Faces of Brock and Maddie

As I said earlier Maddie looks a lot like Brock.  Well at least the first 24 hours of life.  She has changed a lot since she was born.  But that first day was so weird to look at my little girl and see Brock staring back at me.  Here are some comparison shots to show you how much they looked alike.

Maddie right after birth

Brock right after birth

Maddie

Brock

Maddie

Brock

Maddie

Brock

Megan and Maddie

Megan has decided that she loves Maddie.  I took a picture yesterday of them - and she thought that was really cool.  Now every time she holds her she says, "picture" and smiles really cheesy.  I think she is saying Madison or Maddie by saying "May-May" - but that is also close to how she says baby "bay-bay" - so it is anyone's guess at this point. 

Despite this picture, Maddie tolerates her siblings well - she has yet to cry from the crazy positions they hold her in or the multiple times she has been poked in the eye or had her bow almost pulled off - all with good intentions of course.  The above picture is just one of her famous "Brock" faces. 

And one of Maddie

I think that is the first time I had mentioned on the blog that she looked just like Brock when she was born.  It was so crazy.  She has thinned out a lot - giving her a "Noah and Megan" look - but her true character is just the same as Brock.  She has yet to smile at us (just like Brock) and looks at us like we are stupid or don't know what we are doing.  It is quite reminiscent of my first days of motherhood four years ago.

The boys at the hospital

We decided to have the boys come to the hospital so they could meet their little sister.  It was a good decision.  They felt very grown up and I think it added to their experience not having Megan there.  They were so cute.  My mom had taken them to go buy a present and the hospital gave them "big brother suckers".

We tried so hard to have a name picked out by the time the boys got there - but it just didn't happen (by that time we had narrowed it down to Madison or Hailey - other names that got crossed off: Alyssa (Allie), Alexia (Allie), Katherine (Kate), Kaitlyn (Kate), Amber, and Bethany).  The boys were so funny, they kept asking, "what sister is this?" and "whats her name?" - we just kept telling them we didn't know yet.  Now that we are home they both call her Madison instead of Maddie.  It is really cute to hear Noah say Madison.

Noah is really into her.  He loves to hold her and give her kisses.

A more accurate representation of Noah with Maddie is this picture - he just wants to be right in her face giving her kiss after kiss after kiss.  It is very overwhelming and I really have to dial him back.  He wants to hold her everytime he sees her; he wants to sing her a song every time I lay her down to sleep. It is all very sweet - but I hope it only lasts a day or two.  I think it will.

Brock on the other hand is much more mellow.  He is a great brother and wants to always know where she is and make sure she is ok - but he doesn't really like to hold her or touch her.  He has been like that with each new baby.  It is perfect in my opinion.

Megan has not had a picture with Maddie yet - maybe I should do that today.  We had kind of a rough start - but she is getting better each new minute.  I think she was jolted from being away from us and our house for 3 days - I think she thought we had died.  So she was just really clingy all day Sunday.  But today is going much better.

Birth Story

I hope I have most of you sitting at the end of your seats waiting for our birth story.  Leave it to me to have something dramatic to tell.  For those of you who are new to me/my blog.  Here is Noah's and Megan's.  Noah's is the most dramatic one - although Maddie might have him beat. 

I was 37 weeks and had not had contractions or anything for about two weeks.  I had given up hope of delivering this baby soon and just decided to give in to my due date.  Then:

9:45 am  - I was giving Megan a bath, and kind of squatting down, and had a contraction.  I assumed that it was just my positioning - you know, putting pressure on the cervix.  I had another one about 5 minutes later.  I text Jason telling him I was "10% sure I was in labor - not really, just having a few contractions, nothing serious, I will keep him updated."  After I got Megan out of the bath I found the house to be a TOTAL mess and the boys going crazy - then Megan started going crazy. 

10:00 am  - My day had started.  I went up and down the stairs a million times, started picking up the house, carrying Megan all over, bending over cleaning up messes, etc, etc.  It took about 15 minutes and I was having constant hard contractions.  I put Megan down for a nap and sent Jason a text saying "call me", about 2 minutes later I sent another text saying, "actually just come home".  He immediately called.  I told him about the contractions, but said that I had been doing a lot of stuff and thought that maybe if I just laid down for a minute and relaxed they would go away, but he should come home just in case.  This was a risky decision because he was not allowed to miss any work this week, so if he came home, and I didn't have the baby, he was going to have to start his training all over again. 

10:10 am - I tried to "relax" - but all the boys wanted to do was build a fort and be crazy.  I tried to get them to watch a show - but they wouldn't (weird).  So I started calling around for one of my Young Women to come over and help so I could go "labor".  I found one and she ran over quick.  The contractions were not going away, but getting worse.  I knew we were going to the hospital.  My YW had to leave at 11:00...I needed to find a replacement...my mom couldn't get there until 11:45...my neighbors weren't answering their phones...things just weren't working out... I was stressed - which is NOT GOOD for natural child birth. I knew I needed to figure this out and calm down quick or things were going to get bad.  I finally got my neighbor to take Brittany's place until my mom got there.  Phew. 

10:30 am  - I realized through all the stress that things had progressed quickly and I had to get to the hospital.  I called Jason to see where he was - and if he wasn't close I was going to have to have someone just take me to the hospital.  He was pulling into the garage.  We jumped into the car.

11:00 am  - Between the car ride and getting to the hospital things had calmed down a lot.  It is amazing what not being worried about your kids and listening to birthing affirmations can do to a woman in labor.  Things were calm and manageable and much further apart.  They checked me and I was at a 7.

12:00 pm - All of the "procedural" stuff at the hospital had been completed and I was still at a 7 and "handling things well" (according to the nurses report).  I specifically remember thinking  "wow, we are going to have a normal labor and delivery.  I will labor at the hospital for a few hours and then push her out when I am 'complete' - Awesome ". I was starting to have some back labor so we decided to get in the tub - it always helps.

12:05 pm - I got in the tub in the bathroom in my room.  Small bathroom, small tub -  nothing special.   Jason had to make some calls for work, so he went back into the room  and I labored happily in the tub.

12:15 pm - I had a contraction and... felt her crowning.  Seriously.  No urge to push, no warning, nothing.  I was alone, in a hospital bathroom, in a bathtub.  I had no idea what to do, and she was coming, with each pulse of the contraction I would feel her coming through the birth canal.  I screamed for Jason, something like "she's coming, she's coming, get in here, I don't want to be alone". 

The rest is kind of fuzzy to me.  I remember Jason leaving again to get help, coming back with no one, trying to get me out of the bathtub, realizing it was too late, and trying to help get my pelvis above the water to get the baby out.  I remember DISTINCTLY thinking, "this is INSANE, we are at the hospital and Jason is going to deliver our baby in a bathtub ALONE, how did we get in this situation."  After the contraction (baby's head was out to just above her eyeballs.  Jason left again to try and find help.  He came back with our nurse just as another contraction hit and the baby kept coming out.  Her head was out and the nurse grabbed the baby's head just as she got into the room, pulled her out, and rose her above the water. 

About a minute later the doctor was next on the scene.  He came in and said, "why is she in the bathtub?" The nurse said, "she was just at a 7 and doing great..." My doctor was not happy about the situation.  Water births are not allowed in the state of Utah in a hospital - I am sure there were huge liability issues involved.  I just kept apologizing, I felt terrible.  I had to stay and do everything in the tub.  I was in no condition to get out of there - plus I was bleeding a lot.  Water births are weird.  I am in a tub full of all the stuff floating around, gross, plus I am naked and a million people in there.  I actually didn't realize this at the time.  It wasn't until after that I realized I was just laying there naked, then I got really embarrassed.

All this was from my point of view.  Jason said that when I was in the bathroom and he was in the delivery room he heard me having a contraction and I grunted, he thought to himself, "she only grunts like that when she is about to start pushing, I better go get her out and get the nurse."  He didn't though, and the next contraction was when she started coming.  I have no memory of grunting or feeling anything different than my normal contractions.

We were famous around the hospital the rest of our stay.  We were the first water births ever in Alta View history - and apparently caused a lot of extra paper work. 

Everything was fine with me and her.  She was 7 lbs 5 oz, 20 inches long.  She had to have about 12 oz of water pumped from her tummy (so so sad), but her lungs were clear.  I had no rips or tears and felt great after delivery (and a quick shower).  We were very blessed.

Madison Kay Herbert

Our little girl was born a few days ago.  She was a few weeks early and weighed in at 7 lbs 5 oz.  She is so sweet and just sleeps most the time for now.   It took us until a few hours before we left the hospital to figure out what her name was.  She finally let us know that she was Madison.  We will call her Maddie, Although Jason has decided he will call her Mads.  We love her already.

Family Zoo Trip

We decided to head to the zoo this evening. I know, it sounds like I am trying to put myself into labor. I was not. It was one of those easy zoo trips, no hills, no double stroller, just an easy walk around the monkeys and elephants. The Dinosaur exhibit closes at the end of August and we had been waiting to go again until AFTER the baby was born, but then I had to come to terms with the fact that I could not have this baby until the end of July. So we went tonight.

 This is how our toddlers travel on all family outings. (last years zoo trip)

 How many pictures can I have of Noah on the peacock?  We will see...

I have one rule at the zoo.  Ride the train as soon as you get there.  A few times a few years ago I waited until the end to ride the train and something would always happen and we wouldn't get a chance to ride.  And it was the end of the world!  So I made a rule... always ride the train first.  Well, today I broke my rule.  There was a huge line - and I just thought, "we will ride it later".  Big mistake, I do have rules for a reason.  When we went to go ride the train they told us that only members of the "special party" could ride the train - NO EXCEPTIONS.  How do you know I am 38 weeks pregnant?  I almost cried.  My boys actually took it pretty well, the whined a few times - but after about 3 minuets they were fine.  But I was devastated that we couldn't ride the train.  My kids love the train.  All three of them smile so big the whole time.  And we had Jason with us.  I really was looking forward to our family train ride.  I will never brake my rule again!

For Brock

The kids were playing in the backyard and I was in the kitchen doing dishes.  Brock comes running in and says, "you need to go get your camera, your going to want a picture of this".  I had already put our camera in the hospital bag so we would have it at the hospital - and I didn't want to go upstairs and dig it out.  So I said, "just tell me what is happening" and "I will just come look" - but he insisted I not come look and just go get my camera.  So I did - unsure of why or what I would find. 

When we got to the backyard he said, "look, they are being so cute riding together, you need a picture."

I sure did.  Thanks Brock

And because she is cute. And yes, Noah does not have a shirt on.  Don't judge

Also, no baby.  I have been just dying all week wanting this baby so bad.  Emotionally I am so ready.  But as of today I now need to wait another week so Jason can take time off work.  Technically even if I have her next week - he can't even take off the time to be in the hospital when I have her.  That is insane!  So now I want to NOT have the baby until next Friday night.  Wish me luck.

Travis' Wedding

Jason's little brother Travis and Jeanne got married last week in the Salt Lake Temple.  Jason is really close to his brother - it was so much fun to be part of their special day. 

Now that I am writing about it I guess I should say that we almost missed it - and it was all my fault.  I had taken ALL of Jason's suits in to get dry cleaned a few days earlier (I blame it on nesting) and never picked them up.  He went to get dressed for us to leave and had nothing to wear.  Jason would never ever go to the temple in anything but a suit - and I had taken the suits to a dry cleaners on the other side of the valley (cheapest prices), we thought we could make it - we were wrong.  I started crying in the car realizing we were going to miss his brother's wedding because of me.  I would have never forgiven myself.  The wedding was supposed to start at 12:20 and we got to the temple at 12:25 (forget the whole 30 min. early thing) - we handed our car and kids off and booked it (as well as I can "book it" these days) down to the marriage waiting room.  Once we got in we found out the temple was about 15 minutes behind schedule - phew. 

Now to the good stuff - the pictures. 

Jason has 7 kids in his family and him and Travis are the only ones that live in Utah.  Most of them came for the wedding - including the cousins - so it was a fun week.  This little cutie belongs to Jason's older brother and is about 3 weeks younger than Megan.

This is Jason's family with the bride and groom (minus Jared - he couldn't make it out to Utah)

Here is the "whole family" who came to the wedding

The grand kids (minus Aaron) - this was smack dab in the middle of nap time - NONE of these kids have had lunch and it was like a million degrees.  I can't believe we got them all to even sit.

The reception.

My cute family

Jason's siblings

Our fam with Trav and Jeanne

The cutest little girl

The whole fam again

Jon and Jason with their little girls.  Here they are last year when Jon came out to visit.

Then we spent the rest of the weekend at Jason's parents house just hanging out.  The kids had SO MUCH FUN with their cousins.  Brock LOVES Kaleb - he has ever since he met him last year.  He talks about him at least on a weekly basis and wants him to be at every party.  He has asked for him every day since.

This picture was not posed at all.  Debby has this bridge over a waterfall in her backyard and we looked out the window and saw all the kids sitting on the bridge with their feet in the waterfall.  How perfect! We had a great weekend and wish we could see everyone more often.

Baby thoughts

I am at 37 weeks today.  I never thought I would make it this far.  I only carried Brock past 37 weeks.  The problem with expecting your baby to come early is that it makes for a LONG pregnancy every day you go past what you expected.  Strangely I have had a lot of false labor.  By false labor I don't mean contractions - I mean I was SURE we were going to go to the hospital, I was just staying at home to labor.  And then it just stops.  This has never happened before.  So that is making me anxious.  The past few days I have been just dying to have this baby.  Not because I am uncomfortable or that it has anything to do with my pregnancy, I am just anxious to have this baby.  Plus there are a lot of "issues" with people and when I have this baby. 
For example:

• Jason informed me that I had to steer clear of the week of August 2-7 because his brother was getting married and his whole family was going to be in town.
• Jason says I can't have the baby between August 22-26 because he can't even take one day off of work.
• My mom said I can't have the baby between August 6-10 because she was going to be out of town
• Jason's mom (who had agreed to take my kids while I was in the hospital) just decided to go on a cruse and is leaving on August 11 and won't be back until the 22 and then she starts teaching again.  So if I want her to be able to take the kids, I have to have it by the 11.

At this point I can not make everyone happy.  I don't know if they all know this... but I don't really have a whole lot of control over the issue.  But the best thing for our family would be to have the baby um... yesterday, today, or tomorrow.  But again, the baby has yet to ask my opinion.

So this was my attitude all week/weekend.  And then today I have switched. 

We had a stressful week.  We were crazy busy with wedding and family stuff.  My kids have not been home and on a schedule for about a week and by yesterday they had had it.  Especially Noah.  At dinner last night he started to cry because he had spilt his drink.  It was so sad that he was just that tired and emotional.  They needed some consistency, some quiet, and some attention. 

Today has been wonderful.  We have been home, just doing our thing and we have had the best day.  And I realized I am not ready to "rock the boat".  I would love a few more weeks with my three little kids, put some consistency back in their lives, before this baby comes.  I want to just spend as much time with them as I can just doing our thing.  I get like this everytime - so I am not too worried, because truth be told, it just gets better with each child - so I am holding to that, and hoping that after I have number 4 I will love it as much as I loved having 3.

Seeing old friends

Summer is usually a time of seeing old friends.  We almost always have a get together with some of our friends from Provo.  This year didn't work out so well for me.  Once I got all the kids in the car I went to start it and... dead.  It took about an hour and a half several phone calls to Jason and - luckily - my neighbor's brother-in-law (who just happen to be in town (only man home during the day in my neighborhood)) to get us on the road.  Then we had the 30 minute drive to Utah County.  by the time we got there, everybody else had left.  Except for the person we had come to see - Karen and her boys were there.  They were one of the few people who were in the 169th ward as long as we were (6 years... wow, too long).  Our boys are the same ages and Brock SAID he remembered Ethan - although they hadn't seen each other since they were 2.  We had a fun time - hopefully next year we can see a few more.

Noah, Brock, Ethan, Alex

Later in the month the girls in my family got together with the girls in the Ewell family.  These are some of our oldest friends.  My mom and their mom met when they were just young mom's with 3 girls each all about the same age.  Perfect friendship right?  All of us became friends and even though they have moved all across the country the past 15 or so years, we have still managed to stay close. 

Here are the 6 girls.  Katie, Me, Heather (right in between me and Katie in age), Brittany (she is 2 years younger then Ashley), Ashley (my sister), and Ashlee (their sister) - they are the same age and have the same name.  I am telling you  - our families were meant to be friends.

And the whole gang

Zoo trip with the Bell's

The Bell's were in town for a week and we actually got to see them quite a bit.  Usually it is only once each time they come out - but I think we saw them 3 times.  It was great!  We went to the zoo - of course.

Brooklyn on the ape

Brock and Payton

All the kids (plus Kar).  Brock, Payton, Noah, Lydia, Brooklyn, and Megan
This may look like we had our hands full (plus me being 9 months pregnant) - but it was amazingly easy.  All the kids stayed together and just ran from place to place.  Megan and Lydia did not want to be in strollers, they wanted to run with the big kids - and no one really wandered off.  It was pretty sweet.  We seem to always loose someone at the elephants - but not this time!

Lydia and Brooke

I could not stomach going into the reptile house - it smelled AWFUL - so we hung out outside and had a snack.

Brock tried to feed the T-rex a stick.  These dinosaurs at the zoo are more life-like than some of the real animals.  I think it confuses some of the little kids.

Here is some marry-go-roundness

Noah rides the peacock everytime.  It is just a bench that doesn't move.  Silly kid.