*4*

Happy Birthday Jacq!

Jacq had a birthday breakfast this year. YAY and loved every minute of it. The night before Tim blew up massive balloons and put them all over Jacq's floor. This was hours of fun and prob by far her favorite gift this year.

Lola meets the Kids.

Are you done with Lola pictures yet?? Well we love this little girl so much. We can't get enough of her. Promise . . .the next post won't be "baby."

With the H1N1 virus swarming the kids were not able to visit Lola and I at the hospital. The hospital said, "No kids under the age of 14." While I totally understand it was still no fun to not see my other babies. Once my baby . .. always my baby. Any way. . . once we arrived home the kids couldn't get enough of Lola. They love this little girl as much as I do. I have four little helpers. Four friends that want to hold her. 8 little hands to give her a pacifier. Eager helpers that want to bring me diapers. If she whimpers, they find me. Every single one of them can't imagine life without her.

The rest of my story

Honestly, I was feeling a little embarrassed that nothing "crazy" had happened during my hospital stay. I was starting to feel as though my emotional melt down landed me in the hospital for no good reason. Until Friday morning at 3am. . . .It happened. . . another "Episode." They always made my heart skip a beat. There was nothing out of the ordinary. This was like every other bleed I had. These "episodes" were becoming very consistent and i could count on one every 4-7 days. As normal as they had become in this pregnancy they still made me uneasy. The nurses hooked "us" up to the monitors. One to track baby's heart beat and one to track contractions. I tried my best to go back to sleep but I was having pretty consistent contractions. A few hours later I could feel another "episode" coming on. How? I don't know. I never had any indication any other time. I called my nurse. Once I sat up in bed it was "episode" after "episode" after "episode." All over the bed. . all over the floor. . all over the bathroom. Looking back I don't know how I should have felt. Embarrassed? Stressed? Worried? For some reason I felt calm and as they put baby back on the monitor I felt comforted as I heard her consistent heart beat. The nurses were all buzzing around me. They were prepping me for surgery. IV this. Call the Dr. Clean that. Is the room prepped? ETC. . I called Tim. The nurses called the Doctor. Who Thankfully happened to be "in house." In no time at all I was prepped for surgery. Tim gave me a blessing. And off we went.The surgery went probably as normal as any cesarean. I felt no pain. Not even the spinal block. Once the surgery started I felt some pulling and tugging. . . and. . and. . then some crying. Yes crying. What a relief. I couldn't stop smiling. Never been so happy in my life to hear a baby cry. My whole body was so happy. And . . I just kept smiling.

The big question?? What was going on in there?? And there were answers. Kind of. Apparently it was a big mess. The placenta had scars from tearing away from the uterine wall. And the doctors saw the new fresh tear. It was definitely a placental abruption. Baby was just fine. . . perfect. . .her water was nice and clear and all of these complications had no ill effects on her or her development. Born at 36 weeks and perfect. We are so grateful that she is here with us and that the stress of this pregnancy is over. When we count our blessing we are sure to count all the friends and family that supported us. . . Thanks you friends.

Lola all cleaned up.

We love having our little Lola Marie HOME!!!

6lbs 1 oz ~ 19 inches

Halloween Craft

My kids loved this Halloween craft. This craft kept them busy for hours. I have a couple Dog/Ghost floating around my hospital room. With a long weekend coming up for my Utah friends . . just thought I would share. Have fun!

My Story

Usually I just post pictures and fluff. I like it that way. Keep things in my life a little private and my very private husband likes it that way. :) Thought I would write a shorter version of "my story." It is still really LONG! But if you have the time and interest. . here it is. . . .

This pregnancy started out as normal as any of my others. Sure I was tired, but what women isn't tired in the first trimester? First appointment (17 weeks) ~ Check. Ultra Sound (20 weeks) ~ Check. My placenta implanted a little low but I was told 90% of placentas move away from the cervix by 32 weeks. I was told no need to worry. We'll do another ultra sound. I thought, "YAY for extra baby pictures!!" It wasn't a week later and I started bleeding. I had "spotted" in early pregnancy before, but nothing like this and we weren't in "early" pregnancy anymore.

Tim and all the kids had piled in the ultra sound room. We saw our baby. We felt her moving. We talked about her and how blessed we were to have a baby coming to our home. She was real in our family. Heck she even had a name, at least her "in the womb name." "GUS" is what we called her.

I went in for an appointment/another ultra sound that day. Heart rate was normal. Baby looked great. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. The doctors told me to go home and take it super easy. From 21-26 weeks. . .I did just that. I did a lot of sitting. Every once in awhile I would push it. . .Instead of sitting on my couch. I would "sit" at the water park. Or "sit" at the park down the street. "Sit" in the backyard and watch the kids play. "Sit" at the beach. I did a lot of "sitting." The best "sitting" this lady could do. I would give me a metal in "sitting."

At 26 weeks I continued to have bleeding and massive blood clots and that is when the hospital visits started. At hospital visit 1 I was given 2 steroid shots to help develop the baby's lungs "just in case." Anything that I considered out of the ordinary for this pregnancy usually landed me in the hospital and when I wasn't there I was on strict bed rest at home. Between my mom and Tim it was STRICT!! They didn't let me get up for anything. At one point the docs diagnosed me with placenta previa. After one hospital stay my doctor told me, "placentas don't have feet and don't walk, but as the uterus stretches there is a chance that the placenta will in fact move away from the cervix. Week after week I held on to the hope that my placenta would grow feet and move and my world would return to somewhat normal. I would have even settled for the "sitting" phase. In my mind I just knew that every time I had a major bleed the placenta had moved! It hadn't.

Appointment after appointment it was the same information . . . which in my mind didn't help much. It meant nothing to me. I found too much information on the Internet about a condition I wasn't even sure I had. The Doctors recommended bed rest. . and. .we hope we don't see you back in the hospital again . . . etc. . . Never any real answers. And honestly I just don't think they had the answers. At 31 weeks I had hospital stay 2, I was given morphine pills to stop contractions. Which thank goodness did stop them and eased the bleeding. Physically i felt like I could do anything, but emotionally and mentally this pregnancy had taken its toll. After my 3rd hospital stay (34.5 weeks) and a series of morphine injections (3) to again stop labor. This lady was spent. I was emotionally done.

Two days later I came to the hospital for my weekly ultra sound and bi weekly NST (Non Stress test). As soon as I arrived in labor and delivery I was greeted with warm faces that had become my friends. . . I broke down. I kept thinking. . "what am I doing. . . compose yourself Shauna. . you're not a crier." I don't cry. But with so much going on with my body and so many unanswered questions I was a wreck and apparently I am a crier and just so you know I do cry. I cried and shared my concerns with one of my past nurses and boy did she take action. She had my doctor in my room so fast. They did a full work up. . . and a complete ultra sound were they found that my placenta apparently does have feet and had moved away from the cervix, but still no real answers to why all the bleeding and clotting. The next day I woke up with more extreme bleeding and clots. We decided to go in to the hospital yet again. And that brings us to where we are today. . .

Two of my six doctors said. . if they had to put their finger on the situation they would say that my placenta keeps tearing away from the uterine wall . . not all the way just enough to cause clotting and bleeding. . .that temperamental thing. Thank goodness my body clots really well or we would have prob had a baby long ago or no baby at all. The reality is that the doctors really aren't 100% sure what is going on. I just hope and pray every day for a healthy baby and a quick recovery. Is that possible with a c*section? I've had a c*section with the twins and they are brutal, but if that is the safest path to get our baby here I'm on board.

Good news!! My c*section was moved up today to the 20th. Gus and Jacq will share a birthday. I'm sure some day Jacq will not think that is so cool but right now she is so excited for "GIRLS" birthday. :) I love that girl!

The Green Bottle.

I have four of these babies. Jealous? Don't be. These big dogs mark the number of times I have been checked into the hospital for my Gus. Not the number of visits but the number of actual stays. These are my green trophy bottles. This last time the medical staff decided it would be best to keep me here until I deliver. I'm not counting down the days or anything, but I only have 11 days to go. Think of me my friends. . .if you are still out there. . Oct 22nd at noon I am scheduled for a c*section. Never been so excited for a c*section in my life. During recovery I never said that. . . but I will be excited to hold this baby in my arms and get back to living my normal boring little life. And I hope to NEVER collect another green bottle again.

BUMP!

Ok . . Ok. . Maybe it is slightly bigger than a baby bump. Like 40lbs slightly bigger. That's my number 40+. What can I say. . . my body likes to gain 40+ pounds pregnant. There is really no way around it. As hard I as I try to not eat the last cookie or have another bowl of ice cream the weight just keeps on coming. I have learned to except it and wear my weight with pride. I'm 35 1/2 weeks today and I am growing growing growing. . . .