Details of Delivery Day

So here are the details of the labor and delivery.  So I woke up at 5:30 and curled my hair and put on make up ~ thought I'd try to feel pretty this time. I called the hospital at 7, they said to come in at 8:15.  (Hooray!) so I go and tell Corey who is still resting in bed.  He said he'd get ready and asked me to call his parents to tell them he was going to bring the kids over.  I get the kids up and ready and they are ready really quickly and, like me, were eager to get the show on the road.  Corey wasn't in the shower yet, and so I told Corey I would take the kids over to his parents house and would be back to pick him up.  Left at 7:30, on my way back at 7:50, picked up Corey and I drove us to the hospital (I've always wanted to drive myself to the hospital!)  Corey went up to Dr. Smith's office to pay the delivery bill and I got settled into my room, Corey came back, and soon I was all hooked up to pitocin and monitors and the waiting game began.

Feeling glamorous in my hospital gown

They broke my water at 9:30.  When I started I was at a 1.5 dialation and 30% effaced.  Checked me at 12 and I was dialated at a 3 and 40% effaced.  They checked me every hour and I was going pretty slow.  At 1:00 I was at a 4, both at 2:00 and 3:00 I was dialated to 5 and 60% effaced.  4:00 I was at a 6 and 90% effaced, and then at 5 I was at a 10, "You are ready!  Let's get the Doctor!"  They called for Dr. Smith, he came down and suited up.  One push for the head and they cleared out her nose and mouth, another push for her body, and she was born at 5:14 p.m.  She looked blue and was totally covered with vernix (that white cheesy stuff) and I'm looking at her wondering as usual if everything is okay, cause she wasn't really crying, but the nurses didn't act alarmed or seem to show that anything was wrong.  Corey took a picture of her over at the little place where they were rubbing her down and getting her weight and scores ~ 

When they handed her over she looked super pink and plump, yet so small - at 6 lbs 13 she's my 3rd smallest baby - Lily was 5.13 and Sophia was 6.10.  Tiny.

Dr. Smith wanted a picture, cause this is the 7th baby for me that he's delivered and that is a record!  He can't believe he's been in practice long enough to deliver 7 babys for the same person.  I asked if I get to be on a plaque somewhere in his office or something.  :)

Corey headed out soon after she was born to get the kids and I had time to just stare at her in wonder and take some pictures.  He was back an hour later and they were excited yet so quiet, like they seem to know there is something sacred and reverent about the little soul they were meeting.  We went over to my overnight room and Sophia finally gets to see the "baby" we've all been talking about when we've pat my tummy.

These 4 little girls are going to have a blast as teenagers together, we're going to be having a lot of fun in another decade!  Sophia didn't like it when anyone else touched the baby.

There she is pointing at the bad person who took her and instructing her father to go and get the baby for her.

As you wish, my queen!  So, here's our new group!  I would have liked to have been changed out of my "gown" before this picture was taken, but I couldn't move my legs yet.  One con on the epidural, but the pros offset the con for me, pros being that I was able to nap and relax all afternoon.

Corey picked me up the next day at 5:15 - 24 hours after delivery (which is how long you have to stay), we had time to enjoy a nice dinner together ~ maybe our last date night for a while?

I think it's really fun that Alta View does this, and mind you, no one can just book a reservation at this local, it's very exclusive!  Then we were on our way home at 6.  As we drove down the street to our house, we saw a couple of little people out in the street and then high tail it into the house when they saw our car.  As the garage opened, there were 8 anxious siblings waiting by the stairs and jumping up and down and soon pawing at the windows to get in and take their little sister away captive ~  Corey got a picture on his smart phone, I'll try to post it later, it was funny.  I thought "You ready baby?  Here we go!"

Once inside, I said Dad got to hold her first (he still hadn't hardly had a chance to see her yet, and we need him to see her so we can figure out a name!)  Let the love begin.

The vital records is going to call on Monday for her name, hopefully we'll have one figured out by then.  :)

Baby Wride

Here she is and we're all in love ~

6 lbs 13 oz.

Corey's been busy watching the other kids and hasn't had a chance to look at this little face very much yet, but now that we're home, we'll see what name fits her.  Here she is yesterday and not yet an hour old - love her cheeks!

Already sucking her thumb ~

And then after a bath, the blue bow fit her perfectly

She's gorgeous - so grateful to have another angel join our family.

False Alarm

When I spoke to the Women's Center yesterday at 7, they told me they were pretty busy and to call back at 9.  I called back at 9 and they said things hadn't slowed down and to call back at 11.  So I called back at 11 and they said they might not be able to get me in today.  (I was handling all of this news pretty well, had to be a good example to the kids who were throwing their hands up in the air with impatience.)  So I called back at 1 and they said yeah, they currently had 7 women in labor and were not going to be able to do it today (that's Utah folks - we get the gold medal).  I was okay with that thinking we'll go tomorrow which would be fun cause it's my sister's birthday (Joseph was bragging that it would be on his half birthday), but then she said my Dr. wanted to reschedule for Wednesday cause on Tues he had some surgeries scheduled at a hospital across the valley and he didn't want to have to be in two places at the same time if he could avoid it.  That's when I felt some disappointment.  Blah, I gotta wait till Wednesday?!?  Like, that's two whole days!  Then came the self pep talk - Come on Tiff, it's been 39 weeks, you can handle 2 days.  You're okay though, you can handle 2 days.  This is not a problem. ...Although Saturday to Monday seems shorter than Monday to Wednesday.  Monday to Wed is the slowest part of the week, I shall have to think of something to keep busy.  More spray painting perhaps?  Or maybe I'll just be a lazy person and nap through it all.  I guess it's good cause I didn't have the carseat ready or gotten any baby clothes out of storage yet.  The little one is just helping to give me time to get my act together.

So I'm ok with the anticlimactic Monday we had.  Plus the kids experienced and displayed more than enough frustration for our family, (they were being a little dramatic.)  Ethan said "I wish I could take a magic drink to make me fall alseep for two days and I would just wake up on Wednesday..." Melodie said "This has been the longest day EVER!"  To help cope with the stress of waiting Mel and I went out and bought ice cream and candy, so we can sing happy birthday to the baby again tonight.  I better not be told to call back tomorrow.  Or I'm just gonna fake I'm in labor and go in.  Hopefully in the morning I'll be able to sneek off before the kids are awake, might make the waiting game easier for them.

Til tomorrow ~

Delivery Eve

Well, it's Delivery Eve.  Actually, now it's Delivery Day since it's 1:45 in the morning.  Hope that the Stork still comes even if little mothers are not in bed?  The Stork isn't picky like Santa Clause, is he?  I fell asleep for a little bit in the girls' room ~ thought as a final gesture of love I'd help Sophi fall asleep one last time before I bail on her.  Then I woke up at 1 a.m. Hmm, what to do?  So I started to go over my Devliery Day to do list and get the final details taken care of, you know, the really essential things like painting my toe nails. Then I did 12 minutes of planks at 1:30 to get them out of the way so I don't have to do them in the morning.  Then I figured I'd come blog for a second.  I'll probably pack my bag and set out my clothes too.  Although I did set my alarm for 5:30, so I guess I could do it then.  I told the kids that I might not be able to sleep, so just go back to bed if you hear the vacuum going at 3 a.m. and wonder what's going on.  They've been giving me some good competition for the "Who's the most excited" award, making sure everyone at church today knew why they had such a big smile on their face ~ "The New Baby's coming tomorrow!!!"  Corey baked a pink cake for her happy birthday and the kids all sang "Happy Birthday to the New Baby Tomorrow, Happy Birthday to the New Baby!"  (The name is still undecided, but I got my list ready and we'll start running through it when we get introduced to her.)  Life as we know it is about to get a lot more fun.

No more 8 kids.  As Corey and the kids were watching some Studio C and movie previews on his computer last week, I thought to myself "Yeah, he's got room on his lap there for one more..." wouldn't you say?  Ha

Sophia, do you know what's coming?  We've tried to tell her, I just don't think she gets it.  I guess she'll find out soon enough.  

5 hours and counting... :)  Ok, I'll be good and to try to fall asleep now.

Scofield Party

Last weekend our wonderful neighbors invited us down to their cabin for a weekend of good times.  There were lots of friends, lots of food, and lots of fun.  Seriously, there was a huge crowd - 5 families and 35 people ~ that's a total of 9 adults (one dad with a broken foot opted out) and 26 kiddos.  Can you say PaRtY?  Oh yeah!

We got there around 8 pm and so the first evening was just playing night games and roasting "Ulitmate S'mores" at the firepit.  Take note that you don't just use chocolate bars - they had Resees Cups, Cookies and Cream bars, Crunch bars, why haven't I ever thought of that?  We'll never be able to eat regular s'mores again.

Being as it was a full house, I had 4 little roommates that night - 3 in the bed and you can see Abi there on the floor.

See that little sliver of blue sheet on the bed to the right of Sophia?  That's where my 9 month pregnant self slept.  Sounds like a rough night but it was an incredibly soft bed, and it also helps me to have my back supported.  Sure, I usually use pillows, but Sophia was a wonderful substitute.  I slept great!  And we were the lucky ones - everyone else had to claim a spot on the floor and hope no one stepped on them during the nighttime trips to the potty.  How'd you sleep Joe?  Talmage?

Well, hello Hyrum, you're looking bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Ready for a breakfast feast - sausage, eggs, pancakes, muffins, oj, not to mention the left over cupcakes and cheesecake (that's what I had, healthy eatin' starts again when we get home...)

After stuffing themselves everyone headed out for an afternoon of boating.

The kids each took turns out on the boat and rafting on the water.  Corey got to test his Navy Seals skills when the rope got tangled around the propellers - but said "it's hard to untangle it when you have to plug your nose."  Made me laugh.  He was working hard all day, either out on the lake saving kids from drowning  or back at the grill perfecting his Brazilian Rodizio skills.  He's got the sunburn to prove it.  

Here they come!  Heading in for a snack after cooling off in the fresh mountain lake. I generally tried to keep Sophia away from the water, but we did go down for a little bit to let her throw rocks.  She thought that was awesome.  Such a simple child, love it.

Later when it was overcast and cool she fell asleep in the hammock - I thought it was a perfect picture of what the ideal summer afternoon looks like ~ no?  Complete with Oreo cookie mustache.

As the weekend getaway came to it's close, Abi ran around flying a kite and Sophia went walking in meadows of clover 

It was a pefect weekend, so thankful to our neighbors for inviting us and giving our kids great memories with great friends.

4th of July

I woke up early in the morn on July 4th stressed out for people who were in charge of our little community breakfast and fun run and other festivities.  It was pouring rain outside, hard, and there was thunder and lightening.  I thought the holiday fun was going to be ruined.  It still looked drizzly when we woke up at 6.  Corey and Mel had volunteered to help with breakfast, so they headed over.  The fun run was at 7:00.  Joseph had been training and his best time during his trial runs was 12:06, then with each subsequent run his time increased.  I thought the rain might improve his chances of winning if people who were going to run bailed out.  Well, I called Corey to see if the party was still on, and it was, so I dropped off the older kids for the fun run and went home to finish getting the little ones ready (Poor Lily was beside herself, she couldn't find her fun run t-shirt).  We got Sophi out of bed and headed out.  When we came over, the crowd of fun runners was just leaving the gate.  I walked it a little bit of the route with Abi, Lily and Sophi.  We walked down the street and were at the school when we saw Joseph come around the corner on his way to the finish line.  There were 3 guys in front of him (3 tall and bookin' it teenagers, it was going to be a close finish) and then Joseph was coming with another guy.  I turned around to head back to the finish line and when we saw Joseph I asked him what his time was.  With a big and proud smile he said "11:35".  My best time last year was 13:11, his best was 13:48, so major improvement for this little up and coming track star.  SO, next year, I am going to let Jospeh take the lead, I'll let him set the pace and if I can just keep up with him, I should be able to win the women's division.  Then I'll let him keep the trophy.  Great job, Joseph, he was so happy, he said that that was the best part of the whole day "I like improved my time by 40 seconds!!!"

After that we enjoyed breakfast, then I went home, cause I didn't have the mental or physical capacity or desire to keep track of 3 little girls in a big crowd of people.

We didn't do much during the day ~ Corey took Joseph and Melodie to a movie as a reward for them being such great helpers at the breakfast with cleaning up and serving, much to the other kid's disappointment, but he asked them to help, they didn't want to.  They didn't know a movie reward was on the line, and it probably wasn't at the time, but Corey was really thankful for their help.

That night we had a little bbq with family and then hung out over at the neighborhood "Circle of Fun" - no fireworks this year since they weren't allowed past 27th east.  But from our neighbor's backyard we could see them firing off all over the valley, so I thought that was really cool.  It made me think of how it might have really been for our country's revolutionary heros, different battles and skirmishes all over a city trying to win it for their country.  We had a panoramic view of the battle for Salt Lake last night.  The kids played basket ball, had popcorn and cotton candy, and ran around with their friends throwing glowsticks.  Ethan was disappointed he wasn't able to light any fireworks and wants us to step it up next year, maybe we'll go to a big show put on by the city.  We went to the Sugarhouse fireworks a lot when I was a kid, maybe we'll do that next year.

Girl's Camp

Melodie had a great time at her Young Women's Camp last week.  It was a Stake Camp, and they went up to the Hinckley Scout Ranch.  The picture below is my absolute favorite - Mel is in the middle there.  Just look at that beautiful night sky, amazing...

I love camping cause you get to get away from the city lights and really see all the stars.  I could stare at the Milky Way all night, it just makes you get lost in thought.  (sigh, it's been a while since I've been up to see them...)  Anyway, here are some other pictures of things she did:

The little theme was "Stand in Holy Places and Be Not Moved" and they emphasized the "Moooo" in the Moved, so they did everything with a cow motif.  Funny.  Cow shirts and hats - here she is hanging up her hat so the spots can dry

She went rock rapelling ~

 Did a little bit of archery and canoe-ing

And one more picture that her leaders sent, this one was of their water rafting trip to Moab the week before.

She's had a fun summer.  Joseph too.  Only problem now is that I can't keep up with that kind of entertainment, so these two poor souls are probably the most bored of all my children right now.  Trying to think of something to help them out, but they'll be on their own soon enough when the baby comes, guess they might have to figure it out themselves.  

Take a Deep Breath

I stumbled upon these two links over the weekend.  I thought they were good so I wanted to share:
12 Steps to Stop Yelling at your kids
followed by
10 Things I Learned by not yelling at my kids for a year.

Of the 10 things she learned, I really liked #2.  I am most always able to be calm and collected in public or at church if the kids are teasing or spill food or something ~ why?  Because I'm aware of my audience.  At home, I usually forget that I always have an audience - my 8 children.  And really, they are my most important audience, always watching me, learning, and mimicing what I say and do.  I should be my very best around them.

Wesley is 8 years old and so he is going to be baptized soon.  We talked last night about what baptism is and the kids seemed to mostly have questions about repentance.  I told them I don't think repentance should be focusing on our mistakes, cause then we might tend to beat ourselves up over it.  I think it's more like New Years Resolutions, and Resolutions get me excited, cause I can see where I'm slacking and I'm excited to get specific about goals I can work on to help me improve.  I talked about how the no yelling for a year lady and that I'd like to improve there.  Joseph made my day by telling me he doesn't think I yell.  And I probably don't yell that much, but I feel like I yell and I feel like I'm not being as patient and kind as I could be, like yesterday when Abi spilled her sticky sticky watermelon strawberry lemonade inside the freezer and all over the floor.  I didn't yell at her, but I did growl at the mess and spoke more sharply than I should have to a little 5 year old and a simple accident.  Anyway, those were great links with good insights on how to be a better mom.

Ok, one more thing that's helped all of us improve our behavior this year of 2013, and it's kinda funny, is Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.  We started watching that a few months ago, and I really like Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.  It is the one show I will go and proactively choose to put on at 10 or at 10:30 (or sometimes we'll watch it back to back (the same episode) if it's a good song/lesson that we could apply.)  Right now during our summer routine I let Sophia and Lily watch it while the other kids do their stuff.  Sometimes it distracts the older kids, but I don't think it's a waste cause it is teaching them all simple things and ideas that they can apply to their everyday little lives.

In each episode they sing a little song over and over again so it's easy for it to get stuck in your head.  The first one that helped us out was "When you feel so mad that you want to roar, take a deep breath (Inhale, exhale) and count to four."  That was the first one that Lily memorized which brought to my attention that this was a good show.  When she'd have a bad day or get frustrated, she usually expressed herself with some screams and stomping around, but then we started singing that song and it totally helped her.

Another one, Abi and Lily would fight over toys, and hooray cause there's a little Daniel Tiger song that goes "You can take a turn, and then I'll get it back" and we use that one all the time, love it.  This is seriously the first show ever that I've been able to see them apply to their lives in a positive way.

One more example, the older kids were playing legos, Wesley was goofing off and got behind Ethan, and when Ethan turned to face him, Wes poked him in the eye (supposedly an accident).  As Ethan related the story to me, he said "I was so mad and I wanted to scream and hit him, but (he says with a smile) then I took a deep breath and counted to four!  And as I was couning, Wesley was standing there looking at me and then he said "Saying I'm sorry is the first step, then How Can I help?" (that's another Daniel Tiger song, love it!)  Then they were both laughing cause little silly songs from a baby show is changing their behavior.  Yes, I love Daniel Tigers Neighborhood.  So that's that.  :)

A few of the other songs that are helpful to us - when we got to the park and the kids don't want to go home yet, I sing ~
"It's almost time to stop so choose one more thing to do."
"That was fun but now it's done."

And frequently at dinner time, Lily will try to be brave as she tries the new food by singing:
"You gotta try new food because it might taste good."

So hooray for Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.  And I also have to say, as a negative side note, that I do NOT like Sid the Science Kid.  Or his friends or his teacher or his parents or grandma.  They are super annoying.  We don't watch it, well the older kids wanted to once so they could be annoyed, they especially don't like Gerald.  It's on right before Daniel Tiger, so sometimes we hear a few seconds of it while waiting for the station switch to kick in, and that small snippet is too much for me.  I wish that show hadn't been approved.  I'm probably being a little irrational about it, but you go watch it and see if you can come away un-irritated.  We don't like Sid.  Ok, I just had to get that off of my chest.  Now I can carry on with my day.

Delivery Day ~ One Week Away

Well, the hospital just called to get me pre-registered.  I'm scheduled to be induced in one week.  I'm pretty excited that the light at the end of the tunnel finally feels like it's close.  My day of deliverance is nigh.  It's a good feeling.  Of our 8 kids, I've been induced for 5 and had an epidural for 7.  I went all natural with Abi (below).  Felt pretty empowered after that delivery and it was a whole new experience for sure.

Here's the pregnancy history, cause we women love to talk about our labor experiences, right?

Joseph - he was due Jan 1, born Jan 9th (I was dying) ~ Corey and I were at college, it was my first pregnancy, and when I reached 36 weeks and the doctor said I was full term and could go into labor, I got my hopes up too high and was hoping I'd get to miss out on my finals at college (or atleast get a little more time to cram?) Total bummer when not only did I not get out of taking finals but I was back at the beginning of the next semester, still pregnant, to answer the foolish question "You're still pregnant?" and "When are you due?" My reply "Last week..."  ugh.  But I guess I survived it, huh.  He had muconium in his water and things were a little scary at first and they almost did an emergency C section, the nurse said "if the baby survives" once and my dr. gave her a death glare, he was cool and collected and everything turned out okay.  But I decided I did not like waiting and or going overdue, and feared that maybe that's what the timing of my deliveries would always be if I waited for things to start on their own.

Along came Melodie 11 months later ~ (Joseph and Melodie are Irish twins, both born in the year 2000, Joseph in Jan, Melodie in December, impressive, I know)  She was due December 18th, we had graduated and moved and so I was at a new doctor, Layne Smith, who is my current doctor (he's great) who had just bought the practice of a different doctor, so I was among his first patients.  When I went in for my 39 week appointment, he asked me "So, what do you like to do?  Wait to go into labor on your own?  Want to be induced on your due date?  Or want to be induced tomorrow..." and that's where he became my hero.  "TOMORROW?!?!?"  I called Corey to ask him what he thought ~ "Hey sweetie - what do you think if we have the baby tomorrow?"  There was a pause on his end of the phone and then he replied "You're pregnant?!"  Ok, nevermind asking you...  Hang up.  "Yes, Mr. Hero Doctor, tomorrow would be WONDERFUL!"  Got an epidural, things went great and I thought to myself "that's the way to do it."
And now I had the two most stinkin' cute kids ever, don't you agree?

Ethan came along in March 2002, I was induced, got the epidural, it was great.  One thing I didn't like about that one was that we had to go to the hospital across the valley, and when I was fully dialated and ready to push, we waited cause Dr. Smith was stuck in traffic.  Ethan came out with a major cone head.  It corrected itself soon enough, but I decided I didn't like having to go to a hospital far from our home.  Dumb "in-network" insurance stuff, kind of annoying.

Hyrum was due August 18th and born the 12th, he was my biggest baby at 8 lbs 10 oz and was an absolutely perfect baby and just so cute and chubby.  I was really on the ball with exercise and diet during his pregnancy and thought maybe all those protein shakes had made him so robust.

For Wesley we moved back to Provo for Corey to attend business school so I went to the same doctor that delivered Joseph.  He didn't do like to do inductions, so that was okay, I'd rather go with someone I knew, plus I trusted him cause of how he handled Joseph's delivery.  Wes was due June 23rd and he was born the 25th, just 2 days later, better than the 9 days I was expecting from Joe's birth. And now we had the five cutest kids ever!  Wesley was such a happy baby ~

Poor Melodie, will she ever have a sister?  haha.

Then Corey gradutated from school, we moved to Virginia, found out we were expecting again, and we moved to Brazil in Feb.  And as I experienced a mere 4 months living on foreign soil I turned into a stressed out woman.  I didn't exercise cause I was of the mentality that you needed a gym or atleast weights.  So I ate lots of chocolate and washed clothes by hand and we had an adventure.  But I struggled abroad.  And struggled some more after we moved back, so it wasn't the circumstances but more likely it was my thinking, I needed a serious mental shift to fix my attitude.   Anyway, we didn't have insurance when we got back, I was due September 4th, Corey was hoping it would kick in with a job he was going to start on Sept 14th and that I wouldn't go into labor until then.  So, eventhough I was back with Dr. Smith and could have been induced at 39 weeks, I stuck it out.  And was glad I didn't go til the 14th, she was born on September 3rd.  (She could have made the school year cut off had I been induced, so sad.  It's been a long year for her but she's excited to finally start school this fall). So yeah, I went all natural with Abi and didn't even get the epidural, and for the first time had lots of pain for weeks after her birth with contractions, I didn't like that, but still it I enjoyed being able to say I'd gone all natural.  Here's Abi at a week old, what a cutie.

Then Lily came in June '09, and she was sooooo little!  5 lbs 13 oz.

I couldn't believe how small she was, made me wonder if something was wrong.  Corey joked "that's what happens when you take them out of the oven too early" but she was perfect and healthy, the hospital staff said she was just small.

Then we had our adventure in Costa Rica and I had a miscarriage there.  Got pregnant with Sophia in Chile, so we didn't have insurance again, blah.  We got back from Chile in May and Sophia was born 4 months later.  I was induced, and thought to save $ maybe I'd try to skip out on the epidural again as we didn't have maternity coverage again (we don't this time either, the joys of entrepreneurship, yeah).  Around 11:00 a.m. the contractions were getting intense and I was still wondering if I wanted to go natural.  Corey's advice "You better decide quick, you're going to miss your window of opportunity..." "OK.. (wince)... I'll get it ... (breathe)..." and in came the nice anethesiologist to give my body peace around 11:30.  Ahhhh.  She was born an hour later, it all went without a hitch and she was perfect.  

So, there's a brief overview of my past Delivery Days.  We'll see what next week brings.  I always feel a little nervous about complications or something going wrong, the same way I make plans to be a widow whenever Corey travels.  But it's in the Lord's hands, whatever happens, He is in control and I trust in Him and His plan for us.  :)