Sister
Hansen,
Hey!! Sorry it’s taken so long to
write you back. Life here has been a little chaotic and fast-paced! I am glad
you got the announcement! Emmett is such a sweet baby; I’m excited for you to
meet him! I am sending you a couple more photos of him to admire and basically
because I think they are super sweet.
Pregnancy was amazing; it literally
wasn’t bad until the last month or so. I also don’t know if you had heard since
I’m a horrible friend and haven’t written but in March, I was at my water
aerobics class and had chlorine erupt in my face & my lungs closed up a bit
so I was having a hard time breathing and I had to go by ambulance to the ER to
make sure Emmett & I were ok! Luckily we were, I just had a chemical burn
in my throat for a week. So other than that, I had a fairly healthy
pregnancy. I ended up with preeclampsia which is really bad for the moms but
basically I just got headaches & had almost 15-20 pounds of water weight
& swelling. I was HUGE! So that’s why the last few weeks were miserable but
you’ll totally get it one day when you are pregnant lol.
Labor was interesting. I can’t
remember a lot because it was such a blur but I remember it just being long…. I
ended being in labor for 22 hours and pushing for about 4? There were moments
that I didn’t think I could do it & might need a c-section but somehow I
survived and it’s really a special moment. You connect instantly with your new baby;
it’s really the definition of love at first sight. You love them no matter what
they look like, what the sound like, anything. It’s probably the closest love
to Christ’s for us. You also connect so deeply with your spouse. I’ve never
loved Pierce deeper or more fully. For me, the best part of being a mom is
watching Pierce be a dad.
Emmett was a sick baby at first. It
was hard. I didn’t know what to do to help because basically we couldn’t do
very much. He was at Primary’s for 3 days when he was 2 days old because of a
fever. They thought it could be anything from a common cold to meningitis so
with newborns, they have to keep a watch out in case it’s something serious. It
ended up being some lesser infection or virus (like a cold) thankfully but it
was scary nonetheless. We sort of got a crash course in parenting and how to
make decisions for this tiny human & trying to trust our instincts as
parents. I hated leaving him overnight for 2 nights & I thought about
staying but I knew, being so exhausted & then I knew I wouldn’t have gotten
great sleep with the nurse coming in every hour, that I needed to go home, get
some sleep & then come in the morning with a sound mind and judgment for him.
The first month with Emmett was
tough. It flew by however, which I don’t know how because newborns wake up
every 2 hours & breastfeeding was so challenging and frustrating for me. It
would take 45 minutes to an hour to feed him & then he would go to sleep
for about an hour and wake up and need to eat again. It’s TOUGH! I also had
gallstones & needed my gallbladder removed and got that done before he was
1 month old. So I couldn’t breastfeed while on pain meds & my milk started
drying up (so fascinating I know lol) but I ended up not breastfeeding after
the first month. It was hard. I still feel guilty as a mom that I couldn’t do
it but as long as Emmett is healthy and gaining weight, that’s the important
part. I will definitely try again with my next baby to see if I can get the
hang of it better.
Emmett is huge, he just started
smiling this last month & it seriously makes my morning to wake up and see
a smiling baby waiting for you! He is almost 14 pounds- chunk! He sleeps almost
7 hours at night with a good bedtime routine! It’s so nice. I’m still tired but
that’s just from being a mom I think lol. He is starting to be more of a little
baby with a personality; I think he will laugh pretty soon which will be so
fun! I also caught him rolling over from his tummy to his back on video last
week! Pretty exciting in the world of parenting. So small, so silly and yet so
fun!
Pierce is so busy, I don’t know if
his letter said what he is up to but he is in school, everyday with 17 credit
hours this semester. Yikes! He also works 40-60 hours a week so I basically
don’t see him for 12 hours some days but he is so smart and wants to work extra
hard now that Emmett is here. We probably won’t take the LSAT until February
but I think it will be next October, which you will be home by, then so we will
see you before we probably have to move away.
I am doing well. Emmett is sort of my
world now. I just finished transcribing the Book of Mormon for work like last
week! It literally took me since February so since you’ve been gone to finish
it! I’m going to be going back to handwriting pages and I’m nervous I will suck
at reading it all again. If I get anything with Kirtland, I’ll mention to you
what I’m working on!
I’m glad to hear you are doing well!
What is your companion’s name? Have you served in any Cleveland areas yet? My
cousin Kayla and Trent just moved to Cleveland for Med school at the beginning
of August so keep your eye out in the wards for her. She is having a baby in
September sometime so look for the preggo lady!! Do you have any conversion
stories yet? Tara and Carly are doing well. I saw T a
couple times this summer but she was gone a lot on trips with her family of
course. Carly and I hang out a lot and I love her! I don’t know if you have
kept in contact with her or not but she has lost a bunch of weight and looks
really good! I’m gonna have her kick my butt in gear because my body post-baby
is scary- whew! Haha. Chase
& Helen moved home at the end of July because Chase transferred to the U
Law School. It’s fun having them home and Helen is pregnant AGAIN! She is due
in January with a little boy- they are naming him Oliver after Oliver Cowdery
lol. Ben & Alex have a cute baby boy Jackson so it’s fun for us to hang out
with them and just have the babies chill together. Oh, I forgot to thank you
for the baby gifts from January!! I was going to send a thank you card and
totally spaced it. So thank you!! Emmett wore that little newborn sized PJ’s
home that you gave him! They fit for like a week or two and then babies grow so
quickly! Like he gains a pound every 2-3 weeks!
Let’s hope you had enough time to
read all of our letters! 7 months is a lot to get caught up on but I hope to be
better about writing you. Also, what’s your email? Am I allowed to email you? I
could send pictures of Emmett easier and then copy and paste my blog posts to
you lol. Let me know!
Love always,
Karissa
