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| So excited to see how these turn out! |
Families are what make life rich. Love is what binds us together. Joy is being surrounded by both. ~Unknown
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Busy Day for Bree
On Wednesday the 15th Bree had a completely full day. We did newborn pictures with my friend Kelly in the morning from about 9:30 to 11:45ish. From there we rushed home to feed the boys and then we had to take Finn over to my friend Liz's house and then get Kai to school. From school Bree and I went down to the Children's Specialty Clinic for her sweat test. We got there 20 minutes early for her 1:30 test, so I changed her and nursed her in the van before heading in. The test took until about 2:45 and then we had to go get Finn and Kai. The poor girl was just so tired. She stayed awake nearly the entire photo shoot despite me nursing her about 5 times. And then she crashed during the sweat test. Poor thing!
On Thursday the doctor's nurse called to say that she did not sweat enough for them to run the test. The feel that because her IRT numbers were real low, though, that she doesn't have CF and we are fine to wait until she's two months old to repeat the test. Or we can go ahead with the blood test. I think we are waiting, but I'm going to talk to the doctor again to get some more questions answered. However, we are pretty sure that Bree is healthy!
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Fun Outside
It's finally getting warm enough to play outside most days. Finn LOVES to be outside. Kai takes a bit of convincing. May 13th was Bree's first time outside. I think she liked it. At least, she liked looking at the clouds. The boys also are creating more games to play outside. This particular day they drew a track with chalk and then brought out some hotwheels to drive on it. That kept Kai's interest for awhile.
It started to sprinkle a bit that afternoon as well and the boys loved getting out the umbrella. You can tell we live somewhere that doesn't get much rain because the boys thought it was great to actually see a real umbrella!
It started to sprinkle a bit that afternoon as well and the boys loved getting out the umbrella. You can tell we live somewhere that doesn't get much rain because the boys thought it was great to actually see a real umbrella!
Mother's Day
In the midst of the all of the events that our family already has between the end of April (starting with our anniversary on the 23rd) and May 20th (Reid's birthday) comes Mother's Day. This year the one thing that I was looking forward to the most was an afternoon nap. I was exhausted that particular day. My day started with Bree in bed with me, which is how it has started nearly every morning for the last 3 weeks. Bree normally stays in her bed most of the night, but I have found that the most sure way to get any sleep in the early morning hours is to have her in bed with me. Unfortunately, she likes to sleep on her side next to me in my soft bed.....it has me worried about SIDS and so her days of sleeping with mom are coming to an end. But on Mother's Day, I was just looking for sleep. So, here is my cutie all curled up in my bed after I had gotten out.
The day before Mother's day we had all gone to Wal-Mart to do some shopping and while there my two oldest boys (Reid and Kai) picked out these flowers for me. I love getting flowers!
In the afternoon I got my 2-hour nap which made me feel SOOO much better. And then while I was cooking dinner Bree tried out her swing and actually fell asleep in there for the first time. (It's a car seat swing....you but the car seat in a base and then turn it on.)
During dinner, Kai started acting really sneaky. Turns out he had also helped his dad pick out a card for me. They gave me the card that Kai and Finn had signed themselves. Finn even did a great job with his name. I was shocked at how much he has learned that I haven't even noticed!! He plays "Handwriting without tears" on the ipad (which is the handwriting curriculum our elementary school uses) and apparently it's actually teaching him something.
It was a really nice Mother's Day. One of my favorites in many years. Oh, and since I couldn't go to church, Kai sang the primary song to me while he was taking his bath that morning. Too funny!
The day before Mother's day we had all gone to Wal-Mart to do some shopping and while there my two oldest boys (Reid and Kai) picked out these flowers for me. I love getting flowers!
In the afternoon I got my 2-hour nap which made me feel SOOO much better. And then while I was cooking dinner Bree tried out her swing and actually fell asleep in there for the first time. (It's a car seat swing....you but the car seat in a base and then turn it on.)
During dinner, Kai started acting really sneaky. Turns out he had also helped his dad pick out a card for me. They gave me the card that Kai and Finn had signed themselves. Finn even did a great job with his name. I was shocked at how much he has learned that I haven't even noticed!! He plays "Handwriting without tears" on the ipad (which is the handwriting curriculum our elementary school uses) and apparently it's actually teaching him something.
It was a really nice Mother's Day. One of my favorites in many years. Oh, and since I couldn't go to church, Kai sang the primary song to me while he was taking his bath that morning. Too funny!
Saturday, May 11, 2013
More of Bree
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| By day 3 Bree had developed this horrible looking rash. The doctors called it erythema toxicum. It was all over her, including her face, poor baby. See the spots on her cheek here? |
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| Her favorite pass-time that first week was sleeping. During the day she was pretty good about sleeping on her own in her cradle, but at night she wanted more snuggles. She ended up in bed with me nearly every single night. We both got more sleep that way and I love snuggling with her! |
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| By day 5 her rash was looking so much better, but she was definitely having some jaundice issues. See the yellow?? |
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| The rash was so much better! |
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| Day 7--all 3 kids |
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| Day 8--our first day alone. In the afternoon Bree took a nap.... |
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| and Finn played computer next to me in the bed. It felt good to rest. |
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| Day 9--all 3 kids in the car for the first time! |
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| I also made my own baby scale to see if she was back up to birth weight. By day 11 she weighed 6 pounds 14 ounces at the pediatrician. |
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| That car ride took us to Party City where we needed to buy party supplies for Kai's upcoming birthday party. Throughout the month of May all locations of Party City nationwide are collecting money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. As an emotional new mom, I nearly teared up when I saw this wall of contributions. On day 9 we got a phone call from our CF doctor informing us that Bree's newborn screen reflected very low levels of IRT (the hormone they measure to detect CF), which is a good thing. But it also reflected that she does carry the DF508 mutation. So, out of an abundance of caution, Bree will be going for her sweat test this coming Wednesday. |
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| I had asked a friend several months back about doing newborn pictures of Bree. In the new mom fog, I forgot to call her the first week, and didn't contact her until half-way through this second week. She is now out of town and kind of hinted that Bree is getting too old for newborn shots. Talk about breaking my heart. I feel that I don't have that many good pictures of her, mostly because she sleeps so much. So yesterday while she was awake and happy for a little bit, I took my own pictures. It's not the same, but I'm glad to have some pictures of her! |
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| When we found out we were having a girl, I instantly thought of her as my little "cherry on top." So, this outfit is just perfect for her! |
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| I think this one is my favorite. |
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| For some reason I can't get this one to rotate. But if you figure it out, it's a cute one! |
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| Here's my other poser while I was taking Bree's pictures! Kai was off reading a book. (that deserves it's own post!) |
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| Uggh, I tried rotating this one too and it won't do it. But I love seeing this basket of pink. It warms my heart! |
Friday, May 10, 2013
Our last Saturday as a family of 4
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| The morning started out with Finn crawling into bed to cuddle with me. And then he fell asleep in my spot. I got kicked out! |
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| It was a beautiful day and so we spent a good deal of time outside playing. |
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| Reid wanted to read a book on the deck and got out his lawn chair. The boys had to get in on the action, too and had their lunch as an outside picnic. |
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| Cuddling with daddy on the hammock |
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Introducing Bree Allison Jones
Our baby girl has made her appearance! Bree arrived on Monday April 29th at 5:44pm. She weighed in at 6 pounds 11 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. (Interestingly enough, all of my babies were 19.5 inches long.) She was worth the wait! She has a full head of dark brown hair and deep blue eyes (for now). She is absolutely tiny and perfectly snuggly. I can't get enough of her and neither can her oldest brother, Kai. I think she has us all wrapped around her teeny tiny fingers. Currently, she is swimming in her newborn-sized clothing and diapers, and I love it. I wish we could freeze time right here for her. I love having a new little newborn to love on!
Her birth story is definitely different than my other two kids, which makes it fun. Each birth has been very, very different. Bree's probably starts on Wednesday April 24th when I had my last OB check-up. My doctor had previously told me that I was dilated to a "good 2cm" the week before, and so after a weekend full of strong contractions that were coming right on top of each other for an hour or more, I was sure that I had made some progression. But again on the 24th the doctor told me that I was at a 2....or maybe a 3. In other words, no change. I was frustrated and angry. After that appointment I had a couple of short periods of contractions, but I wasn't paying any more attention to them at that point as I figured they were ineffective. I do remember that on Saturday the 27th I had virtually no contractions. I was impatient and upset. I had my heart set on an April birthday for this baby and it looked as if that just wasn't going to happen.
At church on Sunday I made it through the passing of the sacrament and then took to walking the halls with Finn. Contractions had started the minute that the service started and they were relatively strong and coming about 5 minutes apart. I started trying to figure out what I would do in my head just in case we needed to go. It certainly seemed that it was a possibility in that moment. However, after walking the halls for 45 minutes or so, the contractions finally died down and I returned to the normal meetings. Once again.....disappointment.
Monday morning arrived and I remember getting out of bed and having a decent contraction. Just one. That seemed pretty typical for me at that point though. Standing up or getting out of bed would spur some contractions. So, I continued about my morning. About an hour later, right as Reid was getting ready to head to work, I noticed that I was bleeding a bit. The births of both of my boys were preceeded by this event by 12 hours at most, and so I started thinking that it just might be "baby day". When Reid finished getting ready for work, I found him in our bedroom and told him that I thought baby girl was on her way, but that since I still wasn't feeling any contractions at that moment (which was unusual considering what was happening) we had a bit of time. So, Reid called into work and I got the boys moving on breakfast, getting dressed and doing treatments. An hour later, we were all ready to go if need be, but still contractions were not regular at all. If I remember correctly, at this point they were about 10-20 minutes apart. They were strong, but I knew that they needed to be about 4 minutes apart for a good hour before going anywhere, so I figured we still had time.
Sooooo......Reid ran off to Wal-Mart to get some things that had been on my shopping list for the day (milk, jelly, etc.) and I took the boys out to play. While we were out playing, the contractions continued to get closer together, but still not close enough to head in. Once Reid returned (an hour later) I headed back in to pack the last of my stuff and time some contractions. And then I decided that taking the boys on a walk could be helpful. So I headed back out and we walked over to the water plant next door to take a look at their gardens. (The boys LOVE doing that.) During that time contractions got to be about 6-8 minutes apart. We headed back in and it was lunch time. At that point I made the decision that we would get Kai off to school and then head in. I made lunch for the boys and then started making phone calls. One phone call to a friend to arrange for her to pick-up Kai from school. And then another phone call to a friend in the ward to have her take Finn for the afternoon. But still no call to the doctor.
School time came and I had Reid run Kai to drop-off. While he was out I called the doctor. Contractions were about 5-6 minutes apart at this time, but were very strong. When I sat down, though, they slowed down significantly. They never stopped, though. So, I explained that to the nurse and she said that with third babies you never know and that we should head to the hospital to get checked out. With Finn loaded into the van we headed to drop him off. We had to get him into the house and settled and explain his medication. And then we headed to the hospital. In the 30 minutes that the whole trip took, I had about 3 contractions. I was sure we were going to be sent home. I was hoping we could beg to walk the halls for a bit or at worst get some pitocin to speed things along.
Once in the triage room they got me hooked up and checked to see where I was at. I think my jaw hit the floor when she told me that I was dilated to a 6-7. Ummmm.....what??! That was the same place I was at when I arrived at the hospital with Finn, but that time contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and that ride to the hospital was.....ummmmm......memorable. So, anyway, we were clearly admitted and my epidural was ordered. The nurses were in disbelief and asked if I wanted to try natural since I was "doing so well". Even Reid threw the idea out there. I, however, was happy to get an epidural before the contractions got too close together. But the whole time the nurses were in disbelief at how far I had gotten and how I was doing. My nurse even called my doctor and said that I was at a 6-7 but that I "didn't act like" I was in labor.
With the epidural in, Reid and I watched some TV, talked about things we needed to do, and Reid made some phone calls. He also went to get some food since he had skipped lunch. At the next check, the nurse said I was at an 8, but that if my water broke we would definitely have a baby. The doctor wasn't there yet to break my water (I think this was about 4pm), but the nurse whispered that she could do it if I didn't say anything. I gave her my word and the go ahead. And then she called the doctor and told her I was at an 8 and that my water had broken. The next check, however, put me only at a 9 and we found out that baby girl was turned sideways. And that was slowing things down again. Seriously, baby girl was taking her time.
The doctor arrive about 4:45 and she said we still had a little ways to go. So, we continued to watch TV and wait. At about 5:15 there was another check and I had just a smidge to go. I could feel baby girl getting close and knew that if they let me push, she'd be there. But they didn't want me to just yet. Finally, about 5:35 the nurse asked me to try a practice push. After that, she headed out to get the doctor and to get us set up. A bit after 5:40pm I finally got to push! During the push on the first contraction the doctor worked on turning Bree into the head down position. And then on the second contraction, she was there. I was in shock at how quickly it all went. I seriously pushed for 1 minute at most! I kept thinking, "Really? We're done??" But there she was.
Out of all of babies, the experience after she arrived was the best. Bree was handed right to me and while I cuddled her they dried her off, but they never took her from me. I was allowed to hold her until I was ready to hand her over, and that was just awesome! In fact, I held her for a good 45 minutes before handing her over to get weighed and measured. I just didn't want to give her up.
After she got weighed and measured, she was given back to us for more snuggling and to start nursing. The whole time she was screaming and crying and the nurses were calling her a little pistol. She pretty much cried for the first hour and a half straight. She eventually wore out and fell asleep. So, I sent the nurse on her way and told her that I wanted to hold her until her next vital checks and that we could give her a bath then. So, Reid headed out to pick up the boys and take them home and I was left with little Bree all to myself. At 8:45pm she had her first bath. I was so excited to see this, as I had not gotten that chance with my boys. It was so fun to be able to stand there and watch her and just enjoy it. And then after her bath we headed up to the mom/baby floor.
That first night Bree didn't eat all that well, but she slept wonderfully--as long as she was tucked up next to me. Every time I tried to put her in her crib she would wake up and cry. At 11:30pm my nurse came in and found me still awake and holding her and not knowing what to do. The nurse was sweet and told me that the safest place for her was in her crib while I slept (which I knew) but that once she walked out that door, I was free to do what I wanted. I told her I was worried that she would fall, and so the nurse helped me build a little nest that she said was totally safe and then she walked out. So Bree and I slept well that first night--a good 5 or 6 hours--all snuggled up together.
The next morning Reid brought Kai and Finn for a visit. Kai was very excited and immediately began to oohh and ahhh over her. Finn, however, was standoffish. In fact, this first week he hasn't really wanted to touch her at all, but he is more than willing to help pick out clothes or get diapers or other such items for her. As long as he doesn't have to touch her! Anyway, after their visit Reid took Kai over to school and then came back to enjoy the hospital's "celebratory" meal. Reid got the surf and turf and I got a cornish hen. It was yummy considering it was hospital food. After eating, Reid took Finn home and Bree and I took a nap together again. And then it was nearing time to go home, so we started to pack our bags and get ready to go. Bree had a few tests that needed to be done at her 24 hour mark and then we were free to go. She passed her cardio test with flying colors, as well as her hearing screen. And then they drew blood for her newborn screen. She, however, came up borderline on her jaundice test so they decided to run a blood test. That, too, came back borderline. The pediatrician allowed us to go home with the instructions to come in the next day. But those are stories for another post.
She's here, she's beautiful and we love her so very much!!
Her birth story is definitely different than my other two kids, which makes it fun. Each birth has been very, very different. Bree's probably starts on Wednesday April 24th when I had my last OB check-up. My doctor had previously told me that I was dilated to a "good 2cm" the week before, and so after a weekend full of strong contractions that were coming right on top of each other for an hour or more, I was sure that I had made some progression. But again on the 24th the doctor told me that I was at a 2....or maybe a 3. In other words, no change. I was frustrated and angry. After that appointment I had a couple of short periods of contractions, but I wasn't paying any more attention to them at that point as I figured they were ineffective. I do remember that on Saturday the 27th I had virtually no contractions. I was impatient and upset. I had my heart set on an April birthday for this baby and it looked as if that just wasn't going to happen.
At church on Sunday I made it through the passing of the sacrament and then took to walking the halls with Finn. Contractions had started the minute that the service started and they were relatively strong and coming about 5 minutes apart. I started trying to figure out what I would do in my head just in case we needed to go. It certainly seemed that it was a possibility in that moment. However, after walking the halls for 45 minutes or so, the contractions finally died down and I returned to the normal meetings. Once again.....disappointment.
Monday morning arrived and I remember getting out of bed and having a decent contraction. Just one. That seemed pretty typical for me at that point though. Standing up or getting out of bed would spur some contractions. So, I continued about my morning. About an hour later, right as Reid was getting ready to head to work, I noticed that I was bleeding a bit. The births of both of my boys were preceeded by this event by 12 hours at most, and so I started thinking that it just might be "baby day". When Reid finished getting ready for work, I found him in our bedroom and told him that I thought baby girl was on her way, but that since I still wasn't feeling any contractions at that moment (which was unusual considering what was happening) we had a bit of time. So, Reid called into work and I got the boys moving on breakfast, getting dressed and doing treatments. An hour later, we were all ready to go if need be, but still contractions were not regular at all. If I remember correctly, at this point they were about 10-20 minutes apart. They were strong, but I knew that they needed to be about 4 minutes apart for a good hour before going anywhere, so I figured we still had time.
Sooooo......Reid ran off to Wal-Mart to get some things that had been on my shopping list for the day (milk, jelly, etc.) and I took the boys out to play. While we were out playing, the contractions continued to get closer together, but still not close enough to head in. Once Reid returned (an hour later) I headed back in to pack the last of my stuff and time some contractions. And then I decided that taking the boys on a walk could be helpful. So I headed back out and we walked over to the water plant next door to take a look at their gardens. (The boys LOVE doing that.) During that time contractions got to be about 6-8 minutes apart. We headed back in and it was lunch time. At that point I made the decision that we would get Kai off to school and then head in. I made lunch for the boys and then started making phone calls. One phone call to a friend to arrange for her to pick-up Kai from school. And then another phone call to a friend in the ward to have her take Finn for the afternoon. But still no call to the doctor.
School time came and I had Reid run Kai to drop-off. While he was out I called the doctor. Contractions were about 5-6 minutes apart at this time, but were very strong. When I sat down, though, they slowed down significantly. They never stopped, though. So, I explained that to the nurse and she said that with third babies you never know and that we should head to the hospital to get checked out. With Finn loaded into the van we headed to drop him off. We had to get him into the house and settled and explain his medication. And then we headed to the hospital. In the 30 minutes that the whole trip took, I had about 3 contractions. I was sure we were going to be sent home. I was hoping we could beg to walk the halls for a bit or at worst get some pitocin to speed things along.
Once in the triage room they got me hooked up and checked to see where I was at. I think my jaw hit the floor when she told me that I was dilated to a 6-7. Ummmm.....what??! That was the same place I was at when I arrived at the hospital with Finn, but that time contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and that ride to the hospital was.....ummmmm......memorable. So, anyway, we were clearly admitted and my epidural was ordered. The nurses were in disbelief and asked if I wanted to try natural since I was "doing so well". Even Reid threw the idea out there. I, however, was happy to get an epidural before the contractions got too close together. But the whole time the nurses were in disbelief at how far I had gotten and how I was doing. My nurse even called my doctor and said that I was at a 6-7 but that I "didn't act like" I was in labor.
With the epidural in, Reid and I watched some TV, talked about things we needed to do, and Reid made some phone calls. He also went to get some food since he had skipped lunch. At the next check, the nurse said I was at an 8, but that if my water broke we would definitely have a baby. The doctor wasn't there yet to break my water (I think this was about 4pm), but the nurse whispered that she could do it if I didn't say anything. I gave her my word and the go ahead. And then she called the doctor and told her I was at an 8 and that my water had broken. The next check, however, put me only at a 9 and we found out that baby girl was turned sideways. And that was slowing things down again. Seriously, baby girl was taking her time.
The doctor arrive about 4:45 and she said we still had a little ways to go. So, we continued to watch TV and wait. At about 5:15 there was another check and I had just a smidge to go. I could feel baby girl getting close and knew that if they let me push, she'd be there. But they didn't want me to just yet. Finally, about 5:35 the nurse asked me to try a practice push. After that, she headed out to get the doctor and to get us set up. A bit after 5:40pm I finally got to push! During the push on the first contraction the doctor worked on turning Bree into the head down position. And then on the second contraction, she was there. I was in shock at how quickly it all went. I seriously pushed for 1 minute at most! I kept thinking, "Really? We're done??" But there she was.
Out of all of babies, the experience after she arrived was the best. Bree was handed right to me and while I cuddled her they dried her off, but they never took her from me. I was allowed to hold her until I was ready to hand her over, and that was just awesome! In fact, I held her for a good 45 minutes before handing her over to get weighed and measured. I just didn't want to give her up.
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| Yes, I even ordered dinner before giving her up for a bath. |
After she got weighed and measured, she was given back to us for more snuggling and to start nursing. The whole time she was screaming and crying and the nurses were calling her a little pistol. She pretty much cried for the first hour and a half straight. She eventually wore out and fell asleep. So, I sent the nurse on her way and told her that I wanted to hold her until her next vital checks and that we could give her a bath then. So, Reid headed out to pick up the boys and take them home and I was left with little Bree all to myself. At 8:45pm she had her first bath. I was so excited to see this, as I had not gotten that chance with my boys. It was so fun to be able to stand there and watch her and just enjoy it. And then after her bath we headed up to the mom/baby floor.
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| Holding mommy's hand through her first bath |
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| All clean and warm again |
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| Too cute |
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| Bree in her nest |
The next morning Reid brought Kai and Finn for a visit. Kai was very excited and immediately began to oohh and ahhh over her. Finn, however, was standoffish. In fact, this first week he hasn't really wanted to touch her at all, but he is more than willing to help pick out clothes or get diapers or other such items for her. As long as he doesn't have to touch her! Anyway, after their visit Reid took Kai over to school and then came back to enjoy the hospital's "celebratory" meal. Reid got the surf and turf and I got a cornish hen. It was yummy considering it was hospital food. After eating, Reid took Finn home and Bree and I took a nap together again. And then it was nearing time to go home, so we started to pack our bags and get ready to go. Bree had a few tests that needed to be done at her 24 hour mark and then we were free to go. She passed her cardio test with flying colors, as well as her hearing screen. And then they drew blood for her newborn screen. She, however, came up borderline on her jaundice test so they decided to run a blood test. That, too, came back borderline. The pediatrician allowed us to go home with the instructions to come in the next day. But those are stories for another post.
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| Holding Kai's hand |
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| Bree brought her brothers some lizards to play with |
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| The celebration meal--I should have taken the lids off our main courses |
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| Yummy pink and blue cupcake |
She's here, she's beautiful and we love her so very much!!
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| All ready to head home |
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