This Week at our Home

Wouldn't this be more fun if snow could be replaced with marshmallows or cotton candy.  Aysen and I hid out in the house this whole week . . . the temperatures reached the negatives . . . 32 is too cold in my opinion and it wasn't like we had any plans of going anywhere anyways.  Andy and Kyler shoveled and shoveled and shoveled.  I was cold just watching them but I think boys were born with something different inside them that makes it so they don't notice cold temperatures (ie -- the Klondike derby).  Kyler had beautiful, rosy red cheeks by the time I forced him to quit and come inside.
Taylei had the last of her volleyball games.  Her team only won one game.  This was hard on our highly competitive, expect to win daughter.  She did improve throughout the season and that is all that really matters but she has a hard time believing this reasoning.
With Aysen's arrival, our family is spending a significant amount of time at our home (I set a new record and didn't leave the house in 7 straight days -- remember the cold I mentioned earlier?).  One evening we all ended up in the same room.  Taylei spent her money on Christmas presents and because of her bankrupt state she has been more motivated to complete her chores, one of which is piano practicing.  She has been trying to teach herself a Christmas song or two.
If Keanna could find some form or reading club to join she would be all over it.  I'm quite sure she reads 3 to 10 books a week.  She currently enjoys Nancy Drew, Geronimo Stilton and a series I had never heard of.  When I threaten her for misbehaving the punishment I use -- NO READING!  I can attest that this works with Keanna.
Andy took a moment to snuggle with Aysen by the Christmas tree.  Kyler loves the camera and had to join the picture.  So the official . . . 

Boys of the Williams Family picture!

As an update to Aysen -- Andy last weighed him on Saturday night.  He is a whopping 4 pounds 8 ounces!  He was down to 3 pounds 8 ounces at one time so he has gained a pound and 7 ounces more than his birth weight.  He is more alert every day and is starting to grab things with his fingers.  He is still grounded to our home . . . and loved by all.

Sleepovers!

Since we brought the baby home from the hospital our bedroom has become the command center of the home.  It has also been my attempt at a germ free zone for Aysen.  But, since Aysen is the center of all activity the whole family gravitates to this area.  The first few hours we were home I had to keep asking for a little breathing space.  The children were as close to Aysen and I as possible without being on us.  When we brought him home the kids were out of school for Thanksgiving break and so in the spirit of fun our bedroom also became the movie theater and sleepover central.  One of the nights, we were awakened to take care of Aysen and this is what we found . . .

I asked Andy to hurry and grab a camera . . . isn't that one of the most precious pictures ever.  Keanna and Kyler both kick quite a bit when they sleep making it truly amazing that no one had a black eye when they awoke in the morning.  I sure love them!
Aysen is also getting to be quite the heavyweight.  He had a checkup on Friday and was at 4 pounds 2 ounces.  It was an amazing relief.  We were giving him a bath prior to the check-up so he would be clean for his man surgery.  Ouch!  There are a few benefits of not being male -- but I guess the stitches on my belly help make up for any injustices that could be considered.

A Little Guy

This is a picture of Aysen on our way home from the hospital.  He is little -- so little he had to do a 90 minute car seat check to see if he could sit in his car seat without turning blue.  I guess it would be hard to design a car seat that fits a 20 pound baby and a 4 pound baby . . . 
Well, if I would have been good and taken a picture on Tuesday you could have seen an even smaller soul.  Aysen had his first Dr. visit.  My mom went with us, she sat in the back seat to make sure he was staying a healthy pink color.  As they went to weigh him, she was excited to see his weight.  She knew it would be 4 pounds plus some.  When they set him on the scale to our dismay he registered 3 pounds 8 ounces, or an official 14% loss in body weight.  Not good, not good at all.  When we were at the hospital his pediatrician was not happy Aysen had lost 3 ounces, he had actually gained one back before we came home. So nine ounces is disturbing.

Dr. O consulted with a neonatologist (I'm learning about a whole new slew of doctors I didn't know existed six months ago).  Aysen got to give a urine sample and blood to the lab for testing.  Some of his numbers came back a little off and so tomorrow when we go in for a follow-up appointment I believe we will be drawing more blood.

We are supplementing formula into the breast milk I pump to try and boost the calorie content and we are doing more skin to skin so he doesn't loose any calories trying to keep himself warm.  He is the best little spirit and sleeps, sleeps, eats, poops and sleeps.  He really never cries and is starting to look at the world around him.  We are all in love with him and hope that we've gained a little weight when we go to the doctor tomorrow.  According to Andy's measurements we are up a few ounces (he is using my mom's dough scales to measure).  I hope he is right!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving for our family is always in St. George at Andy's parents.  This has been the tradition since we got married . . . Thanksgiving with his family and Christmas with my family.  Having Aysen changed our plans this year.  

On Wednesday we went to have a bilirubin test done on Aysen and made a quick trip to the grocery store to purchase some frozen pizza for our Thanksgiving dinner.  My parents were taking my three eldest children to Salt Lake for a "Sperry Thanksgiving" and planned on bringing us a plate home late that evening.

When my friend, Tracy, found out about this she vetoed our pizza plan.  She was extremely kind and offered to bring us two plates.  Did I say two plates?  Nine plates total with extra bowls for cranberry sauces and gravy.  One of these days someone will discover Tracy and Martha Stewart will realize she has met her match!

Both of our Thanksgiving meals were delicious and my mom did a mini Thanksgiving dinner today.  I did miss Thanksgiving in St. George but I have been totally spoiled here at home.  

On a Whim . . .

Do you ever have a crazy idea . . . and then realize after maybe the idea was actually a prompting from the Holy Ghost?   

On Tuesday, November 10, I was dropping Kyler off at preschool.  One of the other moms was dropping off her son as well.  This mom had left a message on my answering machine wanting to plan our children's baptism.  The message had been there for a while and I just kept ignoring it not knowing what to plan.  Keanna should have been baptized on December 5th.  If something went wrong or right (depends on how you look at it) and a baby arrived early, I didn't want this throwing off Keanna's special day and making another family wonder where half of the talks, music etc were.  

I expressed some of my concerns to this mother and then jokingly said I should just hurry and get her baptized on Friday (too many things were already on the calendar for Saturday).  I thought about it, thought some more, called Andy and asked him to think about it.  He had no problem with the idea but I had to beg and beg him to call and ask the bishop if it might be a possibility.  We didn't hear back from the bishop on Tuesday so I just figured we would do our best to make it work in December.  But, then on Wednesday night at around 9:30 pm the bishop called and said the Stake President had given his approval.  Phone calls were made in a hurry to invite our family and friends, some people already had plans which I understood - a last minute kind of deal for sure.  I kept reminding myself that if Keanna was there with her immediate family that was all that mattered.  

Keanna was so excited to be baptized in November.  This important ordinance and confirmation were performed on Friday the 13th (I think I should be able to remember the date.)  She had a lot of support from family and friends who were willing to come on short notice.
Earlier this week I was so grateful for having this accomplished.  This all happened before we had the ultrasound telling us something was definitely amiss with Aysen's size.  I feel so blessed to have the baptism over.   Keanna is such an important part of our family and I'm so glad we had this taken care of before the arrival of her brother.  

November 21, 2009

Friday started out to be a normal kind of day, a trip for a check-up at the doctor, lunch from the grocery store, a few hours at work and on to my mom's house to help with last minute wedding preparations.  

Well, things can change quite quickly and soon I was spending the night at the hospital in Nephi for some non-stress monitoring, then I'm going on a ride, you know the expensive kind in an ambulance, then I'm sleeping peacefully (while having a few contractions) at Utah Valley Hospital and then --

I'm told by the nurse she has both good news and bad news -- I'm going to have a baby but I will NOT be going to my sister's wedding.  And, in less than an hour, Andy is given a Halloween costume for next October . . .
I'm freezing cold and even though I'm told by the guy with the big needles, "It doesn't hurt, its just a LITTLE pressure."  My face seems to prove otherwise and so with the needles he finally adds enough extra into the IV I'm able to sleep in peace . . . 
And, in the early morning hours Aysen is escorted into this world, all 4 pounds 1 ounce of him.  He is remarkably healthy, breathing on his own and strong enough to avoid the NICU.  I told my little sister, Diane, that Granny along with his other great-grandparents wanted to hand deliver him to us on their way to her wedding . . . she says she is going to have words with Granny if that is the case . . .
To keep him warm we got to do a lot of skin-to-skin cuddling.  They said this is better than the warming baskets in so many ways for him . . . I love having him cuddling ON me instead of IN me . . .  such a blessing.
And a shot of Aysen with the newlywed couple.  They had to come to us since we weren't able to go to them.  Andy was nice enough to shoot some video coverage for me so I can witness my sweet sister have a GIANT cake conflict with her new spouse, she even walked away leaving him on the ground . . . it will be a great video to show to her children some day . . . 
(Aysen was delivered c-section because he chose to be laying breech when it was time to deliver him.  On Wednesday he was laying in the correct position and even at noon on Friday but I think the little boy must like to spin.  He was 35 weeks, 3 days and the non-stress tests were showing his heart not reacting too kindly to the contractions, thus his quick arrival into the world).

We love him and are so glad to have him here with us!

Direction and Undirection

Do you ever go to blog and you have no real idea where to start?  This happens to me on a quite frequent basis.  Maybe I would actually blog more if this wasn't my reality.  It may also help if I didn't get behind and felt like I needed to catch up before I added anything new . . .  I'm first going to write about the current drama . . . it all started five days ago when I went for a check up appointment with Dr. O.  I officially measured 28 weeks and should have measured 34 weeks.  Five weeks earlier he also had the same findings.  He requested an ultrasound then and when it finally happened a week later the results were the baby was about the size expected.  This time, after the fifth ultrasound the results were quite different.  A Friday ultrasound appointment was not available and so on Monday we learned the baby was too small -- officially -- almost lagging 4 weeks for the expected stomach size.  Dr. O. got my results and sent us to see a perinatologist -- defined according to google: a high risk ob/gyn.  Today Andy and I went to find out what the specialist had to say.  The ultrasound came in too small -- as it relates to the stomach and femur.  The head was just where it should be.  Is that not incredible.  The baby's body is smart enough to know that the most important body part is the brain and to keep the brain healthy the nutrients he is getting are directed there.  Totally amazing.  The Dr. says the baby knows things aren't as they should be and so extra efforts are going towards the lungs to try and get them developed as well.  The calculated weight of the baby today is 3 pounds 13 ounces and she is hoping it might make it to 4 and a half pounds with two more weeks in the womb.  That is SMALL!  She would rather the baby be delivered where a NICU is present because of the size.  She also feels like Aysen's two main problems will be eating - he won't understand it all since it has been weeks since that was part of his system and maintaining body heat - that he would need to be in a warming bassinet.  Dr. Gainer (our perinatologist) said she would call us with a new Dr. who delivers at Utah Valley and they would set up a time when we are suppose to be at the hospital on December 2 -- 37 weeks.  In the meantime, I'm suppose to have a stress-test done twice a week and pay attention to fetal movement.  No bed rest is required but I'm also suppose to not exert myself either so the baby can have maximum blood flow.  We also learned that my uterus seems to be the problem, the placenta doesn't have good places to attach too.  If we were to have future pregnancies (which is out of the plan) the same problem would exist.

I was feeling great with this information -- not the November baby I was hoping for but Keanna's birthday is on November 2 -- so I can count that as the double I was looking for.  But since 11:30 changes have come.  Since we went in to the Dr. six hours ago we have learned that Utah Valley Hospital is NOT covered on our insurance.  Also, while I was out and about the Dr. called and left a message saying she wanted to talk to me regards to delivery date -- so the plans of December 2nd are up in the air . . . and where to have the baby . . . and I was feeling so good about having a plan and now there is no plan.  I know it doesn't really matter, hopefully with a fresh start and phone calls in the morning we will have it all worked out again . . . patience is a virtue.