Link is playing quietly in the other room, so I thought I’d take the chance to write up a few more details about what’s going on with us. I’m sure many of our friends and family members are super confused! Heck, we’re really not sure about anything ourselves! Mostly, this is for Claire.

One week ago, I had an appointment with my midwife in California. So a couple days before, Lincoln and I packed up and drove to St. George. My sister had kindly offered to watch Link while just my mom and I ran down to Irvine for my appointment. While there, with the help of some wonderful friends, we packed up the remainder of our stuff (we had left a few things thinking Link and I would be camping out there for a couple weeks) and were planning to return to St. George the next day. The appointment went well, but to our surprise, after she checked me, the midwife told me I was “on the brink of having this baby.” I was soft and would go sooner rather than later. Oh, and in addition, she stripped my membranes without asking. I was like, whoa, we’re gonna have this baby soon! We went ahead and scheduled an induction date for June 10, but again the midwife commented that she didn’t think I’d make it until then.

After some prayer, Miles and I decided it would still be okay if I returned to St. George the next day, though we weren’t certain if going all the way home to Herriman was a good idea. So the next day (Saturday) my mom and I headed for St. George, wading through the Memorial Day weekend traffic. We spent the night in St. George. I was really pushing to go home at this point, but Miles was still hesitant. I planned to leave Sunday morning, but then my mom offered to give us their piano. She thought this was a good opportunity to get it loaded and have my little brother, Danny, drive it up on his way to EFY. So we waited to gather my dad and brothers to load it onto the trailer. This didn’t happen until about 5:00pm. So by 6:00 we were finally ready to go. I was anxious to just get home!

WARNING in the next line there will be some graphic detail . . .

While taking my last potty stop before leaving, I found just a little mucus on the toilet paper. I consulted my sister, and she agreed it was probably the beginning of my cervical mucus plug. In case you didn’t know, mucus plug is a technical term! I went back to the bathroom just to check again, and sure enough, I found my mucus plug.

Now, you’ll need a little background information to see why finding my mucus plug was so profound. My labor with Link went like this: I had a few contractions, found my mucus plug, an hour later my water broke which put me into full active labor. Miles and I had agreed beforehand that if I found my plug he would immediately jump on a plane and meet me in California. So, feeling very nervous that I’d be laboring intensely in the car, my mom and I headed back to Irvine. We did keep in mind that Vegas and Barstow have hospitals.

Miles got a ride to the airport from the High Priest group leader. He arrived at the airport at 7:00pm, told them his wife was in labor and had him in first class on the 7:45 flight. He made it to Irvine hours before we did!

Luckily, in the car I only had some menstral-like cramping and early labor contractions once in awhile. So we got there with no problem. We set up our air mattresses in the empty apartment and hoped to get a good night’s rest. But we got more than we hoped for. The early labor had stopped by morning. But we were still optimistic. We planned a day with lots of walking. We went to the mall and bought an outfit to take maternity pictures in at the beach. The menstral cramping and early contractions continued for the remainder of the day. But by the time we returned to our apartment that late afternoon, I felt very discouraged that active labor had not started. So, while my mom and Miles napped, I knelt down beside the air mattress and prayed to know what in the world I should do. It just wasn’t possible to hang out in California for a week. Literally as soon as I ended my prayer, my phone rang. It was my good friend Bridget, who just so happens to be a doula! She was returning my call from Friday and had no idea any of this was happening. This was undoubtedly an answer to my prayer!

Bridget and I discussed my predicament, and she offered an idea I never would have thought of. She suggested I have the midwife check me again and possibly augment the labor. Well, because Kaiser works a little differently I couldn’t just call up my midwife so we decided to go into the hospital to be checked by the midwife who was on duty. It was here that we got some disappointing news. I hadn’t progressed at all since my Friday appointment! Are you kidding me? And because I was still only 37 1/2 weeks along, they couldn’t augment/induce me—which we totally understood. Making sure the baby is strong and healthy is the most important thing!

Alright, it was time to just go home. Screw Kaiser (pardon my language) if they don’t cover the emergency delivery. We still haven’t been able to get a straight forward answer about whether or not they would cover the delivery if I’m admitted through the emergency room, even after talking to the claims department and membership services multiple times. Being away from each other and our home just became too much. We shouldn’t have to deal with all of this crap.

That night, Miles was able to give me a very comforting priesthood blessing. In it, I was told I didn’t need to worry, and that I would not have the baby traveling home. We packed up AGAIN, and headed back to Utah. This time we picked up Link in St. George and drove all the way home. It is so good to be all together at home again.

We continue to wait. I feel like I’ve been in early labor for a week now. I’m learning a lesson in patience. We are so anxious to welcome this little girl into our family. To be continued. . .