Bathtime!

We gave Leila her first real bath yesterday.  She loved it...right up until I scrubbed her head.  Then, she was not so happy with me.

Enjoying Time with the Ziebarths

The Ziebarths have been in town this week and it has been great watching them get to know Leila.  We also got together with my family and had a joint-family Sunday dinner.  To think that such a small baby is capable of bringing so many people together!

Mama Z LOVES fall leaves.  So, we decided to take a few trips up the canyon to catch the last of the fall colors in the mountains.  We stopped at a lookout for Bridal Veil Falls and braved the chilly wind to take a family picture.

Unfortunately, the Ziebarths' visit didn't all turn out to be exactly what they wanted.  Daddy Z ended up in the hospital on Tuesday due to complications from a kidney stone.  He wasn't released until Friday, so they had to extend their trip and he didn't get as much time with Leila as everyone else.  Thankfully, he was able to make the drive back to California yesterday and seems to be doing much better now.

We sure enjoyed having them here and look forward to going to California for Thanksgiving!

Leila's First Week

I can't believe how fast our first week with little Leila has flown by!  She is truly a sweetheart, so I think we'll keep her.  It quickly became evident that she has her days and nights slightly mixed up as she likes to be wide awake from 11pm-3am.  So we tried keeping her awake more during the day...to no avail.  When this girl gets into a deep sleep, there is no waking her!

Silly Daddy

Sleepy Baby

 Aside from our hospital visitors, we also had some visitors come to our home.

My Grandma and Grandpa Marshall came up from Arizona to meet this little angel.  This also prompted my Aunt Kris to come for a visit. 

Four Generations

Aunt Jori was also able to come down from BYU-Idaho to meet her first niece.  Everyone commented on two things: how round her head is and what nicely colored skin she has.  

 The Ziebarths have also made their way to visit their first grandchild.  They even drove all night long so they could see her that much sooner.

One Proud Grandma

Aunt Jessica

Aunt Darlene

They will be here for a few more days, squeezing as much Leila-time in as possible.  It is going to be hard for them to live so far away from us.  Guess we'll be making even more trips to sunny southern California.  Darn.

One not-so-happy update: Jason was laid off from his job on Friday.  The company merged with another about 6 months ago, and apparently they decided to go with the other company's support team--eliminating the need for LanSchool's 2 support people.  The company has never let anyone go--go figure we'd be the first.  It is far from great timing, but they did offer a good severance package and now I'll have Jason around to help me even more.

I'm also extremely grateful for the wonderful network of support we have!  My mother has been cooking our meals and doing our dishes most of the week.  Jessica has offered to stay up with the baby when she is wide awake in the middle of the night.  It is great to be part of such amazing families!

Welcome Baby Leila!

Remember how I said I was ready to meet this baby?  She listened!  And, even better, we did it all on our own without being induced. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let's go back to how it all started.

Since the ultrasound on Thursday, I had resigned myself to not having a baby during the weekend.  I even went to a bridal shower in Ogden Saturday morning.  I felt fine--well, as fine as a 39 week pregnant woman ever feels.  A couple nights in a row I had some emotional freakouts (sad to happy to mad to happy within an hour), but other than that, everything was status quo.

I fell asleep watching a movie around 9 Saturday night.  Jason put me to bed, then finished the movie.  Looking back, he wishes he would have gone to bed with me.  Around 1am I started having contractions.  These were really the first contractions I'd experienced, so I took my time in waking up Jason.  I tried switching positions and walking around, but the contractions still seemed fairly regular.  So, after about 20-25 minutes, I woke up Jason and told him that we needed to start timing these and decide whether or not to go to the hospital.

The contractions were just irregular enough to make us doubt going.  We timed for another hour before deciding that we needed to go, just in case.  The worst that would happen is us getting sent home.  So, we loaded up the hospital bag and checked into the hospital around 2:45am.  They put me in a room to observe me for an hour and I still wasn't convinced I was in labor.  All doubts were solved an hour later when I had progressed from a 3 to a 5 and the nurse told me I wasn't going home.

I texted my mom and told her we were definitely having a baby.  She was so excited and could hardly get ready fast enough to join us at the hospital.  Meanwhile, I got all settled into my labor & delivery room and they got me prepped for my epidural.  Unfortunately, I don't have the easiest veins to stick needles into, so putting my IV in took some work by both nurses trying two different sites.  The first place they tried was the back of my hand and it failed, miserably.  It was swollen within minutes and I knew I'd have a nasty bruise there.  Thankfully they finally got it into my arm and I got my epidural.  I am definitely a fan of epidurals!  Once that kicked in, the rest of the labor was a breeze.  

Waiting

I went from a 5 to a 6 within the next hour, but then the progress slowed down a bit.  My parents left to get some breakfast so that Jason and I could try and take a little nap.  Since Jason had only gotten an hour of sleep before the contractions started, he fell asleep pretty quick.  I had too much racing through my brain to do much more than rest my eyes and relax. 

At one point, probably around 7:30am, the nurse came into the room followed quickly by my doctor.  They had seen baby's heartbeat drop a bit and had come to see why.  They put an oxygen mask on me and her heartbeat quickly recovered.  Dr. Allen asked if I was feeling more pressure and I told him no.   They all left after checking the placement of my monitors and I settled back into my state of relaxation.

20 minutes later, they all came into the room again because the monitor monitoring baby's heart rate wasn't picking it up anymore because she had dropped down lower.  They repositioned the monitor and I mentioned to the doctor that the pressure was starting to increase.  He checked and surprised me (and a half asleep Jason) by saying that I was complete and it was time to start pushing.

I pushed during one set of contractions and the doctor noticed that baby was twisted a little bit and not wanting to come down on her own.  Also, she was low enough that her heart rate was once again dropping, so he decided he needed to use forceps to help out.  Once he had the necessary equipment, I pushed again and again and out she came at exactly 8:15am on October 9.

Jason looked a little flushed and all of the nurses were concerned he was going to fall over.  But he cut the umbilical cord before taking a seat with his head between his legs while one of the nurses brought him some juice.

The team dried baby off and gave her to me and I couldn't believe it.  She was actually here.  I was officially a mom.  I can't even describe the immense love I felt for her instantaneously.

Saying "Hi" to Mom

The nurses then took her away to get all of your stats while the doctor delivered the afterbirth.  Then she was right back in my arms.  All 6 pounds 9 ounces and 20 inches of her.  She was healthy.  She was perfect.  Unfortunately, since she decided to come so fast, I did tear a bit and the doctor had to take his time stitching me up.  But they left her with me until he was done, so I didn't mind one bit.

First Family Picture

My parents had made it back to the waiting room just in time to hear your first cries and were overjoyed when they got to meet her. 

Eventually they took her away to get her cleaned up and perform a few more tests.  Jason went with her to take some pictures and oversee the whole process while I was transferred to my room.

The first thing I did when I got to my room was order room service because I was starving!  Thankfully the food was really tasty AND I no longer had to watch my diet.  Needless to say, I loaded up on the carbs.  Jason brought baby back to me and the pediatrician gave her the all clear.  She had a clean bill of health, and I couldn't have been happier.

Working the Tongue

During our stay at the hospital, we had several visitors including: Uncle Jared and Aunt Annie, my Aunt Debbie, Uncle Bryan, cousin Laura and her husband David, my friend/work supervisor Sally and her husband David, my Aunt Janae, and great Grandma and Grandpa Larsen.  Everyone remarked how beautiful she was and instantly fell in love with her.  Who could blame them?

Getting to Know Uncle Jared and Aunt Annie

We brought her home from the hospital today and are "ready" to start this new chapter of our lives with her!

Leila Kay Ziebarth
6 pounds 9 ounces, 20 inches
October 9, 2011 at 8:15am

My Pregnancy: Week 39

Baby's now the size of a mini-watermelon!

Your baby's waiting to greet the world!  She continues to build a layer of fat to help control her body temperature after birth, but it's likely she already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon.  The outer layers of her skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

I went in on Tuesday for my weekly appointment and Dr. Allen was concerned that I was measuring a bit small again and I hadn't gained any weight for almost 2 weeks.  He wanted to do another ultrasound and compare it with the one from a couple weeks ago.   If your overall growth percentile had shrunk, he was thinking they might need to induce me.  Unfortunately all of the ultrasound techs had already left for the evening and Dr. Allen's next available appointment wasn't until Thursday afternoon.  That made for a very long, anxious-filled two days.

Thankfully, when we went in for the ultrasound, everything checked out fine.  I was even measuring back on track and had suddenly gained 4 pounds (must have been rib lunch I ate just before my appointment).  The doctor was at a loss as to why my measurements fluctuate so much, but said there was nothing to worry about.  Apparently you just have a hiding spot somewhere.

The ultrasound places you right about 6 pounds 13 ounces, so no inducing for the time being.  Dr. Allen would really like me to go into labor naturally, especially since you are my first.  Says it will be less painful and easier that way.  I had kinda gotten my hopes up for having a baby and even pushed Dad to help clean the house and get everything ready--just in case we had to go to the hospital sooner rather than later.  So now we are back to the waiting game and only time will tell!

During the ultrasound, the tech saw that your face was unobstructed and snuck us a few 3D pictures.  I am soooo ready to meet you!  Hurry up! 

39 weeks and ready!

In Memoriam: Champ (1998-2011)

In addition to the spiritual high of General Conference this past weekend, my family and I also dealt with the sad event of watching our family dog pass away.  

Champ and Annie

Champion Tanner Larsen, "Champ," became a part of our family in 1998.  My sister Ashley had been  begging for a puppy for years and my parents felt like the kids were all at an age to truly appreciate and care for a dog.  They found an advertisement in the newspaper for beagle-mix puppies for sale for $10.  The entire family (plus a neighborhood girl I was babysitting) trekked over to pick out our new puppy.

If we hadn't seen the mother, we never would have guessed these were beagle puppies.  They came in two color variations: brown and black.  I remember that one of the black ones quickly settled herself on my lap and was perfectly content to stay there the entire time.  Such a docile creature was not intended for life in the Larsen household though.  Instead, we settled on the brown boy puppy who was running around like crazy and didn't sit still the entire time we were there.

We brought home our little "clearance puppy" and began trying to figure out a suitable name for him.  Tramp, Nike, Socks, and Tanner were some of the ones we tested before finally settling on Champ.

As a puppy, Champ took particular delight in chewing on anything and everything that was left within grasp of his teeth.  This included, but was certainly not limited to, shoes, barbies, stuffed animal noses, washcloths, underwear, and dirty diapers.  It didn't even seem to matter that digesting such items often caused him pain later.  Even as an old dog, he would still riffle through an unattended garbage can looking for food scraps or wrappers.

Aside from chewing on these "delicacies," Champ also quickly developed a taste for table scraps. More than once, we'd be sitting at the dinner table when one of the kids (usually Ashley) would jump and squeak as Champ nipped their fingers while trying to grab whatever morsel they were trying to stealthily pass to him.  He quickly developed a sixth sense for whenever someone was eating and would plant himself firmly within their sights until the plate was walked to the sink (or placed on his "blue stool" table to lick clean).

Champ was originally slated to be an outdoor dog and my dad built him a well-insulated, sturdy dog house, but that didn't last long.  As soon as the weather turned cold, my sisters and I couldn't bear to hear him whine at the back door and would "sneak" him into bed with us.  As a result, he would forever have to sleep in one of our bedrooms, preferably right next to us in bed.

Champ was a loyal and territorial dog.  He knew those people who he liked (like his family) and would always yelp and be excited to see them.  He also knew those people who he did not like and was not nearly as friendly to them, even if they had never done anything to him.  He protected his family (and his yard) from all strangers, stray cats, and birds.

He managed to find so many ways to "escape" from the backyard and never missed a chance to go roam around the neighborhood if it presented itself.  This never changed throughout his life.  Thankfully, he would always find his way home and bark at the front door to let us know he had returned.

Champ and Jori

As my dad pointed out during our little funeral service yesterday, Champ was responsive to the Spirit of what was going on in the house.  During family scripture study, he would always be present and as soon as someone turned a page or closed their book, he would perk up and run to my dad.  We would then have to calm him down long enough to say family prayer.  But he would be back up and running as soon as we said "Amen."  My dad would then entertain all of us by having Champ run around the family room, bouncing off of the furniture.

During his lifetime, we've had 3 different cats: Cali, Nemo, and Dixie.  He developed a unique relationship with each of them.  Cali was an older cat when we brought Champ home, so they developed a very respectful relationship.  Mostly, they knew to leave each other alone.  

Champ and Nemo had one of the funnest relationships to watch.  They would "play" together frequently--which usually involved Champ trying to sit on Nemo.  We would also send Champ outside at night with instructions to "find Nemo" so that we could bring him in for the night.  He would race outside and frantically begin barking and looking for the cat.  Inevitably, Nemo would find him first and sneak up on him.  

Champ and Dixie had a similar playful relationship, but Dixie wouldn't stick around as long.  

Regardless, he knew the difference between our cats and the strays who liked to wander into our backyard/garage.  If he caught wind of a stray cat, or heard a cat fight, he would bark at the back door until we let him out to go chase after the trespasser.

Ashley with her puppies--Genie and Champ

He may have gotten along with our cats, but our hamster was a different story altogether.  One Sunday afternoon, I came home from a presidency meeting to find my mom holding Champ and telling him to "Spit him out."  There was only a little hamster tail sticking out of his mouth.  Thankfully, Sam wasn't physically harmed.

We took him camping with us to Wasatch campground once as a young puppy.  He would venture off the paths and go running through the underbrush.  As a result, he ended up with a beard full of burrs that took my mom hours to get out.  I think she eventually had to cut a lot of them out.

Mostly, he was always there for me when I needed a snuggle buddy, someone to vent to, or just someone nearby.  He loved unconditionally.  

It has been difficult to watch him age, especially as his health deteriorated over the last few months.  So while his passing wasn't unexpected, he still left a hole in my heart that, in time, will not hurt but that will never fully heal.  

I am grateful that he was a part of my life and that we were able to be with him when he passed (as the Mormon Tabernacle choir sang "God Be With You Till We Meet Again" at the conclusion of Conference).  I know it was his time to go and that he is comfortable and at peace.  

I will always love you puppy!

General Conference October 2011

During General Conference weekend (once every 6 months), members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and others who are interested gather worldwide in a series of two-hour sessions to receive inspiration and instruction from Church leaders.  I LOVE these weekends because of the Spirit that is felt and the words which are spoken.

One of my favorite aspects of Conference is listening to the prophet announce plans for new temples.  This time, 6 new temples were announced: Provo, Utah (the second for the city); Paris, France; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Durban, South Africa; Barranquilla, Columbia; and Star Valley, Wyoming.  With these announcements, there are now 135 operating temples, 13 currently under construction, and 18 that have been announced.

Representation of the new Provo temple

The announcement of the second Provo temple was particularly exciting for me not just because of its proximity to me, but because it will be constructed from the burnt-out shell of the old Provo Tabernacle.  I attended many events (like Stake Conferences) here as I grew up and am glad that it will be restored with an even greater purpose.

Most importantly, Conference is a time to gather at the feet of prophets and apostles to hear the word of the Lord.  Without fail, there is something within the talks for everyone listening.  This time, there were aspects of 3 different talks that stood out most to me.

First, I love President Uchtdorf's talk on individual worth during the Saturday morning session.  Favorite quote: "Compared to God, man is nothing; yet we are everything to God."  I loved the reminders that we are the reason He created the universe.  All of the beauties of the earth and the mysteries of the universe are built for our benefit.  Pretty incredible.

Second, I liked Elder Andersen's talk on the importance of parenthood (I wonder why).  Favorite quote: "Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling.  You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps.  It is not something you do if you can squeeze the time in.  It is what God gave you time for. [from a Christian mother's blog]"  While Jason and I planned and prepared for this baby, there have still been moments of doubt when I've wondered if it is the right timing, especially where my job is concerned.  I love my job and the people I work with now more than ever before.  I feel like I have found my niche where I perform well.  I also enjoy being able to contribute financially to my little family.  So it was nice to be reminded just how important the job is I am about to undertake.

Third, I LOVED Elder Carl B. Cook's anecdote about being in the Church administration building elevators and having President Monson tell him that "It's better to look up."  Since I was still thinking about Elder Andersen's talk, I applied this to the upcoming chapter in my life.  I know there will be many times when I will be tempted to look down with the weight of my motherly responsibilities (shoot, I already do this too often).  Favorite quote: "We will come to realize that most of what we worry about is not of eternal significance.  If it is, the Lord will help us."

I look forward to studying all of the talks in greater detail over the coming months and encourage everyone to do the same!  Click here to go to the Conference home page where videos, audio, and transcripts will be available.

Hee Haw Farms Corn Maze

Friday night, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather and a great discount (that Jason found) to go to a corn maze.  These and various haunted venues spring up almost overnight all around Utah.  They are one of the most popular fall activities and one that I have always enjoyed.  Yet, I hadn't gone with Jason, so we decided to rectify this.  

Entering the maze

 Jason had never been in a corn maze before and didn't really know what to expect.  The idea of simply wandering around until we found our way out didn't compute with him.  So, he found a picture of the maze on his phone and attempted to use it to guide us through the maze.  It worked well...

My little techie!

...for a while!

Dead End

But we still had fun and eventually found a way out.  Although we ended up going back out the entrance instead of the exit.  Guess we got pretty turned around!

Peek-a-Boo!

 For being the last day in September, we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day.  The leaves are quickly changing on the mountains.  The sky was blue with some fluffy white clouds.  The sun was shining.  The temperature was still in the 80s.  Yes, I LOVE Utah in the fall!