Father’s Day and Eleanor’s Birth Story Part I

June 29, 2018 by

Grammy and Aunt Sarah had come into town Father’s Day weekend, just in time to help with the kids since I was feeling pretty heavy and uncomfortable by the end of my pregnancy. Complete strangers would come up to me at the store and inform me that I couldn’t possibly go one more day of pregnancy because of how low and huge I was carrying…. so that was getting OLD.

It was a gamble for Grammy and Aunt Sarah to come right before my due date since Meredith had surprised us at 37 weeks (the twins were 36 week-ers, but theirs was scheduled); however, it ended up being perfect timing. Since I was grumpy, huge, and basically useless, they took over and entertained the kids all weekend, going on walks, to the park, and swimming in our pool. I was feeling some contractions on and off that week, but nothing seemed to be happening imminently. I had so many false alarms over the past few weeks where I felt that THIS WAS IT, that I was pretty dismissive to any contractions at that point. At my weekly appointment, I was still 3 cm dilated and almost 100% effaced, as I had been the past two weeks. Dr. Price set an induction date for the following week if nothing was progressing so that I at least could have an end date in mind!

June 17, 2018– Father’s Day and my due date! After a big breakfast of stuffed overnight french toast (and regular french toast for Jake since he doesn’t like the casserole kind) the girls had Jake open their cards and gifts. We had a big candy bar poster for him and with help from Aunt Sarah and Grammy, the girls created a treasure hunt for Jake with the candy at the very end. They kept giving away all the answers, but thought they were being pretty sneaky.

I went to three different stores looking for certain types of candy bars– and no one had 100 Grand! I ended up printing out a picture instead. Sarah let me know she found some a month later at some ethnic store in SLC… guess I know where to go now!

Amelia’s preschool gift.

Samantha’s preschool gift.

Well said, Samantha.

We think Meredith may be color blind…

So far, a common thread is that Daddy is playful, good at working, and not so good at cleaning, ha!

Later, we went to the Exploration Playground and let the girls run around. By the time we got home, I was not feeling great, and after lunch I decided to take a nap while Jake and the twins were at church. Sleep eluded me as I started feeling contractions and they started coming pretty regularly. I figured I had better start timing them since they didn’t feel like they were going away, so I opened my phone app and recorded away. They started off about 8 minutes, apart, then 7, then 6 consistently for a few hours. I tried drinking water, walking around, changing positions, but they were still consistent. Since I was already 3 cm dilated earlier that week, I decided I better start getting everything ready in case this was it. I packed all our last minute toiletries in the hospital bag and texted Jake that he better start heading home. He was in Elder’s Quorum at the time and as he was leaving, announced that I was going to have the baby… a fun thing to say on Father’s Day!

Back at home, Grammy, Aunt Sarah and I were trying to get dinner ready so that we could eat a little bit of it before leaving for the hospital. My contractions got down to 5 minutes apart and were getting to the point where I would have to bend over and breathe through them, so it was definitely the craziest dinner preparation ever! Jake packed the car and was literally scarfing down food, with me telling him to hurry up because we really needed to get going! “JUST EAT THE STEAK! I AM NOT MISSING MY EPIDURAL FOR THIS!!!” I was shouting like a crazy person. I’m sure the whole scene was traumatizing for Aunt Sarah, who may never have kids now! The last thing we were waiting on was the steak to finish cooking, and I gave Jake about 5 seconds to wolf a little bit down, along with the carrot cake from Susie Cakes before kissing everyone goodbye and sprinting out the door.

 

By the time we sped away in the car toward the hospital, contractions had been 4-5 minutes apart for the past few hours and I was having to concentrate on breathing through them. In between contractions, I called the hospital on our way to let them know we were coming in hot! As soon as we arrived, I was put in a room to get vitals taken and contractions monitored. The nurse informed me I was 4 centimeters dilated, but as soon as I sat down to have my contractions monitored, they slowed down and started coming erratically. I was so frustrated and showed the nurse my the contractions timer and graph on my phone. She told me I definitely wouldn’t be leaving since I was already at a 4, but that I should go walk around a bit to get the contractions going again. Jake took the opportunity to re-park the car in the longer-term parking and grab our bags while I walked in my hospital gown, in a loop around the maternity ward. Contractions started coming again and after a little while, I needed to sit and breathe through them in the rocking chairs strategically placed around the maternity ward.

I was not in a good mood being forced to walk around the hospital and after a little less than an hour grumpily went to the nurse’s station to ask to be checked again. Just as before, contractions started coming less consistently and in longer intervals, but I had dilated to a 5, which meant I was progressing! Finally, I could officially be admitted into my room and get my much anticipated and beloved epidural! I breathed a sigh of relief that at least the walking stage was over.

My nurse for the delivery was Angie, who was absolutely awesome and fun to talk to. My OB was not on call that night, but Dr. Lo, who was on call, was amazing as well and had a very calming presence about her. After what seemed like an endless stream of nurses coming in to take vitals, confirm paperwork, and poke me a million times to get the IV in, the anesthesiologist arrived.

I immediately recognized him from Meredith’s birth and I started having a minor mental breakdown… last time with Meredith, the epidural wore off after a few hours, and even after he tried to increase the dosage of pain meds, I could feel everything and it was not pleasant! Meredith also came out with her elbow up by her face, which didn’t help. The doctor last time said the tearing was the worst she had ever seen since working at that hospital! My current next-door-neighbor is an anesthesiologist, so during this pregnancy, I drilled him with hundreds of questions about epidurals and all the possibilities of why mine could possibly not work (I’m sure he was sick of me and my questions by the end!) According to him, some people’s nerves just don’t respond the same way to an epidural and that some anesthesiologists are better than others about troubleshooting and moving the epi to a different spot if something goes wrong. Needless to say, I was not happy to have the same anesthesiologist.

After he administered the pain meds, the pain from contractions began to recede and I could relax a little bit. It was now 9:30 p.m. and we had arrived around 6. Jake fell asleep almost right away on the couch in the room and I was told to get some rest before it was time to do the hard work, but even though I felt numb from the epidural, I was so uncomfortable in the hospital bed, that I didn’t get any sleep at all and mostly turned from side to side all night, crunching on ice chips. To make matters worse, I had woken up early that morning, around 3:30 a.m. due to the pregnancy insomnia I had experienced for the past nine months, and was not able to fall back asleep, so at this point, I was beyond delirious. In between monitors constantly going off and nurses coming in and out to check me, I managed to doze off for a few minutes here and there, but overall felt pretty out of it!

A common side effect of epidurals is that contractions start to slow down and since I wasn’t all the way dilated, we knew Baby Girl wouldn’t be making her entrance on her due date of Father’s Day, but she hit it pretty close!

Baby’s birth day to be continued…

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June Recap

June 27, 2018 by

Our June was filled with perfect weather, lots of beach and pool days, wrapping up preschool, and basically just surviving until the baby came. Those last few weeks of pregnancy were not exactly comfortable, (if I had a dime for every time someone told me I looked like I would pop any day now, I’d be rich!) and every day was filled with the uncertainty of if that would be our last day as a family of five or not! I was exhausted and Meredith was frustrated that I couldn’t do much– including sitting down on the floor to play with her or reading with anyone in my lap. I was also in full-on nesting mode, staying up all hours of the night to organize the pantry, dust the baseboards, clean the fridge, and frantically pleading with Jake to do the most random jobs (changing out lightbulbs, painting the bathroom– not joking!)  Saint that he is, he took it all in stride and tried not to point out the fact that I was crazy! Somehow, we made it through the month.

Celebrating our friend, Marisa’s, graduation from college at the beach in Newport since we wouldn’t be able to attend the ceremony. At some point during our morning, Meredith crashed some kid’s birthday party and I found her over at their picnic table, eating treats and trying to steal balloons!

Weekly park day with our friends. We usually have some boys in the mix, but this day it was all girls and for whatever reason, the balance was off and the girls fought the whole time! Maple and Meredith both ended up with scraped knees and bruised faces (not from each other– each took a spill). It was a crazy playdate!

Field trip to the Discovery Cube Museum. Since there was no way I was fitting my pregnant self into those tiny bus seats, Jake valiantly chaperoned in my place.

 

I was just about to commend ourselves on how peaceful of a morning we were having, when Amelia threw up in the pool and the lifeguards had to shut it down for a few hours to shock the system with chlorine. She mostly threw up water, after swallowing a ton of it swimming, but it was still gross! Fortunately, there weren’t too many people there, but we still apologized as we took our walk of shame back home. For the rest of the summer, we stayed at our own pool!

We somehow made it the entire summer without Meredith pooping in the pool! The waterpark in our neighborhood is constantly getting shut down because of “code browns,” and if your kid is the one who pooped and was not wearing one of the diaper cover ups they hand out for free, you will be publicly shamed on the Ladera Moms Facebook Page! I usually put three layers of swim diaper/diaper cover ups on Meredith, but was still paranoid whenever we went out to the public pool. The only pool she ended up having an accident in was our own pool!

Meredith investigates a two bicycle crash.

You guys okay?

Morning at the park.

Meredith somehow grabbed my phone and was taking pictures of me at school pick-up. I guess this is how I look from the kids’ point of view!

We had several false labor alarms, one of which was right before heading on a family Costco run. After feeling some contractions, I told Jake we better zip it to Costco to stock up on food, and we raced around the store, literally telling people to move out of the way because I was in labor! I was doubled over in pain a few times in the  middle of the aisle, but we made it through and still had time for what we thought would be our last meal as a family of five. I took a picture to commemorate, but it didn’t end up being our last evening out. I was dilated to a 3 for WEEKS before going into labor for real!

Samantha and Amelia have an obsession with putting undies on their heads at bedtime.

The weekend of my due date (June 17), Grammy and Aunt Sarah came to town. Even though the baby hadn’t come yet, it was perfect timing since I was too exhausted to really do much of anything with the girls. They took the girls to the Oso trail for a nature walk and fairy hunting. A local artist had set up cute fairy houses all along the trail and the girls loved examining the teeny tiny fairy sculptures. 

Movie night with Aunt Sarah!

Our last few weeks of June were quite eventful– birth story up next!

Lots of love,

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Mother’s Day 2018

May 20, 2018 by

Let the Mother’s Day festivities begin!

In Samantha’s classroom for her Mother’s Day Breakfast. Thank you for the card and flower present, Samantha!

Popping by next door for Amelia’s Mother’s Day Breakfast and to receive her beautiful card and cute flower pot present that she had been so excited to give me all week that she had already told me what it was.

Mother’s Day Tea last year:

On Friday during Meredith’s nap time, the doorbell rang, and while I normally don’t answer the door at that hour, I luckily looked through my Ring app to see who it was and saw two guys who looked like movers with a truck. Thinking they had the wrong house, I opened the door and they handed me an invoice to sign for a piano. Before I could tell them they must have had the wrong address, they were sprinting to their truck to haul the piano out and I was scanning the invoice, which apparently did have my name on it!

Confused, I pointed out where to put the piano and apologized for not having a tip since I had no idea I was getting a piano! “Ummmmm…. did you buy a piano?” I texted Jake. Apparently, the movers weren’t supposed to deliver the piano until after he had gotten home from work, but they came early and even though they called him to give him a 20 minute warning and he left work immediately, there was an accident on the freeway and he was stuck in traffic, missing the movers by minutes. He was SO disappointed to have missed my reaction!

We had picked out and had been looking for a deal on a few different Yamahas we wanted in the fall, but had tabled it because we had so much other work on the house to pay for. Props to Jake because I am very hard to surprise and I was in total shock for a while! The twins had mentioned something that morning about my present being something musical, but I figured they were going to play me some kind of song on their harmonica or sing; amazing they didn’t completely spill the beans! So happy to have a piano again and thank you, Jake for a great Mother’s Day present!

All the girls were SO excited to have a piano and wanted to “practice” on it constantly. Capitalizing on the twins’ enthusiasm, we started piano lessons with Miss Jenny right away. They are so quiet and compliant during lessons that Miss Jenny always remarks on what good girls they are (little does she know how loud they can be!) Meredith is usually running around like crazy and it’s been a challenge keeping her quiet and occupied during lessons, but she loves to listen in.

The first few weeks went great with practicing, with the twins eager to be the first one to practice. After the initial excitement wore off, however, their enthusiasm for practicing has started to wane. Amelia almost always volunteers to go first and seems to be picking it up easier and with more excitement than Samantha. At first, I wondered if I should be paying for lessons given that at this stage, I could teach them myself, but after a few practice sessions and seeing the difference with how they are with Miss Jenny vs. Mommy, I am so glad we started them with a teacher! They are goofy and complain with me; even at this beginner level, I get so frustrated! I am grateful to have Miss Jenny be the reason I bribe them to practice since they want to do well for her (plus she brings them Goldfish crackers!)

 

Back to Mother’s Day… gluten-free crepes and a smoothie for breakfast. Samantha looks like she sampled a little bit on the way up to deliver!

They’ve been making crepes for years! Mother’s Day 2015– these were almond flour/coconut flour crepes:

Thank you for all the beautiful presents, girls!

Not sure what half of this means… Jake said everyone was super silly while he was doing this interview.

 

Meredith apparently didn’t see much point in the interview and just wanted to color.

  

The beach is my happy place… when I don’t have to get anyone ready or pack/unpack the car! I literally handed Jake my beach packing list, complete with food items, and practiced a new song on the piano while he and the girls cleaned the kitchen after breakfast and packed up our beach gear. It wasn’t until everyone was buckled and the car was idling in the driveway, that I got in the car. Relaxing! We walked around the Montage in Laguna Beach and it was a beautiful day.

Down on the sand, Jake set up my beach chair and I relaxed while he ran around with the kids, fetched snacks for them every two seconds, and attempted to keep Meredith from throwing food at seagulls. After the clouds burned off, it got HOT fast and while the girls played for a good few hours, they burned out fast. We trekked back up the hill with three screaming girls, and I’m sure people were feeling bad for pregnant mom/tired dad and wondering why we were having a 4th! Even with the sun-induced meltdown, I was so relaxed from not having to do anything that morning that I was still in a good mood. Amazing what a little extra energy will do for you.

Past Mother’s Days:

2013;

2014:

2015:

2016:

2017:

2018:

 

While Jake and the kids were at the far end of the beach climbing rocks, I read a book and watched from afar, only mildly concerned when I heard Meredith screaming since Jake looked like he was handling it. She returned with bumps and scrapes everywhere!

Surfer girl Samantha.

After a nap and church, Jake and the girls made a delicious steak dinner with a strawberry icebox cake for dessert, as per the menu I had given him the week prior to figure out (things go a lot smoother when he and the kids have some direction!) I also played the piano and forced the girls to sing a Mother’s Day related primary song since for some unfathomable reason, the primary didn’t have the kids sing any of the six Mother’s Day related songs during their program…not that the lyrics to any of the Mother’s Day songs are the greatest, but it only happens once a year and it’s cute!  The weekend was not without its meltdowns, but I felt appreciated nonetheless– thank you for a fun, relaxing and lovely Mother’s Day!

Lots of love,

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May Photo Recap

May 15, 2018 by

May was beautiful with lots of outdoor time! It wasn’t too hot, which was perfect for my hugely pregnant self!

Samantha boogies at the park.

Apparently, everyone was in a good mood at the park today!

Snacking and lounging at the Lake Forest Sports Park.

Our caterpillars finally emerged into butterflies and after a few days of trying to keep Meredith from poking them, it was time to let them fly free (likely to get eaten by the plethora of hungry birds in our backyard seconds later).

Our neighbor had the cutest flower planting/gardening birthday party and one of the games was eating donuts off a string. Very entertaining for the parents!

Meredith totally cheated!

One perk of Jake being on the Board of Directors is being invited to special events, like this private party at the water park for Board Members and volunteers in our community. It was a little chilly, but the kids didn’t care and due to the live steel drum/reggae band and catered dinner, if I closed my eyes, I imagined I was in the Bahamas for just a second…

Meredith made a new friend!

The girls’ favorite part was the ice cream sundae bar.

Arts and crafts time.

I was lounging by the pool when Jake was with the kids at the craft table. He later told me there were some old lady volunteers nearby whom he overheard remark, “Did you see that lady in the blue and gray? She looked like she should have given birth YESTERDAY!” And then I walked up to Jake about two seconds later and they realized I was with him haha! Gossipy old ladies!

Knocking over the Jenga tower was a huge source of contention, so we left when the girls started fighting!

The end-of-the-year fundraiser at the girls’ preschool was the Helicopter Golf Ball Drop, which like last year, was a huge hit with the kids. Meredith couldn’t believe she got to see a helicopter so up close, and one dropping hundreds of golf balls to boot!

Another highlight was finding this eerily friendly bunny on the green.

I wish the kids would pick up their toys at home as fast as they picked up these golf balls after the big drop.

The girls were so excited to meet up at the splash pad with Noah and Hailey who were visiting town. Cousin time!

Hailey was not too happy about Meredith constantly being in her face!

Noah and the girls making mud pies.

 

We started our yearly swim lessons with Miss Conni and Miss Erica and the twins worked on their freestyle stroke, began learning the butterfly and breaststroke and of course, had fun on the diving board. Meredith does her own separate swim lesson with Miss Conni that Jake takes her too and Miss Conni says Meredith is a natural! She looks forward to her Daddy time twice a week and is the only kid in the class who can jump off the diving board and float to her back. I need to remind Jake to take some pictures and video of her, because every time I go to the twins’ lesson, Miss Conni raves about Meredith.

A monthly recap would not be complete without documenting squabbles and fights. There’s a lot more where this came from.

Meredith begs to sleep in the twins’ room every day at nap! This month, Meredith also had her first impromptu day of preschool. I had to be at school setting up decorations for Teacher Appreciation Week and asked Miss Debbie if Meredith could join the toddler class while I was setting up. Meredith didn’t bat an eye or say goodbye to me– she joined the other kids right away and had the time of her life! We were there all morning and Miss Ericka said she was the star of the class!

Our new pool cleaners.

Don’t know that much pool cleaning is going on.

S’mores time in our backyard fireplace.

Who you looking at?

Weekly park playdate with friends.

A rough day for Amelia!

Experimenting with curlers.

Highlight of the month: playing with this enormous box for a few days until I got sick of it being in our garage and threw it out, to the girls’ great disappointment.

I can’t believe the girls had never actually done a pinata before, but they got their chance at Allie’s birthday party. Meredith was especially fascinated with the concept of whacking something with a bat and collecting the candy that spilled out.

 

At the end of their ballet/yoga class, the girls do a relaxation time and then a craft– their favorite part!

Movie night.

I spend a good majority of my afternoon ignoring tattle tales over who knocked over their block towers.

Playing with neighbors at the pocket park.

We spent pretty much every weekend in May working on projects. Meredith helps Daddy with the closet floor!

Lazy hammock afternoon.

Samantha and her acrobatics.

This is how Meredith wakes up:

Meredith’s crazy toddler tantrum side:

Sweetly singing!

Our ward went on a Memorial Day morning hike to the top of a peak in San Juan Capistrano overlooking the ocean. At 9 months pregnant, I stayed home, with Jake braving the hike by himself. I was concerned it was 3 miles roundtrip and really steep, but the girls did great, even though they were the last ones up the trail!

At the top, they signed the visitor book and sang some patriotic songs before heading back down. Apparently, our Bishop helped push Meredith in the stroller while Jake carried both exhausted twins on his shoulders!

A sweet post-hike reward.

Lots of love,

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