Honor's Homecoming

Let me introduce you to the newest member of our eternal family:

The lovely, the beautiful, the peaceful, the cheerful

Honor Ivy Christensen
Born: November 7th, 2012 at 6:24pm
10 lbs. 5 oz.
22 inches

There is so much that I'd like to tell you about what this means to me, but I don't think words can express the gratitude that I feel to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to bring this little piece of heaven into our lives.  In all respects, it has been a true honor!

The birth was amazing.  We were blessed and watched over in every way.

She came very quickly, and we were a little surprised by her size, but more surprised when the nurse said that her length was just 20 inches...You see, all my kids were 22 inches at birth...so yesterday I remeasured her, and she's much closer to 22 than 20...so there's a little revisionist history at play here!  She's a 22 in my book! :)

For being 10 lbs, she was actually my easiest and quickest delivery.  Three and a half hours of labor and 3 (or so) minutes of pushing, and she was here, in our arms...ours forever!  What a treasure!

I was also blessed to be surrounded by a few trusted people who also respected the sacredness of the moment!  My husband, who did a great job of helping me through the harder contractions.  My friend Sarah who is a trained doula who supported me emotionally and did a great job communicating my needs to the medical staff.  My midwife Bonnie, who mostly stayed out of the way, but who also moved quickly to release the tension of the cord which was wrapped around Honor's neck as she was coming out.  The very, very green medical student JT who was just in awe of the whole process--it being his first birth, who I'm sure never imagined a woman in labor would have so much to joke around about, and who also caught the baby.  Cindy, my labor and delivery nurse, who talked and laughed exactly like my mom's best friend, and whose laid back demeanor also allowed me to feel at ease, and just focus on the task at hand.  

(Oh, and I shouldn't forget to mention Dr. Stankiewicz, who is also a member of our ward, who saw me in the office that day and ruled that I was too far dilated to keep walking around town, so he sent us to the hospital...I was dilated to an 8 by the time we arrived!)

Now, we're getting long here, but I'll share two more sweet moments. 

Honor was so quiet for the first few minutes, probably getting over the shock of the quick delivery, as was I.  Then as I held her in my arms, she let out a cry, "Mmmmmma!"  I'll take it!  Her first word was "Ma!" :) And she did that again two more times that night...Ma! Ma!  Love it!

After a regular stay in the hospital, it was time to go home on Friday.  I dressed Honor in a "going home" outfit.  And I told her, "We get to go home now!"  Her face broke out into the biggest smile...her first smile actually.  And we got it on camera (It's the picture at the top of this post!)

Honor knows what it means to be Home, and she was as happy to return to that peaceful, familiar place as we are to have her here with us.

 

  Thanks to everyone for your love, support, and emails asking about our baby girl!  

All is well.