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!

Happy Mother's Day!

Well, today is Mother's Day. Stewart and the boys are in Idaho visiting his family, because his sister just got home from her mission and spoke in church. (It's like a REALLY big deal! No one sees her for 1 1/2 years, and she only got to call home on Mother's Day and Christmas, and we only got weekly e-mails.) Anyway, he didn't want to leave me home, but I made him go. Seriously, I made him! My Dr. wouldn't let me go. I'm already dialated to a 1 and I'm REALLY soft...

At my appointment last Monday my Dr. was delivering a baby, so I saw his nurse. (I would rather see her than one of the PA's!) She checked me and got pretty worried. So she called the Dr and I got a call from HIM later in the day. He sent me up to the hospital to get steroid shots to help Kirra's lung development. The next day I went up again to get the second shot. They were pretty uncomfortable, but if they help the baby, I'm all for it! My Dr came into the room during my first shot and talked to us. He said that he's more worried about me than other patients, because I've had my kids earlier everytime. Hayden at 38 weeks and Keagan at 36 weeks. He's worried that Kirra could come even earlier than that. I'm still not on full-bedrest, but I'm REALLY supposed to stay off my feet as much as possible.

Stewart asked if I could go to Idaho with them this weekend, and my Dr said that it was up to us, but he'd suggest not to. Then Stewart asked if we needed to have another ultrasound to make sure that Kirra is doing alright development wise. My Dr said, yes! YAY! So we got to go in on Wednesday and have another ultrasound! She's measuring great! She's about a week ahead, which is just like our boys were. She weighs around 4 lbs 10 oz now. So that means she weighs even more than that now! She's still a she, which is FANTASTIC! She has the chubbiest cheeks ever! I love it! She looks just like her brothers too. She's got Keagan's face, and Hayden's nose. It just makes me even more excited to see her!

I've been having LOTS more contractions this week. I keep having hot flashes whenever I stand up, and getting super dizzy. I'm afraid these last few weeks are going to be tough on me! I'll be 33 weeks on Wednesday, so I technically only have

more weeks to go! YAY! I hope I can make it that long!

Well, I'm going to go wait for my boys to get home so I can see them sometime this Mother's Day! We get to go to the Dr again tomorrow, so I'm excited to hear her precious heartbeat again!

Contractions

I never updated after my last post! Geez! Sorry!

So I went to the Dr last week and he said that everything was fine. He said that I was still closed and I wasn't effaced yet. Then he said did a Fetal Fibronectin Test (I can't spell) which tells if you're likely to go into labor in the next 3 weeks, and it was negative. So no bedrest for me! YAY! I'm just supposed to rest longer, and try to take it easy.

SO... Last night... At around 3:30 or so I started having a few contractions. By 7 they were REALLY strong, and they were every 2 minutes or so. I drank a bunch of water, and laid on my side. They kept getting stronger and by 9:30 they were every minute. I took my pills to stop my contractions and they didn't work. Finally, Stewart called one of our Home Teacher's and he came over and helped Stewart give me a blessing. It was 10 at night, when he came over. Right after that Stewart helped me upstairs. I hadn't stood up for a LONG time, and my legs were numb because I wasn't getting any blood to them with all of the contractions I was having. It felt like I was walking on pins and needles clear upstairs. Even when I laid down, they hurt still. Stewart filled the tub up for me, and helped me lay down in it. After about half an hour of that, I started getting really tired. My legs still hurt, and were all tingly still. I had taken an ambien before I got in the tub and it just hit me! I laid down and I'm pretty sure I fell asleep in like 5 minutes. Stewart said I had a contraction and then was snoring! HAHA!

When I woke up this morning, I was contracting a little. I called my Dr's office and they got me in to a PA at 9:45. (My Dr is out until Wednesday.) I went in and she checked me and said that I am "slightly effaced" and "pretty closed" Don't you just LOVE those descriptive words? I wish she would have just said, "Well, you're starting to efface, and just less than a fingertip dialated", that would have been MUCH better for me! Anyway, I'm supposed to up my TV/sitting/reading/anything not standing time, and down my standing time. Great! I'm also not supposed to pick up Hayden any more. How am I supposed to do that? I tried talking to him about it today, and it didn't help much. He still wanted me to hold him.

Stewart has been great! Seriously! He has done EVERYTHING for me today! Since I took that Ambien so late, I was REALLY tired all day, so when we got home from the Dr he let me sleep for like 3 hours. Then he has taken care of the kids all day and is even making my freezer meals I'm supposed to take around this week. So sweet!

I guess I'm going to go lay down so that I can hopefully get this new batch of contractions to slow down!

Bedrest

I went to the Dr. yesterday. He said that I have to go back in on Monday, so just 1 week. I'm currently 28 weeks along, so 1 week appointments aren't supposed to be for a while! I have to keep going back because I have these contractions ALL the time! They really suck and are worse than I had with my boys. Since I've only got 9 weeks until I'm "Full-Term", the Dr is worried that I'll start labor and not be able to stop. I guess being safe is better than being sorry. Keagan came 4 weeks early and spent a little bit of time in the NICU, and I'd really like to avoid that if at all possible! It's really hard having your tiny baby be in a place that you can't even hold them because they have tubes all over them!

Hayden has been sick lately. He went to the ER the other night because his fever spiked to 102.4 in like a half hour and we couldn't get it to stop. Of course as soon as we got to the hospital, it broke! But when we got home, it was 101.5 again! I swear hospitals make you better until you leave them! They can't really tell us what he has, but they put him on a few different medications, and they seem to be helping him a little. If only we could get him to sleep through the night now! Keagan has been sleeping a lot better than Hayden has lately! Luckily for Keagan, and us, he hasn't gotten sick (knock on wood).

Stewart has been sick and so have I. I'm just hoping we all get better soon! Being sick isn't much fun!

I'll try to send some pictures of the kiddos from my phone to the computer soon, so I can put up some pictures!

Supposed To...

I'm supposed to be cleaning the house right now. Yep. Keyword there "SUPPOSED". I'm not. Obviously. I got the Master Bathroom done, and some laundry done. I'm waiting on the towels to finish drying and I think I'll call it a day!

I'm also supposed to be making 4 Chicken Potpies for some families in the neighborhood that I'm in a Freezer Dinner Exchange group. I've got to give them out next week, so I figure I can wait a little longer! (I'm such a procrastinator!)

Did you look at the pictures of Keagan's birthday? Aren't they just so FREAKING adorable? I love how he lifted up the little dish and tried to lick it clean! He seriously ate the whole thing! Besides what he got in his hair, and all over himself, and the high chair. The rest went in his tummy! He got a tummy ache later, but I'm pretty sure he thought it was worth it. Too much sugar is never a good thing, but seeing the joy on his face while he ate that cake was priceless!

We are trying to potty train Hayden right now. He'll go pee on the potty everytime, but not poop. Then he was in the tub one morning and started freaking out that he had pooped in the tub (it was more like he farted and a little came out). We put him right on the potty and he went. We celebrated that more than Christmas! He called his grandparent's. He got 3 stickers. He talked about it for days! Then, he wouldn't do it anymore. He spent a day at my parent's house, and was in pull-ups the whole time. No accident! Even pooped on the potty, by himself. But as soon as he came home, no such luck. He just won't do it for us. I don't know what the deal is! I've tried everything. Do any of you (4 readers, haha) have any advice? I just want my kid out of diapers before the next one gets here! AH!

Pictures from Keagan's birthday

Randomness

I'm pretty sure that there is nothing in this world better than being able to settle into a nice bubble bath

with a game of Suduko,

a cup of pebble ice,

and silence! (Ok, maybe there are a FEW things that are better...) A bubble bath can cure almost anything! I'm tota

lly convinced of it! Locking myself in the bathroom and having just a few minutes to myself is awesome! And when Stewart is kind enough to let me stay in there for as long as I want? Well, I'm in heaven!

I've got these AWESOME projects I've been working on, but they're for a friend for her baby shower, and I can't put pictures up here until I've given them to her. Oh, and I have to FINISH one! I guess it'd be good to do that soon, since her shower is Saturday... I'm really excited for them though. Stewart made me promise to not give them to her early, because as soon as I finished some of them, I wanted to run them to her house right away!

I've been getting this urge to create A LOT! The problem is, I don't do it. I just don't want to try something and not have it work out the way I envisioned it. You know what I mean? I've got to do something though, because it's killing me to come up with ideas and not do them! Then I forget them and I never do them! I'm going to make something... I just don't know what yet! I found this great blog called 1 Month 2 Win It. I want to enter something in it, just to see if I can get picked, then if I do, I'll have an excuse to make more stuff! You should check it out! It's intimidating seeing what these women come up with in just 1 week, but it's also so inspiring!

Keagan's First Birthday!

We celebrated Keagan's first birthday on Saturday. It was a lot of fun! He wasn't interested at all in the gifts. In fact, he drank milk and crawled anywhere, but around the presents! So different from Hayden's 1st birthday party!

Keagan DID LOVE his cake though! A local grocery store makes free cakes for 1st birthday's, so he had his own little cake. He dug into it like it was going to get up and run away. He ate all of it! And smeared a bunch of it all over his face, body, hair, and highchair. I undressed him before he got to eat cake, which was a really smart move! He got to take a bath in the tub after he finished and didn't like that so much!

It was a lot of fun to see everyone that came and to celebrate making it a whole year with him! I always say that 1st birthday's aren't for the kids, but for the parents. It's celebrating making it a WHOLE YEAR without a manual or instructions! His birthday isn't until Wednesday, but weekends are so much better for family and everyone else! It was a lot of fun.

I'll try to upload some pictures later!

Maternity Pictures!

My super cute friend, Jessica, took maternity pictures for me the other day! She's so sweet! She's really good too. She did our family pictures in the Fall and they look amazing, and these turned out way good too! Next time she'll need a better model (anyone but me)!

I've gotten LOTS bigger since these were taken! It's crazy what a few weeks will do!