What's On My Happy List?

Emma's Birthday

We even had Scooby Doo dog bone snacks

in the favors...

My peace loving, thoughtful, creative, helpful,

funny, darling, t-shirt/levi wearing, Valentine

baby turned 11 this weekend. She had a dog

themed birthday party with her friends. She

is a dog lover! Oh, how I wish I could have

surprised her with a real dog for her gift!

Unfortunately, between her allergies and

mine, a dog for a pet will not become a

reality unless we consider allergy shots.

UGH! We went to the theatre to see the

movie "Hotel for Dogs". She had the

playroom set up as a veterinarian office

so she and her friends could play "vet"with

the stuffed animals. They had a good time

just doing their thing.

Since I did this for Kyleigh on her birthday,

Emma wanted this done for her too. Such a

girl thing! LOL So here it goes…..

DUE DATE? February 17, 1998

DELIVERY DATE? February 15, 1998

DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? No

WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? Don't remember

anything in particular, although I do have

a memory of crawling in bed at night with

little Kyleigh and eating bananas. Jaren

seems to remember it was Wendy's

frosties. :)
WAS THERE ANY ARGUMENT OVER THE

BABY'S NAME? No, the only two names we

were trying to decide between were Emma

and Hannah. I remember Jaren taking
the baby and having a quiet moment with

her. He came back and said I think it should

be Emma. Sweet memory.

HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN

THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY?

I believe 38 ‘ish lbs.

DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS

DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? In the early

stages some blood work came back abnormal. I

had to have an early ultrasound and opted to have

an amniocentesis to check for Down Syndrome. Of

course having an amnio, there is no question what

the sex of the baby is.The results of the test got sent

to my OB where my mother in law was the office

nurse. She looked at the results thinking that we

would be finding out the sex but that wasn’t the case.

We didn’t want to know, so I went throughout my

pregnancy not knowing the sex of my baby but my

mother in law did. WEIRD! I thought I was carrying

a boy for quite awhile and then towards the end

I just wasn't sure.

WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? LDS Hospital...
(Love that place!)

HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR?

After being induced, which I have been with all

four babies (so convenient I might add), I was only

in labor 3 ½ hours…so different than my first

delivery of 15. I hit a six now and I’m ready for

delivery within the half hour.

WAS IT VAGINAL OR C-SECTION? Vaginal.

DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN?

Yep!! But the epidural came way too late. The nurse

kept asking if I was okay. I had lost all color from my

face, obviously from being in quite a bit of pain. I kept

replying I was fine. However, as I progressed further

the anesthesiologist found himself in an emergency

situation with another patient. AHHH!
So it took him awhile to get to me. The nurse said I was

at a nine before the epidural kicked in. I wasn’t

screaming or swearing yet, so I probably should have

gone without any pain med but it’s the pushing the

baby out that freaks me out. I have big babies…big
heads. OUCHY OUCH!

HOW MUCH DID THE BABY WEIGH? 8 lbs 8 oz.

TIME OF BIRTH? 12:01 p.m. on a snowy, Sunday

afternoon

WHAT DID YOU NAME THE BABY? Emma Abigail
This was before the name Emma became so popular.
In fact we got a few raised eyebrows over our choice of
name (so rude) but little did they know I was just a step

ahead of the fast growing trend of using more traditional,

old fashioned names. Not only is Emma a family name on

my Dad’s side, but I have a lot of respect and admiration for

Emma Smith, the Prophet’s wife. I loved the movie EMMA

with Gwyneth Paltrow and ‘Emma’ Thompson is in my all

time favorite movie, Sense and Sensibility. There was also

a family we knew, when we lived in Loma Linda, that had a

child with the same name, but they called her Abby. This

was about 4 years before Emma was born but I remember

falling in love with the name then. If Emma would

have been a boy, Brennan is the name we had chosen.

Memories of the day? Her head of black hair and the nurses

wisking her away to suck out all the meconium she had

swallowed.

Love you Emmsie!!

Celebrating President's Day

Draper Temple Open House

We took the youth in our ward to tour

the new Draper Temple before it is

dedicated. Beautimous! The chandelier

in the Celestial Room is

absolutely stunning!