Complete Exhaustion!

So Wednesday night when my client had still not had her baby, I called to go over the backup arrangements with her before I went out of town. Only she told me she was in early labor!

I was teaching a class that evening, so I threw all my birth stuff in the car (she was having her baby at the same hospital where I teach) and told her I would call before I left the hospital.

After my class was over, I called her, and not much was happening, so I went home anyway. Took a shower, changed into more comfortable clothes, had something to eat, and waited for the call. When it hadn't come by midnight, I decided to just lay down & see if I could get some sleep.

But the phone rang just 15 minutes later and I was back up and on the way.

Labored at home with her for a couple hours, went to the hospital and things kept moving along, although slowly. By 9, it was pretty clear this baby wasn't coming any time soon, and Darrin & I were leaving at noon.

So I called my backup to come in, and she arrived just before 11, just in time for things to get kind of scary & crazy for a few minutes. I couldn't bring myself to leave until it was resolved. So instead of arriving home by 11:15, I got back just before noon.

Quick shower, lunch, e-mail check, take Brynn to babysitter, and we were on the road by 1. Darrin was so good about doing the driving while I tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to sleep. My backup called me at one point to let me know my client had her baby around 3. A cesarean, because the scary complications came back and could not be resolved otherwise.

We stopped in Nephi to track down a cemetary and get some headstone pictures and got to St. George around 6, checked into our hotel, and went for some dinner. (A very good Chinese Place called "Gimme Sum") After dinner we drove around a bit to find the convention center and stretched our legs at the Zion outlet mall. Went back to the hotel, called the kids and I slept from about 8:30 to 7 the next morning. Felt wonderful in the morning. We even walked a few miles on a walking path along the Virgin River.

The next day the Genealogy Jamboree began and we went over to the Dixie Center to get set up. Our booth was a good size, and after some minor snafus (You wanted electricty and internet in your booth? Um, yeah, that's what the $168 check we mailed you was for!) we were up an ready for business just in the nick of time before the exhibit hall opened.

The first break was wild - hundreds of people coming around, we couldn't keep up. Sold 2 copies. The break was an hour long, and it was a crush of people the whole time! When it was over and everyone went to the next session, we sat down and went "Whew! This conference is going to be GOOD!"

But the rest of the breaks were slower and slower each time. I think we talked to ONE person on Saturday after 2 pm. And he didn't buy. Total sales were just 6. But we will see in the long run what the effect is - as we have tons and tons of people saying things like "My son is a web designer - we wants to do a web site for me, but he doesn't have time. I'll have to see if he likes this option" - sometimes that kind of thing generates sales days or weeks down the road.

But the trip was really fun - we really enjoyed being together with just the two of us. We ate out again the next time at a Mexican food place up on the bluff with a good view of the city, went for another long walk (that time I took my camera and got some pictures.) and had some good time to just unwind & talk. Someday we'll have to pull off a trip that is all fun and no business!

Saturday the conference went until 5:30 - we were packed up and leaving about 6 - stopped for some food and hit the road, driving all evening through rain & wind (but thankfully NOT SNOW!) and arrived home at about 11 last night. Dennis had brought the kids home and put them to bed at our house, so I got to go in and give them all a kiss as they were sleeping. Callie smiled, Kyra mumbled "leave me alone" and Brynn was clueless, but I was happy to be back with my kids!

It was hard to get up and get going for 9 am church today. All I wanted to do was snuggle in bed with my kids and sleep more. But we managed to get there (on time even!) and I struggled, but did NOT fall asleep in Sacrament meeting.

This afternoon I took a nap. Woke up and looked at the clock, saw that it was 6:04 and thought "Good, I can sleep another hour." but my bladder made me get up anyway. When I got up, I wondered why I was in my clothes, and finally smelled dinner cooking and realized it wasn't morning after all!

In other news, we are almost done with our family goal to read the Book of Mormon individually by Valentine's Day. Kyra & I are done (Kyra finished a few weeks ago, I finished on Tuesday) Callie's on Moroni 3, and Darrin's in Ether Hoefstuk 9. (That's Chapter 9 in Afrikaans - he decided to read it in Afrikaans this time, so he's slower than everybody else). brynn has been reading the "Book of Mormon Stories" books with whoever is around to help her, and she's in 3rd Nephi, but we're cutting her slack since she can't read at that level on her own. (Curious George books she can do - but not the scripture books)

The girls had a fun time playing at Dennis & Marti's while we were gone - they went out to dinner one night and took them to see Charlotte's Web on Saturday. We let them take Friday off from school so they had a ton of time to play.

I think that's everything going on around here! This week looks much more low-key, and I am glad!