hewitt's story

In honor of Hewitt's birthday, I thought I'd take some time to capture his birth story. This is one of my very favorite stories to tell (and I'd be surprised if you haven't heard it already). If birth stories aren't your thing, then skip the text and just enjoy the photos.

Hewitt was due on October 4th. Since Burke was almost a week overdue, I was expecting the same with baby #2. I was quite surprised when I went to the doctor on Wednesday, September 29th, to find that I was already 4.5 cm dilated! Rob was in MBA school at the time, and when I reported the news that the baby might be coming sooner than we expected, I was told, "You really can't have the baby until Friday, because I have papers and tests until then." I did my best to stay relaxed, but was very nervous on Thursday evening when I started to feel horrible and began throwing up (again). Somehow we made it until the weekend. All during General Conference on Saturday the 2nd, I relaxed in the rocking chair and listened to my "hypnobirthing" CD. I had high hopes that this birth would be a much better experience than Burke's birth and took steps to control the outcome as much as I could. I switched from an OBGYN to Certified Nurse Midwives, hired a doula to assist us at the hospital, and took hypnobirthing classes to learn to relax and focus!

After the afternoon session of conference, we left our little apartment in BYU married student housing and drove to Rob's sister's house in Provo to celebrate the 6th birthday of our darling niece. I was having a contraction when we walked through the door around 4:20 and was asked by my sister-in-law, "Should you be here?" :). I was feeling really upbeat, although I was starting to have more and more contractions throughout the party. We ate pizza, opened gifts (including "Hippo" for our new baby), and had cake and ice cream. The time came for the men to get ready to leave for the Priesthood meeting at church. I was feeling very uneasy about Rob leaving, but didn't feel right about asking him to stay either. I was trying to communicate through my eyes he shouldn't go, but I guess we aren't that couple that can communicate volumes with one "look" at each other... So, Rob took off with the men, and Burke and I continued to visit with Rob's mom and three of his sisters. The contractions continued and got more regular and I decided to call my doula to check in with her. Because I was so cheery and normal acting (I could talk normally through each contraction), she told me that it sounded like I was doing fine and that I should call her again when I thought we were getting closer to going to the hospital. A little while later things changed. I got very serious and did not want to be visiting with anyone. I started to cry and Rob's youngest sister said, "I'm calling Rob."

Rob was able to listen to only the first talk of the meeting, before his cell phone vibrated. He drove to up the hill to his sister's house and we headed to our apartment to pick up our bags. I really felt like I had to go to the bathroom and so I walked up the flight of stairs and went inside to go and to grab my pillow. It was there in the bathroom that I first had the thought, "I do not want to have this baby in my bathroom!" It then seemed like a mad dash to get to the hospital. It took us about 15-20 minutes to drive from Provo to the hospital in American Fork. Several calls were made in the car: To the doula and midwives that we were on our way. To my mom: we are swinging by your place to drop Burke off...on second thought, there is no time. Meet us at the hospital! Things got pretty intense in the car and all I could think was that I did NOT want to have this baby in the car. Rob is a wonderful guy and husband, but not the person to deliver a baby! About 5 minutes from the hospital, I swore during an intense contraction and was horrified to hear sweet, two-year-old Burke repeat the word from the back seat. As bad as I felt for swearing, Rob and I started laughing really hard which made the pain and discomfort all the worse.

We finally arrived at the hospital parking lot and my mom met me at the car with a wheel chair (which I needed) at 7:10pm. We headed upstairs to Labor and Delivery and I didn't get much of a response when I told the woman at the desk, "It feels like this baby is coming right now!" They led me to a room and asked me to change into a gown while the got a nurse to check me. I had trouble getting changed mostly because the contractions were coming so fast. It seemed like an eternity (at least 5-10 minutes, but I'm not sure) until the nurse showed up. I felt a little justified when she told me that I was almost at a nine and that my bag of waters was right there and very tight. The baby's head was so low and I felt the urge to push. They moved me to the delivery room and by the time I got on the table I was at a 10 and ready to go. The bag of waters BURST spraying the nurses in the room (so sorry about that). I began pushing and it seemed to take a while but I believe it was only about 10 minutes. I felt some burning and hardly had time to notice who was in the room. The midwife, Jackie Hyland, was luckily at the hospital, and the doula arrived while I was pushing. Our little boy was born at 7:40 pm- the same time as Burke! It was such a relief when he came out! He cried right away and was very pink. A beautiful 6 lb. 10 oz. baby boy with fuzzy red hair.

I was in love, and Rob (still in his white dress shirt) and I both sobbed with joy.

I was a little dazed and delirious over what had transpired. Hewitt was born exactly thirty minutes from the time we entered the hospital parking lot. That is what I would describe as a speedy delivery. In fact, there were still 20 minutes left of the priesthood meeting Rob was attending. We still hadn't decided on a name. Elliott, Emmitt, and Hewitt were the front runners. I was discussing these names and my doula said, "Oh I love the name Elliott!" I think because I was so exhausted I didn't really think to confer with my husband and we just started calling him Elliott John, but really we just kept calling him Burke out of habit :). It wasn't until the next day after friends and family had visited and we kept hearing, "Baby Elliott," that Rob said that he wasn't so sure. We hadn't filled out any official paper work yet, so we kicked the last visitors out of the room and had a good discussion. I remember Rob telling me, "I can't keep calling him Elliott. It isn't the right name." We agreed that the right name for this little boy was Hewitt. Hewitt John. A perfect fit.

Hewitt just after his baby blessing; wearing his Great-Grandfather Peterson's blessing dress:

Other favorites:

Hewitt is what I would call a true original, and he's always had his own way of doing things. I have learned a lot from being his mother such as the importance of patience, and that an increase of love can often be more effective than any other form of discipline. Hewitt is passionate. He is sensitive and defends and sticks up for others. He is creative, funny and independent. He is simply my Hewitt and I love him so much.