A New Year's Surprise

Emily and Morgan moved into our home on Friday, December 27. Emily had completed her coursework at BYU-I and had secured a student teaching position at a school in South Jordan, UT. As they have very little income, it made sense for them to live with us during this transitional time.

To add to the complexity of the move, Emily as also 8.5 month pregnant. She was due on January 11, 2014. I guess she and Morgan wanted to reenact the Christmas story by travelling a long distance while very, very pregnant. Only, instead of a donkey they brought their little dog Sadie. (I am thinking a donkey would have been way cool.)

So that meant Emily was now in a new city with no doctor and not registered at any hospital. Monday, then, became a very busy day. They had to get in with a doctor, register at the hospital, and purchase all the stuff baby's need.Luckily they were able to accomplish all they had to do.

Tuesday was New Year's Eve and we took Emily and Morgan to the movies. After which, Karen and I went to dinner with John Gillespie and the Nelsons. When we got home, Emily was complaining about having back pains. But what can you expect with you are 8.5 months pregnant. No one, including Emily, took these back pains seriously.

She had a very rough night on New Year's eve. Poor Emily could not find a comfortable spot no matter how she twisted or turned. Karen was a bit concerned about the longevity of these pains and asked of the pain came in waves (indicting labor contractions) or if it was constant (indicating the normal pains of pregnancy). Emily stated that the pain was constant. Again, we all dismissed this as normal.

About mid-morning on New Year's day, I came upstairs to get some food and Emily was sitting on the kitchen bench just looking tired and miserable. Being the compassionate father that I am, I told her to walk it off.

Now, before you all start judging me, let me explain.

First, on Christmas Eve day, Karen and I were delivering treats to our neighbors. It was an icy and slippery day. We had agreed that Karen would drive the car and I would get out and deliver the treats.

I was at the Rasmusen's home and Karen had parked at the Toland's house. She went contrary to the plan and got out of the car to deliver the treats to the Tolands. I could hear them talking at the door step as I was two houses away.

By the time I was done at the Rasmussens and walking towards the car at the Tolands, I heard some say: "Ouch, ouch, ouch!" over and over. I thought it might be Karen so I quickened my pace towards the car still being careful not to slip on the ice. I had envisioned her having slipped under the car. So I got to the drivers side of the car to see if she had, indeed, slipped.

No one was there. No one was in the car. No one was under the car. Then I heard her say: "I'm over here." I looked east, and there was Karen one one knee slowly getting up off the ground. She had slipped on the ice on the Lockard's driveway and landed flat on her back banging her head on the pavement.

While this post is not about the Fall of Karen, I needed that story to explain why I told Emily to walk it off. You see, a couple of days after Karen had fallen, she was sore over most of her body. Having a sore head was understandable. But the muscular pain seemed to get worse over time. Karen came into my office and explained it was hard to walk. I suggested, with much kindness and empathy, that she should walk it off.

By that I meant that if the pain was due to tight muscles, using those muscles would aid in healing. However, the bulk of her pain was form an infected or bruised kidney, so walking it off was definitely not possible. But the term "walk it off" had now become a joke between us. (Well, perhaps just between me...)

Second, when Karen was pregnant with Andrew and anxious for delivery, we spent many hours walking around the Mall to get the labor thing going. So, by telling Emily to walk it off, I knew full well it would not alleviate the pain of pregnancy, but it could help stimulate labor.

Unfortunately, Emily didn't see the grand logic of my comment. Instead of following my sage advice, she went into the bathroom to cry. Soon she was throwing up and the back pain increased. Morgan came downstairs to ask for the phone number of InstaCare but we soon recommend they simply take her to the ER at Orem Community Hospital in the unlikely event that Emily was in labor.

Off they went. As soon as they arrived at ER and explained her symptoms, the nurse sent them directly to Labor and Delivery. By the time they checked her there, she was dilated to 6 cm. She was going to have the baby that day.

We all stayed close to our phones waiting to hear progress. At about 8:00, four hours since they left for the ER, Morgan called and said Emily was fully dilated. Karen and I decided to go to the hospital and wait in the lobby. Besides, we both had our iPads so we could wait patiently as long as our batteries lasted.

Photo bomb!

We got to the hospital at about 8:15. We told the nurse we were there for Emily and Morgan. Six minutes later, at 8:21, the nurse called out through the glass and the desk to say that Emily had the baby. After about 20 minutes, Morgan came out as ecstatic as I have ever seen him. He took us back to Emily's room, only he wasn't quite sure what room she was in. When we got to the room he thought it was, he opened the door slowly and asked if Emily

as in the room. She was.

As soon as I walked into the room, Emily sneered at me and said: "Walk it off?!"

I think that phrase will now become part of the Heiss legacy.

Regardless, Gavin John Craner was born on January 1, 2014. He was 7.6 pounds and 19 inches.

Walk that off!