Elsie's Birth Story

    Elsie girl! I’m so glad you’re here with us, healthy and strong! I love you so much. I’m working on this after Dad left the hospital for the night. You look adorable sitting in your little bassinet beside my hospital bed! You just had your first bath (on Jan 11th) and are so cute snuggled up in your blankets.

01.09.2025

38 weeks and 5 days gestation

    I had a prenatal appointment with Dr. Katherine Peacock where she swept my membranes to hopefully induce labor! At the appointment, we also talked about scheduling an induction closer to my 40-week mark, as a backup if I didn’t go into labor on my own. I was dilated to 3-4 cm and experienced some light contractions for a few hours following the membrane sweep.

    I started experiencing some painful contractions around 10/10:30 pm but was able to lay down and get to sleep around 11:00 after they calmed down some.


01.10.2025

38 weeks and 6 days gestation

    I woke up around 12:30 in a lot of pain from my contractions! I expected them to calm down again, so I rode them out for about an hour before I woke up Jase. They were intense and close together. I woke up your dad with my movement around the room, and once I decided I was in too much pain to sit around and wait any longer we loaded up into the car and got to the hospital! Your dad laughed at me because I booked it when walking around the house and into the hospital anytime I had a break between contractions. I wanted to get to my epidural as fast as possible!

    We got to the Riverton Intermountain Hospital around 2 am. I was quickly checked in triage and was found I was dilated to six cm! They got me moved to a room and ordered an epidural for me; I was still in a lot of pain anytime I had a contraction. You gave me the most painful contractions I’ve ever had! The anesthesiologist arrived quickly and got my epidural in nice and quick. When he was giving me my numbing shots (before placing the epidural catheter) I told him that I loved what I was feeling, because I knew that I wouldn’t be feeling anything pretty soon! I didn’t have any contractions while getting my epidural placed until the very end of the process when I was getting my back taped up. I was super grateful because they were coming about every 30 seconds to four minutes since they had woken me up.

    After getting my epidural placed my nurses finished all our admission paperwork and I settled in to try and get some sleep. Around 4:45 am the on-call doctor came to check me and break my water. I was dilated to 8 cm, so Jase called Auntie Lexie and my mom to come to the hospital and get ready for your arrival! They got to the hospital by 5 am, ready to entertain me. Auntie Sophie was going to come, but was out of town when you decided to come!

    Auntie Lexie and Grandma arrived quickly and we all hung around the room for a few hours while we waited for you. I started feeling pressure in my bum around 8:30 and called my nurse to check my cervix. I was dilated to 10 cm and the nurse gave Dr. Peacock a call, who in turn asked for me to do some pushes to make sure you were descending like you should be before she came in. I wanted to try pushing on my side so I laid back and we started pushing through a contraction. My epidural made my whole evening super comfy and painless, but I was still able to move my legs plenty; so I was able to move around as needed. Unfortunately, you were not happy when I was lying on either of my sides or my back (I had spent the previous two hours in the “throne position” where I was essentially sitting up, but reclined and comfy), and your heart rate dipped a good amount. We pushed through two contractions, one on each side, but you weren’t having it. The nurse called Dr. Peacock to come in right away because of your heart rate and I sat back up while we waited, which made you happy again and got your heart rate close to where it needed to be.

    When Dr. Peacock arrived she checked your position and you were at 3+ (meaning you were as low as you could get and it was push time). I reclined more but didn’t lay all the way back this time, this kept you happy enough while I pushed. I pushed through five or six contractions (I pushed three times, for 10 seconds per push, during each contraction), and you made your arrival! The hospital had a mirror mounted on the ceiling, so I was able to see your head getting closer and closer to being out while I worked on pushing. On the last contraction, you were so close that I pushed two or three more times after it was finished and you popped out! You were born at 8:49 am. You got placed on my chest right away, then we waited for your umbilical cord to stop pulsing before I cut it myself! You took a second to cry and looked like a little blue smurf, but you adjusted to your new world quickly. Your APGAR score was 8 at the one-minute mark, then 9 at the five-minute mark. I got to hold you while they did all their assessments and then got to do golden hour! Dad held you as well, and then we got you weighed and measured. You were 5lb 8oz (in the third percentile for your weight) and 18 inches long.

    About an hour and a half after your arrival, we moved from Labor and Delivery to the Postpartum Unit. They loaded me into a wheelchair, then I held you while we were wheeled over. They play a cute lullaby to celebrate each delivery when the mom and baby are wheeled to their room. I’ve never been able to bring my baby to my postpartum room with me so I cried the whole way. I have adored having you with me!

    I didn’t tear at all while I was pushing, so this has been the easiest recovery out of all of my births. Evan and Eli came to meet you right after lunch on the day you were born. Evan loved holding you and Eli liked the lights on my hospital bed. Your dad has been in and out of the hospital, spending some time with your brothers at home and some time with us. We got put in an isolation room because every other room in the maternity ward was full when we came over from Labor and Delivery. It’s a little bit smaller than a normal room, so there isn’t a couch for your dad to sleep on. He wanted to sleep at home anyway though, and your brothers were glad to have him. Other than that the only difference between our room and a normal one is that we have a heavy door with a window.

    After your birth, we had to be careful with your body temperature and your blood sugar, because you’re such a small thing. You had a couple of low blood sugar readings, so the nurse fed you some sugar gel before two of your feedings, and then you ate by bottle. Your blood sugar went right back up. Other than that we’ve breastfed and now your blood sugar has been good long enough that we don’t have to check it anymore. The only time you had issues with your body temperature was right after delivery and golden hour. Once we got you warmed back up we kept you bundled up and you did great. I love to take your hat off and see all your cute dark hair though! Your pediatrician said he saw the low blood sugar and low body temperature alerts and thought, “Another tiny Jensen!” He got to see you on the 11th, the day after you were born because they round on patients in the mornings.


Other Dates:

Oct 11th (25 weeks and 6 days) - We celebrated you with a Halloween-themed baby shower!

Oct 22nd (27 and 3) - Went into Riverton Labor and Delivery to check on contractions. I was dilated to a “tight” one cm. I received a shot of Terbutaline to stop contractions. I got to go home from triage after four hours.

Oct 28th (28 and 2) - I had some light contractions over the weekend, Dr. Peacock checked my cervix and it was still a “tight” one cm. I got my TDAP vaccine and got my first Betamethasone shot to help your lungs develop if you come early (got the second shot on Oct 29th). The Dr. changed my appointment schedule to start meeting with her weekly.

Nov 14th (30 and 5) - Went into Murray Labor and Delivery to check on contractions. I was still at one cm, so I got to go home after a few hours in triage.

Nov 18th and 19th (31 and 2-3) - I received my second dose of Betamethasone.

Dec 1st (33 and 1) - Went into Riverton Labor and Delivery to check on contractions. While I was there I progressed from one cm to “one and a wiggle,” but didn’t progress anymore so I was able to go home again!

Dec 28th and 29th (37 and 1-2) - I got admitted to Riverton Labor and Delivery overnight. I was one cm dilated when I was first checked, and still at a one after 20 minutes. My contractions were still good and I was full term, so they had me go walk the hospital to see if we could get things to progress. My contractions were really painful while I was walking stairs and doing laps around the offices. I had progressed to two cm by the time I got back. My contractions were strong enough that they wanted to admit me, but as soon as I was settled in a room they calmed down. I went on another walk, but I wasn’t in nearly as much pain and things didn’t progress further. The on-call Dr. decided to wait for Dr. Peacock to start her shift the next morning before making the call on whether they wanted to start Pitocin to get labor progressing. I went to bed around 4 am to wait. Dr. Peacock decided to send me home, so we packed things up and I took a long nap once we were home to catch back up on some sleep.

2024 History

 Jensen Family History - 2024

Jase, Ellen, Evan, Eli, and Elsie

As always, another busy year is on the books! It seems like every year when I sit down to write our histories I realize just how much we accomplished and how much occurred in such a short time frame. I hope the trend continues year after year and we continue to see growth for each person in our family.

Winter always seems to be the time of year when the least happens. I blame the snow up here. It makes it so I just want to stay home and not start on anything too crazy. One big change we made at the very start of the year though was Ellen changing careers. After completing her Masters Degree at the end of last year (she got to walk in April of this year), she decided she wanted a change from being a financial advisor’s assistant and that she wanted more time with the boys. So, she let her boss know that she would be quitting. It had been a great job for her so it was hard to let that extra income stream go, but we knew we wanted to have another baby soon and it would be good for her to be home with the boys more and not be so busy. However, her boss is always starting new endeavors and invited her to be a business partner in a small marketing business with a few others. With her new degree, it has been exciting for Ellen to gain some experience in the marketing world and have more time than before. Ellen got her first payout in December (2024), which was so exciting. Ellen also only has to put in a few hours each week, which gives her more time at home with the boys. So far it seems like a perfect fit!

In March we also made the big decision to change homes and rent from Ellen’s parents in Daybreak. There were a lot of reasons for this decision including saving on rent, saving on gas for commutes (we are much closer to everything now), and having an upstairs with a yard instead of a basement. It has been so nice to have a small backyard where the boys can go out and play whenever they want. It’s fenced-in, so they can do their own thing for the most part. It has turned out to be a great fit! It has also been a big year for Suzanne and Dean (Ellen’s parents), and they now both work together for the same company in Idaho. Because of that, they only live in the house on the weekends, which means we have almost the whole house to ourselves during the week. I had my worries that we wouldn’t like the move, and I still miss things about where we lived before, but I think it has been a good change for us overall.

In April, we found out we were pregnant! We were so excited to know we would have our next little one on the way. Later on, we found out we were having a little girl. It’s going to be so wonderful to have a little girl alongside her two big brothers. Evan and Eli have also been getting so big and it is so cute to watch them grow up! We picked out the name Elsie for our little girl. The gap between Eli and Elsie is a little bigger than it was for Evan and Eli, but it is much needed. Evan and Eli are so close together and that made some things hard. Elsie will have just over a 2-year gap from Eli, so I am sure they will still have a close relationship since that still isn’t too large of a gap.

This summer was mostly uneventful. We spent a lot of time enjoying the outdoors together as a family by going on a couple of camping trips. Camping with two toddlers is certainly a lot of work! The boys really enjoyed it though! One of the campsites we did was right next to Zions National Park and had so much open space. It felt like a true camping experience. The other one we did was near Malad Idaho on a little farm called The Crazy Cow Adventure. This one was amazing. We got to feed the farm animals and help with fun farm chores, peddle around in little peddle carts, and our campsite had a playground! This was far from the true camping experience since there were flushable toilets and running showers if wanted, but it was a perfect in-between and we will definitely be going back there next summer. We also found out that where we camped in Samaria was where my great-grandpa Evan Morse grew up! What a crazy coincidence! So on top of the camping experience, we got to go around and see all the history of where my great-grandpa grew up, as our hosts were also huge history buffs with a literal museum on the property. Very cool!

Later in the summer, I received another promotion at work and moved to our other location off of Foothill Blvd in Salt Lake City. It’s a little bit longer of a commute but worth it. I now work as a Lab Manager Associate and keep the lab at this location functioning properly. There is a lot of computer work and document writing involved, but I have also been asked to do a lot of additional certification trainings. This has been great for me and my resume. At about the same time I was offered this position, I also started working on my MBA through Western Governors University. I have always known I wanted to do it and although I knew it wouldn’t necessarily be hugely beneficial for my current job, I think it will help me in the long run and be so nice to have it done.

Since I’m in charge of writing the history this year I obviously gotta put in a plug for my laser tag tourney as well. First though, in early summer we took a family reunion trip with Ellen’s family to Estes Park, Colorado. The trip was a lot of fun for us, but the most important part was that the reunion was right next to Loveland, CO; which is where the International Laserforce Tournament I would be participating in was being held. I made Ellen go and practice at the arena with me which was so fun. In August, I went back to Loveland with my team and played non-stop laser tag for a week. The tourney-style game we play requires that each team member play a specific position. For this tourney, my team needed an Ammo Carrier, so that is what I played all tourney long. It isn’t my strong suit normally, but I was impressed with how well I was able to do there. I went with a really good team and we were able to work our way up in the losers bracket to take second place during the finals, only losing to the home team. It’s always hard to beat the home team. I thought we did exceptionally well and it was so much fun to go out there and play a strategic sport, which I feel like I haven’t done in a long time.

Autumn wasn’t too busy for us. I finished my MBA in October and it was really cool to get that done so fast. We had a baby shower for Elsie, which was put on very well by Ellen’s family. Evan also started a gymnastics class and he has been enjoying it. The boys dressed up as construction vehicles for Halloween and they were adorable. Ellen was called to be the relief society secretary in October, and so far she has loved her new calling! She is also a temple worker, though she is on medical leave until baby girl makes her arrival. I am currently a nursery leader, so I’m enjoying being in nursery with both the boys for a few more weeks until Evan moves up to Sunbeams in January! 

In November we made the tough decision to surrender our cat Sweet Pea to the Humane Society. We didn’t want to, but no matter what we tried, we couldn’t seem to reduce the problems between her and Ellen’s parents’ dog. It got so bad that they both began peeing everywhere, and we finally decided to surrender her. It was hard to make that decision, but we couldn’t take good care of her, and she didn’t like living with the dog. I hope she gets adopted by another nice family!

December was full of fun family time! We had Grandpa Jensen stay with us for a good portion of a week and celebrated Christmas with the Jensens and the Bakes. We expected Elsie to join our family before the year ended, but here we are January 1st still waiting for her arrival! It has been a wonderful year and we’ve been blessed with so much and have so much to be grateful for! We can't wait to see what blessings 2025 holds for our family!

2023 History

 Jensen Family History - 2023

Jase, Ellen, Evan, and Eli

Compared to last year, this year was a lot less eventful. That has been quite nice for us, though, because we have been able to settle down and establish some roots. Ellen and I both work for the same companies we did last year, with some changes to our roles. We are also still renting in Herriman, Utah. It has been nice to stay put after all the moving around last year! We’ve had the opportunity to get to know our Ward and neighborhood a little bit better and made some new friends. It is hard to think back to the beginning of the year, but in January, Eli received his baby blessing! He was born all the way back in October of 22’, and I almost forgot his blessing got pushed to this year. I guess that is just how it goes when you have a NICU baby. The last time we weighed him, in November, he was almost 23 lbs. It is crazy to think he was 4 pounds at one point!

Around March, it became apparent that Ellen wouldn’t be able to keep up with all of her school assignments and work responsibilities while also taking care of the boys every day. So, we decided to hire a nanny! Her name is Meri, and she comes twice a week to watch the boys. This allows Ellen to work in the office, or quietly in her room as needed. The boys love her so much, and they always have so many fun crafts to show us after nanny days. Having two nanny days each week allowed Ellen to take on additional work opportunities. She now assists more colleagues in the office, taking on responsibilities such as managing life insurance and retirement investment applications (including ROTH conversions) and providing support for any other needs they may have. This has proven to be a valuable opportunity for us to increase our income.

This summer, Ellen and I had several friends getting married; and all the weddings were around the same time. We helped with a wedding for Ellen’s sister, Lexie, and her husband, Jameson, as well as a wedding for Ellen's mission companion, Hannah, and her husband, Ben. We were also able to be in Summer and Logan’s wedding, our great friends from Saint George who met in the same YSA we did! I was a groomsman in one wedding, Evan was a ring bearer in another, and Ellen was a bridesmaid in all three! We wouldn’t have had it any other way. It was so awesome to be close to our friends and family during their wedding season and to be able to watch them all make such a big life step.

Evan celebrated his second birthday in July, and Ellen couldn’t resist throwing a big party for him. We celebrated with family, neighbors, and friends! For the entire first year of Evan's life, Ellen has been trying to get him to love dinosaurs. His whole nursery was dinosaur-themed, along with many of his clothes and toys. However, between his first and second birthdays, he has grown quite the toddler personality; and with that came new favorite toys…cars. Yes, Evan loves all kinds of vehicles, so his second birthday party was naturally car-themed. He absolutely loved his party and all of his presents! We have plenty of toy cars and trucks around our house now, more than we know what to do with!

In September, I was able to receive a promotion and a raise at work. Because my company is growing quickly, I was able to grow into a leadership position early. I am now the Formulation Team Lead! I was very excited about the opportunity, and I hope I can continue growing into greater leadership positions. I still love science, but I have found that I don’t necessarily want a career in research. Luckily, my current occupation allows me to stretch into new areas. I hope to continue enhancing my skills to their fullest extent, enabling me to pursue my passion for leadership. In October, Ellen and I had the opportunity to go to Mexico with Ellen’s boss, Kaden, and his wife, along with another one of her coworkers. Good job, Ellen, for earning this trip! It was basically a honeymoon 2.0, and we had so much fun there! I’m kind of stingy when it comes to travel and probably never would have paid for this, so luckily, Ellen earned it! It was a great vacation. I definitely need to be a little better when it comes to spending on travel. Also, in October, we had Eli’s first birthday party! We celebrated his birthday in Saint George during fall break. We were able to have both sides of our family and a few friends there! He had his own cake, and Lexie took professional photos for us, which turned out absolutely adorable!

Last but not least, we had one of the most amazing accomplishments to wrap up the year. Ellen has been hard at work since starting her Masters program last August. This year, she decided that she just wanted it done, so this summer and fall, she doubled up on all of her classes! That’s right, on top of all the extra work she took up, she doubled her school load. Having our nanny, Meri, definitely helps, but she is just so incredible for taking on so much. Now, that hard work is paying off, and Ellen will be graduating with her Master's Degree in Professional Communications this December! I can’t wait to see so many doors open to her, and also for her to not have to worry about homework anymore. Our family is so excited for her!

We continue to teach primary in our ward and have received additional callings as well. Ellen now leads an activity days group, and I was recently called as an assistant ward clerk. We are learning so much, and we love living here. It is so much fun for us to live so close to Ellen’s family and a lot of my siblings. We do, however, miss St George and all our friends and family down there. We hope they will consider moving closer to us in the future years! We are so grateful for all of the wonderful blessings we continue to receive each year as we grow our little family. God truly is good, and we feel like we have become better people from all the experiences he’s given us to live through. We still have much to learn as we strive to become better spouses, parents, children, friends, employees, and ward members. We hope that we can keep improving ourselves as we move into next year!

Love, The Jensen Family

2022 History

 Jensen Family History - 2022

Jase, Ellen, Evan, and Eli

This year has been a big one indeed! It seems like every year since Ellen and I have been married we have just had so much going on. To start off this year, Ellen and I began our last semester of college at Dixie State University. After having Evan last summer, we were very much looking forward to graduating and moving on with our family life. Ellen studied Communications with an emphasis in Organization and Applied Leadership and I studied Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Trying to juggle both of us in school full-time and taking care of a little one was very difficult, but it was well worth it. Ellen attended her classes at night with many students who already had full-time careers. This brought wonderful connections that allowed Ellen to start a new job in January, working for one of her classmates who was a financial advisor. As his assistant, she helps by meeting with clients and helping them fill out their life insurance applications. The nice thing about this job is that she can work from home and have flexible hours. She gets paid exceptionally well for the time she puts in. Her career has been exceptionally beneficial to our family, and her boss has been giving her even more opportunities to help with other businesses that he is starting. 

Earlier this year, we decided we wanted to keep our family growing, and in the springtime, soon after our second anniversary, we found out we were pregnant with another baby boy! We were so excited for all that lay ahead and felt so blessed. In May, we were finally able to finish school and we both graduated with our respective bachelor’s degrees. I normally try to make light of my achievements and act like they aren’t a big deal; but I have to admit that after the last two years of difficult coursework, I felt like I had accomplished a huge task in my life. It felt so wonderful for both of us to finish school at the same time and I couldn’t wait to have a nice break. Deep down I knew that I loved school though and always planned on going back. Right after graduation, I studied briefly for the MCAT for medical school and got a decent score, but I wasn’t sure it would be good enough to get into medical school - which is where I planned on going after a gap year. 

Soon after graduation, Ellen and I moved out to Baltimore, Maryland for my internship at Johns Hopkins University. I was very excited to receive such a prestigious internship and couldn’t wait to continue my studies there. During our time in Baltimore, we had the opportunity to visit New York City once and Washington DC multiple times. It was a great opportunity to have a family adventure! Although social media may make it seem like an amazing trip, it had several downsides too. While it was great to do research in a very prestigious chemistry lab, it was not in a field that fit me very well and I struggled greatly. I found out that I have a difficult time with electrochemistry, but I was also grateful to have a project so challenging for me. Our apartment was expensive and dirty. It was extremely difficult to find housing for such a short period of time; and when we finally did, it was not up to our expectations. There were severe pest problems, and by the time we reached our last week there, we noticed a rat in our basement kitchen! By the time we left, we were both ready to get out of there. We were very glad when we moved back to Utah.

During our last week in Maryland, and upon moving back to Utah, Ellen and I made some other big changes to our original plans. We decided together that medicine was not the career for me; at least not right at this moment, and so we decided to postpone my medical school application. We also decided that it would be right for Ellen to continue her education, so she quickly applied for an online master's program at SUU where she was accepted to study Professional Communications. This was such a scary time with a lot of change, and I was always so nervous that I would never find the right career for me. I have learned to accept that I will always feel this way, but if I just keep moving forward things will work out. They always do as long as you keep moving forward, even if you change your mind later. 

Once we got back to Utah, we decided that we wanted to live up north, closer to Ellen’s family. I also wanted to find a full-time job that was applicable to my degree, and there was a lot more opportunity in the Salt Lake area. It was also very difficult to find housing here that was within our budget. Inflation has caused prices to skyrocket this year! Luckily, we were finally able to find a 3-bedroom basement apartment in Herriman and we absolutely love it. I found a job in downtown Salt Lake City working as a biochemistry reagent formulator. It is a little bit of a commute for me (ranging from 30 to 50 minutes), but I love the neighborhood we live in and so it is well worth it. It feels good to finally have a job that is paying me well too!

Our new lives were well underway when Ellen again went into preterm labor at the beginning of October. Eli wasn’t due until the middle of December, so it was looking like we were going to have another NICU baby. Ellen was in and out of the hospital for the next few weeks and was dilated to a 6 the whole time! This was very stressful, but it was well worth it as Eli was able to stay in until 33 weeks and 6 days gestation - which was a week and two days longer than Evan! On October 29th Eli Dean Jensen was born. 25 days later (a little longer than Evan), right before thanksgiving, Eli came home from the NICU to join us at home! He has been such a joy to have with us and it has been so exciting to have our two littles together. It has been very busy, but we wouldn’t have it any other way!

Right after bringing Eli home, we were called as primary teachers for a class of 9-10-year-old kids! We’ve enjoyed our time teaching the kids and obviously love singing time. Right now we bring both boys to class with us because Evan isn’t old enough for nursery. We’re excited to meet our next class of kids come January! We have loved our ward so much. They were incredibly helpful during Ellen and Eli’s hospital stay and we’ve loved getting to know everyone!

Love, The Jensen Family