The NEED to Write

I'm sitting in a Hospital Waiting Room. I'm waiting for my sweet Angel Daughter, Kirra, to wake up from her much needed nap. She is sick. Like really sick. She has had a fever for 3 weeks. Yep, I said 3 weeks. As in 21 days. More than that now. Only today marks day 1 of no fever! She has a Kidney infection. At least we think it is a Kidney Infection. I guess we'll find out in the next few weeks for sure, but that's what we're told. Kidney Infection. E. Coli in her Left Kidney. Awesome, right? I know. I thought so too. I took her to Doctor's, don't think I let my baby have a fever for 21 days and did nothing. I took her in when her fever got up to 103.4, and was told it was an Ear Infection. We treated that, but the fever didn't go away. I took her to a different Doctor when her fever got up to 103.7. He said UTI. But didn't test anything. Her fever still didn't go away. I took her to the ER when her fever was 103.8 and I couldn't get it below 102.2. They said, UTI. I finally took her to a Pediatrician, and she said, "It's more than a UTI." We finally started going somewhere.
Yesterday her fever spiked again, after being on injection antibiotics, so we came to Primary Children's Hospital. Yup. A specialty hospital.
She's on higher dosages of her antibiotics. She's getting IV fluids, and she's not sleeping at all!!! (This is her first real nap.)
They did an ultrasound of her kidneys and found a white round spotin her left kidney. They said, "It's either an infection or a mass." If her fever stays away, then it's most likely an infection. If it doesn't, then it's a mass of some sort. We're rooting for the infection.
Isn't that weird to say? "Rooting for the infection"? But what's better? An unknown mass, or an infection? Honestly, I keep rolling it over in my mind. Mass or Infection? Infection is much better. I hope Infection is much better...

My goodness!!!

So, talk about a long time since I last posted!!!

That news I spoke about in my last post? I'm not really sure what it was, probably that I got a job... I don't have a job anymore. I quit. Mainly because Stewart got a job!!! YAY! It's been about 5 months since he passed out last. He is doing so well! This job is going to be great for him. He will get paid GREAT, and have lots of overtime. He'll work 10, 10 hour days, and then have 4 days off. He started this week, and will work until Friday for training. Then he'll work Mon-Friday next week, then have off until Tuesday, and work again Tuesday-the next Thursday. It's a lot of change, but it's going to be so worth it! He's already in a better mood, just feeling better about himself. It's so AWESOME!!!

The kids are doing great.

Hayden is going to be 4 next month. It's so crazy that we have a 4 year old. He has grown up a lot in the past few months. It's amazing how smart he is and how responsible he is getting. He talks a lot, and loves his little brother and sister. He Loves to carry Kirra around and to play with Keagan. He is learning his numbers and letters, and will start Preschool this fall.

Keagan is adorable! He has the biggest temper of any 2 year old I've ever seen. Not like the Terrible Two's, but honestly a temper. He will get angry and tell us to "Go 'Way!" He is also the sweetest little boy ever. He loves to give hugs, and to cuddle. He's my little cuddle buddy. He is getting to be so smart, he remembers everything, just like Hayden does. I just can't believe how fast he's grown up. He is tiny. He weighs less than Kirra, I think. He is taller than her, but he weighs less.

Kirra is one. Can you believe that? I can't! She was given a clean bill of health. Finally!!! Her Kidney's are all healed, and don't have any fluid in them, or any infection in them! She is off the antibiotics, which is really nice. She doesn't walk yet, but she has started to stand by herself. She says Mama, Dada and a few other words, but she doesn't put many together. She waves and blows kisses. She scrunches up her nose at everyone and laughs at them when they do it back. She is so happy. All of the time. She has 6 teeth now, and is trying to cut a few more, but it takes her forever.

With Stewart's new job, we'll be moving. It's sad to say good-bye to all of the friends we've made here in Smithfield/Logan, but it's also exciting to move on to something new. Have a fresh start. Leave all of Stewart's health problems behind us.

I don't have any pictures to post right now, because I wasn't really planning on writing anything... I'll try to post some soon!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Holy cow! I can't believe how long it's been since I updated last. In fact I can't even remember when I updated last!

So, Kirra is 7 weeks old now! I can't even believe it. She's growing so fast. She is an AMAZING baby. Seriously. She is. She sleeps so well! She eats like a horse. She smiled at me! She's just perfect. We take her to Primary's tomorrow to find out more about her infection, so hopefully that goes well.

Keagan is getting so big too. He smiles the sweetest little smiles all the time. He is starting to talk more. He likes to say "go" to Hayden. He loves giving Kirra kisses. I swear, he'll see her and stop whatever he is doing and walk over and kiss her on the forehead, then go back to what he was doing. It's adorable! He copies everything that Hayden does. He will stop playing to clean up a dirty diaper that he finds on the floor.

Hayden is so smart! He is almost potty trained. (He'll have a GREAT day, then a HORRIBLE one! Today was not so good!) He calls Kirra "Beautiful" and "Baby Girl" and even "Darling". I love it. He thinks he's the best helper ever, and loves to help me in the kitchen while I cook. He tells Keagan and Kirra stories that he makes up. He sings songs to them too. He is almost 3! He asked me today, "Mom, when we get home, can I give you an Eskimo kiss? No, I want to give you a butterfly kiss!" Then he remembered 10 minutes later, when we got home, and actually gave me a butterfly kiss. He has the memory of an elephant! He seriously remembers EVERYTHING!

We're doing pretty well all in all. I might have an announcement in a few days, but for now I don't... If I do, I'll tell you. I guess I can tell you either way, but I'm not going to jinx anything by saying something!

Weight Loss and Bilirubin

Our little Kirra still isn't better! Her Bilirubin levels keep bouncing up and down. When she is on the lights, her levels SLOWLY go down. Like from 9.3 to 9.1... Then we take her off the lights (because the Dr told us to) and they go up to 10.3! Today is her second check being off the lights. We'll see what happens. Hopefully they stay low, but with our luck it won't happen! She has been a real trooper though. She is such a great baby! She hardly cries and she is content most of the time to lay down by herself. Both boys wanted to be held ALL THE TIME! I'll try to update what happens with her bili levels when we get them!

I finally stepped on a scale yesterday. Before I got pregnant, I weighed 155. That's the lowest I've been since Jr High! At my last appointment before having Kirra, I weighed 185! That's the MOST I've EVER weighed! I gained 30 lbs! Holy cow! That little girl only weighed 7 lbs 5 oz, so most of it was me... (I only gained 10 lbs with both boys...) Yesterday when I weighed myself I weighed............ 165!!! That's what I weighed when we got married! YAY! Only 10 lbs to go and I'll be back to pre-pregnancy! I just hope it's not too hard to get those 10 lbs off!

Hospital AGAIN!

My Kirra girl got sick. She got Jaundice. When we were first released from the hospital, her Bili levels were 6.7, but the next day they were 12.3, and the next they were 15.1. We got her put on lights, but the next day they were 15.9. We kept her on the lights to bring her levels down, but the next day they had jumped to 19.1! (Once they hit 20, it's really hard to get them down, and once they hit 25, it can cause brain damage.)

Her Dr. felt that we needed to admit her to the hospital to get her under 3 types of lights to bring them down. We immediately got checked in and put her under the lights. (I've got pictures on my phone, I forgot to pull out the camera until she was off them!) My poor baby got 2 IV's because after they did the first, they decided they needed more tests from another vein. I asked them to leave it in just in case they needed more blood or if her other IV stopped working. I'm so glad I did, because we ended up needing to switch IV's half way through her stay!

So we got checked in on Friday, and thought maybe we'd be there until Saturday afternoon. The Dr came by Friday night and told us that we would need to stay until Sunday at least. So Saturday morning he came again. Kirra's numbers had dropped to 13! But he felt like we needed to keep her on the lights longer. So all day Saturday she was on 3 lights. By Saturday night her levels dropped to a 10! YAY! We got to take her off all the lights over night. They tested her again Sunday morning and she had rebounded to an 11.1. We put her back on 1 light. They also got a urine culture back which said she had an infection of some kind. They started her on antibiotics, but later when more results came in, they said that it was resistant to one of them, so they switched to a different one. We were told that we would be there until Monday. It was really hard to be told that we needed to stay just one more day, everyday! Luckily her levels went down to a 10, and her antibiotics were working! We got to bring her home today! YAY! Since her Bili levels aren't super low yet, she's still on the lights at home, but that's a MILLION times better than being in the NICU! She's eating amazingly, and is doing really well being on the lights.

Here are some pictures of her in the hospital and right before we went to the hospital. Enjoy!

Isn't she so cute?

Daddy and Daughter. So cute!

In the hospital, right after eating.

I didn't think I looked THAT tired!

So sad! Her little IV... Holding my hand...

So peaceful.

Having a little cuddle time! We were only allowed to keep her out of the lights for 30 minutes at a time, so we took FULL advantage of it!

Her alarms kept going off when we held her. I think she got sick of it!

I love the way she's looking at him!

Such a cutie. She was so good while she was there. She hardly cried, and was really patient with everything. How I love my baby girl.

Hayden and Keagan are coming home tonight. I'm so excited to see them really get to interact with their new sister!

Kirra Kylee Stout

There are going to be A LOT of pictures with this one! SORRY in advance!

Kirra Kylee decided that she was going to be born on Sunday, June 5, 2011, at 1:56 AM.

Well, maybe Hayden decided that for her! Here's what happened:

On Tuesday or Wednesday of the week before she was born, I asked Hayden, "When is Kirra's birthday?" He looked at me and said, "Um... Maybe, Sunday." I asked him over and over during the week when her birthday was, and he kept telling me, "I don't know, Mom!" THEN, on Saturday night, I was spending some time with Hayden before bed, and he looked at me and said, "Mom, is Kirra coming tomorrow?" I just looked at him like, 'um you tell me!" I put him to bed, and got ready to go to sleep myself by watching a rerun of The Bachelorette. (Stewart was helping the neighbors put up a fan in their room.)

When Stewart got home, we went up to bed. I had been having trouble sleeping, so I took a 5 mg Ambien. It was about 10:30. I went to bed without any contractions. I then woke up at 11:11 having THE WORST contractions you can possibly imagine! Like seriously, I can't even begin to describe them! I fell in and out of sleep (I would wake up, have a contraction, fall back asleep, and wake up again about 3 minutes later) for about another hour. Finally, I decided to wake Stewart up too. He asked me if I thought that we needed to go into the hospital. I said, "I don't know, I don't want them to just send me home. I'm only 36 1/2 weeks. Besides I don't know if these are even... AHHH! (contraction) doing anything!" Then I had another contraction and said, "Yes! We need to go in now!"

Stewart jumped up and called the neighbors, who gratefully came over and stayed with our kiddos! Then he grabbed our stuff and headed downstairs to wait for the neighbors. I had a few more contractions, threw on some clothes, and got myself out of the house as fast as possible. (Everytime I had a contraction I basically screamed and I didn't want to wake up the kids!) I was having a REALLY hard time the whole way to the hospital, and just kept thinking to myself, "Only a few more minutes and you can get an epidural!"

We got to the hospital and I told Stewart that I needed to use a wheelchair, because there was no way I was going to make it in an elevator ride up to the 2nd floor. We got upstairs and the poor lady at the window looked at me and immediately grabbed a nurse to take me to my room. When we got back there, they wouldn't let me change into a gown by myself, I had to get to the bed, and they did the rest. The nurse was so worried I was going to break my water. I told her that I didn't know if I was really in labor because I'd had so many contractions before. She kind of laughed and said (after checking me) "You aren't going home! You're at an 8!" We walked in the hospital at 1:13, I got checked at 1:18. She would NOT check me again, because I told her once my water breaks I usually go really fast. She immediately got the room ready, and kept telling me that they had paged the anesthesiologist and that hopefully he would get down in time to give me an epidural. (I was having the hardest time with my contractions!) Before too long I told her that I HAD to push! She looked at me and said, "DO NOT push! Your water is crowning and if you do you'll tear, and the baby could come out in the water still!" I tried my hardest NOT to push and finally she decided it was best to break my water. When she did, there was so much pressure that it sprayed clear across the room! I had maybe 2 minutes of relief from the pressure of my water until Kirra started coming out. My Dr. walked in the room and put on his gown and gloves and had me start pushing. I still hadn't gotten an epidural, and I was FREAKING out! They told me that I had to do this by myself, there wasn't any time to get an epidural, just as a nurse walked in asking if I still needed one because the guy was there! I started pushing, which was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life! I pushed twice and they said that I just needed one more, but I told them I was done. I couldn't do it again. Stewart looked at me and jokingly said, "Ok! We can go home then!" I grabbed his neck and pushed as hard as I possibly could! Then, she was here! At 1:56 AM! She was perfect!

It took her a second to start breathing, and she was on oxygen for 90 seconds, but other than that she was fine. They weighed and measured her and she was 7 lbs 5 oz and 19 inches long! JUST perfect!

We came home from the hospital today, and I have to say, I really feel great! I never thought I could go naturally, and I'm SUPER proud of myself for doing it. I would NEVER want to do it again, but the fact that I did it, and that everything worked out great, is AMAZING!

Here are those pictures I promised you! Thanks for reading!

Lemon Buddies

I made these for a ward dinner the other night, and I've had LOTS of people ask me for the recipe, so even though I put it on Facebook, and not many people have this blog's info, I'll put it here too!

Lemon Buddies

(The Lemon Version of Muddy Buddies)

Ingredients:

9 C Rice Chex

1 1/4 C White Chocolate Chips

1/4 C Butter

4 tsp Lemon Peel Zest (I just use the whole lemon.)

2 T Fresh Lemon Juice (I just use the whole lemon for this too!)

2 C powdered Sugar

Directions:

-Put lemon peel, lemon juice, white chocolate chips & butter in microwave for 1 min.

-Stir, Microwave 30 sec, or until well melted and combined.

-Pour mixture over cereal in a large bowl and stir carefully until well coated.

-Add powdered sugar.

-Spread on wax paper to cool (Don't skip this step! They go soggy if you do!)

-Store in an air-tight container.

-Enjoy!