Rebekah Louise

Sunday 8/23/09

3:31 pm
8 lbs. 8 oz.
20 3/4 in.

Our precious Bekah surprised us on Sunday afternoon. My body was still showing no signs of going into labor so we were not even thinking about a hospital visit in the near future. I went to church with the two oldest kids because the younger two were still coughing. So was I but I thought that our Primary president might be the only one of the presidency at church that day due to illness and sick kids so I decided to go to church. However, the last 1/2 hour of church I started having quite painful contractions. I still wasn't sure that it was the real thing because, as I said, my body showed no other signs. These got more and more regular and I told Paul that something might be happening when I got home. I changed and dished up some of the bean dip he made and as I lay on the bed eating the pains got more intense. You would think that by the 5th child I would no for certain that I was in labor, but my husband had to convince me that I should go to the hospital. About 15-20 min. after getting home we were packing bags, calling my mom to watch the kids and loading up in the car. By then we were pretty certain that there would be no return trip without a babe coming back with us. I tried not to show the kids how much pain I was in but that was probably impossible. They handled it well, they were too excited for that baby sister to come out!

I have never had to drive more than 5 min. to get to a hospital while in labor. I thought that I was going to die! I was always grateful when the contractions would hold off for an extra minute between--they were coming every 3-4 minutes! We checked in to the hospital and got changed and weighed and hooked up to the monitors. Around two they checked me and I was at 4 cm. In the next hour they had me answering all their preliminary questions, hooking up an IV and getting me an epidural.

The epidural was a failure. She tried to get one in for 20 min or so (I don't know for certain since pain was making clear thought impossible--it might have been 10 minutes!) Anyway, she couldn't get one in. She thinks there might have been some scarring from a previous epidural. I think that it didn't help that the contractions were coming so hard and fast that I couldn't hold a good position for long. She finally gave me a spinal block and left. However, my reprieve was short lived. After about 20 minutes I was feeling the pain again! An hour after checking in I had my spinal and was checked and was at 8 cm. By now my doctor was there and he told everyone that I go fast and so they got the room ready and 15 min. later I was at a 9 so they finished readying everything and me and I pushed (with a lot of pain since my spinal wasn't working anymore!) But it was short lived. She was born about 5 minutes later; a precious miracle that we could now hold in our arms.

We love her so much and think she gets cuter everyday. I have been awful at taking pictures/videos of her. I am suffering from exhaustion, baby blues, and getting my older kids off to their first week of school. Here are a few of the pictures that we have of her first week at home.

She arrives!

Adoring family

Papa brought the kids to meet their new baby sister that evening and Nama and Grandma Hansen came to visit later that night after the Seminary Fireside was over. Everyone was so excited to meet our little Bekah.

Getting ready to come home


Look at all the hair!!!


We have brought all of our children home from the hospital in this outfit

First bath at home




Miscellaneous photos of her first week


Our tiny bundle of joy. She has been a very good baby! She sleeps all the time right now, we'll see what life is like when she wakes up!



One Week Old!

Our Sleeping Beauty

My youngest son seems to fall asleep all over the house whenever he gets too tired. I think we have more pictures of him in strange sleeping positions and places than all our other kids combined. This has increased since he has learned to crawl out of his bed and will NOT stay in his big boy bed while all his siblings are running around playing (ahhh, one of the joys of summer). I suppose I could be a good mommy and take time out of my day to lay down with him and make him go to sleep, but that boy will not lay still and it is more frustrating and uncomfortable than a nice relaxing time with my baby (maybe being pregnant adds to the frustration as well!) Anywho, all this is leading up to some great pictures of Joshua catching a little needed beauty sleep. Enjoy!


He always seems to have a dirty face! : )


Notice the crossed ankles! This is his normal sitting position. I Love It!


Having trouble sleeping? Try a nice lawn mower ride!


This was at Yellowstone. Just a minute before he had been searching for wild animals, but he was asleep by the time we found some elk--right outside his window!


Just before this he was on top of the chair watching a movie and singing along. A few minutes later I found him like this!


Too tired to even take off his coat first!


We couldn't find him for awhile. We checked all his usual haunts and called and called and I was starting to panic. Then Paul remembered that he had let Joshua watch a movie on the computer. As he walked over there he could see the top of his blonde head and when he turned the computer chair around this is what we found. (He was holding the measuring tape which is one of his favorite toys!) The chair had been pushed in all the way so it didn't cross our minds that he was still sitting there!


This one would be funnier as a video. The position is awkward but with his hand covering his mouth and nose you could really hear him pulling hard to get in a breath of air. Needless to say, he didn't sleep very long this time!


And now the piece de resistance. The next photos are the most recently captured of our Sleeping Beauty:




I was in the other room with the older kids folding clothes and watching a movie. I hadn't heard from Joshua in a while and called out asking him where he was and what he was doing. I didn't get an answer, but I wasn't worried because I hadn't heard any opening doors or anything (they squeak and he always slams them closed!) A few minutes later Paul came in and found him in the above position. At first he only saw his back so he thought he might be playing with his cars on the counters but when he walked around he found him asleep and took that photo. He left and came back a few minutes later and found he had shifted into a more "comfortable" position so took the final photo--gotta love the little plumber's crack there!

LOVE THIS KID! He is always bringing a smile to our faces.