Retro Post- Austin and Zack's grand arrival

Wednesday December 20, 2006- 31 weeks 3days Aaron and I didn't care what day the boys came; we just DID NOT want them to come today because it was our anniversary. That morning as we were getting ready to leave to go to my doctor's appointment I told Aaron that I wondered if my water had broke on Saturday and that's why I kept thinking I had wet the bed. I thought I was probably making it up, but we decided to bring our bag to the appointment.
They did the non-stress test and ultrasound and everything looked the same. I asked the nurse if she would check to see if my water had broke and she acted very skeptical, but did it anyways. Then she surprisingly told me it had. So she walked me over to L&D where I assumed I would stay until I went in to labor again.
When they checked me over there she must have made a bigger hole because after that I started gushing fluid, but it still hadn't hit me that I would be delivering my babies that day.
It was the busiest day they have ever had in labor and delivery and for the first time ever they had to go on divert. Needless to say, we were neglected! I kept telling my nurse that I was having a lot of contractions and they were about every 1-2 min. apart, but for some reason my contractions often don't pick up on the monitor so she didn't believe me. They finally got me back to a room and she checked me and I was a 6 or 7, but she still didn't act concerned. Aaron and I kept begging her for something for the pain. For some reason I still didn't realize I was having my babies so I wasn't prepared mentally to be dealing with the contractions. I finally made her come and feel my belly and when she felt how hard it was and saw that the monitor wasn't picking it up she started to believe me a little bit more.
About 30 minutes later they wheeled me back to the OR for my epidural and C-section. My OB wouldn't deliver them vaginally because I was to early and Zack was breach. When they got me to the OR my midwife came up and asked me to lay down so they could monitor the babies better, I told her that I couldn't I was in too much pain. So she decided to check me and that 's when things got a little crazy. In a very rushed voice she said that Baby A was crowning and told the anesthesiologist he had 2 minutes to get the epidural in and if he didn't they would have to put me under general anesthesia. Luckily he got it in on the first try and very fast. He did a spinal in addition to the epidural and gave me the maximum doses he could, but I still felt the surgeon cut me.
A couple of minutes later at 6:48 p.m. Austin was born weighing 3 lbs 10 oz and he was 16 in. Dr. Naisbitt later told my mom it was the hardest delivery he has ever done because Austin was stuck down so far in the birth canal and he had a really hard time pulling him back out.
Zack was born 30 seconds later also at 6:48 p.m., but his birth certificate says 6:49 because they can't put the same time. He weighed 4 lbs 8 oz and was 18 in. All I ever heard from them was a brief squeak which scared me.
They were quickly given to the NICU team to begin assessing and working on them while I was sewn up.
Aaron went and took pictures of them for me.
This was the first picture I ever saw of Austin. Look at the color difference between him and Zack. Can you tell who was getting all of the blood?
When I saw this picture of Zack I thought it was weird how big his belly was, but I just assumed it was from bagging him while they were working on getting him intubated (putting the breathing tube in his throat).
They let me glance in the room at them while they were wheeling me to the recovery room and then the wait set in to see our babies. Our parents were both waiting in another room to see the boys as well.
After about an hour or so (it seemed like eternity!) Dr Scheffield from the NICU came to talk to us about our boys. He said Austin had signs of an infection, most likely because I was Group B Strep positive and my water had been broke for 5 days.
Then he started talking to us about Zack. He said Zack's abdomen was very distended when he was born and they had immediately done an ultrasound and found a large mass in his abdomen. He named off several things that it could be, but said he didn't know and they had called life flight and were shipping him off to Primary Children's. Needless to say we were scared and very upset! He said we had to wait another 30 min to see them so we sat and held each other and cried.
Then they brought us to our boysSeeing Zack for the first time
They usually don't let you hold your baby especially where he was just born and had a breathing tube, but since he was so sick and they didn't know what would happen they took pity on us.
And because they didn't know if we would ever have another chance to hold our 2 boys at the same time again they let us hold Austin too. Austin is on the left, Zack on the right.
Even though I didn't want to I figured I better share and let Aaron hold Zack.
Austin- I know I'm biased, but I can't get over how cute these 2 were/are!
Zack
Zack holding Daddy's hand.
The life flight team getting ready to take half of my heart with them. That was a very hard moment! By that point Austin had been held to long and my nurse hadn't assessed me yet so she was freaking out so they made me leave and go to my room. It was probably around midnight and I couldn't sleep a wink so it was a very long night! To be continued......

Retro Post- Hospital Bed Rest

This post is going to have a lot of details that are probably TMI so read at your own risk. And we apparently didn't take any pictures because I can't find any anywhere.

December 9, 2006- We went to our birthing class- it was an all day class. That night we went to Chili's for dinner with some friends and I got the Chicken Caesar Salad for dinner.

December 10, 2006- I turned 30 weeks pregnant. I woke up that morning feeling very nauseous and threw up. The weird thing about that throwing up was that I hadn't had morning sickness for months, most of the time that I threw up during my pregnancy was from brushing my teeth and I wasn't brushing my teeth at the time, and my food from the night before hadn't been digested at all. It was disgusting! I will never be able to get salad from Chile's again. I thought it was weird, but it was too late to call in sick to work so I finished getting ready and went to work.
At work I ate a bowl of cheerios hoping it would help to settle my stomach, but I still didn't feel very good so I asked the charge nurse if I could go home later if it became possible. A couple hours later right in the middle of taking care of my patient I had to run to the garbage in her room and proceeded to throw up the cheerios and everything else I had drank that morning. So around 3 she was able to send me home from work.
Within minutes of getting home from work the diarrhea started. I can't even begin to describe to you how bad it was and I'm sure you don't want me to. Every time I would take a sip of water I would spend the next 30 minutes in the bathroom throwing up and having diarrhea (generally at the same time). I remember trying to eat some tums which other than coloring my throw up didn't do much for me. Suffice it to say I didn't sleep a wink that night and I have never wanted to die more in my life!

December 11, 2006- I had my weekly OB appointment that night at 5 so I decided to just tough it out for the day, but I was so sick I could hardly move. Just inhaling the moisture in the air by that point would make me spend so much time in the bathroom I wanted to die. I thought I for sure had food poisoning from that salad.
We got to the appointment and I couldn't give the doctor a urine sample I was so dehydrated. The second he looked at me he knew something was up and then he started my exam. He touched my belly and immediately asked me if I knew I was having contractions. I was really surprised to hear him say that because I had no idea. He stopped the appointment right then and told me to get up to the hospital right away. I don't remember much, but I do remember calling my aunt to tell her that we would have to cancel my baby shower because I was on the way to the hospital and that's when I lost it and started bawling.
They checked me at the hospital and I was dilated to a 3 and I think I was effaced 75%. They immediately gave me a shot of Terbutaline and Prednisone for Zack and Austin's lungs. The Terbutaline wasn't working so they gave me another medicine to try and stop the labor, but I don't remember what it was. After a couple hours they started me on Mag as a last ditch resort. I don't remember much, I just remember it made me feel like crap, but it worked!

Tuesday- Wednesday- I continued to feel horrible if I drank even a sip of water. They couldn't give me anything for the diarrhea until a bunch of tests had come back because if I had certain GI viruses and took an anti-diarrheal it would cause permanent damage. They were at least giving me Zofran so I wasn't throwing up all of the time. I would have to sit with a chux underneath me because if I would even cough I couldn't hold it in. I know that's TMI especially, but I want to remember. Wednesday Aaron had his last final and they finally had my labor under control so we decided I would be okay to go home on strict bed rest. BAD IDEA!

Thursday- Almost immediately after getting home Wednesday night I was back to the same condition I was in Sunday and Monday. Apparently since I was receiving IV meds at the hospital to control my nausea and fluids to keep me hydrated my body didn't like it when that all stopped cold turkey. I spent the whole entire night in the bathroom again and first thing Thursday morning I was on the phone with my OB who told me to go back to the hospital. They were able to stop my labor faster this time with just Terbutaline which I was grateful for, but they decided to do an ultrasound to check on my babies. That's when we found out that we had developed Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome. Generally if you make it past 21 weeks it is very rare to develop it so I had thought we were in the clear.
I was scared! Zack was getting all of the blood flow and in a week Austin had dropped a full pound from lack of nutrients. At that point we had to due daily ultrasounds and non-stress tests to make sure Austin was still making urine because once he wasn't it would become critical to deliver him before he died. Even though they were monitoring Austin the closest it is actually more dangerous for the baby getting all of the blood flow because they are often born in congestive heart failure- that is significant and I will explain why later. I know this sounds dramatic, but that is how scary it was!

Friday- My nurse that day was doing the non-stress test and came in saying she was worried about Baby B (Zack) because he wasn't having good variations in his heart rate. She kept buzzing him trying to get his heart rate to react and making me move and do all of these things. At the time I was really annoyed with her because Austin was the one we were worried about, but now I know that she was right; there was something very wrong!

Saturday- They decided to send me home again on strict bed rest. I was very hesitant to go, but didn't want to seem like I was trying to play it up for sympathy. This time they sent me home with Zofran, Terbutaline, and a very strong anti-diarrheal (they had just had all of the tests come back negative the day before so there was still no answer why I was so sick). That night I woke up in the middle of the night thinking I had just wet the bed. Since I kept having "accidents" with my illness I didn't think much of it; I was just embarrassed.

Monday- Went in for non-stress tests and an ultrasound. The babies still looked okay. My OB told me I wouldn't make it until Christmas without having my babies and I remember being annoyed he said that and thinking I would prove him wrong. Thought I peed the bed again that night.

Tuesday- I didn't feel Austin move for awhile so I drank a Mountain Dew and laid down for awhile and still didn't feel him so I proceeded to freak out! I called my OB and immediately left for his office. On the way to his office almost 2 hours from when I realized I hadn't felt him more awhile I finally felt him move, but they still did another non-stress test and ultrasound and everything looked the same so they sent me home. To be continued.....

A few of my favorite things

For the past couple of weeks Austin comes up to me several times a day and says, "Guess what Mom?" and after I say what; he says, "I love you."

When I ask Zack if he needs to go potty he quite often replies, "I'm not dancin'."

Gavin a few weeks ago would randomly come up to me throughout the day and give me hugs. And when I say give me hugs I mean put his cute little arms around my neck and squeeze as tight as he could while going ooomph. That little boy gives the best hugs I have ever had from a little kid and he has to put his arms around your neck; your legs or arms, nothing else works; just the neck.

stitches by heidi

I've started a new adventure and I'm going to start selling some of the things that I crochet. Check out my new blog at http://stitchesbyheidi.blogspot.com. Please spread the word and let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!

Body Parts

Gavin's own way of identifying his body parts. It's hard to hear his response when you ask him where his nose is so listen and watch closely.

He wasn't sniffing very loud so we did a few different videos trying to get it and I think he was getting a little tired of it.

Halloween

Like everyone else in Utah we celebrated Halloween on Saturday. We woke up to some yummy caramel rolls for breakfast. That afternoon the boys painted pumpkins while me and Aaron carved them. It was nice to have them paint them so they could do it themselves. However, while getting some paint for Zack I looked up and saw this:
If you look close you can see paint all over in his teeth, luckily it was non-toxic. :)
The fruits of our labors. Pumpkins in order of who painted them. Austin, Zack, Gavin What you can't see is that Zack painted his pumpkin all the way around, he especially loved doing it.
For dinner we had our traditional potato soup in pumpkin bread bowls, yummy!
Then we headed out for some wet and cold trick-or-treating. We got rained on the whole time. Our kids lasted about an hour and then they were all begging to come home.
They were a family of Tyrannosaurus Rex's. I never thought I would make my kid's costumes and I never wanted to after hearing about all of the work that some people made them sound like, but this year when the alternative was spending $100 (on not very cute, crappy material, and poorly made costumes) I decided to take the plunge. They really weren't too bad, next year I just need to start them earlier since I finished them Saturday afternoon.
It's been nice also that they all love their costumes and have wanted to wear them all of the time.
Growling has not been in short supply lately!
Zack
Austin
Gavin, obviously
They have loved wagging their tails- do dinosaurs wag their tails? :)

Pack's Pumpkin Patch

On the 11th we went to Pack's for FHE. Aaron and I have been going there every year for the last 7 years so it's a fun little family tradition for us. This year our kids loved it. Holidays are so much fun with them now.
My strong little men.
There were no wagons available so I was the wagon.
Gavin kept trying to pick up all of the pumpkins.
Austin, Gavin, Zack
After finding our pumpkins me and the boys had a blast running through and playing in the maze.
Zack

Some R & R and a VERY Scary Experience

The first weekend of October we took a very long weekend and went up to Park City with my family for some fun. We were there over conference weekend so a lot of Saturday and Sunday was spent listening to conference which we all really enjoyed.

In between sessions on Sunday we drove up to Provo Falls which we always love to go see. Other than the cold wet weather it was beautiful as always. Zack had fun running around with Neal while Austin was my little shadow and didn't want to let go of my hand.
Grandpa and Gavin enjoyed some bonding time. (I love this picture!)
This is the best family picture we could get; Gavin wouldn't look at the camera so one of my brilliant brothers (I can't remember which one) decided to kick the ice cold water at all of us.
My beautiful sister!
Boys never grow up!
Austin, Zack, Neal
Zack, Austin; They loved the McQueen shirts my mom gave them. For some reason anytime my kids are wearing a shirt with a hood they have to have the hood up no matter how warm or cold they are.
We spent lots of time reading
Going for rides (one of their favorite pastimes and has been for years)
Helping Aunt Michelle get the air out of her air mattress.
The craziness that was meal times
And we did lots and lots of swimming! I'm amazed at how those water wings have changed our swimming lives! It does kind of freak me out how my kids have NO fear when it comes to the water though. Look at Zack with his face in the water.
Gavin loves it just as much as his brothers!
Austin
Zack
Zack loved floating on his back
Austin and Uncle David
Lots of fun playing
Poor Neal hurt his hand in the doors so they are all chilling watching a movie.
What may you ask is a picture like this doing in the midst of a post full of fun? Well I will tell you. Sunday afternoon right after conference we went swimming. While we were swimming Zack was standing on the side of the pool; I turned to play with Gavin for a second and when I turned back around Zack was laying on his back crying and Mandy was getting out of the pool to get him. Nobody saw what had happened, but he was in the exact same spot so I think he jumped up in the air and when he landed his feet slipped and he hit his head. It took me quite a few minutes to get him calmed down, but once he calmed down he was fine and kept playing.

After swimming we all came in and showered and got in pajamas to eat dinner. Right after I got out of the shower Aaron came in the room carrying Zack saying he was worried with how he was acting. I guess he had just got up in the middle of dinner and went and laid on the coach and was falling asleep. I was initially thinking he had heat exhaustion from the hot tub because he was pale as a ghost until Aaron reminded me that he had hit his head. Then I started getting a little worried because he wasn't really being responsive to me. I started trying to ask him questions and his eyes were rolling back in his head and he wouldn't respond to me. Then I started getting a lot worried and switched a bit in to nurse mode assessing his level of consciousness. I was doing a sternal rub, pinching his chest and he wouldn't respond to me at all! Needless to say I was freaking out in my head! I asked Aaron, my dad, and brothers to hurry and give him a blessing and while they were getting the oil he started throwing up so by now I was sure he had a head bleed of some sort. After the blessing he opened his eyes and started talking a little bit, but I wasn't about to chance anything so we hurry and got him in the car to go to Park City ER.

I was glad we had went because right after we got him in the car he wouldn't respond to us anymore again. We got to the ER and I rushed him in and found if you carry a little boy in telling then that he won't wake up and hit his head a couple of hours ago you get immediate service and a lot of excited people. They did a full "code trauma" on him and he wouldn't open his eyes or respond to them at all either which what 3 year old do you know that would lay there totally unresponsive with 10 strangers surrounding him and doing things to him. They rushed him to the CT scanner where they scanned his brain and then about 3-5 min. after they brought us back from the scanner he opened his eyes, sat up, and said, "Mom, where am I?" And after that he was talking and totally fine. The doctor and nurses walked in and were so shocked at how different he was. About an hour later we found out there was no bleed (thank heavens!) and he just had a really bad concussion. So $3000 and 1 1/2 hours later we left and went back to the hotel. I'm so grateful it was nothing worse, that kid scared the living daylights out of me!
Tuesday morning Aaron really wanted to take the boys fishing and actually catch some fish so we went to his favorite place to fish- Trial Lake. But we think they must have been working on the lake because most of the water was drained out of it and it was very low. Aaron thought he would walk out to that driftwood and stand on it to fish, but he didn't quite make it out that far.
After seeing the situation there we left and drove up to Washington Lake instead.
What else would my kids want to do when next to a body of water with rocks on the edge? They had a blast throwing rocks in the lake even though it was COLD. (Zack, Grandma, Gavin, Austin)
Helping daddy reel in the fish. They caught 4 that morning.
My cute husband didn't want to wear his pants and boots home because they were so muddy so here are his cute garbage bag pants. Thanks Mom and Dad for the fun weekend!