by Cheryl Merrick
I had experienced such a difficult time having our second child that I needed reassurance that there were really more children to come to our family. While in the temple, I heard in my mind, “Mommy”, twice. It was accompanied by a strong sense that there was at least one other child to come to our family, and I knew one was a son. This was the assurance we needed.
Since I was nauseous and exhausted right from the start as was usual for me, we felt we needed to tell our two children that I was expecting a baby. Both kids were really excited. Julene had insistently been reminding us for years that we needed to have another baby. Of course she wanted a sister and David wanted to have a brother. Julene suggested that we have twins, but I told her I didn’t think we would.
I asked the kids to not tell anyone yet. It was Sunday so we went to church, but David was so excited that he immediately blurted out his news in Primary (a Sunday School for children).
After a challenging nine months, it was nearly time for Laura to be born. She was due on March 2, but her dad wanted her to come a few days earlier so she could be a leap year baby. February 29th, March 2, and several days after that came and went. Finally, on March 8th just before we went to bed, I began to have serious labor pains. I informed Garrett that we needed to go to the hospital, NOW! Happy that the time was here and feeling an unwarranted assurance, based upon past experience, that the baby wouldn’t come for hours, Garrett decided that he would take a shower.
I kept telling him to hurry!
The twenty minute drive to the hospital was filled with my anxious worrying if we would make it. When we arrived, I was ready to deliver. I was so relieved that I wouldn’t have to go through a long delivery again. I started to push, but the baby turned its head and continued to stay right where it was until, after five grueling hours of hard labor and constant pushing, our Laura was born.
She was beautiful! She calmly looked around as I held her, and Garrett and I admired the new member of our family.
Each time the nurses brought Laura to me, her thick, dark hair had been styled and even had a pink bow in it. After staying a few days in the hospital, Garrett took Laura and I home to begin our life as a family of five.
We all fussed over our little Laura. She was the center of all our activities. She was baby Jesus in our Nativity play, we made her presents for her first Christmas and birthday, and everyone tried to make sure she was happy, well cared for, and entertained. What we couldn’t do was make her laugh much. We made funny faces, tickled, and bounced her, while she calmly stared back at us.
Laura had a very touchy tummy and threw up about 20 times each half hour. This may have made giggling and bouncing not as fun for her. She liked learning new things and worked on them until she could do them well. She liked to talk, and mastered crawling, standing in her crib, grabbing things, chewing on things, sitting up, feeding herself with her fingers, climbing onto the sofa cushions, walking, sitting in small chairs, and emptying out the kitchen drawer and cupboard.
As she grew up, I came to realize that being calm and composed is Laura’s character. She loves to learn new things, has an amazing ability to concentrate, and has a strong desire to excel and improve. She carefully analyzes what she needs to do, then she accomplishes it. She has a keen mind and an amazing ability to grasp concepts and design theoretical models. She easily learns gospel principles and holds firm to her testimony of what is right.
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