Dear Afton

Team O'Farrell has recruited a new team member and we couldn't be more excited to introduce you to her! World, meet Afton Phoebe O'Farrell. She was born on Sunday 9 August 2015 in the American Fork hospital at 9:10 AM. Here are some of her stats:

Weight: 8 lb 1 oz

Height: 18.5 inches 

Head circumference: BIG!

Hobbies: Sleeping, eating, stretching, and getting kisses from her brother Bear

Favorites: Momma's milk and Daddy's snuggles 

Name meaning: 

Afton = mountain, feminine strength, and especially the greatest example of love, dedication, and life, your great grandma Afton. You are so blessed to be named after such an amazing woman! 

Phoebe = pure and bright 

I have always loved hearing stories from my mother about her journey through pregnancy, birth, and raising me in this wonderful world. To be able to share that same type of journey with Afton, I have decided to write my pregnancy and birth story as a letter to our newest alien...I mean angel. 

Dear Afton, 

First of all, welcome to this wonderful world of ours. There are so many exciting things and places to explore and wonderful people to meet. I hope that your curiosity takes you on all sorts of adventures. Speaking of adventures, I want to share with you the details of your very first adventure - becoming a human being. I am sure there are more details than I will remember to share in this letter, but we have a whole lifetime to figure out what those details are. For now, this letter is for you to help you know how loved you were - even before we met you.

The First Trimester

To say that we were eager to get you is an understatement. Around the 12th of December, we started counting down the days until we could pee on one of those lovely sticks and see a "+" sign in the window. The instructions said to wait so many days to take the test, but we, admittedly, took it a few days earlier. We were so excited when we saw that the test was positive! In addition to that excitement, we were a little nervous. With a miscarriage a few months earlier, we wanted to be sure that we did everything to make sure you were in that uterus to stay. We went into the doctor at 4 weeks to check my hormone levels and to verify that you were in fact the newest parasite my body had acquired. After the tests were done (only a couple days later), your presence was confirmed! Eek! 

Since we were only days away from Christmas holidays, we had a lot of family come into town soon after we found out you existed. With our parents in town, we knew we couldn't hold in the excitement very long. Keeping you a secret was tough! Grandma Karen and Papa George were in town, staying at a hotel, and we all went swimming. The hot tub seemed so enticing, but the rule is no pregnant ladies in the hot tub. We had to trick Grandma Karen into believing that I just "wasn't in the mood" for a hot tub soak - even though sitting with only my legs in was quite chilly! We all opened presents together on Christmas Eve and we decided that it was time to share. Everyone got a stocking filled with all the usual goodies - toothpaste, mouthwash, candy, oranges, etc. At the bottom of every stocking was one last wrapped present. Grandma's were given the go-ahead to open theirs first. With a squeal from Grandma O and a "yay" from Grandma Karen, everyone quickly realized that there was something exciting going on. Everyone opened their presents to find a small onesie with a message - i.e. Grandma's favorite grandchild, Bear's favorite sibling, etc. Grandma Karen, Papa George, Grandma O, Aunt Miss, and Uncle Sean were there. Christmas morning we called the rest of your aunts and uncles to let them know that something really cute was cooking. 

The rest of the first trimester was filled with What to Expect When You're Expecting research, Pinterest dreams, and a little nausea. I was really lucky compared to a lot of other pregnant women, but we did have our moments of not-so-comfortable pregnancy symptoms. Your dad thought it was hilarious that my bladder control quickly disappeared. When it was time to go, it was time! Luckily, that only stayed for about a week while my body got used to this pregnancy thing. The nausea wasn't a frequent visitor either, but brushing my teeth - and gagging in the process - usually resulted in a second brushing after the first attempt failed and a visit to the toilet was required. The nausea did come once at a pretty funny moment: I took the train to and from work and sometimes that meant I had to be on the train very early in the morning to make it to work by 7:00 AM. I was riding TRAX - the red line - at about 6:00 AM on my way to work and I started to feel a slight upset in my stomach. It was nothing serious, but it almost felt like I was carsick. I decided to eat an orange to try and settle my stomach again, thinking that hunger was part of the problem. Bad idea! Immediately I could feel the nausea coming to say "good morning". I decided that vomiting on a train full of sleepy-eyed commuters wasn't the best way to start my morning so I got off the train at the Library station in downtown SLC. The garbage can was just outside on the platform. I casually - I am sure it was so obvious - walked to the garbage can and opened the little metal flap. I waited, hoping the train would just leave already. As the last car of the train pulled away, I turned my head sideways and vomited into the garbage can. It was not my most graceful moment... let's leave it at that. 

Overall the first trimester was pretty easy. All I wanted to eat was meat and other food didn’t sound quite as good. I ended up losing 5 lbs. during the first trimester because of my lack of appetite. No worries though, it came back with a vengeance in the second trimester. 

Your first ultrasound. You were just a squiggle at this point, but you were OUR squiggle! 

The Second Trimester

Right around the time that the second trimester hit, every food sounded fantastic. I still remember one weekend I ate an entire box of mac and cheese, a bagel, and some cookies and I still thought I was starving. 

As my belly grew, our excitement grew as well. The second trimester was actually really easy and enjoyable. We loved being able to feel you wiggle inside of us – kicking and even rolling over. 

Starting in the second trimester your dad started reading you books. His favorite was Your Baby’s First Word Will be Dada by Jimmy Fallon. He also read adventures from Winnie the Pooh. He was always so eager to feel you rolling around in my belly and would talk to you all the time. 

We were both very healthy during the whole pregnancy. You grew a lot during the second trimester and I grew even more. I gained about 25 lbs. 

Here are some pics from your 20-week ultrasound! 

The Third Trimester

We started the third trimester with a visit to Canada. We arrived 4 July and stayed until 12 July. It was the first time in a long time that all of us were together. We celebrated Grandma Karen and Papa George’s anniversary with a special dinner. We swam in the creek every day. All of your cousins were so excited to meet you. Auri kept asking if you were still in my belly – She seemed convinced that you were going to be out any minute. All of the cousins kept feeling my belly, hoping they could feel you wiggling. They were so excited when you would move around. We had an absolute blast camping out at the land for over a week. It was your first adventure in Canada.

We both grew a bit more in the third trimester. I didn’t have any weird cravings, but I continued to love all food. Your dad kept reading you stories. We bought lots of goodies to get you ready. We even had a couple of baby showers (held by Aunt Mara in Utah and Great Aunt Darla in Canada). You were spoiled like crazy! It was clear, even before you were here, that so many people love you! 

Your Birth Story!

There was so much anticipation for the day of your birth. Everyone was making guesses about when you would come, how much you would weigh.  Your arrival into this world was still a surprise. 

On 8 August 2015 we were invited to a birthday party for uncle Ryan, Ryan, and Emma. It was uncle Ryan’s big 30th birthday party and the twins turned 3. For their party, aunt Mara rented a 20-foot inflatable waterslide for the backyard. The twins went on the slide a couple of times, but it was clear that the slide was for the adults. We played on the slide and in the sun for hours. We decided it would be fun to do a relay race. Here is the sequence for the course: 1) climb up the slide and slide down, 2) run up the playground slide, 3) go across the monkey bars, 4) spin around the playground pole, 5) jump in the octagon pool and dunk your head, 6) run back to the big waterslide and slide down. Even though I was 38.3 weeks pregnant, it sounded like a lot of fun to do the relay. I had to cheat a bit on the playground steps, but I waddled through all of it just fine. As I jumped in the pool, I felt like I was (maybe too much information) going to the bathroom involuntarily. I wasn’t sure though, so I climbed up the waterslide and slid down. As I started to dry off after my epic 1 minute 16 second race, I noticed that the sensation wasn’t stopping. I went to the bathroom and called your dad in soon after. After a few minutes of wondering and laughter about how it happened, we decided it was time to go to the hospital. We left Spanish Fork, came home to pick up our hospital bags (luckily they were already packed), and headed to the American Fork hospital. We went into triage and they started to monitor both of us. They confirmed that it was my water that broke and officially admitted us into the hospital. They had to monitor your little heartbeat and my contractions. Even though they said I was having contractions, at this point I couldn’t feel anything. By week 36, I had dilated 2 cm. We came into the hospital still dilated 2 cm and 70% effaced. 

Our labor/delivery room was great. It was large and had a view of the mountains and the Timpanogos temple. Soon after we were admitted into our room, the contraction pains started. It was about 3:00 PM that my water broke. By about 5:00 PM we were settled into our room. We had to be monitored every hour, but between those times we were free to do what we wanted. We watched Remember the Titans on the computer. We went on walks around the hospital. I sat on the exercise ball. I stretched on the yoga mat. I did squats with the help of your dad. I sat in a warm bathtub. From 5:00 PM – 3:00 AM labor was difficult, very difficult. At 3:00 AM, the nurse came in to let us know that I moved to 90% effaced and 4 cm dilated. Only 4 cm! It was so disappointing to find out that those 10+ hours only produced 2 cm of dilation. At that point, things became very difficult. I was so nervous that things were going to last another 10+ hours and I was only going to be another 2 cm dilated. It was then that I decided that an epidural would really help me out. 

About 20 minutes after the epidural, I fell asleep. From 4:00 AM – 6:00 AM I slept without any kind of interruption – I don’t even remember the nurse coming in to check on me. By 6:30 AM, the nurse that first admitted us was back on shift. She checked and I was dilated 10 cm and I was 100% effaced. They wanted us to let things happen on their own for a while, so for the next hour and a half I just rested while my body helped you move down on its own. The anticipation and excitement of actually having you in our arms started to rise. It was almost time! By 7:30 AM things had progressed enough and it was time to start pushing. The nurse gave us instructions about how to push while we waited for the doctor to prep the room. 

Then the pushing began! I was so glad to have those 2 hours of sleep behind me because I felt so strong and ready to push. Your dad held one leg and a nurse held the other. Pushing was hard and it lasted just over an hour. I had a mirror so as I started to push you out, we could see the top of your head. It was so exciting to see you come out. Your dad got to see the whole thing – which shocked him a bit, let’s be honest. 

When you came out you had the umbilical cord wrapped around your neck once. Nobody seemed worried about it at all. They quickly unwrapped it, sucked some goop out of your nose and mouth, did some measurements and health checks, and then we got to hold you. 

Having you in our arms was the most exciting moment. We loved you immediately and we will keep loving you more and more every day. 

Coming home after two wonderful days in the hospital! They loved you there. 

.

Meeting brother Bear for the first time!

Here are some of your visitors! You are so loved baby girl!

Grandma Karen and Papa George - They packed their bags as soon as they found out my water broke. They came and played for a whole week and basically spoiled you with kisses and hugs! 

Aunt Megan 

Auntie Missi

Uncle Sean

Aunt Mara

Uncle Ryan

Your birthday twins Ryan and Emma and baby Eva!

Cousin Wyatt

Cousin Auri

Cousin Izzy - She was so excited to hold you! 

Cousin Lawson - the teaser

Aunt Shannon

Uncle Cody

You are so loved baby girl! We can't wait to start this adventure called life with you. Thanks for coming into this world and bringing your special spirit with you. You are our mountain, our brightness, our happiness. Welcome to the world Afton Phoebe. You're going to change everything - we can't wait to see how!