Valentine's Day

I took pictures of the boys a few weeks before Clara arrived so that I would have their Valentine's Day cards ready to send out. We kept it simple and just did pictures on my bed with a few sugar cookies. Luke however, was very intrigued by the pink milk and couldn't wait to take a sip. 

Whenever we take pictures I always just want one good picture...I don't need a hundred to hangup but just one. They did amazing this time and I was able to get quite a few. My favorite is the one of them laughing. They were teasing each other about their girlfriends. 

Clara's Valentine's Day picture of course took place in the hospital. She was a day old and very easy to snap a picture of. When I bought this outfit for Clara it looked so small and I was sure it would be too tight on her. It always amazes me when I put the premie outfits on my newborns and they are too big. I couldn't have asked for a better Valentine's Day! It wasn't very conventional but it was perfect. 

Hospital Pictures

I took a few pictures to document our stay at the hospital. I always cherish my hospital stay because it's the one time I get to spend with just my baby. As much as I ache to see my other children I know I need to soak it in while I can. 

I loved my view whenever I would look over at Clara's bassinet. Seeing her little face sleeping peaceful was such a blessing. Every time I would look over I would be in awe of how perfect and beautiful she was. I couldn't get over her perfect puffy lips. 

Her poor feet had been poked so many times it broke my heart but I knew it was for the best. She had bandaids on top of bandaids on her sweet feet. One thing that I was in love with was all of her hair. I couldn't get over how much hair she had. There is nothing sweeter than a head full of fuzzy newborn hair!

First Bath

Clara literally thought she was going to die during her first bath. She was so mad at that nurse and let her know it too. The nurse kept saying, "Wow, you definitely have good lungs on you!" 

Since it was such a busy day they were almost all out of bows and bow glue but luckily I found the perfect bow for our Valentine's baby. As much as I loved the bow and the thought of finally having a little girl that I dress up the mother and worrier in me kept covering her bow up with a warm cap. I laughed though because every time she would come back from the nursery they had removed the cap and redone her hair. I guess if the nurses didn't worry then why did I ha ha?! 

The way Clara smelled when she was done was heaven...it is one of my most favorite smells and I never want to forget it. She was definitely worn out from her bath and fell right asleep all bundled up!

She's Here!

I had been stressing about when to schedule my induction for Clara. I wanted try and get her birthday as far away from Valentine's Day as possible. My last appointment with Dr. Spencer he thought that I should be induced a week early since I was already dilated to a four and 100% effaced. The only problem was it meant her birthday would be Friday, February 13th. Yikes...not the day I was hoping for. When I told Mark and Dr. Spencer that I didn't want her birthday and Valentine's Day to be so close because then one day her husband would just combine the two. They both laughed and said, "That's brilliant!" That's exactly why I didn't them so close. However, I decided it was probably best to listen to the doctor so we schedule her induction for February 13th!

The name Clara wasn't really after anyone we knew, however, there was a girl named Clara in our ward. The Sunday before we were singing to her in primary for her birthday. I stopped her mom in the hall during the song and asked when her Clara's birthday was. She said, "The 13th!" So crazy that both Clara's would have twinner birthdays.

The morning of her induction I got up at 4am to get ready to go to the hospital. By 6am we were ready to head to the hospital when the phone rang saying they were slammed and I should wait to come into the hospital. Seriously the most depressing thing to hear! By 9am it was time for Grandma Day and we still hadn't heard anything so we decided to take the boys over to my mom's and see if we hear anything. We sat around for an hour without any good news so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I told Mark we were just going to head to the hospital and pretend like we were told to come in. 

When we got there I told the front desk that we were told to come in and they said the labor and delivery was still slammed. The one nurse told us to go get some lunch and then come back in an hour and she would have our room ready. So we ran to the closest place, Corner Bakery, and grabbed lunch. I was so anxious to get back to the hospital so I hurried back as quick as we could.

When we arrived they got us right in to our room and got me hooked up to the machines. When the nurse checked me she couldn't believe how far along I already was. I knew that this delivery was going to be a quick one. Dr Spencer came in and told us this was one of the craziest days of his career. He had already delivered seven babies that day. It was a record breaking day in labor and delivery. 

Since it was a crazy day and I was already at a four I asked right away for my epidural. It still took a while to get my epidural and I was in quite a bit of pain when Dr. Silver finally arrived. I was so excited to see him. I couldn't wait for relief from the contractions. Surprisingly after my epidural I was still in a lot of pain. They got permission to up my medicine and finally had relief. The nurse checked me one more time and I was at a six. 

By this point I had been hooked up to the machines for about thirty minutes. I was excited to finally get some relief and relax and wait until my baby girl arrived. About fifteen minutes later, however, I was in a lot of pain and asked the nurse to come check me. I was dilated to a ten and I could feel her coming out. The nurse told me I needed to hang on because Dr. Spencer was on his way. 

When Dr. Spener walked in I had a flood of relief wash over me. He sat right down and said, "Okay go ahead and push." I gave it one push and he said, "We have a head and you need to look at how much hair she has." I thought this was such a funny thing to say while I was in the middle of pushing so thought he was joking but nope he told me again to look down at her head full of hair. I pushed one more time and she was out. The first thing I said was, "It's a girl right!" 

I couldn't believe she was actually here and I had a daughter. I couldn't wait to hold her. They instantly gave her to me and she calmed right now on my chest. I had no plan on nursing but for some reason decided to try it out and I was amazed how quickly Clara latched right now and started sucking. For some reason this time it seemed so natural and easy. I could have held her forever and I was so sad when they took her away from me to get cleaned up. 

The NICU nurse came in and said they needed to take Clara to the nursery because her blood sugar was too low and her weight compared to her gestation age was a concern. Mark went with her and fed her a bottle while in there to get her blood sugar back up. While they were gone I was taken to my room and got situated. I was so relieved when they both returned and Clara didn't have to stay. The NICU nurse said they would just monitor her blood sugar levels regularly during her stay. She also said that Clara had tested COOMS positive which meant that our blood had mixed during labor and she would more susceptible to jaundice. Luke had jaundice and I definitely didn't want to repeat that. 

Clara's Nursery

When I found out I was having a girl I had a time getting into all the girl stuff simply because I had lived in boy world for so long. Every time I would look for bedding I was always drawn to the boy stuff and had a hard time deciding on girl bedding. After tons of searching I fell in love with this traditional rose bud bedding. I wish I wasn't a stresser but I am and the thought of bumpers scares me. They're the cutest part of the crib bedding but I can't bring myself to use them.

Deciding on a name for sister was not easy but I wanted to incorporate her name into the nursery somehow. Mark loved the name Kate, Luke was voting for Eliza and I was hoping for Clara or Charlotte and call her Lottie. I was in love with all the names, except for Brody's choice of course. Every time we would discuss names Brods would say, "I like Brody name, we can have two!"

A few weeks before my due date I got very sick with an ear infection, sinus infection and yeast infection. While I was laying there wanting to die I decided that I was the one suffering so it was my choice what to name her. I still wasn't totally decided on Clara or Charlotte but I knew it would be a "C" name so I went ahead and ordered a large "C" for her nursery! I was semi committed so hopefully I liked a "C" name when she arrived!

The boys have been drawing pictures for sister for weeks now and taping them up all over her nursery. After I started finalizing her nursery I knew it would crush the boys if I removed their art work so I decided to let them help. They each painted a picture of sister to hang in her nursery. I absolutely love how they turned out. The boys were so excited that they were able to help decorate her nursery and they can hardly wait for her to come!

Valentine's Day...A Little Early

Since I will most likely be in the hospital with sister over Valentine's Day we decided to celebrate a day early. We did our traditional breakfast and presents. This year I found a new recipe and it was delish...angel food cake french toast. Since my boys are donut freaks I of course grabbed a few of those and they were their fav. Sometimes I wonder why I even put forth the effort to cook! This year the boys discovered strawberry pink milk...thanks to a little photoshoot...and became big fans. 

Luke had a dinosaur pillow pet and the boys always fought over it so I decided to end the fighting with their own pillow pets. Luke got Thunder from the Denver Broncos and Brod got Swoop from the University of Utah. The look on Luke's face when he opened his was priceless. I feel like more than half the time when I give a gift the boys it's forgotten an hour later. A smart woman would save their money and stop collecting more junk, but I'm a sucker for the look on their face when they open the perfect gift!

When breakfast was over Luke gave me a Valentine's Day card. The picture of me laying on the hospital bed with sister in my tummy melted my heart. Luke is so stressed about sister's birth and everything going okay. I cannot wait for her to be here and safe so he doesn't have to stress anymore!

Valentine Cookies

I feel like you can't let Valentine's Day go by without making sugar cookies, however, being nine months pregnant you don't feel much motivation for baking. Luckily, Dick's Bakery saved us this year! It was so fun enjoying this activity with the kids without stressing about time or mess. I'm always amazed how much frosting, candies, and sprinkles the boys are able to fit on one cookie. 

Brody always works fast so he can eat his hard work. Luke is the opposite and is very methodical in his decorating. Brody decorates one cookie and eats while Luke decorates the rest. When the boys are done they always want Mark and I to enjoy their labors. By the time we're done test tasting I'm always sick but it's worth it!