baby

Meet George Howard Gochnour!

Willivia
https://vimeo.com/400788604

I will never ever forget hearing the words “It’s a BOY!” come out of Will’s mouth. Waiting to find out the gender is truthfully the most exhilarating experience and it’s an experience I wish I could relive over and over again the rest of my life!


Throughout my pregnancy, I always communicated to my OBGYN that I really wanted to go into labor naturally. I still wanted an epidural, but I didn’t want to get induced. I wanted to see what my body did naturally because I did that with Penelope and loved how quickly my labor went with her! (Read Penelope’s birth story here!)

However, when I went into my 35-week check-up (the day after the big work retreat I planned in Park City… I think I over-did it up there haha), I was already dilated to a 3 and 60% effaced! This baby was positioned SO low so I started to get concerned this baby would come sooner/faster than I anticipated…

BUT I took it easy and stayed dilated at a 3 for a couple of weeks (phew!)

At my 39 week appointment, as we were getting closer, I finally asked my doctor what HE thought I should do… after all, he’s the professional! Not me!

Me: “Do you personally think I should still wait and go into labor naturally? Or should I get induced?”

Doctor: “Let me check you.”

2 seconds later…

Doctor: “Soo… if you want to have the baby in a hospital and make sure you have enough time to get an epidural, I would get induced tomorrow or Friday.

(I was still dilated to a 3 but now 70% effaced and he could tell this baby was LOW)

Me: “Okay well OOOOBVIOUSLY I don’t want to have this baby at my house or in the car… and I am wanting the epidural so obviously let’s do it!!”

He left the room to look at his schedule and came back saying I was scheduled to be induced the next morning!

I left my appointment shaking. What in the world?!

It was the craziest feeling KNOWING when the baby would come. It was always unknown with Penelope (which I secretly loved) so it was crazy to KNOW.

I went home, made sure my bags were all packed, went out to dinner with the 3 of us for the last time, received a priesthood blessing from Will, and went to bed feeling SO much peace knowing I’d have a baby in my arms the next day. Ah! I could hardly wait!

I was told I would get a call from the hospital in the morning telling me what time to come in and if I didn’t hear from them by 9, I needed to call them. I was all ready to go at 7 AM (just to be safe)… so after not hearing from them, I called them around 9:15 AM and they said I was the very last name on the list and there was a possibility they couldn’t fit me in that day. They said they would call me around 4 PM to update me if anything changed.

I was devastated! I felt like I was getting stood up for the prom haha! I seriously felt so sad and just wanted to get the show on the road!

To pass the time, I went and had my nails done (haven’t had them done in 6 months so why the heck not), washed my car (let us not be surprised here) and wrote some thank you notes while watching This Is Us.

Then, around 11:50 AM I had a call come in asking if I could be there by 12:30 PM! I couldn’t say yes fast enough!!!

Penelope was napping when we left the house (my mother in law came over to watch her we aren’t horrible parents I swear) and I couldn’t stop crying leaving the house over the fact I couldn’t give her a hug before we left… pregnancy emotions at an all-time high. I pretty much cried the entire way to the hospital. SO many emotions going on!

Excited, terrified, totally ready, not ready at all…

We got to the hospital at 12:30 PM and checked-in.

We started my pitocin around 2:30 PM.

They broke my water around 3 PM.

I received my epidural around 3:30 PM.

My parents and little brother arrived around 4:30 PM.

Then, at 4:50 PM, my doctor came in to check the status and said,

“YOU’RE AT A 10. IT’S GO TIME!”

All of a sudden the lights came down, my doctor was all suited up, the nurses prepped the room and I started pushing a little after 5:01 PM.

At 5:04 PM, a BIG, healthy BOY was in my arms!

Yeah… I told you he was low!!!!

I’ll never forget the shock I felt the second I saw him.. he was HUGE! Haha. I started laughing/crying the second he was placed on my chest (we video record our babies deliveries on Wills iPhone behind my head so I can watch them over and over and remember all the little details)

Okay sooo THAT’S why I was in so much pain this pregnancy haha! Big baby cooking (very low) inside of me down there…

But HE was healthy, here, and we were all so very happy!

Penelope was able to meet him around 5:30 PM and it was one of the absolute happiest moments of my life.

Welcome to the world, George. We couldn’t be more thrilled you are ours.

George Newborn / Willivia Blog

Newborn photos by Nicolette Monson Photography