varga ventures: the birth story

we welcomed a beautiful baby into our family on march 29th!

i had been having contractions off and on for a week or so and was starting to get pretty grumpy about them not progressing. i went to the general women's broadcast on saturday night and sat by myself without talking to a single person while there. i was so ready to not be pregnant any more! i hadn't been sleeping well and all the contractions were making me so exhausted.

i woke up around 4:00 am on sunday the 29th having pretty steady contractions. they weren't too strong, but i couldn't sleep through them so i got up and played on our ipad until about 6:00. it started to get to the point where i'd pause the game and breathe through a contraction. i took a shower at 6:00 and ryan was surprised that i was getting ready so early. i told him i was having contractions and it wasn't long before he could tell i was breathing through the pain. i got everything ready and lined up cachet to come over and stay with the boys. we got them up and ready for church at 7:00 and cachet came over while they ate some breakfast. kimmie told me several times she'd take the boys when we went to the hospital, but i didn't figure she wanted 4 kids under 4 through sacrament meeting!

we snuck in the back of the hospital, trying to avoid any residents - but got caught by reid as we walked past the cafeteria. they got us checked in upstairs and i was already dilated to a 6! my ob's daughter (who is also in his practice, but doesn't usually do vbac deliveries) was in doing rounds, so she came in to check on me while she waited for her dad to come in. in the meantime, ryan and i played 'words with friends' on our phone and i read a little. my nurse thought i was crazy to just be sitting there reading a book while i was in labor. what else was i supposed to do?

they said they'd wait for an epidural until they broke my water - opposite of what happened with both boys. i was hoping for a real light epidural like i had with isaac, but it wasn't long before my legs were dead weight. after dr. bullock (the daughter) broke my water, labor slowed down and the baby's heart rate decelerated a few times. they kept having me adjust my position until things got moving again. dr. bullock (the dad) called as i was getting ready to push and dr. bullock (the daughter) told him i was delivering so he probably wouldn't make it.

we didn't find out the gender of this baby, so it was extra exciting to anticipate her coming. cody has been sure for months that it was going to be a girl. he'd tell everyone, 'i really think its going to be a sister.' he decided that if it was a brother that we were going to give it away. when we asked who we'd give the baby to...grandma? too far, aunt beth? too far, uncle david? too far. i think we decided we could give a brother to kimmie so that it'd be just down the street. the nurses thought the whole thing was so cute, but i didn't think they'd think it was quite so cute when we had a crying 3 year old wanting to give a boy away! luckily we welcomed a baby girl into our family at 1:08 and avoided the whole problem!

cachet had taken the boys with her family to church and texted from time to time to check how things were. once we had the baby, she announced it in primary (she's primary president). kimmie said cody was so excited to have a sister!

we didn't have a name right away, but her stats were:

20.75 inches long

7 lbs. 12 oz.

it seemed like it took forever before they moved me to my room, but it took a while for the epidural to wear off enough for me to walk. we had a few near falls as i discovered how little my left leg actually obeyed my ideas! we definitely got some perks with ryan being a resident at the hospital. they made sure to keep our name confidential during delivery so we wouldn't have any residents stopping by and gave us the biggest room with a great view. reid ended up being the baby's first doctor and gave her her first exam that afternoon.

ryan left around 5, once we were settled. he picked the boys up from cachet's, but ended up staying for dinner. cody and isaac were so excited to meet the new baby. cody still wasn't sure it was a girl, so he kept asking if it was a sister.