Letters to Baby

  

This Pregnancy

I haven’t really written much about this pregnancy.  It’s been hard, I’m not going to lie.  I don’t have any complications, and things go pretty smoothly for me, but it’s still not easy.  Now take into account I’m writing this while I’m almost 39 weeks, so that may skew my emotions a bit.

I found out I was pregnant back in September.  We had been trying to get pregnant for over a year, and so I felt like it was finally time to go see the doctor.  Just in case it was something that could easily be fixed.  They decided to start doing some basic blood tests, to test my thyroid and things like that.  I asked them to check if I was pregnant as well, cuz, “Who knows!  Maybe I’m pregnant right now!”  Well, a few days later, we took off to meet some of my siblings’ families down at Disneyland.  I called my doctor’s office to ask about my results.  I was really wanting to know if I was pregnant or not to know if it was safe to go on the rides.  Well, they were already closed for the day.  They called back the next day, Thursday, September 20th, our first day at Disneyland.  We were on Pirates of the Caribbean, but I took the call cuz I could see it was the doctor’s office.  So I’m on the ride, listening to the nurse tell me that all my blood results came back just fine.  “Am I pregnant?”  I whispered as loud as I could into the phone.  “No,” the nurse said, “The pregnancy test came back negative.”  So, I put it out of my mind and enjoyed our Disneyland trip with my family, going on all the rides and everything. 

I was supposed to get my period the last day we were at Disneyland.  But I never did.  And then we drove home, and a few days after that, and still nothing.  “Maybe I should take a pregnancy test,” I said to Dan.  “No, we know you’re not pregnant.  The blood test came back negative, and that is the most accurate test out there.”  I knew he was right, but still, I’m never that late.  So, finally, on Tuesday, September 25th, I went to the store, bought a pregnancy test, and went home and took it.  And sure enough, it was positive!  I called Dan immediately.  “I just took a pregnancy test, and it came back positive!”  “What??” he exclaimed.  We were both a little perplexed, but still so excited!!  An ultrasound definitely confirmed it at my first dr. appointment on October 24th.  Everything looked good.  We were thrilled.

The first weekend in October we went to my parents’ house for conference weekend.  My mom already knew I was pregnant . . . . due date – June 5th.  Kristen, John and Jacob came into town as well, and Kristen found my mom in the laundry room and told her that she was also pregnant . . . . due June 5th.  My mom couldn’t believe it, and came to tell me cuz I had told my mom not to tell anyone, but Kristen hadn’t.  She found me in our room (Michael’s room), and told me Kristen’s news.  “You have to tell her!” my mom said.  So we called Kristen back and laughed and cried about our good news.  Both our due dates were moved up after our ultrasounds.  Mine to June 1st and Kristen’s to May 28th.  So fun to be due at the same time as my sister!

My first trimester (until about Christmas) I spent in survival mode . . . . I got sick like usual, and spent my time either lying on the couch, hunched over the toilet, or shuffling around the house like a sick 90 year old.  It was pretty miserable, and my poor kids just really wondered what was wrong with me.  We told them I was pregnant so they wouldn’t be too worried, and of course, they were so excited.

I started getting big and gaining lots of weight half way through my second trimester, and now here I am, two days away from being induced, and I am so big and uncomfortable.  I am really ready to be done.  I’ve been dilated to a 3 for 2 weeks now, and my Braxton Hicks contractions have been pretty intense this last month.  I’m especially uncomfortable at night.  My legs hurt, I have to pee constantly, you know, just all the normal 3rd trimester stuff.   

It always amazes me how bold and forthcoming complete strangers are towards pregnant women.  People think they can just say anything!  And usually, I don’t mind.  People are generally friendly and seem excited for me.  When I’m alone, they assume it’s my first, and are very surprised when I say it’s my fourth.  When I just have James with me, they always ask what I’m having, and when I say a girl, they say something to the effect of, “Oh great!  Now you have one of each!  So nice you can be done now!”  And when I have all 3 of them with me, I get a lot of, “Wow, you are sure going to have your hands full!”  or “Wow, good for you!”  Not quite sure how to take comments like that.  At church, I get a lot of statements like, “Whoa, you are even bigger than last week!” or “I didn’t think it was possible for you to get any bigger!  But you are!”  or “Wow, it looks like you are going to just topple over!”  When I was at my parents’ ward in April, my mom’s cousin said to me, “Wowzers, are you due in like 5 minutes??”  Haha.  And Dana Karren, a good friend of the family, said to me as I was walking out of the chapel, “Uhhh, we leave all the basketballs in the gym . . .”  Haha.  Luckily I know these people love me and I love them, and I really don’t take offense to comments like that.  Besides, I know I’m big.  It’s just how I always get with all my babies.  Oh, and today someone asked if I was having twins.  Next time I’m just going to say yes.   

But I have to say, the funniest comments are the ones that come from my kids.  I was sitting at our kitchen table the other day, just in one of our normal kitchen chairs, and James says to me, “Mom!  You’re too big for that chair!”  He must have really thought I was going to break it or something!  Or the other night after we said our family prayer, I was kind of just sitting on the floor, and James said to me, “Mom, can you not get up?”  “No, not really,” I replied.  “But don’t worry, as soon as this baby comes out, I’ll be skinny again.”  Then Leah piped in, “Whoa, Mom, I won’t even recognize you when you’re skinny!”  Dan and I busted up laughing.  Like it’s been so long, my kids don’t even remember what I look like without this huge belly!  It’s actually kind of sad.  Or how Annie didn’t check off “energetic” in her Mother’s Day news article I wrote about in the last post.  It has been a long time.  It has felt really long for me too.  Especially when you think I’ve been pregnant for the entire school year.  They probably don’t really remember what it’s like to not have me be like this.      

But you know what??  It’s all worth it.  Every comment.  Every pound.  Every stretch mark.  Every time I threw up.  All the restless nights.  The lack of energy.  All these months of being so big.  It’s totally worth it.  Because at the end of it all, comes a sweet baby, that even though you’ve just met, you can’t imagine life without them.  I am so excited.  WE are so excited.  To welcome this precious little girl into our family.  I can’t wait to meet her.  I can’t wait to see what she looks like.  I can’t wait to hold her and smell her sweet skin.  I can’t wait to see what her personality will be like.  I can’t wait to see the kids with her.  It’s just amazing.  How it all works.  How she’s in my tummy right now, but in 2 short days, she’ll be in our arms.  Simply amazing. 

So this is it.  The home stretch!  I go in at 6 am on Saturday morning.  I mean, check this little girl out!  She’s smiling!  We joke that she’s so cozy in there, she doesn’t want to come out.  Haha.  Wish us luck!!  

  Ultrasound – May 2, 2013

Art, Anniversary, and Mother’s Day

Yep, I’m grouping all these events together.  Because we really haven’t been taking many pictures lately, and I really want to get all caught up on our blog before this baby comes!! 

So first up – art class.  These girls LOVE to do art.  Our kitchen table and counter are usually covered in art supplies and all kinds of projects and drawings.  So I signed them up for a 6 week art class on Thursday afternoons at our local community center.  They loved it and now are asking for more!  I’d like to sign them up for more, but maybe when our life calms down from the craziness it is right now.  They both are really good at it too.  They can both draw amazingly well, which sure doesn’t come from my side of the family!  Haha.  They definitely get it from Dan’s side:)  Here they are with some of the projects they did in class.  Each week they learned about a certain painting or style of painting and then had to recreate the piece.  So fun!

Our TEN YEAR wedding anniversary was on Friday, May 10th.  I can’t believe it’s been 10 years!!  10 great years, nonetheless:)  The girls decorated the playroom for us as a “surprise” and then led us in with our eyes closed.  They told us to open our eyes, and all 3 kids shouted, “Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!”  They had us sit down and served us a pretend lunch (Dan got home at 1:00, after doing a CE course in the morning).  What sweethearts we have . . . . I just love them so much.  That night Dan and I went out to dinner at the Atlantis Steakhouse.  It was so good.  Probably the fanciest steakhouse we’ve been to yet (we don’t go to fancy steakhouses very often:)  Right after we were seated our waiter brought out a platter with hot steamy towels and handed us each one with a pair of tongs.  We took the towels and kind of looked at each other, like, “What are we supposed to do with these?”  Haha . . . . such newbs!  I’m sure Dan would have liked to do some fun trip or something for our 10th anniversary, but with a baby coming in just 2 weeks, that just wasn’t in the cards for us this year.  Besides, we did go to New York last year, and Europe the year before that, so we’ve definitely had some fun kidless trips the last few years.  Going out to dinner was just fine this year.  The food was delicious and it was a fun experience. . . . cuz that’s really what they try to make it at those fancy places . . . . an experience.    

Mother’s Day was just 2 days later.  They cancelled all the meetings at church that morning, and it was so nice to have Dan home before church!  Our ward starts at 11:00, so I slept in, got ready, and came down to a yummy breakfast that Dan and the kids made.  Cinnamon rolls, eggs, sausage, and beautiful chocolate covered strawberries.  Notes and little gifts from the kids were all around my Special Plate.  

This is hilarious.  I seriously laughed out loud when I read this “news article” that Annie made for me . . . . read The Mom Checklist on the right side.  I was touched that she thought all those adjectives applied to me.  But there’s one that she didn’t check off . . . .

And really, I can’t say that I blame her . . . . I’m definitely not feeling very energetic these days!!  I thought Mother’s Day would be a good day to finally take a prego pic.  I don’t document my belly every week like some people do, but I thought I should have at least one picture of myself in all my prego glory.   So here I am . . . . 37 weeks along.  Feeling so grateful for the 3 sweet and healthy kids I have, and so excited to welcome a new little one into our family.  I can’t wait to meet this baby girl.  I’m so blessed to be a mother:)

Havasupai

As Sarah was enjoying quality family time in California, I took the opportunity to plan a last minute brothers weekend trip to Havasupai in the Grand Canyon.  I had heard great things about the hike and had been wanting to explore this area for a while.  Despite the short notice, all four of us brothers were able to arrange our schedules to make sure we could do it together, the first time we’ve all gone backpacking together in about 13 years!  We had a great trip (and took a lot of pictures).