Ryan Park Sorenson

Wow...it's been a long time since I've blogged.  It's amazing how having a baby totally consumes your life.  These past 5 weeks have been a blur...the best, hardest blur of my life.

Like I said in the below post, our sweet baby boy was born on April 23, 2011.  What an amazing day it was. 

Park and I got to the hospital and were admitted at 9 am.  After our amazing labor and delivery nurse, Jen, asked me about a million questions and hooked me up to the monitors to monitor my contractions and the baby's heart beat, Dr. Thackeray came in to check me and break my water at 10:10 am.  Shortly after my water was broken, I had two really painful contractions.  Just after that second contraction, a medical student knocked on our door and asked if we minded if he shadowed Dr. Thackeray and was present for the birth of the baby.  We of course said yes, and before he left our room, he asked if I needed anything.  Yes.  I did.  I made him go get the nurse so she could call the anesthesiologist and get me an epidural.  Five minutes later I was lying on my side, squeezing Park's hands as tight as I could.  Getting the epidural was horrible...but as soon as that medicine kicked in it was smooth sailing.  Well...minus the initial anxiety I was having from not being able to move or feel the lower half of my body.  I kept asking Park to come over to my bed and rub my legs and feet, which he soon became annoyed with because he was busy working on the laptop trying to finish one of his final projects for one of his classes. 

Nurse Jen initially told us she thought I would have the baby around 9 pm, 12 hrs after we got to the hospital. But...she was wrong.  Dr. Thackeray came back to check me at 1:45 pm and told me that I was already 9 cm dilated.  It took me less than 3 and a half hours to go from 4 cm dilated to 9 cm dilated.  He said he was going to go change and that he would be back at 2:30 pm so I could start pushing.  We ended up calling our mom's just in time for them to make it for the delivery.  In the delivery room was Park, my mom, Park's mom, Cathy, and just after I started pushing, nurse Jen told me that my sister Mary was waiting outside the room, so we let her come in, too.  I pushed for just about 30 minutes, with my mom holding my left leg and Park holding my right.  Dr. Thackeray got me a mirror, so I was able to watch the whole delivery.  As soon as that baby boy was put on my chest and I finally saw his face, I was in love.  Love at first site.  He looked just like me. I was 6 lbs 9 oz and 21 inches long when I was born, and baby Park was also 6 lbs 9 oz and 21 inches long.  He has big hands, big feet, long arms, and long legs.  Fingers crossed...he's going to be a tall boy.

Park and I decided to name our son Ryan Park Sorenson.  In our families, it is tradition to name your children after someone special and give family names.  We chose Ryan for my cousin Ryan Nelson, who is probably the most amazing 16 year old boy you will ever meet.  I wrote about Ryan in a previous post.  He was born with spina bifida and is unable to walk, but is the best wheelchair athlete you'll ever meet.  Also, Park's best friend's name is Ryan Bowles.  He is such a great friend to Park and an all around amazing guy.  Big Park was named after his grandpa, Frank Park, who went by Park.  Park is Christian Park, and goes by Park...so we decided to carry on the tradition and name baby boy Ryan Park, and call him Park.  It fits him perfectly.

My labor and delivery experience was amazing.  I was very calm and relaxed...not one bit nervous.  In my patriarchal blessing, it says, "your body will function properly during childbearing."  Pretty cool, huh?  That alone was enough to reassure me that all would be well, but then Park gave me the most amazing priesthood blessing right before we left for the hospital that morning, and I knew that everything was going to be perfect that day. 

We stayed in the hospital for 48 hours, and had lots of visitors.  I had wonderful nurses the whole stay.  The day we left, Park had a final, so my mom and my aunt Martha helped me and baby Park get ready to leave the hospital and then drove us to Park's parent's house, where Park, baby Park, and I stayed for 2 and a half weeks while my mom's house was finished being renovated. 

Here are some pictures taken in the hospital: