In the Hospital

After Betty was born around 2:30 in the morning, we finally got settled into our room a little after 5:00 am.  I called my parents to tell them about the delivery and they wanted to come in right away.  They said they'd leave around 7:00 in the morning to come meet our baby.  It was still snowing a lot that day and the morning commute was very messy.  Add a flat tire to my parents' journey and they arrived around 11:30 am.  Spencer headed home mid-morning to pick up his mom and Clara and most of the family converged at the hospital around lunch time.

We had spent a lot of time at home talking with Clara about how I would go to the hospital to have the baby, and how her grandma would stay with her while we were gone.  We also told her that she would come to the hospital to meet "baby sister" and that she could get a special drink while she was there (knowing that sprite is available on tap to patients and visitors in the maternity ward).  She seemed to totally get it and I was anxious to see her reaction to everything when they finally came.

Well, to my surprise - Clara really did "get it."  I wondered how long after giving birth she would still want to hug and kiss my tummy and call it "baby sister."  Not once.  She's transferred all of that love once aimed at my abdomen to her tiny baby Betty.  She ran over to her as soon as they arrived at the hospital, anxious to meet this little one and touch her tiny fingers and toes, eyes and nose.

After Spencer, Clara, Daddy and the grandparents went home for the afternoon, I found myself alone in the hospital with our little baby.  She was such a sleepy little one that she would only nurse for a minute or two at a time (which was a huge contrast to Clara as a newborn).  Thankfully, the doctors, nurses and lactation specialist were all quite encouraging and sure she'd eventually wake up and be a great eater.  Spencer decided it would be easier for everyone if he stayed home with Clara that night instead of coming back to the hospital, so I enjoyed our "celebratory dinner for two" (compliments of IMC) with Aunt Carol who came after work to meet our new baby.

On day two, Spencer and Clara returned for more Lorna Doone's and Sprite... and to hang out as a family.  The hospital is a difficult place to rest or relax, but I loved those first sweet moments together as a family.  The excitement of having a new little baby certainly outweighs the annoyances of being uncomfortable and frequently interrupted.  My doctor said I could go home on Tuesday night if I wanted, but I really wasn't ready to get into "mom mode" yet, and wanted to make sure things with our baby and her feedings in particular were squared away.  She had a little fever that afternoon as well, so I wasn't too anxious to take her out of a setting where I knew she could get immediate help if it were needed.

Just me, or does she look just like Elder Holland here?

Everyone was very anxious to know what we were going to name our baby, and by Tuesday morning we thought we might have figured it out.  We considered naming her Florence Betty, but weren't ready to make it official.  By the late evening, I was feeling really unsure and we kind of felt like we were back to square one.  We had talked about Beatrice for a lot of my pregnancy, but planned to shorten it to Betty (my grandma's given name).  I liked Eloise.  We both liked Florence.  We wanted her name to have some significance and not just be something we liked; a story to tell, a person to admire, a character in a great story or someone who made a difference historically.  We prayed and slept and by morning (about an hour before going home) she was Betty.


Betty Florence Evans.

Baby Betty

We are so lucky to have another sweet baby in our home!  Our little Betty Florence joined the family on January 28, 2013 at 2:36 am.  She weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces and measured 19.5 inches long.  We love her so much!!

I guess the story of Betty's arrival begins on Tuesday, January 22nd. I had my 39 week appointment and my doctor stripped my membranes. I was excited and hoping that it would get things going and that we could meet our baby girl on the 23rd. But my doctor said that even though I was 3 cm (third week in a row), the baby was still pretty high and it was hard for him to strip as thoroughly as he wanted. He explained that the procedure would either do the trick and put me into labor, or I would be up all night with contractions that would never materialize and I would hate him in the morning.

I left the office hopeful and had some contractions that afternoon. They continued through the night, but in the morning they died down. This became the pattern for the entire week. Consistent contractions all night, and then sporadic ones throughout the day. It was frustrating! For a few days I was sure we would be in the hospital by the next morning at the latest, but eventually I figured it just wasn't time and kind of gave up hoping that it was. Poor Spencer felt very in the dark and I think he thought labor would be more predictable.

We wisely took Spencer's parents up on their offer to watch Clara so we could go out to dinner on Saturday night. We went to the porcupine grill and were seated in a balcony area directly over the bar area. Spencer told me that if my water broke, it would likely go all over the people below us. I reminded him that between my mom, my sisters, and me (that's 13 babies delivered to that point) no one's water had ever broken spontaneously before getting to the hospital. I simply wasn't going to have that kind of a dramatic experience.

On Sunday morning around 4 am I woke up with some intense contractions that were getting closer and closer together. After almost two hours of contractions 3-5 minutes apart, I finally decided to eat breakfast in preparation to head to the hospital. As soon as I did, the contractions began to slow. I went back to bed and continued to have contractions throughout the day, but they were 10-15 minutes apart. I went to church, but only sacrament meeting. I left church just as it began to snow. By the time Spencer and Clara got home it was really starting to accumulate. We already had 20 inches of snow, a layer of ice and some more snow on the ground and now several additional inches of powdery white. It was snowing badly enough that Spencer even canceled our dinner plans with his parents.

We hunkered down for the evening and put Clara to bed. My contractions started to pick up a little as we watched a few shows on Hulu. It was about 9:50 when one contraction was intense enough that I was rocking on all fours on the living room floor, when I felt a little pop inside and then a quick gush of fluid. I ran to the bathroom quietly shouting, "I think my water just broke!" But then I was confused... I always heard that when your water breaks it just keeps coming until the baby is born. But absolutely nothing else was coming and I started to doubt whether it was my water breaking or not. I quickly texted a few friends whose water had broken to compare experiences and felt reassured by their experiences.

Spencer didn't want to waste any time and called his parents to have his mom come down and stay with Clara.  We knew it would take a little while because of the weather, so we used that time to finish packing for the hospital.  I was still having contractions, and they were pretty intense, but I was still unsure if I was really in labor.  It was a treacherous night for a false alarm, so I prayed that the hospital would keep us there and that this was the real thing.  Spencer's mom arrived and I quietly slipped into Clara's room one last time before we left.  She slept so soundly.  I stroked her hair as I told her that I loved her so much, and that things would be different when I came home or saw her again.  It was such a mix of emotions to leave home that night.

We took surface streets to the hospital and nothing had been plowed.  There was a good six inches of snow on the roads and we went about 20 mph the whole way. While I tapped my feet or knocked the dashboard through contractions, Spencer would ask if we needed to pull over.  We got the the hospital around 11:00 pm and checked in.  Both times I've checked in at labor and delivery I've felt pretty silly.

"Hi, what's going on?"

"I think I'm in labor.  And I think my water broke."

"Are you still leaking fluid?"

"No."

Typing and what feels like an eye roll...

We skipped triage altogether and were admitted to room 17.  We had such a nice nurse, Laura.  I changed into a hospital gown and when she checked me she said I was 4 cm (which was a little disappointing since I felt like I'd been in labor all week) and confirmed that my water had broken.  She said that the baby's head came down so quickly she essentially plugged up the flow of fluid.  At 12:15 I got an epidural and at 12:30 she checked me again.  5 cm.  She said I was making good, steady progress and thought we'd probably have a baby in 4 or 5 hours.  She suggested we try to rest a little and said she'd check me again in two hours.

At 2 am I was fully dilated!  She said the head was "right there," and had me do one push, just to see what kind of pusher I was.  When she watched me push, she told me not to push again while she got the doctor.  Dr. Froerer was on call and said that because of the weather and since it was the middle of the night, he would just deliver my baby instead of calling my doctor, if that was ok with me.  So... two contractions of pushing later and my baby girl was here!  I couldn't believe how quickly everything went.  It was so fast compared to my three hours of pushing with Clara!

Much like Clara's arrival, Betty was placed on my tummy while they wiped her down and Spencer cut the cord.  Just like her sister, she let out a tiny wimper - no screams or crying - and then was taken to the warming table to see if they could get her to cry a little more.  She was so cheesy and furry and cute!  Big double chin and puffy little cheeks.

We love our girls so, so much.  When you have one sweet baby, I think it's natural to wonder if you can possibly love another as much as the little person currently in your life.  But what everyone says is true.  You just do!  You just love them and your heart grows and your love multiplies.

Clara - 25 Months

(Once again I forgot to do her monthly photo shoot.  I guess that's what nine months pregnant does to you)

Clara is currently obsessed with birthdays.  The other day she was saying a prayer on her breakfast which included a piece of coffee cake.  When she prays, she gives thanks for each item on her plate, so her prayer went something like this, "Dear Heavenly Father, I'm thankful for the krispies, I'm thankful for the yummy manana, I'm thankful for the... cake!!  Birthday cake! Balloons!  Party hats! Happy Birthday Clara!"

At 25 Months, here's what else Clara Jane is up to:

-Getting ready for baby sister!  She's very excited to have baby sister's crib set up in her room, some "new" toys pulled out from storage and talks about baby sister's arrival and going to the hospital (hops-ip-tal) all the time.  She also likes to talk to, hug, kiss and pat my tummy but then looks with a very worried face at my belly button and says, "Broken! Cut it off, mommy!"

-We're trying to resume a little bit of daily independent time.  It got lost somewhere between the pack-n-play coming down and all of the holidays.  I need it for my own sanity, but I also worry about Clara adjusting to a new baby and less available mama when she's used to having my attention and playing with me all day long.

-Clara can communicate really well and expresses herself often.  I feel like I can understand just about everything she wants and needs and has to say.  Sometimes I forget that other people don't know all of Clara's pronunciation techniques right now.

- She loves to clean.  She likes to wipe off her table after meals, sweep the floor, spray off the dishwasher and oven and wipe them down with a washcloth.  She's really good about washing her face and hands after meals too, and usually is happy to put her dishes in the sink after she eats.

-She ends most sentences with an emphatic, "today."  "Mama, build a tower with me TODAY." "Mama, go to beach with cousins in summer, TODAY." :)

-Enjoys sitting and reading in laundry baskets.

-Loves to play in her kitchen and cook up all sorts of yummy food.

-Always says, "sorry mama!" and offers a hug if she accidentally bumps me or drops or spills something.

-Definitely LOVES to do things herself.  We only really have tantrums when she wants to do something herself that we don't allow [because we already know how it will end].

-Loves to color, build towers with her wooden blocks and megablocks, dance, sing, climb, count, and read books.

-Loves to play with my iPhone and take photos of herself.  In fact, they are usually the only ones she'll concede to taking these days.

-She loves to sit at her little table in the kitchen for meals.  Mostly because she can get up and run around, run to the oven and in the small 2-inch reflective portion of the oven, watch herself eat and scoop cereal into her mouth. The whole not-sitting-through-a-meal thing kind of drives me nuts.

-Can recite parts or all of most of her favorite books: Five Little Monkeys, Cat is Sleepy, Goodnight Moon, The Littlest Kitten

2012 Remembered

I've got about a dozen posts in draft and of course a resolution to do better at keeping up with this record of my family.  For now, here's a look back at 2012.

Family:
-In May when we found out we were expecting a new baby to join our family in January 2013!  In September we learned that the new baby would be another girl and we are very excited for Clara to have a sister.

-In April, my sister Mollie had a baby boy and named him Levi and my mom and I (and Clara) traveled to Washington to help out for about a week.

-We were able to see all of our siblings, nieces and nephews on their various visits to Utah and feel very thankful to have our parents and Carol nearby who are so wonderful for Clara and so willing to help out whenever they are needed.

-Clara LOVES her cousins and they seem to enjoy her too!  We love having family visit.

-Clara has had a big year - 2012 is when she started walking, talking, learned all of the colors, some shapes, how to count to ten, started going to nursery (which she LOVES) and so many more milestones.  We celebrated her 2nd birthday on Christmas Eve with family and lots of balloons.  She's turned from a baby into a sweet little girl and we love her so much.

Work:
-In January, Spencer made a big change and started working for KPMG - one of the Big 4 accounting firms.  The switch proved to be everything we anticipated in terms of intensity and long hours.  He does enjoy working with really great people and working downtown.  Walking through the Main Street Plaza and Temple Square is a daily highlight when he is working at the office.

-My business has continued to be a great outlet for me creatively and saw another year of nearly 150% increase over the previous year.  It makes me grateful to have a little girl who goes to bed at a reasonable hour so I can spend most evenings filling orders.  I added some printable nursery art, iPhone cases and printable greeting cards to my offerings in 2012 and they were all a hit.  My most popular items for the year were Bridal Shower Invitations and Nursery Art Printables.

-My last Park City client relocated to Laguna Beach and that closed the final Park City Real Estate chapter of my business.

Church:
-In November I was released as the Laurel Advisor and called as First Counselor in the Young Women's Presidency.  Other changes in the ward brought a full staff to the YW with advisors for each class (hooray!).  I left Clara for the first time in her life to go to Girl's Camp for most of the week and had a blast getting to know the girls better in our ward.  That's also where everyone found out I was pregnant - about 13 weeks at that point.  The girls in our ward are so wonderful and the leaders are so fun.  We have a really great group.

-Spencer continues to serve as the Elder's Quorum President.

-Clara LOVES nursery and asks to go to church on an almost daily basis!  She never put up much of a fight to go (a few tears the first few times, but only for about a minute) for which we are thankful.  I know that every child is different, but I'd highly recommend the "drop and go" approach.  Friends who hang out with their kids for several minutes and then try to leave seem to have a more difficult adjustment.  Clara has learned to pray and says super sweet and sincere prayers.  She loves to watch videos on the Mormon Channel and knows about three dozen primary songs.

Travel:
- 2012 will hopefully go down in our family history as the [only] year we didn't go anywhere [outside of Utah together].  And when I say hopefully, I mean hopefully it won't become a trend.

-Spencer traveled for work: to Berkeley and Albuquerque regularly throughout the summer and then to Orlando, Denver and San Francisco for training meetings.

-I drove to Washington with Clara and my mom when Levi was born in April.

-The one family trip we took was to Bryce Canyon in May.  It was a really great little trip and we loved hiking in the canyon. We headed to St George right after that to view the Annular Solar Eclipse - which we saw in it's entirety.

-We also had the Madsen Family Reunion at Bear Lake which is always so fun and Clara is already talking about the trip coming up again this year.

52 Projects... Revisited

Remember at the beginning of the year, how I was going to do some kind of project every week all year long?  And then ideally report back on my blog?  And remember how that hasn't happened?  Well, it's not that I haven't accomplished anything this year, but probably not as much as I hoped.  But with a new baby on the way and a burst of second trimester energy, I'm hoping to really get a lot done in the next little while.  With Spencer out of town all week, Clara and I spent a good bit of time at my parents' house and were able to get a lot of projects done!  I took projects I knew we could start and finish - I needed that sense of accomplishment.  Here's what we ended up with:

6 knit newborn baby hats
3 pairs of babylegs
2 changing pad covers
2 sets of car seat strap covers
1 fleece blanket
1 flannel crib sheet
1 scallop bunting for the girls' room
1 autumn bunting for the living room
1 hooded towel for baby girl #2
1 felt Christmas tree just for Clara to decorate with 25 felt ornaments - still deciding if we'll use them advent style, or give them to her all at once to decorate and undecorate the tree at will

We also started a color book for Clara, similar to this.  All of the pages are done, except for the color words. I think the felt ornaments and the color book were my favorite projects because they allowed complete creative freedom.  Plus, with a sweet toddler as the end user, I know she'll be thrilled with whatever we've created.  Having my mom to help really sped up the projects and helped me get so much more done!

I still have a lot to do before the new baby, and I still think it would be cool to keep up with weekly projects on the blog.  So we'll see if it actually happens.  Here are a few of the things on my short list:

-clean out the garage
-make new roman shades for the girls room
-cornice boxes for the girls windows
-coordinating crib skirts for the girls
-quilt for the new baby
-mobile for baby (rain drops and clouds or owls)
-clean out storage/laundry room
-get craft area organized
-organize and consolidate all files
-rain gutter bookshelves for girls room
-hang art and shelves in the girls room
-make Clara's baby book...
-make gauze blankets for new baby
-organize girls closet and dresser - make them shared-room-friendly
-get new baby crib set up
-recover the bouncer
-set up new baby area in our room

Alright, let's see what happens in the next 14 weeks!

A name, a name

Baby naming is one of those things that I thought would be so fun, back when I was in high school.  If I was bored in a class, I'd turn the page in my notebook and scribble out the names for my future children (usually about 15 girls and 3 boys).  Turns out naming babies is actually kind of hard.  We named Clara about 6 hours before coming home from the hospital.  If I had to boil down my criteria for baby naming it would be this: the name must be easy to say, easy to spell, gender specific, and not overly popular.

Spencer and I tend to like older names - those that have fallen out of fashion.  Many are making a comeback, which means they are not completely unfamiliar, but they're still not names that our child would share with three or four other kids in their classroom.  We like to look to our family tree for names, but I've also discovered a great source recently in the Social Security database of baby names.  I like to look at the popular names of the 1910's and 1920's.  Here are the top girl names from the 1910's with the ones I would actually consider in bold.

Mary
Helen
Dorothy
Margaret
Ruth
Mildred
Anna
Elizabeth
Frances
Virginia
Marie
Evelyn
Alice
Florence
Lillian
Rose
Irene
Louise
Edna
Catherine
Gladys
Ethel
Josephine
Ruby
Martha
Grace
Hazel
Thelma
Lucille
Edith
Eleanor
Doris
Annie
Pauline
Gertrude
Esther
Betty (my sweet grandma's name too!)
Beatrice
Marjorie
Clara
Emma
Bernice
Bertha
Ann
Jean
Elsie
Agnes
Julia
Lois
Sarah
Marion
Katherine
Eva
Ida
Bessie
Pearl
Anne
Viola
Myrtle
Nellie
Mabel
Laura
Kathryn
Stella
Vera
Willie
Jessie
Jane
Alma
Minnie
Sylvia
Ella
Lillie
Rita
Leona
Barbara
Vivian
Lena
Violet
Lucy
Jennie
Genevieve
Marguerite
Charlotte
Mattie
Marian
Blanche
Mae
Ellen
Wilma
Juanita
Opal
June
Geraldine
Beulah
Velma
Theresa
Carrie
Phyllis
Maxine
Nancy
Emily
Georgia
Fannie
Kathleen
Hattie
Inez
Sophie
Rosa
Lorraine
Hilda
Harriet
Norma
Eunice
Sara
Cora (very cute, but not with a sister named Clara)
Ada
Geneva
Alberta
Loretta
Mamie
Christine
Dora
Lula
Estelle
Verna
Audrey
Madeline
Shirley
Eileen
Daisy
Sadie
Olive
Naomi
Lola
Flora
Lucile
Olga
Mable
Muriel
Susie
Maggie
Maria
Jeanette
Nora
Miriam (my maternal grandma's name)
Erma
Dolores
Victoria
Wanda
Janet
Lottie
Caroline (though I always worry about the Caroline/Carolyn issue)
Rachel
Irma
Henrietta
Roberta
Winifred
Eula
Patricia
Rosie
Anita
Rebecca
Della
Nettie
Sally
Fern
Lydia
Adeline (but not Addie)
Carolyn
Amelia
Nina
Jeanne
Elaine
Goldie
Katie
Bonnie
Antoinette
May
Marcella
Lorene
Essie
Arlene
Ollie
Dorothea
Jeannette
Veronica
Effie
Isabel
Freda
Regina
Sallie
Cleo
Ora
Isabelle
Rosemary
Addie
Eloise
Joan
Lela

It's A....

I thought it would be fun for this pregnancy to find out the gender of our baby with the whole family.  We made a little event of it, and it turned out to be a great evening.

Yesterday was my 20 week ultrasound appointment and Spencer unexpectedly got stuck at work.  It was ok though, because I felt a little less awkward asking the ultrasound technician if she could just write the gender down for us, rather than telling me.  She was so happy to do so, and had me look away anytime she was looking around that area, so I wouldn't happen to see and find out. :)  I'm pretty blown away by the technology of ultrasounds.  You can see the whole skeletal structure, but also the bladder, kidneys, stomach, liver, brain, etc.  The ultrasound technician wrote down the gender for me and sealed it in an envelope (along with the gender-revealing ultrasound picture).

Right after my appointment, I headed to The Sweet Tooth Fairy, where I had previously placed an order for cupcakes to be picked up that day.  When they received the envelope from me, they were to fill the cupcakes I had ordered with pink or blue bavarian creme.  I picked them up a few hours later.  Then when we ate our cupcakes, we would know what the baby's gender was.  My mom pointed out that with cupcakes, everyone would get to the middle at a different time, so I decided that we would just give Clara a cupcake to start and let her be the grand revealer.

We had our parents and Aunt Carol over to enjoy the cupcakes last night, all anxious and excited to find out if Clara will have a baby brother or sister.  I gathered guesses from everyone before we dug in, and dyed their milk accordingly.  Two [party poopers] requested water or white milk. I was the only one with pink milk!

Clara couldn't understand how we could all just be standing around chatting when there was cake to be eaten, so we quickly cut to the chase.

 Taking a bite, and revealing the first glimpse of PINK!

 And finally, some convincing evidence.  A very pink creme-filled center. :)

Clara is going to have a little sister!

YAY!!  Clara claps with everyone else, while grandpa tries to help her make sense of the situation.

Two girls!

We are all very excited to add another little girl to our family and we love her already.

Clara's New Gig

It's a good thing that Clara loves babies, because one is expected to join our family at the end of January!  We are super excited and thankful and feel so very blessed.  I'm sure none of us fully realize what this change will mean for our family, but I think that Clara will be an excellent big sister.  A friend of mine says that a sibling is the greatest gift that you can give your child, so I try to remember that whenever small feelings of panic start to set in.

A little bit about this pregnancy:

-My official due date is January 31st.  Typically I prefer even numbers for some reason, but I think that the due date 1.31.13 is really kind of cool.

-I started showing much earlier with this pregnancy and feel huge (at 16.5 weeks) right now.  I haven't started to wear maternity clothes yet, but my wardrobe is definitely pretty limited.

-Thankfully I didn't need quite as much medical intervention this time.  In fact, I was fully expecting things to take as long as they did with Clara.  So this pregnancy, although desired and planned, still felt like a surprise!

-I have been more sick and felt sick for longer with this pregnancy than with Clara.  Weeks 6 to 9 were the hardest and nearly every afternoon I'd be curled up on the couch with full body aches and an overall flu-like feeling.  I'm so glad that phase of pregnancy is over.  Now that I'm in the second trimester I feel really good.

-Food aversions and preferences have been really similar to my first pregnancy - meat is the hardest for me (especially anything in a lot of sauce -- the thought of pulled pork makes my stomach churn).  Fruit and yogurt almost always sound good.

-I have my third doctor's appointment this week.  So far everything seems to be progressing normally and healthily.  We've had one ultrasound and heard the heartbeat and things are great!

-Spencer and I both feel like this baby is a girl, but partly I wonder if that's just because it's all we know so far.  We would be thrilled to have a boy or a girl.  Two little girls would be so fun, but so would a little boy and girl.  We should be able to find out in a few weeks.

-Mostly we are super excited to do all of this again.

Sweet little Clara Jane, fresh from heaven.  Less than one day old.

P.S. If you don't read my blog in a reader, you may have missed several updates I did yesterday.  Clara's 17, 18, and 19 month posts, Bear Lake, the 4th of July, and Clara getting dirty.