Gabbie's Birth

It's Official:
Gabriella Marie Christensen
was born December 4th, 2007
at 12:35 pm
at the Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem, Utah
she came weighing 8 pounds 1 ounce
with a length of 20 and 1/2 inches

Here are some pictures from the occasion (there are quite a few):

Christy was having some pains in her legs around 12 midnight on the 3rd, and after calling the doctor was asked to come in and get checked for blood clots.

They hooked her up to the monitoring machines around 1:00 and proceeded to do an ultrasound to make sure that there was no blood clot.

The Ultrasound turned out to show no problems, but they did notice (nothing new) that Christy had consistently high blood pressure, so the doctor decided to go ahead and induce her.

Kyle was attempting to humor me while I was getting the magnesium and pitocin piped into my blood.

The doctor checked me shortly after I got my epidural and said I was completely dilated and effaced. I started to get really excited, thinking that Gabbie was going to be here in a little bit.

Unfortunately, I was wrong.
It was a really long day of pushing. Gabbie's head was turned the wrong way so we had to fix that.

Here is Grandma Christensen taking a rest on the couch before she had to help me during pushing.

Grandpa Christensen got in some good reading time while he was waiting on Gabbie to make her appearance.

One of those candid pictures of Kyle falling asleep during one of the breaks between contractions.

Yay! The doctor finally arrived and it was time to bring Gabbie into the world.
Susan, the nurse that worked with us up until the doctor arrived, was amazing. She was very encouraging and explained everything to me as it was happening. I'm very glad that she was there to take care of me.

Because Grandpa Christensen works on the weekends at the hospital where Gabbie was born, he got to be Gabbie's first nurse to take care of her... Here he is with the doctor getting things ready:

Her first picture! Dr. Lind was great. He really helped me understand things as they were happening. His confidence in my ability to keep pushing also helped Gabbie be born without a c-section.

Our beautiful little girl...although she's still pretty dirty.

Here's Grandpa Christensen cleaning her up and checking all her vitals while Dad watches and holds the oxygen close to her mouth:

Check out the beautiful cone head from the 3.5 hours of pushing.

Her she is getting weighed for the first time. A big 8 pounds 1 ounce.

Look how happy Mom is to be done with the pushing!

Proud Dad!

Gabbie has this cute little habit already. She likes to stick her tongue out and move it back and forth.

Check out the beautiful hair. I can't believe I let these pictures get taken. I guess this is what three hours of hard pushing does to you.

We are so glad to finally have our little girl here with us.

Our first family picture:

Here's Dr. Lind with Kyle. Kyle and I are really grateful for the role he played in bringing our daughter into the world.

This was grandma Christensen's first time holding her brand new 12th grandchild.

This is a picture of Susan, my nurse. She is trying to get Gabbie's temperature but our little girl didn't want anything to do with that.

There are so many things to look forward to as new parents. Life will never be the same for us.

We tried to breastfeed shortly after Gabbie was checked. After feeding on one side, I kind of passed out. I was completely exhausted and with the magnesium still pumping in my blood, I felt really weak. They said that my body actually went into shock. So that Gabbie could still get fed, Dad took over and fed her through a syringe.

After getting checked out and leaving Gabbie in the nursery for a couple hours so that Mom and Dad could get some rest, everything turned out alright.

While they were checking out mom's shock episode, Dad got to go to the nursery and watch as Gabbie got her first bath.

Look at her long feet. We aren't quite sure where she gets these from yet.

She's got a full head of brown hair. That was surprising for us. We thought she would either be bald or have really light blond hair like her dad.

Check out the cute purple bow they put in her hair after getting all cleaned up.

She didn't even cry when they did her footprints.

Here's Mom finally getting some nourishment while Gabbie sleeps a little. (Dad thought that this was a really cute picture of his two girls). The ordered nap from the nurse did wonders refreshing mom and dad.

Thanks to everyone! We are really grateful for all the love and concern that you have shown us during this new stage of our lives. Gabbie has so many people around her that love her so much. What more could a child ask for? We love you all!!


Oh, and by the way, on the 30th of December Kyle will be presenting Gabbie before the congregation of our church and giving her a name and a blessing. This will most likely be done in our sacrament meeting at 11 o'clock and anyone who is interested is invited and welcome to come. We hope you all will come. If you want details of how to get to our Chapel, (or if you just want to wish us congratulations) give us a call on Kyle's cell phone at 801-471-7391.