Hi! I'm Alayna Marie!

Hi!  I'm Alayna Marie!  I was born on January 12, 2015 at 8:33pm in Salt Lake City, Utah.

This is the story of my birthday: 

On January 12th, Mommy woke up having felt slight cramping all throughout the night.  Pretty soon those cramps turned into contractions.  Mommy called the doctor.  He said to wait it out a bit longer.  Around 2pm, contractions went away and Mommy was feeling a little silly because she had already told everyone that she was going into labor.  Then around 4pm, they started again.  They were a bit stronger this time.  Mommy, Daddy and Gavvy went to a prescheduled appointment with Dr. Beckstead at 4:30.  The doctor said Mommy was 3+ dilated and 80% effaced.  Mommy asked him to strip her membranes, but the doctor said there was nothing there to strip.  The uterus was already completely detached from the lining.  Then Dr. B. asked what we were going to do with Gavin.  We told him Matt's parents would drive up from Eagle Mtn.  He said, "You better have them come up now."  By the time everyone got home, Mommy's contractions were getting stronger and closer together.  Daddy told me how Mommy was acting:

Every time a contraction would come, Mommy would say things like:  "I feel another contraction coming on!  Maybe we should go to the hospital.  I need an epidural!"

But once the contraction went away, Mommy would pronounce:  "I'm not sure if I'm in labor or not.  I don't want to go to the hospital and have them send us home.  I'm just fine waiting this thing out."

At 6:15 pm, Mommy decided that even if they did send us back home, we should probably go to the hospital.  So Gavvy got dropped off at a neighbor's and Daddy drove Mommy to LDS Hospital (one of the finest hospitals around).

The nurse on duty decided to wait 10 minutes and have the nurse taking over her shift check me, but my contractions started to get really bad.  She quickly checked me, got a concerned look on her face, and said I was dilated to an 8.  She then immediately got on her pager and started paging the anesthesiologist, another nurse to bring an antibiotic, and another nurse to call my doctor and have him come now.  I was just about ready to make my debut, but the doctor wasn't there so I had to wait.  Doctor B. came at 8:15, suited up and after 2 pushes I came into this world at 8:33 pm!

 Mommy fell in love with me from the very start.  The first thing she noticed about me was how tiny I was - especially my ears.  Mommy was pretty surprised by my hair as well - bushy 'n' brown in the back!

 Dr. B. checked my cleft lip and palate.

 I weighed 7lbs, 1.8 ounces.

 I was 19.5 inches long.

 Daddy was smitten with me and couldn't stop smiling.

Over the course of my hospital stay, I got to drink from special bottles with Pigeon nipples,

got foot printed,

 took a bath, and got awakened from my sleep numerous times to be poked and prodded.

 I couldn't wait to see my older brother so we left the hospital 1/2 day early.  Daddy dressed me in a stylin' outfit.

 Then he carried me out to the waiting room.

 I got to meet my older brother for the first time!  When he first saw me he waved and said, "Hello, Baby Alayna!  I'm Gavvy!"  Then he tickled my head and my toes.

 I love my older brother, and I'm pretty sure he loves me too.

 My Family

 I was pretty fussy when they put me in the car.  Luckily Gavin brought me a couple toys to play with.

 Once the car got rolling, I dozed off and blew bubbles with my spit.

 Grandma/pa Anderson were so thrilled to meet me,

and so was Grandma Sorensen.

Everyone tells me I'm such a good sleeper, an even better cuddle-er, and that I've melted all their hearts.      

Tea Party

On January 7th, I hosted a tea party for the lovely ladies I visit teach with.  We had so much fun girl talking and giggling.  Although I didn't snap any photos of us, I remembered to get some of Gavin - or should we say, Gavina?!

I love visiting teaching!  Some of my closest friends have come from doing it.  I know it's how the Lord  wants His daughters to watch over each other here on earth.

Retraction!

I was wrong.  Ya know how my mommy sense told me she'd be born end of December or first part of January?  Yeah...  not going to happen.  That mommy sense came strictly from my only experience with Gavin: the head first (sometimes w/o thinking), driven, huge force of momentum that he is - came barreling through the birth canal one week early.  Not to mention my body was showing signs of "get this wild child out of me!" much, much sooner!

With Alayna, it's been a whole different story.  She's just taking her sweet little time.  Chillin' in there, I'm sure. My body is nowhere close to having her in the next few days.  I even have plans to host a tea party for the ladies I visit teach this week.

This is good.  Perhaps it reflects that she'll have a more calm, patient temperament?  If nothing else, it's letting her grow and get chunky - chunk that she'll need when feeding her out of the womb gets a little tricky.  And... I feel GREAT!  Very little swelling / indigestion, and she's still sitting up high which means I'm not walking around with a bowling ball between my legs!

So... just writing this retraction on those contractions - that haven't even started yet!

P.S.  Matt just read this and said, "Now that you have posted this, she'll come tomorrow."  (Ha, ha! -- But I don't think so!)

Happy 2015!