The Carters: September 2015

Since we were expecting Emmi to be late like the other kids, we planned for my parents to come visit 2 days after I was due - plenty of time to be here for her arrival. She had other plans though (thankfully!) and I went into labor on her due date. The day after Emmi was born, my parents got into town and stayed for 2.5 weeks. We had fun playing games and adjusting to life. I had an especially great time being able to nap without worrying about the other kids :)

Full cart! We needed a second for our actual purchases!

In her Sunday best! We all went to church that next Sunday. From the pulpit they made the announcement of Embree's birth and then said "mom and baby must be doing well because they're sitting right there!" I felt good and it was nice to not have to miss Sacrament meeting.

Rob's co-workers threw him a surprise baby shower with this amazing diaper cake!

The local AAA baseball team, the Rough Riders hosted a fun family day at the field and we got free tickets for the kids to a game, so we went the next week when Brian and Eila were in town.

Best family picture we could get

The kids found Uno Attack and loved playing it again and again. It was so fun to hear their shrieks of delight as it spit out cards. It's so fun to play games with the family!

My parents also closed on a house while they were in town. It's right around the corner from us across the greenway from our house. It also has a gate in their backyard so we can zip back and forth easily!

Grace started 2nd grade! She is an Edwards Elephant now and loves it!

The kids had weeks of sleepovers in the toy room while their rooms were confiscated for guests.

Of course, we played lots of hand and foot!

It was so fun to have my parents and Brian and Eila in town! Thanks for coming!

***Warning: this is a birth story - birth includes messiness***

Monday morning, August 10 (my due date!) I woke up thinking that my water may have been leaking but I wasn't really sure so we got up and went to the gym as usual - if it was broken then wouldn't walking on the treadmill get things started? When I got home I still wasn't contracting and the midwives said to come on in so they could check if my water really had broken. Rob decided to work from home, so we packed everyone up and headed to the birth center. As Kristen was checking me my water broke and gushed all over the exam room with the kids playing in the corner. This time around I was group B strep positive, so I stayed to get the first of the IV antibiotics and Rob took the kids to a friend's house and came back with lunch. After lunch I still wasn't having contractions, and worse - even less contractions than I had been having on a regular basis for the past few weeks! So I put on a Depends to catch the gush of amniotic fluid every few minutes and headed to Target to walk those contractions into action. While it was fun to have a sort-of date, it was irritating that I still wasn't contracting!

Grace was really worried about me and sent me a couple texts to check in. She is just the sweetest!

We tried to take a nap but couldn't sleep because those contractions were going to start any second and I was going to have a baby by dinnertime. Hah! We had dinner and hung out at the birth center. I took some black cohosh and drank labor tea to get things going naturally. And I walked and walked and went up and down the stairs in an effort to get anything going. Around 7 pm I started to get a little worried because my water had been broken for so long and the hep lock IV in my hand was aching and I still was having I no contractions. And I was starting to get really tired - the adrenaline had worn off and we had been up multiple times a night for the 2 nights before with Grace's earaches. Finally around 10 my contractions started to come consistently. I was really happy that I was able to relax a lot better than I had with Benji and after that was kind of a blur. I got into the tub, but then it was too warm, so I got into the shower. After a while in the shower I needed something new and got back into the tub. I was so tired that I was falling asleep between contractions. I remember multiple times starting to dream and being pulled out of it back to real life by pushing contractions. It was so strange, but I was so happy that I could be so relaxed! My cervix hadn't effaced evenly and baby wasn't able to get by it, so my midwife Kristen had to tuck that part of my cervix up under my pelvic bone. After that, it was only a couple of pushes until she was in my arms, which was great! Sadly, during the craziness Kristen's phone took a swim in the tub and died. Rob cut the cord. He was a great support and labor companion for me again. Gosh I love that man! He just let me squeeze the heck out of his fingers.

Embree June was born at 1:33 am and weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and was 21.75 inches long. She was so tiny compared with our other babies, but beautiful and perfect! We fell instantly and madly in love with her and spent the next few hours nursing and trying to sleep a little and enjoying skin to skin snuggling. Those first few hours are so amazing and precious. I love having the love hormones rushing through me and not being dulled by drugs. All the work that goes into getting babies here is so worth it!