A Birth Story...

...Continued

Sophia Colette Nourse

After 45 minutes of cleaning me up, we were ready to introduce our beautiful little girl to the family waiting down the hall. Jared roused Grandma Becky, Auntie Anna, and Papa Nourse from their sound sleep, and proclaimed "It's a girl!" They all came in with smiles and tears flowing in abundance. Grandma Becky was the first one to hold little Sophie, followed by Aunt Anna. Unfortunately Papa Nourse had a very bad cold, and was only able to look on in love. Phone calls were made that spurred Grandpa Jim and Uncle Nathan to come rushing to the hospital. After about an hour of oodling and cooing at the baby, the family went home to get some sleep, with promises to return in the morning.

Around 5AM, Erin and Richard arrived to get their peek at our little one. Erin stayed with Sophia and me while Jared, Richard and Nathan ran to McDonald's for some long-awaited nourishment (Jared and I had not eaten since 2PM, and even then we split a grilled cheese so it wasn't much). While the boys were gone, the nurse came in to do Sophia's footprints! She was so good and held very still. We quickly realized that she has daddy's long toes!

Everyone left by 6AM, and it was time to get some rest. After about an hour of sleep, various nurses came in to assess mother and baby, and make sure we were both recovering okay. The pediatrician checked Sophia and said she was doing great! She did mention that she heard a small heart murmur, but that was pretty normal in newborns and that she would check it again the next day. The rest of that day (Thursday) was filled with guests, gifts, assessments, eating, smiling and sleeping. It was surreal, yet wonderful. How could this amazing, beautiful little baby be ours?

A Birth Story...

Sophia Colette Nourse

As most of you know, Sophia joined our family on Thursday, September 27th, 2007. It was the most beautiful (and painful) day of our lives. I am going to share the story over the next several posts, as there is so much to tell.

After our labor date on Tuesday night, I went to bed discouraged because I was not having any contractions. During the night, I woke up to several contractions, but they were very sporadic and infrequent. I woke up Wednesday morning and went to nanny as usual. I started at 9AM, and told Cara that I had been having some contractions, but they had mostly stopped by 7AM that morning. Almost immediately after she left, the contractions started up again, and they were only 7 minutes apart! I was in constant contact with both Jared, and Cara, keeping them aware of the situation. By 2pm, Cara was home and helping me through the "painful" ones (retrospect clearly shows these contractions were nothing in comparison to what was to come). Jared arrived at 3PM. It was at this point that my contractions sped up, and were now only 4-5 minutes apart. Jared drove me to Gary's house, because he has a huge jacuzzi bathtub. I soaked in the warm water for about 20 minutes before we realized it was slowing down the contractions. So I got out immediately. After about an hour, and the contractions were getting more and more intense, we left for the hospital.

This is what the sky looked like on our way to the hospital. God painted us an amazing picture to welcome our miracle into the world.

Jared pulled the car up to the emergency entrance, and I opened my door and climbed out. The second that both of my feet were on the ground, my water broke. Talk about timing! I waddled into the ER, and they wheeled me up to the maternity floor. On the way up, the nurse told me that they only had one room left-- the waterbirth room. Little did she know that we wanted to do a waterbirth! God saved that room just for us. At this point, even though I was in intense pain, I was completely amazed at how God was working everything out. To top it all off, our favorite midwife was on-call, and came in to deliver our baby.

We arrived at the hospital at 6pm, and endured 6 hours of painful contractions before they allowed me to get in the tub. When we arrived, I was dilated to 3cm, 80% effaced and baby was at "0" station. When they finally let me in the tub I was 100% effaced, and baby was at +2 station, but I was only 5cm dilated. It took about 1.5 hours of tub time for me to dilate to 8cm, at which point I got the urge to push. The midwife told me to wait (which was incredibly difficult). After another half hour, I was dilated to 9cm and started to push. After a little over an hour, Sophia made her entrance! Jared pulled her out of the water and held her up for me to see. He told me with amazement, "It's a little girl!"

Jared cut the cord, and then I got out of the tub and onto the bed, where I spent the next 45 minutes cuddling and loving my daughter...

Sophia Colette Nourse

6lbs 13oz

20 1/4 inches long

3:12am, September 27th, 2007

Woodwinds Health Campus

A Birth Story...

Jared Earl Nourse

It was a brisk, December afternoon in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Jan clutched her belly and glanced over at her two-year-old daughter, Cassie, playing on the floor. Fondly, she recalled the many conversations they had had about how excited Cassie was to have a sibling. Jan was nine months pregnant, and had been experiencing some rather painful contractions for awhile now. It was time to call her husband, Gary, at work.

As soon as the call went through, Gary packed up his things, and ran to the car. He drove home in eager anticipation of what the evening might bring. When he arrived, he gathered up his wife and daughter in his arms for a big hug. Jan humored him for about one second, and then pushed away to get in the car. She was in labor after all, and ready to get to the hospital.

They arrived at St. Luke's a few minutes later. The nurses scurried around attending to the laboring mother, while Gary brought Cassie to the children's nursery and dropped her off. This would be her home for the next few hours. After seeing Cassie settle on the floor, with toy in hand, he retraced his steps and began to fill out various admittance and insurance forms. Soon, he was able to join his wife, and support her through each painful contraction. As he looked down into her face, he thought of how lucky he was to experience this with her. Hospitals were just becoming open to the idea of fathers being in the room during labor.

After two hours of pain and pushing, Gary and Jan met their baby son, Jared Earl. He had a full head of dark brown hair, and looked like he had been in a boxing match with all the bruises covering his face. They could tell from the get-go that this child was going to be their wild child-- that he would be the polar opposite of their little angel, Cassie. And he was. ;)

Jared in the hospital nursery, only a few hours old

Jared and his daddy

Cassie playing mommy with her new baby brother

Jared's first Christmas, at three weeks old

Jared Earl Nourse
Born: December 1, 1978 8:30pm
8 lbs. 9oz

St. Luke's Hospital
Cedar Rapids, Iowa

A Birth Story...

(REVISED EDITION)
Naomi Rose Norquist

On a cold Alaskan morning, Becky pulled herself into the truck for the 100-mile journey to the nearest hospital for her 38-week check-up. Her husband Jim was in the driver's seat next to her. They had come to Alaska three months earlier to serve for one year at a Bible camp that was located in the middle of nowhere (so remote in fact that the address read: Mile 95 of the Glen Hwy). The hospital to which they were now headed was a tiny, six-room hospital used mainly for workers building the Trans-Alaskan pipeline. It was nestled in a small town called Glennallen. Shortly after arriving in Alaska, their doctor found out that Becky had given birth to twin boys almost two years previously. He immediately ordered a sonogram to make sure that her large belly did not contain two babies again, as they were not equipped to deal with a high risk pregnancy. During that ultrasound, they found only one beautiful baby girl. They gave her the name Naomi Rose. During those last few months of the pregnancy, Jim would often talk to and sing to his little developing daughter in-utero.

After two hours of bumping along, they arrived at the hospital. The check-up was normal, and the couple was told she had another week or two at least before the baby would come, as she was not at all dilated nor effaced. Jim and Becky piled back into the truck and made the long trip home.

Later that day...

It was getting cold enough now, especially in the Alaskan climate, to start preparing for winter. Jim and Becky started splitting and piling wood for the long, cold winter. After throwing wood for awhile, Becky started to have some fairly painful contractions. She sat down to rest. When the contractions got worse, they decided it may be time to jump back into the truck. They hurried their 22-month-old boys, Andy and Ben, over to the neighbors, and once again set off toward the small hospital. Meanwhile, a snowstorm had been brewing, and now hit them with full force. With a pregnant bladder, and a two-hour drive through the mountains, a stop was inevitable. As they crept along the mountainside, Jim looked for a good spot to pull over for a quick pit stop. Becky carefully climbed out of the truck and emptied her full bladder with the snow swirling around her. A gust of frigid, snow-laden wind sent her back into the truck with a shiver.

When they finally arrived, they were told to wait in the clinic's waiting area, because all of the six hospital rooms were occupied. While they sat there, Becky's labor stopped. The contractions were becoming less consistent. By this time, it was the middle of the night. As you can imagine, this was the perfect recipe for misery. Becky broke into tears. They drove six hours to and from this hospital today, and now the labor had subsided. When dawn started to peek over the horizon, the doctor came in and told the weary couple to go home. Once again, Becky was in tears. Just as they were getting up to leave, SPLOSH! Her water broke.

Since all of the hospital rooms were still full, the staff cleared out the hospital waiting area and turned it into a make-shift room for the laboring mother. There was a pull-out couch that they directed Becky to, and there she laid for most of the day.



After almost sixteen hours of enduring contractions in that hide-a-bed, Becky was moved to the delivery room, where she gave birth to a beautiful little girl. Jim turned shining eyes on his new daughter.



The excited couple made phone calls to the anxious grandparents waiting in the "Lower 48."



Naomi Rose Norquist
October 23, 1983
5:45pm
7lbs. 12 oz.
19 3/4 inches long
Faith Hospital


Naomi's ID wristband


Baby Naomi