Alyssa Ann

Alyssa Ann Farrell was born October 11, 2013 at 3:13 pm. She was our biggest baby, at 6 lb 13 oz and 18 3/4" long. 

I started having contractions in the afternoon on the 10th, but they were really far apart so I didn't think anything of them. That night my water broke at 10:15, right after I had gone to bed. We stayed at home for a couple of hours hoping contractions would pick up, and finally went to the hospital around 1 am. After a long night and day of walking, walking, and more walking to keep contractions coming, Alyssa finally came! This was my second unmedicated labor, and was about as opposite from the last one as it could possibly be. Ellie's birth was fast and mostly painless (only about two hours of active labor). This one dragged on for 15 long hours and was much more painful, thanks to some horrible back labor. But it was all worth it in the end. I've had a smooth, easy recovery and feel pretty good. 

We have all been adjusting and things have been going about as smoothly as we could have hoped. Alyssa is such a sweet, quiet, calm baby. Even when she is really mad, which is only when she wants to eat, she just lets out the cutest little squawk…it can hardly be called a scream. The kids adore her and just wish she would wake up a little more so they could see her.

For anyone interested, the much longer, more detailed birth story is below the pictures.

One last picture before heading to the hospital

Meeting baby for the first time. I love the kids expressions here!

Grandma, Jenny, and Fij came to visit in the hospital

She always has to have her hands up by her face, just like our other kids. It's a Farrell thing!

Alyssa is sleeping in our room until after my mom's visit, so my mom can sleep in her room. So for now her bed is the doll cradle my dad made for me when I was a little girl. It fits her perfectly.

Ellie LOVES being a big sister and having a baby all her own. She is so sweet with Alyssa.

All ready for church

The Long Birth Story

I was due Sunday the 13th, but was telling everyone she wouldn't come till the 20th at the earliest. Jon was insistent though that she was going to come either the 10th or 11th. On the 10th I had a chiropractor appointment. I wanted one last adjustment before my due date to get things aligned and ready for birth. The adjustment was awesome and as soon as I stood up I felt baby drop really low. I headed home and by the time I got there I had started having contractions, stronger than the Braxton Hicks I'd been having. They continued all afternoon about 20-25 minutes apart, but I convinced myself that it meant absolutely nothing. This could go on for another 2 weeks. By dinner time the contractions were still coming. I had no appetite and at this point was feeling the very strong urge to keep walking, keep moving. I tidied up the house, went outside and played with my kids, anything to stay moving. Jon came home and I asked him to make quesadillas for dinner. I just could not think about food.

My kids didn't have school the next day (teacher work day), so we had planned to have a family movie night that night. We settled in with our movie and popcorn, but I just could not settle in! I was SO antsy. My body was screaming at me to get up and get walking. I didn't want to walk out on our family time and it was already dark so I knew I shouldn't go walk outside anyway. I tried to keep moving any way I could during the movie, but it was hard! FINALLY the movie ended. We got the kids in bed and started chatting about our days. I hadn't mentioned anything to Jon about the contractions because I didn't want to get his hopes up. I finally told him and his response was "I KNEW it!" He could tell something was off with me and figured that was the case.

Around 9:30 I hit a wall. I was suddenly exhausted. I told him I was going to bed, but first I just HAD to do one load of laundry and make sure all of my clothes were clean. He just laughed... :)  I got in bed and instantly fell asleep, only to wake up 30 minutes later to wetness. I knew immediately what it was but didn't want to get my hopes up. I went to the bathroom, cleaned up, headed back to bed, and repeated the whole cycle a couple more times before I finally went and told Jon that my water broke. Again, he wasn't surprised. 

I did not want to rush to the hospital because my contractions were still about 10-15 minutes apart. With Emma  I rushed to the hospital as soon as my water broke and they hooked me up to Pitocin as soon as I was checked in. I did NOT want that happening again. So, we waited it out. I hopped in the shower while Jon went to bed. He figured he’d get what sleep he could since it was obviously going to be a long night. I spent the next 2 hours getting ready, packing my hospital bag, eating one last small meal, getting my laundry finished, and WALKING. Contractions were still far apart and it was a little discouraging. Around midnight my water was still leaking and I was tired of the constant cleanup, so we decided to head in. I asked Jon to give me a blessing before we left. Among other things he said that I had prepared well and that everything would go smoothly. I could only hope that he was right! We called our neighbor to come over and stay with the kids, let the hospital know we were coming, and we were off. We were going to have a baby! It all felt so surreal!

Once we got to the hospital and got checked in we were left alone. They knew I wanted to go unmedicated and were respectful of that. Contractions were maybe 6-10 minutes apart at this point and I was only dilated to a 3, so I knew I had to keep walking. Every time I sat or laid down they would go back to 20 minutes apart. So I walked and walked and walked some more. After walking all night in circles in my room and up and down the same hallway, all I could think was that they should really think about putting treadmills in the rooms!

My doctor came to check on me around 8 am (10 hours after my water broke) and I was only 4 cm…super discouraging! So we kept walking. Contractions were not bad at all but I was getting exhausted and was wishing that I had just stayed home through the night. I wanted to eat something but was on a broth, jello, and apple juice diet there…I wanted to cry! The rest of the morning and early afternoon continued on the same…contractions far apart and progressing one cm every 2-3 hours. Around 1 pm my doctor came in to check on me again. Six centimeters. Progress, but I was so done at that point. I kept telling Jon that we should just ask for Pitocin and an epidural and be done with it, but deep down inside I knew I really didn’t want that. I’ve had 2 epidurals before and had terrible experiences with them. I REALLY wanted my unmedicated birth and I knew I would regret it if I gave in. My doctor said there was a forebag of waters that was probably keeping things from progressing, so she broke it and told me things should start happening fast. All I knew at that point was she better be right. I was SO exhausted I couldn’t focus. And that was hard. My last unmedicated birth had been SO fast and easy and I had loved my experience. This was about as opposite as it could be and I wasn’t prepared for that.

Thankfully things did start progressing. My contractions still stayed 4-6 minutes apart, but they were getting more intense. At this point I knew I needed to stay in my room. We put the bed in an upright sitting position and I knelt on it, leaning over the head of it while Jon pushed on my lower back. He was AWESOME. I don't think I could have done it without him! This is the first time I have experienced back labor and it was horrible! I knew I was close to being done at this point. My body was giving me all the signs of being in transition. I tried to relax, knowing that if I did it would be easier. I was able to breathe through a couple contractions and then I would give into the pain and start trying to push. I remember being really annoyed that the nurse hadn’t called the doctor at this point. There was so much pressure and I could feel that the baby was really low. I don’t think she thought I was as far as I was though, because I wasn’t screaming. Finally I heard her make the call and I was so relieved. The doctor came running in a few minutes later and had me turn and sit on the bed. I was trying to push slowly so I wouldn't tear, but the pressure was too much and I just needed her out! So I pushed and two minutes after the doctor got there we had our sweet baby girl.

They immediately placed her on my chest and I think I was in shock. My first thought was that this wasn’t my baby. She was purple…really really purple and it scared me. I commented on it and my doctor said something about her being a little more purple than they’d like. They took her away to take care of her. She had fluid in her lungs, so they cleaned her out and put her on oxygen. Thankfully I could hear her trying to cry or I would have been a wreck! They got baby stable, weighed and measured her, and brought her back to me.

It was all so surreal. The whole night and day of laboring. The actual birth. Sitting there holding this new baby, this baby that had just been kicking around inside of me. Nine months of anticipation had come to an end and we were starting the next chapter of lives. Even though this is our fourth time doing this, it is just as new and exciting each time.

 Jon went and got the kids and brought them to visit a couple hours after the baby was born. The kids' faces were priceless when they finally got to see her. It was better than Christmas morning!  We still didn’t have a name and didn’t end up picking one for another three days! We finally settled on our original choice, Alyssa Ann Farrell. We sure love this girl!

The bugs

I love this blog and everything Sarah writes on it. I usually don't intervene and write anything because she just covers the events in our lives so well and completely. However a couple posts back I felt that something was missing when Sarah covered our massive trip to New Mexico. She displayed photos of the amazing places we went, the good times we had, and even that awesome rainbow lizard photo I took :) But she summed up a major part of the trip in only a few short words "insanely large bugs, snakes, and other animals." 

Now, I'm sorry... but I just couldn't help but elaborate on the topic. Those that know me know that I love anything that creeps or crawls on the earth (except flies). I can't help but pick it up if it has six (or sometimes) eight legs (and I can manage to catch it). So here is the unwritten truth of what you will find on a week long excursion across California, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico. You will see that Sarah did not exaggerate when she said "insanely large". 
Those with weak stomachs and an aversion to invertebrates, avert your eyes....

-Jon

we begin with the humble tarantula. These guys were all over at night. Look how cute and cuddly! They are just like teddy bears with eight legs.

 

Ellie was the only one who wanted to hold it. 

Lots of beetles! This is a blister beetle they bleed a poisonous liquid from their knee joints which can cause blisters if it gets on your skin. Lovely!

Red ants at White Sands. Are they fire ants? I didn't try to find out.

Green June Beetle. I used to see these often on my mission to Mexico. Children would tie thread around a leg and keep them as pets. The beetles would fly and look like little flying dogs on a leash.

Emma likes it.

These are scarab beetles, Megasoma punctulatum  to be precise. We found these at a rest stop. They were all over the ground. I think they were dying. Strangely they were all female beetles. How do you know that Jon? Well, the internet told me. After a little research I found out what these were (although I guessed scarab beetle in my search). The males have horns like a rhinoceros.

When we brought cool bugs in the car the kids would fight over who got to hold them. Forget the ipad, forget the dvd player. The bugs were fought over! No bugs did not ride out of their cage while driving! All bugs were temporary captives and were released. 

Tobacco Hawk moth. This moth was about the size of a hummingbird. HUGE! Also caught while at a rest stop. Here it is laying eggs in our upholstery before flying out the van door (I'm kidding). My sister refers to moths of this caliber as "meaty"

No this is not Satan's dog, although it does look like something out of a horror movie. This is a whip scorpion. Whip scorpions are not actually scorpions and are not venomous. There are claws on the front and a whip tail on the back. No stinger, no fangs. You can actually hold them and they will quietly walk along your hand. I admit I was not brave enough to hold it. It just looks scary. This arachnid is HUGE. put your hand out flat in front of you. The whip scorpion would reach from the tip of your fingers to your wrist in length. They are also known as Vinagaroons because of an amazing ability they have to shoot vinegar out of their tails. Don't believe me. Watch this: Slow Motion Whip Scorpion

The one in that video is super tiny though. This one was big like in this image: guy holding whip scorpion

To finish off the bugs how about something pretty. Look at this amazing pink spotted flower moth. Although not that large it was very cool looking. 

There were many, many, many, more bugs that I did not photograph. We also caught a scorpion which I didn't get a photo of. I knew I would be in trouble if the memory card was completely full of bugs and not people :)

Lots of lizards! I got a few photos of some of the amazing lizards we came across. This is a Spiny Lizard we saw in Texas. It is very big. I would estimate about the size of a Costco hot dog. 

The most common lizards were the Whiptails. There are many different kinds but most looked like this.

Catching a Whiptail. He's at the very bottom of the photo near that cactus. In case you are wondering, Yes, I caught him.

Here he is after I let him go. 

Sarah included this photo in her post. This lizard is amazing. It is a Greater Earless Lizard. It was way too fast for me to catch so I shot it with my camera. This lizard did something really cool as I approached it which I didn't get on film. It lifts up it's tail which is zebra striped black and white underneath and waves it at you to look scary. 

 Snakes! Actually we only saw two snakes on the whole trip, which surprised me. We found this guy, a common garter snake in Texas. The other snake we saw was a huge diamond back rattlesnake on the side of the road. We looked at it from the car. 

It made me happy to share with the kids all the amazing creatures we found along our trip. I can see myself reflected in their eyes. The world is such an amazing place especially when you are young. I hope to leave my children with a few things in this life. One of them, (although far from the most important) is a love of God's creatures big and small. I am reminded of the scripture:

D&C 59: 16-18

16 Verily I say, that inasmuch as ye do this, the fullness of the earth is yours, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which climbeth upon the trees and walketh upon the earth;

17 Yea, and the herb, and the good things which come of the earth, whether for food or for raiment, or for houses, or for barns, or for orchards, or for gardens, or for vineyards; 

18 Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart;

That pretty much sums up what the creepy crawlies do for me. They are an endless testament of God's love and creativity. Although people often fear them or hate them, most bugs, snakes, and lizards don't do us any harm. They make this world a more interesting place to live in.  

A Tale of a Princess

Once upon a time there was a little girl. This little girl was happy and active and loved doing everything that her older brother and sister did. She loved playing in the dirt and mud, was fascinated by bugs (and really all animals). She was a rough and tumble little girl who also had a soft side for her mommy.

One morning out of the blue, this little girl woke up and decided she was a princess and she couldn't take off the princess nightgown she just happened to be wearing (which also happened to be the ONLY piece of princess clothing this little girl's family owned). Her mom was surprised, shocked, completely caught off guard. Her little girl who would happily wear anything her mom put on her (though she preferred her shirts and dresses that had ladybugs and butterflies) all of a sudden refused to wear anything she didn't consider to be proper princess attire. Thinking it was just an off day, her tired and very pregnant mom decided to just go with it and let her wear the princess nightgown all day. Much to her mom's dismay though, the little girl refused to take off the princess nightgown that night too. And thus began the completely unanticipated  and dreaded princess phase. 

A month later, Princess Ellie's wardrobe has expanded to about 4 princess approved outfits (2 of which are fairy costumes). In moments of desperation when all of the favored dresses are dirty, a fancy church dress will do the trick too. The princess prefers her feet stay bare, but the rare times her mom can convince her to wear shoes she will only agree to her purple sparkly flip flops, which she is quickly outgrowing. The little girl spends her days blissfully surrounding herself with all things princess. She rarely leaves the house without a purse, an assortment of necklaces and bracelets, or some other fancy accessory. Meanwhile her mom spends her days pulling her hair out over the fact that she can't ever get the little princess to change out of her princess clothes and that she sleeps in nothing but a diaper most nights because her pajamas are not princessy enough. Every trip to a store now requires a run through the clothing section to look for inexpensive princess approved dresses (do you know how hard this is to accomplish???). In the meantime her very large wardrobe of nearly new and completely adorable clothes sits untouched in her dresser. 

The royal family hopes this phase passes quickly (especially with the colder weather coming!). In the meantime though her squeals of delight, oohing and aahing over beautiful princess things, and overall princess cuteness keep winning our hearts over.

Her royal pet rock, Rock a bye baby. Yes, she named it herself.

Hiatt Family Reunion 2013

Despite the fact that our family reunion happened over 3 months ago, and I wrote the first blog post about our trip over a month ago, I figured I should finish what I started and finally blog it.

So, when I finished the last blog post about our family reunion road trip, we had spent 4 days travelling across California, Arizona, and New Mexico, and then spent another 2 days in Texas and were finally on our way to our family reunion at a dude ranch in the absolute middle of nowhere New Mexico. Seriously...after several minutes of driving on a very bumpy dirt road with no signs of life in sight we were questioning whether we were on the right dirt road. But finally the cute little ranch came into view...we were relieved!

Out of the 32 people in my family, everyone was there except one brother-in-law who had to work...pretty impressive! We were in New Mexico in the dead of summer with no air conditioning and I'm not going to lie...it was HOT and the bugs were out of control. But it was fun to get to see everybody and the kids loved getting to play with all of their cousins. 

This table top checkers game was a big hit with all of the kids.

There wasn't any real table so the kids got to eat their meals on the floor, but they clearly didn't mind.

There were 2 buildings at the ranch- the main lodge and a smaller bunk house. Ellie loved running back and forth between the two looking for bugs and playing with the 2 ranch dogs.

It's tradition in my family to have an auction at reunions to raise money for the next reunion. The kids wasted no time scoping out the goods and staking their claims on certain items. The kids auction got a little competitive and there may have been tears shed...lol. But it was fun.

The owners of the ranch were kind enough to bring a horse out for all of the kids to ride. It was one of the highlights for them.

 This made me laugh. It was at least 100 degrees outside, but the kids were so desperate to swim that they kept getting in the hot tub. 

My parents made the kids vests and got each of them a bandanna and a stick horse. They had a fun little rodeo with lots of games, races, and activities. It was really cute.

Talent show night. Emma and Matthew sang "When Can I See You Again" (the Owl City song from Wreck it Ralph) and Ellie tried to join in.

 The family picture taken...not bad considering how many of us there are!

Ellie's bff for the week. This dog was SO good and patient with her.

 At the end of our week we all got up early and packed up to go our separate ways. Jon drove home with Ellie (he's a brave soul!) so that Emma, Matthew, and I could go spend a few days at my sister's house in Texas. We set out on our day of driving with her van packed completely full of luggage and people. It was me and Rachel, and six kids all under the age of 9. Things went really well, until a few hours into our trip when the air conditioning suddenly went out in her car. In the middle of nowhere Texas. In the middle of summer. With the temperature outside over 100 degrees. It was HOT! We were flying down the freeway with the windows down, but it provided almost no relief. A few hours, lots of water and ice cream later, we finally pulled up to her house. I don't think any of us had ever been so anxious to get out of a car before!

We had a fun, quick visit. I really wish we were able to live closer to some of my family. It makes me so sad that my kids only get to see their cousins, aunts, and uncles once every year or two, and only see my parents once or twice a year. It's just not enough! I'm grateful we were able to squeeze those few extra days in with Rachel and her family. 

Our first full day there we went swimming THREE separate times at the awesome water park by their house. The kids really want us to move right by a water park now too...unfortunately it probably won't ever happen.

The next couple of days we hung out mostly at their house. In between trying to get the air conditioning in the car fixed and my complete lack of energy thanks to the heat and being massively pregnant, it was just hard to get out. But everybody played hard and had fun anyway.

Our last day there we stopped for ice cream at a cute little shop and then met up with one of our college roommates and her family to watch The Croods. After that we grabbed some dinner and then continued on to the airport. 

We found out just a little too late that our 9 pm flight was delayed, so we ended up spending the next 7 hours at the airport and FINALLY got on our flight at 2 am. It was a LONG night. The kids were great, but I was exhausted and there really was no way for me to get comfortable...though I definitely considered plopping on the floor next to Emma. We finally boarded our plane, headed home, and crashed in our beds at 4 am. It was an eventful end to an eventful trip.