A Baby Story

It all started on Sunday January 13. During Church I noticed that I was having quite regular braxton hicks contractions. Having a hard time paying attention anyway, I decided to time them. Lo and behold, I was having contractions 6 minutes apart. this went on for over 2 hours. My doctor said to lay down, drink a lot, and relax. After 5 hours, they became irregular again and not so close together. After that close call, my doctor was a bit worried and not so sure I'd make it another week. He was right!

The following Thursday I started having painful contractions which felt pretty close together. I didn't want to time them because I was afraid I'd psyche myself out and  bring labor on myself! When Brandon got home they were pretty painful. He convinced me to time them and they were 5-6 minutes apart. They were not getting closer together, or more painful so I decided to still go to my friend's baby shower. By the time I got home they were coming 4 minutes apart, and I was in tears! I tried drinking a lot, laying down, and was really hoping they would stop but at 10:30 we were headed to the hospital. Some people would have been thrilled, not us! I had only had 3 days off of work and we were not at all ready! We had the essentials, but nothing was organized or set up. I had barely gotten all his clothes and bedding washed!

When we got to the hospital, they called my doctor and he told them to stop my labor! They gave me a shot of tributoline which slowed the contractions down but unfortunately made them last longer when they did come. That amount of pain should not last so long! After 15-20 minutes the contractions sped up again. They gave me another shot and the same thing happened. This baby was coming!

19 hours after labor began, we were holding a beautiful baby boy! haha I had to say it, but in reality he was REALLY funny looking! He had a cone head, was swollen beyond belief, had what looked like a black eye, and was screaming!!

Seth Brandon Hatch. January 18, 2013. 10:20 AM. 6lbs 18"

Everything went great in the hospital and the staff were amazing. My mom was still in Saudi Arabia and Brandon's parents had gone to Utah that morning so it was just the two of us! Brandon's Aunt Diane came to visit us in the hospital, and then she and Cory were waiting at our house when we got home!

My boys!

Ready to go home

Uncle Cory

 My mom came the night we got home and Brandon's parents made it the next day.

Such a strong little guy!!

The first week was, I think, a normal recovery week! The next week however, I got mastitis, then Seth got conjunctivitis, and just when we thought we couldn't get anything else, we BOTH got thrush! I have no idea what I would have done without my mom here to take care of us! We have been feeling great the past couple days, so I'm really hoping we are now in the clear!

Seth is now over 3 weeks old and we celebrated his due date yesterday by buying a diaper bag!

Loves his play mat

Curly wet hair!! Great Grandma Hatch would have loved it!

Love his faces

Don't you just love the shoes?

Seth would like to say thank you and give a great big hug to everyone who has sent/given him gifts and to those who have sent their love!

Cleaning out..

If there is one thing you should NEVER come across when your 9 months pregnant... its your senior prom picture!!

The fastest month of the year

I probably say this a lot, BUT I can't believe how time flies! It seems like yesterday that I was posting about thanksgiving. The beginning of this month went pretty normally but also quickly. We had something going on every weekend.

December 1: Baby prep and a short hike

 December7, 8, &9: Brandon's work Christmas party, temple trip, & the Messiah program

  December 14, 15 & 16: A party with our San Clemente friends (We really need to take a picture next time we have one of these get-togethers). The Dana point boat parade, great as usual but also cold. And last but certainly not least, a wonderful pre-Christmas dinner and bell concert at Diane's house.

December 21-30: We went to our ward Christmas party planning to leave right after dinner and get home to bed before our 6am drive to Utah but Brandon being the service oriented man he is, we were one of the very last people to leave after taking down all the decorations and cleaning up! Early the next morning we started out on our 11ish hour drive to Orem, Utah.

I started in the drivers seat and made it all the way to Mesquite (1/2 way) then Brandon took over and got us through the snow to Orem.

We got to my grandparents house where it was immediately obvious upon opening the fridge that my siblings were there!! All the eggs had eyes too, my grandpa was careful to avoid the "live" ones when he made breakfast the next day!

We then drove to West Yellowstone, Montana where we stayed in a nice cozy cabin for the week, celebrating Christmas, snowmobiling, skiing/snowboarding, and walking the town. I missed out on the snowboarding and snowmobiling but in a month it will all have been worth it!

Me and my pillows go everywhere together these days

What happens when you have lived your entire life in the desert of Saudi Arabia! We need to get this kid in the snow more often.

Our sweet ride into yellowstone

Water and snow are my favorite scenery combination, couldn't get enough!

this was not the last time she ended up in the snow, what are big brothers for

Me, Brandon, and the bison. NOT buffalo, bison!

It was cool how you could tell where all the hot spots were just from the steam

love the water color

The two who made it all possible! I love my parents SO much and am so grateful for their love, support, and all the work they put in to make this past week the greatest!

Old faithful. It was cool to see Yellowstone in the winter, unfortunately the eruptions were really hard to see with all the steam surrounding them.

water and snow, I could stare at it forever!

The kids!

The girls!

Baby Seth got his own stocking from Santa. Only 6 weeks until he can enjoy it himself.

Did somebody say gun control? Not in our house!! My dad loves his new Boy Scouts of America Eagle Scout tribute gun!!

Taylor's gift to Grandpa! He wore them until my brother said "You can take those off if you want, I don't mind!" I love my grandpa!

Last year I got the Louis Vuitton and Camree has always wanted one. After watching Brittney and I both open our purses and seeing we got the same ones, she was pretty sure she was getting the same as us also, SURPRISE she got her Louis!

Brandon's first time on a Snowmobile, he had a BLAST!! Racked up almost 200 miles of it this past week!

Brittney and Trevor

Taylor, Mckenzie, and Brandon stayed home with me on the second ski day because they all had colds. We took the opportunity to walk around the town.

South of Vegas and the snow is still melting off our sun roof. This is after a night spent in St. George. We had about a foot piled on top!

I wonder how many trips from Utah to California it will take before Brandon will pass this sign without taking a picture of it....

And December has been the month I figured out that I am constantly making ugly, weird, or mad faces....  Unfortunately for you, Brandon went through and deleted the worst (or best depending how you look at it) pictures of me!

In my defense, this was after falling down the steps of the bus in front of everyone with my coat unzipped. Yes, I'm the pregnant lady that fell out of the bus!

According to Brandon, I always look grumpy when I walk so he set out to prove it to me!

Good bye 2012, its been a great year!