Yet another chapter...

Yet another Chapter in my book of education has begun... ULTRASOUND! I started the Ultrasound program through Weber State University's Outreach program (outreach meaning I do all my schoolwork online and then meet at Weber once a month). I don't want to say I can't wait for this next year to be over becasue I don't want to wish time away. Instead I'll say that I'm looking forward to learning new things and bettering myself. Please keep the well-being of my brain in your thoughts and prayers because come to find out ultrasound is HARD!
Me in front of our hotel during our first trip to Weber...Holiday Inn Express, very classy. Devin in front of his favorite place in the world....no comment.

....then comes Harper Nell!

First things first, my BFF Karly asked me if I wanted to be in the room with her when she had her baby. Don't threaten me with a great time because I gladly said yes and hoped and prayed that my work schedule would allow me to get to LV when the time was there!
The night of Labor Day Devin and I were hunkering down for the night when I text Karly and told her that no matter the time of night I wanted her to call me if she started going into labor(she ahd started contractions that day so we knew it was soon). It turned out she was on her way to the hospital that very moment so Dev and I loaded up and drove to LV at 11pm!
When we got there I was expecting mass chaos and tons of nurses running in and out of the room frantically...instead there was nothing but the calm scene of Karly and her mom and husband waiting.....and waiting....
The waiting went on for quite some time. Luckily we entertained ourselves by watching the "Friends" marathon on TV and pretending to do lamaze....Poor Karly's pain was getting worse and worse, it was so hard to sit around and be normal while she was sitting there miserable. Enter anesthesiologist. Much better. After he did the epidural it was smooth sailing for quite a few hours....



We watched more Friends...Practiced more LaMaze...Love this picture of Matt and Devin. Let me just say those hospital chairs were soooo uncomfortable and the blankets were soooo not warm!

At around ten 'o'clock things started moving along. Karly was in much pain even with the epidural. It was such a roller coaster, mentally exhausting I tell you! By this time Devin was in the waiting room and Matt, Karly's mom, and I were with Karly, coaching her along as best we could. Finally at 1:00, after lots of pushing and the doctor FINALLY arriving this little one arrived...

Harper Nell Holt
Born September 6, 2011

7lbs, 21"
It is crazy looking at these pictures knowing that just minutes before they were taken there was such MASSED CHAOS in that hospital room. Karly was such a trooper and I'm so proud of how well she handled the whole thing. (One thing I noticed was that every time someone did any little thing for her like adjusted her pillow or got her ice chips she would say "thank you" even at the end when she was just exhausted and in pain.) She is gonna be the best Momma in the world! Everyone kept asking if watching someone go through labor made me never want to have one, and the answer is absolutely not! I think it made me want a baby so much more! There is nothing more beautiful than seeing a little baby take its first breath and cry its first cry, and watching all the work that goes into getting that little one here and seeing mom and dad get rewarded by finally getting to hold their little one...
BEST. DAY. EVER.

First comes the shower...

Food and Beverage table (the theme apparently was "Purple Baby", can you tell?)

The little sign says "Thanks for coming to see Karly before she "POPS"" and of course I served my mother-in-law's marshmallow popcorn balls.

Here are some of the pics of the baby shower I threw for Karly! It was a lot of fun to plan, especially since while I was planning I discovered the most glorious thing in the history of party planning.....PINTEREST! It gave me sooo many fun ideas from themes to food to decorations!