Newborn Pictures

One of my neighbors growing up and Aaron's second cousin Kami Nelson did some newborn pictures of Gavin for us when he was 7 days old. I love them! Granted it would be hard to screw something up that is as cute as my boy, but she did an excellent job! Here are some of my favorites (it was so hard to not post all of them!):

Daxton's First Angel Day

It has been a year today since our sweet Daxton left us to go live with Heavenly Father. We miss him terribly and not a day has gone by that he isn't in our thoughts, but we are so grateful for the plan that Heavenly Father has for us and know that we will see him and be with him again! Stacy (my cousin Alex's wife) sent us a very sweet poem last week that I loved so I thought I would put it on here:

Together Again

His eyes were so blue, his smile so sweet.

With cute tiny toes, that curled on his feet.

Tender and loving, beyond his young age.

All his attention to you, he gladly gave.

Here on our Earth for such a short time.

To show us the love we needed to find.

His task here completed, he then went away.

To Heaven, to wait, for his family someday.

The Earth moves so slowly, and time crawls by.

For us it seems we may never die.

To join our sweet baby, in Heaven above.

To give him our hearts, and all of our love.

But Heaven I hear has a time all it's own.

And for him it will seem, as if he's just gotten home.

Only a day or two, it has surely been.

Until his family is all-together again.

Daxton, we think of you everyday and miss you terribly! We look forward to the day we can see you again! We will love you always and forever!!!
We love you Matt and Michelle and you are in our hearts and prayers today and everyday! Please know that you are not alone! We can't wait for the day that you will become a forever family!
Love-
Aaron, Heidi, Austin, Zack, and Gavin

Well Child Check-ups

Today we had Gavin's 2 week check-up a little early (he's 10 days old today) and Austin and Zack's 2 year check-up a little late; their pediatrician didn't think we could go from October until March without a hospital stay so she told me to wait until now to schedule their 2 year check-up. I was very happy to prove her wrong. Here are all of their stats:
Austin- Length: 34 1/4 inches 20%
Weight: 27 lbs 3 oz 30%
Head Circ: 49.2 cm 55%

Zack- Length: 34 inches 20%
Weight: 23lbs 15.5 oz <5 %
Head Circ: 48.5 cm 40%

Gavin- Length: 19 5/8 inches 20%
Weight: 8 lbs 30% Still less than his birth weight, but we think he got down to almost 7 lbs.
Head Circ: 35.4 cm 20%

Their pediatrician was really happy with how they all looked and said they are doing great which is always good to hear. With the exception of Zack and figuring out what to do with his asthma and finding out that Gavin was tongue tied, it was very uneventful. She clipped Gavin's tongue so we are hoping it helps him nurse a little better- he wasn't tongue tied very bad so it might not make a difference, but it was still sad to see. If Zack has any more asthma attacks then we are going to start him on some different medications. Now on to our fun story from yesterday.

Yesterday we had a little picnic in our yard for lunch and then played outside for awhile. Then we came in and laid the boys down for their naps. Since all of the boys were asleep Aaron decided to go hit golf balls for an hour so I thought I would hurry and jump in the shower. At the end of my shower I could hear Gavin crying so I hurry and jumped out and threw some clothes on and was feeding him when I could hear one of the boys in their room coughing a croupy sounding cough. Gavin generally falls asleep after nursing for about 5-10 minutes and that's usually when I have to go change his bum to wake him up so I went and laid him down for a second to go check on who was coughing. When I walked in their room Zack was sitting up in bed having a hard time breathing so I got my stethoscope and listened to him and realized he was having an asthma attack (he's never had one like that). I went and got the nebulizer to give him a breathing treatment and by this time Gavin is awake crying because he wants to finish eating. So after wrestling with Zack for a good 10 minutes during his treatment which felt great with my incision; I went and laid him and Austin on the couch and changed Gavin's bum while Zack was on the couch crying because he was still having a hard time breathing and wanted to be held. Then I came and finished feeding Gavin while trying to comfort Zack. After Gavin finished Aaron got home and I begged him to never go back to work. We ended up giving Zack 4 more treatments which finally broke the attack and now I'm nervous to take him outside again!
I don't know if I'm ready for this, but then I look at these cute faces and figure we'll somehow get through this, right?
My 4 favorite boys- this was not staged. They were having a rough night and needed some cuddles with Daddy.
Mommy please feed me!

Time to Come Home

Austin

Gavin








Zack
They let me and Gavin come home a day early on Thursday which I was very happy about. We brought Gavin home in the same outfit that I brought Austin and Zack home in.
We may have another thumb sucker.
We've been so happy to have him here! He is such a sweet baby! He loves to be held 24 hours a day which I don't mind except for the sleep thing. I'm so incredibly grateful for a healthy baby, but it has made me realize how much we missed out on with Zack and Austin. I feel like we really missed out on a lot of that initial holding and bonding time and having twins it makes me sad I couldn't give them more one on one time. I have realized how much I need to enjoy and savor this time with my kids because they grow up way faster than I wish they did!

Zack and Austin absolutely love Gavin! I have loved watching how cute they are with him. They are always bringing him blankets even if he already has 3 on and putting them on him. They love to help me burp him and try to calm him down if he's crying. They love to kiss him and I think must be having contests between themselves for who can give him the most kisses in a day. I haven't really noticed them being jealous of him. If anything they just seem to be a little bit more clingy to me if that was possible and they are acting out a little bit more.

We are so grateful for how blessed we are and love our 3 boys so much!!!

Slightly Sleep Deprived

Right before we went to the hospital- 37 weeks and 5 days
I have been meaning to do this post for days, but every time I've gone to do it I've been too tired to think straight. Not saying I'm thinking clearer now, but I thought I'd attempt it. These are some of the highlights of Gavin's birth, mostly so I remember them. Be prepared for a long post.

On Monday the 9th I woke up about 6:30 in a ton of pain. I got up and started timing my contractions which were about every 5-7 minutes. My OB had told me to go to the hospital if I was having contractions every 8-10 minutes for 2 hours because since I was having a C-section there was no reason for me to go through labor. The contractions continued on for about 2 hours when I decided to go get in the shower and get ready. Well apparently a warm shower or bath will slow down your contractions which is exactly what happened. My contractions slowed down for about 1/2 hour to an hour and then they picked back up again. After an hour of frequent contractions they slowed down again so at that point I didn't know what to do. I called my OB and asked what they thought because I didn't want to have contractions for a couple of hours and then go up to the hospital to have them slow down and send me home. My OB said if you are having any contractions then just go up to the hospital and we'll deliver the baby today. I was pretty excited and called Aaron and told him to come home from work and called my sister Michelle to come and watch my boys.

We got to the hospital around 3 and of course my contractions had slowed down to every 8-10 minutes so they told us to go walk around for an hour and see if they would pick up. The whole time we were walking around I was having them every 3-4 minutes, but the minute she hooked me back up to the monitor they were every 8-12 minutes. My OB said they would watch me for an hour and if they became more frequent they would keep me, it was around 5 now. By this time I was really frustrated because I didn't want to sit at the hospital for another hour and then go home. So around 6 when my OB called my contractions were about every 5-6 minutes, but I wasn't dilating so she said they were going to watch me until around 7 or 8 and then decide what to do. That made no sense to me so I had the nurse ask the OB when I should come in to the hospital next time because I was having contractions every 5-6 minutes and she had told me to come in when they were every 8-10 minutes. Finally my OB called around 7 and told us they were going to do the C-section at 8:30- YEAH! Shortly after she called the baby's heart rate dropped in to the 80's and stayed there for about 3 minutes. They laid me so my head was down to increase the blood flow to the baby and put oxygen on me and hurried and got an IV in me. It was kind of scary, but he came up on his own. Then with my next contraction he did it again; they don't know why he was doing that, but if nothing else it showed me that it was a good decision to deliver him that day and not wait any longer.

The surgeon (Dr. Naisbitt) and my midwife who assisted him got there around 8:45. It was kind of weird to be able to feel all of the pulling and tugging as they were trying to cut through the scar tissue; it didn't hurt, it just felt weird. They had a really hard time getting him out because he was so big. My midwife was practically laying on my stomach while Dr. Naisbitt was pulling (I have bruises all around my incision from them pulling so much) and at 9:06 pm Gavin was born!

We really wanted Zack and Austin to see their brother first and since he was born so late and they were already in bed we decided to ask everyone to wait until the next morning to come and see him. So the first night it was just me, Aaron, and Gavin and it was wonderful! For some reason even though I was exhausted I could not fall asleep! I couldn't sleep the first night after Zack and Austin were born, but I just thought it was because of the news we had received and all we had gone through. Apparently because of the hormones a lot of women can't sleep the first night. So besides being bored I had a great time holding and bonding with Gavin. First thing that morning Aaron went home and got the boys and brought them up to meet their brother. They have loved him, probably a little bit too much! I think the first time they saw him Zack probably kissed him every 5 seconds. Every time he cries they either think it's funny or they try to comfort him and they both love to constantly kiss him. That was such a neat moment to have our family all there together welcoming this sweet little boy in to our family.
Mommy and her boys
Daddy and the boys
Our family
Thank you so much to Michelle and Angie for watching our boys that first night and a huge thank you to Malinda and Nate for watching them the rest of the time. Here's a few more pictures just because he's so cute.
He has the cutest pouty face. We couldn't get a very good one so this will have to do.
Cuddling with mommy, eyes wide open. I'm so in love with this little boy!!
What a sweetie!

Announcing .........

Gavin Curtis Nelson

He was born at 9:06pm weighing in at 8lbs 3oz and 20 inches long. Here are some pictures and I am sure Heidi will post more info in the next few days.

The Incredible Spotted Boy

Yesterday morning when Zack woke up I could see a rash all over his neck. When I lifted up his shirt I was a little shocked. Apparently 5% of people get a rash from Amoxicillin around 7-10 days of treatment. It's not an allergic reaction, just a fun little rash. Whenever he lifts up his shirt he looks at his belly and says, "What's this?" I guess Zack doesn't think my 2 doctor appointments a week are enough so he's trying to add his own in there. Even with all of the spots I still think he's pretty cute!

An Amazing Day!!

Yesterday we had an amazing experience; my sister Michelle and her husband Matt took out their endowments. We were able to attend the session with them up in the Logan temple. It was so neat to have almost our whole family in the temple together! We could not be happier for them and for all they have gone through to get ready for that day. I can't help but think how happy Daxton had to have been to look down and see his parents in the temple getting ready for them to be sealed as a family.

After we went to Firehouse Pizzeria- yummm!! Even though I didn't think it possible the day got even better when Michelle announced that she was pregnant! We are so excited for this new little baby to come join their family and hope that it will help ease some of their broken hearts. We love you guys and couldn't be happier for you!!!

(Sorry no pictures, it was dark and snowing when we got out of the temple.)