Penelope Elise

My heart might explode. Penelope Elise is earth-side. She is perfect. I'm enjoying this newborn stage more than ever.

Right before we drove to the hospital

Penelope Elise's Stats:

    Weight: 7 pounds 15 ounces

    Length: 20 inches

    Birthday: October 10, 2023

    Time of Birth: 3:53pm

    Hospital: Riverton-- had a great experience there. 

Birth Story:

Being the planner I am, I scheduled an induction for little miss at exactly 39 weeks. My doctor, Dr. Peacock ended up having to be out of town, so another doctor delivered sweet Penny. Dr. Burgett was excellent.

I was told to arrive at the hospital at 7:30am on October 10. When I got there, I was dilated to 3cm (I had been this dilated for a few weeks). 

At 8:38am, I started pitocin.

At 10:10am, I got an epidural.

Around 11:00am, I was told that babies heartbeat was going down after every contraction which was worrisome.  The doctor stopped the pitocin. Worst case scenario a C-section would be necessary. I was still only dilated to a 3 which was surprising.

At 12:22pm, they broke my water. They also put in a monitor to keep a closer eye on baby's heart. This helped them determine exactly how much pitocin to give me. 

At 12:33pm, I started pitocin again. The heartbeat was looking better. Baby didn't like it if they ever turned the pitocin up above a 4 (which is low-- the highest is 20). After another heartrate drop when they upped my pitocin to 7, it was decided to keep the pitocin at 4.

At 1:35pm, baby pooped. Inhaling meconium can be harmful for baby. I was informed that the NICU team would be in the room for delivery in case baby needed treatment.

Around 2:40pm, I felt a lot of pressure. I called the nurse and she said I was dilated to 9 and a half centimeters. They called my doctor and we had to wait for him to finish up a surgery. He arrived around 3:30pm.

While I was pushing, Dr. Burgett asked if any of my babies were born sunny side up. NO! I panicked. Luckily, baby didn't end up being turned completely like the doctor suspected, but she was kind of sideways. He was able to adjust her.

At 3:53pm, our world was forever changed. Penelope Elise made her grand entrance. I've never been happier to hear loud screams. Her lungs were fine and weren't effected by the meconium. The NICU team was not needed. Penelope has a full head of dark hair and gets lots of comments! Continue to the end of this post to see my hair when I was a baby. 

Despite a couple scares (the dropping heart rate and meconium), everything worked out! Jessica came by later that evening and brought us Chick Fil A (which was as delicious as it sounds). Jessica flew in from LA to help with baby which was so kind of her! My mom (yes, it's true) flew in from Brazil and brought the kids by first thing the next morning to meet their baby sister. It was precious.

I like to be discharged from the hospital as soon as possible, but Penny had to have routine testing done at exactly 24 hours old. We had to wait around all day Wednesday. Fortunately, Penelope passed her bilirubin, hearing, and heart test and we were discharged around 5:15pm on Wednesday, October 11.

Leaving the hospital

My mom being here for Penny's birthday was truly a miracle. There is a long backstory, but my mom tested positive for Covid close to my induction date. It was super stressful. In fact, at my doctor's appointment that day, my blood pressure was high and my doctor said if it didn't go down, I would have to be admitted to the hospital. Thankfully, my blood pressure went down. The day my mom was supposed to fly to UT (Monday, Oct 9), my mom tested NEGATIVE for Covid. We were so grateful and wanted stay healthy, especially Penny. We definitely saw God's hand in the timing of it all.

Having my mom around was amazing and felt normal. We ate lots of yummy food that she has missed. She doted on and spoiled my kids. She became my lactation expert and gave me priceless tips. My mom and Jessica played "O My Father" in my ward on October 15. My grandparents came to listen and meet Penelope. I am extremely grateful that my mom was able to be here and Jessica too.

Father of the year right here. This guy has bent over backwards to make sure I'm comfortable and that the house continues to run smoothly. His work was shocked to see him back in the office on Friday, Oct 13. (He also worked a half day on the 12.)  He will take more time off when I start piano lessons back up. 

I am overwhelmed with gratitude. People have been so nice. We have been well fed and showered with gifts and love. My list of thank-you cards keeps getting longer and longer. What a wonderful time. My kids have also been the sweetest older siblings I could have ever hoped for. We are all just completely enamored by Penny. And, I'm starting to dread nights less, so here's to hoping my 8:00pm bedtime will change soon. 

As you can see, we have taken plenty of pictures and will continue to do so. Stay tuned for more... Our niece snapped some family and newborn pictures and we'll get them back in a few weeks. Penny, we have waited and prayed for you and you're finally here. You are a delight. Our world is changed by your sweet spirit.

These last 3 pictures are of me as a baby! The pictures are low quality, but worth it. If you can believe it, I had even more hair than Penelope!

Adios Family of 4

This is my final post as a family of 4. I sure love this crew of mine. We have been playing lots of Phase 10 and Cover Your Assets and it's hard to believe these kiddos are so independent. They are growing too fast. In an effort to help the remainder of pregnancy pass quickly, we have kept busy. 

Paw Patrol Movie!

Tuesday, October 4

Seeing this movie has been on our calendar for weeks! Paw Patrol came out on a Friday, but we waited until $5 Tuesday to go as a family. I won a $50 Megaplex giftcard from our swim school, so our fun night out was covered with ample money to spare for popcorn. You would be surprised how much popcorn our kids can devour. Wow. The gasps and comments throughout the movie from the kids were hysterical. Izzy squealed in delight lots and used her coat to cover her eyes during "stressful" scenes. The instant we got in the car to go home, the kids insisted that we listen to the song "Down Like That" from the movie. Boy can they belt.

Act surprised on Halloween, but Izzy will make the cutest Skye ever. Also noteworthy is that Isabelle insisted on changing her outfit right before going to the movies so she could look extra nice. She had to wear a dress and tights for this special occasion! We happened to be in the same theater as 2 of my Bunco friends which was a pleasant surprise. I know you're not asking, but if you want my opinion on the new movie-- I thought the first one was better. (Andrew agrees) Shhh, don't tell my kids.

Pumpkin Patch!

James had another Friday off of school. We made the most of it and went to The Kinlands Pumpkin Patch with the Bradshaws. The kids kept the slide busy! Picking out giant, heavy pumpkins seems to be popular. James also found a gourd and that might possibly be even cooler than the massive pumpkin he chose. This was the perfect outing and the weather was just gorgeous.

Friday, October 6

Soccer!

Saturday August 19 through Saturday, October 14

James played soccer again this fall. I put him in the older league, so instead of playing with 4-6 year old boys and girls, he was on an all-boys 6-year-old team. The field was slightly bigger and the players were significantly better. James' team was called the monsters! James started and finished the season off strong.  He scored a goal the first game! There were a few games in the middle where he seemed a bit disinterested. That could be related to the time he spent watching from the sidelines. Sometimes players were forgotten and substitutes weren't rotated regularly.  James hustled and tried hard. Much to my embarrassment, he puts on a "concentrating" face while on the field. Picture fish lips.  

Izzy picked dance over soccer, but later was disappointed she wasn't doing soccer too. I don't know if this was due to jealously over James' glamorous weekly soccer treats, or if she actually wants to play again. I guess we'll find out next season. On to the next sport for Mr. James. He is giving basketball a shot and so far is obsessed. 

The Music Man!

Saturday, October 7

I heard that the Music Man was playing because someone in our ward is in the play! Mindy Taylor has an incredible voice and we were bummed we didn't catch her the last time she performed in  Sister Act. Seeing Mindy be apart of The Music Man was something I really wanted to do, but timing was tricky with baby. We decided to go forward with buying tickets, even though I am uber pregnant, with the idea that we could always sell our tickets if needed. We actually got to go to the play!

Here's something I bet you didn't know about me: the first movie I actually liked and would watch as a child was "The Music Man." I've always loved music. I am so glad we were able to see this play. We saw it at the smaller and more intimate Hale Center Theater in Orem. The play checked all the boxes. The opening scene was so catchy and sucked you in immediately, the costumes and choreography were on point, and the singers were phenomenal. The quartet of men was fabulous. There was only 1 actress that I thought could have had a stronger singing voice. They went all out for the finale with a full marching band. Our ears are still ringing. 

As we discussed the play afterword, Andrew brought up that in this production, they chose to focus more on Harold Hill's sneaky and deceitful side. Andrew and I both grinned and giggled the night away in our centered, 2nd row seats. We finished the night off eating Mexican food and realized maybe we're getting old and boring. We are turning into each other. We both ordered Carne Asada burritos and ate every drop. Our waitress was shocked when she came back not long after delivering our food to see our plates were wiped clean. We splurged to have a special night out since going out with a newborn will be trickier. We couldn't have asked for a better night out and are so grateful that Jessica watched our kids! She's in town for baby's birthday! 

Hike: Rocky Mouth Trailhead! 

Sunday, October 8

The fall colors are spectacular this year. I've been itching to get up into the mountains. We planned on doing a new hike, but traffic to get into the canyon was backed up. Instead, we stopped at an oldie, but goodie hike. Both kids loved this hike and counted all the stairs. There were over 100. Fall is breathtaking and I'm glad we squeezed in this hike. We last did this hike in June of 2020. My heart aches looking back at the pictures of my little babies on this same trailhead 3 years ago. This time around, we had to tell James to slow down and wait for us. Oh how times have changed. 

And just like that, life is drastically going to change. Each morning, James has been telling me the countdown until baby. He even said, "It's finally happening. I've been waiting so long for this baby--since Thanksgiving of last year." I'm banking on having good helpers. Wish us luck as we become a family of 5. For now, I'm trying to avoid shows regarding Labor and Delivery. We have seen too many of them this week. It's not quite as funny when it's going to be you walking as if you got hit by a bus. T-minus 36ish hours.