terça-feira, 15 de maio de 2007

Nathan's Birthday

The last born. We were at St. Marks hospital for Nathan. Mother was having a hard time, with the birth. Then by inpiration the nurse took Mother's blood pressure, (I never remember a nurse doing that before) and it was sky high. I remember the doctor saying the had to stop the labor, until Mothers BP came down. While I was in the room with them when Nathan was born I did not really see him being born. I was busy trying to keep Mother calm, so her blood pressure would not come back up. Nathan was the first baby where Mother had any drugs for pain. All the rest of you were born with out drugs. After it was all over the Doctor came to us and said we had better not have any more kids or JoAnne could die. He said she came real close with Nathan. So that ended our child bearing days. What a joy it was for me to have all you children. While it was very important to be there when all of you were born, the most important thing was to be with you as all of you grew up. I hope I have done a good job being your father. I think of all of you every day. And have your whole lives. Your welfare was the most important thing in my life. We pray for each of you each day by name and for each of your children by name. I LOVE YOU ALL
dad

Gideon's birthday

Gideon was born during conference. In fact he was born during GBH's talk. We were in the new birthing suites at the hospital. It was like giving birth in your home. The delivery roomed looked like a regular bed that converted to a birthing room in minutes. We were only in the hospital minutes with Gideon. He was after Amy our second fastest birth. He had a special spirit about him as a baby, and todderler. He was always talking to me about when we were on a mission in Brasil. It was kind of weird how much he knew about Brasil. We had a hard time coming up with a name for him. We went weeks before we could come on a name. Finally the OB GYN doctor told Mother how about Gideon? we both like the name, and he had a name. A woman in the ward after we named him told me that she did not like the name Daniel. That seemed a little strange to me, but years later Bishop Peterson called me to be a concilar in the Bishopric was her son and lived in Canyon Rim ward when Mother was a young woman. I love you all.

Jethro's Birthday

Jethro was born in SLC at the university of Utah hospital. We had just come back from Missoui broke and so we went to UofU. It is a teaching hospital so there were hundreds of interns there to attend the Birth. It was quite different from the small hospital in Missouri. Jethro was born with a little breathing problem. He breaths like I do heavy. So they took him to Baby ICU for care before we could hold him. I think it was the strictest hospital we had been in. In a few hours he was back with us and all was well with him. He was such a cute little baby. We named him Jethro after Reuel in the OT. Exodus 2:18 and Dean after his grandfather J. Dean Gerstner. Mother was having a hard time producing milk and he nursed the shortest length of time of all you kids. Once he got on the bottle he became a little ball. He was so cute. I love you all.

segunda-feira, 14 de maio de 2007

George's birthday

George was also born in the same hospital that Rebekah was born in. This time though the regular doctor was not there. He had a fill in. George was born I think in the middle of the day. When he was born I could see that I had my first boy. What a joy for me. I guess we broke the mold with George because all the rest of the babies were boys. I was so happy. We named him George after my father and Benjamin after the last son of Israel in the OT. I of course had to do things right and on the eighth day we had him circumsized. I was there to watch it and it was very interesting thing. They put him on a little board, that had been cut so his legs would be spread and the stapped him and and did the deed. He was not very happy about it, but it was over in a few minutes. The doctor was not a rabbi, but if I had known one I would have had him do it. I love you all.

Rebekah's birthday

I had planned to do one child a day, but I am going to go ahead and do more each day. We were living in Missoui when Rebekah was born. I was sure that Rebekah was a boy. We still had to wait until the birth to find out. Our doctor's office was about a half an hour away from our house. It was down a dirt road and over a creek. We were living in a trailer house when she was born. It was again early in the morning when we arrived at the doctor's office. He had about a two or three room little hospital at his office. Before Rebekah was born it was the Doctor, Mother and me. The nurse had not arrived yet. As she was born remember I was sure by revelation that she was a boy, the Doctor said she was born without a penis. All I could think of was that he was deformed. It did not enter my mind that it was a girl. I was crushed. But since I was the only one there I had to weigh, do the foot prints, and clean her up all by myself while the Doctor was working on Mother. It took me a long time to get over not having a boy. I did not feel like blessing Rebekah until about two months later. But Rebekah made up for her "rejection" of her father by being the best baby we had. She slept through the night from almost the first night, and would lay in her crib until we came to get her in the morning. What a joy she has been in our lives. The cutiest thing was the way she would suck her thumb. She would put her thumb in her mouth with the palm facing up and play with her eyes with her fingers while sucking. She loved her thumb. In fact she was quite old before she stopped sucking it. I love you all

Amy's Birthday

When Amy was born we were living in Hyrum Utah. We were in a little house with a second story. It was cute but very small. In the middle of the night JoAnne woke up in pain. We had arranged for a neighbor to come and stay with Andrea and we were on our way to Logan. Mother was very agitated and yelled at me for going so fast. but there was good reason. The labor pains were very close together. When we got to the hospital the nurse took a look at JoAnne and yelled for help fast. They put JoAnne in a wheelchair and rushed her to the delivery room. They said she had to wait until the doctor got there. What seemed like a long time, was really only a few minutes the doctor arrived and in just a matter of minutes Amy's head cleared the birth canel and she let out a cry. She had been born and there was no stopping her. She really made a lot of noise and you could tell that Amy was going to be different. That is the thing I have learned about each of you kids, is that you were each born with the personalities you have. As long as Andrea took, Amy was just as short. I do not think we were in the hospital more than a half an hour and Amy was here. The one memory of have of her is the first time I picked her up and held her to me she put her hand around my neck and gave me a hug. I was in love with Amy from that moment on. I am very glad I am writing up these little stories. Because other wise they will be lost. I love you all.

Andrea's Birthday

This week I am going to write each day my feelings of the days each of you were born. Your mother and I had a paper route. On the 23rd of July mother woke up with labor pains. So we got up fast and mother drove the car as I threw the papers. Each time I would come back for more papers I would check how far apart the labor pains were. We would go on. As soon as the route was finished we went home and got ready to go to the hospital. Andrea you took your time in coming. We had to talk the doctor into letting me attend the birth. I was dressed in full surgacial clothers. from head to toe. I stood behind the doctor like I was an umpire. I had to assure him I would not faint. (after all I was a meat cutter). Finally the labor was over and out came Andrea, back in the old days there was no way of knowing what sex the baby was, so it was a joy and a surprise for both of us. Andrea you were so small. And yet so big (I could not believe you came out of such a small area) at the same time. They did not let me hold you until you were all weighed and cleaned. I was so overjoyed, I had wanted a baby for so long, and now I was holding you in my arms. I will never forget what it felt like.

domingo, 13 de maio de 2007

Happy Mothers Day

I want to wish all the mothers in my family a happy Mothers day. I love you all