Hannah Katherine Haberkorn, Welcome to the World

On May 5th, 2013 at 6:20 AM, the Earth first met Hannah Katherine Haberkorn. I have the distinct privilege of being her father. The nerd in me was rooting for a May the Fourth birthday when Jennifer first started having contractions at around 3 PM that day. Of course, when I say, “started having contractions”, I mean the final round only.

Hannah was due (they told us) on April 26th. That Friday date came and went with nary a development, aside from the occasional un-break my heart-y Braxton-Hicks contraction. On Monday, April 29th, the really for real-real contractions began around 6 AM. My wife (a Superhero in real life) labored regularly until around 3 PM that day… and then the contractions just stopped.

The hopes and prayers we showered on the Almighty for an April baby soon turned into a flowered May reality. Our first child (Abigail) was born on May 28, 2011…so, it would be neat to have two Emerald girls. So, we waited on Wednesday, May 1st… then, May 2nd and 3rd as well. Finally, we found ourselves on Star Wars Day 2013 – and the beginning of this post.

3 PM on Saturday and the battle cry in the Haberkorn Household was: May The Fourth (and Hannah!) Be With You!!

Have I mentioned that I am married to Wonder Woman? Long story short, Jennifer labored naturally for 23 hours… while on Pitosin…. with Abigail. And then she still chose to labor naturally with Hannah as well. So, the plan on 5-4-2013 was to do most of the laboring at home and then go to the hospital to actually deliver the baby. Contractions were fairly consistent and strong from 3 PM on… but there was not any real progression (we use the Bradley method of natural child-birth, so we were looking for certain emotional and physical sign-posts).

As we inched towards 10 PM, things got more intense, but it became clear that instead of having a Star Wars Day baby, we were going to actually celebrate something on Cinco de Mayo from now on.

I will spare you all the gory-ish details (and will shy away from both impropriety as well as too-much-information-ism) but we checked in around 11:30 PM on am vierten Mai and Jennifer labored through the night steadily… but with not much physical progression. And then God parted the waters from the bag they were held in and Jennifer’s body decided to go from near zero to sixty miles per hour in no time flat.

Turns out there was a rash of babies in a hurry on Il cinque maggio and they all wanted to come out around the same time. The Doctor on call was still finishing up with the baby just before Hannah when little one decided her time in the sun could not wait. A few uncontrollable urges to push later and the doctor waltzed in, put his gloves on and turned around just in time to catch Hannah as she shot out.

Once again, it cannot be overstated how much of a Superhero that Jennifer is. Laboring through the night with zero rest all while unmedicated. For my part (as well-meaning but somewhat ineffectual Coach) I couldn’t even make it through the night. I am ever so grateful for my Sister, Becky, who was able to tag me out so I could take a brief nap.

The result of Jennifer’s Herculean efforts is our beautiful little Hannah Katherine Haberkorn.

Hannah means ‘Grace of God’. I will leave that there with no further comment needed.

God is good. All praise belongs to Him alone. May He guide and protect our little family as we navigate this world as followers of Christ. Both of our little girls have pretty amazing birth stories. I pray that their lives are just as amazing and spent with their heart’s, mind’s, and soul’s focused unswervingly on God and with a loving attitude towards all people.

Welcome to the World, my littlest one.