Grateful

Late last night (or really, really early this morning), I had cause to think of a few things for which I am profoundly grateful.

-The power of the priesthood

-Promptings of the Spirit

-A car with gas, ready to go

-A loving Heavenly Father who blessed me with green lights, and no police officers

-Top-notch medical care at our disposal

-An amazing husband to stay home with our amazing son

-Kind medical professionals who help a frantic mother feel at ease

-A beautiful, happy little girl

Campbell has been sick with a cold, and for the past couple of days I could tell she was starting to get croupy. Nothing we haven't dealt with before. I knew the drill. If the coughing got too bad at night, just bundle her up and take her outside, or turn the shower on HOT and sit in the steam in the bathroom. I didn't like the sound of her breathing before she went to bed, and watched her chest to make sure she wasn't sucking for air. She looked okay, and I prayed I would know if/when I needed to worry. We all went to sleep.

Shortly after midnight, I heard Campbell wake up crying, and I waited for a minute to see if she needed me to go in and get her. She quickly started crying in a panicked manner, and I went in to see what was wrong. She was coughing and crying, and sounded HORRID! I looked into her little eyes, and she looked scared. I immediately felt, "She can't breathe. Take her in now." I told Brock that I thought she couldn't breathe, and handed him to her as he started the water in the shower. I threw some clothes on, and he put her in her car seat. I asked him to give her a blessing before we flew out the door.

I shortly debated whether to take her to Lakeview, or spend the few extra minutes to drive to Primary Children's. It was a short debate, since I have full confidence in the doctor's at PCMC, and little-to-no confidence in Lakeview (no offense for those of you who go there. Just bad experiences on my part.) We got there in great time, and were admitted. She was checked out by 3 nurses, and 3 doctors, none of whom liked the sound of her breathing. Thankfully, her oxygen saturation was still in the acceptable range, and that eased my mind. They had me hold cold mist in front of her little mouth for 2 hours, and gave her some steroids to open her airway. After being there for 2.5 hours, she sounded good enough to go home (even though she still had a noticeable stridor). They gave us a prescription to give her another dose of steroid tonight, and sent us on our way.

On the drive home, I finally was able to relax, and felt such a deep sense of gratitude to my Father in Heaven. I know croup is not really life-threatening, but when your child can't breathe, it seems pretty life-threatening at the time. I don't think I have ever been so terrified in my entire life. Just to see the look in her eyes, and know she felt scared about what was going on in her tiny body pushed some sort of mommy button in mine.

I know there are many people who lose children, and have to deal with things so much more serious than I ever have. I am so, so, so grateful that that has not been the case with me, or my kids. I hope and pray it never is.

Dinosaurs and Pumpkins

I'm sure I should be posting about Christmas, but seeing as how I have yet to show off the cutest dinosaurs EVER, I thought Halloween should come first.

Dane has been obsessed with dinosaurs, and knows more about them than most adults. So I got ambitious, and decided to make his and Campbell's costumes this year.

I found the cutest knit hat pattern on Ravelry, and had tons of fun knitting them. The outfits turned out just as cute as I had imagined, though next time I won't wait until the week of Halloween to start sewing.

Rawrrrrrr!

Brock's birthday is around Halloween, and he had class that night, so I surprised him by taking cupcakes to his work. They were really fun to make, and tasted pretty good too.

At Brock's work, Halloween is a pretty big deal, and each year they have a costume contest with prizes and such. Brock was a mariachi player, complete with mustache and guitar. He came in second place in the "funny" category (I think that's what category it was). We'll have to be a bit more creative next year.

They also invite the kids to come and go trick-or-treating around the office. It is really fun!

Brock's side of the fam threw their first annual Halloween party. I had spent so much time on the kids' costumes, that I had to be a pretty lame cowgirl. Isn't Brock's mustache delightful? I'll post more pics of that gem later.

Adam and Sheridan planned the party, and it was tons of fun. Dane LOVED bobbing for apples, and was the first one to actually get one (though he got the stem, it still counts, right?).

Each year we carve pumpkins as a fam, and it was really fun this year with Dane actually choosing his own pumpkin, and wanting to help carve it. It was a great night together as a family.

Campbell

So, I realized that I haven't posted much about my favorite little sweetie lately. She is getting SO big, and VERY mobile (in her own way). She is 8 months now, and seriously the most gorgeous baby girl I have ever seen in. my. life. Totally, completely, smitten. Forgive me if this post is a little disjointed. That's how my dear ol' brain is feeling today.

She is so much fun these days. She is getting more and more interactive every day. She LOVES to cruise around and grab onto anything and everything in sight. If you decide to take something that she has her eye on, she will let you know how she feels about it.

Though she is not crawling yet, she does get up on her knees and rock, and has a very effective way of pulling herself to wherever she wants to go. I actually had her in the Bumbo the other day, and ran to go to the bathroom. When I came back, she was on her tummy next to said Bumbo with a car in her mouth and a smile on her face. It's a good thing she was on the floor to begin with, is all I'll say about that!

She is never happier than when she is playing with her brother. And nothing makes me happier than seeing my two beautiful children playing nicely together. Dane is getting better at sharing with his sis, and Campbell couldn't be happier playing with all his toys.

Brooke took this picture of her as a pirate. She loves to grab at her headbands and take them off of her head.

We are so blessed to have Campbell in our family. She brings so much love and joy with her, and we ALL adore her!

Delicious!!!

I am SO in love!

California knows how to party!

The whole "A" clan got to travel to sunny San Diego to support Sheridan and Adam as they became an eternal family. Such a great excuse to get away:). It was a pretty short trip, considering all day Saturday was spent with the wedding festivities, but it was great to be together.

Dane absolutely LOVED his first trip to the beach. The water was cold, and he didn't mind one bit. He'd get knocked down, and pop right back up for more. It was a bit too chilly for Campbell to get a taste of the ocean, but she did experience the sand, and was all smiles.

Saturday was a long day for everyone. We were up and at-em pretty early, and just kept going, going, going. Dane didn't really get much of a nap (he slept for about 20 minutes while we were driving to the luncheon), so he was an absolute peach (HEAVY on the sarcasm) for pictures on the beach afterward. (I wish someone could have helped him understand that when you are in a tux, you don't superman onto the sand!)

All in all, it was a great trip, and we are so excited for Sheridan and Adam! They are a wonderful match, and we're all so happy to have him in our family now.

Here's a little taste of our adventures:

Campbell kickin' back

Dane enjoying the sand with a couple cousins

Campbell looking deliciously adorable
Dane LOVING the waves!
(Can't tell you how long I waited for this shot.)
A small glimpse of the joy that Daner experienced:

The happy family:)
Sooo tired
At least one of them woke up happy:)
Superman aftermath. Lookin' good:)
Let's hope the photographer got at least one good picture ;)

This one's for you

I was reprimanded yesterday for not posting more pics of our beauty, Campbell. So here you go:) Enjoy!

The Story

With Campbell being six weeks old now, I thought it might be time to post "The Story." It's mostly for my benefit, so I don't forget. But for those of you who are curious about the lovely details surrounding the entry of our sweet beauty into this world, read on.

After many, many conversations, along with much thought and prayer, Brock and I decided we would be induced the day before our due date. I had been dilated to a 4 for 3 weeks, and was concerned about the complications that could arise with going over-due. We felt good about it, and it worked well with Brock's crazy school schedule too.

Thursday morning I woke up about 4:30 am to contractions. This was nothing new, as I had been contracting for weeks now, just nothing regular. Every time I would think, "Okay, if I have another one like that, I'll start timing" they would stop. I didn't think this would be any different, so I was pleasantly surprised when they continued coming, and actually started to get stronger. I started timing them, and they were coming ever 10-12 minutes. I decided I would just get up, and finish some last minute things around the house before we headed off to be "induced."

The hospital called at 5:45 am, and asked if we could come in at 7:30. I told them that would be great, and continued getting ready for the day. I got to shower, and get all dolled up for the big occasion (which is completely different from the experience with Daner). I called my mom about 6:00, and she got here about 7:00. When the hospital called, I was sad that I wouldn't be able to say goodbye to Dane, because he doesn't usually wake up until around 8:00, but he must have felt the excitement in the air, because he was up even before my mom got here.

We got off a tad late (all the while my contractions were getting stronger, and coming closer together) and arrived at the hospital around 8:00. We got all checked in, and admitted into our room. They hooked me up to the monitors, and my contractions were coming ever 4-6 minutes, and I was dilated to a 5 1/2. It appeared that our little angel had received the memo, and was ready to come on her own:).

Last chance for a belly shot. 39 weeks, 6 days

My doctor (awesome, awesome doctor) came down around 9:00, and thought it would be a good idea to break my water. She tried for probably 10 minutes with the hook, and it just wouldn't break. It was crazy, because I could hear it catching on the bag of waters...pretty strange sound. She decided to try an internal fetal monitor, because that has to break the bag of waters to attach to the little darling's head. Even with that, it took another 15 minutes for there to be any signs of the water breaking.

I got up and walking around. Brock and I walked for nearly an hour, until it was time to head back and get hooked up to the monitors again. I kept saying to Brock, "Man, labor's going to be cake walk. I can't even feel these contractions." After getting hooked up to the monitors, I realized why I couldn't feel the contractions, it was because I wasn't having any. At all. Since Sam (our wonderful doctor) had broken my water, I hadn't had any contractions. Two hours without anything. Fantastic!

On the monitors, little Bell's heart rate wasn't quite where they wanted it to be. I changed positions, and it improved, but after so long without contractions, they were concerned, and wanted to start a small amount of pitocin. I was trying to go unmedicated, so they promised to do the smallest dose possible, just to get my body going again. And that it did.

They started pitocin at 11:00. By 11:45, I was ready to ease the pain in the bathtub (oh how I love baths!). By 12:00, I was ready to talk about an epidural. I remember saying to Brock (as my contractions were coming one on top of the other, with seemingly no break whatsoever) "Why am I doing this? Let's just get the epidural and enjoy the rest of the day. We can play games, watch movies, whatever. This is just miserable." He agreed, and the nurse came in to check on me. I told her I was ready to get some drugs in me, and she said that the anesthesiologist had a scheduled c-section at noon, so if he was in there, we would have to wait for him to be done. She called him, and he said he was in the OR, but his patient wasn't. If we wanted to get the epidural, he could do it right now, but it would have to be right now. I said "Sign me up," and tried to get back to the bed, as I was suffering the worst pain of my entire life while the contractions were just not stopping.

12:15, the doctor gets the catheter placed to start the epidural. No medication yet administered. I say, "I have to push." And when I say have to push, and mean HAVE to push. Craziest sensation ever. He yelled something to the nurse, and she came out with a gigantic needle (which thankfully I didn't see, but Brock swears it was a foot long). He is talking me through something, as I am not paying attention, and trying to pant my way through my contractions so that I don't push. It really took everything in me to not react to what my body was screaming at me to do. I may have broken poor Brock's hand.

I immediately felt some relief, as he is telling me he had to give me a spinal block, so that the anesthesia would take effect faster than the epidural. I told him I loved him (yes, I really did), and he was on his way to provide sweet relief to another lucky recipient. The nurse gave me a minute to relax, and then went to check to see if it was time to deliver this child. She put a glove on, and realized it was unnecessary, as the sweet child was already crowning.

Sam hurried down, and 3 contractions later, we welcomed our sweet little Campbell into the world. 12:50 pm, 7 lbs 7 oz, and 21 in long. Beautiful, and screaming her guts out. Sam mentioned that she was really glad that the delivery had gone so quickly, because Bell was born with the cord wrapped around her neck twice. And as Sam removed the first "necklace" as she called them, she pulled Bell's arm out, which also had the cord wrapped around it (and Sam called a "bracelet"). Even with all her jewelry, she was, and is, perfectly healthy and wonderful.

Our amazing doctor, Rebecca (Sam) Ponder

People ask if I would have known that it was time to deliver if I would have still gotten the medication. I really don't have an answer. I'd like to think that I would have said, "Let's do this" and just stuck it out. But I can't describe how much pain I was in, and knowing that, I don't know if it would have changed my decision. The only answer I have is that I don't regret how things went. I'm glad I got pitocin, because who knows what could have happened with the whole cord situation had I not sped things up when I did. The pitocin made the contractions stronger than they would have been naturally, so that caused more pain (theoretically), which caused me to absolutely, positively, want/NEED the drugs. It all worked out how it should have, and now we have another angel living in our family, and that is what matters most.

Beautiful Baby Bell

Welcome - Campbell May

Our new little girl is here. More pictures and detail to come. We love her so much already. Welcome little Campbell to our family. (First post ever for me on our blog and it couldn't be a better one).