Lola Mae Diehl is Born

Lola Mae Diehl was born on Monday September 26^th 2016 at 3:10pm in Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg Idaho.  Her birth story is unique among our children for many reasons.  She is our only child not to be born in San Diego or on a Sunday or at night. 

In the final month of Emilee’s pregnancy, I begin to joke that she would give birth on a Sunday.  Up to this point all of our kids had been born on Sundays.  I even calculated the probability of having 4 kids born on Sunday (it is roughly 4 out of 10,000).  On Sunday September 18^th, the Sunday prior to her due date, it was obvious that Lola was not coming and as Emilee and I sat in a family history class at church I decided to look up some details about my Great Grandmother Lola Lavora Taylor.  We were quite sure at this point that we were going to name our new baby Lola and I thought it would be fun to learn a little more about one of the ancestors for whom she was being named. (Side note: Emilee has a great aunt named Lola May whom she greatly admired and my Grandmother Diehl’s middle name was Mae, these three remarkable women are the source of Lola’s name).  As I perused the information and dates about my great grandmother Lola I was surprised to discover that her birthday was September 25^th.  The very next Sunday would be September 25^th.  This little coincidence was a spiritual experience for me, it convinced me that we had chosen a good name for our new baby girl.  It also made me believe that she was going to be born the following Sunday on September 25^th the same day as my Great Grandmother Lola.

Lola’s official due date was Saturday September 24^th.  Her grandmother Jere Diehl came a few days to the due date in anticipation of her arrival and to help take care of Lola’s siblings during the birth.  Prior to Grandma’s arrival there weren’t many strong indications that Lola was about to come.  It seems that with the other children there were one or two instances of a false alarm prior to their births where we thought they were coming.  For example, with Coulson we took a drive into the mountains above San Diego in early to mid-October and Emilee experienced strong contractions during the drive.  There were no such experiences with Lola.  I think that this lack of signs that her body was preparing for child birth and the hope that Lola would arrive while Grandma was in town put some extra stress on Emilee.  As Lola’s due date neared and then came and passed Emilee grew ever more uncomfortable and impatient.  Finally, Sunday September 25^th came and Emilee experienced some strong contractions that morning.  But as she got up and took a shower the contractions subsided.  We went to church as a family but Emilee went home early from church to rest with the hope that being able to relax in peace and quiet would allow labor to initiate.  I was convinced that Emilee was going to give birth that day.  While I attended the remaining church meetings I anticipated a phone call from Emilee but it never came.  When we returned home after church I found out that Emilee experienced no further contractions. We were disappointed.  Emilee was exasperated, she was convinced that she was never going to deliver the baby.

That night passed without incident but the next morning Emilee again experienced strong contractions like the morning before.  But she refused to get her hopes up and I went to work to teach a lecture in my intro Biology class.  I taught a terrible lecture as I was very distracted. After my class concluded Emilee texted me that she was experiencing strong contractions but that they were erratic.  I remembered these kinds of contractions from previous pregnancies and was quite certain that the birth day had come.  I stayed at work for a couple more hours and was meeting with a small group of students in my office when Emilee called and told me that she was still experiencing strong contractions but that they were still inconsistent and that she going in to see her midwife.  I asked a colleague to cover my afternoon class and rode my bike to the midwife’s office and met Emilee there as she was leaving her appointment.  The midwife had informed her that she was dilated to 6cm and that she should go get her things and go to the hospital to deliver the baby.

Emilee and I went home and gathered our things and then headed to the hospital, which is two blocks from our house.  As we arrived at the hospital Emilee was not experiencing any contractions and said that she preferred to wait in the car.  So I parked in a secluded parking spot at the hospital. We weren’t parked for more than 2 minutes when Emilee experienced her strongest contraction yet.  We immediately walked into the hospital and checked in around 1pm. 

By 1:15pm we were in a labor and delivery room. Emilee’s midwife Marie Horne checked her again and she was still dilated to 6cm.  After answering a barrage of questions from the nurse all while experiencing intense contractions the midwife then broke Emilee’s amniotic sac.  From there Emilee was able to get into a large bathtub and for the next hour or so labored in the bathtub which appeared to greatly decrease her discomfort.  Also, I should mention that from the time we arrived at the hospital I was live-chatting the progress of the labor to both my family and Emilee’s family.  Once Emilee got to the point where she started to have the urge to push the midwife and I helped her out of the tub and back to the labor and delivery room.  Once back in the room Emilee begin to actively push and after about 10 to 15 minutes of intense and painful pushing Lola was born.   When Lola first emerged she was purple and did not cry for 3-5 seconds after birth.   But she quickly started to vocalize and to gain color.  The midwife handed Lola to her mother with the umbilical cord still attached.  In this moment I experienced what I have experienced a deep spiritual feeling of love and responsibility.  I felt that this child was sent to us from heaven and that she was ours to care for and to love and to teach. 

Shortly thereafter I was able to cut the umbilical cord.  Lola was screaming quite loud by this time but Emilee was able to calm her down by breastfeeding.  It wasn’t until after 30-40 minutes of breastfeeding or suckling that Lola was finally weighed and measured. She screamed the entire time the nurse looked her over.  Lola weighed 8lbs 4oz and was 20.5 inched long. 

Within the hour after birth they moved Emilee and Lola to the Mom and Baby unit in the hospital.  Emilee and Lola stayed two nights and the nurses there took amazing care of Emilee and Lola. The treatment and thoughtfulness was way better than what we had experienced in San Diego. The hospital even went so far as to provide us with a steak dinner for both mom and dad.  While in the hospital grandma and Eliza came to meet Lola.   The next morning (9/28) Emilee and Lola came home and Adelaide and Coulson were elated to finally meet her.  We didn’t bring Adelaide or Coulson to the hospital as they both had experienced fevers in the two days Emilee was in the hospital. We did not want to risk Lola or someone else’s baby catching whatever infection they had. 

https://goo.gl/photos/XYn9YyEUkyq9UmBF6

We feel very blessed to welcome Lola to our family and are very grateful that she is healthy.  The kids absolutely adore her, especially Coulson.  He more than anyone else wants to hold her and has to always know where Lola is and what she is doing.  He is a very protective and caring older brother.

Idaho and Grand Teton

 Many, many months ago Cody offhandedly mentioned that a friend who moved out of the the ward several years ago was teaching at BYU-Idaho and emailed him and a few others in our ward about a couple of job openings.  I instantly felt a peaceful happiness inside, I knew we would move there and this was our future.  I played it cool and casually asked if he was going to apply.  He said he had no teaching experience and that there was no way he would get the job.  I said maybe he should just apply and see what happens, it would be good experience.  He didn't seem too excited about the idea.  Over the next couple of weeks as the deadline approached, I sort of talked him into it.  He revised his CV, gathered references, and he needed a letter from his PI Joe; that was the hardest part.  Joe has been extremely good to us and has been a pleasure to work with.  I think Joe was hurt that Cody applied for a job that would take him away from the lab.  I felt really bad about this, I hate to disappoint people.   Cody talked it over with Joe and expressed his gratitude to him, Joe jokingly said he was tempted to write a negative letter of rec so he wouldn't move away.  He sent in his application and a few weeks later was asked to have a skype interview.  On Christmas Eve he got a call that he was one of the final 3 candidates.  He flew up to Rexburg in February and had a long day and a half of interviews.  Over the next month Cody fasted and prayed and received confirmation that teaching at BYU-Idaho was where we were supposed to be.  Mid March he got a call and was offered the job.  He accepted the offer and we started to prepare for this life-changing move.  Now we are here and loving it.  I am so thankful for the guidance we received even though it is hard to leave friends and a place you know well.

Here we are in front of the house we are renting...

 We had a few weeks until Cody had to start work so we took our time getting situated at the house and we took a few trips.  We went to Grand Teton National Park first.  It was a little hazy from the wildfires so the view of the mountains wasn't the best but it was still very beautiful.

We went to Jenny Lake first.  Addie insisted on carrying her swimsuit along on the hike...

We rode the ferry across the lake.

Addie liked it at first

Then she got really scared and whimpered and cried the whole way.  She kept saying no in such a sad voice.

We made it to the other side and hiked the trail to the waterfalls.

Cody carried the backpack all around and Addie refused to ride in it.  The kids actually did really well hiking to the falls.  I was really surprised.

The waterfalls.

Eliza's close encounter with a chipmunk.

I love her face.  She just stood there and stared at it, kind of hoping she could pick it up and bring it home.

 
And then shocked at how close it was actually getting to her, maybe it would just jump into her arms but then scared that it really might.

We really enjoyed ourselves and the kids did great on the hike.  We took the ferry back across the lake and Addie was very unhappy about it.  We got in the car and drove around the park some.

There was a traffic jam on one of the roads and as we drove by we saw a huge crowd of people out of the cars with their cameras up.  Well we had to see what everyone was looking at.  We pulled over and walked over and there was a huge bear laying in a tree about 20 yards away.  It was pretty exciting.  It was just like at the zoo except no fence.

July

July started out with a bang.  Note to self: never open back door using remote when groceries are precariously piled in the back of the car.  

July 4th party with the ward:

Eliza's conceptual ability really impresses me.  I love the detail of the eyes.  It's just a fly but she has a way of making it extraordinary.

Addie had a little cold and a red eye so I took her to the dr for some drops, that's all I wanted.  Her regular dr wasn't avaible so we saw someone else.  He said her ear drums were bulging so he prescribed antibiotics.  She took the full course and on the last day broke out into hives.  She had hives all over and her ear started swelling.  I took her in because I had never even heard of anything like this.  I'm telling you, this girl keeps us on our toes.

 The dr said it was serum sickness, a reaction to the antibiotics.  So apparently she is allergic to antibiotics even though she has had them before.  Dr said it would get worse and other parts would swell and the hives would continue to spread but zyrtec and ibuprofen would help.  It. was. terrible.  She was miserable for 3 days.  Her joints got so swollen she could hardly walk.  Her face swelled up and her ear swelled up to 3 times its size.

 Finally the swelling went down in time for us to go to my family reunion in the Gila Valley.  We stopped in Yuma to visit my mom's grave and then continued on.

We got to Central in time for the Pioneer celebrations.  The Gila Valley knows how to celebrate Pioneer day.  It was very impressive!

The Ellsworth descendants in the parade.

That night they had dinner, a show and fireworks.  The fireworks were really close and the best show I have ever seen.  Seriously.

We had a wonderful time visiting with family and especially enjoyed attending the Gila Valley Temple to do work for our kindred dead.

On our way home we stopped at out favorite taco shop El Guero Canelo.  Good and tasty.

We found a delicious taco shop in San Diego just as we are moving away.  Bummer we didn't find it sooner!!  So tasty!!!

My sweet friends in the Primary Presidency took me out to Extraordinary Desserts.  It did not disappoint!  I will miss all of my friends in San Diego!

At the end of July the movers came and packed up all of our stuff.  We moved out July 31st.  One last look at the beautiful San Diego Temple.