Sooooo.... (an update on our world)

This is going to be a busy week!  We've got Grandma Burk's birthday today, Timmy's birthday tomorrow (3!), and then appointments for Joshua and Timmy at SEABHS, where Jeremy works.  I'm actually excited about these happenings.  (Of course.  I mean, who doesn't love birthdays?!)  But these appointments at SEABHS could mean good things for these two of our boys.  I'm not sure what it will lead to, but it is a jumping-off point and should lead to some good help for both of them.  They can refer us to whatever needs to happen next.  It makes me feel excited to think that they can help us know what to do.  Despite my research, I am clueless about what the process is, so I am thankful there is somebody who knows the process and can help us!  Wahoo!

I know I mentioned before that we quite K12 and are doing our own thing for home school.  To tell the truth, I am still working out what exactly that will mean, but I can tell you that our home is a lot happier and a lot less stressful.  I am really thankful for my Cedar City friend Tia for sharing with me what home school is for her.  It has kind of turned things upside down for me and made me feel like I have permission to follow the Spirit and also do what I want to in this area.  I will have to do a blog post about home school, but for now you can just know that I've learned a lot and I'm excited and not stressed out about it. :)

I am loving the cooler weather!  I come to my computer in the morning and sit cross-legged in my chair to keep my feet warm.  Joshua has been using the tea pot every day to make cocoa or instant oatmeal.  He much prefers it to heating up water in the microwave.  It's somehow more exciting. :)

This is a random little detail but one I meant to record quite a while ago.  Timmy used to knock on doors with the back of his fist.  It was so cute!  I really wish I had a video of it. :) Now he knocks/pounds with the pinky side of his fist.  His knocks are slow and deliberate.  We know who it is.  He will sometimes sneak out the back door and run around to knock on the front door.  He can't open the front door yet.  He likes to sneak in my bedroom, and he prefers to have the door shut whenever he's in there. 

I've found that at night I can get him to come and snuggle with Brom and me on the recliner that is in there if I lock the bedroom door.  He hasn't figured out how to unlock it yet, so he sits and cries at the door for a few minutes before coming and climbing up by us.  What he really does after he climbs up is stand on the arm of the chair and lean back, playing with and laying on my hair.  He likes to fall asleep holding it.  So he falls asleep while I nurse Brom.  And then I burp Brom, who wakes back up and has to nurse on the other side before he'll go to sleep and stay asleep.  (I'm serious.  I have to nurse him until he falls asleep and then nurse him again because he always wakes up.  But I will not complain because then he sleeps until 6:00 or 7:00.)  So I stand up to put Brom in his bed, and Timmy (who by that point is usually quite literally is sleeping on my head - thank heavens that chair reclines!) slides down to lay on the recliner as it sits up.  I put Brom in his bed and zip him up in his baby sleeping bag that Grandma McDermott made for Hyrum, and then I put Timmy to bed.  Sometimes.  Sometimes I just leave him sleeping on the chair because he looks comfy.  I just put a blanket on him and leave him be.  He usually crawls in bed with us later.

And speaking of Timmy's sleeping habits, recently Jeremy had me pick up some melatonin tablets at the store.  When we remember to, we give Timmy half of one before bed time.  The first time we did it I felt so bad watching him fall asleep.  I felt like we were evil parents who had drugged our son to make him sleep (even though melatonin is a hormone naturally produced by the body and not a drug).  But I have decided I need to stop feeling bad and think more objectively about it.  The truth is, we need sleep and so does he.  He still wakes up at least twice every night without the melatonin, and he takes forever to go to sleep.  He still doesn't nap unless we go shopping or something on a day when he is extra sleepy (he falls asleep in the car then).  So anyway, I did a little research on melatonin, and it turns out that doctors sometimes recommend giving melatonin to kids with autism because they have trouble sleeping.  And I realized, "Duh!"  Joshua has always had a hard time getting to sleep at night, and so has Timmy!  Did you know this about kids with autism?  I didn't have any idea.  It makes sense.  So anyway, melatonin is good stuff.  I hope we can be more consistent with it.  They're supposed to take it an hour or two before bed time.  We should be giving some to Joshua too, I think.

For a couple of weeks I was having a hard time getting things done because Brom would wake up as soon as I buckled him in his swing.  It was frustrating!  Then one day I just set him in there without buckling it, and voila!  He stayed asleep!  So I have been putting him in there without the buckles, and it works good. :) I just have to keep an eye on him so Jill and Timmy don't try to take him out!  I love that little one, but I am sure happier when I can put him down for a while and accomplish something, even if I just pick up a few things or wash a few dishes.  (As much as I hate washing dishes, it is indeed wonderful to have them done.)

Last week I tried a new recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything (a food blog I like) called Pesto Chicken Pillows.  It's kind of embarrassing to me to call them pillows.  It makes me want to hide my head in a hole.  But that is what the recipe is called.  Basically, it's basil pesto with chicken and cream cheese baked inside those Pillsbury crescent rolls you buy in those cans you pop open.  You wrap the rolls around the chicken stuff and then dip them in butter and panko crumbs.  (I had no idea what panko crumbs were.  I thought it must be a brand of bread crumbs.  Nope!  It is a style of bread crumbs.  They use it to bread shrimp, and the only real difference between these and other bread crumbs is that they're not seasoned and the crust is removed.)  Anyway, wow!  These were super yummy!  Jeremy loved them more than I thought he would, too.  Score!  It had been too long since I'd had basil. ;) Plus, those rolls are really good anyway!  And maybe, just maybe, I feel a little less like hiding my head in a hole just because they were so good. :) Hyrum and Benji liked them too, and Timmy even ate half of one.  (Yes, Timmy, the pickiest of all eaters, at a half!  I was shocked.)

Last week we had a couple of meltdowns from Joshua about computers.  I don't know where he gets the idea (because he's so good at a lot of other things), but he thinks the only thing he can do is play computer.  That's the only thing that's any good, apparently.  Well, last week there were a few times when he got kicked off the computer before he felt ready, and he launched into fits, yelling and crying about how he didn't understand why he was being punished.  When he gets like this, all we can do is try to talk him down and reassure him that it'll be ok.  Reasoning with him doesn't really work.  If we answer his "why" questions he asks again and again anyway.  One of these times happened on scout night (we've been sending him to scouts with Hyrum because we don't have an 11-year-old scout group), and he was still crying when we got to scouts.  I patiently reassured him that it would be ok.  Eventually he did get out and head inside the church.  I felt so sad for him as I watched him stop and furiously wipe his eyes to try to hide that he was crying.  I sat and prayed and prayed.  I know he'll be ok, but it is kind of heartbreaking to deal with this.  Dealing with his disappointments is a lot different from dealing with his brothers' disappointments.  Anyway, we're going to figure out something different for computers in the near future, and hopefully we'll avoid future meltdowns.  Thinking about it, though, Joshua's reaction is like what happens with Timmy 99% of the time when the iPad is taken from him.  Abrupt changes are not their favorite thing.  Poor fellas.  They'll be ok, though.

On Saturday I finally got around to cutting the boys' hair.  It was a good thing I did.  I'd been putting it off because the last time I cut their hair I was third trimester and it killed my hip.  I didn't want to spend forever cutting hair.  I finally muscled my way past my whining and just did it.  I cut hair off the 5 older boys.  Joshua needed it the most.  Mama cut Jeremy, Hyrum, and Benji's hair while she was here, but Joshua, Michael, and Timmy didn't need it as bad, so we didn't worry about it.  Well, on Saturday, the hair I cut off Joshua's head was like 2 inches long.  Crazy!  I got all 5 of those heads of hair cut by 11:00, I believe.  I was pretty pleased with myself.  I still need to cut Jeremy's hair, but hooray for all I got done!  And they all look so much better!  I do have quite handsome sons. :)

Also on Saturday Hyrum had a youth trip.  They went ice skating and then went to the Temple.  I'm so glad Hyrum could go.  I really wish Joshua could have gone!  Well, he'll be 12 in March, and then he can go.  That will be awesome!  It was kind of funny because we got to the church right on time, and it turned out that a funeral was just ending right then.  There were cars everywhere, but nobody to be seen of the Young Men or Young Women.  We waited about a half hour before we found anybody.  I was glad to know they hadn't already left!  What a blessing that he can go!  I really appreciate that the youth here go so often.  And I am thankful that it gives him the opportunity to not only do service in the House of the Lord but also to associate with some good young people. :)

Quickie

We cut a hole in our living room wall on Saturday.  I love it - except that I now need to try extra hard to keep the kitchen clean. XD Jeremy and Aaron did it.  It is strange, but I felt a confirmation that that needed to happen that day.  I am not sure why.  Is it because Jeremy and Aaron needed to be together?  Is it because Benji needed to help?  (He got to use the belt sander.)  I don't know.  That's ok.  It still needs some sanding, caulking, and trim, but it's mostly done.  We ran out of sand paper on Saturday.  Darn!

OK, one more thing.  Today I was holding Brom.  I laid him back so I could talk to him, and he stared straight up at the ceiling and started smiling and cooing.  It was so sweet.  It makes me wonder who he might have been smiling at.  Heaven is probably closer than we think more often than we think.  It is a neat thought.

Timmy

It's a miracle!  I've got a minute!  Timmy and Brom are both asleep!  I'd better write quickly!

I recently had a realization about Timmy, and I have been processing it in my head ever since.  I realized that this little guy is probably on the autism spectrum. 

In all my thought processes I keep arriving at the question, "How did I not see it before?!"  I think I was focusing on all his little quirks one at a time rather than seeing the big picture.  But now that I can kind of put the pieces together, it is pretty dang obvious.

For one thing, he has some sort of speech delay.  He will be 3 this month and still isn't using many sentences.  Most of the time he just babbles or uses one word, maybe two.  And the sentences he does use are quotes and things.  He will sit and count things or repeat back this or that that he has heard a million times.  His favorite song is "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," and he will sit and quote the whole thing in a speaking voice.  "Twinko, twinko, weedo star. How uh wonder uh oo are.  Up abubb a world so high.  Wike oo diamond imboo guy."  I don't think he quite understands the words, but he knows and loves them.

He also has his little obsessions.  One of them is my hair, and he doesn't understand that "OW!" is a bad thing.  He also likes to line up his cars.  (Oh, how he loves cars!)  But lately what he loves almost more than my hair is the iPad and my computer.  I've had to restrict his usage of both of those for a couple of reasons.  For one thing, when his turn is done he gets really, really upset.  That is not good.  And for another thing, they keep him from being with me, and that leads to his feeling neglected, which more and more lately is a horrible thing.  He has started trying to hurt me.  He has thrown books at my head, and just yesterday he was trying to smack me with a block.  It honestly scares me.  He's also started tackling anybody he can when he's feeling that certain way.  And maybe it isn't even just that he feels neglected.  Maybe it's also when he's tired.  But his poor little cousins and poor Jill are suffering because of it.

He doesn't really socialize with people at all.  He doesn't interact with anybody most of the time, and if he does it's just Jeremy or me or Michael or Jill.  And always it is pretty one-sided.  He doesn't seem to understand that other people have feelings at all.  And most of the time he just plays by himself.  I guess they would call what he does "parallel playing."  He plays near people but not with them very much.

I have tried over these few years (He's going to be 3 in 15 days!) to help him understand that "Ow" is a bad thing and that it's not ok to hurt people.  Don't get me wrong, though.  He is a good boy, and most of the time he does just play nicely.  He just hasn't seemed to make age-appropriate realizations about other people.  And when I do try to explain it is like talking to a brick wall.  My words do not make much of an impact.  Punishments don't really work either because he doesn't seem to understand that consequences are connected to his actions.  He does what he does and moves on.  If we try to punish him for it it doesn't make a dent because in his mind we are just being mean for no reason.

He also doesn't seem to understand some of my simple requests.  Either that or he is ignoring them.  Here's an example.  Every night I nurse Brom in the recliner in my bedroom to get him to sleep.  Timmy likes to climb up on the chair and lay on my hair.  I am ok with that except that he seems to like going on the side where Brom's head is.  And he doesn't hold still.  It just seems like he's squirming and bouncing on Brom's head.  I don't like that.  I try to tell him, "Go around.  Go to the other side."  He just doesn't seem to get it.  And I can't do much to help him understand because he's on the side with my arm that's supporting Brom's head.  I can't do much else with that arm, so I can't help him move to the other side.  Another thing is that he doesn't come when I call his name.  He never has.  That doesn't seem to be any sort of cue in his mind.

It is interesting watching him as I am figuring him out now.  His case is so different from Joshua's.  Joshua was an early talker, and when he started talking he almost immediately started using sentences.  But he held off on walking for as long as he could.  He isn't as coordinated as a lot of kids his age.  (But of course, he is leaps and bounds beyond them in other things.)  Timmy wasn't really early walking, but he has been really coordinated.  Jeremy has watched him run and wrestle and has been amazed because he naturally has really good form in both.  He naturally does things that Jeremy spent a lot of time and energy trying to teach to his track and wrestling students.  Isn't that interesting?  But his speech is delayed.  There are other things that are really different too, but I think it is still pretty obvious that they are both on the spectrum.

So what's next, you say?  Well, I'm hoping that we can get Timmy tested.  If we can get him tested we can probably get him some help, which I would be so thankful for!  Early intervention can make such a difference!  Either way, it is kind of exciting to me to have something figured out.  I am curious to see how things will go. 

OK, so there's that all.  There's just one more thing I want to record.

I discussed how school was going in the last post.  It has been hugely frustrating, especially with Timmy feeling like he's not getting attention and wanting to hurt me.  I have discussed that with the boys - that Timmy needs more attention and feels like he doesn't get enough when we're doing school.  I hope the boys don't think I'm blaming them.  We chose home school to help them, circumstances be danged.  Anyway, one evening Joshua came to me and said, "Mommy, I would go back to Bejarano for Timmy."  Oh, that just melted my heart.  He would go back to the stupid kids who cuss and ask him stupid questions and make fun of him and his family, all for his little brother.  It kind of makes me cry.

Oh, and one more thing about Joshua.  He likes to talk about Brom and me using the words "Brommy and Mommy."  Ha ha!  He just thinks it's way fun.

Dang, I love my kiddos!

Happenings

I am so stinking frustrated!  I go for days on end without getting to lay a finger on my own computer because the boys use it for school every day.  And when I do get to get on my computer I am usually nursing a baby with Timmy climbing around behind me in the chair and 2 or 3 boys standing behind me saying, "What's that?  Can I please play?  When can I have a turn?  I didn't play anything today."  What the...

So there's a silly explanation about why I never blog anymore.  I wish that blogging from my phone was a more viable solution.  It just isn't. :P

I have a post about Timmy that I've been trying to work on.  I've actually started it and tried to work on it a few times.  It just hasn't worked out.  I don't like typing one-handed with a boy climbing on me and yanking on my hair.  I will see what I can do to get that done soon.

I should mention, though, that Jeremy received a part-time job offer from the local community college.  He will be teaching 2 classes in the spring: Macroeconomics and AutoCAD.  I am really nervous about the prospect of being here in the spring.  It has been a really hard year for our allergies.  But we will be looking into getting allergy shots, I believe.  I am really proud of Jeremy, and I think he'll do a great job. 

I'm not going to pretend that it doesn't break my heart to not be going back to Cedar City right now.  I'm not going to pretend like I didn't have allergies there too.  But I can't deny that the schools were so much better there.  I don't feel comfortable with any of the school options here in Globe and Miami.  But with homeschooling I worry every day about my little Timmy getting enough attention.  I think one of the main reasons I put the children into Arizona Virtual Academy was so that they could help me to help Joshua.  Well, guess what.  We still don't have a 504 plan, and the first quarter is over.  It's frustrating!  That and staying on top of all the daily lessons in a billion subjects, weekly checkpoints, participation work, and monthly work samples for all four boys is too much.  I honestly knew it would be, but really I expected AZVA to be a temporary solution.  I honestly thought we would have moved somewhere by now, and then the boys would be back in regular school.  Well, as AZVA was only going to be a temporary solution, I've decided I'm done with it.  I'm going to withdraw the boys and just do my own thing.  I feel really relieved at that thought.

Don't think I took that decision lightly either.  I prayed and prayed, and I wrestled with my feelings.  I felt like I was just being a quitter, but I finally had to realize that while AZVA did do us some good, the time has really past for it and I need to focus on more important things.  I don't think school is supposed to be about all those things, and I'm tired of worrying about grades for these boys who are so smart and do so well already.  Something's just got to change.  So I comfort myself with those thoughts, and we will move forward.

Brom is growing like a weed.  He doesn't look like he could possibly only be 7 weeks old, but he sure is.  I love that boy so much, even if he does wake up every time I lay him down in the day time.  Some days that is super frustrating for sure.  I feel really stuck some days.  But then I remember that right now while I'm not creating oodles of crafty things, I am creating a boy who knows he is loved, and that is pretty well worthwhile.  So I'll try to keep my frustrations at bay and work on that for now.  I love his smiles.  He is so sweet. :) He smiles at me all the time, and with his eyesight improving (like babies' eyesight always does), he can see me and recognize me from further away, so I get even more smiles.  It's awesome. :) It's amazing to see him growing and learning.  He is working really hard on learning to move his arms and legs purposefully.  He has learned to like bathies.  And as always, he has 5 brothers and a sister who are all crazy for him.  He is a pretty lucky guy.

Well, I have typed for too long.  I will try to get Timmy's post done next week.  I just needed to hurry and get this other stuff done before I forgot it. :)

Crafty

That crafty little fella has gotten me good!  I brought him in from the car and smelled that he needed changed.  I laid him on my lap after gathering the things I needed to change him, and he spit up on my pants.  Then before did up the straps done up he started pooping again.  He pooped for a long time, at least by his standards.  I gave him a good 5 minutes to finish up before attempting to change him again.  Lo and behold, it wasn't just regular poop, though.  It was diarrhea, and it quickly leaked out of his diaper onto my other pant leg.  I hurried to clean that and his bum, also cleaning the bit of poop he pooped onto his leg while I was getting a clean diaper in position.  Then before I got that diaper strapped on he wet on me, thereby spreading the third of 3 different bodily fluids across my lap in less than 10 minutes.  Crafty, I say!  (Shame on me for letting it happen, though!  What am I?  A novice?)

A Long Old Birth Story

Alrighty, guys. It is fall break and I am determined to get this thing written before fall break is over and we have to be doing school all day every day again. I did kind of write some notes about it the day before we came home from the hospital. I'm afraid it's going to be a lot about me, but I'm afraid that's the best I can do. And it may be a bit TMI. Oh, well. And not only do I only know my own perspective, but the little guy has done awesome. He is a good baby and doesn't complain much. Maybe it's also one of those “squeaky wheel gets the grease” kind of deals, but you can know that he is such a joy to have around! I like to wake up early in the morning sitting in my chair after falling asleep nursing him and just look down at his sweet face and watch him sleep. He is such a beautiful little one. And though he is growing and will be a whole month old on Sunday, I love feeling how tiny he is. I love hearing his little cry, even if it is changing. I love how he catches my eye and either smiles or starts waving his arms and legs and smacking his lips like he's trying to say, “Hey, I know you!” And he is getting to be quite good at burping. :D

So without further ado, here is Brom's birth story.

We showed up at the hospital at 10:30 for our 12:30 scheduled C-section. We let them know we were there and got all registered. Then we sat and waited. Laurie came and sat with us after a few minutes. That was fun. :) So we sat and chatted... and chatted... and chatted... I was getting horribly uncomfortable sitting in that chair all that time. I'm not sure why I didn't just get up and move around. It's probably because it is dang hard and painful to get up when you're 9 months pregnant! Anyway, after a whole hour had passed we went and asked if they'd forgotten us. It turned out that they had forgotten to call the people in the OR to tell them we were there. Meanwhile the people in the OR were waiting and wondering. Ha, ha! The sad thing is, that is not the first time I have been forgotten while sitting in that very waiting room. When I was pregnant with Timmy I went there for a level 2 ultrasound and got stuck sitting there for an hour. I asked them if they'd forgotten me, and it turned out that they had indeed. And nobody offered a word of apology. And one lady kind of grouched like it was my fault they forgot.

Anyway, moving on.

So the ladies from the OR came and got us. The last 2 times I have waited for delivery in triage before delivery, but this time and also with Michael they took us right into the OR recovery room to wait. I was afraid they'd make us wait another hour since we got started late, but they said, “We'll get you started and just hurry up.” We sat there and chatted some more. It was fun to have Laurie there. And Jeremy didn't have to go away to change since this time they just gave him a jumpsuit that went over his clothes. He painted my toenails while we waited. It was kind of funny. :) And Dr. Joe was early! I don't think he has ever been early! He was even like 45 minutes late for one of them. I think it was Jill.

After we had waited a while Jeremy needed food, so Laurie went and got him some ginger ale, apple juice, graham crackers, and peanut butter. He ate it all and felt better. The poor guy usually gets nauseous and ready to faint. Who can blame him? You take your wife in to get cut open and just hope it all works out. And you may or may not see your wife cut open. Not so cool. Well, I am glad the hospital takes care of the poor dads like that.

So they wheeled my bed to the operating room and had me skootch onto the table. I was glad that Laurie could stay and chat with Jeremy while he waited in the recovery room for them to get me all prepped. I was really nervous about getting anesthesia and getting cut open. It freaks me out. I kind of sit there anticipating what it will feel like. I wonder if that's why I often do the same right before my hands get wet. Weird, I know. Anyway, I sat on the table and hunched my back like a good girl. I was kind of freaking out, but I remembered that I had had Jeremy give me a blessing that morning before we left. I prayed and remembered that I would feel that one poke and then I wouldn't feel anything. The anesthesiologist scrubbed my back and jabbed me with that dang needle. And then I suddenly felt TERRIBLE. My chest felt tight and heavy and I felt like I couldn't breathe. And I felt nauseated as well. Man! I told them how I was feeling and they just kind of scratched their heads, wondering why, and moved on. Thank heavens it passed quickly. I've never had that happen before! And then after I laid down Richard, the guy who sits by my head to monitor me, brought me a blanket from the warmer for my arms and chest. It felt wonderful. (See, they have me lay on the table with my arms spread to the side. And they were cold.) They shaved my tummy (Gross!) and inserted the catheter. (Ew! But thank heavens they waited until after anesthesia. It's definitely better that way.) And they scrubbed my tummy with Betadine.

Dr. Joe came in and things started to get busy. And Jeremy came in just as they were putting up the blue paper that shields my view so I don't have to see anything. He sat down and kind of ducked down and started talking to me about how he was getting this and that arranged with the Relief Society. I think it really helped him because he didn't feel like fainting at all this time. He talked through most of the surgery and didn't look over the shield.

It wasn't long before Richard asked if I could feel something sharp on my tummy. Nope. (I think that Richard is actually the same guy I've had for at least the last 2 deliveries.) But soon I did feel lots of pressure as they pushed hard on my tummy to get Brom positioned right. And then suddenly my tummy felt lighter and Brom was out! He cried and Richard told us to look to our left to see him as he was taken to the warmer.   Of course, he was howling and dang cute!  Jeremy asked me if I was OK, and then he went over to the warmer too. I was crying, and Richard asked if I was OK too. I said, “Yeah. I'm just happy.” He grabbed a Kleenex and dabbed my eyes.

I liked that they had the warmer right where I could see it. I could look over and see his little legs going. He pooped all over the blankets as soon as they sent him in the warmer. (I knew he was ready to be born that day! I could just feel it. And he had been bumping around a lot that morning like he was saying, “Let me out!”)

I heard the nurses at the warmer talking about how they'd have to be sure to put a diaper on the guy before bringing him to see me, and pretty soon Jeremy brought him over by my head. He was all wrapped up in a blanket with a little hat too. The nurses took pictures of the three of us.

Dr. Joe was busy stitching me up. Usually around the time he gets done I feel suddenly nauseated, but this time I just felt like I had a burp stuck in my throat for a bit. That's not so bad. :)

Soon Brom was ready to go to the recovery room. Usually the nurse lets Jeremy carry him, but this one didn't. And then I think he said she carried him like a football while she carried a bunch of other stuff. What the...?

When I was all done, Dr. Joe said, “Well, you did good,” and then left like he was in a hurry. The OR people kind of rocked me side to side with this board thing to move me from the table to my bed, and they covered me up and took me back to the recovery room. I felt really tired! I definitely didn't sleep enough the night before! I was up late trying to get things cleaned up and ready at home, and then I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep for a while.

The nurses had weighed Brom in the operating room. He was 8 lbs. 13 oz. and 21.5 inches long. (And his official birth time was 12:52 PM.) In the recovery room, one of the nurses said, “He feels a lot heavier than that!” She weighed him again. That time it said 8 lbs. 13.4 oz. If we go by that weight, he weighs .1 oz. more than Timmy, who was our previous heaviest baby. I'm not sure which to go by. Hmmm...

Laurie stayed for a while longer, and then my parents came. :) I was glad they all were able to be there and meet the little guy! And Jeremy took a picture with his phone and texted it to people.

My blood oxygen thing kept beeping. Usually, the nurses just come and tell me to breathe deeper. This time they just turned it up or down so it wouldn’t be so sensitive. Yea! :D I kept wanting to sleep, but I couldn't. After a while the nurse told me it was time for skin-to-skin time, and she stuck Brom in my shirt. I actually like that little bonding time, and they have found that it is really beneficial for newborns.

I started feeling a bit of a stinging feeling in my tummy. They told me that I should get medicine as soon as I start to feel it because I wouldn't want to feel it full-force. They started me on morphine in my IV, and I got more of it off and on until the next day, I think. Oh, how I despised that stuff! It rushed into my system and made me feel funny.

Then we were moved upstairs to the room I would stay in for the rest of the time at the hospital. I was in room 211C.

I had a really hard time with pain the first couple of days. Looking back, I think it was probably mostly after-pains (those dreadful continuing contractions). They were absolutely dreadful this time! And the morphine did nothing for them. When I was able to take medicine by mouth they switched me to Percocet, and that helped a bit. It wasn't until sometime during day 2 that they started giving me Ibuprofen too, and that made me way more comfortable! I was so thankful! As long as I kept up with the medicine schedule I was relatively pain-free and could move a lot easier. That was nice. :)

Another thing that was hard this time was going to the bathroom. I know. TMI. But it's true. The anesthesia puts everything to sleep. A while after they pulled out the catheter I was supposed to get up and go to the bathroom and walk around. I felt like I really needed to go, but hardly anything came out. An hour or two later it was way worse, but still nothing would come out. They even brought in some peppermint to try to help me relax. It was a horrible ordeal. But it all worked out in the end. And just so you know, it takes like 5 days for one's bowels to follow the bladder's lead and get with the program after a C-section. Way fun! And they don't let you have anything with too much fiber until you can at least pass gas. Whee!

As usual, even though it kind of hurt it felt so good to get up and move around. At first I kind of shuffle around. It takes forever to get anywhere. But man, does it feel good to be up! I did a lot of laps while in the hospital. I was glad then I was unplugged from the IV and could push Brom's cart around instead of my IV tree. (For one thing, Brom is a lot more fun to look at as I shuffle around than the IV machine.) They found that I had a fever sometime on the second day, so they left my IV in extra long. They thought it might have been just my milk coming in (I think it was), but they wanted to be sure. After a while they unplugged the fluid drip and just left the port in my arm, just in case they would need it again, but they didn't. They also brought in a funny thing for me to suck on. I was supposed to do it like a game. It measures how high you get the thing each time, and then you're supposed to beat your record, sucking on it like 6 times an hour. Jeremy had a fun time playing with it too. :)

We found out that the TV in our room had not only regular TV but also some movies. That was fun. :) We watched one that was kind of dumb first and then some that were good. Jeremy had seen The Hunger Games and wanted me to see it too. I finally gave in and we watched it. It is pretty stressful! I didn't like feeling stressed over a movie. There are other movies that are suspense-filled without being stressful that I just like better. And we watched Snow White and the Huntsman. That was also Jeremy's idea. I didn't like it at all. It was nice to have movies to watch, though. Last time, not only was I dealing with a colicky baby, but I didn't have any sort of distraction, so I was BORED! This was better, even with the movies I didn't like so much.

But best of all was being with Jeremy and Brom. Jeremy is wonderful. He helped a lot. I love him, and I loved having some time with him. I loved walking those halls with him at my side. He is so fun to be with! And it was so nice getting to know Brom. He melts my heart. I like to keep him near and just look at him. I liked not having to put him down. We also found that he's a good eater and will take a pacifier. Yea!

When Brom was (I believe) about 12 hours old he had been gagging like he was trying to throw up for a while.  I kept hearing him in his bed during the night and worrying.  At one point our nurse came in and noticed it too.  She said he might have some mucus or something stuck inside his tummy that needed suctioned out.  She asked if we wanted her to try.  Yes, please!  So the poor fella got his stomach pumped before he was even a day old.  She wheeled him off and took care of him.  When she brought him back he was all swaddled and looked like he felt better.  Hooray!  She had a tube that was about 1/2 inch in diameter, and she showed us how much stuff she'd gotten out of there.  There was a good 3 inches or so of guck in there.  She said that with all that in his tummy he would be hungry but not be able to get full, and he would keep gagging because it was stuck.  Poor fella.  I am so very thankful she could help him out!  And he did eat better after that.

I think I am going to just quote directly from what I wrote now. My notes got less like notes and more detailed the longer I wrote, so I may as well. :)

“I loved watching people meet Brom. Yesterday (Saturday) Tom and Jennifer came. And then Jeff and Laurie came with their boys. Both groups brought Jeremy a bunch of food. Hooray! It was fun for me to watch Jeff talk to Brom. I loved that. And after they were gone, Grandma Burk came with our other children. Oh, how I miss them! And Anne came today. :)

“Today we read scriptures (well, listened on Jeremy's phone) and listened to the RS/Priesthood lesson. I was thankful to have that bit of church today. We did lots of laps and watched some movies. So far I haven't stayed awake through any except this last one. But I don't like it, so I'm writing instead. (That was Snow White.)

“I'm so happy that Brom is here, and I'm looking forward to going home tomorrow!

“About the kiddos coming here: The door opened and they all stood in the hallway just looking at me for a bit. Brom was laying in his bed fussing, and I didn't feel like I could get up and get him because the back of my gown was open. Ha, ha! I told them all, “Go see him!” Hyrum came in first. He gave me a hug and told me he missed me. Then Benji did the same. Then the rest. They are all such Mama's boys, whether they'd admit it or not. I like it. ;) They all loved the little guy and squabbled a bit over whose turn it was to hold him.

“Jill was the first to hold him after Grandma. She looked so pretty with her hair up in a ponytail. She was wearing her pink Badger shirt from the campout this summer. It's her favorite right now. She squeezed her little bum onto the recliner with Grandma, and Grandma helped her hold Brom. Joshua had something to tell me about what they’d been doing, as usual. Michael sneaked in and got to hold Brom right after Jill, I think. Maybe it was really Benji. Either way, Hyrum wasn't pleased. ;) And then there was Timmy. He would look at me and smile, but he would not come near me. I kind of expected that, but it is still very unlike him. He loves his mommy quite a bit. He did let Papa hold him, and he talked about the clock on the wall. And he talked a bit about baby, but he didn't want anything to do with me. Silly boy.”

The next day I wrote, “We're going home today! I cannot wait to have my whole family together and convince Timmy to cuddle with me and hear everything they all have to say.

“And just now the pediatrician declared Brom ready for discharge, and then he pooped on her jacket. Ha, ha! Good thing she has a sense of humor.”

We ended up waiting a lot longer than we thought we would on the day of discharge. We had to wait for my staples to come out and for Dr. Joe to check me and tell me I could go. In the afternoon (I want to say around 3:00), Dr. Joe called to say he wasn't going to make it in to see me that day. There was just too much going on. He said we could wait until the next day or just check out and pick up my prescription at his office on our way out of town. We decided to check out and pick up the prescription.

I don't know why, but it seems like I get all stressed out every time we go to check out of the hospital. Something always goes wrong or doesn't feel quite right. It is silly! This time was no exception. But I remembered that that was likely to happen and just tried to calm myself down. Poor Jeremy!

Well, I got my staples out and got my discharge papers. The nurse fudged a bit on medicine time and gave me some Percocet a little bit early. Thank heavens! I changed into real clothes and Jeremy got Brom dressed. He also brought in Brom's car seat, and we got him all buckled in after I nursed him one last time. Brom looked so cute and tiny all buckled in there in real clothes! And then we were on our way.

We stopped for the prescription and then we stopped for a bit of food at Bashas' in Gold Canyon. When we got into town we hurried to Fry's to drop off my prescription, but they said it was too late and sent us to Wal-Mart. Anyway, we did get that dropped off, and Jeremy picked it up later. Thank heavens!

Jeremy helped a lot with keeping medicine in me over the next few days. I was so thankful! And my mama came and stayed with us until Brom was 2 weeks old. She did lots of cleaning, and she helped me a lot by getting a bunch of clothes sorted and put away. She also spent a lot of time taking care of Jill and Timmy while I did school with the older boys. Thank heavens for her! And Grandma Burk and Becca watched all the kiddos for like 4 days. And my dad came and brought us some of their old cabinets from their kitchen that they're remodeling. Hooray! And the Relief Society brought us 9 dinners. Hooray! I've been so thankful for all this help, especially Mama's, Jeremy's, and Mom's. And I am thankful for my wonderful children, even when they are boogers sometimes about housework and schoolwork. I feel pretty blessed that my body has held up fine and that it is possible for me to have them all.

And there you go. Right now I'm doing great. By the time Brom was a week or a week and a half old I was pretty much pain free. It is fun to be shaped like a girl again and feel cute and like I can do so much. I still have some limits to what I'm allowed to do, but I love being able to move so freely. (That last month of that pregnancy was a killer.) I still get pain in my hip if I do a lot of running around. That is not fun. And now we have allergies that have been just awful. I spent a good part of the day on Saturday sleeping through Conference because I was too bowled over to keep my eyes open. And I spent a lot of Sunday wheezing and coughing. It was dreadful! I think we need to look into allergy shots one of these days. Jeremy's been wheezing way worse and way more often than I have, as usual. Poor guy.

But yeah. Overall we are doing good. I'm healing and the little guy is dang cute, and we are blessed!

Tidbits

Just wanna be quick here. 

The night before last I was rocking Brom at bed time, and Timmy joined in too.  I was holding them both on my lap and watching them sleep.  I kept thinking that some great mystery of life should be revealed to me at that sweet moment.  Wouldn't that be poetic?  Well, it didn't happen.  What I did feel was very thankful.  I have all these beautiful children, and being able to take care of them and help them have all they need is one of my greatest sources of satisfaction.  It is such a great gift.

Poor Brom had a hard afternoon yesterday.  The runs made its way through Jeremy and me over the weekend, and it seemed quite apparent that Brom now had it.  And to top it off, he had diaper rash again.  My tiny ones seem to get diaper rash like nobody's business.  You'd think I don't change them every second! ;) Anyway, the little guy cried and cried and cried.  When he finally calmed down and took a nap it was such a welcome relief!  I am thankful!  Now I just need to make sure that little bum heals up.  He's got a gooey belly button too, so I've been swabbing that.  All these little complications.  Poor fella.  Life's already rough enough just being such a new little guy!

I went to the doctor on Tuesday.  Jeremy took me, and Grandma Burk and Becca watched the kiddos except Brom.  It was nice to have a day out with Jeremy.  And the doctor told me I must have that "quick healing gene" because my incision looks like an old scar now.  I have noticed that there's a red part in the middle, and I wonder if it'll stay that way.  At least it's not an infection.  It definitely looks different after each kid.  And another nice thing about going to the doctor was finding out that I have lost about 18 lbs. since the little guy was born.  It is fun to wear regular clothes again, even if they are on the big side of regular.  And I have pockets!  Woo! 

And another great thing - I am allowed to lift up to 25 lbs. now and I can drive.  That still isn't enough lbs. for lifting Jill or Timmy.  It's hard to drive anywhere without having to lift Timmy because he likes to bounce around all over the car.  Argh!  Well, it won't last.  Brom will be 3 weeks tomorrow, and I think at 6 weeks everything will be healed enough for me to go about things as usual.  It's nice to be able to drive, though.  That meant that the boys were able to go to scouts yesterday.  And I was able to run to the store for milk in the morning.  And in the evening I was able to go get dinner after dropping Hyrum and Joshua off at scouts.  Somebody was supposed to bring us dinner last night, I thought, but we never heard anything from anybody about it.  We waited until 7:00 and decided they weren't coming, so I just grabbed dinner on the way home from dropping the boys off and felt thankful again that I could drive!  But I am glad today that I don't really have anywhere to go.  Phew!