Clara's birth story.

I finally took the time to write out my birth story. Thankfully I wrote a lot of it out in the first few days I was home or I probably would have forgotten most of the details.

I had decided from the very beginning that I would give birth naturally. No epidural, no pitocin, all me. When I told people they would always laugh and say I wouldn’t make it, that I would give in. I knew that I wouldn’t and I didn’t. Josh and I prepared for this labor starting several months in advance by participating in Hypno-birthing classes. I started early so that I could practice these techniques for most of my pregnancy. Through this class I learned to work with my body to relax through the stress and discomfort and to prepare mentally and physically. I feel that this had a lot to do with the ease of my pregnancy and labor. I went into it with no expectations or fears and had been consistently visualizing a smooth outcome.
My husband helped me to work through my prior issues and pre-conceived ideas about labor and birth so that I was ready to calmly except whatever turn my birthing would take.
Many people ask me why I wanted to birth intervention and med-free. I wasn't trying to prove anything to anyone else but it was something that I really wanted to try. In a way I wanted to prove to myself that I was capable of doing it. I think of it this way; some people really want to run a marathon. They set a goal, practice and train in preparation and then they do it! I have absolutely no interest in running…whatsoever! But for some people that is a personal goal and something that would be a very big accomplishment for them. That is how I feel about med-free or "natural" birthing. Others may not be interested and that is totally ok. It was a personal goal I had for myself and both Josh and I felt very strongly about it. That doesn't mean that it is for everyone! I would never judge anyone for wanting to do it differently as it is a very personal decision. No one has the right to tell you how you should bring your baby into this world or what is right for your body.
This was only about Josh and I birthing in a way that was comfortable for us. 
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I apologize in advance. It's pretty long.

Josh and I went to bed early on August 8th. We had the carpets cleaned that day and had set up fans in the basement to help them dry. (Talk about good timing). Looking back I remember feeling "different" on this day. I had been having Braxton hicks since week 18 but they had been particularly uncomfortable and strong all day. We spent some time at the park with friends that evening and I had done a lot of walking. I was uncomfortable, hot, and "ready to be done."

Around 11:00 p.m I started having some strong cramping that was fairly consistent. I assumed it was Braxton hicks and was use to being uncomfortable at night so I didn't think too much of it. 

I was pretty sure that it was false labor since it was a week early.  (All of my midwives had me convinced me that the baby would be late. "You won't be on time so don't get your hopes up!" and "Expect her to come at least one to two weeks late!") I stayed in bed for about an hour and then decided to get up and poke around online since I couldn't sleep. I read some forums to see what others had experienced but I was still unsure if I was in labor. The internet just made me more confused so I went back to bed.

These surges went on for a few hours and never faded. I was becoming more restless and I noticed that I would sort of fidget my legs during surges so after a while I started timing them on my cell phone. I found that they were about 10 minutes apart and lasted about 60 seconds. At this point I kind of just decided that I was really in labor. I let Josh know that it might be the "real deal" but to go back to sleep and I would keep him posted. My Braxton Hicks had never been consistent this way or this strong. Around 2:00 a.m I checked again and they were close to 5 minutes apart feeling a bit stronger and lasting about 2 minutes. Josh rubbed my back while I focused my breathing and tried to relax.

I let Josh go back to sleep and I got in a warm shower. It was vey relaxing to just stand there for a bit. I got out and knelt on the floor at our bedside for a while and then got back in a warm bath. (I was back and forth a lot haha).

At about 4:00 a.m. we started trying to page the midwife on call. Her pager didn't seem to be working. That was a bit frustrating. I just wanted to know if I should stay put or not.

We tried about three times and then decided to wait and call the office when it opened in the morning.
Josh continued to rub my back and I knelt on the floor resting my head on the bed, breathing through the surges.

We tried the office at about 7:30 and the receptionist finally got a hold of the midwife and told her to meet us at the hospital. Her pager had apparently been malfunctioning all night. I wasn't the only person who couldn't get through.

We got to the hospital around 8:00 a.m. (We conveniently only live about three blocks away. Just two stop lights) so the drive was super fast. I had to stop in the hallway a few times to breath through some surges on the way to the front desk. Josh would kind of laugh because I am not the kind of person that makes noise when I am in pain or uncomfortable so he didn't notice me stop until he turned around and I was still down the hall holding on to the railing. He stayed right close with me after that. They took us into labor and delivery to see how I was progressing and determine wheither I should stay or not. Things had been really quiet that morning so I was lucky to get the room with the jet tub. (There is only one and they try to save it for the "natural" birthers. There are a lot of us here in Utah and August is a busy baby month).

I was dilated to about a 4 and was 95% effaced. They told us we could stay and checked us in. I was very happy about this. I did not want to go a whole three blocks all the way home again. "We are here! Let's do this!"

I changed into the hospital gown and rested on the bed in the labor and delivery room. 

Around noon my surges were moving to about 3-5 minutes apart lasting 2 minutes each. My nurse came in to check me every 30 minutes between surges. At one point they put in the hep lock which (funny enough) actually really hurt!  Josh was surprised when he heard me say "Ouch!" as they were putting it in. I hadn't complained much abut surges or anything up until this point but I'm not a fan of needles, especially in your hand! Ouch! My surges continued on into the afternoon. Josh rubbed my lower back with a baseball and rubbed my shoulders while I rested. My midwife was amazing and super encouraging! She was there most of the time with Josh to help me through the breathing. She would remind me to relax my face or relax my shoulders and would say uplifting things like "You are doing so well!"

As the day went on she had me waddle walk across the room with Josh holding me from behind. I would sway through each surge. I was not happy about her making me get up and move. I just wanted to lay there but I knew it would help move things along so I consented and just took baby steps. Josh was amazing and held me the entire time. Jen (our midwife) was just so awesome. She kept saying “You look perfect, you don’t even need my help you are amazing!!” I heard her say to Josh at one point “She doesn’t even look like she’s contracting, she looks like she is asleep!” I thought that was funny because I was certainly not sleeping! She brought me ice chips and let Josh sneak me peices of cheese. (This hospital doesn't like you to eat during labor and I probably couldn't have even if I had wanted to but the cheese really helped! I needed a little something. Labor is a lot of work! Who would have thought!?)

Later in the day she had me squat in the big jet tub. That was a-mazing and I highly recommend this! (Next time I might consider a water birth.)  Many times, I would completely fall asleep in between the contractions. I knew this was a saving grace because it felt like it was never going to end. After a few hours I got out, paced the room again and then got back in bed and lay on my side. I overheard Jen say “She should be the poster child for hypno-birthing! I have seen hypno-birthers before but I have never seen someone this relaxed.” I am sure she was saying that just to encourage me but it made me feel good and empowered me to continue. Josh couldn't tell when I was contracting which was funny to me because I felt like every inch of my body would surely show it.

I felt really bad because she would ask me questions and I heard her ask them but I couldn’t even open my mouth to respond. I was in my zone and I couldn’t break my concentration for even a second. (I apologized to her after for blatantly ignoring her but obviously she understood haha. I really did feel bad though!) Hearing her say such positive things was helpful and encouraging even if I couldn't tell her so. She just kept reminding me that I am strong. Josh was really great at helping me to relax using the hypno-birthing prompts. He would say things like “You are totally relaxed, your face is soft and your breathing is calm and fluid. Your limbs are limp beside you and your neck and shoulders release any tension. Deep relaxing breaths...” it sounds cheesy but it was unbelievably helpful. (Keep in mind we had practiced these relaxation techniques so I was use to these prompts, and used them to sink deeper into relaxation. Much like yoga!)  He couldn't really tell when I was having a surge without looking at the screen, only my breathing would change. Whenever he would stop to watch for a contraction on the screen he would say "Ok, here comes a surge!" I thought that was funny. I wanted to say "You don't say?" Haha.

We were laboring all day so he was in charge of informing the family and keeping everyone up to date. His parents were in Montana at the time and mine were on their way from Alberta and in Spokane. 
Josh would rub my back between surges and press a baseball into my lower back as counter pressure during surges. It was interesting to me that while it felt like time was dragging on and on, every time I looked up at the clock several more hours had passed. The entire thing went so slow and so fast at the same time.

The surges increased to every two minutes lasting two minutes. This is when it started getting really, really intense. I wouldn't necessarily call it "pain" but super intense pressure and uncomfortable tightening through your torso. My lower back was pretty achey. The surges before this point would spike to about a six and then release down to around a three. Now they were spiking off the chart and would only relax down to about an eight so it never really felt like a break in between surges. Josh continued to help me breath through the surges reminding me to keep my face relaxed and to breath slowly. I really had to focus through these ones. When you start to tense up your surges kind of overlap on top of each other and then you begin to panic. If you can keep your breath calm and deep they are so much easier to manage! I would forget to breath and tense up so having Josh remind me was incredibly helpful.

At this point the nurse came back in to check me and found that I was only at a six but 100% effaced. I was really discouraged by that as I had been in labor all night and most of the day. Around this time I started to hit my limit. I told Josh that if they come back in an hour to check me and I wasn't any more progressed that I might consider getting something. I was so darn tired! I was using every last drop of energy to breath through these surges and I really just wanted to sleep. It is so mentally draining! 

The nurse came back in and told me that my water had broken. I was a little bit skeptic because I only felt a little bit of water and I had been waiting for it to break all day. I was so focused so I figured I must not have noticed. (I wish now that I had said something because I really didn't think so.) I told her I was considering "getting something". She told me that at this point an epidural probably wasn't the best idea and that it would really slow things down since I was getting so close. She said she could give me something else to take the edge off. I reluctantly said "ok", but when Jen came back in she convinced me otherwise. She said that it can make the baby really lethargic and can really drag out the process. I was so close so she would hate to put me on something so far along. I agreed. I’m so glad that they talked me out of it! It didn't take much coaxing as I really wanted to see it through to the end without meds. It is so true what everyone had told me before that when you get to the point where you feel like you can’t do it anymore you are really close to being done!

They came back literally a half hour later and I was at a nine and ready to push! The nurse told my midwife that my water had already broken so we got ready to breath the baby down.

My eyes had been closed pretty much the entire time up until this point, so when I opened them I was amazed to see how the room had transformed. There were all kinds of tables below and around me with a lot of tools and equipment. It sort of blew my mind because I didn’t ever notice the twenty people who came in to set up. (There weren’t really that many but it looked like there must have been!) I didn't hear a thing! Josh helped me move onto my left side and held one of my legs back. Rachel my nurse (who was awesome) held back my right leg. They tipped the bed up so I could use gravity to my advantage.

Jen helped me get into the swing of "pushing". I timidly gave a little "push" and then stopped like: "Ok, I pushed!"Haha. Jen was super sweet but I still find it funny. She said “Ok...that was umm...pretty good. I can tell that you are maybe, kind of holding back just a little. Do you think maybe you are a little bit afraid to push?” Translation: "What the heck? You call that a push?" lol. I admitted that I was afraid to push. It is a new sensation (the urge to push) and even though things had been intense I was just now starting to fear pain. She reassured me that it wouldn’t be that bad and that the hardest part was already over. That helped me to relax and I gave it my best effort to push better the next time. I was amazed at how natural and actually relieving it was to push.  
(The best way I can explain it is like this. When you have the flue and you are heaving (gross I know but bare with me) you can’t help it! You don’t want to throw up and you are out of energy but you have to and you have no control over it. Heaving (or pushing) is like a convulsion. Your body just sort of takes over. You would think you were done for a second and then there would be another one. It is amazing how your body takes control and sort of does this part for you.

Jen was amazing for this part as well. She was almost laughing when I would push because (apparently) I am a pro at it. (Or at least she wanted me to think I was... haha) She was like “Good! Good! That was so good!” I remember being kind of annoyed at one point thinking “If that was so good then why is nothing happening?!” Things were progressing but I didn’t think pushing would take this long and it felt like it was taking forever!

They put me on oxygen which really, really helped. I would kind of forget to breath sometimes. I had been pushing for almost 45 minutes when Jen checked to see where the baby was positioned. She was shocked to see that my water had not actually broken. (Just as I thought!) It had just been a little gush before and we were just going off what the nurse had said.  She said it would go a lot faster with my water broken and was nervous about the fact that we had been pushing with it still intact. She broke my water for me and immediately noticed the Meconium. She looked at me and said “Ok Kassi it’s time to meet your baby! I need you to push now!” I gave it my all, with every ounce of energy I had left. There was a lot of pressure. (Like really, really strong crazy pressure!) I never felt any sort of sharp pain at all but it was really intense. I kept waiting for it but it didn't really hurt. 

I remember Josh at one point saying “OH MY GOSH!” Breaking my concentration I looked at him “what? WHAT?” Then he says “She has a LOT of hair!” I wanted to hit him! Haha. I remember them asking me if I wanted a mirror but by this point I was too tired to care so I said no. (I really wish I had looked now.) The last couple of pushes took every last drop of energy (to say the least) but still not as bad as I had imagined.  I wasn't even noticing the surges anymore. With one last, big, long push, at 5:33 PM, I pushed that little baby girl into this world and it was an absolute miracle. All the discomfort melted away.

They plopped her onto my belly and Jen said “Kassi look at your baby!” I touched her and I got to look down at her for what felt like a half a second when they said “Ok dad cut the cord! Dad, cut it NOW!” Josh cut the cord and in a rush of people and machines they whisked her off to the side to clean out her lungs and try to get her breathing. I didn't see her again for an hour and half. I was not happy about that. There was no crying and everything was really quiet. I could feel the anxiety in the room and it was really traumatic for me. Thy kept telling me “She’s not breathing!” and “This isn’t good!” so naturally I was beside myself trying to get a glimpse of her through all of the people. I was not happy about them cutting the cord like that and we had previously discussed leaving it intact if something went wrong. But things had just happened so fast I didn’t get a chance to say otherwise. Everyone was rushing around and I didn't know what was going on.

Jen was stitching me up because I had torn just a tiny bit. (Only two stitches), but I was bleeding more then they liked. That was sort of funny. She said “Ok i need to put in just a few stitches, but I am really impressed you did so well and hardly tore at all!” 

All I could think to say was "Is it going to hurt?” Jen looked at me like "are you serious?" and then started laughing. She says “you’re joking right...? I’m pretty sure you won’t even notice!” I realized that was a dumb thing to ask. I just spent 18 1/2 hours in  labor and then pushed a human being out of my body. My needle phobia is real folks!

So, they were working on me, and I could see my baby in the corner surrounded by people. One of the nurses came over and explained that they were having trouble getting her lungs to work properly. (Duh! You cut off her oxygen supply!) They said it wasn’t good and that they needed to take her to the NICU. Now I was really freaking out and I started sobbing. I kept asking them if she was going to be ok but no one would answer me and they all ran out the door. Josh kissed my head and I told him to go with them and to stay with the baby! I was still kind of freaking out this point. Jen finished stitching me up and gave me something to help control the bleeding. Apparently I was bleeding a lot but she had to rush out because someone was about to deliver at the other hospital. 

I was sad i didn’t get to talk to her more. (I felt we had bonded lol. We just delivered a baby together...shouldn’t we like hang out or something?)  I’m pretty sure that I am going to  hug her when I see her at my six week appointment. Haha.

Anyways, the nurse was cleaning things up and I was trying to occupy my mind with someone else so that I could calm down. I asked her if i could see the placenta. I apologized for asking such a weird question but I needed to take my mind of things and she was like “Oh of course you totally should see it!” It sounds disgusting but it was pretty freaking awesome! It kind of looks like a large liver. I was amazed that I never noticed the "delivery" if you will. She showed me the lining the baby was inside of and where the cord was. So cool! I was kind of intrigued so it helped me to take my mind off my baby in the NICU for about half a second. Then I went back to panicking.

At this point the shaking started. Some people get this weird adrenaline rush at the end of labor and afterwords your body sort of freaks out. I could not. stop. shaking! They brought me three different heated blankets but it was uncontrollable. They finished cleaning me up and then they brought in this ridiculously huge tray of food. I remember thinking "My baby is in the NICU trying to breath and you expect me to eat!!??" Food had been the last thing on my mind and I was still freaking out but when they put that tray in front of me it’s like the animal in me came out. I hadn’t eaten in 24 hours and had just endured the most intense full body work out of my life. I was ravenous! lol.  I pretty much inhaled the food! When I was done I realized Josh hand’t eaten and asked if he had been fed. He hadn’t but they told him he could go down to the cafeteria. That felt like an injustice since he had also endured 24 hours without food and I immediately felt bad that I hadn't saved him any. (It is really hard to feed yourself when you are shaking that badly but it calmed down after an hour or so).

Finally after what felt like had been hours Josh came back with my baby. They put her skin to skin on my chest and told me that they still needed to watch her closely. She was still having a hard time breathing but she was stable. I held her close on my chest and admired my absolutely beautiful baby girl. So much dark hair! (She had more hair than I could have imagine but I knew that she wouldn't be bald because of how much hair Josh and I had at birth.) 

She was making the most miserable noise I have ever heard. Kind of a moan/groan on the exhale. When they brought her to me the nurse said "Listen to me! She isn't cooing or being cute. She is trying to breathe! If anything changes or you see her nostrils flaring, page me immediately!" I just wanted to kiss her and make her feel better. You could really tell she was struggling. It was such a sad, pitiful sound. I felt so bad for her!  I just couldn’t believe how gorgeous she was! I just held her and cried. 

Eventually her breathing normalized and everything was fine.

Thankfully they had only kept her in the NICU for an hour and a half. Josh said while he was in there that she held onto his pointer fingers with both of her hands the entire time. While they were working on her it wasn’t looking very good at one point so he slipped his hands through all of the nurses and put them on her head to give her a silent blessing. Almost immediately she started to come around and that is when they brought her back to me. They were originally planning to keep her over night! I am eternally grateful for the priesthood and the gospel knowledge that we have!! We both know that because of that power she was able to recover much more quickly. Such a comfort knowing the Lord hears and answers prayers and that the priesthood can be used anywhere!

Josh told me that while he was in the NICU he had the biggest scare of his life. He had left me to go with the baby and the last thing he heard was “she is bleeding too much!” I made him go with the baby. While they were working on Clara all of the alarms started going off in the hospital. About ten nurses were sprinting down the hall towards my room. He was freaking out and said “what room? WHAT ROOM???” Thankfully it was the room two doors down from mine. It made us both feel incredibly lucky but truly very sad that someone else was in trouble. He of course was relieved it wasn’t me.

Almost gave him a heart attack! 

We spent the next two days holding and kissing on our precious baby girl! We had to stay an extra day to make sure she was breathing and eating properly. She had some trouble learning to nurse but she eventually got the hang of it. Throughout our stay random nurses would come in the room and say "So you're the one who did the drug free delivery!?" or "I heard you didn't even scream!" or "That was you? You're so young!" I guess most of them have never seen a natural delivery. Our nurses were absolutely wonderful! We had such a great experience at this hospital. 

We didn't have very many visitors. We wanted to make sure Clara was doing ok and just enjoy the time as a new family. Also, they wouldn't let me take a shower until they took the heplock out which was really annoying. I was pretty gross for a day and half. (They have to get permission from the midwife on call and they couldn't contact her). I was about to rip the dang thing out myself!  

Her eating situation was a bit stressful so having visitors would have made it more difficult. Josh's parents were still out of town but my mom, step dad and aunt were able to come spend the day with us at the hospital. 

My mom and Craig stayed with us for an entire week. Mom was absolutely amazing during that first week! She would take Clara between feedings for me so that we could sleep. Clara has been really colicky especially during the night. (First couple months of her life). Mom knew all the tips and tricks and was always able to get her to settle. I don't know what I would have done without her that first week! (I love you mom! Thank you so much for all of your help. You are the best mom ever and I hope I can be even half the mom that you are!)

I really learned a lot about myself through this whole experience. It was definitely the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. 
I never ever considered myself a strong person either mentally or physically. I aways felt that I fell short in almost everything that I did and I've always had trouble believing in myself and my capabilities.  
I have never experienced any real physical pain and therefore I never knew what I could tolerate or what I was capable of enduring.
I have come to realize that I am so much stronger than I ever gave myself credit for!  It was mind blowing to me that I never knew that I had this in me. I am strong! I never knew that about myself and I feel like a whole knew person! I know now that I can handle anything that comes my way. I know that I can do hard things! I will never be the same. I am a mom. I know my capabilities and I know that I am strong. I feel unstoppable! For me these are ground breaking things to learn about myself. 

Sorry about the language. I found this on pinterest at had to laugh!

I am so grateful for this experience and for my beautiful baby girl. She has changed my life in so many ways. I love her more than life itself and I am so excited to see where it takes us. Life is beautiful and it truly has a whole new meaning for me. My life is my baby. I am all about her. It is both wonderful and terrifying to be needed in this way but I am loving every second of it. 
I feel truly grateful for my life and my experiences. I have a wonderful, amazing, strong and helpful husband and a wonderful little baby that we created. She is the one thing in my life that I have made that is absolutely perfect in every way. Heavenly Father had a huge hand in that but I feel blessed every day that he entrusted us with his precious, beautiful child. Life is wonderful!

We sure love our sweet Clara Jane!

Clara Jane Nelson

I'm three weeks behind on this announcement but I would like to introduce to the world my sweet Clara Jane Nelson!
Born on August 9th at 5:33 p.m. at 7 pounds 7 ounces and 19 1/2 inches long!!

Mommy worked hard for this little angel with 18 1/2 hours of drug free labor but it was worth every second. We feel so blessed and love our little girl more than anything. She really has us wrapped around her little finger.

I don't know what we were thinking and we didn't get a family shot at the hospital. We were too busy enjoying our little sweet pea. She is so beautiful and has the most perfect little lips!

Birth story to come!

31 Weeks

Like I was saying before, time goes by so fast!
Here we are at 30 weeks already jumping into the third trimester! Baby Nelson is now the size of a pineapple and weighs somewhere between 2.5-3.8 pounds!
All five of her senses are in working order and she is starting to respond to light. Also she moves like a mad women in the evenings and it has been a lot of fun watching her roll around in there.

We are slowly getting our nursery put together. We have a crib, crib mattress, rocking chair, changing table and are working on the stroller and carseat. I have done really well so far but I did have one or two panic/melt downs. I got really anxious so I went out and bought a package of diapers and wipes. Believe it or not it made me feel a lot better haha!

Speaking of the nursery...we bought a house!!
Back at the end of March/beginning of April we finally signed on our house and moved in over Conference weekend. It was a loooooong, stressful process and there was A LOT (and I mean a lot) of cleaning involved but we are so happy to finally be in and settled. We love our neighborhood. It is literally just across State Street from where we use to live but it feels like a whole different world. We were so lucky to find this house in our price range, in central Orem where we really wanted to be and it actually appraised well (a miracle really!).
Josh and I have been looking for a house for over a year and there really hasn't been anything even worth going to look out. Almost everything on the market or in our price range was either a short sale or ridiculously over priced. Everyone is up-side-down in their homes and trying to break even. That unfortunately makes it very difficult for buyers right now as homes are not appraising anywhere close to the asking prices.
We found this home through one of Josh's family friends from back in Billings, Montana. It is 4 bed, 2 full bath and is in a cute, quiet cul-de-sac. She posted on her facebook that they were selling there home and my mother-in-law found it and told us about it. One funny coincidence is that I worked for her husband (a dentist here in Orem) for over 2 1/2 years.
That made the process slightly more awkward but when we walked through the home both Josh and I knew this was the one for us. So after many long weeks of back and forth offers, dealing with a total jerk  a difficult realtor and like a bajillion (I know that isn't a word) signing and possession date changes, we FINALLY moved in! All of a stuff was in a moving truck for almost a week and we stayed with Josh's parents while literally just sitting there waiting for them to give us the keys. Yeah…they wouldn't let us move in to the home we were in possession of for over a week. Long story. I won't complain anymore since it is over and done but sheesh! It was not a fun process!
Anyways.... we LOVE our house and it is finally starting to feel like home.

We got pretty lucky as far as landscaping goes. A lot of other houses we looked at didn't even have a lawn. This one was fully landscaped in the front and back. It even has a few peach trees in back and 4 garden boxes along the side!
We are settling in to our new ward and getting to know the neighbors.

What better way to break in a new home than with a new puppy! (I seriously don't know what we were thinking on this one but we love her to death and wouldn't trade her for anything!)

Meet Daisy! She is a sweet little black lab that we took home at about 6 weeks. We would have  liked her to stay with her mama a little bit longer but this was the only option.

 She is one sassy little diva but she has quickly become a part of our family. 

 

That face right there is definitely a redeeming quality haha! 

She has tested our patience on more than one occasion but we are all getting use to each other and she is learning so fast! It is scary weird how similar a puppy is to a baby. I figure we will be good and prepared by the time Baby Nelson comes. (And tired!)

The first week Daisy woke up every two hours to go outside and needed litterally 24/7 attention. She still needs a lot of attention and we are always looking for new ways to burn her energy. She isn't quite old enough to have free reign of the house but we are slowly introducing her to different areas. 

Her favorite thing right now is to play tug-of-war and to go hiking. (Which has been really good for me as I don't always have the will power to exercise. Can you blame me?)

She is growing so fast!!

I told Josh that after Daisy this baby should be a piece of cake. She will stay where I put her when she goes down for a nap (I don't have to lock her in a kennel!) She will "go" (for the most part) in the same place every time. (I will never complain about a diaper...ever!) In Daisy's defense she picked up potty training literally in three days. A real blessing for sure. Also my child won't bite me for at a least 6 months. Woohoo! A definite plus! She also won't be running around and hiding in weird places for a long while. Crying? Big deal. Get some ear plugs and call it good! lol.

In all seriousness though we are psyched for our little girl to join the family. It's going to be fun!

We have been really bad at keeping up with our pictures but here are the last few that we have taken.

 

                                                                                           30 Weeks!

It is sure getting hot fast as we move into the summer weather but I am so happy to be able to enjoy the outdoors and the sun. Swimming feels amazing and is a nice relief for my poor muscles and back. I try to go a few times a week to just float around. It is crazy when you get out. You feel like you weigh 1000 pounds for a few minutes afterwards. Sleeping is very difficult but I figure that part won't get easier. Once again I really don't have a lot to complain about. Both baby and I are happy and healthy. I couldn't ask for more!

17 Weeks!

In three week we will be half way through our pregnancy! (Accourding to the docs predicted due date that is...so give or take a few weeks). This first half has gone by so fast and I can imagine it will only continue to speed up. I know that most women say it slows down dramatically the last trimester but with everything going on in our lives it feels like August is quickly approaching! For right now I am just ready for spring and for the beautiful weather that it brings.

Things have been going very well for us. We have been very blessed to make a few big decisions these last couple of weeks and we are very excited for the changes that will be coming in the next few months. We are so grateful for answered prayers and feel that things are just falling into place in our lives. We feel truly, truly blessed.

So much going on this month! Conference is soon approaching (one of my favorite spring events), Colton will be giving his farewell talk in Canada the week before, and then a few days later we will be picking him up from the airport and dropping him off at the MTC! Time really does go by quickly!
We are sad that we won't be able to make it to Canada for his farewell but feel so blessed and lucky to have spent two weeks with him in Utah recently. We were able to take him shopping for his mission clothes and to hang out with him for a while before he leaves. Like I said before March is a crazy month for us but I am so excited for the big changes in our lives and there is much to look forward to! More on that later ;)

My belly is slowly getting bigger and my nights are getting longer haha. It really doesn't take much for sleep to become super uncomfortable. Since that has really been my only complaint thus far I won't torture you with silly whining. Life is great and I feel blessed for having such an easy pregnancy.

It is funny to me that I looked bigger at 14 weeks than I did at 15... I guess it really fluctuates daily. 

Pregnancy FAQ (Frequently asked questions):

Do you have morning sickness?  Nope. Not at all.

Do you have any cravings?  It changes daily. I'm not sure I would call them "cravings" but different things sound really good and are satisfying. It started out as grapes, then pickles and recently I've been really enjoying blackberries.

Formula or Breastfeeding?  Breastfeeding!

Have you bought anything for the baby yet?  I bought a few outfits, my dad bought a crib and I am in the process of making a crib skirt and few skirts to go over her onesies.

When did you start to show? I have a really short torso. My belly is small but there isn't much place for it to go besides out haha. I started showing around 13  weeks.

Can you still wear your regular clothes? Barely! My skinny jeans are too tight but I have a few pairs of low rise jeans that have been ok the last couple of weeks. I have to unbutton them when I sit down though....we will see how long I can pull them off haha. 

Natural or Medicated birth?  The big controversial question of the day. We are going for an all natural, unmedicated birth. We have been taking hypnobirthing classes and absolutely LOVE everything about it. I am fully aware that things don't always go as planned but I am prepared to meet any turn my birthing takes with calmness and feel very confident in myself and in my body's capabilities. Im looking forward to the birth of baby girl with so much excitement and anticipation. I really don't fear labor.

What doctor are you seeing and where do you plan to give birth? We are actually seeing a group of Midwives at Central Utah Clinic in Pleasant Grove.  One of the midwives will help us bring baby girl into the world but there are doctors available should any special circumstances arise.

We will (hopefully) be giving birth at the American Fork hospital and not in our car on the way like some other women we know (also doing hypnobirthing). Haha...yeah...

Who will be in the delivery room with you?  My darling husband, unless he passes out. (insert giggle) Nah! He'll be fine. 

What’s the 1st thing you might say to the baby?  Good question...i'll probably just cry to be honest....haha. Maybe "Happy Birthday!"

Who will help you with the baby after the birth?  My mom will stay with us for a while and Josh's mom is planning on taking some time off work. (A major benefit to living so close to our in-laws! We love them!)

What is your favorite thing about being pregnant?  Well so far I have hardly noticed haha. (Just kidding). Recently I felt baby girl kicking and that was really exciting! Also, I love love seeing her on the ultrasound and I could watch her all day! Being capable of growing and carrying this precious little girl is the best part of being pregnant. It really is an amazing thing!

What is the worst thing about being pregnant?  I have had it pretty darn easy but I will say the lack of sleep. It is just not comfortable! I find myself tossing and turing around all night trying to change positions. That probably won't get better haha. That's ok though. Umm...also I have to pee a lot....and I eat a lot.... lol.

What’s one thing you miss doing since being pregnant?  Well...so far so good. I think come summer I will be really sad to be missing out on our usual summer activities like traveling, cabin reunions in Montana and camping! (Although I am determined to get in some camping in the late spring and early summer! As soon as it is warm enough to go because we are already feeling the itch!!)

How many kids do you want?  We have never really said a number. We both say we will do whatever feels right but I hope for at least three.

Have you had your baby shower yet?  Not yet but i'm planning on it!

We are so excited for baby girl to join our lives and to turn it upside down. She has been long awaited and we feel so much love for her already. We love you little one!

13 Weeks!

We made it into the second trimester without any hiccups!
(Other than the incident of the bad mexican food. I can't honestly say I blame that entirely on baby....ew).
Baby is the size of a Peach this week! So cute! She or He has fingernails, taste buds, tooth buds, vocal chords and even little tiny fingerprints!

We went to see the Doctor this week and were able to hear baby Nelsons sweet little heartbeat. The Doctor gave us this big long shbeal about how we shouldn't panic if we don't or can't hear it right away, or if we need to move to ultrasound to see it. (Always comforting). He also explained that it usually takes a few minutes to find it.
Well baby Nelson has the heart of an ox! He barely touched me and BAM! There it was! Totally surprised the Doc! He congratulated us on having such a strong, healthy baby. ("Thank you! Yeah... it was all me...you know... haha...!") Must be from climbing all those rocks or something!
But really that was pretty cool. After finding it so fast he said that it decreases the chances of miscarriage down to 1%. Also, it was a pretty fast little heartbeat... so far the majority of the old-wives tales point to a girl...but we'll see!

There is more of a visible bump this week and seems to be more permanent.
(Not just when I eat). Still feeling awesome and the fatigue is starting to dissipate. Time to get my work-out on!

So here we go into the second tri. If it's anything like the first it will be a piece of cake!
(I could go for some of that...)

12 weeks!

We made it to the 12 week mark. Most people can't tell that i'm pregnant but according to Josh there is an itty bitty baby bump. I don't really notice it until I eat something.
My belly definitely protrudes after I eat. It is so strange because I never "feel" bloated, but I could eat a salad and my belly seems to bloat.
I can't wait until I have a permanent bump because at the moment it just makes me feel fat. (Silly, I know. Haha). Little baby Nelson is the size of a Plum!

"I can see something!!"

Prego update

So...I should probably stop telling other women this, including especially other pregnant women.
But...this pregnancy has been a piece of cake so far! (Keeping in mind that I am only 12 weeks...lots of time for symptoms to creep in. Knocking on wood it stays this way!)
But really...people ask ALL the time how i'm feeling. Am I supposed to lie? (I might have to with some prego friends for fear of getting punched haha). I feel bad but I have honestly been great!

I didn't really believe I was pregnant until we got our first ultrasound at 9 weeks. I was so excited but it really took me a second of "Oh! There really is something in there!" before it really set in.
No nausea, no heartburn yet. (I have been told that sets in later).
The only thing I have really noticed is little to no sleep, (when I do sleep I have wacky dreams), and being extremely tired during the day. By six I'm ready for bed!  But really, if that is all I have to deal with than I have no room to complain!
I haven't really experienced any consistency with an enhanced sense of smell although, it did happen once!
Josh was making chili in the kitchen one night. While he was cutting up the onion I seriously would have believed him if he said he let of an onion scented grenade in the house! It smelled soooo bad! Since I haven't had any smell enhancing issues before I was thoroughly convinced it was a bad onion! I had to plug my noise and leave the room because of the ridiculously strong scent. It was sickening! He laughed and reassured me that he had just bought the onion the day before, and that he didn't smell hardly anything. It was weird. I couldn't eat the chili either. The onion was all I could taste! I have had Josh's chili and know it to be delicious but that was just bad! The strange thing is that it hasn't happened before or since, and we use onion a lot! Makes for a funny story.

I thought I had morning sickness while I was up in Canada. Mom was making breakfast and I was talking to her at the stove. Mid sentence I realized out of the blue that I needed to throw up....well that turned out to be the flue. The most awful flue I have ever experienced which Josh caught a few hours later, followed by my brother-in-law and a mild case for Craig. The flue was followed by a nasty cold which lasted a good three weeks. Prego immune system? Good times!

Anyways, I feel great! Just thought I would let you know! haha.

Our early Christmas present.

If there is anything I  have learned throughout my life; it has been to rely on the Lord and trust in his plan. Things do not always happen when I want them to and I have learned to accept the Lords timing as my own.
As I have strived to accept the Lords timing in my life I have most often found that when I let go of my wants, stop fighting the process and give my desires completely to the Lord that things almost always work out. Does that mean that I get what I want when I want it? Absolutely not. But things always work out for the better and end up making for a happier life. I most often can see these things in hind-sight and it has become a strong testimony for me that God really does listen and understand me, and that he knows what is best for me. He does want us to have the righteous desires of our  hearts but also sees and understands the full picture and knows the timing that will be best for us in our lives. Sometimes there are lessons we need to learn, principles we need to gain a stronger understanding of, or things we need to first accomplish. If we pray diligently to know and understand his plan it will be revealed to us and we will come to trust in the Lord and his timing. A good lesson for all of us!
As  most of you know Josh and I have been trying to have a baby for some time now. Anyone who  has been in my position knows that this really can be a roller coaster ride of emotions, up and down each month. I am proud of myself for being able to maintain a positive disposition throughout this experience. That is not to say that I haven't had many moments of discouragement, but I knew that the only thing that mattered was the Lords timing, that we would  have a baby when he felt we were ready, and that it would be in the way that he wanted us to accomplish it.
There have been bumps in the road along the way. There were doctors visits, medication and a lot's and lot's of prayers requiring a lot of patience and trust in the Lord.

This December our prayers were answered. For the first time in my life I received a positive ovulation test followed by a positive pregnancy test.
I could not believe it! I actually made Josh take me to the store to buy a couple of more tests thinking this one had to be wrong. Needless to say there were many tears of joy!
We have since been to our Doctor, received our first ultrasound and are just waiting to find out what we are having. We are almost 11 weeks and baby Nelson is due August 15th 2013!! We could not be more thrilled!
We waited until Christmas to announce to our families. We skyped with Dad and Sally, Grandma and Grandpa and waited to tell Mom and Craig in person since we would be joining them for the holidays. We told Josh's family a few days before we left to head up to Canada.
We made a card for all three sets of parents that had a picture of us on the inside holding our test with a little poem that read: Christmas came a bit early this year, we want you to share in our joy. Next summer you'll be Grandparents of three, with a new baby girl or a boy! (That number changed depending on the Grandparents). We also included a little home-made coupon just for fun.

On Christmas day we found out that Dani and Jordan will also be introducing a new little one into their family as well. She is due a little more than a month before me! We are so excited for them and for our kids to be so close in age. I hope that they are able to spend time together despite the distance and travel. Family reunions at the cabin will be so fun in the years to come! I can't wait!

I do not know what the future holds, or what trials we may have ahead of us. All I know is that I will love this little baby for the rest of  my life and I can't wait to meet him or her!

Here is our little peanut: