Skip to main content

David's Birth Story

Happy Birthday to David! David is the child who made us parents. Here is his birth story. We look so young and, actually, we were.

Bringing him home from the hospital to our basement apartment--we weren't supposed to have any children there but we were moving soon

With David coming first, I had no idea what to expect for his birth. A few weeks before he was born, I started feeling mild contractions. I was naively hopeful that this first early labor was as hard as it was going to get but, of course, it wasn't.  Every evening I would start having mild contractions and then it would quit about the time I went to bed. I went to the doctor about a week before my due date and he said I was dilated to 3cm which was a lot of progress for a first baby. He also said the baby was face up instead of face down and he wanted to try and turn him. So he did and it really hurt! The doctor thought the baby would be born soon--and he was right--he was born about 12 hours later.

The new Aunt Heidi holding her nephew; Kent's sitting next to her

That evening I started having contractions but this time they didn't go away. In fact, they started happening every minute, became very intense, and were pretty hard to deal with. So we went to the hospital around midnight and I was dilated to 4cm so they checked me in. When the nurse was trying to put in an IV and digging around in my arm a lot, Scott started feeling lightheaded and almost passed out! Soon I got an epidural although it was a little too strong because when it came time to push the baby out, I couldn't feel anything. I progressed quickly then I pushed for two hours with nothing happening. The doctor showed up. He pulled him out with forceps and there was David! It was a relatively easy and short first birth. I did have a lot of soreness for several weeks but otherwise I recovered well.


We didn't have much money so I opted for a 12-hour stay at the hospital and we came home that evening. I had a private room at the hospital that seemed very small especially when the nurse came in and seemed very loud, especially after a night of no sleep. I actually knew her from my freshman dorm so I guess she was extra friendly.

This was David's blessing outfit



For dinner, we went to my Aunt Sally's house and took a 4-generation picture with my parents and grandparents

Once we got home, I realized that babies really do want to eat every 3 hours which I had not realized. I was a sound sleeper in those days so a few times David would be screaming in his cradle at the foot of our bed and Scott would have to wake me up to feed him. I quickly learned to wake up when he was crying.

He was really good at nursing thankfully but one challenge we had is that every so often, he would get all filled up and then throw up everything. That lasted about two months and then it went away. Otherwise, he didn't spit up at all--it was all or nothing.

When David was 6 weeks old, we moved to Los Alamos for a summer job and Scott grew a beard

David was a very tense and strong baby. He really struggled to relax and go to sleep, especially when he had been up for too long. It took us several months to figure out that he needed to go to bed as soon as he was tired or there would be a lot of screaming involved.

David at 3 months propped against the couch


I look at these pictures and remember how clueless I was. I thought I would know more being the oldest of a large family--but I was wrong. Fortunately David was pretty healthy and we eventually figured things out. Since he was about 3 years old, David was a relatively easy child to raise. He wanted to do what was right, be responsible, and take initiative. His parents just had to figure out how to get out of the way.

 I am so grateful I get to be a mom. It's the hardest job in the world but also the most rewarding. Having children brings a lot of meaning and purpose to my life. I have learned so much being a parent.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Our Cousin Drew

 This last week, my brother and his wife lost a very precious son, just 13 years old. He collapsed while running with a cross-country team and passed away before he could be revived. Everyone that knew Drew is broken-hearted at this loss. He was the happiest, most agreeable kid we knew. I remember him being at my house without anyone close to his age to hang out with, so he found our Duplo blocks and started building even though it is a toy that boys his age don't usually enjoy. He was so content. He didn't complain that I ever remember. His mother always called him the perfect child. He will leave a big hole in not only his immediate family but our extended family as well.  Here is a poem my aunt shared that seems fitting: Leave Taking How I would have liked to wave goodbye  and watch until you turned and smiled and disappeared on the horizon. You who taught me to dance  and let me teach you,  who laughed at my stories  and winked at me when I was sad. I can  just see you trav
Post a Comment
Read more

Remembering Drew

 This weekend we celebrated Drew's life. On Thursday night, we gathered as an extended family and had a dinner then sat in a big circle and talked about our memories of him. I took some notes and here is what people said. Grandpa (Gary Hansen):  The last time we saw Drew was last week on the 4th. I remember all the cousins on the trampoline, bouncing up and down and playing basketball. Grandma (Susan Hansen):  I asked Drew to come over last winter to teach my Activity Day boys how to make origami stars. He was very patient in working with them even though they were pretty clueless. Eventually they all went home happily with their stars. Paula: This last winter we invited Bruce and Michelle over for dinner and we didn't have anyone his age for him to hang out with. I remember that Drew found the Duplo blocks on his own and played with them all by himself, quite cheerfully entertaining himself. I asked him if he wanted to play with a different toy--maybe something more sophistica
Post a Comment
Read more

Drew's Funeral

Yesterday was the viewing for Drew and then today was the funeral. There were a LOT of people at the viewing. Bruce and Michelle greeted people for almost four hours yesterday and then again this morning before the funeral. Bruce said that if weren't for Drew's death, it would be the best week of his life with so much love being shown to them. Friday actually began with a family run in Drew's honor. We started at a church by the new Lindon temple and ran to Bruce and Michelle's house with breakfast following. Friday night was the viewing. There was a very nice display of all things Drew. This was one of the pictures displayed and I recognized someone I know: We stood in line and the paramedics who worked on Drew stood in line behind us so we got to talk to them. Here's a fun fact:  They cover both Orem and Vineyard but Vineyard gets a lot more 911 calls than Orem per capita. It's a younger population and they are quicker to call. They said it's hard when the
Post a Comment
Read more