From My Perspective

I've received requests to post about baby Rhett's birth from my own perspecive (although Paul did a great job summing it all up in his earlier post). So, as well as I can remember, here it is. (It's long and only has a few pictures, so don't feel bad if you choose not to read it! I'll never know!)

On June 26 I began a journal entry with, "Today has been interesting." It was. We had spent the previous evening having a "cleaning party" of sorts, and my body ached from the last-minute rush of packing and scrubbing the apartment. (Although I suppose I deserved some of the ache for not cleaning my refrigerator for almost an entire year.) On the morning of the 26th I woke up with a sinking heart at the prospect of sending Paul and Benjamin off to Washington without me. Not only would I be alone, but I would be alone and homeless. I was staying in a guest apartment at Wyview until I flew to Washington on July 2.

As I helped pack lunches and otherwise prepare for the long drive to Washington, I kept having nerve-wracking, annoying contractions. Nerve-wracking because by themselves they were fairly harmless but they were compounding my stress about my family leaving! I also wasn't sure if I was partly imagining them. I mean, I was pretty worried about having the baby on the airplane, but this was three weeks before the due date and I didn't think I should have to be worried about it yet. And they were annoying because I couldn't tell anyone about them! What good would that do? I couldn't tell Paul to stay because they could mean nothing, especially because I wasn't due for another three weeks. Plus, he couldn't stay anyway because of the rental truck and all that. Anyway, I felt that saying anything about it at all would just give Paul cause to worry while he was driving, so I kept it to myself.

I strapped a barely-awake Benjamin into his car seat and took my time giving him hugs and kisses before I finally shut the car door. Then I cried into Paul's shoulder as he assured me that we were doing the right thing. As Paul pulled away in the moving truck with Ruth, Alene, Kelv, and Benjamin behind, his mom and I stood in the driveway and tried not to cry.

I got myself ready for the day at my in-laws' house and then drove back to Wyview in Paul's sister Ruth's Ford Focus, with my mother-in-law's kind assurances that she was available if I needed anything and that I was totally welcome at their house. We made plans to work on baby quilts for the new grandkids on Saturday and go to a Freedom Festival event on Sunday.

Back at Wyview I arrived at our former home to find that it was already being cleaned by Wyview's head custodian, Katinia. She so kindly helped me load my suitcase and the box of food I had left in the apartment into the car.

I spent some of the day studying for my final exam for my Children's Literature course through Independent Study (my last class!). At one point my coworker-friend Laurie stopped by the office where I was working to see how I was doing. She was (and always is) so kind and sympathetic! She let me air my worries about being alone and the contractions having started, and so kindly encouraged me to call her if I needed anything.

At some point on Thursday I mentioned to Paul's mom that I had been having contractions. She told me that she would keep her phone by her bed that night in case I needed her. Up until the evening the contractions were pretty irregular and not very intense, so I assumed that they really were just related to stress and would ease up. But after dinner (shall we blame the cafeteria food?) they started to hit me more often and more painfully. (I'll just mention now that I'm a whimp about labor pains.) I tried to keep doing things and distract myself by reading or watching TV, but I couldn't keep my eyes off the clock. I got impatient when they were about 5 minutes apart and called the hospital to get a nurse's opinion. She said to wait till they were three minutes apart. And, wouldn't you know, as soon as I hung up the phone they slowed right down to about 10 minutes apart.

And I'm thinking: "Good grief! Can we just get this over with??"

I waited out the night on the couch because the beds in those apartments, the ones the freshmen sleep on, are rock-hard and not very comfortable to a woman in labor. (I kept being told by people who had children that the contractions could go on for weeks before I went into real labor, but my gut told me that it was real labor. I suppose I may not have been accurately communicating the intensity of the pain, and such comments kept coming despite my arguments.) I didn't sleep well, being woken up by contractions every 10-20 minutes. Occassionally they would be closer together, especially as the pre-dawn hours progressed. I was slowly getting to the point where I didn't think I could handle it anymore and I decided to go to the hospital despite the irregulatity of the contractions, just to get checked out if nothing else. I waited until 6 a.m. to call my mother-in-law. I was a little uncertain about calling anyone because I was also uncertain about the possibility that the baby really was coming. But I called anyway because the offer of help had been made and I didn't want to ignore it.

I told her my thoughts and I think she could tell from the way I sounded that I was more panicky than I was really ready to have a baby. We agreed to take some time to get ready rather than going right away. As I got moving and got myself ready for the day things eased up again, and after about an hour I called her back to sheepishly say that I would be fine. I felt so embarrased for being so hasty and waking her up! I cried to Paul about it later on the phone, telling him how embarrassed and frustrated I was. He repeated some of what I had been hearing from others about how this could go on for weeks, etc., etc.

The thing is, when Benjamin was born I woke up at 3:30 a.m. with 5-minute-apart contractions (not having had any contractions the day before), got to the hospital at 5 a.m. with 3-minute-apart contractions, and delivered a baby at 9 a.m. After that the doctor and many others told me that the next baby would probably come even more quickly, and to not wait so long to go to the hospital the next time. Granted, that was my only childbirth experience to go off of, but can you see why I was so uncertain about things? I had never experienced irregular contractions before, so when the first ones started I figured it was only a matter of hours before I was in a delievery room. But as those hours stretched into a day and the day stretched into two, I was at a total loss. My body and my gut instinct were telling me I would have a baby really soon, but my friends and family were cautioning that the baby might not come for several days or weeks. Hmph!

So Friday wore on. I went back to our old apartment to do some work on the computer. Before I left the aparment for the last time, I took a few minutes to be sentimental. For some reason I get really attached to places I have lived. When Paul and I left our first apartment in Wymount to move into DT it was just as hard for me as when I moved out of the house I lived in for 18 years. Maybe it's because change is hard, I don't know. Anyway, I let myself get teary as I walked through the apartment and remembered things:

How good it felt to move in after leaving DT--So much space! Air conditioning! A kitchen!

I thought about Benjamin eating in his high chair and making a total mess, smearing oatmeal and other things on the computer desk next to him. He did so much growing up while we lived in Wyview.

I thought about laying him down to sleep in his pack-n-play and about all the nights I spent sleeping on the recliner in his room or on the couch with him curled up in my lap (and snoring) because he would wake up crying in the night.

I thought about giggled conversations with Paul in bed late at night because that was the only time we could seem to find to talk.

It was hard to say goodbye to that home because it also meant saying goodbye to other things: my time as a Hall Advisor, which has been very special to me, if not always easy; our wonderful neighbors, as well as wonderful coworkers-they gave our family so much service and love! We'll never again have a neighborhood like that one; and BYU and Provo in general, places I never imagined could feel so like home for the past five years.

(Unfortunately this is the only picture I have of any of our Wyview friends! Sorry Carters and Trumans that it's not the best photo!)

That afternoon I went to a team meeting with other hall advisors, and there was much speculation and joking about when my baby would make his appearance, as well as plenty more sympathy for my husband-less, pain-filled days. After the meeting I decided to get my final exam over with rather than put it off till Monday, which I had considered. Luckily it wasn't quite as difficult as I had imagined it would be, until I reached the end and there were two essay questions which I felt quite unprepared for. As I began to scribble down some answers that I hoped were legitimate, I began to feel more uncomfortable than I had all day. And it really didn't help that I was in a glass-walled room full of other people taking exams where it would be a little embarrassing to breathe and whine loudly through contractions every few minutes. It was quite the way to end my academic career at BYU, but I did it (and got an A on the final and in the class to boot)!

Paul had tried to call me while I was taking the test, so I returned his call in the parking lot. While I talked to him the contractions picked up even more. After getting off the phone, they were still so painful and so uncomfortable that I had to stand, leaning against the car, in the middle of the parking lot for several minutes until I felt able to sit down and drive back to Wyview. I decided that I couldn't just sit around that evening and time contractions. I was pretty discouraged about the whole experience and thought I should distract myself by just doing. Anything. So I went shopping. I had some gift cards to use up, so I went to the mall first but found nothing good. Then I went to Babies R Us to find a gift for a friend's baby. I got a cute outfit for him, but inching my way through the parking lot and store as contractions came and went told me that I should go home.

I tried to take it easy. I talked on the phone with Paul late that night and he updated me on the progress they had made in unpacking and cleaning up the house in Washington. At some point during those two days he was away I had mentioned the labor pains to him so he was aware of what could happen. We had pretty much decided that if the baby was born before I joined him, he would stay put and I would come up as planned (except with a baby, of course) because money was really tight after the move. The whole time I talked to him on Friday I was struggling with contractions that were quite painful and 10 minutes apart. He said to call him if I needed to, and while I would have loved a good reason so do so, I was resigning myself to another day of unproductive pain. And I really was not looking forward to doing EFY check-outs at 7 a.m. under the circumstances.

Friday night was virtually sleepless since the contractions remained a consistent 10 minutes apart. All night long. Around 4 a.m. I was getting to the point where I thought I couldn't stand the pain anymore, but the contractions were still six minutes or more apart. I was trying to wait for the 3-minutes ones, but things were getting seriously painful, and I started to feel quite a bit of pressure, which was new. I called the hospital again to tell them my symptoms and they said to go ahead and come in.

I didn't want to feel sheepish again about getting Paul's mom out of bed so I decided to get myself ready to go before I called. Plus, I didn't want more pictures of me with bedhead and no makeup for the next baby book.

Benjamin's birth, September 25, 2006

When I finally called Paul's mom I got no answer, which wasn't entirely unexpected since it was just after 4 a.m., after all. I waited through a couple more contractions before trying again. Still no answer. After trying again a third time several minutes later I decided to try someone else. For starters, I didn't feel too jazzed about making the Daily Universe by delivering my baby in Wyview. Also, I didn't know the results of my Group B Strep test (for which I was positive with Benjamin), and I didn't want another baby with an IV in his head due to lack of antibiotics at delivery. So I tried calling my friend and associate Hall Advisor, Lori, at 4:40. No answer. I remembered that her husband was at a scout camp and she'd have to bring little Lucy with her, so at 4:45 I tried calling Laurie Parrotti. No answer. I felt bad about calling people so early in the morning, and I knew that many HAs, like me, were scheduled to do check-outs for conferences just a few hours later, and I hated to wake them. Others I just didn't feel like I had a good enough relationship with to wake them up before 5 a.m. and say, "Hi, I'm having a baby (I think). Will you drive me to the hospital so we can both feel awkward about whether you should stay with me while I give birth or go home?"

After a short deliberation I decided that since the hospital was only a few blocks away and it was still before dawn, the roads were probably clear enough for me to make it there in just a few minutes, probably even between contractions. So I gathered my hospital bag and hopped (or rather eased my way slowly) into the Focus and drove myself to the hospital in about 3 minutes. (So all you people out there can stop exclaiming over me driving myself to the hospital! If I really was a pioneer woman I would have found a shoelace and some scissors and delivered my own baby in the bathtub. Okay probably not.)

I got to the hopsital just after 5. I was so relieved when the nurse told me that I was dilated 6.5 centimeters and said, "Yep, you're having a baby!" Things happend pretty quickly after that. Everyone was so sympathetic about my solo state and concerned about me not having anyone with me when I was having a baby. I had called Paul and told him what was going on, and he was attempting to call his parents, so I assured them that someone was on the way.

My first nurse, Dani, was so nice! She kept talking to me and so kindly offered her hand for me to hold while the anesthesiologist administered the epidural. (Like I said, no pioneer woman here.) It was the same doctor I had when I delivered Benjamin, but this time the epidural hurt when it was put in! I was so grateful to have a wonderful, supportive nurse. After he was done I remembered that I had wanted to ask for pain relief that would still allow me to feel my legs. I couldn't feel a thing with Benjamin, and while pushing wasn't a problem I hated the total loss of feeling in my legs. I was hoping to avoid that this time. Oh well.

My doctor was off-duty that weekend, but she happened to be in the hospital doing a C-section. They told her I was there so she stayed rather than going home. She broke my water at 7 cm. Just a short while later it felt as if my epidural had disappeared. It wasn't the worst pain ever, but it was enough to concern me since up till then I hadn't felt anything but tingly (and still mobile) legs. The anesthesiologist came in to give me a little boost, but just after that I felt immense pressure. After telling the nurse, she checked me to find that she could feel the baby's ear. I was on the phone with Paul. As the doctor and nurses began prepping for the deliver I told Paul that I felt like pushing but didn't think I was supposed to, to which the doctor replied, "No! You're not supposed to!" They picked up the pace with the prepping.

When it finally came time to push I found myself frustrated because it seemed so ineffective. When I was totally numb from the epidural with Benjamin I still felt productive in my pushing, which only took a few minutes. This time it was apparent that the epidural hadn't had enough time to take total effect so I expected that the extra feeling would help me push more effectively. Oddly enough I felt the opposite. I pushed and pushed but just didn't feel any relief from the pain and pressure. But I must have been doing better than I thought becuase within a minute or two he was out! (The only just-after-birth picture is on my cell phone.)


Rhett was born at 7:07 a.m., weighing 7 lbs., 14 oz. He as 19.25 inches long. He was also almost three weeks early. Surprise!



(For those who are interested, I only needed a couple of stitches and was up and moving much more quickly than I was when Benjamin was born.)

Paul's parents arrived just minutes after Rhett was born. I should mention that my mother-in-law was in no way neglectful of me during the two days I was dealing with all of this. She called often to check in and give me encouragement. She just happened to have put her phone in another room to charge Friday night, which is why she missed my calls. I was glad to have them there since Paul couldn't be, and they were able to take many post-birth pictures for us. It was another great blessing when Paul's sister Heidi and her husband Landon paid for him to fly back to Provo with Benjamin that night. We are so grateful!






Sunday morning the doctor who was on call listened to my story about delivering a baby three weeks early while my husband was in Washington and I was getting ready to meet him there in four days. He said he would discharge me that day, for which I was very grateful (cheaper hospital bill!), but which probably wasn't so much out of sympathy for my situation as it was because they were pretty crowded that weekend and needed the beds. In any case I was grateful that Rhett was also deemed healthy enough to go home.

Even though they discharged him, Rhett was having some biliruben issues. We had to have him checked on Tuesday morning. That afternoon he had an appointment with the pediatrician for a check-up and so we could get a permission-to-fly letter for our trip the next day. The doctor gave us the letter, but said that the biliruben was at a higher level than before and that we should have him tested again Wednesday morning before we left. We had him tested that morning and then scrambled to gather our things and drive to Salt Lake. On the way to the airport I called for the biliruben results and was told that they were high again and that we should have him tested again the next day in Washington.

Before going to the airport we surprised Paul's grandmother again with a visit from her new great-grandson. I'm so glad we could visit with her (and with Cynthia and Nathan) before we moved. I have never met a sweeter lady than Grandma Sanders!




We were running late that day, and we wanted to do justice to our visit with Grandma Sanders, so we had quite a rush to get to the airport in time. I'll let you all imagine the fun of checking in with the airline with a toddler who hadn't had a nap and a 4-day-old infant who, still, is always hungry. But overall the flight was a good one, with Benjamin playing most of the time and hardly crying, and Rhett sleeping through most of it.




During the hour and a half drive from Seattle to Bellingham our over-tired toddler yelled for candy for over an hour (NANNY! NANNY! NANNY! No joke. He didn't let up.) About fifteen minutes before we got into the city he fell asleep. And Rhett woke up crying for food. Go figure.

So that's the story (and then some). We've been in Bellingham for a month now and things are going well. The real summer weather began this week with temperatures in the 80s! Scorching! (Sorry to those of you in Utah.) I think it has only rained three times since we came.

Paul is getting used to things at work and we are so lucky to be able to have lunch together at home almost every day. Benjamin is super active and just loves his baby brother. Rhett is getting to be a tank and we're anxiously awaiting his first social smiles.

There will be more coming soon concerning more recent events!

Rhett Buehler Duersch

Here are a few more pictures of Rhett I thought you might enjoy.

Newly born.

Happy mother of two handsome boys.

Three Duersch generations.

Sunday is a day of rest.

Brother's bonding.

What a Weekend!!

This weekend proved to be very eventful for the Duersch Family. The story is actually a pretty good one. But if you don't want to read this long blog here it is in a few phrases: Paul move's with Benjamin to Bellingham, WA; drive 1000 miles through Thursday and Friday; Vicky, still in Provo, has irregular labor contractions starting Thursday morning; Vicky can't get a hold of anyone at 4 am (Mtn. time) Saturday morning, so she drives herself to hospital (dilated to 6 1/2 cm); Vicky in Provo, calls Paul in Bellingham at 5 am (Mtn. time) because she is having baby Rhett; 2 hours after Vicky arrives at hospital, Saturday, June 28 at 7:07 am (Mtn. time) baby Rhett is born, three weeks early; Saturday afternoon Paul and Benjamin fly back to Provo (courtesy of Paul's sister Heidi). What a weekend!!

So here is the full story, from Paul. (Yes I included every detail I could so as not to forget this experience, so now you have been warned.)

On Wednesday, June 25, Vicky and I were blessed to have a number of members from our BYU ward, and Wes Truman, help us pack our moving truck. The 16 ft truck was completely packed in thirty minutes. The rest of the evening was spent cleaning our apartment. Special thanks to my sister Marianne and her family, and my Mom for helping us clean. We spent the night at my Mom's house in Orem that night.

Thursday morning around 9:30, a little later than planned, we were on our way. I drove the moving truck with my little sister Ruth as co-pilot and trip photographer. We were also towing our 4-Runner behind the moving truck. Behind the truck and 4-Runner was my other little sister Alene and her husband Kelv, with Benjmain in the back seat, driving our Honda Accord. We left Orem as my mom and Vicky cried in the driveway.

An hour later we arrived in Kaysville, UT, where my Grandmother Sanders lives. I sure enjoyed visiting with her. She is the most charitable and sweetest women I know, and I will miss her. After a brief visit with her we commenced our traveling caravan on to Idaho.

Idaho is not a very exciting state to drive through. I know that my brother-in-law Kelv may disagree, but I'm going to stick to my beliefs.

We stopped for gas in Burley, ID, at a Sinclair Gas Station at $4.09 a gallon. From there we continued to Boise, ID, where Kelv is from. It was 5 pm and Kelv's mom and dad made us dinner. Those BBQ sandwiches really hit the spot. At 6 pm we were back on the road. We filled up the truck and Accord in Boise at Albertson’s Express at $4.09 a gallon as well.

(That guy on the motor cycle passed us at least five times.) From there we continued up the Interstate through Oregon and the Blue Mountains.

Just outside of Washington State, we put in a little gas in the truck in Stanfield, at a Pilot Gas Station, at $4.15 a gallon. An hour later, at midnight Mtn time, we were at my older sister Heidi Sego's house in Richland, WA. Visiting with the Sego's was Landon's (Heidi's husband) brother Abe and his family. So it was a full house at the Sego residence.

That night I called Vicky to see how she was doing. She told me that she had been having labor contractions off and on throughout the day, but nothing was regular.

Friday morning, we had a big pancake pow wow for breakfast with a berry mix for syrup. Benjamin enjoyed chasing the Sego's "meow meows" around the house. At 11 am we left Richland heading for Bellingham. In Richland we filled up at Tesoro Gas Station for $4.17 a gallon.

The weather for the entire trip was perfect. Hardly a cloud in the sky, including in Washington. We could see Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker from Richland when we got on the interstate. The drive went really well. I don't think we passed anyone while driving that moving truck. Being only able to travel no faster than 60 mph left us being passed by all, including semi-trucks. But because of that we saw a great variety on license plates; Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, South Dakota, Michigan, Arkansas, Florida, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana, Missouri, British Columbia Canada, Alaska, and Hawaii.

We hit Seattle at about 3:30 pm and were met with very heavy traffic. It didn't clear up until we passed Everett, 30 miles to the north. From there we strolled right into Bellingham with no problems, arriving at 5:30 pm. After a couple hours the truck was unloaded and the unpacking began. Ruth, Kelv, and Alene, were incredible helpers. Ruth even vacuumed and washed the carpets in our house. And Alene and Kelv unpacked our kitchen. Benjamin in the mean time was running around the house laughing and have a great time with his aunts and uncle.

Throughout the day I had been in contact with Vicky and checking on her status. Being the she was 37 weeks pregnant we were really hoping and praying that she would not go into labot until she was in Bellingham. Vicky said she was still having irregular contractions throughout the day. So she studied and took her last final at BYU, on Friday. Congratulations VICKY!! I am so proud of you for this accomplishment! Way-to-go Sweetheart!!

I spoke with Vicky late Friday night and still nothing was different with the irregularity of the contractions. These off and on contractions were frustrating for Vicky because she didn't experience anything like this with Benjamin and the nurses and doctor had previously told her to expect the same situation as what happened with Benjamin. With Benjamin, Vicky only had 5 hours of steady contractions before he was born. None of this irregular business.

Around 12:30 am (Pacific time) exhausted I finally laid my head down to sleep. The next thing I know my cell phone was ringing. It was 4:15 am (Pacific time). Vicky was on the line and she told me she was at the hospital. She said that as she went to bed Friday night the contractions finally became steady and regular, every 10 minutes. From there it went to 8 minutes apart and then to 6 minutes and then around 4 am (Mtn. time) she was down to 5 minutes apart. Vicky was tired off the contractions. So she tried to call my Mom in Orem to take her to the hospital. But Mom accidentally left her cell phone in another room that night. Vicky tried to contact Mom two more times unsuccessfully. Then she tried to contract a couple fellow Hall Advisors, but still nothing. So at around 4:45 am (Mtn. time) Vicky had had enough. She drove herself, in Ruth's car, to the hospital. Once at the hospital she had two very mild contractions and thought to herself, oh no their going away. Upon inspection from the nurses though, Vicky was already dilated to 6 1/2 cm. The baby was on the way!

Vicky and I called each other back and forth for the next two hours. During that time I was able to contact my Mom and Dad (as a note, Friday night Dad had returned from a two week business trip to Africa and France.) I contacted Mom and Dad at 6:30 am (Mtn. time). Then I called Vicky back, she told me that the nurses just broke her water and could feel the baby's ear. So I called Mom and Dad again, and told them they better grab their camera and get to the hospital. Once the doctor was ready, and with only two good contractions, out came our second son. Rhett Buehler Duersch was born Saturday June 28 at 7:07 am; three weeks early, 7 lbs 14 oz. and 19 1/4 in long. Buehler is my Grandmother Sanders' maiden name, and my middle name.

Lucky for me, I was able to be on the phone with Vicky during the final stages of labor. Between my words of encouragement, I could hear a play by play from the doctor and nurses. What an incredible feeling it was to hear the doctor quickly say, "He's out." A few moments later Rhett let out a wail of excitement, sharing with us how cold and bright his new environment was. How proud I was and am of Vicky and my new son Rhett. Me missing the birth of my second son was something that Vicky and I new could happen since she wasn't going to fly out to Bellingham until the upcoming Wednesday. Even though we talked about it and knew that he could be born during that short time apart, we didn't expect it to happen.

Mom and Dad arrived only moments later after Rhett was born. They told me that Vicky was beaming and both mother and baby were doing very well and healthy. I then called Vicky's mom, and all my siblings. Another note, my oldest sister Laurette was 38 weeks pregnant, and my older brother Jason's wife was 40 weeks pregnant at this time. Both women were pretty jealous that Vicky beat them in delivery.

My older sister Heidi and her husband Landon, insisted on flying Benjamin and I back to Salt Lake City to be with Vicky and Rhett. So they purchased me a ticket to leave Seattle at 3:30 that afternoon. The rest of Saturday for me is mostly a blur. We quickly cleaned the truck and filled it up at $4.35 a gallon at Fred Meyer Gas Station, returned the truck, moved around the boxes in the house, returned the carpet cleaner, got ready for the day, and left Bellingham. While at Fred Meyer returning the carpet cleaner, I ran into a good BYU CM buddy who had just moved from Alaska to Bellingham. Come to find out he and his family are even in our same Bellingham Ward. They are going to bring us dinner this Wednesday night when we arrive back in Bellingham.

Seattle is a 1 1/2 hour drive from Bellingham, not including Seattle traffic, so we had to get going. Since Ruth wasn't going to fly out until Monday and Alene and Kelv until Tuesday we needed somewhere for them to go. Luckily Kelv's older sister just moved to Seattle a month ago, the three of them went to her place.

Benjamin traveled very well on the Southwest flight to Salt Lake City, this was his first flight. He enjoyed the cheese nips and the juice. We ended up having a whole row to ourselves, which made life for Benjamin nice. He had room to wiggle and move. Benjamin probably spent a third of the trip standing on his seat. He also really enjoyed opening and closing the window shutter, and have the lights turned off and on.

My Mom and Dad met us at the airport and drove us back down to Provo. It was really wonderful to be back with Vicky again, and be with my newborn son. Benjamin was also very happy to be with his mother again, but not as excited about his new little brother.

Sunday morning, since Mom and baby were both still doing great and healthy, both were discharged from the hospital.

Benjamin is warming up quickly to Rhett and even held him on his lap this morning (Monday).

I feel greatly blessed from this whole experience. I know that the Lord is closely involved in our lives. How interesting it is, and not by coincidence, that so many things and events feel perfectly into place for Vicky and I. Especially with bringing Benjamin and I back to Utah. Rhett is a handsome fellow and I am overjoyed to have two wonderful sons.

As of this morning as well, we just found out that Jason's wife might have her baby tonight or tomorrow. And Laurette, my older sister has an appointment to be induced this Thursday. Both are expecting little girls.

What a weekend!!

ALL DONE!!! YEESSSSSSSSSS!!!

As of this evening I am now officially a Brigham Young University graduate. I passed my last class and can't believe that I have no more homework. What a relief! I am so happy to be done!

Fishing at Burraston Ponds

My older brother and I took our families down to Mona, UT for a fun evening fishing. We had a good time and enjoyed being outdoors. The fish were biting, but not staying on the hook well. Regardless, it was still fun to tie on different flies, cast out the fishing line again, and reel in a few fish. We finished the evening with a stop at the One Man Band Diner. What a great evening.

Happy fisherman-to-be.

Three happy fisherman and three happy fishes.

Bellingham House Pictures

Because of the requests that we have received, here are a few more pictures of the house we are moving into in Bellingham, WA. The house is small. It was built 50+ years ago. It has three bedrooms and one bathroom, on about a 1/4 of an acre. We plan to live in this house for one to two years, and in the mean time find a building lot and build a new house. In Bellingham it is actually cheaper to build a new house than to buy a house, (especially if you work for a construction company.)

Front of the house.

The front room.

The Kitchen (with Vicky and our Landlords).

Benjamin's Room.

Part of the backyard.

The house from the backyard.

The pictures make it look small, and it is pretty small. But we are very excited to have been so blessed to find a good house, only 2 miles from Paul's work, in a safe area of Bellingham, and very flexible landlords. We feel the Lord answered our prayers by allowing us to be in this house. Out of 12 other families who wanted this house, the landlord chose us because he "had a good feeling" about us. The Lord hears His children's prayers and He answers them.