Holidays

Celebrating the holidays is even more fun with a baby. We went to Rigby for Thanksgiving and to Oakley for Christmas. Barry and I had to get through finals first. Finishing school those last couple of weeks was a little torturous. On one day of finals I had three tests. My mom came to help watch Quinton. I would study, nurse, go take a test, then run home to nurse, study, go take a test, and on and on. It was a very long day. But we're all done now and next semester I only have to take one class that's not online so I get to spend a lot of time with Quinton. I also left my job at the FBI so I can be a full-time mother.

Barry went with his friends Ryan and Aaron and chopped down a tree for us this year since I wasn't feeling up to it with a new baby.

John, Mackayla, Triston, Grandma, Quinton, and Logan all on Grandma's bed

At Home

Bringing Quinton Home

The first two days we were home, things were a little rough. Nursing is a lot harder than it looks! Poor Quinton wasn't getting enough food. We went back to the hospital and got some help and now he's doing much better.

First Bottle

First book

First Bath

We've had lots of visitors - both sets of grandparents, Shari & Jeni & Bryant and their families all came to see Quinton.

Quinton and Mackayla

Quinton Edward Jenks

Quinton Edward Jenks was born at 4:26 AM on Monday, November 12th. He weighed 6 lbs 10 oz, and was 20 inches long. We're so excited to have our little guy here!

The day we went to the hospital.

Here's the birth story:

I went into labor around 10:30 Sunday morning while we were getting ready for church. I wasn't hurting too bad, and wasn't sure my pains were actually contractions, so we went to sacrament meeting. It was the primary program that day. Well, we went home because I was hurting more and more. We waited anxiously until I truly felt I really was having contractions. We got ready to go (after I completed a homework assignment) and went to the hospital about 4:30. They monitored me for a while and though I was dilated to 2.5, it didn't change and they almost sent me home. I really didn't want that to happen, so Barry and I walked the halls and stairs of the hospital trying to help it along. 

At first it was all very exciting, but after six or seven hours the adrenaline wore off and I was exhausted and in pain. Barry was great the whole time and never left my side. My mom came, too, and was in the delivery room. I did get an epidural, but I swear it still hurt a lot. The "pressure" they talk about is like nothing else in this world! Anyway, after about 45 minutes of pushing I made it through and so did Quinton. The worst part was I had a 4th degree tear, which isn't very common. I hurt for a lot of weeks afterward (which is why my other babies were c-sections). We stayed in the hospital until Tuesday and then brought Quinton home to discover what parenting is all about.

Pregnancy

Going to school, working and being pregnant has been a little exhausting, but we're excited for this baby to come. My blood pressure was a little high so I've had to go to the hospital a few times to take some stress tests just to make sure he's doing okay. Here's a story that I wrote into my journal back in July:

The most dramatic experience happened near the middle of April. I had been home all day from cancelled classes and no work. When Barry got home that evening, I felt pretty sick and needed to get out. So we grabbed our bikes and were going to walk to the gas station to fill up my flat tires. Barry offered me his bike, though, so I could ride and he could run my bike alongside me. I agreed and went to climb on his bike. We were just a few yards from our house at the corner.
Not realizing Barry's bike was built for someone taller than me, no sooner was I on it than the bike fell over with me on it. Somehow the whole impact went straight to my ankle causing a tremendous sprain. Not hurting myself enough in life (and people wonder what's wrong with sports), I didn't know how to deal with the pain. I started to tear up and tried to stand. I felt extremely ill. So, I did the good pregnant woman thing and proceeded to puke all over in the road. Barry was trying to help me, but I had just eaten a bucket of fried rice and well, it wasn't pretty. To this day, the Chinese food I used to love makes me queasy (hopefully that changes because I'm pretty depressed about it.)

Anyways, after I cleared my system, Barry carried my sobbing, puking, pathetic self inside to the couch as I cried out, "I'm such a wanny!" It hurt and I cried, but soon I found it all sadly funny. I limped for a couple weeks on a purple ankle, but telling people I hurt myself just trying to get on a bicycle hurt my pride almost as bad. Hopefully, someday, I'll be able to get on a bike without wincing and take a bite of fried rice without gagging.

Barry found me eating like this one day. When you've got a huge belly, you do what you've got to do!

Baby Shower

Jeni and Shari threw me an amazing baby shower. We played a lot of games and had a bunch of great guests - my friends and co-workers, ward members, Barry's cousins Anna and Shannon, and more from my family. We had a really fun time and we were given many useful things for the baby. Barry's mom and sisters also did a surprise shower for me back in July at our family reunion. They gave me some great advice for a first-time mother. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of that one. :(

Shari and Triston

The Diaper Cake

It's a Boy!

We're having a boy! And our little man was proud to show it. Everything looked healthy and the pregnancy is going well.

Big Announcement...

We're expecting a baby! Yes, it's a little fast, but soon after we were married we felt strongly that we should try to have kids. We prayed about it and know Heavenly Father will take care of us and things will be okay.
For my 21st birthday I got to meet the baby for the first time. I wasn't as far along as I thought so at first they couldn't hear the heartbeat, which was a little scary, but then we could see the little gummy bear's heart beating on the ultrasound just fine.

The due date is November 20th and we're very excited. I do get kind of sick sometimes. I throw up every once in a while if I eat too much of something or brush my teeth too early in the morning, but otherwise everything else is great!

Our First Year Together

After the wedding, it was back to school and real life. I kicked my friends out of the house and Barry moved in. Barry got a new job in January at A to Z Family Services working with kids. I worked at Alltel until that summer when I got a new job doing transcription work for the FBI.

We had lots of fun finding places for all of our wedding gifts.

Valentine's Day

In May we took a trip up to Sandpoint to visit my brother Clint. I loved being able to show Barry the beautiful lake Clint's family had lived on. We also went to the Tri-Cities area and visited Joe's family.

Mia, McKenna, Taylor, Adison, Daxton

June 2007 in Rigby - Bryce, Shari, Heather, Mom, Jeni, Steve

Barry filled his role as man of the house very well!

Barry and his first garden he planted

Jenks Reunion 2007 - I'm not always a happy camper, especially when pregnant. It was fun to have a reunion like that and to see how close Barry's family is. We also went camping on our own near Pocatello that March and nearly froze to death!

Spitting watermelon seeds

My first fish! Too bad Barry had to do everything because I refuse to touch worms or fish.

Barry, on the other hand, has a deep relationship with the disgusting creatures.

At Heise Hot Springs in September

The kids where Barry worked had a habit of calling him Mr. Blueberry. So for Halloween he dressed up as a blueberry!