Happy Birthday Kayla!!

Happy Birthday Kayla!!

Eleven years ago today I went to the hospital about midnight and was contracting every five minutes. We were poor students at BYU and I had just finished my Student Teaching the week before. But it was Spring and we were so excited to welcome our first child into the world.

I did not realize when I entered Utah Valley Regional Hospital that night what a long and miserable night it would be bringing a beautiful child into my arms.

The maternity floor was full and they did not want to "keep" me unless I really was in labor. So they had me put on a gown, checked my vital signs and dilitation and had me go walk the downstairs halls of the hospital. The contractions were horrific, each one seeming doubly more difficult than the one before.

Every time a contration came I would have to stop walking, grab onto my husbands arm, bend over and whinge in pain. Several people walking past in middle of the night stopped to ask my husband if I was alright. He told them yes, that I was just in labor and I was fine.

After an hour of walking I was dilated to 5. The nurses apparently did not think I would progress so rapidly since it was my first baby because they were surprised to see my progress. So they reluctantly admitted me. They asked if I wanted an epidural, I told them I wanted to wait and see if I could go on my own first.

By about 5 am I was DYING in pain! My husband had to go out and seek out the nurse and tell her I wanted an epidural. Well, I couldn't get one now because the anesthesiologist was in surgery and I would have to wait. Meanwhile I was making knots in my long hair by writhing almost rhythmically from one side of the bed to the other.

Finally about 5:30 I get an epidural and THEN they check me (why they didn't check my dilitation first, I will never know) and I'm dilated to a 9.5. So they call my doctor. He says keep trying to hold her off until he comes in to do his rounds at 6:00.

One sympathetic nurse wants to see me deliver before her shift ends so she wheels me into a delivery room and gets me all hooked up and has me start pushing so I can be "ready" when the doctor comes in. She says on the next contraction she would break my water with her fingernail. Then POP! My water broke on it's own! There was tons of it and it even splashed her in the face. Whoops!

She realizes the baby is face up instead of face down. Maybe that's part of why I was dying, I had back labor for a good six hours. She can see the baby's head. There is a head full of black hair. She then attempts and is successful at turning the baby face down. After one more contraction in walks my doctor and I push and out comes the most beautiful baby girl I had ever seen in my life. It was 6:05 am. She was pink and wailing, perfect!!! I remember thinking I really did have a baby inside of me, I wasn't just imagining it!!

Since that day, my life was changed forever.

11 Things I love about Kayla:

1.) Kayla is smart.

2.) Kayla is fun to be around.

3.) She is a good helper.

Kayla helping Laren dig dirt in the backyard on Saturday.

4.) She is responsible.

5.) She is forgiving.

6.) She has a testimony of her own of Jesus Christ and that He will help her when she needs it. She just bore a beautiful testimony in Sacrament Meeting to this effect, a week ago Sunday. She did it all on her own accord too.

7.) Kayla is a voracious reader. We have to take the book away from her at the dinner table.

8.) Kayla chooses good friends.

9.) She has always done well academically.

10.) She is interested in dressing fashionably.

11.) Kayla is musically gifted both at playing the piano and she has a beautiful singing voice.

I couldn't be more proud to be her Mom!!

Kayla, I love you to the Moon and back!! Love, Mom