Bringing Home a Baby

I’m so sad I haven’t written this post sooner. This day will be burned into my memory forever, but I sure wish I wrote things down from this day as they were happening!
I wanted to get to the NICU early On Sunday because I had big plans of asking Dr. McQueen if we could take our baby home. When we walked in they were doing rounds and we hadn’t missed it! When they came over to talk to us I imidiately asked if we could take her home. He kind of laughed like no way, and as we continued to talk you could see it on his face that he was going to let us. They had told me she needed to be off the hydrocortisone for 48 hours before she went home because if she were to relapse it would be within that time. Sunday morning marked the 48 hours with in problems so I didn’t see why would need to stay any longer. Dr. McQueen had been there in the very beginning of our stay, but we hadn’t seen him since day 4. He seemed to be a more laid back Dr. so I just had to ask. He asked the other nurses who were there what they thought and I will never forget! Diana, who was our first day nurse said “mom is great with her. She knows what she’s doing, and they have an awesome pediatrician” and I really do believe that is what sealed the deal for us! On Friday there had been talk of sending her home on an apnea monitor but we were fortunate enough to not have to do that!  There were pretty much instant tears! We were going home! Right before they were going to leave he said “Ya know, I walked over her with no intentions of saying those words, but I am really happy you get to go home”. Because they had no intention of sending us home it was going to take awhile to get all the paper done and ready and that was totally fine! We weren’t exactly ready yet either! I fed my sweet baby and laid her down in that tin crib for the last time and we were off!

Of course we had to stop at McDonalds for all the soda addicts in my life. We got my mom and Jim coke’s and went about getting ready to bring this baby home. When we got home I knew I needed to primp myself a little, there would be A LOT of pictures taken after all. We also didn’t have any diapers so it was off to Target we went! We got back to the NICU just before the 2pm feed. I was able to feed her again and then we had to watch a CPR video. This scared me so much! She is just so tiny! It was informative and good to watch, but yikes I hope we never have to use it!

Once all that was done it was ALMOST time! After 25 days I had really made friends with all the nurses! This definitely has its perks! Tracy (the character as my mom calls her) was there and she and I became great friends! She was hilarious and we were always teasing each other. The hospital has Cookies at 3 everyday and if I wasn’t there to get my cookies she would make sure that they would be waiting for me when I got back! Talk about service! Well she really hooked us up when we were leaving! Jim took a trip to the car with literally a garbage bag full of diapers and wipes, along with a hospital bag full of bottles, nipples, and formula (to add calories to her bottles). Such a blessing! We then went over all the paper work and took the monitors off of our baby. When it was time to pick her up and put her in the car seat I lost it. I was holding my sweet 25 day old baby for the first time without a single wire on her, and I was about to take her home! Gosh, even writing about it makes me emotional all over again! We got pictures with our nurses and you can tell by my face how emotional I was! I was SO EXCITED to take her home, but like I said these people had become my friends! Not going to the NICU and hanging out with them would be a huge change! I cried, we all hugged, and then our nurse walked us out and just like that we got to go home.

When we got home my mom and Nixon were still at church and that was good. We got settled and shortly after they got home! Nixon really didn’t pay much attention to her. He just kind of looked at her and just went about his day. He was tired because he didn’t have a nap, plus he had a cold so I wasn’t really upset he didn’t care to be around her. We took some pictures and just settled in as a family of 4 + grandma and Chief. Easily one of the best days of our lives!

NYC The Last Day

It’s safe to say that by the last day in NYC we were exhausted!!! We didn’t make it to the train station until about 11, and I will take all the blame. I was moving slow, and it was suppose to rain on us! We were lucky enough that Nicole had generously volunteered to watch Nixon for us so that we could enjoy a day in the City by ourselves. We jumped at the offer, and I am still so so so grateful! Nixon was at an age where we couldn’t even  leave him in nursery without him crying. Luckily this really helped him get over that! He ate what he was given, didn’t cry, and didn’t talk! That last part isn’t the best, but hey, it wasn’t crying! At the end of the night, after all those babies were bathed, they snuggled in to watch a movie. Ridge isn’t much of a cuddler so Nicole was happy to have Nixon cuddle with her! She got up to get something and he got a little upset and so Jade jumped in and sure enough he cuddled with her! I wish I could have seen it! I’m so happy that I have such a great family that loves my baby as their own!
Anyway, it’s an hour train ride into the City from Parsippany so we didn’t get there until about noon. We knew we wouldn’t be able to eat until much later so we grabbed a quick lunch at Penn Station and then headed for the subway. Things were looking good, not rainy yet but by the time we got downtown it was raining. We stopped and grabbed an umbrella and it broke just a few minutes later. I would expect nothing less! We then headed for non other than the Statue of Liberty!

NYC Part III

We woke up Sunday morning after we all had a loooooooong nights sleep. I really think we didn’t wake up until about 10, and didn’t leave the hotel until about noon. The first stop we made was heading down to Macy’s. I’ve never gotten so lost and confused in my entire life! It was beyond massive and trying to find an elevator to take back down was impossible! We ended up on the escalators going down, with a stroller, and that’s just not my favorite. But the original wood escalators? I just couldn’t get enough of them! They were the slowest moving cool thing I’ve ever seen. I loved them.

NYC Part II

As a disclaimer I’d like to say that it has taken me FOREVER to write these posts and add pictures. I pretty much refuse to proof read and edit them before I post them. As I go back and relive/reread them I’ll catch my many errors and fix them then. But for now, I sleep.
I was super excited for day two because we had some big big plans, but also just for the fact that we were going to be spending more time in The City! The girls, and Jim got up early to go see the Rockettes! Everyone was telling us that we needed to go see the shows and musicals while we were there and I honestly can’t think of a more miserable thing. I hate musicals, go ahead and judge me. But the Rockettes, THE ROCKETTES! That’s different! Amazing dancing with such precision, and a Christmas theme ta boot? Sign me up! Cody was planning on meeting up with us for lunch with the little boys but after some unexpected car trouble he ended up staying home all day with the boys. I’m sure there are thousands of other ways he would have rather spent the day, but he handled it and even got a few hours to himself while all the boys napped.
Funny side story. As we were getting ready to go I was throwing up in the bathroom and Ridge and Jade were down stairs and they were hearing everything. Nicole came down and as we were talking I mentioned that I didn’t feel well but I would be fine and it would go away. With the straightest most shocked face ever Nicole looked at me and said “Are you pregnant”? I will never forget her face! I said yes and there was lots of jumping and squeals and excited noises. I brought up the conversation the previous morning with the Tylenol and she couldn’t believe that she totally missed the signs! It was all pretty funny. Anyway…

New York Part I

Dreams do come true! Over thanksgiving my husband granted one of my biggest wishes and that was to take me to my homeland, NYC (Oh you didn’t know? I have an East Coast Soul, so it’s about time my west coast body reunited with the rest of me) I will start this journey from the very beginning.

Baby Girl

So the rumors are true, Nixon’s going to be a big brother July 9! He has no idea what is going on of course, but we are terrified so excited! I'm 21 weeks tomorrow (Feb. 26) and there has been so much going on with this baby, I don’t know where to begin!

When I found out I was pregnant I went on the search for a “big brother” shirt to surprise Jim. He was working a half day that day so I planned on him wearing it when Jim got home and it would be a surprise. Welllllll, Jim got home later than planned and Nixon ended up falling asleep. Jim was still surprised when he eventually realized what Nixon’s shirt said.

We found out I was pregnant back in October and it wasn’t long after that the morning sickness started setting in. When we were in New York (!!!) That’s when smells and such really started getting to me. It’s been so different than when I was pregnant with Nixon because the morning sickness would last all day with little to no relief. With Nixon I would be sick, throw up, and be better around noon. This one, no, She has other plans. Sick all day, throw up randomly, and continue to be sick. For a few weeks I had a major aversion to anything sweet. I wanted nothing to do with cookies, cakes, ice cream, anything like that and it was great! That however, has subsided and I could probably live exclusively off of air heads.

20 weeks with Nixon vs 19 weeks with baby girl

I definitely get my cravings, and It’s always around 3 in the afternoon. I think I text Jim everyday saying I’m craving something different. One day it was a corn dog and onion rings, and 5 minutes later it was tacos. I’m telling you, pregnancy is the craziest thing.

This next part is mostly for me, and kinda TMI, but hey, it’s my blog and if you don’t like it, move along :)
Now we are kind of caught up to now. Besides being sick, this pregnancy hasn’t been all roses like it was with Nixon. My biggest concern with him was that he was going to be huge by his due date! This one, well, it’s been much more rocky. Everything up to 19 weeks was great besides the morning sickness! I started to show much much earlier, and that was depressing. We Had the big anatomy ultrasound on Feb 12 and found out that it was a girl! So many emotions! We also found out that there was a possibility that I had a second lobe on my placenta. I also have a total Placenta Previa, meaning that the placenta is attached low in the uterus and completely covering the cervix. As the uterus grows, the placenta often goes with it, uncovering the cervix and I can have a normal delivery. If It doesn’t, then it’s a c-section. They sent me in to have a level 2 ultrasound to see if the placenta had the second lobe. After an hour of poking and two doctors later, it was determined that I just have one, massive placenta. The reason they couldn’t tell if it were one or two is because at the very bottom there’s a very large placental lake. The doctor described it like the placenta is like a sponge, and some openings are bigger than others, thus creating a lake. It really is massive! You could see the blood flowing through it in the ultrasound, probably the craziest thing I’ve ever seen! So because the lake is so big, and in the perfect place right above the cervix, they couldn’t tell if the front and the back were connected. They are connected! We also learned that massive placentas make massive babies, that I was less than excited to hear as you can imagine!

Fast forward to Sunday, Feb 22. We had a really low key day or just lounging around the house (we skipped stake conference, we have a 2 year old for heavens sake!) I started to feel a little crampy and annoyed but ignored it for awhile. After dinner I went to the bathroom and wouldn’t you know it, blood. More than a little, less than a lot. Naturally I freaked out and started crying and Jim called the nurse who then had the on call Doctor give us a call. He said if it got worse than to go to the ER ASAP, but if it lightened or went away just call Dr. Huish in the morning and he would probably have me come in just to make sure things were ok. I took it easy the rest of the night and the bleeding completely stopped. When I called the office in the morning the nurse was very very serious when she said “you need to go to the hospital right now because of what’s going on with your placenta”. So again, I started crying, called Jim home from work, dropped Nixon off and headed to the hospital. Once we were there they hooked me up to the machine that checks to see if you are having contractions and asked me a million questions while they tried to find a heart beat. It took her so long and she kept saying “there’s the placenta, we can hear the placenta” and I was like uhhh ya, I know. It’s massive, but where’s the heartbeat? Eventually she found it and it was strong and everything sounded good. After being hooked up and them calling Dr. Huish they said everything was fine and to go home. They said I needed to take it easy, no heavy lifting and absolutely no working out. I started laughing, she clearly doesn’t know me at all! I went and got Nixon and took it pretty easy the rest of the day. There’s only so much you can do with a two year old and taking it easy.
The next day, Tuesday, we went to the mall to pick up a gift, walked to the mail box and that was the extent of our activity. When I got home, sure enough I was spotting. It wasn’t as much as before, so I wasn’t too worried. I then took it easier the rest of the night but kept spotting. It got lighter as the night went on so that was good! I didn’t call the doctor because it was after 5, and I knew they were just going to say to watch it and if it got worse to come in. So Wednesday morning I went back and forth on if I should call or not because it wasn’t as bad, and I really didn’t want to go back to the hospital. I ended up calling and the nurse said to come down and they would do an ultrasound just to make sure things were fine because they didn’t do know while we were at the hospital. So I hopped in the car and went down there. I got right in and after taking a quick look around, it was determined that things were fine, again. The Ultrasound tech thought that maybe the baby had been kicking the placental lake sending blood through the cervix. As terrible and scary as that is, its kind of best case. It’s a possibility that the blood could get to the baby and we obviously don’t want that. Dr. Huish is suppose to call back and give me further instruction. From what I’ve read, these are all commons things to happen with a placenta previa, especially at this point in pregnancy. It could last for a few weeks, or it could result in bed rest. I’m really hoping its just a few weeks and everything moves up and we can get over all of this… not to mention I’m kind of over all these doctor visits! In the last 3 weeks I’ve had 4 appointments, and 3 ultrasounds. It’s a bit crazy! Hopefully we will have some answers soon and I wont be put on bed rest! Here’s the ultrasound from this morning to take us out!

July!

July was such a fun month! It’s one that I look forward too and this year did not disappoint! For starters, that husband of mine got a promotion! He started at Pro Vison last July and had worked his butt off to prove himself! Luckily they saw that and promoted him a year early and I am SO PROUD!! He’s now Tax Senior and working on his CPA. There’s always SOMETHING after you get your masters, don’t let them fool you!
Then we come to the 4th! I always look forward to spending time with family and friends, eating way too much delicious food, and sweat my way through some fireworks. This year we invited over to one of Jim’s boss’ house to swim and eat the most amazing smoked pulled pork ever! It was fun, and Nixon LOVED playing with all their trains! They love in a cul-de-sac and they do not disappoint on the fireworks! We sat outside with the entire neighborhood and enjoyed all those pyros put on a good show!

But the best part about the fourth? My best friend had the most adorable baby girl! Hadley Jo Coats! She’s adorable and I can’t wait to squish those cheeks!!! (Is it Christmas yet???)

On July 11 we hopped on a plane and flew to Utah to spend some time with that crazy family of mine! And knowing that family, we knew it would be anything but a vacation! Jim spent the entire weekend outside, being dragged from here to there by my dad and brothers. It was great! Jim was only able to stay for about 5 days but I got to enjoy a Utah summer for a full 3 weeks.

We kicked off the weekend with a great parade in Farmington, Nixon was on the fence about it. He doesn’t do very well with change and new things, but we survived thanks to the the Fat Boy semi that came through throwing Fat Boys instead of Candy and it was great! Don’t be fooled, we did get a ton of candy though! We then went and spent the rest of the afternoon at the bubble swimming!

We were able to spend a ton of time just playing outside with cousins! It was so nice to just sit in the shade and watch the kids run and play! Nixon loved it until I went inside or out of sight and he would have a melt down. Talk about mamas boy.

Paisley told grandma that she wanted to go for a ride on a train, so ride a train we did! We took frontrunner into SLC and went to the Gateway to see How to Train Your Dragon 2. From the little portions of it I actually saw it was really good! But it was nap time and lets just say I am a schedule mom. We are home at nap time everyday and never a minute late. After walking around the theater Nixon eventually fell asleep for a little while but when he woke up he made sure to let everyone know he was PISSED!! I was sweating the whole way home on the stupid train and I was extremely anxious to let him out and run.

But Wednesday, that was a day I will never ever forget. We went to Lagoon as a family and I was nervous but excited. I think we can all agree that as a child it was the best place on earth. The last time we went I was pregnant and I couldn’t ride most of the rides, so I was determined to make it extra fun for my little family. It turned out to be the perfect day to go! It was hot, but those mega huge trees keep it manageable, and the middle of the week made the lines minimal if at all! That was a definite plus because Nixon is apparently the least patient person in the world. We rode all the rides no less than 10 times each and Jim and I were even able to sneak away and ride some pretty intense roller coasters! A+ Lagoon, A+. It was so fun to watch Nixon love the rides I loved when I was little, and watch as Jade and Paisley would get excited to sit next to Nixon on the rides. I’m so lucky to have the cutest nieces in the world! He rode Bulgy the Whale practically non stop with a smile on his face the entire time. Ridge and Nixon also rode the weird space like ride, who knows what its called, over and over! There was never a line, and that’s probably because all the parents were terrified their children would fall out of it. No? Just me? Well one time it just stopped mid air and one of the girls and Nixon I think were just hanging out up there until it reset and let them down. Talk about heart attack!
And that brings up to the last day Jim was able to spend with us in Utah. The three of us rushed home to get Jims bags and run to the airport just in time for him to be notified that his flight was delayed. He didn’t end up leaving until about 9! But we hurried about to Lagoon and rode all the rides we could for the rest of night! Nixon really could have gone all night long! And now I’m tired of writing this ever so lengthy post so I will leave the rest of July to another day. So here is a million low quality selfies of our day at Lagoon!

And because I found this gem of the guys day hiking and fishing in the Uinta's… but you probably got that.

 

Also, to prove he is my child, I dug this up and, well, it’s almost as amazing as the above picture.

Oh Lagoon… so much has changed, but its still exactly the same!!