Harrison's Newborn Pictures

I thought I'd take a stab at taking newborn pictures. After finding a good photo editing app, I think they turned out pretty good! He's so sweet!

Welcoming Harrison to the family

During the first few weeks after Harrison was born, we were blessed with a lot of help and a lot of visitors. We were happy to share the joy he has brought to our family with others.

Emory and McKelle have adjusted well to their new baby brother. The months leading up to his birth, I purposefully distanced myself from them so they would be used to playing by themselves or together. I think it really paid off because they play great together now. Since newborns sleep so much, I've been able to keep some routine and normalcy to our day. I think this has also helps them both feel loved and allows me to give them attention when needed. For the most part, I'd say the adjustment has gone much better than I expected! Of course it has helped that I've had a cleaning lady come to our house for two months, lots of freezer meals, been using an online grocery store pick up service and have had help from friends. It's helped a lot in fact!

Tucson Temple Open House

Jeremy unexpectedly took a week off of work after Harrison was born. By the end of the week, we felt good enough to make a quick day trip down to Tucson for the temple open house. Unfortunately, it was so hot outside we didn't get to do much walking around and reminiscing on UofA campus but we did make a quick stop at our old apartment where we brought baby Emory and McKelle home from the hospital.

Harrison's Birth Story

During week 33 and 34, I was feeling a lot of contractions.  So, I took it easy during week 35 and 36. I cut back at the gym to once a week and layed down a lot. Bad idea.

At my 36 week check up, I wasn’t dilated at all so I decided to get back to the gym again and started walking a lot on the treadmill. But at my 37 week checkup, I was still not dilated! Grr. I was walking probably 2-3 times a week at the gym, 3.5-3.7 miles in an hour and would feel a lot of contractions during the walking and often later too.

On the Wednesday of week 28 I was at a 1+ and probably 50% effaced. Doc was going to schedule me to be induced a week later because Jeremy’s mom was only in town for 3 days. So, I came back on the Monday of week 39 and she said I was 2cm dilated and 70% effaced. She stripped my membrane during that visit too, which did not hurt.  We decided to cancel the induction because Rachel, my sister in law, had just quit her job and could watch the kids if Kayla wasn’t in town. I walked on the treadmill that afternoon. Tuesday, the next morning, I walking around the neighborhood for 30 minutes pushing both kids in a stroller! At 10:30am I lost my plug.

On Thursday, I walked up and down our stairs for 20 minutes, and around 7 at night, I walked around the neighborhood.  I was contracted the whole time during my walking and the contractions didn’t stop for two hours afterwards. They were not painful but consistent so we left for the hospital after 10pm.

When we got there, I was 3cm and could be stretched to 4cm dilated and 70/80% effaced. Of course, once we got there my contractions stopped. They sent me walking around the hospital for an hour, 11:30-12:30am. After walking, I thinned a little bit and contractions became regular again so they admitted me at 1:30am and started antibiotics for the Strep Group B.

After four hours of medication, they sent me walking again for about 45 minutes to get contractions going again. At 5:30am I was 5cm dilated and 80% effaced. I was contracting regularly but feeling no pain. I asked if they would break my water now but they said baby’s head was too high and there was a risk that his umbilical cord could slip through. So, they started me on pitocin at 7am.

They checked me at 9am and I was still at 5cm and feeling no pain. I kept asking them what we were waiting for and if they would just break my water. She kept saying, “We’re waiting for you to get uncomfortable.”

Finally at 11:30am, after four hours of pitocin and still making no progress and still feeling no pain, they broke my water. Thirty is the highest pitocin amount you can receive and I was at an 18. Within five minutes of them breaking my water, I was in tears because the contractions were so intense! I asked for an epidural after only three contractions. By 12:10pm, I was at 9cm dilated! The nurse said I was hyperventilating because I was breathing so intensely during the contractions. My body kept shaking like I was cold. Sometime during those 40 minutes I got my epidural. Of course it didn’t take effect yet and I could still feel everything including the baby dropping. I was told to wait for the doctor before I could push. So, twenty minutes later, I started pushing. The epidural kicked in during the 25 minutes of pushing but the baby wasn’t making much progress at this point. The doctor made a small cut and one push later, at 12:55, a baby BOY was born!

It was such an amazing moment to see him for the first time and realize baby was a boy! It was pretty emotional. He was a trooper through all of this. His heartbeat was strong and he did great! He was pretty calm after delivery. He stuck his tongue out a little like McKelle did. We did skin to skin before they even cleaned him off. I thought he had his own unique look to him. A cute little round face, long dark hair and long fingers!

In retrospect, I wish I would have just stayed home instead of going to the hospital. I kinda suspected they would admit me but was hoping they would have broke my water before giving me an pitocin. I think that was what I was disappointed in because I wanted to labor naturally. I progressed to a 5 on my own! I just wonder if I would have waited another day or so if my water would have broken on it’s own. Oh well. I’m grateful he came out so sweet and healthy!

Once Upon a Time with McKelle

Our amazing Relief Society put together a memorable night for the Mom's and daughters in the ward. The theme was "Once Upon a Time" and it focused on princesses and our important roll as women. We had tea and finger foods, learned about proper edict, had a princess sing to us and much more. McKelle was in heaven. She wore a princess dress and got to dance and play games with some of her friends. I loved seeing her so happy and free spirited.

They shared a video and message from Pres. Uchdorf's talk, "Your happily ever after," which focused on how princesses always have to overcome a challenge before they get to their happy ending. I was grateful for the reminder that I am of divine nature and a daughter of a King. But, it was also special to feel the divinity within McKelle and my roll in helping her realize it. It was a special night to remember.

Prego Pictures with Harrison

I wanted to take some prego pictures with McKelle and Emory before baby arrived. I'm not really happy with how they turned out, probably has something to do with the fact that I'm in workout pants because nothing else fits comfortably, but it's still a fun memory.

Summer Fun

June has been HOT! I am so grateful for our warm bath/pool! We have certainly made good use of it. McKelle surprised me by jumping off the edge of the pool all by herself now (with floaties on)! She'll even jump from up high into the waterfall. So fun. Emory can pretty much swim by himself now. I only left him take his floaties off when an adult is in the pool but he can swim from the waterfall to the stairs. It makes me nervous still but he can do it! He's really impressed me. He's a little fish. He's also started to practice going under water to try and pick up toys on the bottom of the pool and he succeeds about 30% of the time :) We also have enjoyed our fire pit a few times too. I'm so grateful for these fun family memories!

Darcee's 30th Birthday