It has been a good month.

I spend a lot of time holding my baby these days.  In fact, I spend as much time as humanly possible.  I feel like if I'm not holding her or looking at her, then I'm just wasting these precious moments.  After having two other babies, I'm well aware of how quickly the time goes.

Besides holding baby, we also go to (and play) soccer.  Will has turned into a bit of a soccer rock star!  We are mostly so happy that he's playing and not crying on the sidelines, but watching him score goals has been fun, too.  In the past two games he's scored a total of 7 goals- we're going to go broke paying him $1/goal.

Little Paige turned 3 weeks old.  Again- I would really like to find a pause button.

We went to church as a family today!  It felt so great to be there all together as a family.  Paige was a good girl and slept the majority of Sacrament meeting.  We're going to attempt to go to all 3 hours in another week or two.

Last but definitely not least, we have been enjoying the beautiful weather!  Dallas took all the kids on a short and slow four wheeler ride today.  The kids begged for more, but I think they wore Dallas out!  We plan on soaking up every drop of that glorious sun.

Best friends in Heaven, best friends on Earth.

Eva Joan, Paige Abigail, Leah Grace

Can't Get Enough

We can't get enough of her.  Sometimes I can't help but wonder if she's had enough of us???  The poor child is smothered from sun up to sun down.

Abigail

We struggled with finding a middle name for Paige.  We wanted it to have meaning.  We wanted it to sound good!  For some reason Paige just didn't flow very well with any of the middle names we thought of.

It was only about 2 weeks before she was born that I got an early morning text message from Dallas.  "Paige Abigail."  That's all it said.  That was it!  Just the night before I had been praying that we would know what her name should be, and the moment I read it I knew that was it.

Paige Abigail.

Abigail means "joy of the father."  We couldn't have picked a better name.

Great

I never got to know any of my Great Grandparents. My kids have been so lucky to get to know 5 of theirs! We made a trip to West Point to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Nicoll and had the best visit. It was important to me that they got to meet Paige when she was still so tiny. We are so blessed to have them in our lives. We hadn't even left the driveway when Annie was already asking when we could go back.

Paige's Birth Story

Preparations for Paige's birth began at about 30 weeks.  I had found a home study hypnobirthing course at www.tums2mums.com, and I followed the course religiously.  At times I was listening to up to 4 hypnosis sessions a day.  It was time consuming, but ultimately worth it.  I began sleeping better, and had fewer aches and pains.  I can honestly say that I was more comfortable at 30+ weeks than I was in the earlier parts of my pregnancy.

After having a couple of false alarms, I asked Dr. Tayler to induce me during my 40 week check up.  He stripped my membranes, and made the appointment for the following day at 7:30 AM.  We were so excited!  Having my membranes stripped definitely got things going.  I contracted off and on all day, and after a 2 mile run with Darcy that night, I was having contractions every 8-12 minutes up until they got the Pitocin going.

Our nurse's name was Paige- a good omen!  She was so awesome.  She had me hooked up and contracting every 5 minutes by 8:30 that morning.  Dallas went and finished up a couple of things at work, and I watched mindless television to pass the time.

Every hour the nurses would come in and turn the Pitocin up a little bit more.  By 10:00, I chose to listen to my "Surges with the Sea" hypnosis session on my iPod.  I was able to use deep breathing and actually enjoyed feeling the rhythm of the contractions.  I was just so excited that soon I would meet my baby girl.

By 11:00 I had to really focus.  Dr. Tayler came in to check me and to break my water.  I was a 6, but I asked him not to break my water.  I knew that after my water was broken that the contractions would get much more intense- I wanted it there to cushion them for as long as possible.  Dallas and I made predictions about when the baby would be here.  He said by 1:00 and I said by 1:30.

After the doctor checked me I decided I would be more comfortable on a birthing ball.  Laying on the bed and contracting was causing my back to hurt.  The ball was much better!  Dallas then sat behind me on the bed and applied light touch massage when I would have a contraction.

I'll be honest, hypnobirthing did not allow me to have a "pain free" birth experience.  I'm sure some women can do it, but I was not one of them!  I was, however, able to stay calm and relaxed and in control of the pain throughout.

The nurses were in and out and were always amazed at how calm I was.  They would think I was asleep, but then I would open my eyes and we would talk and laugh for a minute until the next contraction would come and I would focus again.  Paige- the nurse- even commented on how amazing my vitals were.  She said that if she didn't know that I was in hard labor, she would think I were just sitting and reading a book.  She made this comment right before she checked me and discovered that I was a 9 at 12:45 PM.  I told her to call Dr. Tayler to come and break my water- it was baby time!

At 1:00 Dr. Tayler was there and broke my water during a contraction.  I then moved from laying on the bed to standing up and holding on to Dallas.  It helped the baby move down, and when I was ready to push, I got back on the bed and they broke it down for me.

It's kind of weird how when it is time to push it feels like the pain of the contractions just melts away.  I could feel pressure, but the pain was gone.  I honestly couldn't even feel when I was having a contraction and when I wasn't.  They finally told me to stop pushing and rest for a moment because they could tell I wasn't having a contraction.  It could have only been for a minute, but it felt a lot longer to me for some reason.  I even commented on how comfortable I felt!  When the next contraction came, I pushed, and Paige Abigail was born at 1:38 PM!  Paige was 6 lbs 6 oz (only 2 oz more than what Dr. Tayler had predicted!), and 19.5 inches long.  She was perfectly healthy in every way.

When they placed her on my stomach I just couldn't believe it.  I did it!  I loved having my baby without any pain medications.  I was able to feel exactly what I needed to do.  I have never been so proud of myself.  I felt like I had earned every bit of that perfect little baby girl.  I could not have done it without Dallas.  He was there to help me every step of the way.  He was my rock.  I feel like we brought her here together and I wouldn't change a single thing.

We adore our perfect Paige.

Texting friends and family updates since we asked to be alone while I labored- this was a VERY good choice. At this point I was a 6.

Yes!  9 CM and still smiling, laughing and joking- when I wasn't contracting anyway :).

 

Swings Are Dangerous

Just ask Annie.

What did I do to get so lucky?

Love Notes

I went to get my sweet Paige from her bassinet and discovered a collection of love notes from her big brother.  We are all completely smitten with that little girl.

Paige Abigail Nicoll

Our sweet Paige Abigail officially joined our family on April 4, 2013, at 1:38 PM.  She has successfully stolen all of our hearts.  When I can pull myself away from her for more than a few minutes I will write down her birth story, but for now, here are some of our favorite pictures of the past few days.

 

Welcome

Today was my 40 week check up for my baby girl, and I gave her an eviction notice.  I am being started tomorrow morning at 7:30AM!  Ever since I made the decision I haven't stopped smiling.  I can't wait to kiss her tiny little face and welcome her to our family.

Knowing that today was my last day as a mother of two, I wanted to make sure it was a good one.  Our Robinson cousins are in town- which always makes for a good time- and so we have spent the day with them.  We spent lunchtime at McDonald's playing on the play place, and then afterwards we went for a nature walk.  I have to say one thing-

Welcome Spring!

We were walking and exploring for a couple of hours down at the Provo River.  Nothing will lift your spirits like getting out and about in the sunshine!

Tonight we'll finish getting ready for our new arrival.  I can't believe it's here.  I'm looking forward to some really good snuggle and singing time with my Annie Kate, and some stories with Will.  I know once the baby is here that it will be harder to have those moments for awhile.  I'm going to soak it up.

If I Had Been There

We just celebrated a wonderful Easter this past weekend.  Easter has become one of my favorites.  It has nothing to do with Peeps or fluffy bunnies and everything to do with the real reason behind the holiday- the resurrection of our savior, Jesus Christ.

On Friday a friend of mine posted the following photo on Facebook:

This is Peter and John in a painting by Eugene Burnand.  In the New Testament in John 20:4 it says, "So they ran both together: and the other disciple (being John) did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre."  When they arrived they saw the linens, and the napkin that was covering his head, but no Jesus.  He wasn't there because He was risen.

When I saw the picture I was instantly brought to tears.  I know that if I were there, and I had heard the news that my Savior's body was missing, I would have run there.  I would have done just as Peter and John did.

My heart was tender as I thought so much about Him this weekend.  I thought often of dear friends and family members that have lost loved ones, and what the promise of resurrection and eternal life means to them, and to me.

It means everything.

And our Savior gave it to us.  He gave it to us because He loves us.

This year in primary the kids are learning a new song called Gethsemane.  It is so beautiful.  The words are truly inspired:

Jesus climbed the hill
To the garden still
His steps were heavy and slow
Love and a prayer
Took Him there
To the place only He could go
Gethsemane
Jesus loves me
So He went willingly
To Gethsemane
He felt all that was sad, wicked or bad
All the pain we would ever know
While His friends were asleep
He fought to keep
His promise made long ago
(Chorus)
The hardest thing That ever was done
The greatest pain that ever was known
The biggest battle that ever was won
This was done by Jesus.
The fight was won by Jesus.
(Chorus)
Gethsemane
Jesus loves me
So he gives His gift to me
From Gethsemane

We are so richly blessed by our Father in Heaven.  I am humbled and thankful as I think about the sacrifice He made for us- the gift of his Son.  I believe in Christ, and I know that He lives.