When Lucy and I first got married we were not planning on having a baby until Lucy graduated. However, soon I started feeling as if Heavenly Father was wanting Lucy and me to start our family. We had been receiving so many blessings and I knew that they were what would enable us to start one. I was hesitant to tell Lucy my feelings though because I didn't want her to feel that I didn't want her to graduate or that I was not worried about her carrying a baby and being a mother at such a young age, when these things are so far from the truth. One day she actually said to me that she had feeling the exact same way! We talked about about it and made goals with school and our finances before we would start trying to get pregnant.
During this time Lucy was working for Le Ritz Hotel and Suites in Idaho Falls. Lucy worked from 6:00 to noon at the Hotel while I worked at Broadway Ford as a Diesel Apprentice. We would then drive to Rexburg together and attend classes till evening, drive home, get all of our homework done and repeat the process the next day. Needless to say we were pretty releived when the semester was over.
In October we spent conference weekend down at my parents home, we were driving home listening to the afternoon session when Elder Anderson gave a talk on starting families. He was pretty clear on when we should start having our families. He said that school and money are not something we should be worried about in our decisions to have a baby, (which were the only things holding us back...). The next week Lucy and I made the decision to start trying.
We first found out Lucy was pregnant on Christmas Day 2011. The months that followed were filled with ups and downs as Lucy's pregnancy progressed. We thought we had got off lucky when it came to morning sickness because Lucy had not felt sick at all her first 8 weeks of pregnancy. Well, we were wrong. Lucy was soon diagnosed with Hypermesis Gravidarum , which is a very intense type of morning sickness. Lucy was kissing the porcelain up to five times day until she got this heavenly medicine that really helped called Zofran (or Ondansetron)! She was dependent on the Zofran all nine months of her pregnancy.
Anybody who knows Lucy can see that her being sick would not stop her maintaining straight A's as a full time student while working part time. We were off track those beginning months so I spent all day working at Ford. Lucy would go into work at the hotel around 3 in the afternoon and work till midnight. She was so so sick, it was hard to watch her go through that time. She is such a strong person I am so blessed to have her.
The spring semester started in April, right when Lucy's little tummy was starting to show. We moved to Rexburg to be closer to school. She was so cute carrying her backpack around with her baby bump in the front. She got a job at the School that semester working as an academic peer advisor in the communications and business department, which has been an awesome job for her. She would spend all day on campus between class and work. I would go to my classes in the morning and then make the trek back down to Ford to work in the afternoon. Towards the end of the semester I took on another job working from 4 to 7 in the morning as a custodian on campus.
When the semester was over we were still just short of two months before little Jada was due to come. I was still working from 4 to 7a.m. at school and then I would be at Ford by 7:30a.m. and work until 5p.m. Lucy was a full timer at her job on campus as well. After a very long two months and arguing with Lucy's Doctor to get him to induce her so she could have J. before the next semester, Jada was born on a Sunday, after 14 hours of labor and a C-Section at 8:06 p.m.
When she came out we saw her beautiful little face and body as she she stuck that lower lip and started to cry. We could see from the first moments that she was a little ball of personality. We didn't have much time before the semester started...about a week. Lucy took 14 credits online and as always has pulled off those perfect grades. I quit my job at Ford which had been such a blessing to me and Lucy because I needed to have more time at home to study and help with J. so Lucy could work as well. We just wrapped up this semester and life is good.
P.S.- I spent a lot time these last few months looking for an internship. I was contacted a couple of weeks ago by Koch Pipeline in Corpus Christi, TX. I had a phone interview and was then flown down to have an interview on site. I interviewed with four really great people and got a good sense of what the company was like and what I would be doing. Culturally, it would be a perfect fit for me. I was given an offer which was beyond what I was hoping for. I am so excited about my school and career. I definitely picked the right profession. Life is good.
Here are some pictures & videos of life lately:
