The baby!

So we have a baby boy, in case you didn't already know. We went down to DC the first weekend in June to pick up Jared on our way to Virginia Beach and spent some time seeing his office and touring the Capitol. It was awesome and Jared is a great tour guide :) We got to go to the temple on Saturday which was much needed. I can't express how glad I am we went. It was exactly what I needed. I hope I can be better about going to the temple regularly, especially when we are back in Utah and it is minutes away. I need it in my life.

my niece Sarah, was the first of the family to hold the baby :)

So we drove from the temple to Virginia Beach and spent lots of time swimming and playing in sand and just relaxing and enjoying ourselves. It was seriously awesome. I LOVE that vacation . . . thanks mom and dad :) Monday I spent literally all day in the pool. After Lucy woke up she always wanted to go in the pool (she calls it the bath) and so I played with her and just relaxed in the pool most of the day. Nothing feels better when you are pregnant than floating in water.  I highly recommend it.

Lucy in my recovery room

Well, I don't remember all the details of the day but I do remember coming in around 3 or 4 to eat food and get ready for Lincoln's (Sarah's son) baby blessing. We were going to go over to the church at 6 pm (I think?) and have the baby blessing since almost all the family was together. Well, after I got something to eat I sat down by Jared to watch some TV and was just not comfortable. So I just walked around for a while and then decided to take a shower and get ready. I still felt kind of off but wasn't sure what was up and just tried to ignore it. I figured it was just some random contractions or something that would go away soon.



Timmy had to stay in the NICU for 10 days because he was having a hard time getting enough oxygen in his blood. He was on oxygen and a feeding tube until his oxygen assistance was low enough that he could eat on his own. Then we just waited while they weaned him off the oxygen.

To my credit, with Lucy I would have contractions for about an hour once or twice a week starting around 36 weeks and I figured that's all it was. Well, by the time we were getting in the car to go to the baby blessing it hurt so bad to sit down that I told Jared there was no way I could sit in the car. I seriously had no idea I was in labor, I just kept thinking something was wrong with the baby so Jared found out where the nearest hospital was and we went there to check out what was going on.

off the oxygen! wahoo!

Well, once we finally got to labor and delivery it was about 6:30 and  I was at 9.5 cm. I definitely was in pain and was finally convinced this baby was going to be born that day. Haha. First they asked me to fill out papers (Really?) which was not happening so Jared did all that for me. Then they made me lay down on the bed to check how far along I was and that was AWFUL. Walking was the only thing that made the pain manageable so I was NOT excited to be in a bed. But they convinced me the baby was coming so I sucked it up.

just lounging and waiting to be cleared to go home

Jared helped for a few minutes but then realized he needed to go move the car from the emergency room entrance. Luckily we had given our neice, Sarah, a ride and so she was there to help with Lucy. She was super awesome and entertained Lucy for the 30 minutes I was in labor. Jared came back and by 7 pm I was pushing and the baby (Timothy Isaac Aitken) was born at 7:08 pm. Crazy, I know.

As crazy as this all was, it really was perfect. Jared was there with me, which wouldn't have been possible if I had the baby in Pittsburgh. Timothy ended up being 38 weeks along (we thought I was only 36 weeks) so he wasn't too early, and I was able to deliver naturally which is what I really wanted this time.

Apparently I spent a significant part of labor in the pool which I can attest is helpful (I didn't even know I was in labor) and after that, walking around was SO helpful in managing the pain. It is good to know all those things I read about coping with the pain actually work.  And I can definitely attest to the fact that laying down in a bed for all of labor is the worst thing you can do to manage the pain AND putting the monitors on is TERRIBLE. I seriously almost yelled at the nurse when she put them on. Luckily it was only for 30 minutes :)

passing his hearing test

I have to say, I don't know if it is because it was my second baby or the fact that I had no drugs to help with the pain, but I am really glad I was able to have this baby naturally. It was definitely painful but it was manageable and everything afterwards was so much better.  I feel like I recovered better, I had so much more energy after, and I just really felt great compared to when I had Lucy. 



Timmy is ready to drive home finally!

I talked with my mom and her friend, Beth Nicholson, about having a baby when they'd have their visiting teaching visits it was amazing to speak to these women about how normal it is to give birth. I really feel like the world doesn't see birth now as something normal that our bodies know how to do and it is kind of tragic. I don't fault anyone for having birth in a hospital bed with drugs to help because I can definitely agree that epidurals are AMAZING, but now that I've done it both ways I just feel like everything went so much better spending most of my laboring time at home and coping with the pain by NOT laying down in a bed. Anyways, enough of my soapbox.

I read a lot while I was pregnant about natural birth and the women always said it was empowering and I have to agree. I feel great knowing I was able to do something difficult/painful and I feel like I can accomplish anything now. The whole experience was positive in so many ways and I"m so glad it went the way it did. It was all just perfect.



I know it is dark but I LOVE this picture. This is my happy little family. Aren't they so cute :)