Calvin's Birth Story

It's been almost 6 weeks since my little Cal was born so I figured I better write down his story before I forget the details.
Cal's story began way back around May of 2012 with a phone call between my sister Becca and I. Both of us had three children and thought maybe it was time to have a fourth. I knew I was ready to have #4 and I thought it would be fun if we could have them at the same time. Both of us had two boys and a girl so the plan was that both babies would be girls and they'd be born the same month. Every month we would check up with each other to see if the other was pregnant. After 9 months she called me to announce she was finally pregnant and due Nov. 5th. I was thrilled that at least one of us finally got what we wanted but frustrated that the babies weren't going to be born the same month as planned. My frustration and sadness only lasted about three days when I too found out I was pregnant and due Nov. 10th.  I decided I wanted to deliver in Utah so I called Becca's OB to see if he would take me on at the end of my pregnancy. I expressed my concerns about delivering on a reservation and he said he'd be happy to do that for me. After that I started having dreams of Becca and I delivering on the same day in the same room with the doctor hovering over us taking bets on which one of us was going to go first. With each contraction both of us would start laughing hysterically because for some reason it was fun to be in pain. I must say that being pregnant with a sister somehow makes it a little easier because you always have someone to talk to about how miserable you are and they don't get annoyed with all your whining and moaning because they are going through the exact same thing. I'll never forget the times we hung out together near the end and would laugh at how pathetic we looked hobbling around and wanting to cry every time the phone rang because that meant we had to get off the couch and answer it.  20 weeks into the pregnancy Becca  found out she was indeed having a girl and a few days later I found out I was having another boy. My first thought was "How am I going to tell Lily." She wanted a little sister SOOOOOOOO bad. I was so worried about her that I couldn't even bare to tell her because I was afraid that if she cried that I would start crying because I knew how badly she wanted a sister. I made Jacob tell her later that night and yes, she cried. Becca's son Cody was also upset because he had wanted a little brother so the two of them came up with a plan to switch the babies once they were born. They were going to sneak into the nursery and switch the name tags and that was going to do the trick. With only 4 weeks left I was in Utah again and Becca who only had three weeks left decided she was done and that she was going to have hers any day which was very possible as her last one was three weeks early and she was dialated to a 4. I told her she had to stop thinking those thoughts because if she popped early it was going to destroy the plan. She had to wait for me. My mom also begged her not to have the baby because she was leaving for Canada and would be gone for the week. On Monday Oct. 14th Becca had an appointment. I was getting ready to go home to Arizona and my mom was headed to Canada. Jacob and I kind of had a slow start to our morning and at about noon we thought that maybe it was too late to drive the 8 hours home so we decided to stay one more day. I hung out with Becca the rest of the day trying to talk her out of forcing herself into labor. At about 9:00 that night I left her house. As I was walking out the door I told her to not go into labor and that I'd see her in a few weeks. I went back to my parent's house and at about 9:30 my water broke. I sat there for a few seconds thinking "What the heck was that?" I told myself I had just wet my pants because there was no way in heck I was having a baby that early. That has never happened to me before. The Dr. has always had to break my water for me. I changed my pants and started getting the kids in bed. That was not the end of it. It just kept coming.  "No, no, no" I said over and over again. "This is NOT happening. I'm going home and I"ll be back in a few weeks to have this baby." Once I finally accepted the truth. I went downstairs and pulled Jacob aside telling him that I was pretty sure my water had just broke. He said "Well let's go the hospital then."  and I said "I don't want to go to the hospital. I'm tired and I'm going to bed." I called my mom who had just arrived in Canada to tell her what had happened. For some reason when I started telling her the tears began to flow. I felt so guilty that this was happening since she just drove 12 hours to Canada and had begged Becca not to do this very thing. She just started laughing. I didn't think it was very funny at the time. I told her to stay the week like she had planned knowing that she wouldn't. I went down and sat on the couch next to Jacob and told him I was going to bed. He looked at me like I was crazy. In my mind this still was not happening. My dad then overheard our conversation and told me I was being ridiculous. I finally agreed to go. I didn't know how I was going to tell Becca. In fact to be honest I was down right scared to tell her. I thought for sure she would kill me. After all my talk about how she was going to ruin "the plan" then I go and ruin it instead. I started having minor contratctions but after a couple hours they stopped. They had to put me on pitocin to get them going again. I was mad because not only was I looking forward to a labor with out pitocin for once but also I could have been at home sleeping. I kept reminding Jacob that he could be home sleeping as well. A few hours later I got the epidural. It was probably the worst one I've ever had and that's saying something since Jake's didn't even work. It didn't go in easy and my back hurt forever afterward. It was a long sleepless night of just waiting. I started to think about a few things that made me feel like maybe this was meant to be.1) Before we came to Utah I decided to pack a bag for the baby so I would have everything I needed just in case 2) We were supposed to leave that day but had decided to stay for no real reason at all 3) my OB just so happened to be on call. Then I remembered that I had just had an ultrasound a few days earlier because they were worried he wasn't growing anymore. The ultrasound predicted he would be about 5 1/2 pounds. The more I thought about it the more it freaked me out. Was he going to be ok being born 4 weeks early? What if the ultrasoud was wrong as they usually are and he is a lot smaller. I was used to big babies. How was I going to care for a premie?  My worries were put to rest at 6:50am on Tuesday Oct. 15th. when sweet little Calvin Leon entered the world weighing 5lbs. 8oz. and 17.5 inches long. He was perfectly healthy. He felt so tiny in my arms. I felt like I was going to break him. He had the tiniest little head with the sweetest little face. I felt so blessed in that moment. I am so grateful  to have had 4 healthy babies with no complications. Cal is growing so fast and although that kind of makes me sad I am excited to get to know him better and see his little personality unfold. Will he be outgoing and full of life like Lily? Will he be shy and tenderhearted like Jake or will he be a total goof ball like Ashyman? I can't wait to find out.


PS. 8 days later Little Faith J was born and Cody and Lily decided they liked their new siblings and didn't want to trade after all.

My Little Ash Man

Getting to know this little man the past two years has brought so much joy in my life. I can't say that I've slept much throughout this time but it has been a wonderful experience non-the-less and I am truly grateful for each and every day. Some words I would use to describe him are.....

Sweet: He is the worlds best snuggler. He would snuggle all night long if I let him. He often times stops in the middle of an activity to run over to me and give me a big hug for a few seconds and then he goes right back to his activity. He also has the sweetest little voice (when he's not angry) and is learning to sing and seems to enjoy it. He also is my only child that says "Please, thank you and excuse me." It took me a long time to understand him because he didn't talk for so long and then when he did all his words sounded exactly the same.He's gotten a lot better and I have finally figured out his system. He most often will only pronounce the first syllable of the word and then repeat it for how ever many syllables are in the word, for example, chicken is "Chick chick" Chocolate is "Choc choc" and muffin is "Muff muff."

Careful: He is not very adventurous. He prefers to play close to me while observing others around him play. Sometimes if they are laughing and acting like they are having way to much fun he might decide to join in.

Loving: He always wants to say goodnight to his brother and sister by giving them a hug and kiss before he goes to bed. He is always concerned if someone gets hurt and will always apologize if he is the one that hurt them.

Stubborn: This kid can throw a tantrum that lasts forever. If he does not get what he wants he will make sure you are severely miserable for it.

Unpredictable: You never know if this kid is going to wake up happy or angry. If he wakes up happy he usually remains that way throughout the rest of the day and if he decides to be angry you can pretty much buckle your seat belt and hang on tight for the duration of the ride.

Eager: Although he is not adventurous he is still very eager to learn. He watches my every move all day with sheer curiosity and interest in what I'm doing. He often times tries to imitate my actions and words. He loves to read and we usually don't get through a day with out reading several books.

Helpful: Along with wanting to learn he also loves to be helpful while he's learning. Any time I'm in the kitchen  he is right there on his stool helping me dump cups of flour or crack an egg or stir it all together. I'm pretty sure he's going to be my best cook when he grows up because not only does he enjoy doing it but he pays very close attention and can often times predict what I need next and get it out of the fridge for me. He's made banana bread with me so many times he's probably got the recipe memorized. He also likes to help me sweep the floor. Avery time I sweep he's right behind me with the dust pan saying "Now? Now?" every five seconds. He lays my clothes out for me in the morning so I can get dressed, he helps me make my bed every morning, he often brings me my favorite sweater because he knows I'm always cold. When I'm getting ready in the bathroom he hands me my hair brush and tooth brush and sometimes he picks out what hair clip he thinks I should wear. If I'm using the bathroom you can pretty much count on him standing right there at my side with toilet paper in hand ready for me to use when I need it. You see how helpful he is? I think he'd make a great dental assistant to his dad some day.

I really can't imagine my life without this little man. Happy birthday Asher! We love you!