Welcome Baby Henry

I was woken up Thursday morning (July 29) by STRONG contractions coming every 10 minutes for a couple of hours. I got up at 5, took a walk around and around the cul-de-sac and the contractions continued. Naturally I thought, “This is it!” I got a little excited and went back to bed around 7, thinking he would be born before noon. These contractions were pretty hard to relax and breathe through. I didn’t really expect my water to break like last time, but I didn’t know how difficult the contractions would be without it. (I know, they say the contractions are harder after the water breaks, but I feel differently). Bound and determined to do this naturally, I kept changing my activity and eating little snacks, and lo and behold-everything shut down. I felt a little sore, but no regular contractions. So I went and installed a new door knob and deadbolt at the condo in Provo. I got back from the condo and laid down for a nap. My contractions started up again then, and came about every 15 minutes. Of course I was waiting for them to come closer together before I got excited again, and they never did. You’d think the second time around, my body would be more consistent, but no. I took a warm bath and the contractions came 5 minutes apart, then 12, then 20, then 2, then 3, etc…. I couldn’t possibly go on! Is this ever going to end? My mom kept calling, wanting to know if she should come down yet, but I didn’t know if I’d know when to go to the hospital. I kept waiting for my water to break…

The contractions slowed down a bit until I suggested we pack our bags, just in case, and get Porters’ bag ready for grandma’s house. I shortly found myself on all fours on the floor waiting the next one out, and it didn’t seem to end. I felt nauseous, and suddenly had the clear impression that it was time to go. After making a phone call or two, we got into the car and drove up to Provo. I felt pretty blessed to have shorter contractions and longer breaks on the drive, ‘til we got off the freeway. I thought, “transition? Now?” It felt like the contractions were overlapping for awhile, and then letting up. When we got to the hospital, we had to stop every 30 seconds to wait through what seemed like 5 minutes of contractions at a time. We got up to the 5th floor, and I continued to say to Evan, “if I’m only dilated to a 4, I’m getting the epidural. I can’t do this anymore.” I was completely serious, though Evan kept telling me I could do it again, and I was doing great. We got checked in, and like a miracle, everyone was helping us all at once. They were rushing around like they knew something I didn’t. They were super nice to wait until my contractions ended before touching me at all.

First thing I did when I got to the room was plop down on the bed to relax during a contraction. The nurse had my hospital gown ready, and I was going to put it on after this one contraction. That’s when my water broke. It couldn’t have waited until I changed!

I got changed, and the nurse checked me first thing and said, “You’re at a 10.” What? “You’re kidding!” she wasn’t. She said the baby was still really high, and my water was only leaking a little, so we needed to get past a few more contractions to get the baby down a little further to break the rest of the water. The Dr. was 10 minutes away, and then we were ready. I was soooo excited! There’s no way I went through transition already! It was like a dream. Since my water had broken, the contractions were much more tolerable, and I happily got through the next 5, while feeling the baby descend further and further. (yay-progress!). The Dr. showed up, they prepped me, and before I ever felt the urge to push, I was pushing this little baby out! Far earlier than I thought, the baby was born! Compared to the 1 ½ hours pushing it took with Porter, this baby made it out in 4 pushes! It really was a huge relief to have the whole ordeal over and done! It was incredible how this day worked out. Never would I have guessed I’d have gone through the whole thing on my own. The staff was so awesome to work with, and very respectful of our wishes. They had everything ready for the Dr. in no time, and lucky him, he’d just finished dinner, and made it back home in time for dessert! My mom showed up right when we did, and didn’t even have to sit very long. I think everyone was super pleased, including our little one! Within an hour of arriving at the hospital, we were holding him, bewildered that he was already here.

Henry Scott Zaugg was born at 7:44 PM, weighing 7 lbs 3 oz, and measuring 19 inches long. He eats well, sleeps well, and is oh so cute. We are so happy to have him home. We left the hospital Friday night, after about 27 hours in the hospital, including labor and delivery.

I realize the baby count-down ticker is below 5 days, and I never thought I'd see it this low. I fully expected this little one to be here by now. I'm also dissappointed in the false graphics of the baby floating in the ticker. It seems that baby is still small and has plenty of room to kick and grow, however that's not the case! They should really make it true to life. I've been trying everything to get this baby out, and he's still not cooperating! We went on a long walk yesterday after I had several "different" contractions, and during that hour walk, they came every 2-5 minutes, but today we're still here. I jumped on the neighbors tramp last night too, but all I got was excercise. I went on another walk this morning, and yielded 1 contraction-so weird! I even drank raspberry leaf tea last night to push it along. (It was really yummy). I keep realizing my due date hasn't come yet, and I KNOW I won't be pregnant forever. Evan is convinced he's coming today, but I say not for another week. Maybe it's because we're all ready already?...Patience is not my virtue!

Family pictures

We had our family pictures taken a few weeks ago by a friend from our old ward. We were so excited to finally get something done NOT in a studio. We went to the bell tower at BYU and fortunatley, the weather was on our side. We got a few preggo shots too. Susan was awesome to work with, and did a great job. Here's her link: http://www.ssmphotography.blogspot.com/

Family Reunion Time

Evan's mom's family had a big reunion this last weekend. They reserved the Timp Lodge up by Sundance, and it was perfect! We had a lot of fun. My mother-in-law and sisters-in-law planned and prepared it, bought the food, and put the schedule together. It turned out perfectly. We came home to sleep each night, but headed up each morning for the day. Porter loved playing outside and inside with all the balloons and game tables they had. Way to go family!

Skits

Playing in the sand and dirt

Hiking Stewart Falls

Park City

We got out this week for a family vacation. We actually had a vacation this time! We did a few things, but most of all, we did a whole lot of nothing. That's what I wanted to do! Saturday we went miniature golfing:

Sunday, Evan's brother Jim and his family came up and spent the night. We went on a little nature hike, swam, played games, and just sat around. I'm so glad they came up! Thanks for a fun time!
The best part of their stay was the sandal story: Ashley (5) was leaning over the balcony and slipped her foot out of the railing, but her sandal got caught and fell down a floor onto the cement below. (We were 3 floors up). So, Evan and Jim rigged a hanger tied to the cord of the baby monitor, tied to a broom stick to retrieve it. I thought it would be easier to ask the people below us if we could get it, but when asked why this way, these smart men said, " Cause this way is more fun." They were right! Tuesday, our good friends the Ormonds came for 2 nights. We stayed up way too late, played a lot of games, went swimming, went to the Park City Farmer's market, ate way too much junk food, and went on another nature walk. We had a lot of fun! They're moving next week to Mississippi, so we won't see them for a long time.



Thanks for coming up guys!

For the first time on vacation, I really wasn't looking forward to coming home. But now, I guess life goes on, and now we can focus on baby!

Hiking

We had some friends come into town over the 4th that had never been to Utah before. They are planning on coming out here for school, so naturally, we gave them the utah county tour! We took them hiking to the "Y", and here's some pics from that, though we didn't get any other pictures from this weekend-sadly.

We took Porter to the fireworks and the parade monday. Not knowing how he'd react, he did great! He sat there the whole time and watched intently as each entry passed by. Though his favorite were the firetrucks and motorcycles. He kept immitating the "honk honk" of the fire engines the whole time. I love that he enjoys outings like these more and more. I love my family!

Sewing projects

I've been putting it off long enough, but I HAD to finish some loose projects that were stuck in the back of my mind. I needed a nursing wrap, so Tara, my sister helped me measure and plan for it. Though it's much different than the plans we started out with, I tweaked it just enough so it's perfect for me. I sewed in 6 pockets on the underside at the bottom to hold some necessities and terrycloth, and though I'm a beginner, I think it turned out all right.The other is some old fabric I got from a neighbor that I sewed onto some cloth diapers for burp rags. Cloth diapers are truly the best for burping! Not quite sure how to embellish them more, and my time's running out, so I think I'll just leave them as is...