Wordless Wednesday

Colton: 1 Week

Colton and I had a great 1st week. I had been worried about bringing home a newborn because of how difficult all the other kids have been. Colton has been completely opposite of all the other kids. He has slept wonderfully at nights, waking up to be fed, and going back to sleep. I remember with all of the other kids how they would each have their fussy 2-3 hours every night, during the middle of the night. This has not happened. It has been a wonderful surprise. I remember that it would be so difficult to do anything, even going to the bathroom because I would have to constantly tend to the other kids when they were babies. It hasn't been that way this time, which has been great.

Colton has been eating well, and as a result has been peeing on an outfit daily. I'm still trying to get used to that aspect of a little boy. I think I've come up with a solution, covering his area with a washcloth each time I change him. It's helped two times so far.

For me, it has been an emotional week. I've cried daily. I've cried because I've felt so incredibly blessed to have such a miracle baby in my life. I've cried because I've felt alone. Eric has had jury duty for a very grueling case, which has kept him occupied every day. I've only been able to talk to him once a day at lunch times. He has come home so completely exhausted, that it's been hard. I've cried because of my grandma. I've thought about her reunion with Grandpa and their little baby. It's been quite touching to know that she is raising her little one at the same time as me. I've cried because I've missed my family. Grandma's funeral was on Saturday in Utah. Everyone (my parents and siblings) left to go to the funeral, and I was alone here. Saturday was a hard day, knowing that the funeral was happening, and all of the emotions that everyone was having while I was at home. My dad called from the cemetery and I just cried. I felt so bad for missing out on everything, feeling like I wasn't being supportive to them. I think one of the reasons Colton was born early was to help me get through Grandma's death. Colton has been a good distraction.

There have been mixed emotions, but overall, it's been a wonderful week and I actually feel like I'm not sinking and that I will definitely survive a newborn.

Colton Pictures & the Birthing Story

Just as I was dozing back to sleep after getting up to go to the bathroom, I felt my water break at 2:15. I got up, very excited. I wasn't expecting to go into labor until I got closer to the due date, August 3. So this was a very nice surprise, having the baby over 2 weeks early. I got in the shower (I had to shave my legs before going to the hospital). I woke up Eric and he thought I was kidding. He wasn't too happy about getting up in the middle of the night to go to the hospital, especially since he had spent the previous day preparing a talk to give as a high councilor. I called my parents and my mom came over to be with the kids. We headed to the hospital, arriving there around 3:45. Very mild contractions were just starting as we arrived at the hospital. I really hadn't had too many contractions on Saturday, my lower back hurt though.

An IV was started, along with penicillin to treat the Group B Strep that I tested positive for. I had hoped that the labor would be quick, just as it had been with the other boys (half an hour for Spencer, and 1.5 hours for Logan), but when I learned that I needed two doses of the antibiotic, 4 hours apart, I realized that things shouldn't go too fast so I could get the meds I needed. The contractions gradually got harder and more frequent. I wanted to have a natural, drug-free delivery, so I practiced a breathing technique and some other counting techniques I learned in my hypnobirthing classes. Unfortunately, the pain didn't go away, I was just able to cope with it a little better. My nurse came in a few times and asked if I was ok and if I was feeling the contractions. I told her that I sure was, and she was quite impressed. I'm pretty sure that by the time I got to the last 20 minutes before delivery, she wasn't quite as impressed.

By the time the last 45 minutes hit, I was ready for some kind of pain medicine, but Eric talked me out of it. When it came time to push, I had to wait for my midwife to come to the room. After pushing with two contractions, the baby was born. The baby was placed on my chest immediately and he laid there for quite a while, at least 30 minutes. It was a very sweet bonding time that we had together. As I type this, tears actually come to my eyes because I really enjoyed that time we had together. (With past births, I've gotten to hold the baby, but only for a few minutes before they've whisked the baby away to poke and prod it.)

We had a hard time picking out a name for the baby. We had narrowed it down to 3 names, but none seemed to fit exactly right. Eric left it up to me to choose. I decided on Colton Tyler. Before Grandma passed away, she wasn't able to sleep one night because she was trying to come up with a name for the baby. She had come up with Tyler. So in her memory, Tyler is Colton's middle name.

Announcing...

the birth of

Colton Tyler
born July 19, 2009 at 10:28 am

weighing 8 lbs. 12 oz., 22 inches long

Grandma B.

On Thursday afternoon (while I was in line at Sonic) my dad called me and told me that Grandma wasn't doing very good. By the time I got home, I felt that I needed to go and visit her. I took Logan and went with my mom to visit my grandma. She was in a coma-like state, with her eyes open gazing off into a corner. Her breathing was very labored. She wasn't responsive to us being there. She would moan every now and then. She would suck water out of a sponge. We sat by her bed for about an hour, me sharing my day with my mom and grandma. When my dad had visited her earlier, as he was leaving he told her he loved her and she did respond by telling him that she loved him.

Friday morning my dad called again and said that grandma was doing even worse. They wanted to give her a sponge bath, which could possibly cause her to stop breathing. He told me that the sooner I could get there, the better. I got ready and prepared the kids with the news, telling them that Grandma would be dying soon, and having a prayer with them before I left. I headed to the care center, with the kids staying home watching Shelly's kids. Grandma's breathing had changed and her eyes were no longer open. My parents and all of my siblings were there. We sat around her bedside, sharing stories and reminiscing about Grandma and Grandpa. We also had a family prayer. My sweet niece sang a song she wrote about seeing Jesus again. We were there for at least 4 hours. The caregiver wanted to give her a bath, so we left the room and waited. We went back in the room, thinking that she could stop breathing. She kept on breathing, so we headed to lunch and then home.

That afternoon I kept thinking that I wanted my kids to be able to say good-bye to Grandma (since I wasn't ever able to with Grandpa when he passed away). We waited for Eric to get home from work, and went to the care center. When we got there, the nurse told us that it wasn't a good time for the kids to come in because she had already stopped breathing a few times within the last 10 minutes. She went and checked on Grandma, and then came back out and told me that I could go in. Eric and I went in. As we walked in, the nurse realized that Grandma had stopped breathing and had passed away in that brief moment. Had I been 30 seconds earlier, I would have been there at her passing. The timing of it all just amazes me. She was a private woman and so was her passing.

We stayed there, saying our goodbyes (knowing we wouldn't be going to Utah for the funeral because of my pregnancy). Each of the kids had their turn to come in and see Grandma one last time. I felt bad for the kids having to deal with death so directly. It was very hard for Lindsey and Spencer. Logan kind of understood and cried. Kaylen was a sweetie and gave Grandma hugs.

As we were driving back home, Eric and I talked of the reunion and the party going on with Grandma and Grandpa and their stillborn son. Eric mentioned to me how Grandma would be raising her little baby at the same time as me. That really touched me.

Pregnancy Update

Kaylen drew this picture. The figure in the middle is the baby.

The pregnancy is going good. I'm not feeling too horrible yet. I feel huge, though. I am ready to have the baby. I've reached the point where I'm done being pregnant. When we came back from the trip, I had taken a week off of walking and took another week off. When I started walking again (on the treadmill - it's way too hot outside now) I started getting pains in my belly. I had to slow down my speed considerably. Later in the day, I would just feel horrible. I didn't pay too much attention, I just continued, figuring that my body would get used to walking again. I've been able to get back into it and have been walking faster now, still not as fast as I'd like to, though. This also means that I haven't been able to walk as far as I used to. At least I'm still exercising, which has helped with my weight a lot. The only bad part with the treadmill is that it's in the same room as the drum set and Logan thinks he needs to practice when I'm walking. It's so hard to deal with. My ipod can't even hide the sounds he's making.

The baby is moving quite a bit. Kaylen and Logan are so cute to watch with my belly. They will hug it, kiss it, talk to it, and feel it. I love how delighted they get when they feel the baby move. They are so excited for the baby to come.

I went to the midwife today. I'm 36 weeks along, and measuring 38 weeks, so I'm slightly big. If I measure big next week, she'll do an ultrasound and figure out how big the baby really is. I tend to have babies, so this slightly concerns me because it's not easy having a big baby.

Oh, What do you do in the Summertime?

We go to grandma's house. Last summer I bought a cheap little froggy pool on clearance for the kids. Since our backyard is still dirt, we went to my parents' house where it's nice and grassy where we could set up the pool and not end up with a mud pit.

The kids had a great time playing outside in the water. Spencer was a hose hog and kept the hose, spraying everybody. Logan enjoyed swinging (while Spencer sprayed him with the hose) and playing baseball. Kaylen liked the sprinkler in the pool.

Meal Preparation

I decided that I didn't want to be eating fast food for the first few weeks following the baby's birth, so I signed up to do some meal preparation at Entrees Made Easy. I selected 13 meals I wanted to make, then Lindsey and I went there. We spent an hour and 15 minutes combining ingredients to make the meals. They're all unique meals that I wouldn't make on my own, and they're all ready for when the baby comes!

10 Years Ago

10 years ago, today, I was 36 weeks pregnant (exactly where I am today) and still in my blue nightgown when there was a knock at the door. When I opened the door, there stood my mom and dad. They didn't have to say anything, I knew why they were at my door. They came in and I went to a corner in my family room and just started crying, trying to get away from the news they came to share. They told me that my dear grandpa had passed away, even though I already knew, I could feel it. He had been in the hospital since April (about 3 months).

In April my grandpa had fallen and broken his hip (the doctors wondered if he had a stroke while walking down the stairs at City Hall). He went to the hospital in Richfield and was later transferred to Provo. Grandpa slipped into a coma and never woke up. It was completely unexpected. In May, my grandma was talking of coming to visit in October and was totally planning on Grandpa getting better. It was shocking.

My grandpa was my favorite extended family relative, hopefully that doesn't sound bad, but he was. He was awesome. The hardest thing about his death (for me) was knowing that my kids would not get to know their great-grandpa and make memories with him. The summer prior to his death I went on a trip with Lindsey (who was one year old) and my grandpa and grandma to Yellowstone. It was a great trip, I only wish that Lindsey would have been older to remember it.

My dad, Shelly, Grandpa, Grandma, Lindsey, my mom

I wanted to do this post as some sort of memorial about my grandpa, writing about the great memories I have of my grandpa so that my kids could "know" him.

Things I want my kids to know about their great-grandpa:

• he was the most patient man. An example of this was that he taught me, Jeremy, and Rhonda how to drive (or at least attempted to). He never got mad at us, even when Jeremy took out a row of corn in his garden.


• he loved to take pictures. His most popular subjects were us grandkids. He would use a Polaroid camera. I think some of the shutterbug rubbed off on me.


• he was the best gardener. He grew the best things in his garden, which he worked so hard in. My favorite thing he grew was peas. Every year we'd visit when the peas were ripe and we'd eat a tons of peas, and always leave with a brown paper bag filled with peas.


• he loved us grandkids. He would pack us around, pull us around (in a giant wheelbarrow), and show us off to anyone he could.


• he was resourceful. Before Salina got trash service, there was the city dump up the mountain. He would make daily trips to the dump (before the trash got pushed over the edge and burned) and look for anything he could reuse. He re-built many bicycles and toys from the things he'd find. I'm sure he built other items, but the ones us kids used were bikes, a scooter, and a wagon. My parents have a BMX trike at their house that he rebuilt that Spencer will still go rippin' around on.


• he had a "schedule" that he followed each day. He'd wake up to welcome the sun coming up, even if this meant that he'd be falling asleep in his chair by 6:00 each evening. He would visit the cafe in town daily. On the morning of his fall, he had gone to the cafe and worked on a crossword puzzle, completing it all.


• he was very smart. He had many jobs, even after he retired. He worked for the government in the department of land and soil conservation. He was a real estate agent. When we'd visit, he'd take us to see some of the houses that were for sale. I remember visiting one house that had a red kitchen - kind of creepy. He volunteered and did people's taxes during tax season.


• he liked sports. That was a common thing that he and Eric would be able to talk about when we were together.


• he was handy. Besides building items out of dump findings, he knew how to build actual buildings. He built 2 sheds at his house. He and my dad built a shed at my dad's house. He (along with his dad) remodeled their Victorian-style house. He could fix many things. I don't think there was ever anything at his house in disrepair because he fixed anything and everything.

These are just a few of the things that I've been able to think of about my grandpa. I love him and miss him dearly. I only wish that my kids could have had the opportunity to know him and build memories with him. I am so incredibly grateful for the plan of salvation and for the knowledge and the actuality of me and my family being able to see my grandpa and live with him again. How I look forward to that day!

4th of July

We had a very calm (read boring) 4th of July. Eric woke up early and took the boys to the pancake breakfast and neighborhood parade. I did not want to wake up that early and did not want to spend 2 hours in the heat, so I stayed home with the sleeping beauties. We just hung out at the house all day. I went through some baby clothes and worked on getting things ready for the baby. Eric studied to get licensed to sell property and casualty insurance. At dinner time, my parents came over and we had a barbecue. We watched fireworks on tv (so boring).

Eric is a slight nut when it comes to fireworks, so we of course had to do some fireworks. The boys did smoke bombs during the day. At night we did some sparklers, some fountains, and some other big stuff (see previous post).

Guess who had the best 4th of July?

Wicked

As part of Lindsey's birthday presents, Lindsey and I went to see Wicked. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures. We left early and went to lunch at a cute sandwich shop/bakery. We then rode to a park and ride area and parked the car. We took the light rail to the closest stop near the theater. We then proceeded to walk, over a mile, to the theater in the middle of the afternoon. (We weren't allowed to park at the theater because it's at the university and the students needed the parking.) We were so hot and tired by the time we got to the theater. We got there about 2 minutes before the play started.

The play was great. We enjoyed the music. Lindsey enjoyed the souvenir shopping afterwards.

Thankfully, I saw a friend there who saved us and gave us a ride back to the light rail station. If it had not been for her, I could be blogging about the birth of the baby already.

Week(s) in Review

It's been 2 weeks since we've been home from our trip, and I have not blogged about any of our marvelous happenings. Below I've described some of the highlights of the past week.

Neighbor Problems

The night we came home from our trip, the kids were playing outside. Our nasty neighbor behind us was also out. Logan was throwing dirt clods against the fence and watching them break. One ended up going over the fence into Baldy's yard. He immediately ran over to the fence and started cussing out the kids. I came out (I had been sitting just on the other side of the patio doors, watching Logan) and he started cussing me out, calling me all kinds of delightful names. He then picked up a dirt clod and threw it at me. Eric came out, and started yelling at Baldy too.

We both called the police. The police didn't do anything, except for suggesting an order of protection against harassment. The following morning, I went to the court and obtained the injunction. Now the neighbor isn't allowed to have any contact with me or the kids.

Jump Start

Lindsey will be starting junior high in just a few weeks. The school has a program named "Jump Start." Lindsey participated in the 2-week program and was introduced to the school, the classes, and some teachers. It was fun for her to get a sneak-peak of junior high.

Drum Lessons

The boys have been taking drum lessons since Christmas. Their lessons have been in the evenings until the summer. I've been taking them during the day to their lessons.

Ikea

We've been to Ikea twice in the last two weeks. Lindsey wanted a new bed and Eric wanted a desk. We went the first week and bought those, along with a chair which ended up being red (Spencer wrote down the numbers and didn't notice the color). I didn't want a red chair in my bedroom, so we had to make another trip back and buy a different chair. I have now renamed Spencer "Bob the Builder" because he put together everything, with Lindsey helping with the bed. It was pretty cool that he did it, for the most part, on his own.

Cleaning Projects

I'm in the nesting phase, where I want everything to be cleaned out and organized. We've been gradually cleaning out closets, cupboards, and other areas. I've made 3 trips to DI so far to get rid of the old stuff. There's still lots more areas listed that I want to get clean, but I'm getting pretty tired of cleaning, so we'll see how much gets done now.

Wordless Wednesday