Crazy 2014

This year will go down in the books as one of the craziest time in our lives. The beginning of the year consisted of Tyler's very busy 3rd year rotations, me working over time, getting ready for the baby and agonizing over where Tyler should do his away rotations and how to plan out the summer and fall of his 4th year. 

Once Jane came we had six weeks in DC with family visiting intermittently before heading to Utah for vacations. We knew that Tyler would for sure have two weeks off so we planned a couple days in Salt Lake to bless Jane, a week in Lake Powell with my family and a week in Southern California with Tyler's family. Then after a thousand conversations, many tears and stress and back and forth we came up with the following plan for the rest of the year:

After California Tyler went back to Georgetown for two weeks for an orthopedic surgery rotation, followed by four weeks in Albuquerque for another rotation, followed by four weeks in Salt Lake to study for and take Step 2 of board examinations, then four weeks in Tucson for a rotation, then two more weeks in Georgetown, then back to Salt Lake for a four-week rotation at the U, and then from Thanksgiving to New Years off  just spending time with family in Salt Lake. Jane and I decided to stay in Salt Lake the whole time with family and planned to visit Tyler at his rotations in Albuquerque and Tucson.

It's definitely been an adventure and it's terrible being apart from each other but so far so good, and it's been great being able to spend so much time with our families.

Jane's Baby Blessing

Wanted to wait until we got to Salt Lake to bless Jane so that we could have our families there. Because we weren't at our home ward we got to bless Jane at my parents' house. It was so marvelous to be able to have a small gathering in an intimate setting. I'm so grateful to have a husband and so many wonderful men in my life who hold the Priesthood. It is such a blessing to have God's power on the earth today and to see it in action. We sure love our little lady and our families and are so happy that we all get to be together forever.

Four generations

Lake Powell

 Lake Powell is the best. I grew up going every year on my aunt and uncle's house boat and it's one of my favorite vacations. Tyler had never been on a house boat before and he loved it. We had so much fun spending time with family, boating, eating, cliff jumping, etc. Although, I will say that going to Lake Powell with a cranky newborn is a bit stressful. She fared pretty well but it's just so darn hot and sunny down there that keep her shaded and cool was quite the effort, and she wouldn't nap for more than 20 minutes unless someone was holding her. I probably wouldn't do it again, but I'm glad we went. 

The Shields clan is just the best. We always have so much fun together and make such great memories. 

There were lots of fish in the little bay where we were staying and my brother caught several striped bass which they cooked up and ate for dinner. 

Having a baby equals bedroom privileges on the houseboat. I thought this would be a luxury, but it turns out the houseboat gets hotter than hades at night and it's much cooler on top of the houseboat where everyone else sleeps. After a virtually sleepless night and after having a mouse run across my foot (I know, horrifying, right!?!) we decided to sleep on my parents wakeboard boat. It was a great decision and I always love snuggling my sleeping Jane. 

Utah Summer

We were beyond excited to be able to spend some quality time in Utah over the summer and bring Jane to meet the rest of her family. Everyone was just smitten with her of course.

Celebrating Tyler's birthday with chocolate chocolate donuts.

Boating is the absolute best summer activity.

Jane's a beach babe. Though her face doesn't show it, she loves boating. Being outside, changing scenery and motion are her favorite things and boating checks all the boxes. She just hates her life jacket...don't judge me ;)

I stayed at my parents house with Jane for about six weeks and it was so fun to be back and just enjoy the little things like hanging out in the living room. My brother's are both so cute with Jane. I just love it.

If this isn't the sweetest thing ever, I don't know what is.

We went to Hokulia a couple times with Dawson and Missy. Hands down the best shaved ice place ever. Thanks for the recommendation Missy!!!

 

My little brothers (who tower over me) getting their eagles.

Birth Story

We were so very ready for our little Jane Elizabeth to get here. Having my due date come and go was no fun. I was worried I was going to have to get induced but to our great excitement I woke up about 4:00 a.m. on May 3rd and was having labor pains. We started cleaning up the house and packing and getting all the last minute things together. At about 9:00 a.m. I called the doctor and told her what was going on, fully expecting her to tell us to go to the hospital. She told me she didn’t think that I was in active labor yet because my contractions weren’t that intense. I ended up laboring at home for about 12 hours before I felt my contractions starting to get worse. 

Tyler kept checking my cervix throughout the day (one of the many perks of having a medical husband).  At about 5:00 p.m. he said he thought I was at about 4 centimeters so we called the doctor and decided to head to the hospital. When the nurse checked me she confirmed that I was indeed at 4 centimeters and they admitted me. It was a pretty proud moment for Tyler that he had been right :). 

Once I was admitted I asked them to start doing what they needed to do to get me an epidural. I wasn't in crazy pain yet, but I was really tired from dealing with contractions all day and I knew they were only getting worse. Oh, how I love drugs! The epidural was instant relief and allowed me to be able to rest a little throughout the night.

The OB broke my water and there was meconium (baby poop) in the fluid. This meant that Jane was potentially ingesting poop which can cause infection. So instead of handing her directly to me after birth and having Tyler cut the cord they were going to have to hand her straight to a neonatologist to make sure there was no meconium in her lungs. I was bummed about this but grateful that she would get the care she needed.

I progressed pretty quickly and was at 9 centimeters by about 10:30 p.m. The nurse said she thought we'd have a baby by midnight but for some reason my contractions slowed down and I didn't end up fully effaced and dilated until about 4:00 a.m. Sunday morning. Fortunately I didn't need any meds to help my labor progress and I started pushing a little after 4:00 a.m. I pushed for about two hours. It was a long two hours. I pushed in the lithotomy position for about an hour but didn't feel that it was very effective. I've always thought trying to push a baby out while on your back is dumb. They say pushing is like having a bowel movement. Well, I don't know about you but I've never met anyone who poops while laying on their back. Squatting seems like it would be much more effective. Fortunately I had an awesome epidural and was still able to have pretty good control over my legs so I hopped up on the bed into a squatting position and started pushing that way. It was so much more effective. I felt like I had so much more control and she really started coming down after that. 

Once she started crowning they had me sit back down and brought a mirror over so I could see. It was so encouraging to be able to see her little head. Pushing her out is definitely the hardest thing I've ever done, but oh how worth it. The whole process truly is such a miracle. It was so amazing to watch this tiny little human come out of my body. It is such a tender experience. 

It took Jane a minute to come to life. The neonatologist had her for about 5 minutes or so making sure she was okay. That was about the longest 5 minutes of my life. I was so anxious to see and hold her. It was definitely love and first sight. It's amazing the maternal instinct and instant love that you have for these precious little spirits. It was so sweet to see the look in Tyler's eyes when they handed her to me. I could tell that he was in love with her too. It's such a magical experience and I am so thankful that things went so well and we have a healthy happy baby as the newest member of our little family. We just love her to death!

Three days before Jane was born.

First family photo right before we left the hospital.

Jane Elizabeth

Naming another person is pretty stressful. but it wasn't quite as difficult as I thought it was going to be. Neither of us had any girl names that we were particularly crazy about so I thought it was going to be a challenge. Both mine and Tyler's names have stories behind them so it's always been really important to both of us that our kids' names have meaning. I was named after my maternal great grandmother Laura Stanbridge, so once we found out that we were having a girl I knew I wanted to try to name her after someone in my maternal line. Tyler and I sat down with the family tree and started going through names.

A few generations back is my great great great grandmother Jane Elizabeth Cobb. She was a convert to the church in England and sailed to America with her husband in 1855 and left later that same year to trek across the plains to the Salt Lake Valley. Tyler and I both thought that the name Jane Elizabeth was beautiful; and what a remarkable woman to be named after. Neither of us has ever been crazy about giving our girls middle names so we had a few other ideas of derivations of the names Jane and Elizabeth. We were thinking Janessa for a while, or maybe Eliza. But in the end we thought Jane Elizabeth was too pretty to pass up. 

Jane Elizabeth Cobb

Jane Elizabeth Kent

Grandma & Grandpa

Tyler and I really enjoyed having the first week with Jane to ourselves. Tyler was able to get a full week off and it was such a special time to be able to get used to our new family of three and get things figured out. Being away from family with a new baby is definitely tough though. It's hard to have to show her off via Skype. Fortunately we have amazing parents who were willing to make the trek across the country to visit our little lady.

My mom came out the day Tyler had to go back to work. It was the sweetest thing to see her meet Jane for the first time. She's lucky to have such a wonderful grandma!

We had such a fun time hanging out with Jane and venturing outdoors and exploring the city. I had serious anxiety about taking Jane anywhere because I worried about her getting sick or something. My mom and Tyler helped me to calm down and we went on lots of adventures. We took Jane out for burgers at Good Stuff in Georgetown, Mexican at Chipotle, Spanish tapas at La Tasca in Old Town, The Happy Tart gluten-free bakery, the National Cathedral, Joann's fabrics, Cafe Rio, Target and lots of walks around the neighborhood. 

This girl loves to be on the move. She does not like sleeping in her crib where there is no noise or motion. She loves being held, being bounced on the bouncy ball, in the stroller, in the Ergobaby, in her swing, in her bouncy chair, in her car seat in the car; basically anything that is bouncy and noisy. I guess she's used to all the noise and motion of the womb. 

We also put Jane in lots of different outfits while my mom was here. I'm all about putting babies in a diaper and a blanket but we had fun playing dress up while grandma was here.

But most of the time we just hung out at home, chatted, ate, stared at this darling little girl and bathed and fed and changed diapers. My mom snapped this lovely photo at about 3:00 a.m.

 

 My dad was able to come out to visit the same day my mom left. 

I loved watching my dad meet Jane for the first time. It was so sweet. Jane is so lucky to have such an amazing grandpa!

We had such a great time having my dad here. It was fun to be able to hang out and catch up the first night he got here. He came over the next day for breakfast before heading up to New York for some business later that day. We got to spend the whole day together on Wednesday. We went for a long walk through the forest down to Georgetown in the morning, spent a lovely afternoon in Old Town Alexandria in the afternoon, then ate Chinese take out and watched Ted talks for dinner. The next day we went to Jane's doctor's appointment and then strolled around the National Cathedral.

Saying goodbye to my parents was just the worst thing ever. I had a good cry after each one of them left. It's especially terrible now that we have their granddaughter all the way across the country. I truly am so lucky to have such great parents. They have always been so loving and supportive. I'm so happy that my children will have them as examples in their lives. It was so incredibly helpful for them to come out and help me with our little Jane Elizabeth. Fortunately we'll be going to Salt Lake in June so it won't be long before we get to see them again!