We blessed our little Claire Michelle Pomeroy yesterday. Miles did a wonderful job blessing her. She was perfectly content before and after, but cried during the blessing. I couldn’t help but smile when Miles blessed her with a “kind and happy disposition.”

Both of our families were in town for the event. Miles’ family drove all the way from Mesa, AZ and stayed with us for three nights. My family got a hotel nearby. We had so much fun with both families. On Saturday we took the Trax to Temple Square. It was a bit of a challenge herding our big crowd around, but it was great just being together. My favorite time was spent just hanging out and chatting with everybody. It’s awesome that our families get along so well! It’s too bad it only happens every few years.

We feel so blessed to have so much love and support!

Miles and I made the rest of the trip that night. We spent a lot of the trip talking and daydreaming about what it would be like to have another child in our home. We were very excited!

We picked up the key to our friends apartment, dropped off our stuff, cleaned up and got ready for a late dinner dinner at Cheesecake Factory. Nothing better than cheesecake to give you energy for labor!

Even with all the anticipation, I got more sleep that night than I expected.

We got to the hospital at about 8:30am. We pulled into a very busy parking lot. All of the Labor/Delivery spots were take but one. It turned out they were having a busy morning.

We were admitted and sent to a labor/delivery room with our nurse. The paperwork took awhile. And because they were busy and I was there for an induction, I was kinda a last priority. It took them awhile to get things going.

A resident checked me and informed me I was still only 2 cm and 60-80% effaced. It was hard to believe after a week of early-labor contractions!

Finally they started the pitocin at 10:30am. I was a little bit apprehensive not knowing what these “artificial” contractions were going to feel like. I’d heard they are often more intense. But the nurse and CNM assured me they would start me out at a very small dose, and any time I wanted my epidural they’d call it in.

It wasn’t long until I was wanting them to pump up the volume and get things moving. They were increasing the dosage every 30 min or so. Miles and I were pretty bored just hanging out. I think I watched 4 episodes of I Love Lucy. I was in no pain yet. I think I was finally 3 cm at about 3 hours. Needless to say, things were moving very slowly. After this point I started feeling a bit of cramping, but nothing like what I remember with Link. So, the CNM instructed the nurse to start increasing the dosage every 15 min. After another hour or so, I finally started feeling some discomfort. Yay, pain was feeling good.

The resident checked me again and I had progressed to a 4. The contractions were still easy. I could have done this all day. There was talk about breaking my water to further augment labor. My goal was to get to a 5 before they did this. But then, the CNM (who I really loved) came in to check my progress. While checking me, she said she was going to go ahead and break my water. That was intense. There was A LOT of water. The midwife even commented about how my belly was all water. I was grateful things were picking up! The midwife told me I might want to order the epidural because the contractions were going to get pretty intense. So even though I thought I could labor without it, I went ahead and had them order it. I labored about 45 minutes though contractions that finally felt equal to those I labored through for 7 hours with Lincoln.

Getting the epidural was more uncomfortable than I remembered. Last time I think it was just such a relief, I didn’t care how uncomfortable it was. And this epidural was much stronger. I could feel it when I pushed with Lincoln. This time there was no sensation whatsoever.

After getting the epidural, it was another hour or so until the resident said I was at a 5. This was going way slower than I expected. She asked me if I as feeling any pressure down there. I told her there was constant pressure. About 10 minutes after the resident left, I started to feel pressure that rose and fell with the contractions. This was what I remembered feeling when pushing with Link. I remembered thinking, yay, progress! I might be a 6 now.

A few contractions later, something unexpected happened on the monitor. All of a sudden the baby’s heart rate dropped or was lost. A nurse ran in, and not knowing what was going on, she called for the midwife. This made me nervous, and my first thought was a possible cesarean. The midwife came into the room a minute later. She told me she was just going to check to see how the baby was doing. When she looked she said something like, “oh, that’s why! The baby is coming!” WHAT?! Only twenty minutes before I had been a 5.

People ran around the room getting things ready. Three minutes later the midwife was suited up and ready to deliver. She told me I was contracting and to go ahead and push. Well, I didn’t need anymore explanation, I was a pushing pro!

I pushed through three contractions—less than 5 minutes—and Claire was born!

She was so beautiful! People in the room commented on how healthy and pink she looked!

Truly, there isn’t a more joyous moment than when your child is born. But the emotion this time was a little different. With Link there was a deep relief wrapped up in the blissful moment. With Claire, it was pure elation and euphoria. Both experiences so different. Both so beautiful and unforgettable.

I can’t believe we’re a family of four now. That really hit me when I read a card from my Grandma that was addressed to “Michelle, Miles, Lincoln, and Claire.”

One of the highlights of this experience was introducing Lincoln to his sister. He loves her and is being very sweet to her. He’s proving to be very secure and doesn’t seem to be threatened. At least not yet. It’s so fun to see him acting as an older brother.

The last five days with Claire have been a dream! She is one content little girl. She nurses well, poops well, travels well, and sleeps well! Hallelujah! I think I must have done my time with Link! Everything seems easier on this one! It has truly been a blessing. Thank you Father in Heaven, for sending us one of your little angels!

Link has been spending lots of time in our “backyard.” Though it’s not fenced in, we’re so happy to have a little grass and playground behind us. It sure beats being in a second floor apartment!

There’s a saying in Utah that goes something like, “If you don’t like the weather now, just wait 30 minutes.” That’s for sure. Link experienced playing in real snow for the first time just three days after we spent the afternoon at the pool!

On the 2nd, we celebrated Link’s and Daddy’s birthday. I attempted to make a tractor cake, but this was a day I was having what we found out later was false labor, so just the fact that it somewhat resembled a tractor was a victory. Tractors and big trucks are Link’s new thing lately. Herriman is a pretty rural area, so we see them around frequently. I’m not sure if it’s because he’s had a little cold or because he turned two, but he has been a handful lately! The following picture says a lot.

After we gave him a popsicle he was a little happier.

We always look forward to the weekend when Daddy can spend more time with us. Yesterday we went on a trip to the Kennecott Copper Mine that’s about 15 minutes away from us. It was really incredible to see. And of course, Link wouldn’t stop talking about the BIG trucks and BIG tractors!

I really didn’t want to post this picture in all my huge glory. Just remember I’m at the bitter end people!

One week ago, I had an appointment with my midwife in California. So a couple days before, Lincoln and I packed up and drove to St. George. My sister had kindly offered to watch Link while just my mom and I ran down to Irvine for my appointment. While there, with the help of some wonderful friends, we packed up the remainder of our stuff (we had left a few things thinking Link and I would be camping out there for a couple weeks) and were planning to return to St. George the next day. The appointment went well, but to our surprise, after she checked me, the midwife told me I was “on the brink of having this baby.” I was soft and would go sooner rather than later. Oh, and in addition, she stripped my membranes without asking. I was like, whoa, we’re gonna have this baby soon! We went ahead and scheduled an induction date for June 10, but again the midwife commented that she didn’t think I’d make it until then.

After some prayer, Miles and I decided it would still be okay if I returned to St. George the next day, though we weren’t certain if going all the way home to Herriman was a good idea. So the next day (Saturday) my mom and I headed for St. George, wading through the Memorial Day weekend traffic. We spent the night in St. George. I was really pushing to go home at this point, but Miles was still hesitant. I planned to leave Sunday morning, but then my mom offered to give us their piano. She thought this was a good opportunity to get it loaded and have my little brother, Danny, drive it up on his way to EFY. So we waited to gather my dad and brothers to load it onto the trailer. This didn’t happen until about 5:00pm. So by 6:00 we were finally ready to go. I was anxious to just get home!

WARNING in the next line there will be some graphic detail . . .

While taking my last potty stop before leaving, I found just a little mucus on the toilet paper. I consulted my sister, and she agreed it was probably the beginning of my cervical mucus plug. In case you didn’t know, mucus plug is a technical term! I went back to the bathroom just to check again, and sure enough, I found my mucus plug.

Now, you’ll need a little background information to see why finding my mucus plug was so profound. My labor with Link went like this: I had a few contractions, found my mucus plug, an hour later my water broke which put me into full active labor. Miles and I had agreed beforehand that if I found my plug he would immediately jump on a plane and meet me in California. So, feeling very nervous that I’d be laboring intensely in the car, my mom and I headed back to Irvine. We did keep in mind that Vegas and Barstow have hospitals.

Miles got a ride to the airport from the High Priest group leader. He arrived at the airport at 7:00pm, told them his wife was in labor and had him in first class on the 7:45 flight. He made it to Irvine hours before we did!

Luckily, in the car I only had some menstral-like cramping and early labor contractions once in awhile. So we got there with no problem. We set up our air mattresses in the empty apartment and hoped to get a good night’s rest. But we got more than we hoped for. The early labor had stopped by morning. But we were still optimistic. We planned a day with lots of walking. We went to the mall and bought an outfit to take maternity pictures in at the beach. The menstral cramping and early contractions continued for the remainder of the day. But by the time we returned to our apartment that late afternoon, I felt very discouraged that active labor had not started. So, while my mom and Miles napped, I knelt down beside the air mattress and prayed to know what in the world I should do. It just wasn’t possible to hang out in California for a week. Literally as soon as I ended my prayer, my phone rang. It was my good friend Bridget, who just so happens to be a doula! She was returning my call from Friday and had no idea any of this was happening. This was undoubtedly an answer to my prayer!

Bridget and I discussed my predicament, and she offered an idea I never would have thought of. She suggested I have the midwife check me again and possibly augment the labor. Well, because Kaiser works a little differently I couldn’t just call up my midwife so we decided to go into the hospital to be checked by the midwife who was on duty. It was here that we got some disappointing news. I hadn’t progressed at all since my Friday appointment! Are you kidding me? And because I was still only 37 1/2 weeks along, they couldn’t augment/induce me—which we totally understood. Making sure the baby is strong and healthy is the most important thing!

Alright, it was time to just go home. Screw Kaiser (pardon my language) if they don’t cover the emergency delivery. We still haven’t been able to get a straight forward answer about whether or not they would cover the delivery if I’m admitted through the emergency room, even after talking to the claims department and membership services multiple times. Being away from each other and our home just became too much. We shouldn’t have to deal with all of this crap.

That night, Miles was able to give me a very comforting priesthood blessing. In it, I was told I didn’t need to worry, and that I would not have the baby traveling home. We packed up AGAIN, and headed back to Utah. This time we picked up Link in St. George and drove all the way home. It is so good to be all together at home again.

We continue to wait. I feel like I’ve been in early labor for a week now. I’m learning a lesson in patience. We are so anxious to welcome this little girl into our family. To be continued. . .

So about this time last year, Miles and I found ourselves sitting in bed talking about the possibility of Miles not continuing his PhD in biology. He had come to the realization that he just wasn’t passionate about/ obsessed enough over it. In case you didn’t know, a person has to be absolutely in love with something to devote 6+ years of their life to it. Two years into the program and Miles found himself already dreading going into the lab each day.

So what now? Well if you’ve spent more than 20 minutes in a conversation with Miles, you’re sure to know what he is passionate about. Computers. Apple. Programming. Problem solving. There was just one problem. He didn’t have any formal training in computers whatsoever. He was self-taught. He’d done a few websites here and there. And he sure spent a lot of time on the internet learning about different programming languages etc. But really in the end, he didn’t have much to show for it. So yeah, I was scared. I let Miles know my insecurities, but in the end, I knew he was not happy and that this career change needed to happen. So we started praying. A lot. And we went forward.

Miles dedicated the next few months to strengthening his resume. He checked out books from the library and continued learning. It reminded me a lot of my dad who built two homes by basically reading how-to manuals.

Then the tedious job search began. Applications, cover letters, resumes. Yuck! And it took awhile for Miles to nail down exactly what jobs he should apply for. But then a miracle happened. He got a phone interview! This was before Thanksgiving. They liked him and gave him a project which he worked on until 2:00am every morning for a couple weeks. To make a very long and drawn-out story a little shorter, after a couple more interviews, in March they flew Miles out to North Carolina for and in-person interview. I paid my own way and went along too. I devoted the couple days to looking at the area and checking out places to live. We thought for sure we’d leave with an offer on the table.

Well, we flew home, still confident, but without an offer. A few days after getting home they emailed us a less-than desirable offer. The bummer was that they weren’t offering benefits. But after some thought, we decided we could make it work. We prayed about it and felt good about accepting the offer. Actually how we felt was that it was a good offer but that there would be others. But since we didn’t have any other offers in the works, we’d be crazy not to take this one. But instead of receiving a updated offer letter, we received a two-lined email stating that they decided not to renew the offer. That there’d been a question about Miles’ commitment to the company. What the?! We had no idea what they were talking about! This was such a blow. It hurt a lot. Miles sent a very lengthy letter the the owner of the company trying to clear up any miscommunication. After they reviewed his letter, they responded by saying they just didn’t think Miles was a good fit.

So after months of being in the interview process with this company, and applying to many others, we were back at square one. We started again, only this time we were looking to be much closer to home. North Carolina was really far, and it put some things into perspective. So more applications, resumes, interviews. This time though, three separate companies asked to interview Miles: one local company; one in Littleton, CO; and one in Riverton, UT.

It seemed we’d struck gold. Miles had three interviews with the company here in Irvine. And we actually got an offer from the company in Littleton. When we got the offer, however, we were in Utah where Miles was interviewing for a Database Engineer position for the LDS Church.

He’d applied for the job with the Church thinking he was very under qualified. Which he was. In fact, during the phone interview he was told so. But they still wanted to meet him. They said they saw potential.

The interview went well. And we were very hopeful! This would be a great opportunity for growth. And there’s no doubt that Miles indeed does have the potential to do very well. We wanted this position. My family wanted us to get this position because we’d only be a few hours away. We were so grateful when my mom told us my family would be fasting and praying for Miles to get the job. Well, God heard our prayers. The next day, Miles got a phone call informing him that they’d like to hire him with a start date of May 17th. Nothing short of a miracle!

We are so thrilled! But as we learned from our experience with the NC peeps, it’s not official until it’s official. So just today we heard the details of the offer. Great salary and benefits! Who could ask for more?

Only one problem. Remember how I’m supposed to have a baby mid-June? Well the benefits don’t kick in until July 1. Now this complicates things beyond belief!

I currently have a private plan through Kaiser Permanente. Utah doesn’t have Kaiser. I cannot buy into an other individual plan because pregnancy is considered a pre-existing condition. Blah. We do not qualify for medicaid assistance even though here in California we are living in poverty. So that leaves us paying out of pocket. Maybe not too big of a deal if everything goes perfectly. But that’s a big risk. We could be paying tens of thousands of dollars if I need a c-section, not to mention all the other possible complications.

So where does that leave us? In a very hard situation. We’ve come up with two “solutions.”

1. Link and I stay in California and Miles moves up to Utah to start his job. This would mean me taking care of Link by myself for a month, risking Miles not being here for the birth of the baby (would probably ask the doctor about induction to decrease this risk), paying double rent, and trying to move with a newborn by myself since Miles will have to be back at work.

2. We move together up to Utah as planned. I stay in Riverton and get things settled for a couple weeks. Drive down to St. George to stay with family for a week (it’s 4 hours closer to the Kaiser Hospital), then the final week I’d stay in a friend’s apartment while they are out of town. This would mean I’d pay for prenatal visits out of pocket, we’d still be risking Miles not being there for the birth, and I’d have to travel back up to Utah with a 2-day old.

So neither option is a good option. I hate to say it but our current health care system here in America sucks!

As my grandma said, we’re going to need to talk to the Lord about this one. Indeed!

I welcome any thoughts/ advice. Maybe there’s something we haven’t thought of?

We have another possible option that would be much closer to home. This job is in Sandy, UT. We should be hearing from them soon as well. Personally I feel good about both options. We are just praying for a lot of direction right now.

We’re hoping to move sooner rather than later. This baby is coming in June, and it would be really nice if we had a chance to get settled before she comes. Besides, packing boxes at 8+ months does not sound pleasant.

Miles has been down and out with a toothache this week. He’s on Vicodin, ibuprofen, Nyquil, and two types of antibiotics and is still miserable. I took him to the endodontist (root canal guy) and he sent him home saying there’s nothing he can do until the infection clears. So I’ve been basically taking care of both my boys full-time. It’s reminded me just how much Miles helps out around here!

Chasing a toddler while pregnant sure is exhausting! It’s been interesting though. As I get bigger, Link seems to grow more and more independent. As long as I am patient, he will climb into the car and up into his car seat by himself; he’ll walk up and down the stairs to our apartment while holding my hand; and he’s been much better at not running off. We made great pizza dough together the other night. It was the first time he successfully helped me in the kitchen. He is just my little buddy these days. We have so much fun together, even though I may get a little tired of him asking me to play basketball with him all day everyday. There’s nothing I love more than seeing him grow and develop and learn new skills.

Life these days is unsure, but good. One thing is certain though, we are on the verge of some exciting adventures!

Here’s Link at our church Christmas party, scoping out Santa from a distance. Humm, he doesn’t look so bad.

Then again. . .

I think we may have traumatized the poor kid!

Last night I got to ride a duffy boat in the Newport Beach bay with our Young Women. It was a blast! The lights were beautiful, but the company was even better. I love these girls!

This month has been very, very busy for our family. And because we have something planned every night this week and we were running out of time to get our Christmas tree up, we decided to do it first thing this morning.

We’re having another baby!

Our bundle of joy will arrive somewhere around June 19th—which is the official due date! I will be 13 weeks tomorrow. Link and Baby #2 will be almost exactly 2 years apart!

FAQs

Was is planned?
Yup. And we are thrilled! But we didn’t know it would happen so quickly. It took us 9 months to get pregnant with Lincoln and only 1 month with this one! What a blessing!

Are you going to find out what you’re having?
Yes, yes.

Do you want a boy or girl?
No preference! Either would be really fun! I don’t even have an inkling as to what to expect. I knew Link was a boy. This should be a total surprise!

Did you pick a fetus name?
You may remember us calling Link “Feets” while he was in utero. Miles has again named our little fetus. This one goes by “Sneaker.” There’s a bit of a story with this one that I won’t tell here. But doesn’t sound good with Feets. Feets, Sneaker, get it?

How’s your pregnancy been?
Sicker this time. Not as bad as some women have it I’m sure. But I’ve been uncomfortable at times. And I’m a big baby and complain a lot. Poor Miles!

Are you showing yet?
Well, let’s just say that I shared the news with my boss last week, and she told me she had already guessed that I was pregnant from the sight of my belly! It’s just how it is people, when you have basically no waist. There’s no where for all my organs and fat to go but out! And don’t get your hopes up, I won’t be showing bare belly pictures this time around. The battle scars from the last one aren’t pretty!

Did I get all the basic questions covered?

Though sometimes I can’t believe I’m doing this all over again already, we are so thrilled about adding another member to our little family! Lincoln is going to be an outstanding older brother, and I already know this new baby will touch our lives and fill our home with more love. We’re so excited to meet him or her.

Thanks, Andrea, for the FAQ idea

Lincoln has a love for literature. Often when I hear silence and think Link is probably getting into something, I’ll find him in his room, sitting quietly, pulling books off the shelves, carefully paging through them. He’ll spend at least 30 minutes a day doing this. It’s probably his favorite pastime. Often I’ll place him near his books with a snack, and he’ll keep himself entertained the whole time I take a shower!

Before Halloween we visited a local pumpkin patch and petting zoo. Even though he didn’t actually “‘pet” the animals, he was still very excited about the whole thing and he did touch them a couple times.

For Halloween, we all dressed up like pirates. Actually, that’s not completely accurate. For the Day Before Halloween, we all dressed up like pirates. We were so Halloweened out by the end of that night that we actually went to dinner on Halloween night instead of going Trick-or-Treating. Here are a few pictures from our many festivities. Unfortunately we didn’t get a picture of all of us together on our camera.

Miles competed as the reigning champ of the pie eating contest at our ward Halloween party. Unfortunately the title was taken from him by Brother Wingard. It was a close one though!