Friday, November 18, 2016

Recovery Setbacks

So after Jordan was born I was on cloud 9.  I had come through my fourth delivery, epidural free, but induced this time, and delivering my largest baby yet.  I was recovering well, and had taken some of the pain medication prescribed by the doctor.  I could tell that when I did take it I had a pain level of 0 and could really keep up with all of my little boys.  Jordan was nursing great, and I had had my mom here with me for two weeks. 

The day that she and my dad left to go home(Jordan was exactly two weeks old), a most unexpected and scary thing happened. I had a slight uterine prolapse.  I called my doctor, and though the nurse I talked to was very concerned, the doctor said he'd see me at my 6 week appt, and that it might start to correct itself as I continued to heal from giving birth.  And also to REST, REST, REST and do Kegel exercises.  I thought it was dying and the end of the world.  I had googled this...never a great idea as that will just freak you out.  Thus started me resting a lot with my feet up, and lots of Kegel exercises.  Basically I was afraid to do anything for the next 4 weeks because I was afraid that my insides were going to fall out.


This did have one small silver lining though.  It made me slow down, and enjoy the time I got with just my little one.  Well, at this same time, we had Jordan's 2 week checkup, and it turns out he still wasn't even back up to his birth weight.  He weighed 7lbs, 6 ounces, just like he had on his 2 day check up.  But he had gained an inch in height!  I thought I could tell because he wasn't so chubby anymore.  I wasn't worried because he was eating every three hours, was sleeping great, and had a wet diaper every time he ate (wasn't over flowing), and a little poopy too(also never had a blowout diaper).  Besides, he was bigger than all three of our other kids. Nathan begged to please pump one time to see how much milk I was making for him, and we'd feed him that with a bottle.  I was against it.  He was nursing, and I didn't want to mess that up.  Well, I did finally do it...and low a behold, I think I was making barely 2 ounces of milk...from both sides combined.  This was very different from the other babies.  So we fed him that through a bottle, and he seemed to want more.  We supplemented with some formula, and he gobbled that up.  Now I felt lots of guilt.  He was starving and not growing, and I didn't even know!  Well maybe not starving, but not growing because I wasn't making enough milk.  So I started pumping, and trying to get my production up, and tried nursing without a breast shield as well. After he had had just a couple of bottles to supplement nursing, he wouldn't latch great again.  (He was already having a little trouble with that, but this just made it worse.  I finally got him to latch and nurse without a shield once...)  He was making a clucking noise every time, so I knew that his latch was wrong.  It was also just about unbearably painful without a breast shield.  But with a shield he wasn't eating efficiently, and my milk supply was tanking. After two terrible days of trying to fix his latch, it getting worse, me crying and hitting a pillow next to me while he was eating...we (I) gave up trying to nurse.  I decided to pump exclusively.  Well, this not eating well also was probably part of the problem of my uterus not contracting back down.  Both of these setbacks were related.  With pumping it was helping my uterus to shrink back, but boy is it a pain (figuratively and literally).

But I felt so deflated with both of them.  Then, to make it even a little worse, I had an umbilical hernia.  I had to wait though to get it checked out.  The hernia was severe enough that Dr. Housel suggested I get it fixed now...even if we might have another baby in a few years.  And either way we met our deductible for the year, so now was the time to get it fixed.

So, I did see my doctor at the end of September, and my prolapse has retracted significantly that I don't need surgery...at least for now.  I need to keep doing kegal exercises, and probably for the rest of my life, but his exact words were "You won't ever be the same after having four babies, but you aren't in any danger of your innards just falling out".

The hernia is going to be repaired in November, and then another 6 weeks of not lifting anything over 10 pounds.  In other words, nothing but the baby.  I think that is just what I need to try to help my prolapse problem, and still rest and take it easier.

Jordan is such a good little guy...I am so grateful and blessed that he is so good because this recovery has been harder and scarier than anything yet.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

September 2016

In September...this was my view every day...
...my sleeping angel

Life with a newborn.  And three other boys... I was not doing much but staying home and trying to recover.  But I love my life with my three boys!
 
This picture cracks me up!
Jack is blowing up a balloon, James is trying to be the good big brother and help his crying baby brother Jordan, and Jonathan is pinching his lips with my tongs...

Monkey see monkey do...he saw me pumping and said it was his turn :)

Grammies got the boys a venus fly trap right before Jordan was born.  James caught a fly (with his bare hands!), and we fed it...
It really does close quickly when a fly lands on it.  That other leaf that is closed tried to catch it but wasn't fast enough.  Took only two tries though to catch the fly.

...that was really neat to watch and of course all the boys loved it!  We had to check the progress of the plant eating this fly every day!  I will say it was pretty cool for me, too.

Jordan, sleeping like a baby

Here he is, nursing, for one of the only times...but then he wouldn't latch well for the next two days :(

Jack got to go to his friends {and twins} birthday party
It was pirate themed, and all the little boys really enjoyed that.

Our neighbor Brennan also loves to hold Jordan, but who doesn't enjoy a cuddly, sleepy, happy babe?
We watched BYU lose to Utah with them (all the while our stone guy was working on the fireplace!)

There was a picture on instagram of someone we know with 6 kids...and she was making cookies with her two youngest girls.  Her kitchen looked immaculate, like she wasn't even cooking, let alone also had six kids.
I documented what my kitchen looked like that same day...like a tornado hit it.  This is real life people!

You can see that he is losing the chubby cheeks.
He also sleeps with his hands up like this a lot, and does not like to be swaddled, just wrapped loosely. 

Jenn was visiting, so I took the boys to see their cutest little bug-n-a-rug cousin Sadie :)
She LOVES the monkey we gave her!


Nathan was racing in the Salt to Saint relay race.  That's Salt Lake to St. George, over night race.  
His team took 1st overall!  It was also a mixed team, and they beat out the men's team he was on last year!
Nathan probably spent no less than 4 hours (at least) analyzing the segments, and which riders to start when...and it totally worked out for the Total.CARE team!
Start...

...during...
Finish! They killed it!

Three weeks old.
His baby acne was finally starting to clear up

The neighborhood preschool trip went to the Ogden Dinosaur Park
My kids love that place, but I could not take them, I was still trying to keep my feet up and not walk around.  We live in an amazing neighborhood, and Jack and Jonathan went with friends, and 3 different people asked me if they could take them so I could rest that day.  I have felt so incredibly supported!

Jack had a scare and we thought he broke his collar bone.
Of course it was on a day that Nathan was traveling for work.
The doc said if he had been older it would have broken, but because he is young the bone bent a little instead, which was why he had a massive bruise.  I'm so glad he is alright!

Just enjoying bath time

James made a massive gun-like structure out of the marble works

The boys and I one Saturday morning...just chillin...

...watching a movie...
Jonathan's new favorite movie, National Geographic's Dinosaur Hunters.
And this guy finally eating(bottles) and growing

We went to Old Snowbasin Road and enjoyed looking at the fall leaves for family night.

Family of six!  And we are out doing things!

We packed sandwiches, had a picnic, and hiked a tiny bit.

It was the first time I have been on a walk, and I actually felt okay.  But just okay, not great

The fox hat makes a return!

Jordan's hair is now deciding to look sorta like Kramer from Seinfield.

The Healthy Kids Running Races started again.
Jack is now running 1/4 of a mile, and James 1/2 a mile. 

The last weekend of September up here a cute little pumpkin patch opened, and they also had games, a little train ride, that sort of thing. Nicole brought her kids, and she and I managed all six of our kids together!
Bean Bag Toss

Bow and arrows

James just posing


Jack with his pumpkin

Jonathan

James picked a huge one

Emily and hers

Jonathan and I (Jordan's nestled against me), with the others behind us

1 month old with his teddy :)

James is such a great big brother, and takes his responsibility seriously.  He also likes to hold Jordan, walk around with him if he cries (which he doesn't usually).  
James feeding Jordan.  So far these two have been my easiest going babies.  I wonder if Jordan will be similar to James as he grows.

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Fotofly Newborn Pictures

Newborn pictures needed to happen, and we've been so happy with our experience at Fotofly that we called on them again to take pictures of ALL the kids and our new family picture.  We are very happy with the results:
James' 7 year old pictures...

...of course one had to have the monkey:)

Jack's 5 year old pics...

Jonathan is 2.5:


Jordan's pictures...he had been sleeping the first week of his life, then and only then for the photo shoot, he was the most awake he had ever been.  Plus he was fussy.  I didn't get any with him as a cute sleeping baby. However, they were still able to grab some great ones:
Love it!


This funny little face!



The brothers:


 I love this!

Jordan with Daddy:



Jordan with mommy:



Look at that perfect head of hair :)

Family pictures:


And since Grammies was still with us...
He was also the most calm  he had been that whole photo shoot when she held him:


 I asked them to take a picture with "her boys",
and it turned out great!