My pregnancy with Jonas was a crazy ride. I found out I was pregnant on the last day of January. We had been trying to get pregnant for months, so we were so ecstatic! That also meant that the timing was not up to us. As it turned out, with a pregnancy happening at this time, meant I would have to have 3 different doctors in 3 different cities. Brad' s schooling would take us to a new location with every new semester as he got the training he needed to become a doctor. So, first semester we were in Houston. During this time, we had to get our house on the market to rent, figure out what to do with all of our stuff, then pick up and move to Utah. I'm not going to lie, it was not easy moving and cleaning, and doing everything with 2 little boys and morning sickness. Luckily the majority of the work came when my morning sickness was starting to subside. And brad was out of school the last couple of weeks. I still had minimal energy and dizzy spells, but we somehow made it through. As the month of May began we packed up our little Yaris as full as it could possibly be, and drove to Utah.
The summer was spent with Brad working at the VA, and we spent our time having fun with family. I wasn't insured in Utah, so I made minimal visits to the doctor, and got my glucose test done.
The end of August came. I was 33 weeks pregnant. And it was time to drive back to Texas. This time to the small town of Carthage. There are no OBGYNs in Carthage, and the hospital does not deliver babies. This meant I had to choose a surrounding town to deliver in, and find a doctor in these last weeks of pregnancy. My insurance had to be changed as well. It was all quite the process, but I finally got into a doctor by the time I was 36 weeks along. The first thing they did was do an ultra sound. I found out baby was healthy, and doing great, but was breach. My heart sank. I really wanted to have a natural birth, and breach babies don't work into that plan so well. I still had 4 week til my due date, and still had hope though. I then went onto my exam, and found out I was already 3 cm dilated. This didn't surprise me at all. I had been having contractions like crazy, and the same thing has happened in my first two pregnancies. I dilate early, but no labor. I wasn't concerned.
Throughout the next week I had more contractions and could feel birth getting nearer. Knowing the baby was breach was very unsettling though. As I tried to mentally prepare myself for a possible c section, I got more and more anxious. I really really did not want a c section, the thought terrified me. Plus, what if I went into labor with the hospital so far away? I finally had Brad and one of the elders give me a blessing. The main thing I got from the blessing is that all of my trials would be worth it. It wasn't exactly the comfort I was looking for. I wanted to hear that the baby would turn, and everything would work out how I wanted. But that's not how the Lord always works. Sometimes we need our trials to grow. It was a beautiful blessing, and I think it helped me prepare even more for the fact of probably needing a c section. I didn't want to believe it, but deep down I knew it was going to happen.
The next week I went to my second doctor's appointment. They didn't do an ultra sound, but determined through an external and internal exam that the baby turned! I was told that he was head down! I was so happy. Something inside told me this wasn't true, but I wanted to believe it, and I ignored that little voice. Plus I was dilated to a 4.
I spent the next week believing he was head down. I had my doubts deep down inside, but ignored those doubts. I just wanted to believe that everything would go to my plan, and that I wouldn't need a c section. Through out this week I continued to have crazy contractions, and felt as though labor was just around the corner.
My next appointment I was at 38 weeks. It was a normal appointment, I found out I was almost at a 5, and then the appointment was done. But that doubt of baby being head down was strong that day, so before the doctor left, I brought it up. She had completely forgotten baby had been breach, and decided we better do a more extensive internal check. It was the most painful exam of my life as she reached clear up there. She could feel his fingers, playing with her. She decided she better pull out the ultra sound machine. That confirmed it. He was in fact transverse. In the exam, she found my water bag was bulging, ready to break at any time. Because of this, and his position, she told me to go to the hospital right away. The biggest concern was if my water broke, the umbilical cord could easily come out first, cutting blood and oxygen supply to the baby. It could easily cause brain damage or be fatal.
The hospital was in a town 30-40 miles north of the doctor. Our house was 30 miles east of the office. I didn't want to go to the hospital all by myself with a 2 year old. So I decided I'd go home get brad, pick isaac up from school, finish my hospital bag, then we could all go to the hospital together.
My drive home was full of so many emotions. The strongest being sadness. That c section was coming. I shed a few tears and tried to obey the speed limit as I drove through the country side. I also felt excitement and joy that my baby was coming that day.
When we all got to the hospital, it was confirmed that I was going to be cut open. We didn't have anybody lined up for sure to watch the boys. I did have a few offers from the ward, but I still barely knew anybody as we had just moved there. Luckily the nurses offered to keep an eye on them. They had a tv and snacks and it worked out perfectly.
They wheeled me into the OR. I got my spinal, all was prepped and ready, and then Brad got to join me. As they proceeded with the c section, I all of a sudden got a shooting pain underneath my right breast. Part of me wondered if I was going to die. But I was told it was normal to feel that. That made me feel better mentally, but it sure didn't feel good. In the meantime I was also feeling lots of tugging, and pushing and pulling. Then all of a sudden I could see my new son across the room. I could hear his cry. He was beautiful. And then the nausea set in. I couldn't really even enjoy the fact that I had just given birth to a beautiful baby boy because I was puking instead. If it wasn't for getting a new baby, the experience would have been awful. I couldn't help but compare it to how wonderful I felt after giving birth to my first two. I just had to keep telling myself at least my baby is here healthy and there weren't any complications. After they spent awhile putting me back together again, I was wheeled into the room with my family. I got to hold my baby, and nurse him for the first time. He latched on like a champ, and was perfect in every way. His big brothers adored him. I was truly blessed!
Recovery was harder then I ever imagined. But I survived, and am starting to feel normal again. One month later I get a twinge of pain here and there, and if I push myself too hard, it will ache. But over all I'm doing great.
Jonas has been such a good baby, and we are so blessed to have him in our family. Any pain I endured was so worth it. Even though I didn't want a c section -From first slice through recovery was awful- I am so grateful that c sections exist, insuring that both baby and I were in minimal danger. Looking back, I can see the Lord's hand in every step of the way. We are so blessed!
Monday, October 28, 2013
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Jonas Kendall Larson
On September 26th, 2013 we rushed over to Longview, TX and after a surprise C-section, we were greeted with a brand new baby boy.
Immediately he was a part of our family. He looked exactly like baby Isaac and especially baby Luke. Amy wasn't feeling very well afterwards and so we didn't pick out a name for him until the next day. We narrowed it down to Asher or Jonas or Levi or Noah. After a number of circumstances, opinion from little brothers, dreams, and picking a name from a hat we finally named him Jonas Kendall Larson.
He was 7 lbs and 1 oz.
Someday we'll all die and go to heaven. Heaven will be like Carthage, TX except all of our family will be living here with us. Also there will be one mountain nearby, and there will be no allergies and it will snow for 1 month every year.
We are in Carthage because I've got an externship site to learn from out here. For the first time in my life I feel like I'm finally getting a good deal for the tuition money that I'm paying. It costs $10,000.00 for this semester so that means my experience here is pretty awesome. I'm learning something new everyday. I've been forced to improve on all my weaknesses and I'm finally becoming a competent doctor of optometry. It's wonderful.
Our future now lies ahead of us. Not the distant future, but graduation is now less than 6 months away.
This weekend I am writing my grand resume. Probably one of the most influential documents I'll ever write in my life. This I will send out to Utah and its surrounding cities. I will send it to optometrist and ophthalmologist offices whether or not they are hiring. I'll be fishing for an opportunity.
There are no opportunities advertised in Utah and so I need to find them.
But there are 2 advertised opportunities here in Texas and they are both tempting my attention.
If you're interested in the possibilities you can google option #1 in Onalaska, Tx and option #2 in Piggot Arkansas.
I'll be frank about the very very basics: In Utah we simply may not get a job. It's not that we will turn down a job in Utah and thus we may choose Texas, it's that we may have no choice.
The average salary an optometrist makes right out of school is 87,000 a year.
This salary is NOT dictated by the profession's ability to earn money, it's not dictated by the value of the optometrist, but it is fully the product of one simple fact: Student loans.
No optometry student can accept any job position will a lower salary due to the tremendous demand of the accumulated student loans from 8 years of college education. (and the demand of taxes)
If I want to take a job in Utah it must offer this much for a salary or else I'd have to live in a parents basement long term.
But we have faith that anything is possible with God. We are sending out our resume's and will follow any leads given to us because being near family is a huge priority.
At the same time Texas would like to demand our attention. We currently have an opportunity which could offer us much more than 87,000 a year annually. These offers, will hard work, have a tremendous earning potential of owning a practice which within 5 years may gross 1 million annually.
As far as family goes. I remember one of my favorite cousins was Camber, and although his family lived a thousand miles away, seeing them only a couple times a year was still very special. I enjoyed a great relationship with my cousins despite the distance. It was much better when they moved to Utah, but I know it's possible to know your family that live far away. I need Isaac, Luke, and Jonas to know their cousins too, and I think that will enough success we'll be able to afford to visit Utah every 4 months at least, plus have room for visitors at least once or twice every year.
My heart is currently split on what we should do. For the last year I've felt strongly that we should aim for Utah and so it still holds sway in the decisions.
God will help us decide.
I think that the video didn't work...
So.
I'll just post it on FaceBook.
But I wanted to add one more thing.
at 3 weeks old... I took Jonas into the office and examined his eyes. They were PURE BLUE. Absolutely no pigment anteriorly.
today I took him in again to see the progress and I don't know what to see.
Perhaps my eyes were tricking me but I thought I saw a light dusting of pigmented cells throughout the entire iris OU.
So this means that all last week we had a pure hope for Jonas being a blue eyed baby, but now I'm pretty convinced he'll be brown eyed. By next week I'll recheck again and let you all know. Please remind me to tell you.
Immediately he was a part of our family. He looked exactly like baby Isaac and especially baby Luke. Amy wasn't feeling very well afterwards and so we didn't pick out a name for him until the next day. We narrowed it down to Asher or Jonas or Levi or Noah. After a number of circumstances, opinion from little brothers, dreams, and picking a name from a hat we finally named him Jonas Kendall Larson.
He was 7 lbs and 1 oz.
This is Jonas a few days old.
Now today is his 1 month birthday and he is nearly 10 lbs!
We let him eat it ALL. Messy boy...
He's a beautiful child and we are so lucky to be his family. We loved having Valerie, Janet, Rhone, and Jessica over to meet him but we can't wait to have everybody else meet him in Utah.
So we've been living here in Carthage Texas for 9 weeks now and we'll be here for another 6 weeks before the year ends. We've LOVED it here. We've fallen in love with small town life.
We're about 2 hours away from Duck Dynasty and although we've never seen the show, the culture of it is VERY familiar to this part of the country.
Someday we'll all die and go to heaven. Heaven will be like Carthage, TX except all of our family will be living here with us. Also there will be one mountain nearby, and there will be no allergies and it will snow for 1 month every year.
We are in Carthage because I've got an externship site to learn from out here. For the first time in my life I feel like I'm finally getting a good deal for the tuition money that I'm paying. It costs $10,000.00 for this semester so that means my experience here is pretty awesome. I'm learning something new everyday. I've been forced to improve on all my weaknesses and I'm finally becoming a competent doctor of optometry. It's wonderful.
Our future now lies ahead of us. Not the distant future, but graduation is now less than 6 months away.
This weekend I am writing my grand resume. Probably one of the most influential documents I'll ever write in my life. This I will send out to Utah and its surrounding cities. I will send it to optometrist and ophthalmologist offices whether or not they are hiring. I'll be fishing for an opportunity.
There are no opportunities advertised in Utah and so I need to find them.
But there are 2 advertised opportunities here in Texas and they are both tempting my attention.
If you're interested in the possibilities you can google option #1 in Onalaska, Tx and option #2 in Piggot Arkansas.
I'll be frank about the very very basics: In Utah we simply may not get a job. It's not that we will turn down a job in Utah and thus we may choose Texas, it's that we may have no choice.
The average salary an optometrist makes right out of school is 87,000 a year.
This salary is NOT dictated by the profession's ability to earn money, it's not dictated by the value of the optometrist, but it is fully the product of one simple fact: Student loans.
No optometry student can accept any job position will a lower salary due to the tremendous demand of the accumulated student loans from 8 years of college education. (and the demand of taxes)
If I want to take a job in Utah it must offer this much for a salary or else I'd have to live in a parents basement long term.
But we have faith that anything is possible with God. We are sending out our resume's and will follow any leads given to us because being near family is a huge priority.
At the same time Texas would like to demand our attention. We currently have an opportunity which could offer us much more than 87,000 a year annually. These offers, will hard work, have a tremendous earning potential of owning a practice which within 5 years may gross 1 million annually.
As far as family goes. I remember one of my favorite cousins was Camber, and although his family lived a thousand miles away, seeing them only a couple times a year was still very special. I enjoyed a great relationship with my cousins despite the distance. It was much better when they moved to Utah, but I know it's possible to know your family that live far away. I need Isaac, Luke, and Jonas to know their cousins too, and I think that will enough success we'll be able to afford to visit Utah every 4 months at least, plus have room for visitors at least once or twice every year.
My heart is currently split on what we should do. For the last year I've felt strongly that we should aim for Utah and so it still holds sway in the decisions.
God will help us decide.
I think that the video didn't work...
So.
I'll just post it on FaceBook.
But I wanted to add one more thing.
at 3 weeks old... I took Jonas into the office and examined his eyes. They were PURE BLUE. Absolutely no pigment anteriorly.
today I took him in again to see the progress and I don't know what to see.
Perhaps my eyes were tricking me but I thought I saw a light dusting of pigmented cells throughout the entire iris OU.
So this means that all last week we had a pure hope for Jonas being a blue eyed baby, but now I'm pretty convinced he'll be brown eyed. By next week I'll recheck again and let you all know. Please remind me to tell you.
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