She's Here and She's Wonderful

This is a little late but worth the wait. Our darling Hela (sounds like Hay-la) was born 02/02/20. Her due date was a few days after, and I kept telling people, I really just want to be able to watch the Super Bowl and then she can arrive. Flash forward to Saturday Night, Shannon goes out to get her hair blow-dried and Ella and I are at home watching basketball.

When Shannon got home she said that a man asked her when she was due and she said Wednesday. He said, "Oh no, that baby is coming tonight." Hela's grandma had said the same thing. We laughed and went to bed. A few hours later Shannon taps me and says I am in labor and I said, "SHHH SHHH go back to sleep." "No", Shannon says, "I am serious." So I was frantically running around to get ready. I called my sister to tell her that we were on baby alert and that she needed to come to watch Ella, she said you better call Ryan and Kim in case you need to leave soon, so we called the Crowleys to come from Huntington Beach, and the Denny's came over to be our go-between until Warren and Rocio got there. 

One thing I didn't mention was that Shannon and I were both sick with colds. Having a baby when you are sick is not ideal. There isn't a lot of traffic at 1:00 in the morning on a Sunday between Ladera Ranch and Newport where the hospital is located. We got in went up the fifth floor and I announced to the reception, we are having a baby to which the nurse responded, you are in the wrong place. Once we corrected that mistake we checked in and they hooked Shannon all up and said yep, you are in fact having a baby.

The nurses were amazing. They took great care of Shannon and listened to me talk about the 49ers. It went much faster than when Ella was born. Before long the anesthesiologist was there giving Shannon her epidural and after a half-hour of pushing our sweet Hela Noelle arrived at 8:11 AM weighing 7 lbs 2 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. And yes I made sure that the first song she ever heard was the BYU fight song.



We first heard the name Hela from our friends Christian and Bridgette. Christian's sister's name is Hela. We both liked it when we heard it. It is Nordic so it goes well with Dorsch, ends in a la sound like Ella, and we just liked it, and we barely told anyone that it was under consideration because you really don't want to hear opinions about name choices. Her middle is Noelle after Shannon's grandpa Noel. We think it is a very nice way to honor someone, and yet no one has named any of their kids after me...puzzling. I was so curious about what the baby would look like, would she look like Ella?

Shannon was an absolute champ. As we got the baby I couldn't help but think this may be the single best day of my life as the 49ers were going to be playing in the Superbowl later that day.

One thing we were worried about was how Ella was going to react to this new person joining the family, and let me tell you, initial impressions were not promising.

You sort of forget how little a newborn is compared to a toddler. But I felt like an old pro holding her compared to the way I felt when we had Ella. Jennifer and Kate brought Ella over and we made the in-person introduction for the first time and it went much better.

My perfect day was not to be as the 49ers lost. I was very careful not to let myself believe we could win until 8:53 left in the game up by 10. We don't need to rehash what happened, and six weeks later I am still unhappy about it.

Hela is a really good baby, she loves to be held and she only cries for the most part when she is hungry (and then she cries very loud). Shannon and I take turns waking up with the baby. Shannon gets the first shift and I get the second. Hela and I have watched a lot of TV in the 3 AM - 4 AM hour.

The sisters seem to get along for the most part, although I think Hela gets a little bit stressed when Ella is around. Life is good for the Dorsch family of four even if we are practicing social distancing and the Cougars awesome Basketball and Volleyball seasons were cut short.

We love our new house and our new ward ( who brought us lots of meals and checked in on us despite the fact that they don't even know us), and we seem to be figuring out this two under two kid thing. So when we are done with the social distancing come over and see us.