3.Heather

Heather Lynne Knutson was born July 8, 1977 at Grand Forks AFB, Grand Forks, North Dakota. My labor with her was fast. I started having contractions very close together, so we took off for the hospital. Half way there the contractions stopped. We stopped at a friend’s home, Dan and Maria Nielson, so they could take care of Kelsey. We visited a bit and decided to head back home. At we got into the apartment my contractions started up again. This time all in my back and very close together. I tried to lay down but couldn’t. Bruce decided it was best to head to the hospital. Yep! This was for real.

Bruce had worked in the Emergency Room while in the Air Force and then transferred into Labor and Delivery. We were rather excited to know that Bruce would be able to see our 2nd child being born. Not only that but to be able to assist in the delivery room. When we got to the hospital we had to enter through the Emergency waiting area. As a contraction came on I made him wait outside the door so the guys wouldn’t see my in pain. So now we can go in and I had a big smile on my face for all his buddies.

When we got to admitting for delivery they took me right in and then had Bruce go register us. There were 5 women already ahead of me so I figured I would be there a while. After Bruce left I was checked and everyone started fussing over me ( I just thought it was because they were Bruce’s friends). One nurse kept asking where was Bruce and why was it taking so long. I started having really bad contractions and one nurse said, “if Bruce doesn’t get here soon he is gonna miss this.” Bruce was finally called back into the delivery room because our little one was on its way. Our adorable daughter was born weighing 6 lbs and 6 oz. Then I was asked if anyone had suggested twins to me. WHAT? Actually, I had 2 water sacs. Nope just one little one for us.

We actually thought we were going to have a boy so we hadn’t really settled on any girls names. The nurse said we weren’t allowed to leave the delivery room without a name. We were having a hard time coming up with a name and finally settle on Heather Lynne.

Our sweet little baby, Heather was headed for a lot of struggles right from the beginning.  She started having trouble feeding and was having trouble with her bilirubin  levels. When Heather was 2 days old I was waiting in my room for them to bring her in for a feeding. My room-mate already had her baby and I couldn’t figure out what was keeping them. I walked down to the nursery and there she was in an incubator with patches on her eyes and lights shining on her. I totally freaked out.

The nurse came in to tell me that her she was jaundiced and that the lights were to help her. I wanted to know why the Dr hadn’t come in and told me. When Dr M. finally came in to talk with me, she said she had talked with Bruce earlier and told him what was going on. At that moment Bruce walked in.