Cameron is Six!!!

Today Cameron turned six. Last night I tried the usual, asking him to skip his birthday and just stay little. He didn't go for it. "Oh, yeah right," he said with a giggle. This morning he proudly looked in the mirror and said, "Look how tall I am now, I'm gonna need some new clothes!" He did look a little bigger today...

For breakfast we had his favorite, crepes. For lunch Uncle Randy surprised him at school and brought him a cheeseburger and fries. I brought his class cupcakes in the afternoon, which were a huge hit. The kids were all hugging me and asking me questions. My favorite was a little boy that ran up to me, hugged me and said, "I really like your white van."

When we came home from school, Cameron played outside with friends while the other kids napped. Ben came home so we could all go to Bounce n Play. In true Cameron form, he politely declined because he wanted to stay home and play with his new toys. For dinner he chose pizza and then the boys watched a super hero movie we rented and ate popcorn and Dibs. He had a great day and went to bed with a smile on his face!

I can't believe I have a six year old! I always feel especially sentimental when I think back to the day Cameron was born. That was the day that changed my life completely, the day I became MOM. I was SOOOO excited to finally meet him. He has blessed my life every single day. In honor of his birthday, I'm going to write down some of things I love about Cameron.

He is honest. I completely trust him when he is telling me something. I know that kids go through a normal developmental stage where they tell lies (Jake has been in that stage for awhile), but Cameron seems to have skipped that. He has such a conscience. I love that about him.

He is helpful. While not always cheerfully, he really is helpful. He knows how to clean up and he put things where they really go.

He is smart. My friend Alice once joked that the reason Cameron is so skinny is because all the calories he consumes are going straight to his brain. That always gives me solace when I am worried about how skinny he is.

He has a great laugh. I love when he really cracks up about something. His laugh is so fun.

He loves his brothers and especially baby Claire. He is so sweet and gentle with her.

He is aware about and concerned with other peoples feelings. He doesn't like to make people feel bad. He was really sad when he found out that his good friend at school doesn't have a dad at home. He was almost in tears when he told me about it.

He's good at sharing.

He's doing really well at piano. His teacher thinks he's remarkable. (I wonder how good he would be if he actually practiced more than once or twice a week!)

He's a real homebody. There's nowhere he'd rather be than at home.

He's a funny kid. Cameron wants to be a spy when he grows up and he also wants to build robots. At school his teacher asked the kids to draw a picture of what they want to be when they grow up. Cameron drew a trash man. He had such a sly grin when he told me about how he had tricked them. He didn't want them to know he's really going to be a spy. That made my day. I wonder what his teacher thinks about his aspirations. Ha ha.

I also love that he smiles a big genuine smile whenever he sees me after school. He'll walk out of the pick up doors dragging along and looking as tired as can be and as soon as he finally notices me he gets a big cute grin. I love it! I don't know if that will always happen, so I want to remember it.

I'm so happy Cameron is in our family! He's a great blessing in my life!

Duggar Style Laundry

The thing I hate about laundry is that it is never done. It is endless. Just when you think you have every last thing clean, everyone changes into their pj's and you've got the beginnings of three more dirty loads.

You know it's bad when you have to send the kids down to the basement for a pair of clean underwear. To say I was behind was a complete understatement. I had loads and loads and loads of clean laundry piled in baskets and waiting to get folded. This morning I went to work and finally got it all folded. Wow, bless those Duggars' hearts. I can't even keep up with four kids. Imagine twenty!

The laundry in the basement is a real drag. One day, while I was out running, I saw a lady dragging a bag of laundry to the bus stop that honestly looked like it weighed a hundred pounds. I told myself I would never complain about going to the basement to do laundry again. Well, here I go! It is freezing down there, and it's scary at night because the windows don't have coverings, and until last week, only one dim light would turn on because of an electrical problem. So, I always put off going down there.

Today was something else! I can't believe how many clothes we have! You would think from this picture that the closets and drawers would have been empty, but surprisingly, they still had stuff in them (not much though). As embarrassing as this picture is, I want to document this massive undertaking.

Jake and Tyler were just watching cartoons and eating bagels while I worked. Someday, not too far off, they're going to help me, just like the good ol' Duggar kids do. I could sure use their help!

The Still Small Voice

This morning the boys were riding their bikes in the parking lot because I was trying to teach Jake how to ride his bike without training wheels (which he picked up very quickly). It was late enough in the morning that people had left for work, so I wasn't particularly worried about cars. I was out there with them, holding on to Jake at first, but it didn't take long for him to not need me anymore. Cameron and Jake started having races from in front of our house to the speed bumps where we had been practicing riding to. Just past the speed bumps there is a curve in the road and then more speed bumps. I was fine with them doing it at first but then I decided I should tell them to stay on the side opposite where an oncoming car would be coming. Of course the whole time we had been out there not a single car had come by. All of a sudden I felt a very strong impression to tell the boys to come and ride the other direction from our house. They obeyed immediately and raced over to where I was. Not twenty seconds later a UPS truck came whizzing around the corner and over the speed bumps. I immediately recognized the blessing I received from listening to the still small voice. I called Cameron and Jake over and talked with them about what had happened and how the prompting I had received came from the Holy Ghost. They were in total awe as I told them about it (especially because they saw how fast that truck came!). I know they felt the Spirit as we talked about it. I am so thankful for the guidance of the Spirit in our lives and the protection we can have if we follow its promptings. Just last night we were talking about how we could feel the Spirit in our family because we had all been treating each other kindly and helping one another. I'm so thankful for that!

What's Her Name?

I have heard that question way too many times! Last night Ben and I finally had some time to sit down alone with our little girl and talk about her name. After downloading a new baby naming app on his i-phone and flipping a coin a few times for fun, we prayed about it and decided on Claire Jean. I always have a really hard time with names. It feels like such a huge responsibility to choose a name that they will have for their whole life. I never want to get it wrong.

The hospital had a room for me to stay in near the NICU and after we decided I wrote it in the blog and fell asleep within two minutes. When I got up a couple of hours later to go feed her, the nurse had already made her a name sign. She wasted no time! All day today the residents and med students were so happy she finally had a name. So were our families. No one is as happy as me!

CLAIRE JEAN BLOOMFIELD

Bili Lights

The bilirubin came back high this morning, so they put her under bili lights. She actually seems to enjoy it. They put her in an isollete last night because she was having a hard time maintaining her temperature, so adding the lights was no big deal.

Her little sunglasses are totally stylin'.

My mom brought the boys to visit and we took turns playing with them and visiting the baby. The hospital's play area is about to close, but they still had a few toys out for us to play with. Cameron was busy in the hospital preschool while we took these pictures.

Here's Jake's creation.

And here's Tyler's.

What fun!

Visits from Cameron and Ben

This afternoon Ben brought Cameron to visit me. I went with him to the hospital's "preschool" while Ben went and visited the baby. It was so cute. They have a teacher that provides school every morning and every afternoon for the kids in the hospital or their siblings. Cameron was the only healthy kid there. There were two other five year olds and a three year old. I don't know why they were there, except one of the boys had bad burns all over his body. So sad, but so nice that the hospital provides such a great program for them to attend. Today they got to pretend they were doctors and use a bunch of medical equipment on a baby doll. Cameron loved it. He would make a great doctor some day.

They have a huge rabbit there. This picture does not do justice to how huge it is.

Tonight Ben came back for a quick visit. We finally had a minute to ourselves with our sweet baby, but I am so drugged up on Percocet I couldn't even begin to discuss names. I feel like my head is in a tunnel.

All I know is that she is a cutie patootie!

IV in the Head

During the night I came in and found out her IV had gone bad and they put a new one in her head. It's actually easier to hold her and keep an eye on it with it there. I just hope they don't pull out her hair when the take it out!

Sevann stopped by between classes and brought me a Subway sandwich. Such a treat after eating so much hospital food! She came down to the NICU with me on her way out and got a quick hold in before I fed her. She's not a very good eater by the way. She can barely keep her sleepy eyes open! They are giving her feedings through her tube, but she's been having a hard time digesting them. They are advancing her VERY slowly. Every time she has a high residual (leftover in her tummy), they don't increase her amount. At this rate she may be out of here by kindergarten!!!

Gotta love the sweet sleepy eyes she can barely bring herself to open!

Sweet Baby Girl

Another visit to see my sweet baby girl... she is so cute!

Can you see how happy I am?

Thanks to someone in my ward (who I don't even know) who had my VT Tennille drop by some preemie clothes and treats. Now she looks like a little girl!

Here's a hair shot...

And a few more close ups...

I've been pumping, but of course not getting much. I finger fed her what I've gotten (hence the gloves), but most of her nutrition is coming through her IV. She's on TPN and lipids. They'll start turning them down once my milk comes in and she can get more of that. I can't wait to take her home! The boys are DYING to see her!

Battle Wounds

I finally got my IVs out! What a relief! My poor arms...

Holding Her

Tonight Ben and I went to visit our sweet baby girl again. We got to hold her which was a little awkward with the CPAP and IV, but it felt so good to hold her! Her temperature was a little low, so we had to hold her "skin to skin." We'll spare you the graphic pictures.

When she's in her bed, she seems to really like being on her tummy. She likes her binky too!

It doesn't take long to fall in love!!!

Visitors

Andy and Amy came by to see me and take a peek at the baby. Amy had never even been in the NICU where Andy works. That was crazy to me! After lunch I got moved to the mom/baby unit and they helped move me down. In the afternoon my mom came and brought Jake and Tyler. Cameron stayed and had some one on one time with Ben.

It was so good to see my boys (although a little tricky to keep them off my incision). They were so happy.

They thought it was SO cool that my room had two beds.

Tyler especially loved it. Their favorite thing to do while visiting the hospital is to make the beds go up and down. Jake asks if he can do it about fifty times whenever he comes to visit.

First Visit to NICU

I finally got to get out of bed today at 9:30 to go see my baby girl! She's doing well on the CPAP on room air.

Look at all her dark hair. It reminds me of Jake's hair when he was born. I can't wait to hold her!

No name yet! We can't even get a good look at her!

She's Here!

Yesterday after lunch I started feeling nauseous and light-headed. My mom was visiting me, so I had her take my blood pressure (after no one answered my call light about it). It was fine, so I decided to take a rest. After dinner I threw up my lunch and dinner (TMI, I know). I continued to feel sick like I had eaten something bad or caught a bug, but I just went to sleep.

I woke up sometime in the night and threw up again. Along with that came bleeding. After waiting about 20 min. to see if it would continue (which it did), the decision was made to throw my little girl a birthday party. I called Ben and he came right over. I was quite scared, but I had a really awesome nurse who put me at ease. I felt relieved that all the worrying about bleeding and abruption was about to come to an end.

The first several minutes in the O.R. were MISERABLE! I felt nauseous and hot and anxious. I swear I was about to have an anxiety attack! The anesthesiologist resident sat me on the table and placed my spinal. It felt like it took forever. Then they layed me down and tilted the bed down backwards (with my head down) to spread the medicine. I then started feeling like I couldn't breath on top of everything else. He kept pinching me an saying "Can you feel this?" over and over again. I finally said "I don't know! I need some oxygen!" They finally let Ben come back and that helped out a lot. I soon got numb and comfertable (sort of) and felt like I could breath again.

The nasal cannula had a wierd piece that went in front of my mouth to monitor my breathing. It was really wierd.

Here is Ben all ready to go. I kept asking him to look at me instead of watching the surgery, because it was making me nervous. He is so interested in stuff like that! Most dads don't want anything to do with watching!

After tons of pulling and prodding and pressure (they aren't kidding when they say "lots of pressure"... it felt my sternum was getting crushed!) she finally came out! She was born at 2:22 on 2/22/10. I thought that was funny. She was crying a lot, which is always a relief.

Our friend and neighbor, Andy, is a NICU fellow. I was SO happy he was the one attending my delivery. I knew she was in good hands. When he brought her over to say hi to me, I couldn't believe how tiny she was! We found out later she weighed 5 lbs. 1 ounce. She was grunting in my ear, so I knew she was headed to get some CPAP.

Here is a picture to show off Ben's outfit to the boys.

It took a LONG time to stitch me up! They had a hard time getting her head out and had an extra cut in my uterus. The resident had a hard time stitching it up, so the attending had to do it over agian to stop the bleeding. Then the residents stitched me up layer by layer in what seemed like slow motion. Thankfully it wasn't really uncomfortable. I was REALLY happy when they finally told me they were done and slid me back to my regular bed.

Here is one more shot of Ben't hot outfit. I like it without the mask.

Ben went to visit our sweet baby girl in the NICU. She's on CPAP on room air and getting some IV fluids. She's doing well. I can't wait for my legs to defrost so I can go see her!