Ava’s Birth Story

This pregnancy was by far my hardest one. I found out I was pregnant the DAY we moved into our new house! Whenever I’m pregnant, I am always really tired. But witb this pregnancy, I was always completely exhausted. I stopped and got a Starbucks refresher (always extra strong) literally almost every day. I felt sick a lot more often, I never slept well, and my body just felt the pregnancy a lot more this time around! Everything hurt all the time. I’ve been really lucky in the past and felt pretty good throughout, but this time was different. Chasing after 4 kids all the time and trying to get projects done all over our new house probably didn’t help either! BUT I was SO excited. I couldn’t imagine what this new little baby would be like and could hardly wait to meet her! 

March was such a busy month! We had Morgan’s 30th birthday one week, Mason’s 8th birthday the next week, and then his baptism two weeks after that! I was trying to get everything done around our house and ready for our baby to come April 8th, but was planning on getting induced even a week after that. All my babies had been late, usually induced, and had super long labors (like all over 20 hours). One of my best friends, Suzy, was coming to AZ to visit during their spring break with her boys. We miss the Hicks SO much and the news that they were coming made me so happy! They were going to stay with us for a few nights of their trip and we couldn’t wait! This was great because it gave me a date to have everything done by and was the last little push I needed! The Hicks got to our house Thursday night, March 25th. It was so great to see them again! We spent the day together on Friday, and then Friday night they went to go see Suzy’s brother and his family. Morgan was out of town, so it was just the kids and I for dinner. We got Mexican food delivered and I couldn’t get enough of their hottest hot sauce! After all the kids were in bed, I noticed I was having a lot of contractions, but they weren’t painful at all, so I chalked it up to being Braxton Hicks. When Suzy got back later that night, I gave her a heads up just in case things got crazy in the middle of the night so she wouldn’t be totally confused if I had to come wake her up at 3 or 4 in the morning! My contractions woke me up around 4 am but then I ended up falling back asleep an hour later because they settled back down. The next day, she was going to her nephew’s hockey game and spending some time with her family, and then we were going to take the kids swimming at my parents house later that night and order dinner. They left around noon. I called Morgan and told him to come home and that this baby would probably be here by this time tomorrow. Around 2 or so, I started noticing that my contractions were getting a little more painful. I decided to take a bath to see if that would help. It didn’t really do anything and around 3, I called my brother Michael. I told him no rush at all, but to finish up what he was doing and then please drive me to the hospital so I could go get an epidural. Paige called me and asked if she could come pick up the kids. At first I said no, that we could drop off the kids at my parents house where they were staying because my mom and dad were out of town. But thankfully she insisted and said she would come get them right then. I had everyone throw some clothes in a backpack and started hurrying to pack my own bag for the hospital. I was trying to hurry and pick up our house a little so it wouldn’t be a total wreck, and while I was loading the dishwasher, my water broke everywhere. That’s never happened to me before, so at first it freaked me out and I thought maybe the baby was coming out right then! Right after that happened, Paige got to our house and got all the kids. I was SO grateful in that moment that she was there and got everyone loaded up so I didn’t have to worry about anyone! Michael got there right then too and we got in the car and headed towards the hospital. We hit EVERY red light on the way there!! At this point, my contractions were really strong and I just wanted to get to the hospital and get my epidural! We pulled in there around 4:00. We walked in and they sent us back to Labor and Delivery so we could get checked in. The lady checking us in and getting all my info was so slow. We finally finished and she went to go get a nurse to come get us. No one was coming and Michael could tell I was super uncomfortable so he asked the lady at the desk if there was any way she could hurry someone up here because I was about to have a baby in the lobby. Finally, someone came and got us and took me back to a triage room. Michael went out to go find Morgan because he had just pulled into the parking lot. I told the nurses this was my fifth baby. They checked and I was at a 9. They hurried and got me back to a delivery room. Morgan walked in right before we got into the room. As soon as I saw him, I just started crying. At this point, I was begging them for an epidural!! I told them I didn’t care if I had it for 5 minutes before my baby was born - I wanted one ASAP! The anesthesiologist came in and said it was too late. I had the sweetest nurses! I had tears streaming down my face and kept telling them I couldn’t do it, but they were so sweet and encouraging the entire time! I kept almost passing out every time I had a contraction, (and kept hoping that I would!!) and it was like I was in a movie where everyone’s faces were looming over me. Dr. Beck was on his way and about 5 minutes away but all I could think of was that if I pushed this baby out, everything would be over. So I pushed as hard as I could and was screaming at the nurses to pull her out!! After a few pushes, our little baby was finally here! They laid her right on my chest, but I was in shock and couldn’t move for a while. I looked over, and Morgan had passed out and was in a chair surrounded by nurses trying to get him to wake up. 

Ruby’s Birth Story

For about the first week after we found out we were having a GIRL, I woke up early every day with the feeling of Christmas morning. I was SO incredibly excited and felt like the day was so far away when I would finally get to meet my daughter. Our doctor, Dr. Hodges, will induce at 39 weeks, and that is exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to have our baby girl here as soon as possible! At my 38 week appointment, my nurse told me that the hospital would call you on the day you could get induced and let you know if they had a spot for you. She let me know that they could call any time from 6 am to 3 pm, but that usually if they had a spot, they would let you know by about 8 am so that you wouldn’t be waiting around all day. The night before I had gotten everything completely ready to go. I was so excited and anxious wondering if we would get called that I didn’t sleep great that night. I started checking my clock in the morning and by 8:30, I was convinced that today wasn’t the day. I went downstairs and made smoothies for everyone and was talking to my mom. Around 9:30, my phone rang. It was the charge nurse from St. Luke’s and she asked if we wanted to have a baby today. OF COURSE I DID! I woke Morgan up and we headed to the hospital. We listened to a list of songs all called “Ruby” the whole way there. I was mostly excited and just a little nervous. We got checked in and but then sat in the waiting room for a while. I was anxious that they would send us home, but finally our nurse came out and took us to our room. It was right next to the one Clark was born in! I got hooked up to my IV and fetal monitor and was started on pitocin. Around 12, Dr. Hodges came in and broke my water. It was a long day after that. We walked countless laps around the labor and delivery floor trying to get things to pick up. They had to turn off my pitocin and put me on oxygen because the baby didn’t look as good as they would have liked. The rest of the day was spent alternating pitocin and oxygen. Morgan went and got a TON of tacos for our dinner and then we gave a bunch to the nurses. They loved it! At 10:00 or so, I was ready for my epidural. I had been trying to hold off as long as possible because sometimes it can slow labor down, but I couldn’t wait any longer! At midnight I was still at a 4, had really bad heartburn, and felt like I was going to throw up. I was pretty discouraged and felt like this baby was never going to get here! I got some sleep that night and they checked me at 6:30 the next morning. I was STILL at a 4. I could have cried at that point! Luckily, my epidural was working the whole time because with our other three babies, it stopped working about 2 hours before they were born. By 7:30, I felt some pressure and had the nurse check me again. I was at a 10 and baby was ready to come! We had a birth photographer coming so I asked my doctor if we could wait for a while until she could get there. He was so nice and even though I know he was busy, he told us of course we could wait. He wanted our birth to be exactly what we were hoping for. Our photographer, Ashley, ran in at about 8:20 and we got ready to push. After a few pushes, Dr. Hodges said he could see that she had a ton of dark hair! I was so happy because this was our first baby with lots of hair when they were born! At 8:38 am, our beautiful baby Ruby Elizabeth Allen was finally here! I was in absolute heaven finally getting to hold this baby girl that we had been so excited to meet for months. 

Surprise Anniversary Trip

Morgan was gone for about a week before our anniversary. I picked him up from the airport in Boise on Tuesday night, close to midnight. After we got home, he told me to pack a bag, and that we were leaving the next day at 1 pm. Of course my first question was "Who is coming to watch the kids?". Morgan told me that our niece, Tamarah, was going to be here the next morning to stay with them. I had just told him a few weeks ago that we should have her watch our kids next time we go out of town because she would be perfect! The next question I had was "where are we going?!!". At first, Morgan wasn't going to tell me. He said to pack some regular clothes, and swimsuits. Finally I made him just tell me because I wanted to make sure I packed the right stuff! I am a paranoid packer and always way overpack for every trip. We were going to HAWAII. At first I didn't believe him because I had told him do NOT take me on a trip for our anniversary. He always spoils me way too much and I thought this year we could keep it more low-key. And honestly, at first I wasn't very excited because Carter started school two days after we were getting home. I had just been talking to my mom on the way to the airport about how sad I was that I would hardly see him once school started since their school doesn't get out until 4 and I was feeling a little guilty to leave him. But the more I thought about it, the more excited I was to go on a trip with just Morgan and I. And, HELLO HAWAII. I also knew that Tamarah would be such a fun babysitter and take the kids to do fun things while we were gone, which she did. Luckily, I go into project mode every time Morgan goes out of town and I had spent the week organizing the ENTIRE house from top to bottom and had completely cleaned it that day. We packed up that night and then went to sleep. 

The next day, Tamarah drove in from Utah. The kids were so excited she was babysitting! It was a little sad saying goodbye to the kids, but we were only going to be gone for a few days so it wasn't too bad! 

Morgan and I headed to the airport in an Uber, got some food once we got through security, and made it onto the plane. I love going on trips with our kids but MAN it was so nice to not have to worry about anyone else while we were traveling. It was even kind of relaxing traveling to Hawaii! Morgan and I watched four or five episodes of  'Stranger Things' on the planes. We had a layover in Seattle before we got to Maui. It was late when we got there, so we got our rental car and headed to the condo we were staying at. Morgan has been dying to get a Tesla, so I should have known that's what he rented! Those cars are FAST. We had a ton of fun driving it around for a few days there. We stayed at the Whaler Resort on Kannapali Beach, right next to where I had stayed with my family when we went ten years before. It was the perfect spot! There were restaurants and shopping in walking distance. 

We had the best couple of days! We did a helicopter tour which was AMAZING and a little bit scary, ate so much good food, the road to Hana, visited a little surf town called Paia, went to a magic show, went to a luau, hung out at the beach, and relaxed. I loved the laid back vibe of Maui. It was the perfect getaway! I wouldn’t have come home except we missed our kids so much!! I’m dying to get back there with them too.

 

 

Idaho City

We took a family trip to Idaho City for 3 days. I didn't realize how close to Boise you could find a beautiful forest! It only took us an hour to get there from our house. Idaho City is an old mining town where they discovered more gold than in Alaska! It's a tiny little town now, with some of the original buildings still there. We stayed in a little house right on the main road. It was perfect to be able to walk down the street to go grab lunch or dinner, or to just look around. 

We visited a giant thrift/antique/junk shop right around the corner from our house called the Sluice Box. Morgan found some new brass treasures to go on top of his desk, the boys found a few new guys, and I found a baby rattle that was the same one I remember having when I was a baby. 

On Monday, we took the Can Am out and rode through the forest. It was so fun to stop whenever the trail met up with the stream and let the boys get out and play in the water. They even found some gold nuggets! 😉  By the time we got back in to town, all three boys were asleep! Later that night, we took them to the pioneer cemetery. They thought it was pretty cool at first, and then were starting to get freaked out after we had been there for a while. Morgan came out from behind a tree to scare them, but someone else across the cemetery making a noise got Mason so good! Morgan and I couldn't stop laughing all night at his face!

We also toured the Boise Basin Museum, which ended up being way smaller than I thought it would be, but still was interesting to get to see so many old items from the town. 

We watched Holes and Heavyweights with the boys at night and after the kids were asleep, Morgan and I watched a lot of Arrested Development. I don't know how I didn't think that show was very funny when we first started watching it, but we were dying laughing during every episode! 

I loved the slow pace of this trip and being able to spend time together with just our family was so fun! 

newborn pictures

mason david allen

indroducing the newest member of our family

 

mason david allen

 

mason was born on thursday, march 7th at 12:36 am. he weighed 8 pounds and 14.5 ounces and was 21 inches long. he is perfect. we are all so  in love with him!