That's the way to start the morning

November 7, we woke up and went straight to the doctor. The PA that I had been seeing most of the pregnancy came and examined me and went straight to find the doctor. I'm grateful that I always go to a high risk doctor just in case. He is one of the best in the area. I have heard nothing but good about him and have had good experiences. (well, besides the pregnancy in itself.) He came and told us to head over to the hospital because we were going to have a baby. They feared that my c-section scar was rupturing. We called and told my mom what was happening since she was watching the kids and went in. Andy tried to get me a wheelchair and I walked past him. The nurses got concerned that I was walking around as well. They had everything going and within the hour, we were in the surgical room having a baby. Halfway through the surgery, I realized that one of the surgical assistants was Lindsey Hoskins Searle, a girl I went to high school with so that was awesome. That's where reunions should happen. I really don't think she ever saw my face so that helps out. I couldn't breath and got really nauseous during the procedure but I had an awesome anesthesiologist that took care of every need that came up. (Just so long as my breakfast didn't come up.) This is when they showed Andy a thing that looked at a thistle. It was a calcified stitch from my c-section with Jack. It was what was sending me into labor and it was making a hole in the uterus. I heard that baby cry and they took her away after a brief glimpse of her. It seemed really sudden to me. I sent Andy out to keep an eye on her. He said they were checking her breathing and taking her to the NICU. She had pneumonia and jaundice. They said once she was in the NICU like that then she was going to be in there at least 6 days. This was when the adventure began. It was new to me since it was the first baby we have had that Andy wasn't in school for. It was new to us. But then again, every baby is.

The IVs were for her antibiotics. Apparently they hurt less on the head and they are less likely to yank them out. Doesn't mean I liked it. It broke my heart to see that but I was ecstatic when they took them out. Actually, every time we came and saw they had taken a tube out, it was wonderful. First thing out was the oxygen like you can see in this picture.
All of my kids had jaundice. It doesn't help that Jack was 35 weeks 5 days and she was 35 weeks 2 days. I love when they have their sunglasses on in their bilirubin light. I wish they had one in my size. It looks super nice.

This was the first time I met her. She had such intensity in her gaze. It is indescribable when you connect and see an eternity there. We love this Tiana that came into our lives.

Pregnancy

Oh, boy howdy. I struggle with pregnancy. I am not one of those people that are ok after the third month and I'm definitely not the one that feels great during the whole thing. I want to kick them in the shins when they say that. Or the people that say that pregnant women have a glow about them. Is it sweat from misery? I don't know. This is the only picture I have of the whole thing. I was 5 months along and that is my great grandmother. That woman is feisty at the age of 96. Please don't let me live that long.

Anyway, I was on restricted activity in about August. Each trip to the doctor put me on more restricted activity. What does that even mean? I had 2 kids 4 and under, Emma in preschool and I worked a couple times a week. I blacked out every time I stood up, black spots in my vision, bad headaches.

In October, I kept having contractions that I had to desperately stop. They kept getting worse and worse, even when they put me on bedrest. If I walked to the kitchen or to the bathroom, there they were. I am so lucky to have my mother to take care of us. We wouldn't have had such a healthy baby if it wasn't for her. I went to the hospital the first week in November so they could stop them because they gave me an oral medicine and it didn't work. After a few hours with more of that medicine to try to stop it, they gave me morphine that made them lessen but they didn't go away. They sent me home but at least they got me to sleep that night. That was really nice. We were told we would have to go the other hospital next time because they couldn't help me there before 36 weeks and I was at 35. Two days later, we went to the other hospital to help us again. Same thing. They told me to go to the doctor in the morning because they could only get the contractions to lessen.

Hammer

He was our dog since we had been married for 3 months. He gave us batches of puppies that paid for needs for our family. He loved us. He protected two of my babies valiantly. But he was over 16 years old. He was pooping everywhere. His diaper that he had worn for the last 3 years to help with his accidents was always filled with urine. He yelped every time we touched him. He panted from little exercise. He could barely breath at night. After 7 years of friendship, we said goodbye to Hammer due to kidney failure.

I was in the middle of our occupational therapist visit when Andy took him and I felt like I didn't really get to say goodbye. I should have taken a moment to thank him for all the time he was with us. To let him know that he was a good dog that had had a rough start in life with another family that had abused him and left him with the feeling every man was going to beat him. He came a long way. He really did love us. We miss him. Emma will suddenly remind us that he is in heaven at random times. Cory says you can't be sure of that. I know he is at peace.

Halloween

We went to the church trunk and treat on the 30th, bringing cookies with us and taking a bag of treats with us to contribute to the cause. It was for the whole stake. We have a very young neighborhood so there were a lot of kids. I mean a lot. Most of them were from our ward. To give you a good idea, I have 23 kids coming into the nursery this year. There are already 15 in there now. Lots of really young kids. The Elder's quorum president brought 9 bags of candy and a member of the bishopric brought 300 pieces. They both ran out before 3/4 of the kids went through. It was crazy. We gave our bag to the president to get a couple of happy kids in the group. It was so cold so there was hot chocolate and cookies. I miss Arizona so much. I think I ask Andy everyday what were we thinking for this weather. I hate being cold. I didn't like Arizona grass and no basements. Just weird. If it wasn't for Andy's job and our family being here, I don't know why anyone would willingly freeze for about 8 months out of the year. Anyway, that was a cold tangent there.
There is a long strip of grass behind the parking lot that the kids just kept running back and forth on. They finally just sat down because they were so tired. Jack cried so hard when we left that grass. Kids are weird.

The next night, it was even colder and the kids had colds so we had them stay and hand out candy. There was one lady that was trick or treating that was older than me. Really caught me off guard to see that. There were so few kids that we knew that came by. I felt pretty jipped. It seems like we are teaching our kids about free handouts at an early age.

Isn't she cute waiting there?

It snowed in October

I am caught up to October. Whew. I just had to show the snow that happened the first week of October. Andy was a doll and took the kids out to play in it. I'll explain what I was doing inside on a later post. They made a snow family. Do you see a lump of snow next to the big one on the left? Yeah. That was Hammer's snowdog replica. That made me laugh. They made a tail for him but Jack ripped it off. Made me wonder what he really did to Hammer that he felt comfortable doing that. Sheesh.

Why do they have beds?

These two kids love each other. Believe me, sometimes you wonder but they do. Jack is an independent player but has to be in the same room as Emma most of the time. I asked Emma if she wanted her own room, to which she responded, "Yes!" She then proceeded to show me where everything would be and ended with where Jack's bed would be. They will stop fighting at night when we tell them we will separate them. One night, Emma took her blanket and pillow off of the bed and laid on the floor. They stayed like that for about 5 months. Since then, we took out Jack's mattress and left the car frame in there. He has made it his own cocoon to sleep in. Emma wants it badly. She sadly sleeps in her princess bed probably dreaming of her own framework to sleep on the floor too. This is another reason why we can't have anything nice. We apparently can't use it.

Emma in Preschool.

Emma started preschool in August. Her teacher lets them call her Miss Natalie. She found out that kids have a hard time with Mrs. and then Grover was just over their little heads. Her little school is called Little Einteins. (I hope she doesn't have legal issues with that.) She is such a dolled up little lady all of the time. I haven't talked to her more than a couple of times because I feel so pathetic next to her. (Doesn't help that I am always in yoga pants and my hair pulled back on a good day.) She just recently got pregnant again so I am grateful that Emma should be able to finish her year with her before the baby comes. She adores it. She is constantly coming home singing new songs she learns, (believe me, she stops everyone to listen to them. Even big family get togethers. The girl has a lot more guts than I do.) her letters have improved drastically, and she counts so much better now. On top of that, she knows the pledge of allegiance now, her address and my phone number. That's awesome.

Apparently the girl next to her is a bully. They start them out young, I guess. Emma says she is getting nicer, though.
I cannot get good facial expressions from that girl for the life of me. Ugh. She is such a beautiful girl that helps me SO much. Her tender heart breaks easily and she desperately loves her family. (Especially her grandma. They are best friends.) She is so smart and is such a better person than I am. She always says that she wants to be just like me when she gets big but I reassure her that she will be so much better.