Introducing Stanley Robert Freeman

On the morning of Wednesday May 14, I woke up very early. I was feeling excitement and anticipation for our baby's birth. I got to write a note to him in my journal and listen to a Conference talk. It is called 'Fear Not, I am With Thee' by sister Jean A Stevens. I just randomly selected her talk, and it was exactly what I needed to hear that day.

At 5:50 am I received a phone call from the hospital asking if I could be there at 6:30 am. I was surprised because yesterday they said I was later on the list of inductions for the following day. In my mind I was thinking we would probably be scheduled in the afternoon. We chose to be induced because Nate has been working in California, and neither of us wanted him to miss the birth. We chose to be induced 5 days early (instead of his due date May 19th). I said "yes", with excitement. I woke Nate up and said "are you ready to have a baby today?". A little surprised he said "yes", "right now?". I said, "yes, they asked if we could be there by 6:30". We knelt down and Nate said a sweet prayer, asking for God's blessing. We then said our own personal prayers, and felt peace and calm assurance. Then we jumped up and hurried to get out the door.

When we got to the hospital we met two other couples who were also going to have babies that day. It was sweet to talk to them and relate to them. They checked us in after a while, then I met our nurse. I asked Nate if he was ready to begin a 'biggest loser' challenge with me. He thought it was funny, so he took a picture and invited all of our friends in on the challenge.

After the nurse left Nate gave me a beautiful blessing. I remember feeling an incredible calm, peace, and love from Heavenly Father. I knew it would be a beautiful day.

The day actually could not have gone any better. They began induction at 8:30 am with Pitocin. At 11 am the Doctor (Heather Dabling who was wonderful) broke my water. From there my contractions just happened naturally. I was given an epidural at 11:15 am. I hadn't really felt pain up until that point, but I knew that the contractions would become more intense, so I thought I would get it a little ahead of time.

We were on the top floor of the hospital and had a beautiful view of Mt Nebo. It was a sunny, warm day.

At 2:15 I started to feel our baby make his descent with each contraction. After the Doctor came in, I pushed twice, and he was out at 2:41 pm. At the moment we saw him, Nate and I both started crying. I was filled with so much emotion. They set him on my tummy, and I got my first glance. He was just so perfect.

After the Doctor and nurses had taken care of everything, Nate and I got to spend about an hour with him just holding him and awing over the miracle of his birth. There was so much peace, and light in the room. I knew many people had been praying for us, and that there were probably angels in the room. It was a moment I will never forget.

 

They took us downstairs to Mother/child care unit, where we met our nurses. They were sweet and attentive. We felt well taken care of! I was just grateful to be there with Nate and enjoy two days with him and our new little baby. Nate's family was taking care of Mason!

On the second day, Nate and I even left our baby in the nursery with the permission of the nurses, to take a drive and get some fresh air. It was so nice to get out and see the beauty of the earth. Those two days were really like heaven for me. We decided to name him Stanley Robert Freeman. We gave him the name Robert because of Nate's Dad whom we both admire, love, and respect so much. What's also fun is that it is the name of our matchmaker, Robert Hoopes. Stanley, we really liked because of the meaning 'meadow of stones'. We thought it was cute because Mason's name means 'builder of stone'.