March-April 2012

It's been quite the couple of months at the Farr home. Since I last posted I've gone back to work full-time, which is why I haven't posted as frequently. Life is great and busy. Shane got a new job right after Alice was born. (He got the call for an interview while I was in labor). He is now working at Swinyer-Woseth Dermatology clinic in Salt Lake City as a medical assistant. He works 7-5:30 M-Th so Alice and I get him nights and weekends. He is getting paid more and works with great people. Shane also graduates from the U this month. His major is human development and family studies. He decided he didn't want to do the ceremony because of money and time but I am so proud of his accomplishments and determination. He is the greatest most hard working man I know and I have the privilege of being his wife. I love you, Shane.

I'm back to work at American Prep Academy. The administration put me into a Kindergarten class as a co-teacher. Before I had Alice I was in a 4th grade classroom, so it was quite the jump. It's definitely a different kind of challenge and I was pretty stressed the first couple weeks back but I've gotten in the groove of things so it's going a lot better. The kids are cute and never cease to make me laugh.

Alice, Alice, Alice. We love her to pieces. She's the most amazing baby. She sleeps through the night, eats about 5 times a day, smiles and goos at us. Monday thru Thursday she stays at my mom's, Shane's mom's and grandma's houses. We are so grateful for their willingness to help us out for the rest of the school year (only a few weeks left!) They love watching her and Alice loves it too.

We've celebrated Alice's baby blessing, Easter, our birthdays, etc over the last few weeks. It's been a fun and growing experience adjusting to a new baby but we couldn't be happier. She enriches our lives so much and can't imagine life without her now.

Alice Harli Farr

I know it has been a while since I have posted but we have been a little busy loving and taking care of our new arrival. Alice is finally here! It took me a few days to write her birth story but it's done. Here it is:

It all began on January 30, 2012. I had decided that I would start my maternity leave that day since I had two doctor appointments. Shane had work, but not until 2. We first had a non-stress test at 11 at IMC. We went to the appointment hoping I would have consistent enough contractions to go to the hospital. Luck was not in our favor…I had hardly any. But, Alice’s heartbeat was great and my blood pressure was good so we weren’t complaining. After the NST we went home and had lunch then went to the ultrasound at Riverton. Our ultrasound tech Anne told us that everything looked great and that as far as she could tell we would be having a 7 ½ to 8 lb. baby. After the ultrasound we went next door to Southridge to see if Dr. Bowman wanted to induce me the next day or not. She wasn’t there so we left a message and they said they would call when they knew. So Shane dropped me off at my parents and he went to work. Shortly after he left my mom and I went to pick up Kelci from the high school where I got a phone call. It was Melissa, Dr. Bowman’s MA telling me that Dr. Bowman wanted to induce me the next day and that I would need to come into the hospital that night to have my cervix ripened. I called Shane immediately and we both got super excited. We were going to have a baby! 

 I kept myself busy at my parent’s house (dinner, making valentines for Dallyn) but I was pretty anxious not knowing how the next few hours would be. Shane had to get off early and came to pick me up and we were off to the hospital at 8:15. By 8:30 we checked in to labor and delivery. They sent us to a room and told me to change into a gown. We weren’t sure if we were staying the night or not, so we just waited for what seemed like forever. Then a nurse (Vicky) came in and told us we were staying the night. She asked a ton of questions and put my IV in. It took a while because the first vein she tried didn’t work so she had to do it again. It was not comfortable, that’s for sure. After the IV, they put Cervadil inside to ripen my cervix. This was around 11 o clock and we were in for a long night. The Cervadil started my contractions and they were pretty painful. The nurse (Missy) gave me a very small dose of Morphine to take the edge off but it was still pretty bad. Because of the pain, we both barely slept. We tried to watch How to Train Your Dragon, but it wasn’t working very well. So from 12:00 till about 7:00, we endured and tried to be patient. By 7:00, our new nurse (Gayle) came in. My cervix was ready so she put me on Pitocin. Pitocin was meant to speed up the labor and contractions and it did its job. The contractions came on hard core and I was in pain. It felt like knives stabbing my insides every few minutes. I tried to hang on for as long as possible, but after two hours I was done, and had Shane get the anesthesiologist. Dr. Petersen came in and gave me the medicine. Gayle and Shane helped me, but I mostly just had to sit still. After the epidural, I felt so much better. It was instant relief. A little weird, but I could still move my legs which was nice. However, our January 31^st was just beginning,

With the Pitocin and the epidural I was hoping that Alice’s arrival would be just around the corner, but we still had a ways to go. We found out that Alice was in a posterior position (head facing my right hip)which is why my labor wasn’t progressing. Dr. Bowman and Gayle would check about every hour but there wasn’t a whole lot of change. Dr. Bowman said that we may need a C Section and we were pretty bummed. Not that we didn’t want to get Alice here safely, but we really wanted to do it vaginally. Gayle could see our discouragement, so she told us that she guaranteed we would have a vaginal birth and she was going to help get us there. She has been a nurse for 38 years and knew what she was doing. So they increased my intake of Pitocin and Gayle had me lie on my side and switch it every hour to try and get Alice to move. But all of a sudden the monitor that was tracking Alice’s heartbeat suddenly showed a major decrease in her heart rate. It was so scary and Shane and I were freaking out. Gayle came in and said they would need to get me off of the Pitocin to try and get her heart rate steady again and I had to be put on oxygen. I will never forget what Shane did to not only help me, but Alice too. He started humming hymns to my belly and her heart rate stayed in perfect sync with Shane’s singing. I knew Heavenly Father was in the room helping us all. But Shane, my wonderful Shane, knew exactly what to do and how to relax his girls.

Alice’s heart rate eventually got back to normal and me turning every hour seemed to really move the labor along. Eventually, she moved and the rest of the labor seemed to progressively get faster. Dr. Bowman and Gayle both checked my cervix to see how far I was dilated and effaced. We were so happy to hear that the time to push was at hand. I had started to feel a little nauseous since I had only been able to eat slushees and ice chips since early that morning and ended up throwing up everything left in my stomach. I felt so much better afterward though. Then, I got worried. With the epidural, some of the drug can wear off overtime but I had a button I could push if I started to feel the contractions or pain. I had only pushed the button one time previously but I felt like now I needed more medicine. Only there was one problem: the bag with the Fentanyl was almost gone and Gayle told me it was time to start pushing. I might not have medicine for my labor! Shane and I let Gayle know and she said if she had to get more medicine she would. Until I got more medicine I could feel some of the contractions and it was not fun. I got more medicine and it kicked in just in time for labor. By about 2:15 in the afternoon, Gayle told me it was time. Now Gayle was not only my nurse, but also took on the role as labor coach. She and Shane were so helpful and encouraging. I don’t think I could have done it without them. As soon as I started pushing, Alice started to emerge. Gayle could feel her head and said she had lots of hair. I touched Alice’s head of hair and swear that was a big motivation in the rest of my labor. With breathing and pushing techniques, soon Alice was just about here. Gayle told me to stop pushing and called Dr. Bowman to get into our room stat. Dr. Bowman suited up and I was pushing at every contraction. I did have to get an episiotomy otherwise Alice would have torn right through me. Within 30 minutes, Alice was out, and Shane got to cut the umbilical cord. Our baby girl was born at 2:47 p.m. I got to see her for a second, and then she went to be cleaned, weighed and measured. She didn’t come out screaming but was making a cute little goat cry while they cleaned her. She was 6 lbs. 15 oz. 19 in. long and absolutely perfect with lots of black hair. I then got to hold her for the first time. Shane and I were so happy and relieved to have our beautiful daughter alive and well in our arms. After 14 hours of labor, the pain didn’t matter. We finally had our little Alice. 

Me and Alice the day after she was born

Ready to head home!

Shane taking her in the house

First Bath

Taking a nap

These pics should have been first, but this is Shane and I right after we got to the hospital

Minutes after Alice was born

Getting checked

Tuckered out from labor

My two loves

At home- this is one of my all time favorite photos of her

Shane and I like to call this photo, "Stop! In the name of love!"

This face cracks me up. Why so serious?

She will be four weeks old tomorrow and we can hardly believe it. She had her two week check-up and grew two inches and gained almost a pound, but that was two weeks ago! She is growing so well and is such a good girl. She only wakes up once in the night to eat so Shane and I are pretty spoiled. We absolutely love her to death and are so grateful Heavenly Father trusted us with one of his precious daughters. 

37 Weeks/Nursery

Wow. I can't believe how fast time has flown since my last post. It's been a very busy few weeks with the holidays, going back to work and showers. I knew once the holidays hit Alice's birth would be right on our doorstep, and it is getting so close! I have had a few more doctor appointments (most recently Tuesday) and right now I am dilated to a one and 90% effaced. My doctor wants to see how this next week goes, but my labor is progressing so it could be anytime. Shane and I are just happy that she is full term and healthy at this point. It's getting harder for me to move around at work since she's dropped, but being up and teaching is doing its job. So, her birth is close and we can't wait!

I've been meaning to post pictures of the nursery for a while. It's been a process, and we're just about done but here is what we have so far (we're so spoiled, and so is Alice!)

It's been so much fun putting her room together and Shane and I love walking by and knowing that soon our little girl will be here with us. We're just praying that the delivery goes well for all of us and we're excited that it's right around the corner. We will update as much as we can :)

10 Weeks to Go/Thanksgiving & Black Friday

30 Weeks Along

Our little Alice is only about 10 weeks away from being here and we are getting so excited. It's remained busy with work, school and Thanksgiving and we have had a nice relaxing Saturday together. We are so blessed and I'm glad that we have stayed busy.

Thanksgiving was really fun. We got to go to the Farr's for breakfast (cinnamon rolls and yogurt parfaits) and visit, then we went to my parents for dinner. All the food the entire day was amazing and all three of us enjoyed ourselves. Shane had to work from 6-10 on Thanksgiving so he could have Christmas off this year, so I just stayed and hung out with my family. We all decided to look through the Black Friday ads even though none of us really wanted to participate in the madness. (Having worked at Build-A-Bear for 3 1/2 I had had my fill of crazies at the mall at midnight and beyond). My sister Kelci, however, being the talented shopper/deal seeker she is found an insanely good deal at Babies R Us for a crib and changing table for $150. The deal started at 5 AM and I was really torn- save the money and be crazy, or go home and loose out on a deal? When Shane got off, we talked it over and decided to try it. On our way home, we stopped at Babies R Us to see if there was a line and if we would have to wait there and then. Luckily, there wasn't so we went home, changed, had a snack and geared up for an adventure. We got back to BRU at 1:00 in the morning-no one was there. We decided we would rather be safe than sorry. I slept for a couple hours and Shane stayed awake and scouted (he had his Gameboy to keep him company). After I woke up, we talked and watched as people started showing up. No one was waiting outside just yet, it only being 2:30. Around 3:30, we decided we were going to go wait outside. A truck that had pulled up minutes before saw Shane getting my coat from the back seat and he bolted for the door. Shane left me to get my coat and ran to the door to be second in line (he was not happy after already waiting for 2 hours). Then everyone started emerging from their cars. It wasn't too long of a line- there was still an hour and a half to wait in the cold. We brought plenty to keep us warm and we were determined to get the deal. Chatting with people in line, we found that the guy in front of us, and the couple behind us were both in line for the crib deal. We just hoped that there was more than one. 5:00 rolled around and no staff had come out to do a ticket system like we had hoped. After all, a crib is huge and not something you can just grab. As soon as the doors opened, Shane was a speed walking bullet to the back (thank goodness for his long legs). The guy in front of us was first the the service desk and got his request taken, then it was our turn. Shane quickly told her, "Same thing as that guy," and she told the worker in back to get two of the cribs and changing tables. While anticipating for them to come from the back, we watched as customers climbed shelves to get items that they wanted. It was quite a sight to see. But, we got our crib and changing table and we are so grateful. They are now set up and look beautiful. We also got a dresser a few weeks ago from RC Willey Clearance center so she is all set up furniture wise. I want to post pics when we have the bedding and stuff as well. Merry Christmas to us!

Update on appointments: I've had a lot of people ask how Alice and I are doing, seeing that the last few posts have been about her heart and how doctors were concerned. I am happy to report that everything as of now is just great. The only thing my doctor hasn't been thrilled with is my blood pressure (it's been borderline- not crazy high, but not where they want it). So every week I go to IMC and have a Non- Stress Test. All they do there is monitor Alice's heart rate, my blood pressure and check my amniotic fluid. I actually love it because I get to sit in a relaxing chair, listen to my baby and see her for a few minutes on an ultrasound. I've had two so far and both have gone splendidly for her and for me. My blood pressure has been perfect at both appointments so everyone is happy. She even had hiccups at this last one...it was adorable. So, baby and me a great and she is growing like crazy, as you can see from the size of my belly. We couldn't be happier or more blessed and are grateful to Heavenly Father for all of our blessings.

I am really looking forward to Christmas break. Work has been particularly draining and I'm excited to spend some time with family and Shane. At this point, we have heard from all but one of the PA schools Shane applied for and he hasn't been accepted into any of them. It's a little discouraging, but we are looking at it as a blessing. That way after he graduates in May, he can hopefully find a better job and we can stay in our house which will be nice. Life is just full of surprises and I'm just glad I have such an amazing husband and soon to be daughter to share them with.

Well, I don't know if anyone will read this whole thing but it will be nice to use this as a journal entry that I can just print out instead of having to write over again. Thanks to all for your continued love and support. Know that we love and appreciate everything you do.

3 Years of Bliss

Today is mine and Shane's 3rd wedding anniversary. We were going to go to Wolf Creek in Ogden where we went for our Honeymoon, but our funds didn't agree with us so we have laid low this weekend. It's been very restful and fun to just sleep-in, be together and eat amazing food. I can't believe this will be our last anniversary with just the two of us, but we are both excited for our new little bundle of change coming in February.

Life has never been better. I grow more and more in love with Shane everyday. I never thought I could ever care about someone so much and am so grateful that Heavenly Father gave me the ultimate man to be by my side through everything. Marriage by no means has been easy, but loving each other has. We hardly ever argue and compliment one another so well, life at times feels like clockwork. We have faced our challenges head-on and have always agreed that we need faith in every footstep. I love my husband and can't wait to see him in his new role as a dad. It will be exciting and scary for the both of us and I couldn't do it with anyone but him.

Thanks Shane for the best three years of my life. I know that life will only get better and can't wait to continue our adventure. I love you!

26 Weeks...Holy Cow!

I can't believe I am already 26 weeks along! This has been a crazy adventure but Shane and I are loving every second of it. I've had a few doctor appointments since I last posted. Alice is doing great. She is growing, kicking and moving like crazy and we absolutely adore her. She has had, however, what the doctor and specialist call PAC's (premature atrial contractions) which basically means her heart sometimes skips a beat. We've seen a specialist several times now, but the last time we went we were very enthused-she only had one PAC the whole appointment and the rest of the time her heart sounded great. Then I had an appointment with my regular doctor Tuesday and she had more frequent PAC's. Needless to say, we were both a little discouraged-we want what's best for our little Alice. We went to the temple Tuesday after I got home from the appointment and we both feel at peace about everything. There's a lot of uncertainty in our life right now and all that we can do is put our faith in the Lord. I will have another appointment with my doctor next week to have another listen at Alice's heartbeat to determine where to go for the rest of the pregnancy. My blood pressure has also been a little higher ever since I've been pregnant so that's another thing we are keeping an eye on. We would ask for your continued support and prayers as we are in the 3rd trimester and getting closer to meeting our little Ali-Bug. We love you all and appreciate all that you do for us.

Over Half Way

Well, I am currently 24 weeks along and can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday we found out we were pregnant and now it's almost over! Alice has been moving like crazy. It's exciting now that we can actually watch her moving in my belly. She is extremely strong and loves kicking Shane. We can't help but grin and grin every time it happens. We can't wait to meet our little Ali-Bug when that time comes. I have two doctor appointments this week so we get to see how she is doing and if everything is going smoothly. Last appointment she had an irregular heartbeat and I had to see a specialist but they didn't find anything they were concerned about. I hope it's the same story this time around, but we are sure praying and hoping for all to go well.

We're busy as usual with work and Shane with school. He's also been able to go out camping and hunt which I'm glad he's gotten to do. We got a letter from the U that told us that Shane didn't get into the the PA program there which we are super bummed about. But Shane took it extremely well and I couldn't be more proud of him. Over 800 people applied and only 44 get seats so it's a very competitive field. We have yet to hear from the other schools he applied for and we're anxious to see what could happen.

Life is a roller coaster right now with a lot of uncertainty but I couldn't do it without Shane or the Lord. We were grateful for such great inspiration with general conference a couple weeks ago and felt like a lot of them were specifically for us. We are so blessed and we know that if we stay  faithful that everything will be ok. I love this gospel, I know that it's true and couldn't take life head on without it.

Today was our ward's primary program and I am the chorister. It has been a stressful time getting it ready since we have so many kids in our ward (the primary room is constantly packed). But today reaffirmed my love for kids. They have such an amazing spirit and even though they can be a pain, I learn so much from them, not only at church but from my job as well. I'm grateful Heavenly Father has blessed me with opportunities to work and grow with the kids I serve.

It's been a crazy few weeks and I know it's only going to get crazier. Life never stops being stressful, busy or wonderful. I'm just thankful I can share it with such wonderful people, especially my families and husband. Life isn't worth anything unless you're surrounded by the ones you love and in that department, I'm the luckiest person I know.