The storks belated delivery...

A little over a week before my due date, we were surprised to get a text from my mom saying my dad had pneumonia. Due to this, my mom took a flight headed to our place the next day. Since I had been on the verge of having high blood pressure and had major swelling issues, we were hoping that baby would be joining us within the next week. However, I had a rude awakening when I went to my appointment and was told that my Dr. was putting money on baby arriving a week late. So, my due date came and went. The day after, we went in to the hospital for a non-stress test to see how baby was doing. I secretly hoped that baby would fail her first recorded test in this life. The nurse began the test and proceeded to destroy my hopes with comments like ... "looks like you will still be pregnant", "she has plenty of fluid". As we sat there watching the screens displaying the contractions and baby's heart rate we saw a contraction that lasted over 3 minutes. Baby's heart rate dropped during this contraction to around 70 bpm and didn't recover for a few minutes. The nurse decided this was enough of a problem to discuss it with the Dr. I was then told that my bag should be packed and I would be living in the Orem Community Hospital for a few days. I was induced around 4-5 PM on March 23rd. As the contractions started coming faster and stronger, baby's heart rate continued to drop as it had before. She told us early on that things will take place on her time frame rather than ours. I got an epidural later that night, but unfortunately I learned that it does not reduce the pain when you have back labor. The nurses were very nice and took great care of me, though I, Dave, and my mom did not get a wink of sleep that night. After being on and off pitocen all night they started having me push around 7:30 AM. After baby put up a good fight, the Dr. gave us the option of using a suction or doing a C-section. We chose the suction and battle continued. Baby arrived after a few more rounds of push and pull. The Dr, reassured us that the present cone shape and hickey of her poor little head was only temporary. Baby didn't mind the comments about her head and just looked around at those around her, probably thinking about how funny we must have looked that morning.





Since then, we have enjoyed having her home with us. She tends to sleep well with only one snack time around 4 AM. Like me, she does not like to go to sleep early. I guess the early bird philosophy means nothing to her yet. She is still very aware of her surroundings and enjoys dancing with mom and dad. She is growing and changing daily and we think she is beautiful.