How we got to North Carolina.

While waiting for Military orders in Monterey, we enjoyed the last bit of paradise we could soak up.

 Chris graduated! Which means he passed all three exams for speaking Thai, reading Thai and listening. He was very nervous but he did great like we all knew he would.
 Rodens, Gaylene, Pampa and Gma Joan came to celebrate!

Miss my girl Vy

 We celebrated with one last bon fire with our friends and fam.

Our last trip to Santa Cruz.

Griff said he got soaken dry on this ride. 

Monterey Fair with Mason and Hastings.

Baseball game

What a ham :)  We miss you Maddie and Bella

Last time at our lil breakfast spot on the warf. 

There is nothing like the Roden Hotel. Griff was so comfortable,  he could play in his undies and not have a care in the world. 

Making sure Pampa was groomed.

Our last visit at the Roden Hotel. Oh how we miss you guys. 

Thanks for all the Prego clothes Rikki and Angie

Signing the cast

Desiree did a photo shoot for us at the beach. They turned out perfect.

By this time we had finally received orders to head to San Antonio for an eight week training. Chris was assigned to be a Veterinary Food Inspector.

First we had to make a stop in Utah for Christmas then off to SA

Sadly the festivities ended and we had to drive 12+ hours to San Antonio

Our plan for San Antonio was to stay here for all eight weeks of training. Find a place that was month to month and have the baby here. (She was due a day before he was scheduled to Graduate)
Upon further inspections of how Pregnant I felt and how long Chris' days were. I decided this was probably not a good idea. So Griff and I went back to Utah after a couple weeks vacation, so I could have the baby amongst friends and family. San Antonio was fun, but not enough to stay. So we said our good byes to Daddy and headed back.
During this time, I was feeling a lot of anxiety around giving birth possibly without Chris. I already didn't want to give birth, and the thought of not having Chris there made it even worse. We were told he wouldn't be able to make it for her birth because he had to stay for his graduation ceremony. But, his first Sergent had so much respect for Chris because he was doing so well in his training. Pulled a few strings and made it happen for us. It came down to the wire and everything started to fall into place. Chris was released early to come home and be here for the birth. HALLELUIAH

I was staying with my in-laws Ric and Joan in Ogden and with my parents in Provo. It was awesome to be able to drive back and forth between the two.

 My pregnancy wasn't too bad but i was ready for it to be over.
I was scheduled to be induced on the 5th.

I've heard many times that for your second child birthing time is usually cut in half. Well, with Griff it was a six hour labor.  My mind was set on a three to six hour labor at the most. I went in with clear intentions. I told my Doctor and nurses I wanted Presley to be placed on my chest as soon as she is born for about an hour. I didn't want her to leave the room for any reason. So no baths and no immunizations. I wanted it to be a fun and peaceful day.

I'm thankful to say I got all that and more. It was an awesome day for me. My labor was eleven hours so much more than planned but I guess I had to pack in six more hours of fun than expected. I had a room full of loving women and mothers in the room. My mom and sister, my mother in-law and sister in-law. And of course Chris. Rikki had a snack bar going, even though I couldn't eat any of it :(.
 

  So I was induced around 8 AM and just waited around for things happen. Eventually she broke my water and then I started to actually feel the contractions. Everyone loved to watch the chart and tell me that I was having a contractions. I was laying in the bed most the day just watching these ladies and my hubby pace around me with excitement. Rikki gave me a hand massage and put my make-up on.

 Chris gave me a pedicure. I was loving it. I felt the love from everyone in the room it was so nice. We were talking, laughing and having a good time. I finally was feeling a lot of pressure and discomfort so I asked the nurse for my epidural, thinking he wouldn't get here for at least a half an hour so I could experience painful contractions for a while. But he actually showed up with in five minutes, to my surprise. He gave me the epidural and my blood pressure dropped drastically to double digits. They gave me meds and brought it back up. After the epidural my contractions slowed down and labor kind of stopped. It was obviously the epidural slowing everything down. So we waited some more. I kept thinking I just wanted to see her and hold her. But we waited. Finally contractions were regular and I was dilating quickly. Everything happen so fast. Before i knew it everyone was in the room getting ready to have a baby. I pushed for about ten minutes and out she came. I laid her on my chest and talked to her about sweet nothings. I don't remember exactly but I was rambling on and on about how great she is and how loved she is. She was so calm and just starred at me and then tried to nurse after a while. 

Strong and healthy!

Daddy's little girl

I finally got to eat from the snack bar, I was starving.

Grandma Nanna

Grandma feelings

Aunt Rikki (p.s thank you for teaching me how to nurse again, you calmed my nerves I had about nursing)

Presley Quinn Opheikens

She was able to meet all the special ladies in the room and her Daddy. She was perfect, beautiful and happy.
Thanks to my Dad, Ric and Joan who took care of Griffin so we could have this experience. 

We found out on her first nights sleep how squeaky she was. 

Griff wasn't able to come to the hospital because it was flu season. So this is the first time he met his lil sister.
 

Daddy had to leave about a week after her birth to pick up the truck and head to North Carolina. We followed three weeks later to meet him. Thanks to Grandma Joan who helped me on the plane with a five year old and new baby. I Don't think I could have done it by myself  nor did I want to do it by myself.

North Carolina here we come!