Grandpa Christensen and Aunt Hanna's Visit

For almost 2 weeks now my dad and sister Hanna have been visiting. We have had so much fun with them. It's not often we get visitors and when we do it's not more then a day or two. My kids really soaked up their Grandpa's attention. Maddie loves her grandpa!

Hanna was working on her personal progress. Almost everyday she was here she did Maddie's hair and Emily's is she would let her. She was learning a new skill. Thanks to shedoeshairblogspot.com Hanna many different hair do's to try out.

Maddie of course loved her time with Aunt Hanna.

We had so much fun with Grandpa we hope he comes again soon. Maybe next time Grandpa can come along too. We love you!

Front Yard

This month celebrates 2 years in our home. In the past 2 years we have brought in 5 loads of dirt, 2 loads of AB (for the driveway), moved the culvert, extended the culvert, and moved the driveway to the other side of the house making room for our garden. Last fall we started building our rock wall seperating the front yard and the driveway. For one reason or another it turned into an unfinished project. My dad and sister Hanna have been here visiting and with there help the wall is nearly finished and the landscaping has once again began. On monday with everyones help the wall was dug out. Cement was poured,

rocks were placed,

more dirt dug out,

and many, many more rocks were placed.

Tuesday and Wednesday the yard was leveled, plastic layed and rocks were purchased.

Kory's truck being parked in the middle of the yard prevented from taking some good picts. Tommorrow morning one more load of AB will be brought home for the driveway. Rocks will be brought home during the lunch break and another load after work. 2 more loads should about cover the front yard. Once the driveway is leveled again we can top the rock wall and then that will be completed. All I can say is it's really looking good. Being our monsoon season has begun it will be great not having so much mud being tracked into the house. Thankyou Dad and Hanna for all the help you've given us while you've been here.

Hunter's Graduation

I've downloaded these pictures twice now and did it backwards. So this time we'll tell the story backwards. After the kindergarten ceremony everyone was invited to the cafeteria for cake and punch in celebration. Hunter recieving his graduation certificate.

Hunter's class singing and dancing for the parents. Hunter really got into the dance part. Hunter is on the front row 2nd from the right. You can see his full body!

Hunter wainting patiently for the ceremony to begin.

He is so excited to be in 1st grade. He's really looking forward to the part of eating lunch at school. I'm going to miss him being gone all day. I'm so glad he enjoys school and looks forward to going back.

Maddie's Kindergarten Shots

It seems like I just did this with Hunter. Several weeks ago I registered Maddie for kindergarten for this upcoming year. 2 weeks ago Maddie received a letter from her future school welcoming her and reminding her that she needed to get her shots before school started.

My sister Hanna is visiting with us so I made Maddie's appt with her being here. This way I won't have to take everyone with us. I was quite nervous for this appt. beacuse the last time I took Maddie in she *FREAKED*. Emily was with us and I had her got 1st. When Maddie realized she was next she ran out of the room and down the hallway screaming all the way. I had to chase after her and literally drag her back to the room. I have *NEVER* been so mortified and embarrassed in my life. Hince why I was so nervous about this appt.

I didn't tell Maddie what we were doing. I just asked her to come along with me. When we pulled up in front of the building she asked if we were there for Brayden. I told her no we were actually there for her. She just stared at me and after a few moments she said," I'm getting my kindergarten shots". I told her she was and that she needed to be really brave and strong. If she didn't get these shots she wouldn't be able to go to kindergarten. She said she could be brave and do this. Since she told me she would be brave I told her that if she was I would take her to Claire's at the mall and give her $5. She was quite excited to hear this. After waiting 30min. in the waiting room we were finally taken back. The nurse commented on how slow Maddie was walking and how she must be a little nervous. We get in the room and the nurse tells us that Maddie will be recieving 4 shots. She proceeds to fill all 4 syringes in front of us. (Can this not be done before we get to the room!) Finally the nurse is ready, she has Maddie climb up on my lap and wrap her arm around me with me holding her other hand. The nurse lifts her sleeve up pulls out the alcohol wipe and cleans the area. The nurse picks up the 1st syringe, she pinches Maddie's arm and her phone rings. Can you believe she says, Oh just a moment, puts the syringe down and talks on the phone for a few minutes. (Can we prolong this anymore? I mean seriously I wanted to beat the nurse over the head with her phone.) After her phone conversation Maddie finally received her 1st 2 shots. It was at this point Maddie started to cry and didn't want anymore. Can you blame her? I flipped her around and as quickly (NOT!!) as this nurse moves we finally got the last 2 shots. I told Maddie she did a wonderful job and I would take her to Claire's. I thought Maddie would choose a necklace or bracelts but the Princess Sunglasses won her heart. She told me she liked wearing them on top of her head just like Grandma Christensen.

She loves the glasses. She's taken them off long enough to have her bath and go to sleep. Other then that they've been glued to her face. You did good Maddie. Thankfully your done until you turn 11. 2 children down just 2 more to go. Unfortunately I'm just starting with one of them.

Brayden's 3 week old

Monday was my due date along with Brayden's 3week check up. Where has the time gone by???His lungs are remaining clear which is such a relief. He now weighs 9lbs. 20z. and is 22 inches long. Some of his newborn outfits are getting a little snug.

It's a little different having 4 now but we are all adjusting well.

Brayden's 1st Photo Shoot

This morning I took Brayden to a very good friends house for his 1st photo shoot. April did an amazing job. I wasn't sure how well Brayden would be with us squishing him and constantly changing his position. To our delight he did an awsome job and was quite cooperative. These are a few of my favorites. O.K so there's more then just a few.

The above is one of my absolute favorites. I love the way he's curled up, just like newborns do.

The outfit above was one of the few I saved from Hunter. I had to get a picture of Brayden in it. It's also one of the few that his eye's are opened.

I love the way the above turned out. He looks so small.

All that hair!!

Isn't he cute!

I am so glad this picture turned out. Even though he now weighs over 8 lbs and is 21 inches long it shows his size compared to a baseball mitt. He will be 2weeks old on monday.

I saved his hat from his 1st and hopefully last helicopter ride. We had to get a picture of him wearing it without all the bells and whistles that came along with it. Thank you again April for such a great morning.

To see more pictures of Brayden you can go to my side bar of friends and click on Schultz family. From her blog click on A.S Photography (on the right hand side right above her buddie list) and then on Brayden's name.

Brayden's Stay in the NICU

Friday morning I drove myself down to Phoenix to spend the weekend with Brayden. When I arrived I just wanted to cry. His IV in his leg didn't last 12hours and so being he had already had an IV in both hands they put his new one in his head. Being I myself had just had 2 IV's while in Prescott I felt for him. They hurt going in, they hurt when meds are given, they ache continually and I think the worse is when they undo the tape and pull the dang thing out. Throughout friday the oxygen that was given to him was slowly being lowered. By saturday morning he was just receiving air and by noon the tubes were taken out.

I was able to nurse him for the 1st time friday late afternoon. I was once again able to nurse him saturday morning. By saturday evening he was doing well with the nursing that they took his feeding tube out.

On sunday another chest x-ray was taken and showed that his phnemonia was improving and that WE should be able to come home sometime on wed. Feeling disapointed that it wasn't going to be on tuesday like I wanted I came home that evening to spend some time with my other kiddo's, sleep in my own bed and be able to pump in my own house. During the evening when I am not there Brayden is fed through a bottle using the milk I bring to him.

Sunday before leaving the hospital Kory and I were asked to leave his car seat so that a car seat test could be performed in the next day or two. He has to be able to pass this test before he is released. He's strapped into the car seat and then sat on the floor. He's hooked up to more wires that monitors his heart beat and oxygen levels. Being we live where we do instead of the test lasting for 30min. like for those who live near the Valley his test lasts for 1hour and 15min.
When I arrived at the hospital monday morning I was told he had been tested during the night and failed. Talk about FRUSTRATION!! Mid morning the nurse practioner came in to talk to me. She talked about the car seat test and wanted to try it again that afternoon. She said the nurse that did the test during the night started it about 30min. before his next scheduled feeding. He only lasted 40 minutes. This time she wanted the test done right after a feeding. So after his next feeding I strapped him in and the nurse applied all the wires. He lasted an hour in a half and was still doing great. YEAH!!! The nurse said all we're waiting on now is for the last of his meds to be given. Instead of having to wait until wed. we had a good chance that we could come home on tuesday. Yeah! Not wanting my hopes to be dashed again I didn't let myself get too excited.

Late monday afternoon as I was getting ready to head home for hopefully my last night without my baby, Brayden' doctor came in to check on him. His doctor just happened to be the same doctor that was visiting the Prescott hospital right after he was born. She and Brayden's current doctor had many consultation's on what was best for Brayden before he was flown away. After flipping through his chart like a maniac several times she finally stopped on a page and said, "When do you want to go home?" I replied, "since I'm starting to commute every day now I'd love to be able to take him home tommorrow instead of wed." She then replied, "why wait until tommorrow? If you can stick around for his last dose of antibiotics tonight, make him an appt. for tommorrow with his pediatrican I'll start the discharge papers and you can take him home tonight." YIPPEE!!! I stuck around for as long as it took and was able to bring my baby home monday evening. Thankyou Heavenly Father. My mom was the only one who knew about this sudden change. When I got home I unloaded all of my stuff and then the girls came out to the van with me to "help" with what was left. I wish my camera had been working to catch the expressions on the girls faces when they saw Brayden buckled up in his car seat. Maddie went running inside telling Hunter he had to come see what was in the van. Needless to say the kids were thrilled to be able to touch and hold there new brother for the 1st time.

Beisde having a horrible 1st night home I am so grateful that we were able to come home when we did. I feel blessed that being born 3 weeks early he did weigh 8 pounds, phnemonia was the only thing we had to deal with. It was a humbling experience sitting in the NICU over the apst several days talking with a few parents and learning about there story. We were truly blessed with not having to face a possible fatal illness. We knew that sometime "next week" we would be bringing Brayden home. There were several parents there that have had their child there for several weeks and still had several weeks ahead of them. Just going through what we did this past week I will feel so much more sympathetic to those in the future that end up having an experience with a child in the hospital.

When the batteries are charged again I will take some pictures of the newest member of the family without all the bells and whistles he's been attached to for so many days now. Stay tuned...

NICU

Kory and I arrived at Banner-Thunderidge Hospital wednseday afternoon to see Brayden. I had my bags packed and had every intention of staying with Brayden until he would be released. Braydens room consists of this incubator that is hooked up to several different large machines that are all monitoring something. He has a sink to wash hands and a 4ft. couch. This is all. No TV, phone or bathroom. The nearest bathroom is down the hall and around the corner. Every 3 hours the lid to Brayden's incubator is raised, his diaper is checked, all the wires and monitors are looked over. At this time if Brayden's heart beat is beating at a normal pace and he's not struggling breathing he can be fed a bottle with 2 teaspoons of milk in it. This is called his comfort food. He still has an IV so at this point he's still getting his nutirion through it. If he is able to take a bottle as soon as it is gone he is burped and then placed back in the incubator for another 3 hours. It is true he does better undisturbed but I struggle being told I can only hold him for a few minutes every 3 hours.

Yesterday while there I was able to change my 1st diaper. I can't tell you how exciting this was. While his monitors were being checked Kory was able to hold his pacifier in his mouth and I could rub his little leg. He didn't seem to upset with our touch and so a chair was brought in and I was able to sit and feed him for my 1st time. He drank his 2 teaspoons and burped a few times. Becuase he wasn't getting upset the nurse allowed me to hold him for about 30 minutes. This was the longest I have been able to hold him.

During the hours of 6:30 -8 each morning and night the doctors and nurses get together and talk about each patient. Because each child is being talked about parents and visitors are asked to leave during these times each day. After learning I'd have to leave at least 3 hours of each day, only being able to touch Brayden for a few minutes every 3 hours and IF his vitals were where they were suppose to be I could hold him for a few more minutes, and not having a car a good cry later I decided not to stay at the hospital and come home.

Yesterday it was determined that Brayden does have Phnemonia. He will be treated for this through his IV for a total of 7 days. Being he started the antibiotics while he was still in Prescott we are being told he should beable to come home next tue/wed. His oxygen is improving and we are being told that sometime tommorrow there is a great chance that he will be taken off the oxygen completely. Also starting tommorrow they hope to be able to feed him more then just his comfort foods. By saturday the goal is to have him nursing.

The current plan is Kory and I will be going down sometime tommorrow (friday). We will both probably stay in the valley until sunday. We will spend the day hours at the hospital and then the evenings with Kory's uncle who lives in Mesa. Sunday night we may both come back to Prescott and then Monday morning I will be able to drive myself back to the hospital and have transportaion until Brayden is released.

My mom is staying with us helping out with the big kids. This has been such a blessing allowing Kory and I to be able to go back and forth to be with Brayden. It's a relief knowing that Grandma is home taking care of our other children while we are with Brayden. Thankyou everyone for your prayers for our family, they are being felt.

Brayden Hancock Heaton

Monday April 27, 2009 I woke up about 6 am having contractions. I had a dr's appt. that morning at 9:15 and was anxious to see if my body was doing anything. I was still having contractions but they weren't very consistent. When my dr. checked me I was dialated to a 3-4. Being I was at a 2 for 3 weeks now I was quite pleased. I was told if I could get my contractions at a steady pace and not stop I could go ahead on in to the hospital. At 2pm I called Kory and asked him to come home and get ready to go. By the time we got the kids settled at a friends house and made it to the hospital it was about 3pm.

I was immediately taken back to a triage room where I was hooked up to monitors. This triage room determines whether I would be sent to Labor and Delivery or sent home. The monitors showed that my contractions were every 5 minutes and I was still only dialated to a 3-4. I let the nurse know that at home walking around the contractions would be 2-3 minutes, just sitting doing nothing the contractions would stay about 5 minutes. She was about to let me out of bed to walk around when for some reason there was a shift change. The new nurse came in as I was getting out of bed. When she heard I was 37weeks to the day she said "absolutely not, your still too early I want you laying here doing nothing to see if we can get the contractions to stop!". So for the next hour I layed in the triage room not able to do a thing. My contractions were still about every 5 minutes. However after laying there for an hour when checked I was now dialated to a 5. The nurse went ahead and sent us to Labor and Delivery. The anesthesiologist was soon called and I soon received the epidural. By 6pm I wasn't feeling anything and I was dialated to an 8. My doctor was called, when she got there my water was broken and then we played the waiting game. Brayden Hancock Heaton decided to make his entrance at 8:21pm.
He weighed 8 lbs. even and was 20.5 inches long. Not to bad for a baby born 3 weeks early. Kory cut the unbilical cord and I was able to hold Brayden for the 1st time. Being it was much later then expected Kory took off to pick up the kids and get them home and into bed. His plan was to bring the kids back up early the next morning. Brayden of course was soon taken from my chest to be wiped down and measured and all the other things they do to a new born. When he was taken from me he soon started to cry and didn't stop. After just a few minutes of crying Brayden began grunting and heavily breathing. He was taken to the nursery to be monitored a little closer. It wasn't very long after he had been taken to the nursery that a pediatrician was called. Brayden was soon put on oxygen and hooked up to several machines monitoring things I had no idea they monitored.

After several hours of different tests and x-rays it was discovered that Brayden had very wet lungs. More tests were ordered but we wouldn't know anything definite for several more hours. As a per caution knowing that phnemonia was a possibility he was started on some antibiotics through an IV.

Tuesday mid morning he had another chest x-ray done which showed no improvement. A neonatal doctor from Phoenix just happened to stop by. After Brayden's pediatricain consulted with this specialist it was decided the best thing for Brayden was to be taken to a NICU down in Phoenix. By 3 pm the paperwork was started for me to be discharged and Brayden to be taken to Phoenix in a bright yellow helicopter. Kory waited for my mom to get here from Utah and brought her and the kids up to see there new baby brother. Unfortunately the kids had to stay behind the glass to see him. Kory was able to hold him for the 1st time and give Brayden a blessing before he was taken to Phoenix. It was a hard day for me. Brayden was hooked up to so many machines that he had to stay in the nursery. I spent most of my time sitting in a rocking chair next to him. He was struggling with his breathing so much that I was told not to try nursing him. He was getting nutrition from his IV. Holding him seemed to put him in more distress so I was asked not to hold him either. I was able to sit by his bed and rub my finger along his arm or touch his head.

The helicopter finally made its appearance at 7:30 pm. The kids were able to see Brayden again on the way out of the hospital. We all sat in the van and watched as our newest addition to the family was flown to Phoenix. Due to the time I decided to go home and follow Brayden the next morning.

Pregnancy Update!

I keep getting asked how my pregnancy is going so I figured I might as well blog about it. As most of you are aware Hunter joined our family when I was 34 weeks along. My water broke early that morning and there was nothing that could be done but allow him to come and pray that his lungs were developed and he'd be healthy. Our prayers were answered. We stayed an extra 12 hours at the hospital than normal but we were able to come home together. Today there are no signs (despite being a little shorter then everyone else his age) that he came 6 weeks early. Kory and I moved to Prescott Valley in the middle of Hunter's pregnancy. For some reason at my last appt. with my Utah doctor we were discussing some of the causes for early child birth. She believed that some women's bodies couldn't handle the extra testosterone coming from the baby boys. So after I had Hunter I mentioned this to my current doctor and she rolled her eyes and laughed. So I was left not knowing what to think.

With both the girls pregnancy's I delivered in my 39th week. Knowing we are now having a boy I couldn't help but think about what my Utah doctor said about the extra testosterone. Last monday I was officially 34 weeks along and just happened to have a doctors appt that day. I mentioned that I had been having quite a few contractions during the past 2 weeks. Being I was scheduled for the Strep B test and had nothing on waist down she went ahead and checked me. To both of our surprise I was dialated to a 2. I was told to take it very easy for the next 7 days. Prescott is not equiped for a premature birth. If I were to go into labor that week I would be flown to Phoenix. I took the doctors advice to heart and have kept it easy going. I am now in my 35 week as of this past monday. I hope to wait it out at least another week. I'd like to be in my 36th week if we're going to have another early baby just for peace of mind. I continue to have contractions regardless of what I do. Early this morning in a little over an hour I had 9 consecutive contractions that took my breath away. They were hard, fast and they just hurt. I have forgotten how bad those suckers can hurt and how long they can last. The past few weeks the contractions were more just those annoying ones but these ones were different. I drank a few glasses of juice and sat down. Slowly but surely they eased up. I've continued to have them all day but now there every couple of hours, some are intense and some aren't. My next appt. is monday morning. It will be interesting to see where we're at.

With Maddie I went to the hospital 3x and got sent home. I was having intense contractions that were less then 5 min. apart so I went to the hopital. By the time I got there and was hooked up to the monitors the contractions were getting less and less intense and weren't doing anything so after a few hours they sent me home. I found this to be quite embarassing. I've always said I 'm not going to go through that again. So my plan is not to go in until I know that this little boy is coming and the hospital won't try to stop my labor. That's why I figure if I can wait until after this coming monday (36th week) we should be good to go. I am hoping that if this happens when the Doctor is called knowing I've been dialated to a 2 for at least 2 weeks by then and hopefully be at a 3/4 when I get to the hospital they won't try to stop my labor. So now coming up with my plan watch him wait and follow after the girls. I guess time will tell!

Mesa Easter Pageant

After dying the easter eggs on friday we loaded everyone up and headed down to Mesa. There we met Kory's cousin Saul and his family. They brought dinner for us and we all ate on blankets on the temple grounds waiting for the Easter Pageant to begin. This was our first year we attended the event. Before the show begins the characters/actors walk around and visit with the audience. Thanks to Tonya she was able to gather 8 of the 11 kids around the Roman Soldier for a group shot. We had a Johnson Family Reunion Saturday at a park where the kids had a blast. We had an easter egg hunt, games, canoeing, auction and lots of food to go around. We all had a great time visiting with extended family that we don't get to see often enough. I was dissapointed to discover my camera didn't make it for this trip so no picts of all the fun.