Will at the Hospital

Maybe its because my entire pregnancy I worried that February meant RSV, but I think we were just a little unlucky. Or lucky, as he is doing really well.

He caught a runny nose from Ruth, and eventually me, on Friday night/Saturday and I'd just been sucking it out with the bulb syringe from the hospital. He got pretty pale at Sterling's mom's house on Sunday (our first major excursion with the baby and everyone assured us they weren't sick, too bad he already was) but when I got him home he seemed just fine. I told Sterling I was kind of worried when Sterling got home from work, but at the time he looked fine. Then as I was holding him and we were getting ready for bed he got really pale, and kept coughing and was slow to breathe after. But he'd recover, so I couldn't decide how worried to be. Maybe he just needed his nose cleared? Sterling was beyond worried and wanted to head to the ER right then. I looked up signs of RSV online, and he got more worried, but I thought it was just cause we were psyching ourselves. Then I called my sister Megan, but I don't even remember what she said since Sterling was already pulling on clothes, starting the car, getting Ruth in the car, etc. I made Sterling stop for one second and give Will a blessing. I have no idea what he said, but I remember, that the moment his hands were on Will's head I felt the spirit so strongly and was just so grateful for Sterling and his priesthood and that one quiet moment. Then I grabbed some blankets, our insurance cards, and the diaper bag, and we headed out.

The admitting nurse thought he looked pretty fine, and went to get a device to check his oxygen on his foot (I think?) while I talked to the admitting receptionist lady. Next thing I know the admitting nurse is taking him away, car seat and all, and I am waiting for his leg bands. When I walked into the ER room it was a horrible, terrible feeling. No one should ever see their tiny little three week old on a huge, big bed with bright lights shining down and nurses scurrying around him and an oxygen mask over his face. His oxygen had been low. Extremely low. But everyone seemed pretty impressed with how well he started doing as soon as they started giving him oxygen. He started doing even better when they deep suctioned him, and he had a ton of gunk come out. The nurse in the ER normally works in pediatrics, for which I will be forever grateful, and got his IV in right away. The other nurses trying to get blood drawn were not so lucky. The first blood draw showed high potassium, so they had to recheck it. The second blood draw they didn't get enough blood. And so they had to do it a third time. His poor little wrist and hand is all bruised now. They also did a chest xray, and they decided they couldn't see what they wanted, so I followed them to a radiology room, and they had to redo it. Twice. They made Sterling leave because Ruth is under 14. That was miserable. I kept wanting to feed him because I was getting really engorged, but that didn't happen til two or so.  They also gave Will a bolus because his electrolytes were off, which meant he was dehydrated.

Finally, all the tests were finished, and they let us go to a room. The positive test for RSV had come back in the first fifteen minutes of being there. They gave me a pump to use, unhooked Will from oxygen because he was doing so well, and we settled in for the night. But not until I cried in front of two nurses. Nurses shouldn't be nice to moms at 4am who don't have a husband with them, I wouldn't have cried if they wouldn't have been nice. At 5am he started having episodes of apnea, which was not fun to watch. But they hooked him up to oxygen again, put it higher, and he started doing great.

Since then he's done really well. None of the mucous is down in his lungs, so they just regularly suction him so its easier for him to breathe and eat. They have him monitored and today he seems a lot better. Yesterday the poor thing just wanted to be held in one certain way and would slowly sound more and more stuffed up, but today he is much happier. Last night he did spike a fever, but not high enough that they wanted to do any tests right away, and it hasn't come back. 

As far as RSV goes, we are really lucky, especially since he is so little. If he keeps improving, they'll probably send us home tomorrow. Keeping our fingers crossed! He's also eating much better and that is a good sign.

They haven't used his IV, but they keep it in just in case and flush it every four hours. That's why his hand is bandaged.

This morning he got some cool dinosaur bandaging.

This morning we also gave him a bath which made his hair go SO fluffy. I keep thinking "It's SO FLUFFY! I'm gonna DIE!" His color also looks great.

Our first nurse was amazing and I loved her. Our nurse and respiratory therapist from last night were not so great. I think the nurse just bugged me because I only got about an hour of sleep the night before. The respiratory therapist kept saying she didn't hear anything in his lungs, so she'd only half-heartedly suction him out. Then we got a new one this morning, and I told her I thought he was pretty stuffed up, and she did a deep suction again for me, and got a huge amount out, and he went right to sleep. So happy. I also like our nurse today better, so thats good, she helped me give him a bath. Long post, but now its all documented.

Siblings

Once upon a time I remembered that I got a really cute Valentine outfit for Ruth handed down to her. Only it was past Valentine's. But I thought I'd throw a bow tie on the little man and try for some cute pictures anyway. I really hope taking pictures of them together gets easier. She tries to hold and hug and squish him whenever he's close enough, which means she is never looking at the camera. Oh well. 

When I was getting more frustrated I told Ruth that she could have some chocolate chips if she said 'cheese'. This is what happened:

 She's pretty adorable. And so is her little brother. I can't get over how handsome he is.

 She is in love with the water bottle they gave me at the hospital. Funny girl.

And those are my sweet kids. Will is starting to put on enough weight that Sterling said "his legs look a little less spindly lately" last night. Haahaa. He does feel less spindly. He's getting so big! Already three weeks old, its crazy!

Aunt Marla Thank YOU!

These pictures are to show the so. absolutely. adorable! baby quilt that my Aunt Marla made for little Will. I am SO in love with it. I love the colors, I love how simple it looks, and I love the raggedy edges. I even used it in the professional pictures I got taken at Target. Unfortunately, these pictures are not professional, and I'm not really in love with any of them, but they do show off the beautiful handiwork of my aunt! Thank you SO SO SO much for sending it, I know it will get used lots and it will be such a treasure that both my babies have blankets from you!

Little Man

I just think he looks super sweet right here. 

Is that not the CUTEST bow tie you ever saw? Too bad I tried taking a ton of pictures and none of them really turned out that great.

Big eyes. 

Love this.

So Will is packing on the pounds. Haahaa. At his two week check yesterday he weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces, which means he's gained a pound and two ounces since he was born. Very nice. No wonder he still eats every two hours sometimes. Pretty much he is perfect, and I love him SO SO much!

My Little Girl

When I had Will, my parents were AMAZING, and came and took Ruth for the next couple of days. It turned into six days because Ruth was sick, and so mom kept her so that we wouldn't bring the flu bug home to our house. My mom was in the middle of planning a multi-stake Valentines dinner/dance, and had a lot going on. They had about 500 people show up this year and mom said it was CRAZY PACKED (That is because everyone there knows now that my mom knows how to PARTY like none other. True story.) But she took care of Ruth because she is awesome like that, and let me recover without a sick toddler. I didn't realize how much I would miss Ruthie, she's never been away from me for that long before. Also, the fact that she was sick made me extra sad to not be able to be there to comfort her and hug her and kiss her. Because mom was so busy, dad got up with Ruth a couple mornings in the wee hours so mom could sleep. Ruth usually sleeps through the night, but like I said, she was sick, poor thing. Dad saw Sterling on campus one day and informed him that he was up at 4:30am  with our daughter. He said he rocked her to sleep and she cuddled right into him for a long time, and when she got fussy again, he just switched chairs and rocked her to sleep and again, she just snuggled right in. Sterling was at a loss of what to say, and dad said, "Just thank me for doing it, and I'll thank YOU for the experience." Of course, I bawled when I heard the story. And bawled again when I wrote it down that night. I am so grateful for such a wonderful dad! And that my parents did so much with Ruth over those couple of days.

When I brought Ruth home she was still a little under-the-weather, and so was I. The first day was absolutely miserable. She threw fits, I was exhausted, she was ornery and whiney and I just wondered where my happy little girl went. By Sunday she felt a lot better and things got much better in response. But the other afternoon I was talking to Sterling (who is virtually non-existent with his two jobs and two tests this weekend, sigh) and said that she just seemed like a MOODY toddler to me. Then it kind of struck me that that is exactly what she is. She loves Will and gives him kisses and hugs, but there are times when I am feeding him and she'll crawl up to sit beside me and then try to push him away so she can be the only one in my lap. Poor girl. Definitely a bit of a transition for her to not be the center of attention.

Ruth really is so sweet and so funny, though. She throws away all of Will's dirty diapers for me when I hand them to her. The other day I was showering and Will was on our bed (Ruth can't climb that one quite yet) and all the sudden this little hand pokes in between the wall and shower curtain holding a container of floss. "Thank you" I said, and took it from the hand, and her voice said "Welcome" (or her rendition that is somewhat close to that) and proceeded to walk away. A little while later, the hand comes back, this time holding toothpaste. We repeated this several times. It was just so adorable to me. A couple days ago, she heard me turn off the shower, and when I opened the curtain to grab a towel, she was standing there holding a towel for me! (She had gotten it out of the dirty laundry basket in the hallway, but still, SO SWEET!) This morning she spilled my water bottle (she is entranced with the one they gave me at the hospital and first thing every morning she says "PEASE!" for a drink) and Sterling wiped up the water with a rag, and then threw the rag in the laundry hamper. She proceeded to drop the water bottle on purpose, say "uh-oh!", got the rag out of the hamper, wiped a little at the carpet, and carry the water bottle back to me. She did this about four times, funny girl. She also likes to stick her hand in the toilet water (when I am unlucky enough to have Sterling leave the cover up) and then come running to me going "UH-OHHHH!!!!" with her wet hand outstretched. That one is not quite as awesome, but I just feel so lucky and so blessed to have time with my babies and even though we definitely have rough moments...or days...I am glad I am home, with them.

And another picture of my teeny-tiny man. He is SO SO cute! (And apparently monkeys were really big at one point, because out of the hand-me-downs I received, about 90% are monkey themed.)

I love them both SO SO SO SO SO much! So much.

Visitors

To start off, a picture of the most beautifully handsome little boy. I just love him SO SO much!

My good friend Aleesha came to visit and see my baby boy. It was a lot of fun, but somewhat exhausting having that many LITTLE babies around. It seemed like Aleesha and I were constantly nursing our babies and the toddlers were constantly into something. Haahaa---its the life, right?!?

 They didn't play the greatest...until they started this game of pushing each other around in the cart. It was awesome.

Or pulling, whichever was easiest.

This is pretty much the best picture we had of both of them looking. Toddlers. They definitely don't make things easy on the photographer.

They even started trying a few tricks. (Ruth is almost as tall as Liam when she's standing inside the cart!)

It was funny to watch Ruth push, at first she tried and almost gave up, and then you could see her lean her whole body and weight into it, the cart would start to move, and she'd start pushing away. Liam had no problems, and could push Ruth at an almost too-fast-frightening speed.

Oh I LOVE that little girl!

"Yellow? YOOOOHHHH!!!!" (translated, "hello, 'loooo!") Everything is a phone these days. 

I love how you can see her reflection here, with her nose all pressed against the window.

Aleesha gave me this wrap a long time ago for my baby shower. Its confusing to figure out how to use. She helped me out and gave me some pointers so maybe it can be useful in the future. :)

He looks so tiny here, like he shouldn't even be big enough to be out of my belly.

Lydia and Will. Lydia seemed like a tiny little BABY last time they visited, and look how huge she looks next to our tiny Will!

Apparently she can't sit by him and not fit in a few hugs. Just enough to make his face all scrunched for future pictures. Nice.

 And really, I just can't quite believe these next two pictures. Since when did Aleesha and I have FOUR kids between us???!?!?!?!?!!? Thats just a little bit crazy. Aren't we still in high school? And waking each other up in Drivers Ed?????

 Thanks Aleesha for coming and visiting and driving all the way here!

One Week Old

Will has been a week old for a couple days now. I just really wish I was a better photographer and could take some decent pictures! But for all my sisters (who call and chew me out, but never leave comments, ruff) here are some pictures of Will (and a few of Ruth):

 I told my sister Kami about the problems I had with this outfit. I think it is absolutely ADORABLE and the blue looks amazing on him. I wanted pictures with his eyes open, so I changed his diaper and didn't feed him. Which meant that every time the collar touched his cheek, he opened his mouth to eat. Not so great for taking pictures. So eventually, I gave up, fed him, and took sleeping pictures instead.

Ruth tries to 'give' (aka SMOTHER) him with her teddy bear every chance she gets.  

I love his grumpy faces.

That bottom lip is the cutest thing in my life.

Kisses from Ruthie. 

Another favorite past-time of Ruth's is rubbing his head.

You can see how hilarious she thinks that is.

Will, however, was not impressed.

Sleeping on daddy. Sweetest thing ever.

Ruth thinks this swing is hers. I don't worry about it too much, she only weighs twenty pounds.

Again, trying to smother the baby with the teddy bear. He doesn't seem to mind too much though.

And there you have it, the sweetest little one week old baby in the entire world! I could just squeeze him all day long! Ruth still loves him to pieces, which is nice, and not so nice, but I hope she continues to love him that much forever!