Coming Home

We left the hospital on Sunday Oct. 4th. It was a nice feeling. I was ready to be in my own home, sleeping in my own bed. The hospital wasn't the easiest experience after the birth. I loved getting Jenna dressed in her own clothes. She looked so cute. She came home in a little ladybug outfit. She is mommy's little lady for sure.

Jenna makes the funniest facial expressions.
Each picture has a different face!

Her favorite most common face is the scowl. She furrows that little brow of hers and looks like she's concentrating hard on something. She makes it the most when she is feeding. It's like she has to think really hard about what she's doing. It is serious business!

Jenna loves snuggling up with daddy. Daddy loves it too!

Trying out the car seat for the first time.
She looks pretty warm and snug!

Happy to be home at last! We make such a cute family!

We got home and were glad to have visitors. Austin's parents made the 4 hour drive from St. George to come and spend a few hours with us only to turn around and drive the 4 hours back home. A long day for them, but we are grateful they made the trek to come see their newest grandchild.

A proud Grandma and Grandpa Cowley

Aunt Whitney came to visit too!

Josh and Lisa brought Mallory over to see the baby. My mom and little sister Eliza also came to bring us dinner. Lisa said that as they got out of the car Mallory said, "I cited!" She is a cutie! Because of the flu season starting, the hospital has made a policy that no one under the age of 14 is aloud to come onto the Labor/Delivery or the Mother/Baby floors. So Mallory couldn't come to the hospital to see Jenna. She came in and sat next to my mom and said, "I hold Jenna." Mallory held her arms out and my mom helped her hold the baby. After about 30 seconds, she turns to me and says, "Mimi, I want the care bear." She was done.

Mallory holding baby Jenna.

Austin's good friend Wes came down from Sandy to visit as well.

Jenna looks so tiny in his big arms!

Thanks to all who came to visit us and welcome us home!

The Delivery

Friday October 2nd started bright and early for Austin and I. We were scheduled to be at the hospital by 7am to start the induction. I was pretty calm about the whole thing. By the time all the paper work was done and my IV was put in, it was 9am. Those two hours went by pretty quick. When the nurse checked me I was 2cm and 80% effaced. She called the doctor and he came in and said that they were going to start the pitocin and break my water. I was hoping they would break my water right off. I felt that if they did, things would go faster. By this time it was 9:30am. It didn't take long for the contractions to start coming strong and regularly. They were about 4 min. apart. After about 30 minutes contracting that way, I was ready for an epidural. Call me a wimp if you must, but I don' t do well with pain. By the time the epidural was in I'd been feeling them for a little over an hour. Getting the epidural wasn't as painful as I was thinking it would be. Having my IV put in was a lot worse.

When I was completely numb I was quite content. I was checked again and had progressed to 3cm in an hours time. Not bad, but I was not looking forward to the waiting game. I was truly hoping not to have to go all day long through labor. We both dozed off for about an hour and a half. Then Austin went down to get some lunch and came back. They checked me again and I was at 9cm! Whoohoo! The nurse said we'd wait another hour and probably be able to start pushing. I was ecstatic. Austin was thrilled too. An hour later I was at a 10 and ready to start pushing.

For the first hour of pushing (which sounds long, but really didn't feel like an hour) it was me, Austin and our wonderful nurse Pam. When the baby started to crown, they called the doctor in and 10 min. later she was born at 3:29 pm. It was such a surreal experience. They held her up and I could not believe I was a mom. I was so overcome and when she started to cry I started to cry too. (I'm crying now just remembering all those emotions.) Austin was able to cut the cord, which I'm a little bummed because I didn't get to see it. They were holding her below the edge of the bed. They put her on my stomach for a min. so I could say hi and give her a kiss. Then they took her and cleaned her up a bit, weighed and measured her and handed her back to me. Oh she was so beautiful. Austin was a little emotional himself. After loving her up for a minute, I passed her off to her daddy. As soon as she hit his arms and heard his voice she stopped crying. It was so sweet. Austin was such a proud looking papa. From start to finish, it was 6 hours. The nurses couldn't believe how fast it was considering I was induced and it was my first baby. I was truly grateful for the quickness of it all.

We got to spend a little over an hour together and then Austin went with the baby to the nursery for her bath. I was moved to my room and she came back to me all clean and looking as cute as can be! It is amazing how you can love someone so much in just an instant. It took us a few hours to finally decide on her name. Austin was the one who came up with Jenna a few months ago. Her middle name is the phonetic Chinese spelling of the word meaning "beautiful". And that is definitely what she is. We are so happy she is here and in our lives now. Life will be different, but definitely for the better!

41 weeks and so ready to get her out!

Austin just chillin with all our stuff.
The beautiful view of the mountains from our room.

All drugged up, relaxing and waiting!

Weighing in at 7lbs. 10oz.




Not happy about having to be cleaned up.


One happy mama

One proud papa

One happy family :o)


Jenna's first bath


Austin said she stopped crying when her hair was being
washed and rinsed in the running water.

All pretty and clean!



I just love her little feet!

Tired but very content.

Snug as a bug in a rug!

Grandma and Grandpa Summerhays were the first to visit and hold Jenna.
She is their 5th grandchild!

Announcing...

Jenna Mei Cowley
Born: October 2, 2009
Time: 3:29 pm
Weight: 7lbs 10oz
Height: 20 in

It came...

AND WENT! Friday, September 25th was a beautiful day. Unfortunately it was just like any other day. Got up, went to work, came home, blah, blah, blah. Our little girl is taking her sweet time to join us, but there is an end in sight. No matter what I will be induced on Friday. Austin is hoping for sooner than that so she'll have a September birthday.

I did have a meltdown Friday morning before going to work, but I survived the day. I made Austin take me out so we wouldn't have to stay at home and dwell on the uneventful evening. We went to Chili's for dinner and then to a movie. We saw the new Bruce Willis movie Surrogates. It was entertaining and did the trick to take my mind off not being in labor. When we got up to go from the movie, my ankles were so big I could barely make it down the stairs. It hurt so bad to walk.

I had major cankles. Compared to Austin's nicely sculpted ankles, mine are huge!

My ankles didn't go down all weekend. After church today, I was propping them up and guess what I saw? STRETCH MARKS! Can you believe it?! I can't. Of all the places to get them, especially during pregnancy! The things we women go through to bring life into the world. It's a good thing it'll all be worth it!

40 Weeks

Still Waiting...

If you've been wondering if we've had the baby yet, wonder no more! We are still waiting for this little girl to decide when she would like to make her grand entrance into the world. I'm not overdue yet, thank goodness, but I've come to the resolve to live each day as if she is NOT coming. Then I'm not disappointed that she didn't. It is actually working. :o) At the doctor yesterday he told me that I was between a 2 and a 3 and 90% effaced. At least I'm making progress and not standing still. We'll keep you posted! Hopefully the next post we will be able to announce the big event!

39 weeks! Never thought I'd make it!

Funny story - I was standing up today at school in our First Grade music time and the shirt I was wearing wasn't tight up against my belly, it was just hanging down. I was looking out over the group of kids when I noticed movement right in front of where I was standing. I looked down and there was a little boy from another class trying to look up under my shirt. I don't know what he thought he'd find by looking. Luckily I had the kind of maternity pants on that cover my whole belly and he couldn't see anything. I have never seen a kid do that before. I mean you hear of little boys trying to look up little girls dresses, but trying to look up the teacher's shirt? Especially a pregnant teacher? That is definitely a first!

Any day now!

Went to the doctor again yesterday. I was at 2 cm and 80% effaced. Progress is slow, but at least it's progress right? The doctor also stripped my membranes. Yeah! I do believe it is helping a ton because I am contracting quite a bit. Unfortunately not consistent enough for any trips to the hospital. But I am hopeful that it is sooner than later!

I was a little annoyed today at work. I went into my box on my prep. and found a new student form in it. Aaaaggghhh! Why do they do this to me? I understand that I am the one with the least amount of students, but HELLO I'm about to have a baby. Sometimes my secretary drives me bonkers. She did the same thing to me the week I got married. I guess the next time I have a life changing experience while teaching I'll just expect to get a new student. I spent an hour and a half after school getting things ready for this new student. And as my luck would have it, I was having the worst contractions I'd had all day. Maybe the stress will put me into labor tonight. Here's hoping! :o)

Grocery Shopping

A couple of weeks ago Austin and I had some grocery shopping to do. We went to our favorite place first, Costco. Even though it is just the two of us, we seem to shop there more than any other place. Thankfully, we didn't have much to get, but walking around was soooo painful. We were also planning on going to Smith's Marketplace to finish up our grocery needs, but Austin was insisting we go home. I didn't want to stretch out the grocery shopping more than one evening, so I said I'd be fine and that we should just go. We were going to need the stuff anyway. Austin then got this "brilliant" idea that at Smith's I'd ride one of those old people scooters while we did the shopping. I protested and protested, but to no avail. We got there and I was made to ride. I was really embarrassed at first, but once we got going I was grateful I wasn't walking. It took me a few minutes to get the hang of driving the thing. The hardest part was trying to turn around, but by the end of our trip, I was a master! Here are a few pics Austin took with his phone to document the event. He figured this was a once in a life time chance to taunt and tease me, especially since there was nothing I could do about it! :o)

How excited to do I look to be driving this thing?

Looking serious as I contemplate a grocery choice.

One of my attempts to back up and turn around.