July- Week 3- Welcome Baby Bethany!!

Wednesday morning- 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant.
Induction day! The earliest I've ever had a baby and feeling like this baby would be pretty small.  

 My parents came to stay at my house at 9:30am.  My dad helped Dan give me a priesthood blessing.  We said good-bye to the kids.  

 Last picture as a family of 5! 

Then Dan and I went out for a brunch at the Blue Plate Diner in Salt Lake.  I felt like I had butterflies in my stomach all morning...pretty excited and nervous! 

The Labor and Delivery Timeline:

12:00- Check in at St Mark's. Cervical exam.  I still measured at 2cm and 70% (same as last appointment on Monday)
12:40- Dr. Watts called. He was just starting surgery at another hospital (LDS) so he should be done by 3ish. 
1:00- Pitocin started on lowest dosage.  They knew how fast my last labor was (3.5 hours), so they wanted to start very slow! 
1:35- Epidural administered.  
2:05- Pitocin raised to 2
2:30- Pitocin raised to 3
4:00- Measured 3cm and 90%. Hospital doc will probably come break water in an hour. Pitocin up to an 8.
4:45- Contractions steady and PAINFUL every 2-3 minutes. A "roomy" 3, progressing very slowly. Baby's heart rate dipped a little at peak of contractions, so Pitocin was backed off.  
5:10- Anesthesiologist upped the epidural dosage.
6:08- Hospital doc finally broke the water when Dr. Watts was starting his last procedure.
6:25- Measured a 5.
6:43- Measured a 7.
6:55- Ready to push!  Feeling pressure and pain with contractions.  Gave me some oxygen.  Two big pushes, one little snip, baby was out at...
7:04pm- Baby born!!  

IT'S A GIRL!!  I was totally shocked!! 

She was definitely our tiniest baby!  

6lbs 7oz.  19in.

 She had the cord wrapped around her neck twice and once around her body.  The nurse said that's pretty common; occurs 25-30% of pregnancies.  

 We initially thought she looked a little like Ben.  But the more time we spent with her, the more we thought she doesn't look like any of our other kids!  

 Skin-to-skin!  She was already sucking on her hand.  It looked like she had a possible sucking blister on her the back of her hand by her thumb.  

Because she was sucking so much on her hand, I went ahead and tried nursing.  She latched on like a champ!  

 This picture is kind of funny looking with my dead legs.  

 Holding onto my finger.  

And the proud papa!! 

July- Week 2- Funeral and Baby Prep

Wednesday we had some neighbor friends over to play.  Anna went on her birthday date with Grandma Sibber!  They had lunch at Chick Fil'A and then some shopping at Target.  

When she got home, she had a second lunch out in the patio room with the big kids.  

That evening we attended the viewing for my Grandpa Dave.  

It was very nice to see so many family members.

That night we had a HUGE thunderstorm with lightning that was so constant it looked like a strobe light.  We turned off all our inside lights and pulled up the blinds to watch it.  I think even my southern Alabama sister was impressed.  ;)  

Thursday morning I had a doctor's appointment and I was still only dilated to 1cm and 60-70% effaced, so he decided to strip my membranes.  I headed straight from there to the funeral for my grandpa.  It was a beautiful tribute with each of his 7 children participating.  From the funeral we left to drive to Scipio, UT where my grandpa spent much of his childhood and both of his parents are buried there.  The younger generation (grandsons) were able to be pallbearers at the grave-site.     

My dad (top middle) with all of his siblings.  

I learned so much from my Grandpa mostly during my adult years since I've lived here in Utah.  I will remember him for his passion for tennis, cars, motorcycles, pheasant and dove hunting, church history, and his knowledge of temples.  He had such a great sense of humor and could always make me laugh!  I'm grateful for how much my dad reminds me of him. :)   Love you and miss you Grandpa! 

While I went with my family down to Scipio, Dan was nice enough to take the kids home and spend the afternoon with them.  He continued to work on our yard work project by prepping the soil and spreading grass seed.  

Ben enjoyed his time outside with some potato bugs.  

That evening I was a little worried about going into labor since the doc had stripped my membranes, so I did a couple things I had been putting off, like give Dan a haircut and vacuum. :) 

Friday, was my sister, Emily's last day in Utah, so we made the rounds to visit all our grandparents.  Emily has a great camera and took some nice pictures.  This one was while we were visiting my Condie Grandparents.  

I took my kids home after this visit for some lunch and quiet time.  In the evening we visited my Grandpa Jeanne (Thompson).  My sweet grandma who just lost her sweetheart of 65 years, has been suffering from dementia.  Visiting her the day after the funeral, she seemed to remember that Grandpa had passed away, but at times, she couldn't remember if we had already had the funeral or not.  She still has quite a bit of sass and whit though.  We were discussing possible baby names for our upcoming new arrival and my dad jokingly said we were thinking about the name "Hosni"  She made the funniest face it made us all laugh and laugh!   

My grandma lives with my dad's older brother.  They have lots of grandkids themselves, so thankfully they have some great toys for little kids.  

It has been unseasonably cool for July, but we really wanted my sister to be able to try some Hokulia shave ice before she left.  After visits we headed over to get some and had to bundle up in blankets and sweaters to be able to enjoy it.  

Saturday my parents and sisters left for Alabama to be there for my niece's baptism.  

Congratulations Kaitlyn!! 

Saturday we did yard work, grocery shopping, and McKenna and I went to a bridal shower for our Bishop's daughter.  In the evening, we attended a baptism for one of Dan's high school friends' sons.  They had a delicious nacho bar afterwards!  

Sunday after church we were in the car and Anna asked for her sunglasses.  Then she said, "Mom, watch dis... Hey babe!"  When we got home, I got a video of it.  She said her Aunt Pickle taught it to her.  

Sunday evening we attended a dinner with the "Scoundrels."  These are a group of friends of Dan's parents.  They have been friends since they were teenagers.  The couple in the middle were basically newlyweds themselves when they took these boys under their wing. Such wonderful sweet people and we're grateful for their love to a bunch of rowdy teenagers.  

Monday I had my last doctor's appointment and was dilated to 2cm!  The stripping of my membranes on Thursday had helped me progress a little.  I came home and did laundry, got my hair cut, and we had a special Family Home Evening about families and working together since our family would be changing drastically in two days!  That night I dusted and vacuumed the baby's room.  

Tuesday was the day before my induction!!  Sarah Jane picked the older kids up for their weekly movie theater movie. She had a full load!

While they were gone, I organized some of Anna's clothes, cleaned my entire basement then rested a little before lunch.  McKenna went to her cousin Katie's BD party in the afternoon.  

In the evening, we went for a walk around the neighborhood, put the kids to bed, then I cleaned until I couldn't clean anymore. ;)