Happy Birthday Leesy-Loo!

Tomorrow my little Elise will be seven years old! Hard to believe! Elise wanted me to post about her birth since I did with the other kids, so here it goes!

Elise was a piece of cake as far as pregnancy and delivery goes. Doug was still in grad school (which means I was still working), but we really felt that it was time to have another baby, and everything was timed pretty much as we had planned it. I had not a minute's trouble while I was expecting her, and worked up until just a few hours before she was born with no trouble.

Elise was due on July 31st, but because of the complications with Morgan, we knew it would be a scheduled c-section and it was scheduled for the 24th.

I worked on the 16th, and got home just in time to say prayers with Morgan and go to bed. During the prayer, I had a contraction that I thought was the real thing, but I kind of wished it away, and went to bed.

Well, by midnight that night I was pretty sure that my labor was real. By 2:00 a.m. I knew for sure.

This whole time, Doug was sleeping and had not a clue. I figured my labor would be days long like it was with Morgan and I had plenty of time - and I really wasn't that uncomfortable so I just let him sleep.

I also didn't want to bother the doctor or Pam (Doug's sister, who was going to watch Morgan when we went to the hospital), so I told myself that I'd just call them at 6:00 and head to the hospital then.

I soaked in the tub for a few hours, read some books, timed my contractions, etc. By 5:30 a.m. I was in pretty heavy labor and decided to get my bag ready and get Doug up and going so we could get to the hospital. (Yes, I know this sounds like a crazy person, but it's true).

At 6:00 I called the doctor's paging service and told them I was on my way to the hospital, then called Pam to see if she'd run down to stay with Morgan, and we left the house about 6:20.

When I got to the hospital I was dilated to a 4 and 100% effaced. They immediately gave me the epidural and took me in to surgery, and Elise was born at around 8:00 a.m. via c-section.

Honestly, there was not a moment's trouble with anything, until the doctor yelled at me and said, "Your uterus was paper thin and you're lucky it didn't rupture! Don't you ever, ever, let yourself labor again! You get in here immediately when you feel the first contraction!" Lesson learned.

Actually my experience with Ashlyn ended up being so completely different that I never really had that choice. But had it been different, I would have learned my lesson. Honestly.

The very worst thing about her whole delivery was that the nurses forgot to take off my bandage when they should have and it became embedded in my skin. Quite painful to take off! But other than that, Elise was an absolute ease to bring to earth.

Elise was a beautiful baby. I am reminded of this when I watch her birth video, which the girls just put in the other day. I wish I had some digital photos of that time, but I don't. But she had a lot of dark hair and gorgeous dark eyes, and being a c-section baby she just had a perfectly-shaped head and no bruises or anything. Really pretty baby. In fact, one lady at church the first time I brought Elise said, "that is the prettiest baby I have ever seen - even counting my own! And I'm not just saying that!"

From day one, Elise has had such a sweet disposition. We always thought she was extremely shy - but then finally she was diagnosed with a hearing problem and once that was fixed we realized - she's not shy, she just couldn't hear people talking to her or know what to say to respond! Once we got her hearing fixed, she was very gregarious and fun - even downright silly. She has also always been a sleeper! The night we brought her home from the hospital, it was "Steel Days" in American Fork and we lived really close to the fireworks, so we went outside to watch them. She slept through the whole thing! Now we know that was her hearing, but really, she would sleep through the night almost right off the bat, and will still sleep forever if I let her. Last year she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, which also contributes to the sleeping.

Overall, she has just been a really easy and pleasant kid. Almost always! She gets along well with both Morgan and Ashlyn, and can easily switch from "older kid" to "younger kid" play, depending on which sister she is with. She has the longest, most graceful fingers and since she was born we have been convinced that she will use those to be a fantastic musician someday. She already shows a lot of promise on the piano and violin. She is switching to cello this year. She is also a straight "E" (A) student in school and does her best in all she does. She is a sweetheart.

We love our Elise and hope she has a fantastic birthday!

Now, we can forget about birthday for 7 months!! Since we crammed all five of our birthdays between February 19th and July 17th, we can now rest until I hit the big 38 in February!