What a week!

So last week was pretty awesome! Saturday I was given a "surprise" baby shower. (Thanks Cassy, Laura, Mindy and Mom for all of your hard work!) It was SO beautiful! I really couldn't believe how lovely it turned out and how sweet and thoughtful the girls were to me. Jocelyn and Aimee were invited to come and they thought that was great. But just like me, I forgot to take pictures of the guests! Oh well. The rest of the day I finished doing research for my church lesson the next day (it was a bit of a procrastination week) which was good because I learned so much. Unfortunately, the next morning I woke up not feeling very well at all. Cody and I were up early making our traditional heart-shaped pancakes and decorating the table for Valentines. The kids were all so excited for Valentines and enjoyed the necklace and rose Cody gave them (Ben got pj's). Cody really gets into holidays and that is always fun for the kids. (Check out his "Mr. Napkin-head video".)
Then when we were getting ready for church I started feeling quite a bit worse. I was combing Joc's hair and I got so dizzy and tired! ( I couldn't lift my arms to brush her hair. Weird!) So my husband, the Sunday School Pres, insisted I couldn't go teach my Gospel Doctrine class and he went and did it for me on the fly. I stayed home and slept almost the whole block of church and when the fam came home I woke up, then went back to sleep for two more hours. That is crazy for me because I really never sleep during the day. I just couldn't stay awake and whenever I was awake I was so dizzy. Also a little cough was creeping in. That night was fun though because Cody, a hopeless romantic, made me his specialty, chicken enchiladas, rice pilaf and salad, and we ate by candlelight and danced on the kitchen floor. Then we snuggled and he stayed awake for an entire Jane Austen movie. That's love.

Monday was busy, but the highlight was my buddy Staci was given tickets to the Paul Cardall concert at Abravanel Hall. She was so sweet to invite me and even took me to dinner before the show. I felt so spoiled! Ü The concert was fabulous!!! Our seats were LITERALLY the best in the house and she'd been given permission to go back stage to meet everyone too! Paul, who I already know because he had his heart transplant last year and I've chatted with him and his wife so many times at the hospital, was so kind and gracious and I was really proud of him doing this amazing concert just five months after his transplant. And now to my "star struck" moment, there were some of Paul's friends in the music business performing as well including Mindy Gledhill (who is so talented and darling and gave Staci and I hugs!) but holy cow for me, I met Peter Breinholt! I totally LOVE his music (it's been my "happy place" for several years now) and it was awesome to see him perform, but even more awesome to meet him backstage where he chatted alone with me for like five or ten minutes! I froze with excitement. To say I embarressed myself would be the understatement of the century! He asked me my favorite song--I couldn't remember!!! Anyone that knows me knows I never run out of things to say, but I totally looked rediculous! Oh well, he was nice and Staci assured me he's probably used to "groupies" being silly around him. It was such a great night and the best part was being with Staci. She is a wonderful friend who really lifts me up and makes me happy.

But the next day, that little cough wasn't so little anymore. I felt yucky. Wednesday too, and finally I had to go to the dr. Pneumonia! Hello! I totally don't have time for that! Cody had gone with Joc on her school field trip,

her first time on a school bus!, which was fun for them. We were all up that whole night, Ben and Aimee had tummy aches and no one could sleep with me coughing like crazy. Thursday was the worst. I couldn't get out of bed if I wanted to so Cody had to stay home and be Mr. Mom. He did a great job and was so thoughtful to me. Each day I feel a little better. Thanks Laura for bringing us dinner that night!

On Friday I went to the baby dr. And here's the good news... I was already a 3 and 75%! (He said it was all that coughing, oh, and this is my fourth baby so my body kinda knows what to do by now.) And the baby is in the right position so any day now the little cutie could decide to make his or her appearance! My doctor scheduled the hospital for March 8 if I haven't gone on my own before then. That is two weeks from today! It is nice to have an ending date floating out there. It's like, worst case, I only have to make it till then! After the dr's we went and bought Ben his big boy car seat, finally! I have been lugging him around in his infant seat even though he is 15 months because I like that I can cover him at the store with all the germies around. But a big brother he will soon be and we have to get ready for the baby. Yeah!

And finally Saturday was a really great day too. Cody went to the temple in the morning with his presidency and I stayed home and did normal stuff; baths for the kids (all four of them! I did a hula hoop motion and said the water in my tummy was swishing around cleaning the baby inside. Jocelyn and Aimee thought I was nuts! Okay, I am. Ü) did some laundry, and we all got ready for...the IHH fundraiser at the Olympic Oval! That was a good time! I could really tell how much effort Staci, Jessica and all of the volunteers had put in. The girls went ice skating with Cody.


Again I wish I had taken more pictures. It was a really fun event with lots of good food and great company and it's always nice to see so many people you share the common bond with. Congenital Heart Defects affect sooo many people and I really feel like a family every time we get together. So that was really fun. I was way tired by the time we had to leave though but we had to hurry home and shove in dinner that was in the crock pot so we could make it to the wedding of Brad, one of Cody's best friends from high school. It was a beautiful reception and they were a lovely couple.

So much more happened this week and it felt like we were running nonstop. By Sunday we all needed a day of rest and it was totally pleasant. I am so much better now and we are busy with the new week ahead.

So Benny had his circumcision a week ago and is recovering well from that. And then yesterday he had his cath and biopsy. Dr. Day said everything went really well and the pressures in his heart looked pretty good. He was a little concerned about the spidery veins that are coming off his coronary on the right side of his heart because there are a lot of them and they go to his lungs not to his heart so he just said we'll have to watch it and make sure that it doesn't take away blood needed for the heart. But so far that looked okay and the leaky tricuspid valve looked okay too. We still haven't gotten the lab or biopsy (I guess they ended up taking 5 pieces of the heart out to run tests on) results back yet but should on Monday. We anticipate everything will be fine though. Ben had a bit harder time coming off he anesthetic this time and he was quite grouchy and restless. Not at all like his regular sweet temperment but we felt badly for him, he'd had a rough day and was so hungry and tired and the nurses kept waking him up! Cody and I were grouchy about that too. It was a REALLY long day, as they always are, and we were exhausted when we got home, but were so thankful to be home and not having to stay overnight. It was nice too to have seen quite a few of our friends and visit with them. I have another post about yesterday that I am working on but it's kinda emotional, so it might take a little bit to get up.

Who do you think I look the most like?

Jocey, Aimee, or Ben?
Am I a boy or a girl?

So I went to the ultrasound the other day and was completely reassured. The baby looks great, actually remarkably adorable!, and we couldn't see anything that wasn't just the way it should be. The baby has almost caught up to my due date, just two weeks behind now, so I'll have to try to wait until closer to March 15 if I can. Which might be easier said than done, I mean mentally-- I sorta get a little grouchy the last week or two, not that any of you can relate to that at all! But I have tons to do to keep me busy. The fun thing about having the ultrasound this late in my pregnancy is we were able to get some amazing pictures of the baby's face. That's why I haven't posted about the u/s until now--I've been trying to figure out my scanner so I can post the pics (working a toaster is technologically a challenge for me at times, don't laugh, I often have to ask Jocey to help me figure out the Blue Ray, the cell phone, or the IPod. With each year I think I am regressing mentally...) So I will try to get those up tonight, because they are so darn cute I have to show everyone!

Baby news...

Well lots of people have been asking for updates on the new baby. Yes I'm still prego, but I haven't posted about it in a while. Mostly everything's been going fine, I feel prego, which isn't always fabulous but that's okay.
So to answer the most popular questions, no, we don't know the baby's gender. We actually decided to be surprised this time around. It's pretty exciting having that surprise to look forward to and in fact we haven't even thought of the name possibilities yet. It's not that we don't care about the baby or even that we don't have time to think about it. I just have this picture in my mind of how fun it will be for Cody and I to have this little moment together when the baby's born. You know, it kinda feels a little routine for us, the fourth pregnancy, and he doesn't ask as many questions or carry around the "What To Expect When You're Expecting" book all the time like he had in the past and I haven't decorated the baby's room or anything like that yet. So I think it gives a sense of suspense to a road already traveled.
The other thing everyone asks is when is my due date and that's a tricky-er question. Technically it is March 5, but the dr's said they want me to hold off as long as I can up to March 15 because the baby has been measuring really small (I've been going every two weeks for several months to track the baby's growth and for a while it seemed to stop altogether) and they've been a bit concerned. I had my mega ultrasound at 22 weeks and a fetal echo at Primary's and both looked pretty great, but they are concerned enough that I have to repeat my mega ultrasound, tomorrow actually, to make sure the baby really is okay and doesn't have some form of birth defect or that it is still thriving inside me. My last dr's visit was a little more hopeful, so we'll just have to see how it goes tomorrow. I anticipate everything will be fine; I don't have any crazy "mom intuition" type feelings like I did with Benny. But really, one of my dr's main concerns is that I might have to deliver early and I seriously am not ready for that. I've been crazy busy in January and February looks really stressful too, but those things aren't important. We just have to make sure that the baby is doin' fine and I am sure everything will work out just according to plan (I mean Heavenly Father's plan, I learned a while ago that my plans never really work out Ü).
So that's about it. I am going to make a blankie for the baby in the next few weeks and we'll go through the kids clothes and pull out any that we can reuse and I'll get busy on this massive "To Be Done Before The Baby Comes" list and I'll let ya know when I know more.

Repeating the past?

I am not a very speedy blogger these days, well ever really, and there are so many things I never posted about. Gradually, as I think of them, I guess I'll go back and share some memories and pictures if I have them too. Here are two experiences from last year that are on my mind lately probably because we're close to reliving them again.
The first was when Benny had his G-tube put in last June. We knew it was really important for him, because he just wasn't getting enough nutrition and he couldn't have the tubes in his nose forever. But still it was a bummer to need another surgery, another hole in his body, another tube hanging out all of the time and of course, another stay at the hospital. I was trying to be positive the whole day but I was pretty bummed. Until...
...it was all over and he'd done great, didn't seem to mind it too much and really it did make life soooo much easier for him. He started gaining weight pretty soon and with occupational therapy coming every month he started eating on his own little by little and was actually making so much progress that the tube came OUT in December!!! Yeah! He has had a few set backs since then but overall he's doing great.
This is on my mind because Ben is having surgery next Friday to have his circumcision finally. It is out patient but it does have to be done under full anesthesia at Primary's since he is so grown up now (I guess the docs don't think that little one year old boys would hold very still while they snip around his diaper area.) Poor guy. But it's necessary, especially if you ask Cody!

Also I've been thinking about last June when we had the scariest phone call one afternoon after a long day at clinic. I had been told everything looked good while we were at the hospital, but that afternoon, we got the dreaded call that the cardiologists were pretty sure he was beginning to reject his heart. Aaaahhhh!!! I was shaking so much while they were explaining it to me on the phone...they'd looked over his last few echos and seen increasing changes...they'd been monitoring his blood work...but it all boiled down to the bottom line-- they were concerned enough that we would have to go back at 6am the next morning for an emergency heart cath and biopsy (where they take a small chunk of the heart out to test for rejection). You have to realize, those of you that haven't been through a heart cath with your little one (I am SO GLAD about that, I wouldn't wish it on anyone!), but it is SO VERY dangerous. I mean they insert the lines through his groin and push them up through his arteries to his heart, trying not to poke a hole and cause him internal bleeding. They have a camera on one of the lines that takes some amazing pictures and I think it's the second line that has the claw to remove a piece of the heart. They also placed a central line in his neck where they were able to get 17 tubes of blood and give medicines throughout the procedure. It took more than 2 hours to get the lines placed because his veins are so tiny and have been through so much. All during that time we had no clue what was taking so long and were terrified something horrible had happened. This was his first cath since he'd left the hospital and he had had horrible experiences the other times. Several times his heart had stopped completely and they were able to revive him using the paddles when he didn't respond to medication. Also they'd had to do an emergency ballooning of one of his valves once and that was so terrifying--the doctor gently tried to tell us that we may have said our last goodbye to him. It was horrible. But thankfully...

...that wasn't exactly the circumstance this time. It was a REALLY long day, and poor Ben was feeling miserable, but finally the good news came. No trace of rejection! What the doctors had seen on his echos was increasing shadowing and they didn't know if it was Coronary Artery Disease, Cancer or some form of rejection. What they found in the cath, thanks to those amazing pictures, was that somehow, in the few months since his transplant, he had actually grown a second coronary artery with lots of little spidery veins growing around it and it was producing the shadow. It's a little bit of a bizarre phenomenon, but may turn out to be a blessing later. Long story later, he was just fine and we were cleared to go home.

This is on my mind because Ben will be one year post transplant on February 5th and so he will have to have another cath and biopsy that day and then yearly after that. I don't have any reason to believe anything will be wrong, but the procedure itself scares me and tries my faith. Please keep him in your prayers that day if you can.

Ben's new game!

So Ben climbs up to the kitchen railing...

flirts shame-
lessly...

Until I come up and kiss him through the bars. I cannot resist!

The flu hits...

So Aimee was sick in bed with influenza the last few days. Not fun at all. The first two days were mostly high fevers (104's), runny nose, cough and lots of trouble breathing especially when she was sleeping. We quarantined her to Dad and Mom's room so we could get her better and not spread the fun to the rest of the fam.

She felt a little better after her bath, though her fever was still in the 103's but that didn't stop her from smiling and being her sweet self.

A few minutes later she was coloring a picture to give to Jocelyn.

The next day though she had viral pink eye in both eyes. This picture doesn't show how swollen and puffy her face was and how bad her eyes looked. I mean really bad. They really looked like she'd been in a fight! Even today they look like they'd been bruised. Poor girl!

But alas, rest is the magic cure, oh and Tamiflu, and she is definately on the mend. We've washed, washed, and re washed lots of laundry to keep things clean and so far Jocey and Benny seem to be fine. Let's hope our little visitor is on the way out!

Update on Benny...

Everything is AWESOME!!! So we went to clinic today and it was a way short visit- only like two and 1/2 hours so not too bad. And yeah!, everything is great. I always worry now that we're only going every 4 weeks that something is going to happen. I see so many kiddos struggling with their new hearts and wonder why Ben just seems to be sailing through. Is it the calm before the storm? I guess you never stop worrying about your kids, especially those that have a history like Ben's. That's why it's so reassuring to hear that things are going well. I haven't heard about all of his lab tests yet but I assume they're fine and his echo was okay, no worse on the tricuspid regurgitation than last month so that's great! I also ran into a few friends today: Paul (who had his transplant a few weeks ago) and his sweetie Lynette (it's always nice to see them), and Dr. Kouretas (one of the amazing cardio-thorasic surgeons) who remembered us (which made me feel good since I'm terrifed that Ben will be forgotten in a place that always has someone to fill your bed when you leave) and he gave me a quick update on Dr. Hawkins and said that he's hanging in there. Please pray for Dr. Hawkins and all of the little ones at Primary's. And remember to wash your hands A LOT. I don't know why that last bit bears repeating so much, but it sure does this time of year especially.

Gratitude

Someone like me has so much to be thankful for. Today, what is on my mind most is the love we feel for each other in our family. Nothing makes me happier than watching our kids interact with each other when they don't know we're watching. They are so good to each other and really enjoy being together. They look out for each other and cherish one another. I am so proud of them. They bring so much joy to my heart everyday. I thought it would be nice to see some of those moments I've captured in the last few months.