The Husband's Birthday

I seriously hate that I got behind on blogging.  It really stinks to try to get caught back up, but I'm almost there, and hopefully I'll be able to post a lot more efficiently from now on, with our new computer. I'm not kidding, I cried the first time a did a blog post with it and it took me a fraction of the time that it had been with my old computer.

Since Jeff and Porter's birthdays' are only four days apart, I didn't really plan on having two parties.  Jeff and I decided that we wanted to go on a date the weekend before his birthday to celebrate.  We decided to go to a movie, and I was sure that he was going to pick The Hobbit, but a few days before we planned to go, he told me that we should go see Breaking Dawn, Part 2, before it was out of theaters.  I was a little shocked that he wanted to go, but went online to see if it was still playing anywhere.  I found one theater, the Cinemark at Jordan Landing (right by where we first lived when we moved to Utah).  Jeff's older sister graciously volunteered to come to our house to watch our boys for us.  We headed out to the movie and got there about 10 minutes before it started.  We walked into the theater and it was completely packed.  The only two seats we could find together were in the first row.  Yep, the first row.


 When everyone was over at our house for Porter's party, they insisted that we have another one for Jeff on his birthday.  I didn't think everyone would want to drive out to our house twice in one week, but they were more than willing to come.  Jeff's sister even made the BEST German Chocolate cake!  And Jeff got to celebrate his 3rd Birthday (just like Mason!) because I thought I had two number three candles, but didn't. Sheeesh, he's getting old.

(Yes this table is super ugly, its getting painted black very soon!)

The family.

Cinco de Mayo

A busy day for this family. Baseball games in the morning, then a quick trip home to load up food and a table for a family barbecue. Then an afternoon spent with the family: eating, fixing a scooter, and since it's Cinco de Mayo we threw in a piñata for fun. The boys loved seeing family and especially enjoyed having Grandpa & Grandma Birch come all the way from Rexburg to see their baseball games.

Indirect Inguinal Hernia Repair

On Friday, Jeff had his hernia repair surgery. In our almost 8 years of marriage, this is the first time that he has had to have any sort of procedure done. After him helping me through four c-sections, its now been my turn to be the "nurse". He had a little bit of trouble waking up from the anesthesia, and said he woke up to the nurses trying to shake him awake.  When they allowed me to come back and see him, he looked confused and grumpy. Jeff naturally has a low resting heart rate (they said it was at 51 before they took him into surgery) and as he was coming out of the anesthesia it kept dropping down into the 30's and setting off the alarms.  I was a little worried about it, but the nurse assured me that for him it wasn't a bad thing because his heart rate is always low. In fact, he is often asked if he is a runner. Needless to say, he was quite out of it and when it was time to get dressed and go home, he got up and tried to dress like normal without me helping him.  When I was helping him get dressed the next day, he said he didn't even remember getting dressed to go home and that he had tried to do it all by himself.

Its been nice to have him home.  In fact he will be off work all week.  The last time we had so much time together was when he was laid off right before we moved to Utah. It kind of feels the same as being unemployed, because we will be pinching our pennies and going a week without a paycheck.  Jeff is only allowed to accrue one week of vacation time and he had used most of it up when Porter was born and the rest was used in going to doctor appointments the past few months. Its times like these when I'm thankful we have a little bit of money stashed away.  And food storage. And health insurance.  What a blessing! I know that somehow things will all work out. They always do and I know its because we pay our tithing. There have been several times over the past few years where we've been put in situations where we had to rely wholly upon the Lord to bless us for paying our tithing.  Things just fall into place. They always do.  And I'm trusting that they will again this time.

Hypo What? And a Hernia.

When Porter was six days old, we took him into our Pediatrician to have him circumcised.  During the procedure, Jeff went with Porter and I stayed and waited in the exam room.  After what seemed like an abnormally long time, Dr. Greenberg returned to the exam room and asked, "What is a phone number you can be reached at during the day?" I thought it was an odd question but told him my number and then saw him walk into his office.  I was a little perplexed at what was going on, but he came back a few minutes later and told me that Porter had been born with a birth defect called hypospadias. (Warning: there is a picture of a penis with this link so if you don't want to see it don't click. Oh, and Porter's problem looks nothing like this picture.  His is a first degree hypospadias and is under the foreskin and that's why it wasn't detected until the circumcision.) Our doctor had called up to Primary Children's Hospital to talk with a Pediatric Urologist.  The doctor told us that it would have to be corrected surgically after Porter was six months old.  They stitched Porter back up (the foreskin needs to be saved for part of the reconstruction) and gave us a referral. I felt horrible about it for awhile thinking that I had done something wrong.  But after talking with some extended family members, it seems that the problem may be more genetic than anything I did.

Yesterday, after waiting almost two months, we had our appointment with the Urologist up at Primary Children's. The good news is that it is a day surgery and he should be able to come home the same day.  But he will have to have his little man parts reconstructed so he can go to the bathroom normally (he would have to sit down for the rest of his life). The surgery can be done any time between 6 months and 18 months.

We were planning on doing the surgery this summer when he turned 6 months old.  That is until today when we found out Jeff will be needing surgery too.  He came home from his yearly physical with news that he has a hernia. I am counting it as a blessing that Porter's surgery can be postponed a bit since Jeff's surgery is a little more urgent.  Sheesh, what is it with us and medical bills?

Meeting Porter

{Before the Delivery}

Two very anxious parents, who managed only three hours of sleep.

A 6:00 AM check-in time at the hospital.

A crash-course for Daddy in using the DSLR camera...hence the blurry, head cut-off belly picture.

Getting hooked up to monitors, blood draws, and a painful IV.

A "belly-picture" of Daddy all suited up and ready to go to the OR.

One nervous Mommy as she walked into the OR and had a spinal block placed.

{During the Delivery}

A surprisingly fast birth.

An answer to prayers...scar tissue was miraculously better this time, which means less complications and more brothers (and maybe sisters) in the future!

The sweet sound of a newborn baby cry...before his body had even been delivered!

The time: 8:05 AM. 

The measurments: 7lbs 11oz, 21.5 inches.

Then the sound of a nurse next to me saying, "Sara, look at this."

A perfect knot in the cord.

Doctors explained to me that this is rare and my baby was VERY lucky to be alive.  A natural delivery could have been fatal. If he would have moved wrong in the womb and pulled it tight, he wouldn't have lived. A rush of emotion as I realized how very blessed we were to have a scheduled cesarean.  How very blessed I was to hear that newborn cry.

{After the Delivery}

The joy of finally meeting Porter.

Mom and Dad marvelling at the miracle of their newborn son.

Then an hour spent in recovery...snuggling our sweet boy and learning all over again how to nurse.

Finally a move upstairs to the postpartum unit.

Then a postpartum hemmorhage.

Everything felt like a blur to me. Doctors and nurses were coming in and out of the room.  There was near constant massaging of my uterus.  I was given three different medications that finally stopped the bleeding and saved me from being taken back into surgery. 

One of the most frightening things this mother has ever been through.

After everything was stabilized, it was time for Grandma and the brothers to meet Porter.

Such excited little boys!

And finally, having my little family all together.  How I love these boys!