To All Our Fans:
The year 2007 was another eventful one, (although, chances are in 12 months there’s bound to be something eventful, am I right?).
In February I found out I was pregnant with our third child and began preparing for a long nine months. I decided I wanted to try a natural childbirth after 2 successful hospital, drug-assisted births, so I found a beautiful, Victorian birth center about 40 minutes away from us and the greatest midwife ever, Michelle. Dave and I took hypnobirthing classes and (I) read up on natural delivery to try and prepare for a new experience.
In March, Dave was called to be the Elder’s Quorum President in our ward. It has been a challenging calling for him, but as always, he has risen to the challenge and is doing very well with it. When he’s not working on his church calling, he’s working at his new job as a staff appraiser with Countrywide Mortgage. We don’t see him as much as we used to, but at least we can pay the bills!
Meanwhile, Ethan graduated from preschool in May, right around the time I had my sonogram and discovered we were finally getting our girl! I kept asking the technician if he was sure it was a girl until he offered to pay me $100 if it came out a boy.
In June my sister, Chelan and her husband, Jeremy were in town for Jeremy’s work and Chelan and little Kaci stayed with us for about a week. We also had Dave’s brother, Mike and his family for a weekend at that time, and our good friends, Tim & Holly Douberley were over while Dave made snowballs, (to those of you not from Florida, snow cones). Amidst all this chaotic fun I slipped out for a quick power nap, and not long after I’d fallen asleep I was jerked from my slumber by Ethan’s blood-curdling screams. He had reached his hand into the snowball machine to get some “snow” and sliced his fingertip nearly clean off. Dave and I rushed him to the emergency room, (for the first time ever) after bandaging his finger the best we could and that was how we spent our 6 year wedding anniversary. (His finger is fine, by the way, only slightly bulbous and scarred at the tip.)
In July Dave, Ethan, Aidan, and I went to see “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” on opening day in the theatre, as we have done since the first movie came out the year we were married. We’re all big Harry Potter fans, so this was a fun experience.
In August I made my first ever baby quilt for the baby, which I was very proud of, and Ethan started kindergarten at Wolf Lake Elementary School. He loves his teacher, Mrs. Kelly and I’ve had the opportunity to volunteer in his classroom a few times, which has been a lot of fun.
I also, (for the first time since before I was married) got to travel by myself to Utah for my little sister, Cara’s wedding. It was a much needed retreat and I enjoyed the time with my family, while missing my boys like crazy.
In October my mom and oldest sister, Mikaela came, in anticipation of the baby’s imminent arrival. My due date came and went and every day we did everything we could think of to induce labor naturally. Four days past my due date I got desperate and gave myself an enema, (I know it’s gross, but don’t judge me until you’re four days past your due date!). I had minor contractions throughout the day, but I didn’t know I was in active labor until about 7:30 that night, when I started feeling more umph behind the contractions. My mom timed the contractions for about an hour and I called Michelle, (my midwife) to tell her it was going to happen “tonight”. We left the house at about 9:00 to take the kids to T.J.’s, (Dave’s brother) and then head up to the birth center. The contractions were getting pretty intense and painful by this time and I began to question the wisdom of having a “drug-free” birth experience, knowing by now that it was too late anyway, while Dave was sweating bullets, trying to remember everything he’d ever heard about delivering a baby in a car.
We arrived at the birth center at about 9:45 and Michelle got a little smirk on her face as she checked to see how dilated I was. The suspense was killing me. Would I have many more hours of this unendurable pain? “Don’t even tell me I’m not dilated, because I don’t want to hear it, “ I said. But Michelle quieted my fears when she told me I was already dilated to a 9 or 10. The baby was here! She came out at 10:17 healthy, pink, and talking!
We named her Robyn Dale Pickard, (my mom’s middle name is Robyn and Dave’s mom’s name is Dale). She’s a beautiful, sweet-tempered baby and her brothers adore her.
Having a new baby reminds us of how thin the veil is and how close we really are to God. We are so thankful for all we’ve been given and especially for the friends and family who share in our joys and sorrows.
We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season and a great new year!
Love,
David, Amanda, Ethan, Aidan, & Robyn
