Baby M's Surgery

The last Friday in May we took Baby M in to get is umbilical hernia fixed. The hernia was getting big enough that they would do surgery, but it was still optional. We decided to go ahead and get it while he had insurance. We didn't think the hernia had much chance of getting smaller with how active he is.

The surgery was really no big deal. We were at the hospital for just a matter of hours. Even so, Craig and I were a little emotional.



Baby M enjoyed his little remote. He talked on it like a phone, and tried to press the "call nurse" button a couple of times.



They gave him some medicine to make him happy/relaxed. He was pretty kookie on it. He kept stroking Craig's face, and giving him hugs.



After the medicine kicked in they took him back. I was afraid I might cry.



I was glad to hear that he wouldn't be poked until he was completely out. I don't think I could have handled watching, and listening to, my baby getting an IV that day.



Waiting was kind of nerve wracking. Poor Craig looked so nervous. Luckily the surgery took less then an hour and we were soon told that all went well.

Baby M coming out of the anesthesia was far worse then Baby M going into surgery. He cried, screamed, wiggled and yelled. He was not happy and would not give into sleep. They had put a tube down his throat during surgery, to help him breath. It made his voice sound raspy and I think his throat felt funny. That's probably what bothered him the most.




Craig took him from me within a few minutes, of him being out of surgery, and didn't give him back. He held him the whole time we were waiting to check out, clear until we got to the car. I think he was worried about his little boy.




Within a couple hours Baby M was pretty much acting normal.

Our favorite part of the surgery was Baby M and his "Gi-goo's". "Gi-Goo" is sort of Baby M's catch phrase and he said it up until the very end. He even said it once when he was coming out of the anesthesia.

Day of:



5 Days Later:



A week later

Our Sick Week. . .or Two

Red, swollen eyes; coughing till you cry; fever, aches and pains; runny noses and even some vomiting. This was all included in our sick week.

We had a fun month trying to figure out if the kids were sick or not. The family doctor thought Baby M might have Fifths Disease. I don't know if this was the over all cause of our problems. In fact, I don't know if he actually had it or not. His cheeks would be red for a week, and then they looked fine. Then they would be red the next week.

*Fifths Disease tends to give children red cheeks, giving them the appearance of a cheek that has been slapped. This brings about its other name, Slap Cheek.



This month has also been filled with fun ailments such as rashes, diarrhea and slight fevers. Are these all factors to the illness we fought this week? I do not know.

It started with Baby M and a cough. I wasn't sure if it was a cough to worry about, so I just gave him medicine here and there and waited to see what happened.

Then one morning Big H woke up crying. He would cry every time he coughed. I brought him upstairs to lay down with me.

Then the next day Little H woke up crying. Same symptoms as Big H the day before.

Then the next two days found the twins both with red, swollen eyes. Baby M's eyes never swelled, or got red, they just produced little eye boogers.



The week went on and the boys all seemed to be getting better when, suddenly, Big H came down with a high fever. He just laid on the couch and didn't move. I was really worried about him. My Dad gave him a blessing, and he seemed to get a little better. The next night, however, found him waking up from nap time feeling all sorts of awful. He was so tired, but no matter how I held him, or what position he was in, he would moan and cry. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I called my mom and asked if she would help me take him to an insta-care-- Craig was at work. On the way my mom had to stop and get gas, and Big H just moaned and cried in the back seat. He'd arch his back and cry, "Mommy, Mommy!"

It broke my heart.

Finally we arrived at the insta-care. Craig was able to meet us there. The nurse was so sweet. She could tell he just didn't feel good, and she brought him some medicine. He was diagnosed with what was thought to be, probably, the flu.

Craig stayed home with the boys the next day while I worked. They seemed to be feeling better when I got home.

The next day I was home with the boys. Big H woke up crying, "I want medicine!"

I quickly dealt out doses to him. After which he began to say, "I want my Henrum!"

Little H was still asleep.

When Little H woke up, he came upstairs and laid down, in a big heap, on the kitchen floor. Big H brought him a blanket and patted his head. I then handed him his medicine. Big H took it from me and gave it to Little H. It was really sweet.

We have since recovered. Though whenever Big H gets a little tickle in his throat he says, "I want medicine"

"I think you just need a drink Honey."

P.S. The vomiting incident occurred because Big H tends to over stuff his mouth with food. Combine this action with a cough and. . .well. . .you get the picture.

In other fun, sick, news. Our little Baby M always keeps us guessing. From, "Is this another rash?" to "Should I be concerned about these red, pimple-like, things?"

One issue, he has had for a while, is a herniated belly button. It's usually no concern, and kids just grow out of it, but lately it has been poking out further. So we will be taking him to the Doctor again. Hopefully its still nothing serious.




On another note, a completely different note, here are some stories I want to write down before I forget.

Sometimes the twins won't go to sleep till one in the morning. When we open their door to tell them to go to sleep they quickly lay down and try not to move. Little H has even started fake snoring.

The boys invented a new game on the downstairs couch. They climb up on the arm and jump off. They call it, "To the rescue!" And they shout that as they jump off.

Little H has a pair of superman pajamas-- and Big H has some Batman ones. I brought them upstairs and he was so excited, and, I swear, he said something along the lines of, "With this I can fly."
He was so disappointed when I put them on and he couldn't fly.
"Hey I not flying."
I swear to you, that is what he said. It was kind of hard to get a "for sure" though.

The other day Baby M got out a bib because he saw me cooking lunch. When I didn't put him in his chair he got another bib. I gave it to Little H and said, "Take this to Big H."
He then said, "Henrum, its breakfast time!"
And wondered down stairs to find him.

We were at the mall setting up our new phones. Craig had the twins and I had Baby M. We were in the food court and I was waiting for him to finish his ice cream. A lady walked by and asked, "How old is he?"
"18 months."
"He's a beautiful baby."
She then waved and said, "Hi!"
Baby M caught right on. He waved his cute little wave and even blew kisses. He smiled and flirted with that woman, making sure she knew he was indeed cute.

While we were out the other day we needed gas, so I pulled into a gas station. Big H said, "Hey what are you doing?"
"I'm getting gas."
"No gas. Get drinks."

And now for a story about Craig.

Craig had a good interview with Standard Optical on Saturday. We are hoping and praying that we hear good news come Thursday. Its sounds like everything went really well and we really could use this job. So, wish him luck!

Abscess Anyone?

I guess my little boy felt sorry for his mom. She was down and out, longing to purchase some cute Halloween decorations so the house could look marvelously decked out. He decided he should do something about it, and made a Halloween decoration out of himself.

Honestly, the pictures don't show how incredibly creepy this thing was in person.





At first I thought it was a hernia or a boil. My mom said boil, and tried to lance it-- that didn't go well since he screamed in pain if you just touched it. Craig came home and said hernia, and took him to the Insta-Care. The Insta-Care doctor said it was an abscess, and sent Craig to the ER-- where they were supposed to do a sonogram to see how deep it was, and possibly lance it.

Instead they gave him an antibiotic shot, and sent them home with a prescription. Thank you ER doctors for charging us more to do what the Insta-Care could've done, for not following through with what we came there for in the first place and for making the wait just as long as if you had followed through. Hopefully Baby M is still covered by Medicaid.


They said they couldn't lance it because where the infection is actually coming to the surface was too small. It's probably a good thing because they would have put him under.

Of course I would have liked to put him under when it finally came time for the abscess to drain. He pulls hair, he squirms, he kicks and he cries. I finally got it to start draining, despite Baby M's best efforts-- that baby is seriously strong.

It was a rough few days. At least when Baby M is sick he just gets really cuddly and sleeps a lot. He also didn't want to be put down, which made things hard. Even with the "sick time" cuddling I was happy to see that sweet smile again.



So once, or twice a day, we check for a head, drain what we can and stick a crying Baby M in a hot bath with some Epsom Salt. Fun times!



Next time you want to help mom, with Halloween decorating, just ask Dad to take you to the dollar store. OK Sweetie?

Big H's Eye!

Those of you that read the last post know that Big H had red and swollen eye on Saturday. It was only one eye so I thought pink eye, but then it was all cleared up the next morning.

Monday all seemed well. I guess it was just allergies.

Tuesday he woke up and that same eye looked a little funny. I looked closer and it was red or anything, so I figured it was fine. We went to the grocery store and on the way there he was rubbing it and he seemed really irritated. I told him I'd look at it in the store. We got to shopping and I forgot. Then my nephew said something about how his eye was all red. "OH yeah, I was going to look at it!"



I pull him out of the cart and take a look. It looks really weird and I can't tell why. It's really swollen, but beyond that something is off. Because it's so swollen it's hard to get a real good look at the actual eye ball. Craig and I finally manage to pull the eyelids apart. The whites of his eyes are swelling up around his pupil. It looks like his pupil and iris are sinking inward. I pull away and start to tear up. "Take him to the ER or doctor or something. . ." I exclaim.



Craig, picks him up and takes him to the insta-care. My nephew says, "You're worried about him aren't you?" and, "Did that scare you like 'have a heart attack' scare you?" and, my personal favorite, "He's going to go to the Doctor and they'll take out his eye and give him a new one huh?"



Turns out he just has allergies. The doctor thinks he got some pollen in his eye. All we need to do is give him Benedryl.

The rest of the day my heart just broke for poor Big H. He just looked so sad. I could hardly look at him because it hurt my heart so much to see his eye all swollen like that.

I still can't believe it was just allergies. I have never seen that kind of reaction. I thought it something so serious like he might loose his vision because of it.



Later I apologized to Craig for freaking out.

"You always stay so calm," I said.

"Well that's my job isn't it?" He replies.

"I just feel dumb because I freaked out like that." I tell him.

"Why? Because it looked like your son's eye was melting?" he asks me.

I guess that means my overreacting was somewhat understandable. He also assured me he wouldn't have taken him to the doctor unless he thought it was absolutely necessary. That made me feel better. I hate when I take them in for no good reason. Especially since we don't have insurance.

You With Those Sad Eyes

The twins were sick recently-- I'm sure the baby was too, but it just wasn't as obvious with him. We spent a night up with them changing sheets and cleaning up throw up. I thought they were all better the next day, but then Little H woke up with swollen swollen eyes. The swelling had gone down a little by the time I took this photo. He seriously had the saddest eyes I had ever seen.

Do you see this happy guy? Yes its true this is my grumpy, colicky baby.



You could hardly recognize him these days. Well at least I hardly recognize him. Most other people hardly got a hint of his fussiness. We still have to deal with the acid reflux. And now we have a constipation issue, but we're getting it under control. At first I thought it was something he was eating. But then I decided, after several diet changes, it was probably just another lovely trait of the digestive system he was born with. So we've added prune juice to his diet. We also give him a go-gurt for dinner. He has been getting happier and happier so I think it's working. I'm hoping it works because our other option is to change to a low iron formula, as the doctor suggested. I really don't want to change his formula so lets hope he stays happy.

It's a Bird. . . It's a Plane. . .

. . .No, it's Super Baby. You cannot deny that this onesie is just super cute. It came with two companions that are also super cute, but this one is my favorite.

Our little Baby M really is a Super Baby with his super strength. We went to the Doc today and she said she never had to worry about a 2 month old rolling off the table till we came in.

Here are his 2 month stats:

• Weight: 11.56 lbs 33%
• Height: 22.75 in 28%
• Head Circumference: 15.7 in 38%

Along with a well baby check up Baby M also had to get shots. OUCH! See his little Band-aid?



Doctors report is that he's a strong healthy boy!

Just a Little Update!

Does this count as slave labor?

Firefox isn't letting us view videos, and it's also disabling some picture up loaders. If you can't see the video try a different browser.



The boys went to nursery for the first time this week. It didn't work out so well. They were having a hard time, so they came and asked if one of us could go up to nursery with them. Turns out our nursery doesn't have toys. I don't know if our boys are going to stay interested for two hours without toys. Especially so close to nap
time.



Baby M went to the doctor again. We've been having trouble with feedings and we just can't find the right formula- that has two meanings here- that will help him be calm and happy. We've tried the sensitive formulas and we've tried the soy formula- he spit up a lot that day. We even switched to a brand called Nutrimigen as suggested by the doctor. The results weren't outstanding, but he did seem a little better so we decided to stick with it. We'd have good days, and on those days I was hopeful that it was all over, but we still haven't solved the problem.

We've tried different bottles, different binkies, different sleeping positions, you name it. We've tried rotating his hips and rubbing his belly. We tried offering him more to eat, giving him gas drops and gripe water, but most days still end up the same: He takes an hour to eat, an hour to sleep and then he's up again, fussy and uncomfortable.

We took him back to the doctor because his thrush had not gone away yet, and I told Craig to ask and tell him everything about feedings. The doctor said because of his low weight gain we needed to switch him back to regular formula. This was not good news for me.

Craig and my Dad gave him a blessing that he may respond well to the normal formula and it wouldn't cause him pain. Today was a monster of a day though. He was fussy and unhappy. Even worse then usual. We even ventured out and bought the Canadian Gripe Water to see if that would help, but to no avail.

I finally drove him down to the local insta-care because I just didn't feel like I was getting any answers to this problem. There's a doctor there I really like, and I just covered everything I could think of. He suggested putting him on a medication for heart burn to see how he does.

Lets cross our fingers!

Baby M was put on Gerber's website. I don't know if every baby is chosen, but I also submitted a picture of Big H, and so far they've only put Baby M's picture up.

Poor Little Baby!

Earlier this week, while I was up feeding the baby, I noticed he had a white film in his mouth. I thought it was just milk he needed to swallow so I didn't worry about it. Then I noticed that it was still there the next day so I called my mom to see if it was something to worry about. She said it may be thrush and to call the doctor. The doctor said the same thing, so we took him in and sure enough he has thrush.



As I looked at it more closely I couldn't believe I ever thought it was just milk. It was all over his mouth. It looked just horrible!



Poor little baby. Thank goodness we got a prescription, and thank goodness it's working so well.

What We've Been Up To!

Baby M went to his 2 week check up. He is now 7 lbs 3 oz and 20 inches long. Everything looks good! He's a good, strong, healthy baby.

The boys have stayed every other night with us- my mom took them the other nights. Life is sure crazy with three boys, but at least I can't say I'm bored.



Thanks to my cousin's wife, Heather, who introduced me to this website called freecycle! I was able to take my husband on a date. We got two free tickets to Hale Center Theater Orem. The play was, "The Girl, The Grouch and The Goat". It was a cute show, and it was nice to get out with my hubby. My poor parents ran double duty though. They watched my brother's 8 month old, his 2 step kids, the twins and baby M.

I got Baby M's pictures in the mail today- Thank you to my mom who helped pay for them- so birth announcements will soon be on there way. Along with invites for the blessing.



That is pretty much all we've been up to. For some reason our lives have slowed down a bit around here ;)

And Then There Was One!

We managed to do something slightly normal in our family. After a visit to the doctor we found out that there is just one baby heart beat in mom's tummy. Yes that's right I said, "baby," and I said, "one." We actually wanted to get pregnant, and managed to do so right before Craig lost his job. Even so we are overjoyed to welcome our newest member to the family.

I'm 14 weeks along right now, and the doctor says everything sounded good this morning. A few more weeks, and we may be able to find out what it is.

September 12 and 21, 2009: The Boys Are such good Helpers

A couple Saturdays ago, after receiving my Grandma's Pumpkin party invite, I sat down and started working on our Halloween costumes. Apparently the party will be on the 26th of September which left me with very little time to put things together. Well Little H got fussy so I put him on my lap, and he decided he wanted to help. He was pulling and playing with the tulle. Putting it in his mouth on occasion. It was adorable! He wasn't as into it when we decided to pull out the camera, but we got a couple cute pics.



He loved the tulle so much I gave a scratch piece I had in my drawer. He played with it for a bit and then he threw up on it.

The next day his daddy wrapped it around his head for some cute pics!



The poor little boy had just gotten back from the doctor. The instacare doc said he seemed happy and healthy, but that he might be starting to get a respiratory virus that's been going around. He sounded so horrible that weekend. He was so congested, and he wouldn't drink anything. I'm still yet to find out what the deal is with that boys congestion.


The boys have also been helping me walk my nephew to kindergarten. I took these pics on Monday, but they help me everyday.




Such cute boys!

August 31, 2009: Shots and Growth Charts

Our boys went to see our family doctor, well nurse practitioner, for the first time on Monday. The nurses loved our darling little boys.

We got caught up on shots and updated on weights and percentiles.

Big H:

Weighs 16 lbs
Is in the 97th percentile for height
His head circumference is in the 79th percentile
His weight, I believe, was 56th percentile

Little H:

Weighs 14 lbs

Is in the 87th percentile for height
I don't remember his head circumference
His weight is in the 19th percentile

I forgot to look at their lengths, but I believe it was something like: Big h is
28in and little H is 26in

The boys did wonderfully at the doctors and the NP just loved them!

June 23, 2009: OUCH!

Our poor little boys got their first shots today. Well, I don't think it was a first for them, but it was a first for us. I'm pretty sure they gave them shots right after they were born, but we weren't really present for those.

Both boys did wonderfully! They cried a little, but they were easy to calm down- as always. They fussed a little off and on all night, but all in all they were quite the little troopers. They were also the talk of the town at the Health Building. I think the nurses might have played odds and evens or rock, paper, scissors to see who got to take the twins. The nurse that gave them their shots was ecstatic that she got to see them up close.

On another note, I keep forgetting to mention that Craig got a new calling at church. He is the 2nd counselor in the Sunday School Presidency. He's very excited! I think he enjoys the excuse to socialize. We're in need of good reasons to meet new people.

We're also waiting to hear back on a job interview Craig went to last Thursday. This job would work out really well for us, and Craig says its something he would enjoy doing, so keep us in your prayers :)