To the Father of my Son

 My friend, Elise, was talking to me a couple weeks before Baby Cole arrived and she asked if I thought that my love for Will would increase after the baby was born. Elise said she had heard of many women "loving their husbands so much more" after they had a child. I am here to say, "Yes."
Will and I didn't really have a chance to celebrate Valentine's Day together. We were in the hospital recovering from the birth and getting to know Cole. I may have changed out of my hospital gown by then, but chances are, I was still gross and sore and less than desirable.

I just wanted to write a little note expressing my love for the wonderful man I married. It has been so fun seeing how proud he is of his new son. He is a great dad and I know that he will always seek to have strong relationships with his children. I am very grateful for his support and love. Throughout my pregnancy and after, Will always assured me I was beautiful. He has helped out in whatever way possible to make me more comfortable and my burden lighter. One thing that impressed me about Will from the start is his chivalry. He really knows how to treat women and is very respectful of them, especially his wife. Will never degrades me and constantly reminds me of his love. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful husband who I can laugh with, confide in, and cuddle up to. Thanks for being my best friend. I love you, Will.

Cole Emerson Lehmitz

I woke up around 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning, the 12th of February because I was having contractions. I didn't really recognize what they were at first. I just didn't feel right, so I decided to eat something to settle my stomach. After a sleepless two hours, I awoke Will and told him I was pretty certain I was in labor. The pains were welcome because Cole was nine days overdue and I really didn't want to be induced. I used various techniques to help me relax as the morning progressed.
Around 11:30, we headed to the hospital. They checked me out and decided to keep me. I was dilated to a four-and-a-half. We walked around and I breathed through my mounting contractions for the next three hours. It became more difficult for me to relax during the contractions. When the nurse checked me around 3:30, and I was dilated to a six-and-a-half, I decided I wanted an epidural. The contractions were about two-to-three minutes apart and mounting in intensity. The thought of several more hours of labor was daunting. As soon as I got the epidural, things looked much brighter. Grandma Sally and my friend, Linnea joined us in the delivery room. We talked a lot and even played Bananagrams. About 8:00 p.m. they started to have me push. I pushed for three and a half hours. It was exhausting and discouraging. The doctor could grab his hair for about two hours but Cole's head was jutting up instead of down and he just wasn't coming out. As he was in the birth canal, the doctor noticed he had some meconium staining, which is when the baby is pooping inside the womb. The doctor decided that we needed to use the vacuum suction because he was concerned about the meconium. With the help of the vacuum, I only had one push and Cole appeared. My tears of exhaustion and effort quickly transformed into tears of panic and fear as I realized my baby son was not all right.

They didn't want him to breathe right away because he had the meconium in his lungs and stomach. So, Will cut the cord and a team of about fifteen people whisked him away and began to work on him. They had tubes down his throat to suck all the fluid and meconium out. His heart rate dropped from around 150 to below 60 and he started to turn blue. They had to start doing chest compressions as well. Luckily, he began to respond. His heart rate when back up, but we was having what they called retraction, which means that he was struggling to breathe on his own. They had to put a respirator on him to help him breathe while still pulling more fluid out of him. By this time, they were calling for life flight to take him up to the University of Utah or Primary Children's Hospital where they had all the baby ICU equipment. Of course, lhis parents were hysterical at this point, hoping that our little boy was okay. They continued to treat him, and after about 45 minutes, they took him off the respirator to see how he would do on his own. He started to breathe by himself and his breaths became more regular. The life flight crew showed up, ready to take him. They were also running some blood tests and had to do an x-ray of his chest to see if any of the meconium was still deposited in his lungs. We continued to pray for our newborn son.

Every test that came back was normal. His breaths continued to regulate and all of his vital signs improved. The doctor's and life flight crew determined that he was improved enough to stay at the hospital we were at. After about an hour, I finally got to hold baby Cole in my arms. I've never felt more relieved. Tears rolled down my face as I thanked my Heavenly Father for sparing our son.  

He still had to stay in the level 2 nursery for the first 36 hours of his life where they had him on an IV and antibiotics to helps ensure he didn't have any infections. We've had to go to the doctor a couple more times since we've been home, but little Cole is a fighter and he is turning out to be a vivacious and healthy young boy. We are so grateful to have him in our lives and he has been an unspeakable blessing to his parents and those around him.

I enjoyed a low-risk pregnancy with no complications and the thought of a traumatic labor and delivery never crossed my mind. I was very determined to have him naturally and planned out several things I wanted to happen during labor, but all that was thrown out the window when things didn't go as planned. Nonetheless, I am grateful for modern medicine and all the doctors, nurses, and other professionals who worked so hard to keep our baby alive and well.

Baby Showers

We have been thoroughly spoiled by friends and family. Thank you to all my co-workers at Sunset Ridge for the shower at work. A big thanks goes out to Will's mom, Selma and sisters, who threw a really nice shower just after Christmas for the baby. I was able to see some of my old Young Women leaders as well as relatives. We received a lot of really nice gifts. Baby Cole has more clothes than I do now.  Here's a picture with the sisters and Jenifer and Sue Morris, a great friend of the family and an old neighbor/Young Women leader.

 Sausha and Karrie Christensen came. I loved the picture Sausha picked out for the nursery.

 The Andersen cousins gave us some cute little outfits and some very appropriate BYU slippers.

 Thank you to Grandma Sally, Aunt Kathy, and Heather Butterfield for the family shower. We played lots of fun games and ate delicious food--I love shrimp! Thanks, Selma, for the breast pump!

Thanks to Tara Carpenter for opening her home to us. I loved the baby pictionary. It was quite amusing. I had so much fun seeing all my friends! A special thanks to college buddies, Jill and Elise, for making time to come get to know all my friends from childhood and teenage-hood. I have beautiful, funny friends. It was so good to see you guys!
Lastly, Thanks Kirstie Lovell for putting together a ward shower. (Unfortunately, I forgot my camera.) The food was delicious and I really enjoyed chatting and getting to know all the ladies in our ward. Everyone has been so supportive. We are excited for Cole to come and enjoy all the generous gifts you guys gave us.

Holiday Festivities

Will and I celebrated Christmas by kicking it off with a visit to Mom down in Provo on Thursday as well as Christmas Eve. We watched Elf and decorated sugar cookies. Then, we went to my dad's house for a gourmet meal prepared by master chef, Jenifer. We enjoyed crescent rolls, prime rib, couscous salad, spinach salad, broccoli, and a delicious drink. (It was pretty memorable if I can remember most of what we ate a month later.) We really enjoyed seeing the family. Justin and I are pictured above comparing our bellies. After dinner, Blake, Jasmine, Bentley, and Ana joined us for presents. We were all thoroughly spoiled.

 This is before we ate the amazing feast.

 Poor Bentley was teething and running a fever. Christmas day we celebrated with Will's family. We had fun opening presents, playing games, and competing in a Ping Pong tournament. To kick off the New Year, Will and I went hiking up Yellow Fork Canyon in the Oquirrh mountains. It was a nice stroll for a pregnant lady, and it was good to get outside and burn some of that rich holiday food off.

 Two belly shots in one post--I'm making up for all the other months.

 The snow was pretty packed down. I went snowshoeing two weeks before, but you didn't really need them. We went as far as we could on the trail before we started to really sink in.

Baby Preparation

So this summer I had a lot of fun transforming the guest/junk room into a nursery. As most of you know, I have a growth in my abdomen that will emerge as our very own miniature human come February. Before I knew the gender, I started revamping the house since I knew I wouldn't have time when school started. One of the big projects was redecorating my doll house that my dad made for me when I was little. I was anticipating that we were going to have a little girl. At least the house has blue trim for our baby boy.  

 I decided to get pictures of my parents, Will's parents, Will, me, and Baby Cole when he arrives as a little family tree. We are still working on getting some of the photos.

 And I gave my old dresser some pizazz with a fresh coat of paint and a polka-dot design. Again, the treasure chest on top of the dresser was decorated when I had my premonitions about a girl-child.

This isn't quite the finished product. I am still going to do some paintings and create pelmet boxes above the blinds, but it's getting there. We bought a really cute crib set, but have yet to find a crib. While Baby Cole is young, we are going to use the cradle my dad lovingly built for his first-born child.   We're excited about Cole Emerson Lehmitz joining our family, but I am content to wait a couple more months to get used to the idea of motherhood. We are starting birthing classes this month and reality is setting in a little bit. Decorating for a baby is one thing, but actually giving birth and becoming a parent has left me feeling a little scared, but I just have to look at it as another grand adventure.

Nebo Loop

Since Tiffani and I were overcome with a bad cold last week, we had kind of a lame fall break. While I didn't have to go to work for a couple of days, being trapped at home all day for 3 days straight was not too fun. You can only watch so many movies on Netflix, right? We did watch a cool documentary series on the National Parks, but we were ready to get out after a few days. Since we still didn't feel up to much, we decided to get out in the mountains to enjoy the beautiful fall leaves. We headed down to visit Tif's mom in Provo and, from there, we headed down to Nephi to take a drive on the Nebo Loop Scenic Byway. Here's some pics.

Surprisingly, these red rock formations are along the loop at a little stop called Little Bryce Canyon.

The rest of the pics just show the beautiful aspen and oak trees in their incredible, vibrant autumn hues.