Spencer John

Spencer John was born at 4:55pm on Thursday, November 19. He weighed 8 pounds 6 oz. and was 21 inches long. He has light brown hair and very dark blue eyes--will they turn brown? He is a sweet, sweet baby who enjoys being loved by his older brother and sisters. They are pros at putting on hand sanitizer everytime before they hold him and only give him kisses on the top of his head.

I wanted to post pictures with this blog but I can't find where I unpacked the cords to do that. Pictures are forthcoming.

Randy and I went into North Bay Hospital in Fairfield at 7:30am. By 8:30am Dr. Fazio had inserted a pill inside me to help me contract. She said she wanted to induce me slowly as she felt that would be better for baby. She said she may need to insert a total of 4 pills every 4 hours. Since I came into the hospital only dialated to a 1, it looked like we had a LONG day ahead of us. Randy and I came prepared. He brought his laptop and we brought along all of our favorite sports movies--Rudy, Miracle, Hoosiers, Field of Dreams, Rookie, etc. By the time the doctor came back to examine me at 12:30pm, I had already taken a nap, watched Rudy, and had eaten a pretty decent lunch. Once she inserted that second pill, things really started happening. I can remember talking to the kids and my mom on the phone and at 1:30pm I had to say goodbye because the contractions were getting stronger. By 2pm, my water had broken on its own. When our awesome nurse, Amy--who just happens to live a few houses down from us, came to confirm that my water had broken, she also found some muconion (sp?), so she called in the on call neonatalogist to make sure he would be there for the birth. That neonatalogist just happened to be our stake president! I was feeling very well taken care of!

By 2:30pm I was at a 4 and ready for an epideural. Dear Dr. Walker couldn't find my spine. I had swollen so much during this pregnancy that I had edema of the spine! Who has ever heard of that! After 4 tries, he finally just put it in. Let me just say, I don't think the epideural ever took. My back still hurts from his tries and Randy says they are nowhere near my spine. Hmm. Oh, well.

From 4-4:55pm I was in transition. Oh the things I say to my sweet husband during transition! I felt the urge to push like nobody's business, but the nurses and doctor kept telling me I was only at a 7. Turns out I went from a 7 to a 10 in 5 minutes, but they didn't believe me until I begged them to please examine me again. When they did they all said, "Let's have a baby! Push away!" Spencer joined the world after only 3 pushes. Our stake president was there seeing me in all my glory. As soon as Spencer was born he said, "Happy Birthday, Spencer!" It was a wonderful moment.

Randy stayed beside Spencer's side for all of his measurements and weighing in and bath. I enjoyed watching father and son connect. Spencer nursed right away and before we knew it, we were on our way into the tiniest room ever! I have always been a strong believer in staying in the hospital for 2 days, but by Friday afternoon I was ready to leave! I learned I am claustrophobic if I don't have a window by my bedside to look out of, and I have to have the door open! It was a pleasure to arrive home Friday evening and feel like I could breathe once again.

By Saturday, Randy's parents came to meet their newest grandson and my Aunt Carol and Uncle Jerry came to plant me a winter garden in our garden spot. Wonderful.

My mom is helping me by taking the kids wherever they need to be, keeping the house clean, making our dinners, and making sure I get at least 2 naps a day. Thanks for coming, mom! However, on Tuesday night, my sisters Celeste and Ally drove up to pick up my mom and the kids for the rest of Thanksgiving week. My sister Keri and brother Craig and their families together with Ally and Celeste their families are all together at Celeste's new mansion and enjoying cousin time. I won't see my kids again until Saturday! Randy has been grading 4 tests and tons of homework from when he took time off to be with baby, and I have been enjoying the rest--and the chick flick DVD's Randy picked up for me at the library! By Saturday, I will be ready to see my kids again.

I'm so thankful Spencer is here safe and sound. I'm so thankful not to be pregnant anymore. This pregnancy was a hard one from beginning to end. I'm thankful for our new home, the kids new school, and especially for the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

November 19

I got a call from my mom, who is serving her second Public Affairs mission for all of West Africa with my dad, on Sunday saying she is flying out to take care of me when baby comes! I was completely surprised and shocked! I know I have been overly emotional/hormonal/freaked out/crazy especially during these last few weeks of this pregnancy, but I wasn't expecting my mom to take a leave of absence from her mission for her mentally unstable daughter--which would be me at the moment. But SURPRISE! She flies in tomorrow morning and I will be induced at 9 days late the next day! I think baby Spencer is waiting to meet his Grammie. At today's dr. appointment, I have made progress from my ZERO centimeters of the last two weeks. I am now at an astounding 1 1/2 centimeters!! Twoo-twoo! Heck, I was at 2 centimeters with Brevin and Lindie when I arrived at the hospital--of course my water had already broken so they had to keep me. My water broke with Michaela too, but they kept sending me home! UGH! So this will be a new experience for me. I am just so excited and anxious to meet the little guy!

Happy 7th Birthday, Lindie

Lindie turns 7 tomorrow. Randy brought home a dozen pink roses to surprise her with tonight. He felt that her birthday has been getting lost in the shuffle of waiting for this baby to come.

How can Lindie get lost in the shuffle?

Lindie has been asking me a lot about what she was like as a baby. I tell her she wanted her mommy ALL the time--to hold her, to feed her, but mostly to snuggle with her. She is still a great snuggle bug. She loves to sleep in and wake up slowly. She also loves chocolate!

What I love most about Lindie is her insight. For example, yesterday while we were in the car we were listening to one of my favorite songs by Martina McBride "Bring on the Rain". We had just watched the musical "Annie" the night before. She said after listening to "Bring on the Rain", "Mom, this song has the same message as that Tomorrow song in Annie did--that things get better and there is always hope." That's right! I never would've made that connection, but leave it to Lindie. She will and she does ALL the time!

I also love how sweet Lindie is as an older sister. There is a special bond between Lindie and Michaela. They hug each other hello and goodbye as Lindie comes and goes and Lindie always asks Michaela thoughtful questions and listens to her answers. "Did you have a fun time at Todd's house today? What did you do? Oh, how fun!" She is also very patient with Brevin.

I have enjoyed seeing Lindie's light SHINE since we started the ACE school. She comes home with a spark for learning everyday and I love seeing that! She has kept a daily journal since last year and writes her feelings and emotions in it--an example to me! So insightful.

I am so thankful Lindie is in our family. Happy Birthday my "noble" one.

39 1/2 Weeks and Counting

We had the most amazing move into our new home last Saturday, on Halloween. My aunt and uncle in Sacramento graciously took the kids on Friday night and all day Saturday so Randy and I could concentrate on the move. They spent the day in San Francisco watching my oldest nephew, Brandon, and his wife, Lacy do very well representing BYU-Hawaii in their cross-country races. The highlight of their day was eating at the Rainforest Cafe with Brandon and Lacy and Uncle Larry!! Thank you to family for taking care of my family.

Our move started at 9am in the morning. I was worried that not very many people would show up to help us move because it was Halloween afterall and moving into our ward we only had 3 people come and help us. Not this time! I just finished the thank you notes--there were 24 people there helping us move! Our entire house was moved by 9:40am!! And that included a trip to the dump! I am very grateful to my brother and brother-in-law who drove up an hour and half to help with the move. What they actually helped me with the most was to clean up after the move, and to keep me laughing and relaxed and calm. We walked away from the house by noon and EVERYTHING was done. I'm glad my brother and brother-in-law were able to climb our pomegranate tree and pick as many pomegranates as they could before the birds finished them off. I wish I could've offered them more to thank them for their efforts.

Many of the members of our Vacaville 1st ward came over to unload us into our new home. Members from our new ward, the Vacaville 5th ward, were suppose to come and unload us at 11am, but the 1st warders beat them to it. We were unloaded by 10:30am. We had to send people away! However, I will forever be grateful to our new Bishop Monson and RS President Sis. Berkheimer for coming over on the day of the move to welcome us into the ward. How is it possible to leave an awesome ward and enter an equally awesome new ward? We feel very blessed.

I was hoping that all of this packing and unpacking would put me into labor. I've had some pretty impressive false labor, but after my doctors appointment today, I learned that it's not that impressive afterall. All of that false labor has done NOTHING!! I am dilated to a ZERO!! My due date is 4 days away and I am convinced this baby is as snug as a bug in a rug and will be late. What I am a little concerned about is that the doctor I visited last week said this baby will be 8 1/2 to 9 lbs. easily. How much bigger will he be if I'm late?

I made a list of things I have to look forward to while waiting to meet this baby. The number one thing is to celebrate Lindie's 7th birthday next week. Michaela and I did go birthday shopping for her--just in case--but it would be very nice to celebrate her birthday on its own merits. The kids Primary Program is on Sunday and I am looking forward to seeing them sing and perform their parts. Brevin and Lindie have parent/teacher conferences scheduled for the 17th and I love parent/teacher conferences so I hope I can go to them.

My only complaint while waiting is how swollen I am--from my knees down I look like the Incredible Hulk. The doctor pushed into my calves and her finger went in an inch--I am not kidding! I feel like the Stay Puffed Marshmallow Woman. No doctor is concerned because I do not have high blood pressure, however I would like to fit into my flip flops again someday. I'm hoping after baby is born my body will just shrivel up like a raisin once all of the water is gone!

Until baby makes his grand debut, I will continue to feel thankful that we get to welcome this baby into our new home.