The Baby Story

Baby Josslyn Noelle Laursen

December 13, 2011

9:24 p.m.

6 lbs. 14 oz.

Our beautiful baby girl is here! She's actually more than a week old now, but this is the first chance I've been able to sit down and write this super long post about it. So here is our baby story!

Starting Friday night the 9th I was having contractions, but they weren't super strong and they weren't close together at all. The closest they would get was at night and they would get to about 10 minutes apart. This went on for the whole weekend but since they weren't getting closer together I couldn't go in so I spent most of the weekend laying around pretending like I wasn't having contractions every 15 minutes. Sunday night was not fun and I packed all my stuff that night for my appointment Monday morning because I was convinced that with all the contractions I was having there was no way I was going to be sent home. 

We went in to our appointment Monday morning but I wasn't progressing, and was only at 1 centimeter and about 90% effaced. But because Josslyn was sitting so low into my pelvis, the doctor was having a hard time finding her heartbeat so he put me on a non-stress test to monitor her heartbeat for a little while. Luckily the nurse decided to monitor my contractions as well since I was having so many. When my doctor saw how consistent my contractions were he told me to go get something to eat and come back in a couple of hours to check me again. When we got back I still hadn't progressed anymore, but he could tell how disappointed and uncomfortable I was so he sent me upstairs to Labor and Delivery anyway to monitor me for a couple of hours.

After a couple of hours there they checked me again but I was only a 1.5, so they couldn't keep me and sent me home. Monday was also Nate's birthday, so we decided that maybe she didn't want to steal daddy's thunder and share birthdays. Nate said he didn't really want to share birthdays but by the end of the day we were both ready for her to be here and didn't really care what day it was anymore. 

Monday night was not a fun night. Contractions got closer and harder, but still not close enough for anything to happen. The closest they got was in the middle of the night at about 6 minutes apart and I was prepared to wake Nate up and go, but they started slowing down by morning. So I got up at around 8:30 a.m. to go to the bathroom and try and do something and right as I went into the bathroom my water broke! So I didn't have to wait long to be able to go back to the hospital! I called to Nate and we gathered all our stuff and went back. 

They admitted me and gave me some generic pain medication because my contractions were so hard, but because they hadn't gotten closer together and were still about 8 minutes apart, we didn't want to slow down the progress. When they got me admitted I was only about 2 centimeters, but was fully effaced and baby had been sitting really low for about two days. Since my body had been going through contractions for the fourth day, I was having a really hard time relaxing and letting my body push itself through the contractions so I decided to get an epidural and would just get some pitocin if this slowed down the contractions. Surprisingly, this was the easiest part! The doctor was really quick and efficient and I was grateful for his help. Soon I was able to relax. We did start me on pitocin as well just to get the contractions to speed up, since they still weren't very close together.

So then the waiting began. But it was much easier to relax than it had been the last three days. By this time, my body was so worn out and I hadn't even started the hard part yet. I got to 10 centimeters at about 5:30 p.m. They then do an hour of what they call "Rest and Descend" to let me rest up and get ready to push, and for the baby to finish descending to where she needed to be. At 6:30 p.m. I started pushing, and the nurse guessed we'd be at it for a while because baby has a very round head that was having a hard time getting past my pelvis. I would push and she would come a little and I would stop and her head would slip back in. 

After pushing for two hours, the doctor is called in and determines if we should keep pushing or if the baby needs help, or if we need to consider other options. Our doctor was actually off on Tuesday's, so the on call doctor, who was awesome, was coming in, she was a little later than the two hour limit, so I kept pushing and by the time she got there, baby was almost out, so we decided to keep going. It took about another 30 minutes when the doctor got there before baby came out. She came out at 9:24 p.m. with a full head of hair! We couldn't believe all her hair, I was so sure I was going to have a bald baby!

It was so amazing to hold the little bundle in my arms finally! She is a master pouter and her little lip sticking out just made me fall absolutely in love with her. Nate, of course, was obsessed with her as soon as he saw her. After getting us both cleaned up they moved us upstairs to the mother baby rooms and it was about 11 p.m. so we just went to sleep. 

The next day we had visits from lots of excited people! Nate left for a little bit to go to Tom and Nicole's sealing at the Logan Temple. I was sad I couldn't be there, but I was glad that Nate still got to go. And later Tom and Nicole came to visit us! They were all dressed up and the nurses were all wondering who they were here for.

You guys are amazing! I'm so glad you came to see us on your wedding day. We also got visits from Nate's parents, his brother Jason and family (Zoe and D'Jayden had to stay behind the glass), Dave and Hayley, Tim and Tara, and Nate's grandpa. We are so glad you all are just as excited about our little one as we are! 

After a week with baby Josslyn we can't imagine what we ever did without her. Our home is so much fuller and incredibly joyful. She already has smiles that she saves just for mom and dad, and I haven't been able to catch her at it yet! She is a champion sleeper and I usually only have to get up once or twice a night to feed her and still get good stretches of sleep. Nate is a good fetcher. Bring me baby, bring me a diaper, take baby back to bed. He couldn't be more amazing to his two girls and does everything for us. He is an awesome dad and loves her like crazy and I love seeing them together.

We are excited for my parents to come this weekend and meet their new granddaughter. I know my dad will LOVE snuggling her just as much as I do!

Thank you everyone for your love and support bringing this amazing little person home.