We have had some very significant events take place in the last few weeks.  Most important is the birth of our eighth baby.  She has been an incredible addition to our family and we are all crazy about her.  Anyhow, I was supposed to be due on the 18th of October according to our ultrasound expert.  Vickie kept disputing that because she felt I was due on the 27th.  She explained that ultrasound people measure around the circumfrence of the babies head, and their femur bone.  What they don't really consider is genetics, and lets face it...my legs are crazy long.  She figured he was off a bit, and he was.  The baby girl was born on Sunday October 26th.  She still has no name, and we are discussing it often, trying to give her something that is really significant.  Anyhow, she was 6lbs 15 oz.  My last few babies have been quite a bit bigger than that.  She is quite teeny.
     I actually went into labor in the middle of the night, but I always doubt that it is the real thing.  I got up and went to work on a lesson that was needed for my shrsh calling.  I must admit that when labor hits, I panic.  I still panic, even though I have lived through seven other successful deliveries.  I know and am quite aware, that as adults, we have to face our fears.  Labor and delivery petrify me with fear.  Sounds ridiculous, but hey, it is true.  I always do everything in my power to try to stop the labor pains, because I am always scared and nervous.  The labor pains did actually stop for a few hours in the morning.  I went about getting everyone ready for shrsh...trying to convince myself that today was not the day.
     I told Ryan that I wanted a blessing.  I was so nervous that my midwife would not make it to my house in time.  She had a two hour drive, and I was so scared to face any possible complications alone.  We went to the ranch, and Cliven and Ryan gave me a blessing.  I really wanted to hear that the baby would come in a timely manner....timely because Vickie needed TIME to make it.  Ryan said nothing of that sort.  He explained that the birth process was painful by design, and that the baby and I were both fit and strong enough to handle it.  He promised that her body would be strong in the birth process and she would be born healthy and whole.  Ok...I still wanted Vickie to help me.  I guess I kind of knew at that point that the birth would be assisted by Ryan....and that is it.
    I should have listened to my body rationally because the labor pains hit again in sacrament meeting.  We were having ward conference, and we just got a new bishopric.  I was so touched at what the topic was....facing fears, with the help of the Lord.  It was exactly what I needed to hear.  I bawled through most of the speeches until Mo became so unbearable that I had to take him out in the hall.  I was also timing contractions.  They were painful, and coming at sporadic intervals.  Every fifteen minutes, then seven, then five, then fifteen.  They weren't lasting very long either.  I brushed them aside, as nothing.  Ryan and I went in to our class to teach our lesson.  I noticed that I was getting irritable, which again made me notice the sharp pain the contractions had.  I love our class, and love our students tons, but I noticed that I just wanted Ryan to wrap things up.  The pains were consistent...every five minutes.  I finally told Ryan that I was in labor and wanted to go home.  I called my midwife and told her that I was probably in labor...I wanted to get into a warm tub and see if the contractions kept going, but to be on standby.  When we arrived at home the pains got faster and harder.  The bathtub did nothing to relax them away and so I got Vickie on her way.  She also called her closest assistant to me in Hurricane and got her on the road.  I immediately got cleaning the house, because I knew I wouldn't feel like it later.  Ryan helped and also got going on getting the birth pool inflated and filled.  The kids showed up with Arden to get their clothes changed....thank goodness for family.  Arden took them to the ranch for me.  Anyhow, the kids stayed long enough to say a prayer with me.  Mo ended up in the birth tub and had to be removed.
   The pains started piling on each other...there was no break in between and I tried reasoning with the baby to take it easy...slow down.  I was still cleaning Mo and Oak's room but ended up on my hands and knees to try to take pressure off of my back.  I was crawling around cleaning, and feeling like I wanted to scream or die.  I went and flopped in the pool and felt immediate help from the warm water.  Ryan was there wanting to do something to ease my pain.  At that point I was dying from the pressure and knew that the baby was going to be arriving if I would just get the work done.  I finally yelled at Ryan to come because the baby was coming.  She was born in a warm pool of water and into the welcoming hands of her Dad.  We both were elated and crying and excited.  She was perfect and content.  We called Vickie and she was just getting to Mesquite.  She was able to come and take care of everything else, but the birth belonged to us....it was an incredible blessing to share it with the man I love the most.  He took good care of me even though I moaned and complained about the pain.
     Since then, I have had a ton of help from good family and people from the community.  My mom came and stayed and ran all of the many kid errands for me.  Wow...I didn't want to be chasing around town.  Family and friends helped me on Halloween, and so Ryan and I could spend some time together on his birthday.  It has been great.
     Mo has been pretty good, but pretty demanding through the whole thing.  He goes with Ryan everywhere, but insists that I hang out with him in the night.  The baby sleeps really well, and usually just gets up once to nurse, but Mo?  Oh no, he wants mom and wants her now...and for a long time.  He also insists that I play horses and cars with him if we are together that day.  He will tell me to put the baby down so  that I can pretend with him.  The other night, I heated up a roast for dinner...I was disappointed in my family because this was the third time I had reheated this roast and no one was excited about it.  They started heating up frozen pizzas and I frowned.  Mo ate his plate of roast and potatoes with zest until I noticed that he was just taking his potatoes and smooshing it into the eye sockets of the spooky skull that I had sitting on the counter top for Halloween.  He and Chlo like to be lions, and frogs, and puppies sometimes.  He is hilarious really.  He desperately wants to rope cows though, and I frequently get hit in the head with his rope.  Ryan needs to spend some time teaching him how to rope.  It is obviously in his blood.