Kate Sophia

Kate Sophia came on December 15, 2012 at 5:47 p.m. 

She was 5lb 9oz and 17in.  

 

She came tiny but oh so perfect.

 

 The 9 months of carrying this girl and the 13 hours of labor was so worth it.

 Holding her for the 1st time was emotional; instant love.

 

  

Kate's Story

The morning of December 15th at 4:30 I started having contractions.  I kept track of them on my phone.  They were about 20 minutes apart.  When a contraction would come on I would hop out of bed and lean against it and start swaying.  I had a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions during my pregnancy but these contractions were not Braxton Hicks.  They were in my back and somewhat painful.  After a couple hours of this, I had a feeling Kate would come that day.

Already posing for the camera.

 I labored at home during the morning and early afternoon.  Around 2:30 I called the hospital to see if I should come in because the contractions were between 3-6 minutes apart.  My pain level was pretty low still (I have a high pain tolerance) so I wasn't sure if I was really in labor.  I thought the pain would be a lot worse (the pain did get worse).  The hospital said I could come in or stay home to see if my contractions would become more consistent.  I stayed home a little longer until my contractions became harder.

Nate and I arrived at the hospital a little after 3.  They hooked me up to some monitors to check Kate's heart rate and to see how close my contractions were.  The nurse then checked my cervix to see how dilated I was.  We were shocked to find out I was dilated to a 6 and found out Kate was coming that very day!  Nate and I became pretty emotional. We couldn't believe Kate was really coming.  I think I was a little nervous too.  I wanted the delivery to go well and wanted Kate to be healthy.  I also wanted to go natural and I was worried the pain would become worse and would overtake my mental toughness.

 Once we got to the labor and delivery room, everything seemed to go fast.  I was hooked up to an IV to get some fluids in me.  For a time I was hooked up to the monitors.  I sat on the yoga ball and Nate pushed against my back when I would have a contraction.  My water broke a little before 5 and then I got into the jacuzzi tub.  In the tub the contractions started to be really strong and painful.  At this point I thought about getting an epidural because I didn't know if I could handle the pain for very long.  But there would be no time for an epidural.  I was in the tub about 10-15 minutes when I told Nate I felt like I needed to push.  The nurse then came and checked my cervix and I was dilated to a 10!  Kate was on her way!

Daddy loves his little girl!

Grandma missed Kate's birth by 5 minutes.

No one expected me to have her so fast.  When we first got to the hospital the nurse said maybe around 9 she would come.  It was after 5 and Kate was ready to make her appearance.  My room wasn't even ready for delivery so a couple of nurses had to make a mad rush at getting everything ready.  Luckily my doctor was across the street so he rushed right over.  While everyone was getting things ready for delivery I had to breathe through the urge to push(so not fun).

It was hard to judge how long I pushed for but I probably pushed for 30 minutes.  It seemed to go fast.  Towards the end my doctor said Kate's heart rate was going down because her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck.  The nurse told me Kate might need some help breathing when she came out.  When I heard this it made me want to work even harder to get her out.  My doctor wanted me to push an extra 8 secs the next go around and I knew I had to to get her head out.  The extra pushing worked!  I pushed a little more and the next thing I knew Kate entered the world!

  Kate cried soon after so there was no need for her to get help breathing.  I was so grateful because I was able to do skin to skin immediately.  It was a special bonding moment and I will never forget holding her for the first time.  She was so itty bitty but so perfect.

I am grateful I was able to have Kate natural.  I am glad there was no time for an epidural because I was seriously thinking about getting one.  I think I was able to really control my pushing and able to push harder when I needed to by going natural.  Of course I don't know what it would have been like with an epidural but I feel I was able to have Kate faster because I could feel how hard I was pushing.  I really felt like I was in control of my body especially when I knew Kate needed to get out.  I feel like there could have been complications if I had gotten an epidural.  It was a blessing that things progressed fast.  It allowed Kate to arrive healthy and strong.  

Now I wont say it didn't hurt because it did.  The pain and burning was pretty horrible but I would not change it for the world and I pretty much have forgotten what it felt like:) so I will probably do it again.

Who needs a pacifier when you have a finger?

We love our tiny Kate! We are so glad she came 11 days early.  It was the best 

early Christmas gift we could have asked for!

Christmas 2012

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year.  

This year was no exception.

It was great to spend the holidays with family and to share our new bundle of joy with them.   

Having a baby around Christmas made me stop and think about Mary bringing baby Jesus into this world.  What a very special and sacred calling she had as his mother. 

This Christmas we acted out Luke 2.  My dad read while the kids acted it out.

It was quite funny, especially me riding in on Tanner, the donkey.

The whole gang: Mary, Joseph, Jesus, Angel, Shepherds, Donkey, Wise Man, and Director.

Christmas Eve photos of the kiddos and their moms.

And the grandparents.  They sure love their grandkids! 

Christmas Day was wonderful.  We were able to spend the day with both of our families.

Kate was loved and got some newborn clothes, books, moccasins, a doll and a lamb stuffed animal.

 I'm not sure what Noah thought of Kate but I know one of these days they will have so much fun playing together. 

Christmas break was wonderful as we spent time with family and friends, 

snapped lots of pictures of our new born baby with our new camera

and snuggled our little baby Kate!

Where did you go October?

How is is already the end of October?  

October has kept us busy and has flown right by us. 

 We were able to go to Sun Valley for a couple of days at the beginning of the month. 

Nate was able to help out with a work conference at the Sun Valley Inn.

It was a short trip but we were able to enjoy the fun atmosphere and beautiful scenery of Sun Valley.

 In the middle of October, we were lucky enough to have visitors.  Rachel and Noah came to visit for a couple of days.  We had lots of fun talking, eating, going to the temple open house and enjoying the beautiful fall weather.

 Noah had changed a lot since we last saw him in February.

Back in February, Noah was rolling to get from one place to another.  He wasn't talking but he was a chubby, loveable baby.

Now he is a walking toddler who loves to talk.  Most of it is gibberish but we all go along and agree with him on whatever he is saying.  It is fun. 

Noah and Nate really liked each other.  Noah had a few breakdowns and no one was able to calm him down except Nate.  It was crazy because right when Nate would take him he would stop crying.  Its not like Nate did anything special but he really helped Noah settle down.  

It was amazing and we were all grateful when Noah was back to his happy self!  

I hope Nate still has that magic touch in a couple months.

 

My two oldest brothers are 17 months apart.  Noah and his cousin will be about 17 months apart.  When I would hold/carry Noah I would imagine my mom being my size with a 15 month old.  I don't know how she did it?  It was hard for me doing it for a few days but she did it for months.  It was crazy to think about and really put into perspective what it was like for her.

 Noah loves being outside.  I think he might be his happiest when he is outside.  There is so much to explore and see outside and he absolutely loves to explore.  

Noah knows the word flower and knows that you smell flowers.  At Julia Davis Park they have a rose garden and some roses were still in bloom.  

Noah enjoyed saying flower and smelling the beautiful roses.

 Noah loves to play in the leaves.  He loves how they crunch when you step on them.

Noah couldn't get enough of running through the leaves. 

 Noah is such a big boy.  

He goes down the big slides and loves every minute of it. 

 My parents came for 2 days while Rachel and Noah were here.  They weren't going to miss out on seeing their adorable grandson.

 

We also celebrated my birthday a little early with dinner and a rocking chair/slider, perfect for when the baby comes.

 Noah helped me try it out.  He wasn't as excited about it as I was.

This past week I celebrated my "golden birthday,"

24 on the 24th!

It was a simple birthday, which I liked.

Nate took me to the Cheesecake Factory for some delicious Lemoncello Cream Torte Cake.  

It is one of my favorite desserts there.

On the 24th I also reached 31 weeks.

 It is sometimes hard to see the difference in size from week to week but these two pictures from week 27 to 29 really show the difference.  

27-still some loose fabric.

29-shirt is form fitted to my belly.

Maybe I should start wearing the same shirt every week to get a better idea of the size difference.

Other happenings this month.  

I finished piecing a quilt for baby girl.  

I cannot wait to see what it looks like when the quilting is done.  

 

I think we have narrowed down our list of names for the girl in my tummy: Ava, Kate or Mia.

I'm not sure which one I like the most?  It seems to change every day.  I'm pretty sure we will wait to name her until we see what she looks like and then make a final decision.  

  We also enjoyed a couple of these delicious apples this month.

I'm sure we will enjoy more of them in the coming months!

 Thanks for coming October, we wish you would have stayed a little longer.

Goodbye Summer, Welcome Fall

I love the fall season.  

I love the weather, colors, clothes, food and holidays that come with it.  Last week we spent the weekend in Pocatello.  On Sunday my dad took us on a drive up in the hills/moutains to see the leaves changing on the trees.  The colors were amazing.  I cannot wait to see the leaves change color here in Boise.

This picture does not do the colors justice.  The red was so vibrant.

Before I get caught up in fall, I better post about our summer.

Our summer was pretty low key but we were able to do a couple of fun things. 

At the end of May my family got together for a weekend.  

We went caving with my Uncle Dave and his wife, Valerie.  They love to explore caves and wanted to take us along for an adventure.  

They took us to the middle of nowhere in Southeast Idaho to an underground cave that was formed by lava flow thousands of years ago.

We are ready to go!

Entering the cave.

 The cave was pretty easy.  It was tall and very open.  

Once we had to crawl on our hands and knees.

It is amazing how caves are formed and then preserved.

It was fun to spend time with family and cannot wait till the family is all back together.

In July we spent the 4th of July week apart.

I spent the 4th in Sun Valley with my parents and Cole and Sara. 

I love the beauty of Sun Valley and the surrounding area.

 

We enjoyed hiking to a lake.

 

Love the Moutains.

The mouth of the Salmon River is somewhere down there.

 We went on a couple of bike rides.

We also went to an ice show, watched the small town fireworks, and celebrated my dad's birthday!

 Nate spent the 4th in White Clouds with his dad, Andrew, brother-in-law and nieces.

They spent the days hiking, fishing and playing games.

There was still lots of snow in the moutains and parts of the lakes were still frozen.

 

 

Maybe some day I will make the trip to the White Clouds but I am not big on camping. 

For now I will just enjoy looking at the pictures.    

The week before school started Nate had a week long class in Moscow.

It was a crazy, busy week for him but he got 2 credits from it so I think it was worth it.

While he was in Moscow going to class I was in classes at Education Week in Provo with my mom, Tanner and Alli.

It was my first time to EW and it did not disappoint.  It was a great week of being spiritually uplifted by words and music.  I came away wanting to be a better person, wife, daughter, sister, and friend.

In the evenings we spent time with Cole, Sara and Derek.

One evening we went to Bridal Veil Falls.

At the end of the week we went to President Monson's Birthday Celebration at the Conference Center in SLC.

President Monson really knows how to celebrate a birthday.  The music was spectacular and it was fun to see pictures of Pres. Monson over the years. 

It was a great way to end the week.

My dad flew my back to Boise.  It was the smoothest plane ride and baby girl didn't make me sick!

 I made it back in time to spend the end of Nate's b-day with him.

Too bad I am a horrible wife and didn't get him anything.  Luckily his parents were in town to help celebrate and make it a little more exciting!

At the end of August my parents took my to New York City for the U.S. Open.

When I was in high school they took my older brothers.  

My mom decided it was my turn to go and it was the perfect timing before baby comes.

We took the redeye to NYC.  I probably slept a total of one hour on the plane.  I am surprised I survived the week by starting the trip off with so little sleep.  We got into NY around 6 in the morning on Thursday.  We had to stick around the airport for like an hour and ahalf because they never put my mom's luggage on the plane and they couldn't find it in SLC.  They finally got things worked out and she ended up getting her luggage the next morning.

By the time we got to the city we decided that we wouldn't take naps like the original plan.  Instead we made our way to Central Park.  We rented bikes and road around the park.  I never realized how big it was until riding around it.

We rode about 6 miles around the whole park.

Central Park pretty much has everything.  There is a zoo, museums, toys, a free swimming pool (ice rink in the winter), trails to run and hike on, restaurants, monuments, a lake, a pond, a reservoir and thousands of people.  If I lived in NYC and lived near Central Park I would go there all the time.

That evening we went to Wicked.  It was amazing.  The music was amazing.  The acting was amazing.  The costumes, choreography, lighting, props, staging were all amazing.

The next two days were spent at the U.S. Open. 

We watched Andy Murray, who ended up winning the tournament.

We also saw Lleyton Hewitt, Del Potro, John Isner, Kim Clisters, and some young, up and coming Americans.  We didn't get to see Federer, William sisters, or Djokovic because they were always playing in Arthur Ashe Stadium  but we were able to still see some amazing tennis!

On Sunday we went to Long Island to spend the day with my sis-in-law Alli's family.

We went to church, walked the beach and enjoyed good food.

We wish we could have spent more time on Long Island but we were homeward bound the next day.

Our summer adventures are over but our fall ones are just beginning!  

It should be a busy fall as we start preparing for Baby Cuoio to come into this world!