Hattie's Birth Story

Isn’t it funny that when you think you have things figured out it never goes according to plan? A 7^th pregnancy that happened sooner than we expected didn’t really throw us for a loop but the due date/birth sure did.

Hattie’s due date was supposedly July 17 so we started to plan accordingly that she’d come a few days early. I had 3 YW and a couple of friends on call starting around July 10^th. These poor awesome people were leaving their phones on every night for us. I owe them big time. Especially when my due date came and went. After going to my 40 week appointment on Tuesday the 18^th and finding out I was still 2cm I called David and said my due date was definitely off and that they wanted to induce me on the 25^th at 5am. Joy. The good news that came out of that is that we called David’s brother and family and told them it was okay for them to come that weekend to visit like they had hoped because I was pretty sure I wasn’t having a baby anytime soon. I felt big but I wasn’t feeling like my body was close to having a baby. I’m so glad I did. They came in town on Friday morning and we had a fun filled weekend. Then comes Sunday where I gave my on call crew the news and David and I lined up the Easton girls for an early Tuesday morning induction.

I was coming to grips with an induction but I still really wanted to avoid Pitocin and a long stay in the hospital on the 25^th. So when I woke up with a contraction around 2am that got me straight out of bed I was so grateful. I had lots of painful contractions the last week but all of them stopped after an hour or so. I had a few strong contractions and then tried to get back in bed when I got a break thinking I better sleep this off. They came on and off for an hour or so nothing super consistent but definitely painful. Around 3:45am David started to stir and I told him it was the real deal so we needed to get ready. At 4:07am I called a couple of my YW who were on call. David headed out to get them and while he was gone in my typical fashion I realized I was already in serious labor and we needed to get to the hospital fast. This seems to be a theme with most of my babies that I wait just a little bit too long. In my defense it had been just 2 hours since the contraction that woke me up so things were moving super-fast. David rolled in with the Easton girls about 4:25am we gave them quick instructions and then headed downtown to BAMC which is a 20 minute drive with no traffic. About 10 minutes into the drive I started to have contractions pretty close together and held the handle and kept saying “Oh shoot, oh shoot, oh shoot.” David started to drive faster and I told him we didn’t have time to get pulled over. It was the first time I had the urge to push in the car and I just kept thinking I don’t want to have a baby going 80 down the freeway but I certainly wasn’t going to have David pull over. I knew my water hadn’t broken yet so I was okay for a little while longer. We pulled into the hospital about 4:50am. We went straight up stairs and the first registration window took way too long for us being the only ones there.

Finally, they took me into a room and I had to leave David behind. I don’t know why at this hospital they make the husbands wait in the waiting room til we are all hooked up and officially admitted. This happened with Rachel’s birth and it bothered me. So when a super nice nurse put some monitors on my stomach pretty quickly and checked me and said “Oh wow, there is a bulging bag of water and a baby ready to come out”. I said someone go grab my husband. She said, “I’m going to run and go grab the doctor, if your water breaks hit this red button” and she flew out of the room. Not 30 seconds after she left I had a strong contraction so I stood up because I think laying down through contractions is the worst thing in the world. Well, guess what happened the minute I stood up? Gush, my water broke right there on the floor. Now, this pregnancy did indeed throw me for a loop but there is one thing I know about having already had 6 kids naturally, when my water breaks the baby comes less than a few contractions later. Anyone remember Lucy being delivered in the bathroom by me because I forgot about that call button? I wasn’t ready to repeat that experience so I hit the red call button less than a minute after the nurse left and said my water just broke. The nurse ran back in and I said, “I’m so sorry for the mess.” And she said laughed that I apologized and said "no problem" and I asked for please someone to go find David. So when a second person walked in she sent them out for David. I had another contraction while I was standing there and I literally crossed my legs hoping to keep the baby in til David arrived. David came in a couple minutes later and I was so relieved. After the nurse had cleaned up the water mess she knelt down and tried to put an IV in my hand while I was standing there and then I said, “oh hang on a second there’s a lot of pressure” and she said, “from me or the baby?” and I said, “the baby” then I reached down and felt her head just as the nurse asked if I could get in the bed. I said, “nope she’s coming” and the nurse delivered her while I was standing right there and the doctor walked in just as the rest of her was delivered and stepped in to help make sure the cord was long enough to put her on my chest while I sat down on the side of the bed. I kept looking at David who had been in the room all of two minutes saying, “what just happened?” even for me that delivery was crazy. She was born at 5:06am 7lbs 4oz and 21 inches long. The nurse afterwards said, “that was so great, I haven’t delivered a baby in a while, so thank you so!” The doctor likewise kept saying she loved those types of deliveries and that was awesome even though she only was there for the very end.

 Still in shock. Seriously, we were dying that it happened so fast.

 David is the best. He makes this whole 7 kid business seem normal.

 The nurse and doctor from the delivery came in to say hi before I left the hospital. They were so awesome.

Here she is fresh out.

We had a few names on our list during this pregnancy and Hattie went in and out of the favorite spot. I wanted to see her before we decided on a name and pretty quickly we knew she wasn't anyone but Hattie. Rae is my mom's middle name and we have a theme going of two syllable girl names with a one syllable middle name. We didn't do it on purpose but we decided we'd better stick with it for girl #5. We love her already!!

June 2017

End of the School Year

My mom used to tell me that as soon as my kids started school time would start flying by. I am here to tell you that is the truth! As much as I dread making lunches every night it seems like I blink and the school year has started and ended. Our elementary school is the best and I feel like the last two weeks of school with award ceremonies, projects and class parties I was there at least once sometimes twice a day.

 Here is Lucy at her Pre K award ceremony.

She had 4 preK teachers this year - this is Mrs. B the lead teacher who also had Mallie. We love her.

 Here is Mallie and Mrs. Kolo who was also Ashton's teacher. This woman is phenomenal. 

Hannah and Mrs. Sardella. We had Mrs. Sardella last year with Ashton and she is the best. I told the front office when I was requesting her for Hannah that they couldn't possible expect us to be satisfied with any other 2nd grade teacher after having Mrs. Sardella.

Here's Ashton with his wax museum project he completed all on his own (note the awesome coloring) the last week of school. He was Rick Riordan (the Percy Jackson author) and he was one of the few 3rd graders that completely memorized his biography. He had a little bit of a tougher teacher apparently 3rd grade is when elementary school gets serious but he did really well and loved it.

I can't believe that next year we'll have a 4th, 3rd, and 2nd graders and a kindergartner! For now we will enjoy a schedule free summer of lots of sun and fun!

Hannah Turns 8

We took Hannah to a pizza party place for her 8th birthday. She was thrilled. 

They had a party room host who made balloon animals and kept them all playing games.

Next they all got their game cards to play in the arcade and ride on the bumper cars.

The next day was her actual birthday and bright and early we headed to the church for her baptism. Here we are on the way over.

 How grateful I am that the priesthood has been restored. 

 David's parents drove down late Friday night to be here. Also, since this is my blog I can add that I really had no idea how pregnant I looked until I saw these pictures. No wonder people keep asking me when my due date is.

Our friend took some baptism pictures of Hannah and they turned our beautiful!

We are so proud of this girl.

Hannah is still the most emotional one in the family. She wears her heart on her sleeve and the benefit of that is when someone is out of sorts she is the first one to let us know and comfort them. She loves Rachel and tries to take care of her as often as Rachel will let her. Drawing is still her favorite past time and sometimes mid family movie she'll run upstairs to draw if she gets bored. We love her so much!!

Girls Camp

Young Womens is such a huge part of my life right now. Heck, more like our entire family's life. Our kids are accustomed to Mom constantly going to be with the YW and David holds down the fort for me all the time. Right after we got home from the cruise I headed off to this beautiful camp for 4 days.

 These girls are as good as it gets. I adore all of them.

My eyes are closed and apparently I got in my pajamas early but I love these ladies I get to serve with.

 This was my favorite day on the lake. We sang our hearts out to Disney songs for over an hour as we canoed around.

 One of my graduating laurels and I trying to take a picture of our ward behind us. You can tell how sunburned we already are!

YWs really is one of the most time intensive callings ever but I have been blessed with the best group of girls who make it so much fun.

Disney Cruise Part 2

Dinner at Animator's Palate.

Us getting off the boat at Disney's private island Castaway Cay.

We left Scotty behind probably right after this picture was taken. We walked around a corner probably 100 feet to hop on the little tram to the beach and I did a headcount and realized I was down one. I went running back around the corner and two ladies must have guessed what was up and said the little blonde boy was already with the cast members. He wasn't traumatized at all and once again I was so grateful we were at a Disney location.

The sand and water on the island were perfect.

 The kids had the best day just playing in the sand.

 I've never seen water this clear in my life. Pretty magical with no waves.

 Pirate night.

 Lucy and Mallie were very into it. Hannah opted for the princess route.

 On the deck eating our money's worth of ice cream and more.

Our last night for dinner was at Tianna's place. It was our favorite restaurant because it had the live band and the limbo going all night.

David and I walked off the boat exhausted but it was the best family vacation!!

We actually did it!! DC Part 1

A Disney cruise has been on my dream list of "someday" for as long as I can remember. David and I were giddy with anticipation. I was so excited that I kept feeling like something for sure was going to prevent us from actually getting on that ship. So when we finally boarded I thought it was the best day of my life.

Right before this picture was taken Ashton's flip flop broke. In an effort to pack light I only packed one pair of flip flops per kid. The result was Ashton walking around in a pair of David's flip flops for 2 days because they didn't sell any his size on the ship. It was pretty comical but a reminder straight off with a vacation with 6 kids means you're still a parent of 6 kids.

 Here we are touring the kids areas and getting all of the kids wristbands.

The kids area was so cool. Everything we had imagined and more.

 About 3 hours in after a mandatory drill we were waiting in the lobby for our rooms to open up we turned around and found Scotty like this. He was already toasted. Check out Ashton's flip flops in the background too. He handled it like a champ and didn't complain but he was thrilled when David and I bought him a new pair at the port in the Bahamas.

Oh these girls thought they were pretty awesome lounging on the deck. And they were pretty amazing!!

This was dinner on the first night. The kids had mickey ice cream bars for dessert every night and thought they were in Heaven.

We had an assigned time to go meet the princesses so there was no line. While other little girls were running up, hugging and going crazy over the princesses our girls walked up took the mandatory picture and walked away without a word. I'm glad we found out that our kids aren't into meeting characters before we go somewhere like Disneyland and wait an hour in the line. In fact, on our assigned time to meet all the Frozen characters our girls said "naw, that's alright."