Phaze in... Amelia Carissa Pearce!

Baby Amelia is finally here! What torture it is to be thousands of miles away, clear across the ocean!

Eric called to let us know that he was taking Leanne to the birthing center. We waited with baited breath to hear whatever news would come next. What heightened the interest is that we were fairly certain that Tomi Ann was in labor too. How much more exciting could it get in one night???!!!

As the evening wore on, Tomi Ann's contractions pretty much stopped, even though she was on the verge of having us take her to the hospital. We had taken her out to bowl, eat dinner, then go to a play. All to no avail. Boohoo!

When we got home, Eric called again, this time to let us know that they had been sent home from the birthing center because Leanne just wasn't ready yet. Boohoo! Two false alarms in one night! How much more of a let down could we have in one night?

The next morning, Eric called to let us know that they were in the hospital and Leanne was dilated to eight! They had started out at the birthing center but because Leanne's blood pressure went up and there was muconium (sp?)in the water when they broke it, that they needed to go to a hospital because it was becoming too high risk of a birth. Now I was getting excited! They were in the hospital for the duration this time!

After calling two different hospitals and being turned away, they ended up in a hospital about an hour away from home. I'm thinking, "Poor, poor Leanne and Eric! What a miserable time for them to be driving around! No room at the inn!" it turns out that Leanne was taken by ambulance with a midwife in attendance just to be safe in case the baby decided to come.

After talking to Eric, I decided that I would stay home from church so that I would be there to get the good news as soon as he called. I supposed that it was the next best thing to being there.

After getting Sammy and Joshy ready for church (they were having a sleepover at Nana and Bapa's house....just in case....) I hung around for a bit waiting for the call. I finally left for church, with my cell phone on vibrate, ready to jump up and run out if the call came in. I have to admit, that between sitting by myself with Sammy and Joshy and worrying about Eric and Leanne, I can't tell you what the Sacrament meeting talks were about. A red headed return missionary whom I didn't recognise and a high councilman whom I did recognize but when he said his name I realized that I had been thinking of him by the wrong last name all these years were the speakers. I got a lot out of Sacrament that day.

As I sat with Sammy in Primary opening exercises, I was getting more and more antsy about Eric calling and missing his call. I finally quietly got up and left and took Sammy with me and we went home to see if there were any messages and to see if we could get any news from anyone! It had now been several hours since Eric's last phone call. Surely the baby had come by now!

I called Leanne's parents house there in England and got ahold of Leanne's dad, David. He hadn't heard anything so I asked for Eric's cell number. It turned out it was his mother-in-law's, Leslie's, cell phone but she wasn't answering. She was with Eric and Leanne throughout the entire ordeal. What a good Mom!

I called David back and asked him to please call me if heard any further news. He offered to call Leslie himself and try and see what was going on and that he would call me right back. I hung up and waited a few more minutes, then Sammy and I headed back to church. By this time there was only 30 minutes left of the 3 hour block. I was there in body but not in spirit!

After retrieving the boys from their respective classes, I rushed home to see if I had missed David's call or a call from Eric. No such luck! I was starting to go crazy!

I once again called the Bridgstocks and got David on the phone. As I had feared, he couldn't find our phone number to call us back. He had heard from Leslie that the baby just wasn't coming, she was turned a bit askew and she was presenting face first. Leanne was exhausted and it was time to take the baby C-Section. He said that the call had come about an hour previously. What I feel badly about now is that at the time I dialed the phone, it didn't even occur to me that I was calling David in the middle of the night. It was about 2:00 a.m. London time. He was a pretty good sport about it though.

So, we hung up and started waiting again for any news. An hour previously? Surely they would have the baby by now???!!! We consoled ourselves with thoughts like, "Well, I'm sure that they are just loving on the baby and resting and that's more important than making phone calls", etc. etc.

FINALLY a couple of hours later the call came in. Eric, sounding very exhausted was calling to tell us that they had a brand new baby girl and that both mother and baby were doing fine. It turned out that the baby needed to be in the special care nursery for observation for a couple of hours to make sure that she was okay because of the muconeum in the water and the stress of the very lengthy labor. It turns out she was being born right at the same time that I had made my last call to David. 2:00 a.m. London time.

Many prayers were offered up in Leanne and the baby's behalf as we waited for the call, many more were offered up in thanksgiving when we finally heard all was well! We are so happy and excited for this brand new Amelia Carissa Pearce. Tony and I will be traveling to London next month to meet the newest grand daughter to be added to the family! Now if only Eliza would make her appearance!

I figure that Carissa has been up there with both girls keeping them distracted from coming down by telling theM Knock, Knock jokes. "Knock, Knock!" "Who's there?" "Not!" "Not who?" "Not YOU!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"