Morgan's Kindergarten Graduation

 I obviously didn't finish updating my posts before going camping.  Now my goal is to finish before Morgan starts school in 2 weeks.  Wow!  This summer has flown by.

Morgan graduated Kindergarten from Rover Elementary School 2 months ago.  All 4 Kindergarten classes had a little performance in the Ram Arena.  We were told to get there early but apparently 30 minutes early wasn't early enough because there weren't any seats on the right side of the stage where Morgan's class was.  Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of her performing because I was only able to see her twice when someone moved the right way.  Morgan was so excited that Grandma and Grandpa Willis came with Myles and Gavin.

 We had to get pictures of Morgan with Grandma and Grandpa and with the whole family even though she did not want to sit still for pictures.

 After the performance we went back to Morgan's class room so Morgan could show us her big book of stories she wrote throughout the year.  The boys had to check out what cool books Morgan's classroom had.

Morgan just had to play a round of hang man with her friends one more time before we left.

We are so proud of Morgan and how hard she worked this past year in school.  We are also so grateful for her teacher Ms. Lutz who was so great.  And didn't mind my endless questions.  We loved Rover and are so sad that Morgan won't be going there next year, but so grateful for the wonderful experience Morgan and us had with her first year of school.

Parker Update

 A lot has happened in the past two months so I'm going to attempt to update everything this week before we go camping and I have yet another thing to blog about.

Parker is growing like a weed!  He had a weight check when he was 2 weeks old and he was 6 lbs 15 oz.  Two weeks later at his 1 month checkup he was 9 lbs!  Which I shouldn't have been completely surprised about because he LOVES to eat.

At his 2 month checkup last month he was 12 lbs 7 oz.  This boy definitely doesn't miss a meal.  He is such a happy guy (can't you tell from the picture).  I just love how much he is smiling and cooing.  He is even starting to be able to handle Blake tackling, I mean hugging him.  We all just love this little guy so so much!!

Barbara Carol Bellagamba Bradley

My beautiful grandma (Nonna) passed away on Easter Sunday.  In January 2011 she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer.  Had surgery, went through chemo and radiation and was cancer free by the fall.  About a year later the cancer came back.  She went through more chemo, but this time the chemo wasn't so bad that she lost her hair again.  The beginning of this year they found that the cancer spread to her liver and her bones.  Unfortunately, they had tried every single chemo pill out there and nothing was working anymore.

My grandparents just celebrated 50 years together this past October and I feel so lucky to have lived near them for the last 11 years.  It was fun getting together with them and I'm grateful that my kids were able to get to know their Nonna.  Morgan will probably be the only one who remembers her, but I know Ethan and Blake will remember her at least by the pictures we have.

Me and Nonna and Grandpop on my wedding day (Jan. 2006)

Nonna's 80th birthday party (July 2013)

Here are some pictures from the funeral which was this past Saturday.  This was the first time I had been to a Catholic funeral and one of the things they do after lowering the casket is everyone puts a flower and dirt on the casket.  I'm not entirely sure as to the significance and I should have asked one of my family members who are catholic, but didn't..  Morgan did start to cry at the cemetery when she asked why Nonna wasn't coming back and I told her Nonna was in heaven so we wouldn't see her again until we went to Heaven.  It took her a little while to understand, but she seemed to get it before we left.

After the cemetery we went back to the church (Our Lady of Perpetual Help) for a luncheon that some of the ladies from the church provided for us.

 Morgan and her cousin Tehya

I absolutely love this Picture with Morgan and my Grandpop (or Grandpa Coach which is what my kids call him) because this is just like my Grandpop.  He was always giving me hugs and kisses and would tell me "I love the stuffings out of you."  I love my Grandpop.

 After the luncheon we all went back to my aunt's house to play card games and swim (for those who were daring enough).

Blake found a new buddy, my cousin Dylan.  He loved playing with Dylan!  Dylan seemed to enjoy it as well.

It was good to see so much family (4 of my siblings were able to make it down) and remember the wonderful person Nonna is.  I'm so grateful for the knowledge that families can be together forever and that I will see Nonna again.

Parker's First Week

Our little Parker is now one week old!  All the kids just love him and always want to be near him and hold him all the time.  Here are some pictures from his first week.

My first time holding my little guy.  With Dustin's help of course.

 

 On our way home to meet everyone.

 These kids can't get enough of their little brother.

 Ethan showing Parker how much fun cars are.

Tummy time for all the boys.

Parker's Birth

I am attempting to get back into blogging.  This is a pretty lengthy post with no pictures, so don't worry about reading it if you aren't interested in Parker's birth story or you don't have the time.

Parker had been vertex (head down) throughout the whole pregnancy until my 37 week checkup.  For some reason he decided he didn't want to be on his head anymore and turned.  My doctor wanted to try and turn him right away, but the other doctor in the practice was out of town that week.  She explained to me that when they turn the baby one doctor gets the head and one the bottom and they just literally push on my stomach to turn him.  It does have to be done in the maternity ward just in case "they piss the baby off" (my doctor's term).  Since the other doctor in the practice was out of town we were going to give the baby the week to turn on his own.  If not, then we'd go in and manually turn him.  I really didn't want to go through the pain or more so the risk of them turning him, he not liking it, and then having to have the baby right away.  I was not ready emotionally to have the baby yet.  All the kids have come right on 40 weeks or a few days after, and that is what I planned with this little guy as well.  Plus, I still had tax returns to complete.  That week I tried putting ice packs on the top of my stomach and propping up my hips higher than my heart to get him to turn.  But I honestly did not think it worked.  I went in the next week and had an ultrasound, and much to my surprise he had turned!  I was so happy!!

At 39 weeks I was only 1 cm.  I talked to my doctor about being induced on the 18th.  My due date was the 13th and my doctor will only let me go a week overdue.  Besides the 20th being Easter Sunday, it is also my sister's birthday, so we figured we would have him come before then.  I go to the doctor on the 15th (40 weeks and 2 days) and guess who has turned again?  This time he wasn't completely breech, but transverse.  His head was on my right side and his bottom on the left with his feet down.  If my doctor's partner hadn't been out of the office that day, she would have sent me down right then and there to be turned and start the induction process.  Since he was out of town, we went in at 7:00 the following morning.  My doctor didn't want to take the chance of him turning again, so she said if it worked they would start the pitocin right then.  If it didn't or the baby didn't like it, we would do a C-Section.  But either way, he was coming.  I called my mom to let her know what was going on.  Then I called Dustin's parents to arrange to meet them that evening to drop off the kids.  Then I came home and started cleaning.  I needed to do something to keep my mind off of what might happen the next day.

The next morning (the 16th) I had Dustin give me a blessing to help calm me down and off we went to the Scottsdale Osborn hospital.  At 7:00 my doctor and her partner came in, did an ultrasound to determine the baby's exact position, gave me some medicine to help relax my uterus and then told me to just breath in and out.  I was expecting them turning the baby to hurt a lot more than it did.  It also didn't take them very long to turn him either.  They only needed to turn him 90 degrees, so when my doctor did an ultrasound to find out his position they realized they had turned him 180 degrees.  They turned him back 90 degrees, checked his heart rate which was 140, and took me straight to a room to start the pitocin.  At that point, Dustin and I were saying he must be our smallest baby yet because he turned so easily.  They also put this belly binder on me so that Parker couldn't turn again since he turned so easily they didn't want to take a chance.

Maybe an hour into pitocin Parker's heart rate started dropping, so they gave me oxygen and turned me on my side.  His heart rate started going up and after a while they took the oxygen off and upped the pitocin.  Unfortunately that didn't last very long.  They had to put me back on oxygen, had me turn again, and lower the amount of pitocin they were giving me.  This kept happening all morning.  My doctor came in at 11:30 and I was only 2 cm.  She attempted to break my water to help me progress more since the baby's heart rate kept going down when they would up the pitocin, but was only able to poke a small hole.  She said she would come back at 12:30 to try again if it hadn't broke on it's own.  By 12:15 my water broke and I decided I wanted to get the epidural right then because I knew my contractions would start to get bad because they did with my other 3 kids.  At this point we all assumed I'd start progressing quickly now.

The next two hours was the same thing as that morning.  Parker's heart rate would decrease (between 60 and 70 sometimes), the nurses would give me oxygen, have me turn to my other side, and then turn down the pitocin.  The frustrating part is that I never progressed past 2 cm.  My doctor came in at 2:30.  I was still at 2 cm, so she said that we had to do a C-Section.  Honestly, it took me about 30 seconds to really register what she was saying.  The thought of a C-Section left my mind the moment they were able to turn him.  When I finally focused in on what she was saying I realized that this was really happening.  With his heart rate continually dropping and I wasn't progressing they just couldn't wait anymore.  All the nurses got ready and gave Dustin his gown and mask.  The Anesthesiologist came back in and gave me stronger medicine to numb my whole bottom half and at 3:05 we walked into the operating room.  One thing I was nervous about was being put completely under.  They told me if I wanted to be put under they would, but I didn't want to.  I wanted to see my baby when he was born.  For those of you who have had a C-Section you'll understand this, but it is a very strange to be able to feel the doctors pushing on your stomach, but not feel any pain.

At 3:26 pm, Parker was born at 7 lbs 1 oz (my second largest baby).  I was a little nervous because when they called out the time of birth I only heard one little cry. He was just so quiet it made me nervous.  They nurse brought the baby over to my head so Dustin and I could see him and then Dustin went over by the baby as they cleaned him up.  When Dustin brought him over to me he helped me hold him and the Anesthesiologist was nice and offered to take a picture of us.  The whole time I held Parker he never cried.  He made a face like he was going to, but he was just quiet and looking around.  The nurse took Dustin and Parker to the nursery to finish cleaning him up.  At 3:58 they wheeled me out of the operating room and into recovery.  When they brought Parker in the nurses had to help me hold him again because I had to stay laying flat.  If they sat me up too quickly they said I would get dizzy and pass out.  Finally at 6:00 they were able to take me up to my room so I could get some rest.

I never planned on having a C-Section and my doctor and I did everything we could to avoid it, but sometimes things happen.  I just grateful that Parker is here safe and sound and doing great.  My recovery has been much slower than with the other 3 births, but I have a wonderful husband who has helped out so much and 3 older kids who have been a great help as well.  Even Blake has been really good even though I'm not allowed to pick him up right now.  As I was in the recovery room waiting for the nurse to bring Parker to me I thought about President Utchdorf's talk from the week before.  I need to be grateful regardless of the circumstances I find myself in.