Birth Story of Sierra Noel

Sierra Noel
December 25, 1990
8 lbs 8 oz

Christmas Eve 1990 was cold. We were at my mother in laws house celebrating the holiday and Dani, who was 3, was all excited! I remember the cold because pipes were bursting all around town and the pipes at our ward building burst. Since we had a wet/dry vac my husband was called to go help clean up. While he was gone I started to have an inkling that we might be getting a special Christmas present. I wasn't really worried about it yet since it seemed to be just a hint but I did avoid the Christmas cookies and eggnog to keep my stomach clear.

He got back to his mom's house around 10pm and we packed everything up and got ready to go home. While we were loading the car I told him we might be having a Christmas surprise. He was happy about that and after we got home and put Dani to bed we enjoyed a few minutes together wondering about the new little one. We decided to go to sleep and see if we were woken up for a trip to the hospital or if things would slow down.

Surprisingly I was able to fall right asleep and slept well until about 4am. At that time the contractions woke me up. Just as I was stirring, my husband woke up too and we knew it was time. He said I had been restless all night (luckily it just kept him up and not me :)) We called my mother in law to come and stay with Dani and headed off to the hospital.

I think we arrived around 4:30 or 5. We went in through the ER and walked straight up to Labor/delivery. No one was at the desk and it was a very quite night. We had to stop a couple of times on our way up and I would lean on him and rock during a contraction. When we got upstairs the nurses greeted us cheerily and showed us to a room, where this time I didn't have to move once. We got settled and went about our business and things progressed quickly. Just like last time. There is a blessing in that because you are not suffering forever, but there's also the curse of not having time to catch your breath, adjust, and prepare for the next wave.

A little before 6am I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom and the nurse helped me up and to get there. After a few minutes sitting there she knew it was not a BM coming and had me move back to the bed, despite my protests. The doctor came in just as she was crowning and pushed her back up a bit (OUCH!!!) to give me an episiotomy. I still haven't forgiven him for that. One push later and our little girl slid into the world. She was beautiful, with a perfect round face and angelic expression. Just right for a Christmas baby. We had planned to name her Sierra Jenae but as soon as she came out I said to my husband lets call her Sierra Noel, for Christmas.
She was 8lbs and 8 ozs and the most pleasant natured baby ever. I think that was the best day of my life. I sat in my hospital room with my little angel and just marveled at how lucky I was. Later in the afternoon my mom brought Dani to meet her big sister. This was the baby that saved my life. Because of the pregnancy I developed Hashimoto's thyroidist. My mom noticed a goiter on my neck a couple weeks after Sierra's birth and made me go see the doctor. When they did a biopsy they discovered that I had a fast growing thyroid cancer. I had surgery just a week later and with treatment was able to fully recover. I feel like Sierra really was my little angel and that she saved my life (and brought joy to it for the last 10 years!)