The Birth Story

Here’s the story of how Elizabeth Rose came to join the Larson family. We woke up on Thursday, April 22 expecting to head to the hospital at 4 p.m. for Anne to be induced due to the estimated size of Little E. To keep our minds busy, we visited a couple of day care places and had lunch. At 2 p.m. we called the hospital to check if they could still take us. They told us they were not ready and they would either call us at night or we could call first thing Friday morning. Thursday night, not expecting the hospital to call, we used some Christmas gift certificates and got take-out from Outback and settled in for a night of TV with Survivor, followed by the Office. Since Anne had just finished a meal of chicken, ribs, fries and Key Lime pie, the hospital naturally called in the middle of the office around 9:15 p.m.

But before we left, we (including Fletcher) had to watch the rest of our show.

Once we got to the hospital, we went to OB Special Care. The plan was that Anne’s “cervix needed to be ripened” – whatever that means. Well, eventually they realized that it was already ripe and they moved us to Labor and Delivery around 12:30 a.m. Friday, April 23. By about 1:30 a.m., they had Anne connected to a few different machines and started to administer the pitocin.

Anne was a real champ throughout the entire labor. At one point, she even admitted that the worst part was the blood pressure cuff on her arm that went off every 30 minutes or so, making it tough to get any rest. Of course, the epidural anesthesia helped a lot. And as you can see from this picture, there were a few perks to the process.


By 1:30 or so in the afternoon, Anne was fully dilated and ready to start pushing. Anne was a pro despite not being able to feel anything below her belly. But after two-plus hours of pushing, Elizabeth’s head was not staying in sight in between contractions. Knowing that she would be a large baby, the decision was made to perform a c-section, ensuring the health of mother and child.

And at 5:21 p.m., Elizabeth Rose Larson was welcomed into this world. Matt was a proud father as Elizabeth excelled on her APGAR tests. And because it was a C-section, Matt got to be the first one to hold Elizabeth.

At first, Elizabeth wasn’t quite sure what to make of things.

But eventually opened her eyes and decided to take it all in.

Eventually mom got to hold her little angel.

And then it was time for the first family photo.

Of course, the grandparents were delighted to meet the first grandchild.

Dad also got baby’s footprints marked on his forearm.

Here’s a few more photos to hold you over until the next post.