No One Like Mom

My mom was here October 6-15 to meet Quincy and help me out. It was so nice to have her here as I learned to get out of the house more with a baby.

My shrip and grits meal

Soul Food at Nigels

Grandma Jill and Quincy

Ravanel Bridge in Charleston...or is it Coopers Bridge?
It was a fun day downtown with mom and Q

Colombia, SC Temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Thanks mom for watching Quincy so Scott and I could go!

Cypress Gardens, we all went on a boat ride on the swamp with alligators in it

Cypress Gardens at the butterfly house

 Thank you so much mom it was great to have you here! (Hopefully I can get a few pictures up of when Natalie and Julie were here also. I loved all the great help and love we recieved from family!)

Family Picture

Family picture taken October 14, 2012. Quincy in six and a half weeks old.

Growing up

There have been a lot of changes in my life recently that have made me see being grown up and to feel the weight of responsibility all in a new light.

Once thought I was grown up when I:

graduated high school and with that received an associate’s degree, moved out of my parents’ house and paid rent , got a full time job, got married, bought a car with Scott, graduated with a job in hand, went to Ohio with Scott for his internship, and got a full time job in the field I studied in college.

I feel even more grown up now that I:

have a husband who is graduated from BYU, quit my job,  moved to the other side of the country long term , got a new washer and dryer, and now have to pay all utilities, internet, etc.

If I thought I was grown up then, but now I feel even more so. I don’t think you can feel any more grown up then I do when you are 23 until when you have a baby and get an overwhelming leadership role in your church.

Phew! I am grateful for Heavenly Father and my Savior who have helped me thus far in all the changes and strengthening myself to be okay with them. I know that They will continue to be by my side and help me with every turn that I take.

And the Winner Is...

Okay so I found the list of predictions that my family made the day before we left Utah here they are as written:

Name	Quincy’s Birth Date (Due Aug 29)	Birth Weight
Chad	August 27	6 lbs 10 oz
Scott	August 31	6 lbs 4 oz
Poppa	September 2	6 lbs 14 oz
Mom	August 25	6 lbs 7 oz
Todd	August 27	6 lbs 14 oz
Natalie	August 25- 4 days early	6 lbs 5 oz
Brent and Lisa	Aug 25, 2012	6 lbs 3 oz
Jen	Aug 21, 2012	6 lbs 2 oz
Ashley	Aug 22, 2012	6 lbs 3 oz

 Guesses were written concealed so no one knew what the others were guessing. I like how the last 3 of guesses included “2012” I guess we wanted to specify that I would not be pregnant for another  year until August 2013.

Scott, Todd, and Chad were the closest to the date just being 2 days off. Todd and Dad guessed the highest birth weight which makes you winners by default (where did the 7 ½ lb baby come from anyway).

Overall winner, Todd! The best part of winning is the prize and I came up with the best prize of all: You can be the first person to hold sweet little Q when we come out for Christmas and get together with the whole crew! I just warn you to remind everyone, especially your girls, of your rights if you want to keep your place. J

Pictures

Here are pictures to go with the previous Quincy posts. 

I get all these great ideas on what I want to do with pictures and thoughts I want to include with my posts as well as wanting perfection with grammar etc, but I realize that makes me procrastinate too much or the story doesn't get up because, well I'm not perfect and writing isn't one of my strong points. (Plus I think I get too self conscious thinking that people will be looking at this, even though that is the point to share my life with all ya'll.) My new goal... not worrying so much about grammar, spelling, and good writing, sorry to anyone reads my blog, but at least there is up something right? Same thing with the pictures, I was waiting to post my previous blogs until pictures were on the computer and ready but that was taking too long so now there separated but you got it. maybe I'll catch up on sharing my life now and finish those blogs from last summer...

Labor day and the next day going home

Quincy- Your Name

Dear Quincy,

Welcome to the world and welcome to the Richens family. Your dad and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have you in our family. You have Daddy wrapped around your finger without doing more than sleeping, needing your diaper changed, and eating (the occasional sleep smile, funny faces and noises help too.) We could… well I do just stare at you and cuddle you all day. Quincy we love you.

Picking your name was tricky business for your dad and me. Last summer when visited Nauvoo we heard about the town just south of Nauvoo, Quincy. In LDS pioneer history the people of Quincy, Illinois allowed the fleeing Saints, although strangers, to stay in their already crowded homes. They were charitable and loving to people in need. I hope you will have those traits too. I know you already do. After the assistance of the city the Saints settled Nauvoo, but if it weren’t for their charitable acts the early Saints may have scattered in the midst of their fleeing and not have resettled together. When I saw the sign with the city name “Quincy” I thought it would be a great name for one of my daughters. Your dad wasn’t so sure at first but he came around. We didn’t pick your name because of the history of Quincy, Illinois but I think it is great to have a wonderful history associated with your name. I hope you love your name.  Although we were pretty sure that Quincy would be your name a couple months before you came, I kept wondering if another name would suit you better. Now that you are here your dad and I agree that no other name would fit you better. Quincy fits you perfectly!

Daddy wanted you to have my name for your middle name. I never thought that Jennifer worked as a middle name but I loved having my mother’s name for my middle name so I hope you do too. I think it’s special and it is very sweet to have your dad want you to have my name also.

Richens is a great name too with a lot to live up too. The Richens’ family is wonderful. I myself have only been a Richens for a little under 3 years, but I couldn’t be happier. Although your last name is Richens, you are just as much an Allen. I grew up as an Allen and will always be an Allen also. Everyone in both of these families loves you more than you could ever know without even meeting you in person (other than your Aunt Natalie.) Again you’ve smitten us all without having to do anything.

Thank you for being ours, we love you.

Love,

Mommy

Announcing

Quincy Jennifer Richens

Born: Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Time: 12:52 pm

Weight: 7 lbs. 5 oz.

Length: 19 inches

Location: Summerville Medical Center, Summerville, South Carolina. Dorchester County

One week after arriving in South Carolina began my weekly OB check-ups and a new doctor. Although everything was overseen by an OBGYN I never met Dr. Orr, but rather worked with Penny, a midwife. Penny was a hoot and lots of fun to work with however I had to stop believing her.  She kept saying that this baby was coming and that she didn’t think I would make it to the next appointment, but had me make an appointment just in case. Every week I surprised her by showing up at the office just the same as the previous week. 

Penny had Scott and I convinced our little girl was coming and we were anxious, excited and ready for little Quincy to come. The time spent in anticipation plus interacting with couples from our ward with small baby’s made Scott more and more excited for Quincy. It was really cute. Although I was could hardly wait myself- I had been carrying this little girl for the past 9 months, Scott’s excitement made me even more excited too. I could hardly wait to see Scott hold our baby for the first time and see him interact with her. I was ready to be a Mommy. 

I was grateful for the extra time and was glad Quincy didn’t come before week 39. I had all of our boxes to unpack, a house to organize, and a car seat and a pack n’ play/bassinet combo to order…just a few things required to be ready for a baby to come home. They were good projects for me while Scott began a new job and long hours, but once I had the majority of everything done I was anxious for those contractions. Funny how people get so excited about an immense amount of pain, but we do. All I have to say is that the reward must be pretty good (which I now have to say most definitely is.)

My sister, Natalie, had a ticket to come help me for August 28^th- my due date, by ultrasound was August 29^th, so after being told for a month that I was going to have a baby any day and wanting my sister to be able to help rather than coming for nothing by my doctor’s appointment on the Monday, 27^th we decided to schedule an induction. The induction was scheduled for Wednesday, the 29^th, my due date.

How the day went: Wednesday morning we arrived at the hospital just after 6 am. At 7, I was on IV and at 8 Penny arrived to start the Pitocin and break my water.  To kill time before the contractions really started Scott, Natalie, and I played Phase 10.  Contractions hit hard around 9 and by 10:30 I was grateful to have the epidural starting to kick in (much to my midwife’s dismay.) Penny arrived and I started to push a little before 12:00 noon about an hour later Quincy was born and welcomed to the world by teary eyed parents.

Short labor for being induced? Yeah, and I’m grateful and feel lucky, but I was progressed far enough before I even entered the hospital that all I needed was a few contractions to get started. (After all Penny had been saying that this baby was coming any day for a month and there was some medical reasoning behind her words.)

We left the hospital the next day with our health happy baby. I felt bonded to her from the first second, however putting her in the carseat and bringing her home made it really feel like this baby was ours for good. I am so grateful for modern day medicine to make child labor and healing easier and to have more assurance that everything is okay.

 I am also glad that Scott knows the Heimlich, which he had to perform on me just minutes before leaving the hospital. Getting ready to leave was a lot of work for me so I was sitting back on the bed to regain a little energy and sipping water. Yes, I choked on water. How? It’s water. But couldn’t breathe and needed Scott to give me the Heimlich.

I think that about sums up the hospital excitement and begins a world of parenthood excitement. Although I’m still healing and the pain is so fresh on my mind the joy and love Scott and I have for little Quincy makes us both excited to have more kids and add to our family in the future.