I have been so excited to meet you. My belly just kept on getting bigger and bigger and I wasn’t sure how much bigger you could get. Here we are at 41 weeks pregnant the day before I had you.
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I found out that I was pregnant with you on Christmas Morning, 2009. I took a pregnancy test right after we opened presents with my family. I don’t remember what I got for Christmas anymore because I can only remember finding out about you. I told your dad about you and we were so happy. We laughed and smiled and hugged and kissed each other. I cried because I was so excited and happy. I was going to be a mom and we were going to have our own little family. Dad might have cried a little bit, but he usually doesn’t and I couldn’t tell because my eyes were all blurry with tears. He was really happy and we couldn’t have had a better Christmas present.
Being pregnant with you was not that bad. At the beginning, I didn’t ever feel sick like a lot of people do. I did have a hard time when I brushed my teeth . . . well mostly when I brushed my tongue because it would make me gag. So that was annoying, but I was okay after I was done. It was weird for me to be gaining so much weight. I knew that it was going to happen, but I was always in shape from playing sports so I have never had very much extra weight. The last month of being pregnant with you was tough because you were getting so big and making my back hurt. My back just wasn’t used to you and it hurt a lot. Dad would rub my back and hold a heat pad on it to make it feel better.
I had fun telling all your aunts and uncles and my parents that you were coming. They were all so excited for me and you and they all hoped that you would grow strong and healthy while you were in my belly. Your Uncle Ben said it was a little crazy that his little sister was really going to have a baby. I am just growing up too fast for everyone I guess. When I called home to tell Mom and Dad, Dad wasn’t there. So I first just told Mom and Abby. Mom was so excited and started thinking about sewing you a blessing dress right away. I guess she knew that you were a girl! She loves making those dresses and I will pass it down to you so that one of your daughters can wear it. She does everything by hand and then sews it all together to make a very beautiful dress.
I told Mom to have Dad give me a call when he got home. He called and asked me what was going on with my car. I guess that Mom tricked him and told him I was having car problems and needed his advice on something. I told him that I have never thought of myself as a car, but this “car” of mine is going to have a baby. He was really excited to hear this too. He asks each time I call home if we are calling to let him know we are having a baby. He didn’t want to be tricked though, so he asked me very seriously, “Now you really are pregnant right?” I told him yes and since it was the middle of winter he then asked, “What’s the weather supposed to be like in the winters of Boise?” I was a little thrown off by the change of the subject and just said, “It doesn’t snow much here.” He then replied with “Well it would be a wise decision to get yourself a pair of golf shoes for some good traction so you don’t slip and fall and injure yourself or the little one you are carrying.” I laughed a little thinking how silly Papa was thinking I would buy some golf shoes. He was very excited and we talked about how lucky we are to get to be parents soon.
I got lots of phone calls from all my brothers and sisters wondering how we were doing. They were all hoping that everything went well and that it would go by fast so they could meet you. I got some good tips from your Aunts, Tricia and Tracie. They had great advice on what to wear for maternity clothes and some of their favorite things for their babies.
I was really busy for the first six months of pregnancy. I was student teaching in a first grade class. These kids were great and they would ask me all the time how you were doing. I got letters from some of my students and they wanted to meet you when you came. The boys in the class wanted you to be a boy, and the girls wanted you to be a girl. I guess the girls won!
After student teaching in first grade, I finished the last two months of the school year as a long term substitute for a teacher that went and had her baby. After Spring Break my belly was a little bigger and you were growing a lot. My first grade class was confused. They thought you would come over the break, but I told them that you weren’t done growing. They liked to give us hugs and try to feel you moving around. They would sometimes pretend that you kicked them when they hugged us, but you were always very nice. One day you did kick one boy’s hand, and he was very shocked and didn’t give me any more hugs. I think he was scared of you. He said that you know karate. Sometimes when you kicked, I thought that boy was right.
The kids all loved you and wanted to know what you looked like. They also wanted to know what I was going to name you. I wasn’t sure yet, so they tried to help me think of names at recess. They came up with lots of Disney princess names, names of their pets, and some kids thought I should name you after them. Your dad and I both liked the name Katelyn. Dad also liked the name Sarah, but I knew too many girls named Sarah when I was little, so I wanted a different name. I liked the names Kira, Kiya, and Kaylin but Dad thought those sounded strange. He thought Kaylin sounded a lot like Katelyn and he liked that name. I liked it too so that’s what we decided to call you. Your Uncle Nick thought it would be fun if we mixed David and Lorry and called you Dory. Dad liked that, but I didn’t because I thought people would tease you and call you the fish from Finding Nemo. She is a funny fish, but she is very forgetful and that characteristic already runs in my family so I thought we should stay away from that name and give your brain a good start. Your middle name, Eleanor, is David’s grandma’s name. She is a very nice woman. I hope you get to meet her soon. She is very smart and has a lot of fun stories to tell about when she was little and also about when she would go sailing with her family.
The other teachers at school always let me sit in the nice comfy chairs while everyone else had to sit on the floor. They didn’t let me ever lift anything either so that I didn’t hurt either one of us. They took very good care of me each day. They also fed me lots. I think I gained a lot of weight because everyone always gave me have extra snacks because they said, “Take an extra one for the baby.” The snacks were yummy, but I shouldn’t have had that many extra for you.
When school got out, I had a lot of time to myself. Your dad was working each day and I stayed home. I had lots of time to get everything ready for you. I spent a lot of the hot sunny summer days out at the pool. Grandma Gigi got me a cute swim suit that goes all the way around my belly and covers you up. It was very nice and relaxing to sit by the pool. I would take a popsicle out there and after I put on my sunscreen, I would sit there and enjoy the popsicle. I would chat with people about being pregnant. Lots of people have advice and are curious how you are doing and they don’t even know us very well. They have just seen us around the apartment complex. I would spend time reading children’s novels out by the pool and swimming in the nice water. You didn’t help me float any better like everyone thought you would. I needed you to hold up my legs because they still sink in the water.
As my belly got bigger, it started to get harder to do the simple things. Laundry, sleeping, painting my toes, and finding clothes that fit got a little bit tougher each week. I liked to wear dresses all the time. They were very comfortable. When I wore pants or shorts, I was always trying to keep them up because with you in my belly, they didn’t want to stay up as well. Every time we had an ultrasound, it showed that you were upside down in my belly. I didn’t like wearing pants and shorts because I didn’t want to squish your head. This is another reason why I liked dresses so much.
Aunt Christine threw a baby shower for me and you in Rexburg. It was fun to see friends and family again. We played some games and had some treats. They gave us some cute clothes, homemade blankets, toys, and books. Dad and I are excited to read stories to you each night.
My best friend, Brooke, threw another baby shower in Kennewick. Grandma Gigi and Aunt Abby helped out too. There were lots of ladies from church there. Most of them knew me when I was just a baby or a little girl. My aunts and Nana came too. Everyone gave us lots of pink clothes, soft blankets, toys, diapers, lots of fun stuff and more books. Everyone was so nice to be so helpful in getting you things for when you came. Some people made you blankets and quilts. They did a really good job and the blankets are so cute.
Grandma Gigi is working hard on making your blessing dress so beautiful. I am really excited to see all the details of it. She has made one for your girl cousins and I love them. Yours will be so beautiful I am sure. Grandma Gigi is here to help me take care of you right after you are born. She will be very helpful to make sure I am a good mom for you. She was a really good mom, so she will have lots of things to teach me so I can be as good of a mom as her.
Papa Bare is very excited to meet you. He thought Grandma Gigi should fly here to Boise, so that he had would have to drive over and pick her up. It is only a 4 hour drive, so it would be silly to fly. He will see you when you are blessed by Dad at church. He cries when he is really happy sometimes, and I think he will cry when he sees you with me for your first time. He loves his family so much and is so excited to be a grandpa again. He is very proud of his big family.
Grandpa Ken asks about you all the time too. He makes sure I am going to see the doctor and taking my vitamins. He wants you to be very healthy. He sometimes sends some tiny baby clothes for you. He sees them at the store and thinks of you. He walks through stores and fills up his cart with lots of things for you, but then has to remind himself that he shouldn’t buy it all and just picks one thing to buy for you . You will be dressed very cute in Grandpa Ken’s clothes that he sent you. You will have fun talking with him. He likes to talk a lot and share things that he has learned. He is also very curious about you and wants you to be very happy.
Grandma Rudd is excited for you to come. You will be her first granddaughter. She wants to see lots of pictures of you as you grow up since she lives so far away in Texas and we probably won’t see her very often.
You didn’t come on time. It was hard to wait the extra week for you to come. Each day seemed so long and I would get 4-5 phone calls, emails, or text messages from family and friends asking if you had arrived. Everyone wanted to see you! You would move around in my belly all the time and I just wanted to hold you in my arms. All your aunts and uncles and Grandma Gigi and Papa Bare would ask about you and if you were coming. They all made guesses as to when they thought you would come. The person who guessed right gets 25 cents and a blizzard from Dairy Queen. You made all of them lose since you came a week late. They thought they would start a new one, but you made them all wrong on that one as well. Grandma Gigi thought you would come the 24th because it was the night of the full moon. It sounded silly to me, and she was just hoping it would work but you didn’t seem to listen. Here is everyone’s guesses:
Brooks - Mon, Aug 23 5-10am
Dad - Tues, 24 2-7am
Mom - Wed 25, 3am-8am
Elder Bare- Wed 25 7am-noon
Chad - Wed. August 25 9-1
Tracie - Wed, 25th noon-5pm
John - Wed 5-8pm
Elizabeth - Wed 25 8pm-2am
John - Thurs 2-3am
Ben - Thurs, 26 3-8am
John - Thurs 9:36am-10:36am
Tricia - Thurs, 26 1-6pm
Chris - Fri, 27 3-8am
Julia – Fri, 27 10am-3pm
Chad – Sat 28 9:43:52pm-2:43:52am
Mom – Sun, 29 12-5 pm
Everyone was so excited for you to come and your cousins Edison and Emilia were so excited to help me hold you. They also want to teach you how to do my hair and how to walk. They will be very fun cousins.
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