Welcome to Our Family

Hannah will be one week old this evening. Her official due date was March 12, although the ultrasound put the due date closer to the 7th of March. Last Sunday started as any regular Sunday. I was definitely not expecting to have a baby that day. Abe got up early and left for his Stake Meetings. The kids and I got up, got ready, went to Church from 9:30-12:30, (I'm serving in the nursery) and were late getting out of Church.
Anyway, we got home about 1:30 and I put in a couple of frozen lasagnas, we were expecting 4 missionaries at 4:00--at about 1:55 I felt a contraction that was strong enough that I looked at the clock and made a mental note of the time. At 2:15 I felt another, and then at 2:35. At this point I was a little concerned, but not extremely because on Thursday I had only been dialated to a 2 and figured it could take quite a while to get fully dialated and the contractions would probably stop. However, I was concerned enough that I went upstairs into the nursery, locked the door, sat in the recliner, and tried to relax.
Abe called a little after 3:00 and said he was on his way home. I told him that I had been having some contractions and I thought we might have a baby tonight. He called his mom and told her to be on stand by--I had talked to her just about an hour earlier and said that I didn't think the baby would come until the end of the week. Abe got home a little after 3:30 and could tell the baby was coming and called his mom and told her to come on over. We, actually Abe, got the rest of the dinner ready for the missionaries and the first set of Elders got here at 4:00, the second set called and said they were running late but were on their way, we sat down to eat at 4:30. Abe told the missionaries we had to eat fast because we might be having a baby shortly. I excused myself from the table and again, tried to relax and finished packing my hospital bag--it was beginning to seem more real at this point. About 4:45 I called Sister Patty Nash (she lives close, is a good friend, and my visiting teacher) and told her that I thought we might be having a baby and asked if she could come over and watch the kids until Louise got here. We told the missionaries we had to pass on the message and at 5:00 the missionaries were walking out of the door as Sister Nash was walking in.
We told the kids we thought we were going to have a baby and Abe gave me a blessing. I knew we were getting close, but I had no idea how close we actually were. We got to the hospital about 5:30.
We went up to the maternity admissions and as the lady was asking me all of these insurance, medical history questions, I looked down and saw blood on me. I realized that my water (or something) had broken (looking back, I think it happened at home, but I had not really realized it) and I was really worried and knew the baby was coming. I told the lady to keep my card and license and we would finish this later, but now we were having a baby and had to go.
Abe wheeled me down to the nurses station and they ask if they could help. I said, "Yes, this is baby number five, I have a history of fast labors and this baby is coming.” A wonderful nurse, hopped up almost running and got us into the first room she found. She just had me take off my pants and checked me I was dialated between and 8-9, my membranes had ruptured, and it was clear the baby was coming. We had several nurses setting up the room, hooking up IV's, asking medical history questions, taking blood, and getting things ready. Dr. Phillips showed up about 6:00 and after a couple of big pushes Hannah was born at 6:07 p.m. on March 1, 2009. She weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces and was 19 inches long with lots of dark hair.
We called and told the kids that they had a new baby sister and they were all so excited. Louise got them dressed and brought them to the hospital. We are blessed beyond measure to have Hannah here and healthy and part of our family! We love you, Hannah Lynn!