February 2018

Dear friend,

My sister Hannah came to take care of me the first week of February and she was such a lifesaver!

She was so helpful and made us dinner every night.  

 

We held our first Erickson Family Olympics in our new home.  

(These are their "game faces".) 

There were a lot of laughs 

and we are putting our unfinished basement to good use.  

 Family wrestling  

and dance parties have resumed, 

and "Ring-Around-the-Rosie"

and YouTube kids dance-along videos have been added to the mix due to popular demand.  

(Especially from Joy, she constantly has a song in her head and frequently requests a dance video to get her jam on.)

Valentine's Day was fun and the kids enjoyed making valentines for their classmates.  

Summer's class had a Valentine's Day performance

and she sang her little heart out.  (Which of course just melted mine.)

Joy and Boyd have had a funny relationship lately.  They enjoy playing together but then Boyd starts to play too rough and ends up in time-out.  Joy follows him there and they both giggle while I tell them not to touch each other while in time out.  

Baby girl continues to grow  

and this little girl thinks she's totally ready.   

Summer has even been training her on how to be a big sister.  Summer is very proud of her role as the oldest sister and she takes it very seriously.  

Elias is beginning to find a rhythm at work and we send him pics throughout the day. 

Meanwhile I continue to love my job as Mommy and our set-up here in CT.  

And I love the views out my windows!

 

The kids have done a few scavenger hunts for Elias to find them when he gets home from work and they all love it.  

 To be honest, this pregnancy was rough the last six weeks.  I was constantly trying to prevent contractions and I was oh, so uncomfortable.  Summer was so sweet and would sometimes bring me breakfast in bed with notes that said things like, "You are the best mom" and "I hope you are okay."

Even Boyd started writing me love notes.  

My c-section was scheduled for Friday, the 23rd and when I discovered that the kids had that entire week off school I was sure it would put me into labor.  Luckily, Elias' mom Jeannie had that same week off and came to save the day!

I can't even express how much I love this woman! She has such a solid testimony of the gospel and is a great example of Christ-like love and acceptance.  I am a better person because of her influence and I'm so grateful that my kids have her as their grandmother.  

She kept the kids busy all week with activities, crafts, 

trips to the park and children's museum.  

She and Summer threw a darling little baby shower for us to celebrate the night before the c-section.  

Summer wrote this note for me (I love you.  I hope you are okay.  I hope you are okay at the hospital.  I love you.  You are the best ever.  I love you.  Love, Summer)

and this note for the baby (Welcome baby.  I hope you like it here.  Welcome.  You are sweet and nice.  You are kind.  You are my sweetheart.  I love you with all of my heart because I love you.)

Friday morning we woke up and got ready to head off to the hospital.  I was so surprised we had actually made it to the 23rd.  Joy gave me and the baby a few kisses for good luck.  

Baby girl, we can't wait to meet you! 

We'll kiss you on the outside in a few hours! 

 When Elias and I arrived at the hospital, I was a hot mix of emotion.  

Really, these pictures don't do it justice.  

With three c-sections behind me, I knew what I was getting into and I was legitimately scared.  The last six weeks had been painful and uncomfortable but I knew it would get worse before it got better.  And (more details below if you're interested) we knew I had to have my tubes tied so there was the added emotion behind knowing this was going to be my last baby.

Needless to say, Elias was feeling a bit anxious as well.  For some reason, he really doesn't enjoy watching all my insides taken out.  

With my negative history with anesthesia, they ended up doing a spinal/epidural combo for the surgery and it seemed to work. Our team was awesome and even though the surgery was long between trying to clean up scar tissue, taking out the baby, tying my tubes and sewing me up, I think it couldn't have gone better.  

Our little one came out wailing and put those lungs to good use for the first four hours of life.  Elias swaddled that little darling and brought her over to me while they were still sewing me up, and I just kind of panicked.  I wasn't feeling the tender things I thought I should have felt; I was scared and overwhelmed.  The next fourteen hours were rough and came to a climax at 3am when my pain medication had lapsed and an overzealous lactation consultant woke me up to "show me how it's done".  I kind of cracked.  All of the pain, tension, and pressure of the last three months just started pouring out of my eyes and I couldn't stop.  For so long, I had been telling myself that I just needed to make it to 2/23; now that that had past I was falling apart.  It was all I could do to just breathe.  It was an ugly two hours.  But then I fell asleep for a few hours and the sun came out.  Elias and I made a plan for what would work best for us and everything came into view.  (That, and not a single lactation consultant dare show her face in our room again.)  I am pumping and bottle-feeding for now and it is working great.  The kids love feeding Rose.  

Yes, and so now to Rose.  Introducing Rose Jean Erickson.  Born at 1:27pm on February 23, 2018 at 7 lb 11 oz, 19 inches.  She had been so active in the womb, and it seems she got all her fury and fight out in the first four hours of life because she has been a dream ever since.  

The kids all love her and tenderly call her "Rosie".  

Summer is a great helper.  

Smith loves Rosie so much and gives a "Christmas morning smile" each time he gets to hold her.  

Boyd is so tender toward her and takes the command to be gentle very seriously.  

Joy is infatuated with "Ro Ro" and is the first by her side at the sound of any little squeak.  

Elias of course continues to be the best dad and most amazing husband ever.  

 And so, a 70-hour hospital stay took us from this to this 

 and we headed home. 

We were blessed to have Jeannie stay until we returned and then Elias took a week off of work to take care of us.   He not only took great care of me, but he made an intentional effort to have some special moments with each of the kids.  

He surprised Summer one day as the mystery reader for her class.  

Another day he and Joy joined Summer for lunch at school.  

He took the boys on an "all-boy adventure" to the beach after school one day.  

He took the four big kids swimming one day and bowling another day.  

And of course he took naps with little Rosie.  (He has always loved taking naps with our kids, but for some reason he looks so much more exhausted in his sleeping pictures now.)  

And so concludes February 2018 for the Erickson family.  The kids are constantly checking on Rosie either in person or through the monitor.   

We sure are grateful to have her here with us.  

Love you all, 

Brittany et al. 

Feel free to stop reading here.  I just wanted to document a few other feelings and since this is kind of my journal I figure this is the only place I would ever come across it again.  

Pregnancy:

 Honestly, this pregnancy was rough. Rose moved around constantly and was positioned so low with her head down that I felt like she was going to crawl out at any given moment. At each ultrasound, the ultrasound techs would be in amazement at all the movement. It was nonstop!

Contractions began the weekend we moved to Connecticut. Elias and I underestimated what the move might do to my body and I started to go into labor. We made a quick visit to the doctor and I was put on medication and modified bedrest. The next six weeks were rough.  I was constantly uncomfortable and trying to stop contractions. Laying down and trying to sleep was the worst.  I was exhausted and frustrated.  Elias was an all-star. He beautifully managed starting a new, stressful job while running the details of our life at home. I can’t express the gratitude that we have toward family and new friends that supported us through this transition. It was one of the most blessed yet trying times of our lives. 

Erickson: Family of 7

Doctors recommended getting my tubes tied during the boys' c-section, during Joy's c-section and of course during this one.  It was a challenging decision for us.  I couldn't help but feel their recommendations were influenced by their personal feelings about how large a family should/needed to be.  I love being a mother; Elias loves being a father.  We have been so blessed with good examples from our own parents as well as the means to provide for children.  I know six or seven kids sounds greedy (especially when we spent so many years just praying for one), but I would totally do it.  Elias would too.  A few days after Rose was born, Elias mentioned that "it's only T+18 years until we are empty nesters...I think that's the saddest part of it all."  We both cried a little.  (Okay, he may have just gotten watery-eyed, but I couldn't really see because tears were gushing from my face.)  I love being a mom.  I know this role doesn't end when our kids leave the house, but motherhood of little kids is the only kind I know and I REALLY love it.  And I LOVE the baby stage.  It's just not the same loving on someone else's baby.  Anyway, after a messy, full-abdominal incision to remove my appendix, as well as 4 c-sections in 6 years, we felt like it was time to count all these little blessings as ours and close up shop at the risk of any future health complications.  There were definitely moments in this pregnancy where it was as though the spirit told me "your body is not able to handle this again"; times when I knew in my heart I should be grateful for what I have and not push it.  And I am...SO GRATEFUL!

I never really enjoyed being pregnant, though I loved knowing a baby was on the way.  Pregnancy is painful and uncomfortable and concludes with something even more painful.  I was so uncomfortable with the boys, and Joy moved so much, but Rose was moving constantly and I'm not exaggerating when I say that every night for the last five weeks of her pregnancy, there wasn't a night I went to bed expecting to make it though the night without going into labor.  I am kind of grateful I don't have to go through that again.  And I am excited to move from the "child-bearing" to the "child-rearing" stage of life.  I'm excited to get my body back and be a strong, active mom that doesn't have to sit out on the sledding adventures or late-night hot tub runs at the hotel.  I'm excited to have room on my lap again.  I'm excited to have conversations with my kids about more than the importance of not picking their nose.  I'm excited to watch them accomplish things and grow older.