our new little pumpkin

Paige Alta Burton
October 29, 1:43 a.m.
9 lbs., 20 in.












she's here! :) and boy, did she come in a hurry. well, sort of. I started having "false labor" contractions a few weeks ago, which is what happened with gavin, too, but they never intensified or got close enough to really do anything. a couple of nights last week we thought we would be going to the hospital, but then the contractions would slow down again. so tuesday night I got my routine foot rub from nancy (thanks for everything, nancy!) and went to bed at 11:45. the contractions immediately got stronger and were about 2 minutes apart for 20 minutes. then at 12:10 a.m. I felt my water break. I said, "ow! what was that?! I think my water just broke." so I went downstairs and told leif to put his clothes on. we got to the hospital and parked, and it took us about 4 contractions to get inside and check in at the nurses' desk at 12:45. they took me into a labor and delivery room, had me put on a robe, hooked me up to a monitor, and the nurse started asking me this HUGE list of ridiculous medical questions (a step I strongly feel could be done in ADVANCE). all the while I'm having these gnarly contractions and squeezing leif's hand so hard I couldn't believe I didn't hear bones breaking. so the first time the nurse checked me she said I was dilated to a 5 or 6, which I found unbelievable because the pain was already so intense, I knew I had to be further along than that. especially since with the first pregnancy I was already at a 6 and 1/2 when I got to the hospital, and the pain was manageable for another hour after that. I REALLY wanted to MOVE, but I think the nurse wouldn't let me because she knew how close I was and she did NOT want me to have the baby without the doctor there. and I was so HOT and THIRSTY!!! so like 10 minutes later I asked her to check me again because I was in so much pain and felt like pushing already. I was at a 7/8. so the nurse CONTINUED to ask me questions and I'm supposed to answer them while I'm doing all I can to deal with the PAIN and NOT PUSH. I wish I could describe to you the intensity of the pain and the urge to push. it was unbelievable. indescribable. the hardest part was trying not to push because my body did it on its own. so at that point the nurse checked me, picked up the phone and said, "I'm gonna need some help in here," and all these people came rushing in. I heard someone say "Dr. Mac is in the parking lot," and I turned to leif and said, "tell him to run." so after what felt like an eternity, the doctor walked in, and I said, "I'm so glad you're here!!!! can I push????" I have never been more relieved to see anybody in my life. the doctor said, "sure!" and maybe 2 minutes later, baby was here!!!! I went into this second childbirth wanting to do it naturally, but the experience is still too fresh on my mind for me to tell you I would do it again. As of right now, I definitely wouldn't. I asked the nurse a little while after the birth if there would have been time for an epidural if I had come in wanting one. she said I would have had the baby naturally whether I wanted to or not. so I guess it was a good thing that I was semi-prepared for it. After gavin was born I remember being the hungriest I've ever been in my life--this time I was more tired than I've ever been in my life. I just wanted to sleep. one great thing about doing it natural--I was able to get up and go to the bathroom like an hour after birth and I climbed in and out of the wheelchair on my own. post-labor and delivery were SO MUCH BETTER! I'm anxious to see if I heal overall much quicker than before. it felt like it took FOREVER to heal after the first baby. I had an episiotomy the first time, but this time I tore. my biggest concern was that baby would get "stuck" coming out (family history called shoulder dystocia), but I think this time I was too motivated to get that baby out of me for any nonsense like that! :) I definitely couldn't have done this without leif, which i found out later I almost had to do! he told me the next day that he almost passed out. a few times in that room when I wanted to die, the only way I got through it was when I focused on leif's eyes and listened to him say, "you can do this."

anyway, I guess the bottom line is: she's here, she's perfect, and I can't imagine our family without her!


"It has been my blessing to be present at the moment of the birth of each of our five children. In each instance I felt that it was a sacred experience. Clearly something divine and miraculous was taking place. I can hear my wife saying, "Easy for you to say. You weren't the one in pain." Certainly there is plently of what we might call "real-world experience" associated with birth. to all mothers everywhere I readily admit that I didn't share your pain, and I don't pretend to understand.

But, speaking seriously, does not a woman's suffering in the creation of a physical body add to the holiness of that creation and of the woman herself? Her sacrifice further sanctifies something already holy."
--D. Todd Christoferson "A Sense of the Sacred"

thanks for the quote, nat. I love it.