_ _ _

han.

I'd never heard of the term 'nesting' until I was teaching 6th grade a few years ago. I had a student whose mom was pregnant with twins and one day when I asked how her mom was doing towards the end of the pregnancy she replied, "Oh you know...nesting." 

At the time, I absolutely didn't know. But I thought it might be unwise to tarnish my credibility by admitting that I didn't have a clue what she was talking about, so I just smiled and nodded. 

Being pregnant with baby #3 in just over 3 years...I've come a long way in understanding the period of time towards the end of pregnancy she was referring to. HA!

I've always loved making to-do lists and it's typical for me to have a running list of projects to tackle constantly in the back of my mind, but with the "due-date" of baby #3 rapidly approaching, I've reached the frantic stage of adding-and-crossing-things-off-my to-do list-at-lightening-speeds known as "NESTING." 

And yes, this frantic and frazzled little mother-bird is a pretty accurate in showcasing how I'm feeling right about now. 😂 

But here's the point: After months and months of avoiding it on my to-do list, THE KIDS' ROOM IS FINALLY DECORATED!!!!!!! 

Ever since moving into this apartment I planned to have Lydia and Elliott share a room, and over the course of the last 10 months I've gradually gathered things to furnish it. In August we started the..."adventurous" endeavor of actually putting them in the same room at bedtime and... 😅 safe to say that saga deserves a blogpost (or 5🙈) of its very own. HA.

BUT YOU GUYS THEIR ROOM FINALLY FINISHED AND I'M SO PLEASED WITH HOW IT CAME TOGETHER!!!! 

First of all. It's super simple. Some might even say bare 😂. I'm sure a normal person could have had this level of decorating done by noon in a single day, but I tend to be VERY indecisive and agonize over every little decision when it comes to decorating, so despite what this may look like, it is a HUGE accomplishment for me. (Our last apartment we lived in for over a year and I only ever finished decorating one room. ha.)

Thankfully for me, in the hours I've spent scouring Pinterest, I've zero-ed in on my design style and if all the "how to categorize your design style" quizzes I've taken are correct, my design style is classified as 'minimalist.' (Shocker, huh?)

Hooray for Pinterest teaching me things about myself I never knew and also for the fact that it means I can have only a few things in a room and call it complete! (Less things = less decisions = happier Hannah 👏🏻)

Lydia's crib was gifted to us from Kolcraft and we all love it. (Especially Lydia.) It's called the Roscoe 3-in-1 and even after three months of use she still refers to is as her "new crib." haha. One of the big advantages of this particular crib is that if you purchase it with the accompanying conversion kit, you can use it as a regular crib, toddler bed, or a day bed! And for being so versatile, the price-point is quite reasonable!

At some point soon we'll probably switch it to a toddler bed, but as of now Lydia still LOVESSS having a crib, and I'm in no rush to switch anything up since we finally have a good thing going with the two-kids-in-the-same-room situation. 😬🤞🏻😂 *knock on wood*

I chose this particular crib because of its bright, clean, timeless look and I was happy to see when it arrived that it is much sturdier than our other crib. Plus, when Stephen was setting it up he commented MULTIPLE times about how simple it was! It was already partially assembled in the box which made putting it together a breeze (very much unlike some IKEA furniture we've purchased in the past😅).

Last weekend we finally got around to hanging these adorable animal prints from The Crown Prints, and while it became VERY CLEAR very quickly that Stephen and I should never ever under any circumstances take on any DIY projects together (for the sake of our children and our marriage 😂😂😂) I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. It's amazing how much hanging something on the walls changes the entire feel of the room! Every time we walk into their room now, Elliott points at the animals and attempts to make animal noises and it's basically the cutest thing ever.

Although it's not perfect, and mayyybeeee at some point down the line I'll add curtains or something, for now the room is DONE. And you know what?! DONE IS FUN!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 What a relief it is to be able to cross things off my to-do list!!! (Now if only I could stop finding more and more things to add to it.😅)

Thanks again to Kolcraft for sending Lydia's wonderful crib and The Crown Prints for the perfect animals!

_ _ _

han.

Yesterday I read the following post in a facebook group:

This post has been in the back of my mind ever since I read it for a couple reasons. The main one being: three-years ago I could have almost written it myself.

I've told the story a million times before. I was pregnant with Lydia. Uncomfortable. Unhappy. Unexcited. Quite honestly, I was dreading the day that Lydia would be born and I would assume the role of "mother." 

"Motherhood is hard" was the go-to phrase I heard over and over and over and over again during her pregnancy. I heard it so often, in fact, that not only did I grow to completely RESENT the phrase, there was a period during which I cried to Stephen almost DAILY (have you noticed I tend to cry a lot when I'm pregnant?) BEGGING him to explain WHY people intentionally have children. At all. Ever. Period.

"I don't get it!" I would say. "People seem to be endlessly bothered by their children and frequently feel the need to complain about how 'hard' it is....but yet they continue to have more children?! WHY." 

Maybe Stephen didn't know the answer to the question, or maybe he knew I wasn't in the mindset to hear the answer, but thankfully for both of us it didn't take long after Lydia was born for me to learn to answer for myself: JOY. 

In the temple we are taught to "have joy in our posterity." I don't think that phrase ever registered before Lydia was born, or at least I never gave it much thought, but over the years it has become one of my favorite parts of the endowment. The reason God wants us to have kids is because they bring joy. 

And so, to answer this random stranger on the internet's request for some "positive, happy moments with my children," here are a few ways Lydia and Elliott brought me joy (so far) today:

Lydia's appearance this morning: crazy curls escaped from her braids, wearing backwards Elmo pajama pants with her belly sticking out of the two-sizes too small pajama shirt she was wearing.

Elliott's grin and wave when I got him out of his crib.

Lydia's brainstorm on what to do while waiting for her pancakes to cool down, "Oh! We should say a prayer!" 

When Lydia requested I help her put a sleeping-eye-mask over her face.

Overhearing Lydia giggle with her friends.

Elliott's babble to himself as he patiently waited for me to get him after his morning nap.

Lydia telling me, "Mom! I'm making a PIE! It's just pretend." 

Elliott's delighted squeal when Lydia handed him the yellow balloon. 

Lydia walking over to the olive-wood Jesus carving on the bookshelf, pinching his nose and saying "HONK!"

Elliott crawling over and giving me a raspberry on my leg and then looking up at me and giggling. 

Elliott putting his head on my shoulder and arm around my neck and pulling me in for a hug.

han.

It's OCTOBER which means it's time to start thinking about Halloween costumes!!! (Totally unrelated, but it also means that I can officially say I'm due next month which is weird.) I have a love/hate relationship with the fact that we've done cute family-costumes the past two years because it's been SO much fun! ...but is also making me feel pressure to out-perform the previous two years which is going to be hard to do! (So don't count on it 😂.) I'm sure we only have a year or two left in which I'll be able to convince Lydia to wear the costume iiiiii want her to wear and not the one SHE wants to wear and I guess that's probably for the best because then it will take the pressure off. haha.

Here are some pics of last year and the year before in case you need some inspiration. I'm hoping looking through them will inspire me as well!  😂

2016: Kuzco, Yzma, and Kronk from Disney's The Emperor's New Groove

_ _ _

han.

The month of May 2018 was a big deal in the Olson household. Two members of the family celebrated birthdays (Elliott and Stephen) AND we added two additional members that I'm 100% certain will make their mark (literally and figuratively) on our family forever. 

ADDITIONAL MEMBER #1: OUR VERY FIRST GRILL!

We knew this summer would be our year to finally have a grill. We looooove burgers, grilled chicken, and kabobs (who doesn't?!) and now that we have a backyard it seemed silly not to take advantage! When it came to actually purchasing the grill, however, we didn't have a clue what we were doing since neither of us know much of anything about grills and they can get pretty pricey. After a lot of searching and researching (and multiple phone calls to my dad) - we found this baby on facebook marketplace for $75 and we were sold! We've used it almost everyday since we bought it and we 👏🏻 love 👏🏻 it👏🏻. We're determined to be burger-making masters (like my dad) by the end of summer! He swears the key to a good burger is to cook them low and slow and give them a healthy (or not-so-healthy 😜) dose of Lawry's garlic salt, haha. We've still got work to do, but I'd say we're starting to get the hang of it!

ADDITIONAL MEMBER #2: A VERY WELL-LOVED [and panic-inducing 😜] SWING SET!

One evening Stephen was chatting with one of our neighbors who was getting ready to move to a new house. During the conversation they offered to give us their swingset before the move. Lydia loves swings and slides and without hesitating Stephen said we would absolutely take it. When Stephen excitedly told me about our recent acquisition he mentioned that it was a little old and broken but he was certain Lydia would be thrilled. When the beloved swingset showed up in our backyard a few days later, he was right! Lydia was THRILLED! ...her mom, not so much 😜

Needless to say, this swing-set has already made it's mark (or two 😳) and I often feel like I should probably have liability waivers for parents to fill out before they let their children play in our backyard 🙈 but Lydia and her little friends absolutely love it, and I try to keep my anxieties to myself for the most part (although I will say this is not a strong-suit of mine - especially while being pregnant) 😂.

Since moving to a new area of Utah in January, we haven’t done nearly as much exploring as we initially planned. (Poor weather/the first trimester of pregnancy + lots of puking are valid excuses for this though, no?!) Since I'm finally feeling much more like my usual-self and Stephen had the day off work, for Memorial Day we decided to head to the mountains for an adventure! Well, we mostly just set out for a fun afternoon in the mountains, but we maaaay have gotten a little more than we were looking for ;) 

Our plans were pretty simple: Meet our friends Bryce and Melissa at Silver Lake, build a campfire, and visit while roasting hotdogs, cooking *the world's best* tinfoil dinners, and indulging in s'mores. The perfect plan!

Perfect, perhaps, but not particularly adventurous...

Not long after loading up the car to embark on this afternoon in the mountains, it started raining. Mother nature loves to give you those little surprises! (In her defense, when Stephen checked the weather forecast earlier in the day, he accidentally checked the forecast for "silver lake" in exactly the opposite direction of where we were headed, hahaha, so the rain shouldn't have actually been a surprise at all...)

We weren't sure how this rain would affect our plans, but since our friends had gone up the canyon earlier in the day and didn't have cell reception, we decided to just head in their direction and make the most of it (all the while hoping the rain would dissipate). After getting lost multiple times, off-roading in the rain, and getting our car caked with mud, we found our friends, who had, unfortunately, gotten a flat tire! 😂🙈

Bryce, Melissa and Landon jumped into our car and after a bit of driving around we found the perfect spot to set up "camp" and start our fire (thankfully by the time we made it to this point the rain had stopped). After unloading the car and an intense search for kindling (which proved difficult due to the recent downpour) Stephen and Bryce successfully got our fire going!…just in time for a ranger to come inform us that -- despite the fact that the fire-pit we were using had been there long before us -- no fires were allowed in that part of the park. 🤦🏻‍♀️

15 minutes later the fire was doused, four adults + three children and a heckuva-lotta stuff were re-loaded into the car, and we resumed our search for a prime spot to *legally* start a fire. A spot was found and we again unloaded all the people and supplies. Starting a second fire (after using most of the trash we had in our car as kindling for the first one) proved to be even more difficult. An excruciating 20 minutes later we were in business with a campfire! (Did I mention that Stephen and I had spent all afternoon working on our masterpieces of tin-foil dinners and in all the excitement forgotten to eat lunch?!)

As you may have imagined, the whole getting-lost-dealing-with-a-flat-tire-moving-camps-and-lack-of-kindling situation set us back...a bit. At this point, as soon as there was a flame, we scarfed down the hotdogs, made some s'mores and then started packing everything up to go home 😂 (after Stephen took the drone out for a quick spin). 

With three curious children under the age of three, a free-flowing river just a few feet in one direction and open flames a few feet in the other, "visiting around the campfire" was, unfortunately, forgotten, along with the tin-foil dinners that we were certain would be unlike any the world had ever before seen (in the best way, of course ;)). 

Despite the craziness and things not exactly going to plan, we had a ton of fun and are surprisingly more motivated to do the whole thing again now that we have all the kinks worked out! haha 

_ _ _

han.

PS We ended up cooking our tinfoil dinners in our oven the next day and...they basically tasted like meatloaf?! hahaha Neither of us have ever made meatloaf before but turns out if you throw all of the "most delicious" things in your fridge into some hamburger that's basically what it is. Who knew!

PPS Although we didn't do much in the way of "Memorial Day" on Monday, later that week I took Lydia and Elliott on a walk to the nearby cemetery where we looked at all of the decorated headstones and talked about veterans and our country's flag. I realized how important that is to do after listening to this podcast episode and I hope to incorporate more education into patriotic holidays in the future! 

I've been so busy lately concentrating on instagram and growing my youtube channel (oh yeah, and being a mom of two under two 😅😂) that I'm afraid I've let this little blog of mine fall through the cracks. I really don't want to let it die completely, but I'm not sure I'll be able to consistently make time to post new content on it, so I'm going to start posting my instagram photos here as well. For those of you who already follow me on instgram, these posts might feel a little redundant, but I have a few siblings who STILL don't have instagram (no matter how much I plead for them to jump on the wagon ;)) AND since instagram's feed is no longer in chronological order, it might be nice for people to keep track of it on here. Most of all though, this space is still primary my "life story" if you will, and I think it will be nice to have more of my story in one place. (I'm going to try to be better about posting my youtube videos here right away as well.) 

To take full advantage of this moment with both kids napping, I'll provide a quick update: Life is GREAT. We have love love loved the addition of Elliott to our little family and he continues to be the happiest, chillest, and chunkiest baby ever. I would guess he is WEEKS away from surpassing Lydia in weight and I daresay his head is already bigger than hers. haha! Stephen continues to work long and hard for our family and we have LOVED the long summer days that have allowed us to get out of the house after he's home and still have hours of daylight to hit up the splash pad or the slide at a nearby park. Thinking about the fact that soon he will be coming home after dark already has me a little apprehensive (is it just me, or do days seem to DRAG AND DRAG when the sun is out for such a short time?). Thankfully I feel like the kids and I are in a really good routine (although don't ask me how I feel on Friday - SNOW is in the forecast😭!!!) and we are SO GRATEFUL to be living in our apartment with so many friends around during the day. 

Thanks for being here and I'm really hoping to back here again SOON! 

_ _ _ 

han.

Last night, on a spur-of-the-moment decision, we headed to the zoo.

As in, at 3:47 pm the decision was made, and by 4:07 pm I had both kiddos loaded in the car and we were pulling out of our apartment complex parking lot to pick up Stephen. THIS IS MONUMENTAL. I don't think I've ever gotten the kids out the door and in the car that quickly AND at least seven of those minutes were spent TRYING TO FOLD UP THE DANG STROLLER. 🙈  I didn't realize that I had the seats on backwards, and needless to say, I'm 100% certain any passerby would have gotten a good laugh watching me wrestle that badboy into the back of the car. (Although I wouldn't have taken it very well because I was both mentally and physically heated by the end 😅 but I am CLEARLY getting off topic.)

For Stephen's birthday Mom and Dad Olson gifted him (aka us) passes to the Zoo, and we hadn't been back since the day before Elliott was born. And since Stephen was having a slow day at work (which rarely happens!), we decided to take full advantage and head to the zoo.

Stephen LOVES the zoo. His family lived just a few miles away when he was little and he has lots of fond memories of going to the zoo. He wouldn't hesitate to spend all day there if he could! 

...I can't say I share the same level of excitement ;) but I love how much he loves the zoo, and the fact that Lydia is starting to catch on is, obviously, an added bonus for both of us.

We made it to the zoo about an hour before closing and it was PERFECT. Perfect because the hottest part of the day was over. Perfect because the crowds had gone home for the day (as in, we were some of the only people there!). And perfect because it was an hour. ;) If every zoo trip could be like this one - I'd go every week! 

Although it might be argued that Lydia's favorite part of the outing was running from one set of stairs to the next (that girl and her stairs obsession!) she also got a plethora of opportunities to show off her lion, elephant, owl, monkey, and cat sounds. And watching her wave to a seal while exclaiming "HI!" just about melted my heart. 

^^Lydia would also point and say "GUG!" every time we passed one of these mechanical bugs that are currently on display. (And I would still like to know - WHY?! They are both pointless and slight disturbing, IMO.)

As the zoo was nearing closing, we headed toward the exit, and Lydia spotted the carousel. She pointed at it and then ran towards it, eyes wide with excitement. I don't even know how she knew what it was or that it was something she should be excited about, but she walked right over to it and tried to get through the gate! Not wanting to pay the fee to ride it, and knowing that there was a strong possibility she wouldn't actually like it, we were about to turn her attention to something else, when the worker running the carousel invited her on board - free of charge! Much to my (happy) surprise, SHE LOVED IT. Her huge smile when she came around the bend gave me GOOSEBUMPS. Oh how I love that girl. Oh how I love my sweet little family. 

And (dare I say it?!) oh how I love the zoo. 

_ _ _

han. 

I can't believe it's almost been three weeks since Elliott was born! The days have literally flown by. We were so incredibly blessed to have Mom Olson with us for six days after he was born and then Mom Flinders for 10 days after that! We were so spoiled! I've tried to use any spare time I've had the last few weeks to record details about the birth (on my phone) since everything fades so quickly, and as ridiculous as this novel is, I'm sure I've left things out! Obviously there are wayyy more details in this post than the average person cares to know, but it's important to me to have all the details in one place! So...here we go! 

This time my due date came and went and to be honest I felt weirdly calm about everything. With Lydia, I had thoroughly convinced myself she was going to come before the due date, so everyday for WEEKS before she came I told myself, "Today's the day!" and then it wasn't...and wasn't...and wasn't. By the time her due date finally came I was pretty beaten down, depressed, frustrated, and quite honestly annoyed! It was in that state that I was talked into hiking the Y, drinking the caster oil drink etc...But you can read alllllll about that here, if you care to be reminded of the details surrounding that birth. ;)

With Elliott things were different. I pretty much expected to go past my due date this time, I just had no idea how long. I actually agreed to photograph a wedding ON the due date (obviously I had back-up in place in case I couldn't make it!) and I think a good part of me would have been disappointed had I not been able to make it to the wedding. As soon as the wedding ended and we were driving home, however, I started sending vibes to Babyboy that any time from here on out would be an appropriate time for him to make his debut. ☺️

On Tuesday morning I went to a trampoline park with a friend. She had texted me on Monday and invited me and Lydia to come with her and her daughter and I thought that was an excellent idea! It gave me something to do and there was a chance jumping on a tramoline might help move things along, so it was a win-win! (Plus, Lydia loooves trampolines.) We had fun at the park, but zero contractions (even when I was jumping!) so I don't think it made any difference for Elliott, haha. That night Mom Olson flew in so again I did my best to send the "Come on, baby!" vibes.

Wednesday morning I had a doctor's appointment. I had been "at about a one" for three-ish weeks so although I didn't foresee the baby coming that day, I hoped the doctor would give news of some progress. NOTHING. I asked my doctor if he would strip my membranes to possibly encourage things along, but he said stripping membranes is only effective about half of the time and always causes cramping and bleeding. He also said my cervix was "still pretty far back" so he was fairly confident it wouldn't be effective. (As a side note, while he was saying all of this, it occurred to me that most doctors probably aren't as gung-ho about stripping membranes as my doctor was when I had Lydia. My OB with Lydia stripped my membranes FOUR times, which, looking back, I'm 100% sure he did because he knew he was going out of town and really wanted her to come before he did! And yes. Cramping and bleeding were very present during the last few weeks of that pregnancy, but I just attributed that to the fact that I was nearing delivery and had no clue that it had anything to do with my membranes being stripped.)

That appointment (the whole 4 minutes that it lasted) was pretty discouraging. I broke down in the bathroom on my way out. I still wasn't NEARLY the wreck I had been when I was overdue with Lydia, but I was starting to get frustrated that NO progress had been made. I felt particularly anxious to get things moving now that Mom Olson was here to help! I really wanted to feel like her time was being used productively both for her sake, and mine! Basically, I left the doctor's office feeling like the baby wasn't coming out ANY time soon. I tried to pull it together (i.e. stop crying) but I broke down again in the car as I was texting Stephen about the appointment, and then a few minutes later when I met Lydia and Mom Olson at the park. Thankfully, it only took a few hours to mostly get out of the funk.

That night as I was semi-venting to Stephen about the fact that I felt like this baby was still WEEKS away, he suggested I go to the temple Thursday morning which was, of course, the perfect suggestion. 

I woke up Thursday morning and decided it was time to start taking matters into my own hands. After dropping Stephen off at the train station, I stopped at the grocery store and purchased the ingredients for the infamous caster oil drink that seemed to get things moving with Lydia. I knew it wasn't going to send my body into labor, but I was hopeful it might help things start moving along. The drink (in case you don't remember) consists of: half a can of kern's nectar, two tablespoons almond butter, two tablespoons caster oil, and lemon verbena oil (which I don't have, so I just used lemon juice, haha). It actually didn't taste as bad as I had remembered it! 

I went to the temple (per Stephen's suggestion) and did initiatories. Always a good idea, and something I had done regularly during the weeks leading up to Lydia's birth to help calm any potential fears I had about approaching an unmedicated labor. 

A little after getting home I started having some contractions! They were very sporadic and not strong at all, but I noticed that they were mostly in my back. I knew from my labor with Lydia that having back contractions can be a sign that the baby is in a poor position, maybe facing the wrong way. The fact that Elliott wasn't in the right position made sense to me. I felt fairly confidant that reason my body wasn't progressing towards labor was because he wasn't in the correct position. (Obviously, I have no way of knowing if this is actually true, but it sounded good to me, haha.) I asked a couple friends about what I could do to encourage him to get into a better position and I was told to try looking on the website spinningbabies.com for some specific suggestions. Most of the "exercises" require another person to assist so when Stephen got home from work we tried to follow the instructions on the website but mostly didn't have a clue what we were doing and felt really silly. Haha.  (One of them has you put a blanket over your stomach and have the other person tug on either side of the blanket to rock the baby into place hahaha, yes it felt as ridiculous as it sounds.) That night I also successfully talked Stephen into massaging different pressure points I found in a YouTube video as a means to get things moving. (I don't think it did anything, but any excuse for a massage is good in my book! haha)

Friday morning my friend Stacie offered to help me with the spinning babies thing because she was more familiar with the exercises than I was. I don't know if it was directly related to any of the things I'd done, but after a few hours the contractions were where they were supposed to be!

The rest of Friday was fairly uneventful. Mom Olson and I went on a walk. I tried a much more delicious "labor" drink a friend suggested (it had walnuts, ginger, and brown sugar -- I actually drank this one willingly without any complaint, haha). And that night Stephen and I test drove a car that we ended up purchasing the following week! 

On Saturday morning (now 5 days overdue) I had another mini breakdown. I told Stephen that I thought my body was still days or even weeks away from having a baby! Again, I was feeling pretty good physically, I was just frustrated that I had had help with us for three full days and still no baby! Obviously, Mom Olson was still a huge help with Lydia, and we loved having her here, I just felt silly for having her come all this way with zero signs of a baby! What if it the time came for her to leave and the baby still hadn't come?! I was also starting to stress a little because Dad Olson was set to fly in on the 13 for the baby blessing and there might not be a baby to bless by then! Thankfully Stephen calmed me down (he's the best) and I got it together for a good day. 

It was Mom Olson's birthday, and we had plans go to the zoo! After a relaxing morning and Lydia's (really long) nap, to the zoo we went! The last time Lydia went to a zoo she was 6 months old, so she was a lot more entertaining to watch this time around. Haha. It was a ton of fun! I had a handful of contractions as we walked up a hill in the back part of the zoo, but other than that, nada. 

On the way home we grabbed some Thai food to-go. Mom Olson got looots of siracha sauce in case I wanted to try the spicy food route. Haha. (I thought the green curry had the perfect amount of spice without the siracha for the record ;)) 

After dinner I decided that I had nothing to lose by drinking the caster oil drink again. I still had all the ingredients and I still didn't think it was going to send me into labor, but I wanted to feel like I was making an effort to push things along! This time the drink was particularly nasty for some reason. It was a struggle to choke it down, but I powered through!

Mom and Sarah (Stephen's sister who had joined us for the zoo outing) headed to the store to pick up some moose tracks ice cream for a birthday treat. While they were gone I asked Stephen to give me a priesthood blessing. He said he would but he also (somewhat jokingly) said that he couldn't force Elliott come tonight in the blessing. I laughed and said I knew that, but I wanted him to bless Elliott to be in the proper position so when he did come there wouldn't be any problems, and the birth would be able to go forward as I'd planned.

I went to sleep around 11:30 and then woke up at about three. As had been my habit the previous few weeks, I laid there for a minute trying to figure out what had woken me up. And, like every single previous instance, it was because I needed to pee. I went to the bathroom and got back in bed, bummed that I hadn't woken up due to a contraction, and then I had a contraction! Hooray! Haha. I went back to sleep (hoping that a contraction would wake me up) and sure enough, about a half an hour later I woke up again with another contraction! I laid in bed for a few minutes, had another contraction, and then had to go to the bathroom. I tried not to read into the fact that I needed to poop at 3:45 am, but I was obviously hopeful that this was a sign my body was preparing for labor.

I got back in bed again and slept for another 20 minutes or so and then woke up from another contraction. After laying in bed for a while continuing to have (mild) contractions, I decided to take a bath. I don't totally know the reason, but I've heard that getting in the water will sometimes help the contractions subside if they aren't the real deal? Or it soothes them if they are? I don't know if either of those things are even remotely true, haha, but whatever the reason, I got in the bath.

In the bath I listened to a few general conference talks, since it was Sunday, afterall. I listened to this talk by Elder Holland to start, which was given just a few weeks before Lydia was born, and if you haven't heard I highly recommend. 

At about 5:30 am I got out of the bath and woke up Stephen to give him the update. I told him I wasn't 100% sure this was the real deal, but that I had been contracting fairly regularly for a few hours. He started timing the contractions on his phone and they were coming about five minutes apart and were lasting between 35-45 seconds. I got back in bed but quickly realized that laying down was not a pleasant laboring position, so I didn't last that way for long. I much preferred bouncing on an exercise ball or standing and leaning against a wall/Stephen during contractions. After timing them for about an hour and seeing them get longer, stronger and more frequent, we decided that this was really happening -- it was just a matter of how long I wanted to stay home before heading to the hospital! 

We spent the next few hours casually packing the hospital bag and tidying up around the house. It was hard to pack the hospital bag in advance because so much of the stuff I wanted to take was stuff I needed everyday (i.e hairbrush, toothbrush, camera, phone charger, etc). My cousin Kimberly suggested making a list of things I was going to need and then packing it when the day arrived and I'm so glad that's what we did! I really liked having an objective while the contractions were continuing to pick up. 

Lydia woke up around 8 and would get mad every time she saw me on the exercise ball (she thinks it's hers and is very protective of it) and every time Stephen would hug me during a contraction (she is equally as protective of his affection, hahaha). We found it really funny but she did not. ha!

Just before 9, Mom Olson left with Lydia for church (Grandpa Olson had been kind enough to lend her his car while she was staying with us). We finished tidying up the apartment, did one last check to make sure we had everything we needed, and then decided to head to the hospital. When we got in the car we said a prayer that our car would make it there. Haha. My poor little '98 Honda Accord had had the "check engine" light on for days and from the way it was violently shifting gears, or choosing not to shift gears at all, we knew the transmission was basically shot.

Thankfully, we made it to the hospital without any problems (#powerofprayer), but of course the whole way there I was questioning weather or not it was really time to be heading to the hospital! I was so terrified I would get there and they would tell me I was at a 2 and send me home! I knew it really wouldn't be that big of a deal if I was sent home, but I just really didn't want that to happen. Among other reasons, I had coordinated with some girls in my building to watch Lydia after church so Mom Olson could come to the hospital, so going back home empty handed would have been quite embarrassing. Ha. 

When we got to the check-in desk at labor and delivery there were approximately 15 women standing behind it in scrubs. Apparently the computer inputting system had been changed the day before so they were all helping each other navigate through the new system. The whole time we were checking in (which took almost 10 minutes, despite the fact that I had preregistered) I only had ONE contraction, and it wasn't even a very long one! The lady asked me to sign a paper and then I started having a contraction so I just closed my eyes and leaned against the desk and after 20 seconds or so I opened my eyes, took the pen, and then signed the paper. I am 100% sure at least half of the women behind the desk were rolling their eyes and thinking "Oh honey, you are NOT in labor." 🙈 

I got into the room and changed into the oh-so-flattering hospital gown. A little while later my nurse Katelynn came in. She was super nice and I still want to be her friend in real life, haha. I told her that I was so afraid I was going to be at a 2 and be sent home and she just laughed and said that if I was it wouldn't be a big deal. After I was all hooked up to the monitors so they could watch the contractions and the baby's heart rate, she checked me and she said, "You're most definitely not at a 2! You're at a 6!" 💃🏻💃🏻 I was soooo relieved that I was actually in labor and that I WOULD have a baby before leaving the hospital!

Since I tested positive for GBS, they gave me an IV and started administering penicillin. After about 20 minutes it was I was unhooked from the monitors so I could move freely. 

They brought in an exercise ball (at my request) but it was a little small/deflated so I didn't like laboring on it as much as I had at home. Instead, I preferred leaning against the bed, against Stephen, or kneeling on the bed. 

Mom Olson arrived around 11:15 and my friend Sue, who was kind enough to come take pictures for us, arrived at about noon. Since we opted to go without a doula this time, I was glad Sue was able to come because she had two of her children unmedicated, and it was comforting to have a visual reminder that birth is normal, natural, and healthy! (Plus, the pictures she took are 👌🏼.)

The next few hours the four of us chatted and I would pause occasionally to breathe through a contraction. It was still fairly easy for me to keep up with the conversation through them, and occasionally I would even contribute a few words during a contraction, so things were going very smoothly.

A little after 2 I felt like things were picking up significantly. I obviously wasn't in the "pushing stage" but the contractions started to feel different and more intense. I called my nurse in to check me and she said I was at a 6+. I'm sure she added the plus just to be nice 😂 . I was maybe a tad discouraged I hadn't made much noticeable progress in the few hours I'd been at the hospital, but I was pretty confident that things were moving along just fine. Katelynn was super supportive and believed that things were going to go fast once they started happening, so she told the front desk to call my doctor. A few minutes later the front desk responded to say that my doctor was going to wait to come until there was "significant progress." Totally understandable, but as I overheard this conversation I had the very clear thought that he wasn't going to make it in time.

Katelynn suggested I labor on hands and knees on the bed because she said when she had checked me she thought the baby's head was tilted slightly. A few minutes after she left, the contractions became more intense. It started taking all of my concentration to breathe through them. One of the other nurses suggested to have Stephen and Mom Olson apply pressure to either side of my lower back during these more-intense contractions and I am SO grateful she suggested that! It was so so helpful! After about 20 minutes of these more-intense contractions I called Katelynn in again and said that I felt like the pushing stage was getting pretty close! She checked me again and said I was at a 9! She said that I should "try to not push" if the urge came since there was still a little bit of cervix in the way and I chuckled to myself remembering how well that went last time.... Ha. (It didn't.) 

A minute later I said, "I think I need to push!...Or maybe I need to poop!...Not sure if I need to push, but I definitely need to poop!" Katelyn laughed and said, "I've heard that before! You're definitely about to have a baby!" 

I turned over so I was laying in the bed. Katelynn was entering something into the computer when all of a sudden HE WAS COMING. I said to Katelyn, "He's coming right now!" She moved the blanket and sure enough, there was his head! Katelyn put a hand on his head (holding him there?! I'm not actually sure why, haha) And very calmly asked Mom Olson to go over and push "the pink button." Within seconds of the pink button being pressed, the doors swung open and about 7 people rushed into the room, one of which was the on-call doctor who came into the room holding her hands up and saying, "Gloves! Gloves! I need gloves, any gloves!" 

(I only know that part of the story because Mom Olson recounted it later, haha, I was a little distracted by other things at that particular moment, lol.)

Elliott's head came so fast and I wasn't expecting it all to happen so quickly that it, quite literally, took my breath away! I honestly forgot how to breathe for a few seconds! And then not being able to breathe made me slightly panic. Katelynn remained very calm and reminded me to breathe. Thankfully it only took a second for me to remember how to breathe, haha, and I asked if someone would count. During the pushing stage with Lydia one of the nurses counted each time I pushed and I remembered it being SO helpful! 

..Let's just say, there wasn't much time to count. Another push and some involuntary noises came out of my mouth. haha! 🙊 It definitely wasn't a scream, but with each push came a low noise (groan?) that I seriously didn't recognize and definitely didn't anticipate! The doctor (who thankfully found some gloves, haha) came over to the foot off the bed and cheerfully said, "If you picked your knees up, he'd come right out!" (As she said it I remember thinking how silly it was of me to be laying on my back with my legs flat on the bed. 

I picked up my knees as suggested, gave one more push and out he flew! Elliott Allred was born at 2:57 pm, weighing 7 pounds, 15 ounces, (just 5 ounces less than Lydia's birthweight) -- about two minutes after the doctor had come into the room!

I did tear a little bit, but the doctor said the tear wasn't bleeding, so she guessed I just re-tore along part of where I'd torn with Lydia. While she gave me a few stitches I held Elliott for the first time! Everything was perfect!! Within a minute of him being born, Elliott pooped, just a small foreshadowing of the weeks to come ;)

(Next came my LEAST favorite part of the whole experience - when the nurses push on the stomach to help uterus contract back down and make sure it is soft. I seriously hate that part.)

About an hour and a half later they moved me to the recovery room. It just so happened that my mom was flying in that day for a surprise birthday party for one of my aunts, so she came by with my Grandma and Grandpa Rasband after they picked her up from the airport! Mom Olson had gone back to pick up Lydia from a friend's and brought her back so we all got to watch Lydia meet Elliott for the first time and I thought my heart was going to burst! Lydia didn't totally understand who Elliott was I'm sure, but she she loves babies, so she was really excited about him, and it was beyond adorable.

Overall, everything with this birth went much smoother than with Lydia's. (And I would say her birth went relatively smoothly aside from the little bit when we were told to prepare for an emergency C-section.) I'm not sure what can be attributed to the fact that it was a second birth, a smaller baby, and the lack of medical intervention/epidural, but the recovery this time around has been GREAT! Within a few hours of Elliott's arrival I was walking around and it little to no pain. I took the ibuprofen that the nurses offered every 8 hours, but every time they asked me to rate my level of pain I said 0 and I really meant it! Obviously there were a few days over the next few weeks where I felt a bit sore, but by far the worst part of the days immediately following the birth were the post-labor contractions! I had been warned about many times and were indeed more prevalent than any post-labor contractions I had experienced with Lydia. (Yes, I am fully aware they get worse with each kid and I am already dreading it.) I always assumed that people wore "belly bands" after labor for purely cosmetic reasons, but I decided to put one on as a way to apply constant pressure on my back and I actually thought it helped a lot! It's funny too because I feel like I was constantly complaining about the post-labor contractions, but I never once did I complain about a contraction being uncomfortable during labor. In my opinion, it really just goes to show that mindset it KEY! (And also proves that I do not have an abnormally high pain tolerance, haha.)

In summary, the human body is amazing and I'm so grateful to have Elliott here, happy and healthy! (And best of all - sleepy ;))

So far we think being a family of four is pretty great!

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han.