David Crosby Garner

I was originally due on February 28th, but early on in my pregnancy the Dr. moved it to February 18th. I asked him multiple times at multiple appointments if he was still planning on the 18th, because I didn't want to get my head wrapped around the 18th, only to go past that date, and live in anxiety for the next 2 weeks. He always assured me that the 18th was the day. The 18th came and went. Then then 19th, 20th, and 21st, on which day I had an appointment. I asked him if I could be induced. He said I'd have to wait till Monday (the 25th)since he was at a conference that weekend. And then on his way out the door he casually threw out, "Maybe your due date really was the 28th!"

So I not-so-patiently waited 4 more days. As much as I wanted to just slow down and enjoy the last bit of my time being pregnant, especially knowing that this was my last, it was really hard to be positive. I was so incredibly uncomfortable. Richie and the kids worked so hard around the house to keep it tidy just in case I went into labor, and they pampered me with foot massages and baths. I have the best husband and best kids, hands down! Although I was scheduled to be induced on Monday, I tried to put it out of my head because I've heard so many stories of people waiting to be induced who keep getting pushed back because women in active labor come first. I told myself I'd have to wait another day or two. Well, Sunday night a nurse called me to let me know they had plenty of beds available and to plan on coming in at 7 tomorrow morning!

Our plans took a turn when we realized that Mom (Garner) had come down with some nasty sickness and didn't want to risk having the kids with her, in case it spread to baby. So who was going to watch the kids tomorrow while we had this baby? Aunt Makenna to the rescue! She stepped in immediately and it wasn't until we got that all figured out that I could actually breath a little. She saved the day, truly. Of course, now that I knew this baby was coming tomorrow for sure, I was on high alert. We got the kids in bed, I had a good cry by myself in the bathroom (typical for me every time I go into labor) and then despite my achy body, I started cleaning the house, packing bags, putting breakfast in the crockpot, etc. Finally, Richie convinced me to watch a show with him to get my mind off things. We stayed up later than normal because I couldn't shut my brain off. And to top things off, Benson had a truly awful night's sleep (not typical for him). So we woke up the next morning, preparing to bring a new baby into the world, completely and utterly exhausted.

The only hiccup in our plan was that we didn't feel comfortable calling anyone over to the house that early in the morning to be with the kids while Richie got me checked in at the hospital. So we prepped the kids on what would happen that morning, put Miles in charge, had breakfast ready for them, and then Richie took me to the hospital. After I was all checked in, he went back home and got the kids ready to take up to Aunt Makenna's. We have let the kids stay home alone for 20 minutes, here and there, if we needed to run an errand or something. But this time, we were gone for about an hour. They were a little nervous, I was a little nervous, so I felt a million times better once I knew they were safe at Aunt Makenna's house, and Richie was next to me in the hospital room strumming away happily on his ukulele.

I had such a sweet nurse and we got the pitocin started nice and slow. By about noon, the contractions were getting a little uncomfortable. Not enough to warrant an epidural yet, but I took one anyway because the anesthesiologist was heading into surgery and I didn't want to risk not having one. The pain subsided and I took a nap! At one point I got a little light headed and hot and sweaty, so they monitored my blood pressure, but everything was fine. I was just so exhausted. I literally just laid there and chatted with Richie, slept, watched Netflix etc. The nurse kept thinking things would speed up once something happened, like breaking my water etc. I kept telling her, nope, my labors take about 12 hours. She didn't believe I'd labor till 7. Well around 5, the contractions were getting noticeably more painful. I love epidurals because it takes the edge off, but I could still feel all the pressure I needed to. By 7, I was fighting the urge to push until the Dr. could get in the room and ready to go. All it took was pushing through one contraction, and Davy was here! It was the most pain I'd felt while pushing the baby out, but of course all is forgotten once they place that baby on your chest. There's nothing like it in the world. Nothing.

He officially made his entrance at 7:11, weighing 9lbs and 8 ounces, 21 inches long, and I think 15 inch head. He was so calm and relaxed, crying only enough to let us know he was ok. He took to nursing right away; I was amazed and how quickly he caught on. Richie let me have all the time I wanted with him on my chest, and then he took his turn snuggling our last baby.

As we switched rooms, Baby Davy got to meet one of his namesakes. Grandpa Garner came to visit. It was fun telling him that this baby bears his name. We had kept it under-wraps for the entire pregnancy, so it was fun to let him know, and soon after, to call my Mom and Dad and let my Dad know that Davy's middle name, Crosby, is in honor of him. Our last boy, named for both of our fathers. It just felt right.

Later that night, as I was trying to catch some sleep, they informed me that Davy's blood sugars were too low, and that he would have to be moved up to the primary children's wing for the night and put on an IV. Bummer. I didn't feel scared for him at all, I knew it was mostly a minor problem. I was mostly irritated that I would have to vacillate between the 2 floors now, and that we would inevitably be receiving a new bill now. That, and also that we'd have to stay longer in the hospital than we like to. On the IV, his blood sugar improved. The next day however, his IV fell out. They tried to put another one in his other hand, but failed. Rather than putting an IV in his head, they called the Dr. who said, "Let's just see how well he does without weaning him off, instead of dealing with another IV." For which I was grateful, but also anxious that his levels wouldn't improve enough and we'd have to stay longer. So I texted people and enlisted their prayers on Davy's behalf. The next morning, his levels still weren't exactly perfect, but our pediatrician is a little more relaxed than others. She gave us the O.K. to go home, and I was so grateful. I just wanted to be home with my babies!

Richie dropped Miles and Gwen off at their once a week school, brought Lindy and Benson to the hospital and picked up Davy and I and we were on our way by about 10:30 on Wednesday morning! More to come.

The rest of February

Richie had done such a good job showing our kids how to take care of me. Lindy especially is always looking for ways to serve me, and others in our home. She literally begs me to sit down so she can give me a foot massage! She puts her own flair on a typical foot massage for sure. Benson likes to hop in and help sometimes too. :)




Richie was home from work on my due date, and I felt good enough to squeeze in a date with Benson. He was the only one I hadn't been able to get some one-on-one time with. I realize he probably didn't totally understand, but hopefully somewhere in there, it helped him feel special. We went to Arctic Circle, mainly because it has a small play-place that I knew I could climb up and extract him from if necessary. I would have gotten stuck in some tube at other play-places, so Arctic Circle it was! We shared some fries and a shake and I let him play while an older gentleman asked me when I was due and was genuinely shocked when I told him, "today". He thought I was crazy. :)



Benson's napping habits are more erratic these days. We take what we can get!



We got some new chicks! We have been wanting to, but hesitant to do so because we were waiting to hear if seminary would be moving us this year. We told the kids that if we weren't being moved this year, we'd get more chickens. :) I think it helped ease Richie's disappointment a little. Each kid got to pick one, including baby, so we got 5 new chicks.

First Half of February

Sick days
Everyone except Richie has taken a turn with a yucky respiratory bug. I'd say Gwen and Miles slid by the easiest, Benson the next, and then Lindy and I tie for the worst cases. Mine has been bad, because it's still here!! I think I'm going on 6 weeks. I've tried everything to get rid of it, and now I'm convinced that it's just a result of the baby gumming up the works. Lindy always gets respiratory viruses really intensely. And of course it turned to croup. She had at least 1 really rough week. Poor girl. Check out the discoloration on her face!



Spa Day
Grandma Garner wanted to do a girl's day where we made all sorts of fun bath bombs, lotions etc, ate yummy food, and have foot massages. The woman giving the "massages" is a foot zoner, which was a first for me. Super interesting stuff! The girls felt very special attending for sure. :)


Ben and Becca's
Mom and Dad were in town to report their mission to the Hinckley side of the family, so we got together at B&B's for dinner one night. So fun having them close! I say it like it's a new thing, but they've been here close to a year now! Izzy made Lindy's entire year by giving her a makeover. She felt so incredibly special!



Valentine's preparations
I wasn't sure how into Valentine's I would be able be this year. I LOVE Valentine's, but I knew I'd have to take it easy. So I didn't do some things I normally do, but I just couldn't pass up making sugar cookies to deliver, and decorating pretty hearts, and working on class valentine's and boxes. Ahhhh! It made me so tired, but I really, really loved it!


Valentine's Day
We don't do anything huge on Valentine's, but I try to make the ordinary things more fun and festive. We had our heart pastries for breakfast, heart shaped PB&J for lunch, and heart shaped pizza for dinner. We did homeschool group at Makenna's that day and exchanged Valentine's and she made some festive snacks! The kids had got to exchange Valentine's with classmates and dance classes earlier in the week. Sadly, Richie had to stay late at work that night for Parent Teacher Conferences, but that's life. He got me the most awesome baby bag/purse and inside was a luxurious robe. :) He wanted a jazz standards book, so I snagged that for him.



Still Pregnant
Yep, still pregnant. At this point, every day is a milestone that I survive. Good thing I have a sweet husband to make me crepes while I take long hot baths, and a bunch of other sweet people checking on me all the time.



Cute Benson
One day I was trying to rest on the couch while the kids had quiet time. Benson refused his nap, and refused quiet time. I was irritated, but then he climbed and sat on the window sill above the couch and was so cute and grown up. He looked so big to me! He got a kick out of me tickling his feet and knees and gave me the best belly laughs. I snagged a picture to remember my sweet, big, Benson, right before life gets crazy with a baby. He has no idea what's about to happen. None of the kids ever have when they've been 2ish and we're getting ready for another baby. I always feel slightly guilty, because they don't understand how fully their world will be rocked. Sigh.

The Rest of January

Everyday school Stuff! Keeping Benson entertained by rolling balls through a tube, Miles building the tallest marble tower he's ever built (which was promptly destroyed by Benson), Lindy matching upper and lower case letters with spoons, Gwen and Lindy getting some play-doh time in, Miles working on the Kiwi Crate. (love those things!)




Lindy at play time at the library. I like to try and go to story time with Lindy and Benson when the older 2 are at their epic days. It makes me feel like I'm doing one of those very typical good mom things, that doesn't actually require a lot of effort from me. :) However, even though Lindy's only 4, she's a very mature 4. For a long time now, she has made it known that she feels too old for most of the activities at story time. This particular day, I had to really convince her to go in because it wasn't even story time, it was play-time, geared towards toddlers. However, she soon took a liking to this hoolahoop and did it the entire time! It was her first time trying one, and usually she has a problem if she doesn't get something right away, but she stuck with it and actually got fairly good! It was a happy moment.:)


Museum Day! Canyon Grove had a family field trip to the Museum of Natural History up in SLC. For a museum trip with 4 small kids, it went pretty darn well. I only had to pull Benson off a dangerous precipice once, and pull him out of the children's demonstrative stream once. So pretty good. We got to meet up with our old homeschool group friends, so that was fun for me to be able to chat with McKenna while we corralled our kids.


Got in a date with my Gwen! Trying to get a date in with each kid before baby gets here. They are super simple cause all I can handle these days are dessert dates, obviously, but it's still time well spent with my kids, right? I took Gwen to Menchie's because I had a coupon. :) It should also be noted that I got a date in with Miles too, but have no picture to prove it because my phone died. We went and deposited some of his savings money at the bank, and then he chose to go to the same dessert restaurant I took Lindy too. :)


It needs to be documented that I have the best husband in the world. Scenes like these are not abnormal around here, but because I'm almost done with this pregnancy, and because I've been battling a sinus infection, Richie has upped his spoiling of me. For the past several Saturdays, he has me sleep in while he make the Saturday waffles, and then makes sure I get into a hot bath for as long as I want while he does all the Saturday chores with the kids. He brings me my breakfast and keeps checking in with me to make sure my water bottle is full and I have everything I need. Can I pick 'em or what???



This could possibly be the last photo of me pregnant, ever!! I'm 38 weeks along, baby can come anytime he likes. Although knowing my history, I should just plan on waiting the rest of my term. We have a new little dresser, all the baby boy clothes pulled out, the car seat cleaned and installed and we're having the carpets cleaned on Friday. I'd say we are about as ready as we're going to get. Anything else we do to prepare is just gravy at this point. At this point it's just mentally getting my head wrapped around the craziness that will be our lives in a short amount of time. I go between complete terror, and a really relaxed "come what may" attitude frequently. The farther along I get, I lean more towards the terror side. In this last trimester I've been more emotional and more uncomfortable, particularly when trying to sleep. That's normal. On a positive note, I think this is the least swollen I have ever been! Of course, I'm still swollen cause it wouldn't be me pregnant without swelling, but relatively speaking, very minor swelling!

Happy Birthday Miles! The Big 1-0!

The Main Man Miles turned 10! I usually feel more mentally invested when it comes time for birthday celebrations, but this year with pregnancy and a sinus infection, we just did the best we could. Miles was also a tad sick with a cough. Sick enough that he felt the need to call me from his 1 day a week school at Canyon Grove, and have me pick him up a whole 15 minutes early. It had been a long day, and for some reason, this didn't really help. So when we got home and Dad unveiled Miles's birthday present (a street hockey set up), instead of enjoying the excitement, I went and crashed on the bed. But everyone else had fun, and after my cat-nap, I felt up for the rest of the night. Miles requested Papa Murphey's pizza, and red, white, and blue cupcakes. After we ate, we picked up his good friend Parker and went to Nickel Mania. Having a friend come really made it feel more like a party, even though I told him no friend party this year. After the kids wore themselves out playing $2 worth of nickel-cade games, and agonizing over how to spend their tickets, we came home to have cupcakes and ice cream. I was worried that he was disappointed about how his birthday turned out. He didn't seem as openly excited about everything. But I think it ended up being a pretty good day, because the next morning when he was getting ready, I found him quietly crying on his bed. When I asked him what was up, he said he was just feeling sad because yesterday had been such a great day and now he has to wait a whole year for his next birthday. :)

This kid is growing and maturing at a crazy fast rate. He is a hard worker and rarely complains about the task ahead. Even when he sometimes wishes he didn't have to do something (usually school), after a moment, he just rolls his sleeves up and gets it done. He is constantly on the look out for how others are feeling and acts accordingly. He's always been my sensitive kid, which is great when it comes to reading people's emotions and being mature enough to set aside his own wants and desires in order to help those around him. But it can also be hard when others don't respond kindly to him when he's having a tough time. He loves goofing around with friends, which usually means playing pokemon, video games, or sports outside. He is such a great big brother. Yes, there is teasing and yes, they have fights, but overall I couldn't ask for a better example or helper for my first child. He is constantly expressing his love to me and others, sometimes sincerely saying "I love you" etc multiple times until I have to get him back on track to wherever he was going.
Love this boy of mine.