Asa Jensen Grossnickle

Our 4th child was born at 38 weeks, July 9th, 2016, at 10:55 pm on a rainy Saturday. My biggest baby, coming out at 8 lbs 2oz, and 21 inches long.

This pregnancy was a little more difficult than my previous ones and I was ready to have him. Tim made a last minute trip to Utah to see family he hadn't seen for a few years. He left on Sunday the 3rd, and came back on Friday the 8th. I'm sure if he was home earlier in the week, Asa would have come sooner, but he waited for his Daddy to be home. Thank goodness for that, but it was an uncomfortable few days of Asa getting ready; sitting really low.

Friday finally came, I picked Tim and his brother Jon up from the airport at 10 am. I started to feel contractions later Friday afternoon. About 3-5 minutes apart and 30 seconds long. I start to inform kid sitters and midwifes that something may be happening that night, but didn't have anyone come over yet. I decide since I didn't have newborn diapers yet, we would go to Fred Meyer as a family and pick up some last minute things and see if the contractions would get stronger. By the time we were driving home, they got really spaced out, and stopped. False alarm - super disappointing. I've never had a false labor before, but I was kind of grateful for it. I wasn't mentally or emotionally ready to deal with labor since I still had a good memory of how last time went with Evie. I was tensing up for the contractions, thinking "oh no, here comes more pain", and focusing on the wrong things. So, I am glad I had 24 hours to change my mindset.

Annalie, my niece, was over helping me all day Saturday while I cleaned, in effort to get the labor going again. At about 6:30 pm, I started timing contractions. It felt similar to the day before, so I was a bit leery to text people at first, but I had 10 contractions in that first half hour lasting 45-60 seconds long. I contacted my midwifes and they told me to lay down and see if the contractions continued. Laying down didn't stop them, so I got up to go to the bathroom. By this point, I felt more confident it was really going to happen tonight. I called my mom at 8:30 pm to let her know, and gave the go ahead to the midwifes to come. My mom said I sounded too chipper to be in labor. That was part of the difference in my mindset from the day before. Instead of thinking "oh no!" with each new contraction, I wanted to greet them with an "Oh Yeah!" (Kool-aid man), cheering my body on for doing it's thing. I didn't have to actively think of what to do next. Just submit with a smile, each one was getting me closer to holding my baby. Just go limp and it will be over sooner.

I decided to hop in the shower before everyone got to the house. I sat on a birth ball for a little while till that was uncomfortable, took frequent trips to the bathroom, and sat on a foam mat on the floor. Nothing felt very comfortable so I had Tim fill the bath tub. I stopped tracking the contractions at 10:10 pm when they were about a minute long, three minutes apart, and getting pretty strong. Being in the tub I think helped them not feel so intense, but still felt productive. Things were getting tougher to bare, and I was getting the old familiar thought "I don't think I can do this". I know when I have that thought it's usually almost over, but I didn't think I was far enough along to feel that way yet. I had a particularly tough contraction, and asked my body "What do you want me to do?", at which point, my water broke. It was weird, because I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to tell in the water. It felt like a lime size water balloon shot out. I don't know what time it was, at that point, but the midwifes came in and stayed till pushing started.

I wasn't planning on doing a water birth. It had crossed my mind as a possibility, but ultimately decided I didn't want to. Not that I have anything against it, I just wanted someone to give me a play by play once crowning started and I didn't think I could get that in the tub. Alas, It was too late, I knew I was not going to be getting out of the tub. I was sitting upright on my knees and felt his head coming out. I re-positioned myself onto my backside with my knees up so it could be seen he was crowning. Once his head was out, I took a little break. First thing Tim notices was how chubby his cheeks were. Tim held his head while I got ready to deliver the rest of his body. Total pushing lasted less than 5 minutes and he was born at 10:55 pm.

We cuddled in the tub a little while, delivered the placenta, and Tim cut the cord. My sweet mother was There, but unfortunately missed the delivery. I am so grateful she was still here though, and got to see him after he was born. The whole labor lasted 4.5 hours. Tim woke Brody up to meet his new brother, but I'm not sure he was awake enough to remember. Asa cheated a little on his weigh in because he nursed for a little while before we got his birth weight 45 minutes after he was born.

All his siblings were excited to meet him the next morning. They want to hold him all the time. Even Evie says "baby" and wants to look at him and pat him. I have the best kids. They are so grown up and helpful. 

Evie is 1!

Evie,

   You are such a joy. I almost want to change your name to Evie Jean Joy, you are such a happy girl. You are always smiling. It's not very often you get upset. Even if you do, it's doesn't take long for you to be smiling at everyone again. One of my favorite things, is when I would nurse you at night and we would have a conversation of exchanging grunts and hums. Before I put you back in your bed, you would do the cutest sleepy stretch. Your signature "I'm ready to sleep" position is covering your eyes with your right arm while sucking your left thumb. As you have gotten bigger, your arm serves as a pillow as you grab your hand to hold it in place for optimal thumb sucking comfort.

   You have started to play with your silly side a bit more. You'll notice when you get laughs for doing something, and do it again. Recently you have stood up unassisted for a solid 10 seconds. I have a feeling you may start walking with in the next month or so. Crawling is still a very efficient way of getting places, and you are quick. You have all your teeth you are supposed to have plus a new molar. I love when you wake up, because you are always so happy, which is nice because your siblings aren't always so pleasant in the mornings.

   You are so sweet and love to give hugs and kisses. The kisses are luckily getting drier now. Before, you would lean in, and at the last second open your mouth and stick out your tongue for a very wet kiss. Your hugs are very deliberate and tight with purpose. Your sweet voice adds music to our home.

We love you dearly Evie Jean,

Mama and Dada

Laeunabelle is 3!

Dearest Laeunabelle,

    You love back rubs and tickles. You still tuck your arms in when we hold you. Every morning it's a gamble of whether you will whine for cereal, or snuggle in bed with Dad and I to cuddle. One morning, I got up before Daddy and you snuck in to lay down, and by the time Daddy woke up he was confused to see a blonde in my place. Your hair is getting darker, but you still have your beautiful blonde baby hair. I love you're sweet smile and goofy grins where you raise your eye brows as high as they will go. You like to play ring around the rosie, and sing ABCs, Wheels on the bus (in the shower), and I'm a Child of God. Sometimes when I do my make up, you come in and take the sparkly purple eye shadow and a brush to put on your eyes. You don't like getting your hair brushed but will sometimes let me put it in a pony tail.

   Your favorite color is pink and for your Golden Birthday this year, we had gold, yellow and pink decorations. You fell asleep right before people started showing up to your party, so we had to wake you up. You were so groggy and out of it, but eventually woke up to enjoy yourself.

  You speak so well and have such cute things to say. Some of my favorite things you say are
"actualleeeee"
"mmm but,..." sometimes instead of "because" when you are trying to be persuasive.
"Fwaf fwite" for Flashlight
"basketball poop" in stead of hoop
"clesadia" for quesadilla
"Balia" for Malia
"hosible" for hospital
"my tummyful hurts" when you say this, it's ether you are full or hungry I think, It's still not clear

   As you were going to bed tonight, You asked me to come down stairs with you in an impromptu song. It was so sweet and cute as you held my hand to go down stairs. You talked about how small Evie's hand is, and how small your hand is compared to my big hand, as you wore your blue "pak pak" full of plastic coins and necklace treasures.

   Sometimes when we are just getting home from a long drive, you pretend you are asleep as we pull into the driveway and it becomes a game to see how long it will take for you to break into a smile before getting unbuckled. Doesn't usually take long.

   You are potty trained mostly, except at nights. You have a much bigger vocabulary than Brody did at this age. You love playing with an old flip phone and annoyingly, always leave it in the kitchen. You have the sensitivity to see when something isn't right or when someone is sad or mad. You have a gift in reading people's faces, and see whats not said. When you are happy, you help others be happy too. You also like to do things if it's your idea, and will adopt an idea as your own, even if it was contrary to your initial thought.

  A couple weeks after your birthday, your finger got slammed in the closet door. The doctors notes said it was "a near amputation" of your left middle finger. Our first trip to the hospital in our family, not bad I say. We were in the ER for four hours, where they gave you a relaxing drug up your nose with a syringe. Which you hated. It was supposed to give you an amnesia effect, but I'm pretty sure it didn't. Then they came back to give you numbing shots in your finger. You really hated that. Once that took effect, they gave you six stitches and took an x-ray to find your bone had a small fracture. You didn't care for getting wrapped up with a splint, but that technician was really nice and very good at his job. Still in the healing process, but all looks well.

I have noticed lately how much you have been organizing things, lining them up just so. It'll be fun to see where that takes you.

You are so fun and entertaining. We love you to pieces.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy