounced Ree-Ann (rather than Rye-en), but I got over that.). Being a Jennifer in the 1980’s wasn’t at all unusual so it was nice to have a special middle name.
Well, I’m off to go run through a field! See you next week 🙂
Left: 1979 Mom 6m pregnant w/ me Right: 2009 Me 9m pregnant w/ Adaline
My Piggy Tales:
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My Birth Story: I’m always late!
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Ages 3-5: Dancing in a box
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Age 6 First Grade: There’s a bra in my lunchbox!
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Age 7 Second Grade: Bossy Wheels and Shady Deals
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Age 8 Third Grade: I will not talk in class
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Age 9 Fourth Grade: I didn’t really need those fingers anyway!
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Age 10 5th Grade: Nothing’s Scary in the Fifth Grade
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Age 11 6th Grade: Jenny Got Ran Over by her Grandma
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Age 12 7th Grade: Youth Camp Stinks
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Age 13 8th Grade: “Talent” Show
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Age 14 9th Grade: (N)O Christmas Tree
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Age 15 10th Grade: The Newsboys Wouldn’t Ditch Their Friends
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Age 16 11th Grade: Acrophobia Gets You the Good Seats
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Age 17 12th Grade: In School Suspension
My Young Adult Years
*Dreams and Aspirations: The Long Road There
*Friends and Fellowship: Friends Don’t Get Friends Grounded
*My First Job
*How I Met Cool Daddy Part 1
*How I Met Cool Daddy Part 2
*Colonel Mustard on a Rollercoaster with a Plastic Fork
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Fun and Dysfunction 
Your parents really do look like they’re from that era. Is your dad’s hair that curly or did he perm it?
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That’s a good question…I have no idea! I’ll have to ask. I don’t remember his hair ever being curly any other time, so it was probably a perm, but the idea of my dad getting a perm seems pretty strange!
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Love your story and I think your middle name is great. I especially love the side by side photographs of you and your mom. What a great thing to pass down through the generations!
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Thanks! Mom’s actually standing in front of my nursery window for her picture and I’m standing in front of my daughter’s nursery window. I just wish I would’ve taken it earlier in the pregnancy when I wasn’t quite so huge!
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What a creative way to create a middle name! Love, love LOVE that picture of you & your mom.
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Thanks, Rachel! I kept waiting around for similar lighting to get that shot…but every time the sun was just right no one was there to take the picture. I finally got it, though! If I’m blessed enough to get pregnant again I think I’ll try this picture a little earlier in the pregnancy 😉
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Love the pictures you included. I like how they came up with your middle name. :o)
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I always thought the middle name thing was neat…my mom’s pretty creative! I considered doing the same with my daughter (using my name and then my husband’s) which would be Jeni, but I didn’t like how it sounded with her name 😦 Too bad we couldn’t make it a tradition.
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How special that your mom shared that! The photo of the two of you each pregnant is so sweet. 🙂
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Thanks Heidi! I asked my mom to write this, but when she saw the post today she said, “I thought you were going to tweak that! If I would’ve known that you were going to post it that way I would’ve made it better!” I love comparison photos…I do it all the time with pictures of myself and my daughter. It’ll be neat when we can add her pregnancy photo to it as well (a long, long time from now!).
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fabulous story. yes I have a sister who is a Jennifer…she didn’t really like that growing up though in the family she was called Jenny. that is a great story about your middle name – my cousin is named Fronda from her dad and his brother’s – Fred Don and Darryl…I think that’s coool
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I was Jenny growing up too until high school when I changed it to “Jenn”. Wow, Fronda’s way more interesting than Rian. Did she like her name and it’s meaning growing up? I love special family names 🙂
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Ack! I absolutely love birth stories! The pictures are awesome. I was wondering how to pronounce that middle name, I’m glad you threw that in there 🙂
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I love birth stories too! While I was pregnant I listened to a ridiculous amount of them on podcast.
I figured that some people may not know the pronunciation, glad I decided to include it!
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Cool pregnancy pictures! And your mom is a GREAT storyteller. Pull you out of her nose with a spoon? ha ha!
I think your mom should join because she’s a natural. Love the pregnancy side by side shot too!
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Janna, I’d love it if my mom joined up! She has some great stories from her childhood, she really is a good story teller! Maybe I can convince her to join session 3!
During my whole pregnancy I kept telling my husband, we have to get a photo of me by the nursery window like my mom did…but we kept forgetting. I’m definitely a lot further along than her in the picture!
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Great story – I loved that your mom gave such great details. Can’t wait to read more!
Laura
group 2
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Thanks, Laura!
When my mom read my blog she said “I didn’t know you were going to put it up just like that…I thought you were going to add to it!” (What was I going to add? I don’t remember my own birth, lol) She says she could’ve written a lot more details if she would’ve known. I think I’ll take her up on that and make another post!
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Love your dad’s hair! 😉 You can tell what decade it is! (hehe)
Your mom’s story made me laugh –she’s funny! I loved reading about your birth story and name — and love the middle name! My husband had a little sister who was named similarly: Mi (from the first two letters of his dad’s name) and Keila (his step-mom’s name) to make Mikeila!
The last picture you shared is precious! What a neat thing when your daughter can add hers in, too!
Erika (from group 3!)
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Thanks Erika, my mom is funny! In fact we think our entire family is hilarious, we have the best time 🙂
I’ve always liked my middle name and I love the name Mikeila…so cute! I love when there’s meaning or a story behind a name.
I love that photo too 🙂 I can’t wait to add my daughter’s photo. Well, actually, I can wait like a good 20+ years…but you know what I mean 😉
Thanks for your comments!
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