Today I celebrate the day I became a Mother!!!!!!!!! And below include the birth story of our little Jane. What a special and amazing day that was. Birth is a miracle, it's the making of a new life and a new mother!!! Enjoy reading my journey into this beautiful stage!
Jane Elizabeth Spencer
{ January 10th 2014 }
Dearest Baby Jane,
Oh what a joy filled our lives when you, little lady, came silently into the world.
We were thrilled to see two lines indicating positive for a new life being given
that spring day in May 2013. We had planned it just right and knew that our
little was going to be such a great blessing in our lives. Our first appointment
to hear your heart beat was so exciting for us. "Whoosh woosh" the little
sounds began and Mom started to laugh. "WOOSH WOOSH" Mom made the
machine go crazy with her laughter. It was such an incredible moment for us to
hear your sounds for the first time. Your heart holds such power, always keep it
soft and open.
The next big milestones came as Mom's bump grew with you in there. The first
time feeling you move within was incredible. To know that you were growing
and developing and working hard to get your body going strengthened our
testimonies on creation. We took a bunch of photos with fruits in front of
Mom's belly to show the growth that you would be experiencing those 9
months in the womb. Feeling you move for the first time was like meeting a
little part of you. Sometimes you would kick or push when we would hug and
dad would just smile. And sometimes we would just sit in bed with hands on
the bump feeling you move about.
When pregnant, women can have some funny things happen and some not so fun things. Mom hated the smell of cooking rice and would oft times make a meal and then not feel like eating it. Her main cravings were hamburgers and smoothies. She loved going to Red Robin and getting the Bonzai Burger while Dad chowed bottomless fries. And Jamba Juice always sounded good! Mom was very blessed to not get really sick during your pregnancy. And even when she was she dealt with it very well because she knew there was a good reason for it. The biggest moment of feeling sick was a time when Uncle Spencer
When pregnant, women can have some funny things happen and some not so fun things. Mom hated the smell of cooking rice and would oft times make a meal and then not feel like eating it. Her main cravings were hamburgers and smoothies. She loved going to Red Robin and getting the Bonzai Burger while Dad chowed bottomless fries. And Jamba Juice always sounded good! Mom was very blessed to not get really sick during your pregnancy. And even when she was she dealt with it very well because she knew there was a good reason for it. The biggest moment of feeling sick was a time when Uncle Spencer
came to visit. We made some amazing peach vanilla bean crepes for breakfast.
Right on the first bite Mom felt super sick and ran to the bathroom just in time
to throw up. She didn't eat crepes for a while, needless to say. The only other
time she felt a bit sick was raking the dreaded leaves in the yard. Being blessed
with lots of trees also means lots of work. She overworked herself making piles
upon piles and fillings tons of bags with leaves and got quite dizzy. But for the
most part Mom could do everything she normally did without a big hoopdy-
do. This was a great blessing for it allowed her to ponder, prepare and focus on
you!
The next big milestone was seeing you the first time. Scheduled on Mom's 26th birthday was your first and only ultrasound. We were so excited to see you and watch you. It was such a special moment to see your beautiful profile and watch your fingers and feet moving around. Just like when the midwives were attempting to find your heartbeat, as the woman searched around to see you, you were a wiggler and mover. She commented that you were going to be a soccer player. It was the most amazing birthday present to see you! Afterwards, dad took mom to the Snakebite in downtown Idaho Falls. Dad ordered a buffalo/beef/lamb burger, and Mom ordered a hock of pork. Afterward we walked around by the temple thinking of you in our future. We waited to find out if you were a boy or girl until the following weekend. Mom made a box and we took it to a party shop to fill it with pink or blue balloons. Then we had family over to open it and discover you were a sweet baby girl. Dad and mom had both been feeling that you would be. We were absolutely thrilled to see pink burst out and to know that an angel baby girl was on her way to us.
In the last few weeks during pregnancy mommy developed a condition that happens to 1 in every 200 women in pregnancy called PUPPS. It is a wretched itching condition that started on the belly, moved to the ankles, then the knees and hands. It was a rough time waking up from sleepless nights itching and itching away. To the point of bleeding sometimes. Mom tried everything to help it; pine tar soap (that smelled like campfire smoke), agape itch tincture (we named it cockroach casserole and would put it with warm water and honey), lotions, medicated creams....in the end all the Cahoon Family fasted with us and a miracle occurred. I was not 100% healed but the itching had ceased a great deal and Mom did not have episodes bad enough to wake her up multiple times a night. There is great power in faith and fasting and especially when a family unites in a purpose. Never had mom felt such strength from a fast from that united faith of her family. Putting trust in the healing power of The Lord is key to overcoming trials in this life.
The next big milestone was seeing you the first time. Scheduled on Mom's 26th birthday was your first and only ultrasound. We were so excited to see you and watch you. It was such a special moment to see your beautiful profile and watch your fingers and feet moving around. Just like when the midwives were attempting to find your heartbeat, as the woman searched around to see you, you were a wiggler and mover. She commented that you were going to be a soccer player. It was the most amazing birthday present to see you! Afterwards, dad took mom to the Snakebite in downtown Idaho Falls. Dad ordered a buffalo/beef/lamb burger, and Mom ordered a hock of pork. Afterward we walked around by the temple thinking of you in our future. We waited to find out if you were a boy or girl until the following weekend. Mom made a box and we took it to a party shop to fill it with pink or blue balloons. Then we had family over to open it and discover you were a sweet baby girl. Dad and mom had both been feeling that you would be. We were absolutely thrilled to see pink burst out and to know that an angel baby girl was on her way to us.
In the last few weeks during pregnancy mommy developed a condition that happens to 1 in every 200 women in pregnancy called PUPPS. It is a wretched itching condition that started on the belly, moved to the ankles, then the knees and hands. It was a rough time waking up from sleepless nights itching and itching away. To the point of bleeding sometimes. Mom tried everything to help it; pine tar soap (that smelled like campfire smoke), agape itch tincture (we named it cockroach casserole and would put it with warm water and honey), lotions, medicated creams....in the end all the Cahoon Family fasted with us and a miracle occurred. I was not 100% healed but the itching had ceased a great deal and Mom did not have episodes bad enough to wake her up multiple times a night. There is great power in faith and fasting and especially when a family unites in a purpose. Never had mom felt such strength from a fast from that united faith of her family. Putting trust in the healing power of The Lord is key to overcoming trials in this life.
On the night of January 9th Mommy had a rough night of sleep. There was a
lot of discomfort that kept her up most the night. The next day dad went to
work, mom cooked a bunch of meat, ran errands, cleaned the home and made
dinner. Then at 7:00 they ran off to a town hall meeting at the court house on
the subject of the Common Core curriculum. The meeting felt like we had
walked into "To Kill a Mockingbird" with all the interesting and vocal townsfolk.
There was an older white haired gentleman with a big mustache who had quite
the opinions. He would stand and share his thoughts openly, like, "We need to
talk about gun laws. It should be as easy to buy a gun as a doughnut." And
"They teach sodomy in schools." He was quite entertaining. And the meeting
was really interesting and important. It is a topic that we care a great deal
about: education. But it went very long. Dad had a work meeting and Mom
really needed a bathroom, so off we scooted out of the bench. When going
down the stairs, "gush" mom felt something interesting. Running into the
bathroom she discovered that her water must have broken. We talked to Dad's
Grandma on the drive home and then ran inside when arrived at home. Mom
was beginning to feel contractions but we both felt there was time. Dad ran off
to his work meeting and mommy called the midwives and doula. "Rest" was
the advice she was given. "It looks like things are progressing, but you're a first
time mom and this can sometimes take a long while and you'll need your rest."
So mom let dad know and she waited alone at home as contractions gradually
began. When dad finally got home the timing began and the pressure waves/
contractions began to get closer and closer. By 10:30pm they were getting
consistent and close. Mom didn't want to call the midwives too early and make
them hang around the whole night, so dad helped her through them. After two
hours of timing contractions and attempting to rest, it became obvious things
were going really fast. Daddy made the call around 1am. Timing was
incredible. Our Doula, Natalie, got their right in time to assist Dad in caring for
Mom at 1:30am. Then our midwifes, Krista and Shayna, arrived and got the
room ready just in time for mom to go into the final stages of labor around
2:00am. The second wave of water broke with a very loud gush and lots of
liquid, things progressed very quickly from there. Pushing for the last hour and
a half was the hardest thing Mom had ever done. But thinking of you safely
arriving was clear in her mind. Dad was so calming and blessed mom in
countless ways to keep her focused and strong. He even let mom put him in a
headlock and pull his hair (which she was thinking in her head, "why am I doing
this to him,"). There were a few moments there at the very end that mom just
felt like she wanted to go to sleep and wake up in the morning to finish. But
that is not an option at the late stages of labor. After a while your head crowned
and everyone kept saying, "She's almost here, push!" Dad was crying and so
sweet. When you arrived on the morning of January 10th 2014 at 5:09am you were beautiful!!! You had a head of dark hair and dad said you looked Arabian.
You were so quiet and peaceful. They laid you on mom's tummy and we
instantly fell in love as a family! Mom had made a cd of special songs to have
playing and Uncle Kent was singing. It was a very special song and moment to
hear his sweet voice singing to us all in the background of this momentous
moment. You weighed in at 8 lbs 10 oz and were a whopping 22 3/4 inches
long! Everyone was shocked at how tall you were. You were healthy and so
strong! Daddy changed his very first baby diaper that day on you. You had
three very big muconium diapers full of a tarrish poop. Which dropped you 10
ounces! Aunt Lara came by to meet you and brought birthday cupcakes, ice-
cream and dinner! That first day was incredible!!! We could hardly believe you
were ours. What joy filled our hearts with you added into our family!
The First Week of life was very eventful and presented a huge learning curve
for both of us. You had dropped in weight and temperature enough to worry
the midwives and so there was a lot of stress and crying and trying to help you.
Mom basically was getting no sleep and was still trying to recover herself from
stitches and labor. And Dad was being so helpful. We gave you a blessing on
night three when all of us were at our wits end. We cared so much about you
and were so concerned to make everything alright. We had a chiropractor
appointment for you, prayed lots and slept little. But with great diligence mom
got your weight back up and you started doing so well. You also had us super
worried for you did not have your first bowel movement till day 11!!! Grammy
got the honor of changing it. Some favorite things we began to discover about
you were; your smiles on day 7, holding mommy's finger as you nursed,
holding fingers with everyone, curling your toes and legs, your hands loving to
touch your face, giving lots of stinky farts which gave you the nick-name of
toot-sweet, your many faces our favorite being the turtle face, co-sleeping with
us in bed, enjoyed your first bath with no tears, tracking with your eyes really
early....you were just so smart and so fun!
We love you so much Jane Elizabeth Spencer. You captured our heart from day one. Thanks for coming to our family!
We love you so much Jane Elizabeth Spencer. You captured our heart from day one. Thanks for coming to our family!
Love,
Mommy & Daddy
Mommy & Daddy
