Noelle Jane Fox

The crazy remodel debacle provided an excellent distraction from my approaching due date on March 24th- I was in a mad rush to get my bathroom up and running before I had all the postpartum bodily functions to deal with. My mom decided to fly into town early just so she could around help but she stayed in Springville for a few days with Jordan and Amber and had just transitioned to Provo with Tanner and Natalie on the 21st. I hate feeling like a watched pot so that was helpful! I remember contractions on and off throughout the day and taking a nap on the downstairs couch to see if they would subside; for a while, they did. As I was starting to think about making dinner they began to come more regularly and steadily and finally Evan forced me to call my mom and tell her it was time to come stay with the kids so we could go to the hospital. He was traumatized by our drive to the hospital with Vivian where he was positive I would give birth in the car and insisted we leave earlier than later. I wasn't thrilled about this as I had read over and over that it was much more difficult to labor without medication in a hospital than at home but gave in since I wasn't the one who would have to catch the baby. We drove up to the Layton hospital and it was so brand new it looked completely deserted, we had to ring a bell to call a nurse out and get admitted. We had practically the whole floor to ourselves and they offered me the birthing tub since I was not going to have an epidural. I was excited to try it but was pretty disappointed in my experience, the water was luke-warm and then cold and my IV in my hand was a major irritation as I was trying to grasp the sides of the tub and breathe through my contractions. I finally gave up on the tub when I hit transition and gracefully yelled my way through the rest of the delivery. It was even more painful than I had remembered it being with Vivian and the scripture that came to mind when it was all over was Genesis 35:17 "And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this [child] also." We were still debating on a name the next day but ended up with Noelle Jane Fox. The name Noelle was inspired by one of Evan's students- having a teacher for a spouse seriously narrows your playing field when it comes to baby names but with both liked this one, felt it went well with her sister's names, and loved its reference to Christmas and therefore Christ. When I was in the temple and just a few weeks pregnant with her (and didn't even know yet) I had closed my eyes during the ceremony and an image of a girl kneeling at the alter with long dark hair hanging down her back appeared. For no apparent reason I had thought "Oh, its Noelle." Later, I wanted to be sure about the name and was strongly considering Dorothy after my great grandmother, but a voice in my head distinctly said "Give her her own name." So we did. Jane is after my Great Grandmother Mary Jane who was the first person on my Mom's side of the family to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and started a beautiful legacy for our family. The day after a baby is born is really just magical- like floating on clouds. She was a terrible sleeper (like all her siblings) and a perfect snuggler. My very favorite part is when the older brother and sisters get to come in and meet their new best friend- so much pure love in the room you could just burst!

Born March 21 at 12:21 am

weighing in at 6 lbs 14 oz