At 36 weeks, Andrea woke me up at about 7:00am and told me that she was pretty sure her water had broke. So, we loaded up the car and were on the road within 20 minutes. We had to drive from Logan to Murray (about a 90 minute drive) By the time we hit Ogden, the contractions were getting pretty painful but were still about 4 minutes apart. I couldn't speed much due to morning traffic so I stayed in the left lane and went as fast as I could (only about 3 mph over). Then I feel a bang bang bang and see a ton of tread fly up in the air behind us. OH CRAP! There was no way to get to the left side of the road due to traffic, so I had to pull up tight against a cement barrier on the left side. I got out to assess the damage and check out her donut tire. All she had was a crappy little jack. I had only changed a tire once on my own and I know that due to the added stress of the situation there was no way I could do it as fast as we needed it done. We quickly called the SLC dispatcher and asked for assistance. She said she'd just send a UDOT truck to help with the tire and an officer to escort us to the hospital. GREAT! We were going to be fine!
That's not exactly what happened though.....within 4 minutes, we saw the fire chief truck pull up...then the UDOT truck... then an ambulance... then a fire truck... and then 6 state troopers. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? They shut down all 4 lanes of the freeway (in morning traffic keep in mind) and escorted us to the right side of the road. At this point I am half way between peeing my pants, laughing so hard I pee my pants, and bawling my eyes out. Andrea is saying over and over "I'm not riding in that ambulance!" Of course they make her. They strapped her onto a stretcher with a blanket and straps and the whole shebang. All the traffic had slowed to watch the spectacle of a show we were putting on. They had the tire fixed in about 60 seconds and we were on our way once again. I followed the ambulance at an under the speed limit speed of 60 mph all the way to the hospital!
We made it!
Once we got into the delivery room we quickly learned that Andrea was at a 5 and 100%. GOOD JOB! So she asked for the epidural straight away. Too bad the anesthesiologist was busy at a c-section and we had to wait. They gave her a little demerol to help with the pain while we waited. When we first arrived, the contractions seemed to still be somewhat bearable (in a way that only someone who has actually already gone through it could describe. It would be much more like death if a man was describing "bearable") But things quickly turned around. With just a couple contractions Andrea knew that something had definately changed. And sure enough...Avaree was ready to come. No epidural and all! So, after being at the hospital only about and hour and 15 minutes and Andrea's midwife sprinting through the hospital to make it in time, Little Avaree was born at 11:38am. She only pushed through about 3 contractions. This woman is amazing! This was my first time on the other side of the bed and I was completely amazed. Andrea was incredible. I was so proud of her!
The "PLAN" was to do her makeup and hair after the epidural was in and unfortunately the events of the day didn't allow for that, so we had to wait till Andrea was wheeled to recovery. She had the rest of the day ahead of her and she deserved to feel pretty for it, (even though she already looked pretty amazing) So the following picture was taken about 1 1/2 hours after birth. She's gorgeous!
I left for the night because our Mom had arrived and slept at the hospital with Andrea. When I came back in the morning, Avaree looked completely different. Her newborn swelling had gone down and she was looking just like her mom as a newborn. She's so adorable and of course so so tiny!
And after a sleepless night, her momma looked pretty amazing too! Avaree had to be on the bili lights for about an entire week, but is now doing fantastic and looking at Andrea, you'd never guess that she had given birth two weeks ago. She's such a great mom. CONGRATULATIONS!NOW: TELL ME IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO COULD BEAT HER STORY! HA HA!
She was so good to pose for me to take her picture.
You can tell this is the first week of school from her glowing tan. Lucky girl!
I didn't cry or come home depressed (after all, kindergarten is only 2 1/2 hours long here) but it is a little surreal to know that this is the beginning of forever...she'll always be in school from here on out. It's kind of weird. Plus...it makes me feel so so old.
We've enjoyed the beautiful walking paths.
And have of course been spending plenty of time outside which means sweating off weight by the buckets due to the humidity.
Kylie liked it quite a bit too. I mostly posted this picture so you can check out her eyes. When she was about 6 months old, I noticed her right eye has rays of brown coming out the the pupil. They are totally different and so cool looking. She's one of a kind!
There was also a little big of sharing going on. Kylie did her own hair that day. hmmmm???
The last calorie burning activity we've been doing a lot of is playing cards. Madison will sit and play go fish for an hour easy. (usually it's only me burned out by that time). And Kylie could win just about anyone in a game of slap jack. Man she's good. I get "schooled" about everytime! It's almost becoming a game of "bloody knuckles". ha ha!
We had to stop at every statue and get a picture taken.
Madison had to tote her new baby around everywhere she went.
We blew bubbles and ate snow cones and got lots of comments on the new sparkly skirts Grammie bought the girls.
At the work party, Grandpa guessed the right amount of money in the jar and won the whole jar of smarties and money!
And apparently Madison was trying to find her own treasures as well....
The best part of the zoo next to the vast array of wildlife is the landscaping. The zoo is full of bridges and secret passageways. All the plants are real and there isn't cement everywhere like in the Denver zoo. The humidity and heat here let tropical plants and bamboo thrive so it really is like being in a jungle. The bad part of that...I forget how ugly this weather makes me feel. Curling my hair is pointless and it's pretty long now, so it always ends up in a ponytail. Also...my makeup is a melted mess after just a short time out in this humidity!
I thought this waterfall was so cool. There is a pathway that goes behind the waterfall through a cave and the girls thought it was the coolest thing ever!
Scarlett knows exactly what to do when the camera is on.
Bridget and Madison liked the sand so much they decided to take a bunch of it home with them in their hair.
Kylie spent every second possible on the go-cart with Mitch and the 4wheelers with Terrence. I couldn't believe how strong she was. Terrence sat on the back and let Kylie have full control of the gas and steering and she did so good.
Maddi could not leave Tate's side. She is so in love with babies! I have a dozen or so pictures of little Tator-tot and he is putting something into his mouth in every single on of them. In this picture, he happens to be eating a rock.
Wish I would have gotten a picture of Madison on the 4-wheelers. We had to buy her her very own helmet on the way down and she put it to good use. If you could have seen her face and heard her sqeals of laughter when we took her up and down the steep dam, I'm sure you would all die laughing. It was priceless!
It was pretty windy for a while the first day, so the girls got to use their Easter kites.
I had to take this picture so that someday when I no longer drive a van, I can remember how white trash I felt driving this through the canyon and feel better about myself for not having to ever do this again. This picture makes me re-think the whole "swagger wagon" idea a bit.