Noah Tyson Lee

I lied. I didn't get pictures up yesterday, so I'm putting them up today. I started the day off on Tuesday by giving Kennedy breakfast and one last bath before heading to the hospital with my mom at 9:45. I checked in and got hooked up to all kinds of things while waiting for the doctor. The nurse went through my vein on the first try with the IV (which has resulted in a nasty bruise) so she had to try again on my right hand. Then came the epidural. Compared to last time it was a nightmare. The anesthetist kept pinching a nerve which sent a very painful electric shock down my right leg. Needless to say, I was getting very antsy to get this baby out!

The doctor was (of course, most doctors are) about 40 minutes later than expected, but that turned out to be a good thing because the epidural took way longer than it should have to take effect. The anesthetist kept pinching me, and until we got into the operating room, I could feel it every time. But eventually, I was laying on the table, the curtain was up, and I couldn't feel a thing. Then, at 1:03 pm on March 23, I heard the little screams of my son being born.

It is a weird sensation to have a baby pulled out of your tummy. I felt like everything from my lungs and below was being stretched and pulled out. But then again, Brett and I make big babies. Noah weighed in at 8 pounds 9 ounces and measured 21 inches long. He was even bigger than Kennedy was! He was (and is) extremely healthy and a very welcome addition to our family. He is so good natured and is a wonderful eater and sleeper.

Kennedy wasn't sure how to react at first, so she opted for ignoring me and Noah the first time she came to the hospital. She warmed up quickly though and now is the little helper I knew she would be. A special thank you to my parents: mom for staying with me in the operating room and in the hospital and dad for taking Kennedy while I was in the hospital for 3 days. Thankfully, the day I came home from the hospital was the same day that Brett graduated from boot camp and got to come home! Noah and I met him at the airport (don't worry, my dad drove) and he was able to get Kennedy out of bed this morning. We are all so happy that he is home! You'll have to excuse the bad picture, I am puffy from having a baby and being in the hospital, and it's painful for Brett to smile with his mouth open since the Coast Guard has been doing so much dental work on him.

The bad news is that Brett has to have more dental work done than expected. He opted to come home for a week, but on April 4 he has to go back to New Jersey for 2 weeks to finish up that dental work, so our moving plans are on hold. We don't know exactly when he'll be back, but it's pretty much guaranteed that he will have to miss everyone's birthday. The good thing is that he won't be in boot camp anymore, he will be a base employee, so he will be able to call us everyday. We'll be moving to Oregon as soon as he gets back.

We are so happy to have him home with us for this next week and I know that that 2 weeks will go by much faster than the last 8 have. We are looking forward to starting our adventure with the Coast Guard for real in a few weeks!

Graduation

Thursday and Friday marked my graduation ceremonies at BYU.  I was thrilled to go through these, because even though I won't officially be graduated until December, I feel like the milestone has been reached.  It is all downhill from here.  My classes are now all online, which is fantastically convenient.  I was so excited when I woke up this morning and realized that I didn't have a class to go to!  I thought that I had some pictures with my parents on Friday, but I guess they were taken on my dad's camera.  So here's what I have.

Elder Richard G. Scott received an honorary doctorate and was the commencement speaker.  He is the first one on the front row to the right of President Samuelson at the podium.  One of my favorite pieces of advice that he gave was "Smile!  Everyone has problems, no one wants to hear about yours."

Here is our little family out on the lawn afterwards.  Kennedy is totally zonked.

Here I am on Friday at the convocation for the College of Humanities.  I am receiving my "diploma" from the dean of the college.

And here is just me after walking across the stage.

I loved the stats that they gave.  Every state but one was represented in the graduating class (of course they didn't say which one wasn't there) as well as 5 US territories and 16 different countries.  Over half of the students were married.  I was sitting in between two girls who were 9 months pregnant (one due in 2 days and one due in 4).  That's BYU for you!

I want to say thank you to Grandpa Emigh who has made college a possibility for me, mom and dad for supporting me and helping me pay for college as well, all of my teachers, Irene and Lori who babysat Kennedy during the summer semester, and Brett for being a great husband and helping me through.  Thanks to everyone!