Snow Days

We had a big snow storm here yesterday and church got cancelled today. Playing outside in the snow isn't usually a Sunday activity for us, but it's hard to stay cooped up all day (I would know), so Ben took Tyler out to enjoy the snow. I love his little snowsuit!

There's our car and the parking lot after it had been plowed twice. The snow plow guy obviously doesn't have a lot of experience because it hardly ever snows here, but he did a pretty terrible job. All he managed to do was stack up the snow behind the cars.

And here is Tyler going down the hill to the side of our house. Let's just say if I had been out there I would not have allowed this. He seemed to love it though!

It was pretty torturous to sit and listen to everyone laughing and playing out there while I laid on the couch inside. Can you see the brick on the right of this picture? I was right in there and I could hear everything through the windows, but the widows are up high on that side so I couldn't see anything.

Thankfully Derek got some videos of the action for me. Tyler thinks they are so funny and loves to watch them over and over again. Enjoy!

I Miss my Boys!!!

My awesome friend Michelle has been having Cameron and Jake over to play. She did a blog post about them coming to play. You can see it here. It made my day to see the picture of them so happy. Thanks Michelle. They love to play at your house!

Home Sweet Home

Last night I got to come home! It was a nice surprise when the doctor told me in the morning because I thought the soonest they would let me leave would be today. Anyway, I didn't complain! I am so happy to be home. They did tell me if I bleed again (at all) I will come straight back and they won't let me leave until I deliver. Long story short I am taking my bed rest orders very seriously (I'm only supposed to get up to go to the bathroom or to shower). I don't want to go back anytime soon!

Simple Pleasures

I have had lots of visitors to keep me company here in the hospital, which has really cheered me up and helped to pass the time. My favorite visitor is Tyler. He sits right next to me and watches YouTube videos of Barney or Elmo on my laptop. For the past few days he has been really obsessed with these rocket socks (thank you Christine). I'm pretty sure they are size 0-6 months, but either way they are definitely too small. He insists on wearing them and he'll go searching all over to find them, even digging through dirty clothes piles. They aren't exactly ideal to wear with shoes, but once he's made up his mind that he wants them, there's no use in trying to get him in any other socks.

Another thing I love is the flowers in my room. I quickly found out that there aren't many good TV shows on the hospital TV, so I often just sit and watch my flowers instead. I have always loved fresh flowers (when I was home from college in the summer my dad would get me some from the Farmer's Market almost every Saturday), but there's nothing quite like having them in the hospital. They bring so much life to this ugly room. Thanks to Jaclyn, Sevann, and Ben's learning team for getting them for me.

Lastly, I love to look at the white board in my room. When I got here it said "Plan: Have Baby!" I quickly had Ben add "DON'T" to the beginning. For some reason I think it's funny every time I look at it. Can you tell I'm bored?

Ben got an Internship!!!!

Today Ben spent the day in Charlotte interviewing for an internship at Lazard. A few minutes after he stepped out of the interview he had a message about the Bank of America internship that he had been placed on the wait list for. He called them back and they told him he got it! It was good timing because he had enough time before his flight to go and meet with some of the people over there. We are so excited because that is the one he really wanted! We feel so blessed that he even has an internship at all and even more so that it is one he is so excited about!

Ben's flight got in around 9:30. Randy was holding down the fort at home with Tyler, so I called him and asked him if it was okay if Ben stopped to bring me something to eat on his way home. He said "of course, tell him to take his time." I told Ben I was really hungry for a treat and he told me he'd think of something and bring it by. He walked in and handed me a Wendy's spicy chicken wrap. Not exactly the sort of treat I had in mind, but I just said thanks and ate it. A few minutes later he walked behind the curtain in my room and said, "What's this?" Out he came with a bag from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory with my favorite kind of caramel apple. What a great surprise! We cut it with a plastic knife. It was so good! Then we talked to Cameron and Jake on Skype. What a great day!

(This is a picture from the internet. Ours was not cut that nicely!)

Saying Goodbye

Today Cameron and Jake came to say goodbye to me at the hospital. They are now on the airplane headed to Utah to spend some time with Ben's family. I've cried a lot today. I haven't had my usual flow of visitors since it's Sunday and everyone's busy. It's been a lonely day. Thankfully I had an awesome nurse named Katherine who came and chatted with me for a long time to get my mind off of things.

Don't you love the matching shirts? Robin got them for them. Nothing like little boys in horizontal stripes!

Thankfully Tyler gets to stay here with us. At least I'll have one warm little body to snuggle. My friends and relief society have been so helpful and so has Randy. They're all going to take turns watching him while Ben is in school. I have such a great support system. The nurses keep telling me I am so loved.

What's Going On???

A lot of people have been wondering what's going on with me and why I'm in the hospital. I have a condition called placenta previa where the placenta implants low in the uterus and covers the cervix. Normally it's high up near the fundus. They found it during my 20 week ultrasound and said there was a good chance it would migrate out of the way. When I went back at 28 weeks for a follow-up ultrasound it hadn't moved at all. Now I'm 30 weeks.

There are four different kinds of placenta previa. Mine is the worst. Complete or total previa. If the placenta is not 2 cm away from the cervix it is necessary to deliver by c-section. No biggie right? Well the other issue is that the placenta being there can cause bleeding, which is what landed me in the hospital late Tuesday night.

I was sleeping peacefully when I suddenly awoke to a warm gush. I laid there for a minute in denial thinking This can't be happening. Ben has three interviews tomorrow. Maybe I just peed my pants. I looked at my phone and it was 3:30. I decided I had to go to the bathroom to investigate. I sat down and to my horror blood was dripping out. I called to Ben and told him we needed to go to the hospital. I called Adria, who answered on the first ring and made it over here in what seemed like thirty seconds and we took off to the hospital.

I went in through the ER and they took my up to Labor and Delivery. First they took me to a triage room where they tried to formulate a plan. They ruled out amniotic fluid as a source of the gush and confirmed I was bleeding (duh). Thankfully the bleeding had stopped. They decided they needed to admit me and monitor me for a few days, but since they had no empty rooms I had to wait for one to be cleaned.

By six or so in the morning they had a room for me. They walked me back to the room and I immediately started bleeding. It was running down my legs. Gross I know. They were frantically trying to find the baby's heart beat on the ultrasound, and were a bit panicky for a few minutes. Thankfully it stopped again.

Since then I've had tiny bits of bleeding on and off. They keep telling me I can go home after 5 days with no bleeding. I keep having to start my 5 day count over again. It feels like that Groundhog Day movie.

If I have severe bleeding or the baby gets distressed they will have to do an emergency c-section. Thankfully I received both doses of betamethasone (a steroid to develop the baby's lungs more quickly), so my baby will fair better if she comes early. They have been monitoring her heart rate and every time they tell me "your baby's beautiful." Nurses and doctors look for beauty in all things, including fetal heart rate strips.

My nurse told me that the night I came in bleeding another girl came in an hour or so later bleeding from placenta previa who was 30 weeks just like me. Unfortunately she was bleeding so much they had to do an emergency c-section. I am so thankful I've been able to hang on this long and that I had time to get the betamethasone (which really stung by the way). Anyway, that's what's going on. Every day is a day better for that little baby girl. She's already a drama queen!

Charlotte, NC

Ben has been interviewing for some summer internships in Charlotte, NC. Since he had no work to do this weekend I tried my luck bidding on Priceline for a hotel. We figure if he's going to possibly get a job there we should at least check the place out right? I ended up getting a Marriot Suite (basically two rooms) for only $30. It had a pool too, so that was a nice bonus. We drove up and were able to go to the cool children's museum they have there (free with our local membership card). I love taking the kids to places like that. We played at this thing for a long time trying to get the balls to make a figure eight. It was hard.

The boys loved this pulley thing. At one point they had Ben on it. (He had to help a lot.)

These Kapla blocks are a huge hit. I don't know if they're sort of a new thing, or if I'd just never seen them before, but they seem to have them at every children's museum we've gone to lately.

Nothing like the pride of building a big tower.

They also had a chamber that simulated a hurricane. They thoroughly enjoyed it.

Even Ben.

After the museum we went back to the hotel and I napped while Ben took the boys swimming. They always love a good swim trip. Later that night Jake and Ben went to a Phoenix Suns game while Cameron and Tyler and I went to bed. (Cameron was supposed to go, but he decided he didn't want to take a nap and that was a requirement for going to the game.) The next morning we had a buffet breakfast at the hotel (six and under eat free....talk about a score for us) and then headed home. The kids were like angels in the car. We stopped once to get gas, but Ben was the only one who got out. The kids stayed buckled for four and a half hours straight! I handed Tyler a Twix bar while we were driving. Bad idea...do you see those hands? Anyway, it was a really fun trip! I love adventures with my family!