The Birth of Crimson

The Birth of Crimson Rose Estella

What makes Crimson unique among the rest of our children?

• She was born with hair.
• Her hair is dark, almost black.
• She likes to suck her fingers and she will take a pacifier.
• She came in the night.

What went well during the birth?

• The midwives arrived in time. They are Suzie Terwilliger and Stella.
• Canyon slept through the whole thing.
• The rest of our children slept through most of the labor. I woke Cassidy, Cayden and Catheryn to come see the final moments. Catheryn said she was too tired and wanted to stay in bed. That was a good thing.
• Cassidy and Cayden were super excited to see the birth of their new sister. As Carolyn’s vagina opened to permit Crimson to exit, so did the eyes of her brother and sister. They stared in great wonder and excitement as the baby came out. They were very mature about the whole thing.
• During the night, there was a great storm. 12” of snow dumped at our house. Places in Chugiak were without power for almost 24 hours. We never had a power outage. I got our kerosene heater and lantern out of storage and accessible in case they were needed, but thankfully they weren’t.
• I was able to cut the umbilical cord. Cayden was offered but his sensitive inexperienced self didn’t want to ‘hurt’ the baby or mommy.
• Before putting the kids to bed, Carolyn read a book to them. It was so nice to see all of our children gathered around their mother as she showed them that she loved them. The whole time she is reading, she is laboring. By this time, she is having contractions every 10 minutes.
• Cayden went outside and shoveled 12” of snow off of the sidewalk and made a path to our midwives cars. That was super awesome of him. I later went out and brushed all of the snow off of their cars.

What didn’t go so well during the birth?

• Carolyn lost a lot of blood.
• Carolyn lost a lot of sleep. (the whole night to be exact.)
• I wasn’t able to film the actual birth.
• We didn’t have a photographer there to take some great shots of the whole thing. It was a pretty busy room though. Carolyn and I were up on the bed. Stella and Suzie were either at Carolyn’s side or at her feet. Stella was up on the bed to apply pressure to Carolyn. Cassidy and Cayden were at the foot of the bed watching with amazement.
• Carolyn was in great pain during this labor.
• After the baby did come out, Carolyn was given the baby to hold. It was too much work for her. This gave Cassidy an opportunity to shine. She was such a good big sister holding Crimson. Keeping her calm and quiet. Talking nicely to her.
• Cayden’s first reaction to hearing that he has a new sister was audible disappointment. He told us afterwards that he went into a closet and cried. He went back to sleep after the birth and when he woke up he was much more excited about his sister. He wanted to hold her. He kissed her. He told her that he loved her. He is a great big brother.

This weekend has shown how fickle the weather in Alaska can be. Saturday night as we were driving to the ward Christmas party, the temperature was warm and the air was calm. As we were driving home, the temperature had dropped and the wind was threatening to blow our car off of the road. Snow was blowing decreasing visibility.

Sunday morning we woke up to attend church. It was an enjoyable experience as usual, but Carolyn was feeling exhausted and nauseous. As we were driving home the wind was blowing the rain horizontally. The roads were icy and it created trepidation as we drove. It was fortunate that we didn’t have anywhere to go that afternoon.

We ate lunch, Carolyn took a nap, and me and the children watched some videos portraying the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. This inspired our kids to want to act this out themselves. We practiced while mom was sleeping and were going to perform for her after she woke up.

We started the play at about 4 pm and everyone was included. Carolyn played the part of Elizabeth, mother of John. She was a natural at it since her middle name is Elizabeth, and she was pregnant. As we were acting out the play, Carolyn was laying on the couch still not feeling well. She kept asking what the time was. I thought that she was getting impatient with how long the play was. Turns out she was having contractions. They started out every 10 minutes, but within an hour they were every 6 minutes.

We called our midwives, Suzie and Stella. As they were driving over, we all worked as a family to clean the house a bit. Carolyn insisted on cleaning too. Suzie arrived first at about 6 pm. Stella arrived within half an hour afterwards. By this time the contractions had stopped. We got the kids ready for bed and Carolyn read them a story. It was great to see her spending time with her children even as she was uncomfortable. She really does love her children.

After we put the kids to bed Carolyn and I went for a walk. It was interesting to look out over Eagle River valley and see no lights. There was an extensive power outage, but we were fortunate that we weren’t affected. This night would have been more complicated. I had pulled our kerosene heater and lanterns from storage to make them accessible if needed. While walking Carolyn had some more contractions. We were called by Stella because Canyon had been woken by snow sliding off the roof. Heavy wet snow was falling after a day of rain. This was too much to maintain a hold on the metal roof of our home. By the end of the night 12” would fall.

When we got home, Suzie checked Carolyn. She had been dilated to a four prior to our walk, but was now at a seven. Good job Carolyn. She got in the shower to stimulate more contractions. This worked as planned. It was time for everyone to rest though. Suzie and Stella camped out on our couch and floor. Carolyn and I went upstairs to our room to lie down. Carolyn was not able to fall asleep. Carolyn was a sweetheart and gave me permission to fall asleep. The justification was that I was going to take care of the kids the next day and needed my energy.

This went on till about 2 in the morning when her contractions started to get more intense and frequent. Sensing that the baby would come soon, I went to wake our three oldest children. Catheryn was very aware of her body and declined to come up. She said she was tired. I am glad that she stayed in bed. Carolyn labored standing at the foot of the bed. She leaned over and placed her hands on the bed. Cassidy and Cayden laid down at the head of the bed both looking across at their mother. I sensed pride on their faces as they saw their mother working so hard to birth this new baby.

Carolyn’s water broke finally and then she felt the need to push hard. Carolyn had been standing at the foot of the bed and leaning over onto the bed. She later would say that she felt like the baby’s head was hanging out of her as she crawled up into bed. She laid on her back and started pushing hard. She was in obvious discomfort. I had previously planned to be the one to catch the baby. Seeing my wife so uncomfortable, I elected to stay up by her head and hold her hands and support her legs.

Cassidy and Cayden were so excited to see the baby come, their eyes widened with each contraction. They stood at the foot of the bed during this time. They were so curious and excited. Carolyn was very uncomfortable and you could tell the kids were both concerned for their mother and anticipating the arrival of a new baby.

A strange thing was happening. The baby’s head appeared to have hair on it. I had never seen this before on our other children. It was fun to see a baby born with hair. As the baby was coming out you could see that one of the hands was held tight towards the face. Carolyn was pushing out a baby who refused to put her hands down. This baby was already proving to be a difficult one. I hope that this is the exception and not the norm.

The baby’s head was evicted from the womb and the baby turned it’s head automatically to start working the shoulders out. The whole body followed. The baby was placed up on Carolyn’s chest. Cassidy and Cayden were there by her side to see their new sibling. Cassidy was asked to call out the gender by previous arrangement. “It’s a boy, no wait, it’s a girl.” I admit, I was hoping for a boy, but I didn’t feel disappointed when she corrected her mistake. That just makes my only son that much more special. Cayden was audibly and visibly disappointed at the announcement. He really wanted a brother.

This new girl had a real high pitched but not very loud cry. She cried for quite some time nonstop. This of course made her parents nervous thinking that we had ourselves another crier. She calmed down and has turned out to be a real pleasant baby. After I cut the umbilical cord, I was able to hold the baby. I was second after Carolyn to hold her. It was a great experience to not have to wait after everyone else had a turn. She was so precious to hold. A new child in our family. She is welcomed and already very much loved. It was in November of 2010 that I felt prompted that we were to have another baby in our family. To finally hold this child destined to be in our family is great. I expect great things from Crimson Rose as I do from all of our children. With my wife Carolyn, I know we can raise our children to be the children that their Heavenly Father desires them to be. It is a great blessing to participate in bringing choice spirits into this world, providing them with physical bodies, and showing them the way to return to their Heavenly homes. I love my children, each and every one of them.