Two weeks after the fact!

I have been meaning to write to let you know I am not still pregnant. Thank goodness! I did in fact have our baby and he surprised us by coming ten days early. I had gone to the doctor on December 7th and the plan was to be induced on the 11th. Marshall had it all set up to have substitutes take over his classes that day and the following Monday and we felt organized. My doctor stripped my membranes that day and I had been at a 2, but we didn't think anything would happen. Famous last words...

That night Anna had a piano recital at a local assisted living place. I soon discovered what it feels like to have one's water burst. I felt a pop while sitting and a bit of discomfort, but nothing else so I sat through the rest of the recital. It wasn't until I stood up at the end to go that the flood gates opened and I realized my water had broken, all over the nice new couch of this new facility. I guess I had been sitting just right to keep it from leaking out. I quickly sat back down, which stopped the flow, and texted Marshall about what had happened as we were on other sides of the room. I told him to find someone that worked there ASAP so they could be made aware of the mess. Meanwhile, I tried to sit calmly and talk to other parents and keep the kids happy while they we were wondering where Marshall was. Once Marshall showed up again with someone I told Anna's piano teacher, who I was talking to, that my water had broken and I needed to go. I then made me way out to the van in a soaking messy trail of fun. So much water!!! The kids were jumping up and down, super excited around me.

We dropped the kids off at home, I changed clothes, and we headed to the hospital. When we got there we found out I was at a 5 and there would be no sending me home. Labor started to really kick into gear and Marshall was good enough to answer all the millions of registration questions while I tried to breathe through contractions. I wanted an epidural with this one since I have only had one with my other deliveries, but the anesthesiologist was in an emergency c-section. By the time he arrived and gave me the epidural, it was time to push. Everyone was a little surprised at how fast it all happened, except for Marshall and I since we know how fast I go. I never did get the effects of the drugs, but it did make for a quicker recovery. Hyrum David McConkie was born at 9:33 pm on December 7th. He was our smallest baby at 6lbs. 10 oz. and 19 1/2 inches. It was good he was smaller since the little monkey came posterior. He did have some distress due to meconium in his lungs, but they were able to get him cleaned out and breathing well. Whew!

We love Hyrum. We choose to name him after Marshall's third great-grandfather, Hyrum Smith. Marshall has always liked that name, which I didn't know. Plus after playing Hyrum in the Joseph Smith Story play this summer, Marshall felt an even closer connection to his ancestor. As for David, we liked the flow of the name. Interestingly enough, Joseph Smith told Emma to name his last baby, who was born after he was martyred, after Hyrum. She named him David Hyrum. And now we have the reverse. We are just geeks like that, I suppose.

Hyrum is a mellow boy and very patient with all the loving and holding he gets from his siblings.  He is one strong little guy who likes to look and move around. The nurses at the hospital were surprised at how active and strong he is. I had the added fun to my recovery of getting a bladder infection, but now am doing a lot better. Having a baby at 36 is an adventure! Marshall and I have decided we are old and adjusting to a new born is a lot more difficult than we remember. But we are soaking in every moment with this sweet boy that we can. His siblings, especially his older sisters, are all good helpers. I am still amazed that he is here and healthy. He truly is a miracle. God is merciful.

Update

Every once in awhile I remember that I do in fact have a blog. I haven't forgotten you all. Life is just busy. I am hoping once the baby comes it will not be so crazy. Ahahahahaha! Funny, right?

But I will be home full-time so there is hope. Right now I am still working at the elementary school as a reading/ skills teacher. It has been so much fun and a joy to help children progress in their learning, but I also intend to soak up every second I can with this baby. It is a blessing that I can quit my job and be home full-time with the baby, a sacrifice that is completely worth it.

I only have ten weeks left!!!! At times I feel like I am going to pop and will not be able to grow any bigger. Other times I think I am going to go insane waiting for this little man to make his appearance. We are all so excited to see him.

Marshall is keeping busy doing a little of everything. Along with teaching Seminary, he teaches to law classes at the local college, prosecutes for a nearby town, and teaches an on-line religion course for BYU-Idaho. I really don't know how he does it all, but he seems to have fun.

Anna is soaring through middle school with straight A's. She is loving her Spanish class. We aren't so sure how we feel about her understanding us when we try to speak in code in Spanish. I guess Marshall and I will need to come up with a new code language.

Rachel has blossomed in intermediate school. She is playing the trumpet in band, participating in flag football, and on a  Lego League team. She loves her new school.

Jimmy has done better this year at having to go to school than any other year, which is something. He sometimes has sad days when he doesn't want to be away from home, which is funny since I am at his school too, but his school-loving little brother keeps him in line. Jimmy is rocking 4th grade and becoming proficient in Mandarin after being in the program for four years. I have no idea what he is saying, but his teacher does.

Jacob loves first grade. He is always begging to go to school a half hour early every school day. He loves making friends, eating lunch at school, and recess. His reading has really taken off this year. It is neat to see the world open up to him. He too is in Chinese and enjoys learning new songs and words in Mandarin.

And that, my friends, is our update. At the pace I am going I will write again when the baby is 5. Ha ha! I promise that, if anything, I will post pictures once our little man is born. He is due December 17th. How exciting!!!!!

Surprise!!!

Let's just admit that I have slacked on writing the blog big time. I decided I finally better write since life has changed for us. You all know that I started working at the school this year. I have really enjoyed it and expected to be working there for many years to come with Jacob now entering first grade. But the Lord obviously had other plans for us.

At the end of March we got a huge surprise when we found out I was pregnant. How was that even possible after years of trying and the Lord telling us to move on? After we had given away all of our baby stuff and I did my best to accept that there would be no more babies? How did that happen? It felt surreal and I was too afraid to believe it would last.

Now here we are, 20 weeks into the pregnancy and I just had a healthy ultrasound. It looks like we will have a boy joining our family this December! We are beyond excited. Truthfully, it took some time for us to wrap our brains around something that seemed impossible. We still have our moments of shock since it will be almost 7 years since our last baby. But we also feel so incredibly blessed. What a miracle for our family!

The plan will be for me to work this fall at school and then quit at the end of November. The school said I can come back anytime I am ready, but I am determined to enjoy this last little baby all I can. I always was sad I didn't know Jacob was our last because I would have enjoyed him more. Now the Lord has blessed us with another baby. We are so excited.

I will keep you updated on the baby and names and all that. Happy Day!!!

Reality: the good, bad, and the ugly

I was honest when I said I was going to write more often. I really did want to. But life has taken some unexpected turns and adventures in the past two months that has made blogging not the top of my list. Really, all I hope to do each day is to just make it through.

Let me tell you about my magical medical mystery tour of the past two months. I started having pain two months ago on my right side, above my hip. It didn't seem muscle related and didn't go away so I went to my doctor and we did an ultrasound to see if it was an ovarian cyst, which I have had before. The ultrasound came back clear and so we decided to see if the pain went away.

It didn't. It spread to under my rib cage on my right side. It felt like a knife was under my ribs or a balloon was inside me and going to burst. Not good. Maybe it was my gallbladder or appendix? I didn't have a fever or any other symptoms aside from pain and fatigue. (Seriously, I have spent a lot of the past two months on the couch with Marshall playing mom and dad. It has been rough. Some days are good and some are bad. We just take them as they come. Somehow I am still able to make it to work at the school. My job has been so good because it has gotten me out of bed and moving each day.) The doctor decided to do a CT Scan to see if that showed anything funky with my abdomen. Since they decided to do it with contrast, I had the pleasure of drinking the nasty citrus milky chalky stuff known as beryllium, praying all the while that I would keep it down. CT scan was done and everything looked great!

Sigh. Next was another ultrasound, but this time on my liver, kidneys, and pancreas. Again, nothing wrong. I was just busy collecting lots of cool pictures of my insides, medical bills, and frustration. The pain continued and grew to be around my belly button as well. I was so tired of being tired and not having the energy and ability to be the mom and wife I normally am. Lots of tears were shed and prayers offered. And also a few blessings from my amazing husband. Through it all I have gained great insight and patience.

Last week I had a colonoscopy done to make sure it was nothing with my colon. Oh my goodness, the prep IS the worst. But after all the other tests I have been through, what was another one?! Again, things looked great. They did find some precancerous polyps, which is a huge blessing since I don't have a history of colon cancer in my family and would not have had a colonoscopy done for another 10-15 years. This would have given those polyps plenty of time to turn to cancer. So it was a blessing in disguise to find those now and know I need to keep on top of those.

By now, the pain had also moved to my arms, often leaving them feeling weak and numb and also to the left side of my abdomen. Seriously?!!!!! This morning Marshall and I were able to meet with my doctor and go over all the test results and find out what they do mean and what they do not mean. We were able to ask questions and share our concerns. My good doctor listened to them all and explained things so well to us. The good news is that I do not have an autoimmune disease like MS or Lupus, no cancer, no endometriosis, etc. But the data shows us that I most likely seem to be having a sensory problem. My brain is telling my body is has problems when it doesn't. We're talking fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. (Fibromyalgia is a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues. Researchers believe that fibromyalgia amplifies painful sensations by affecting the way your brain processes pain signals.) The plan for now is to treat it with medication. Once we get my body adjusted we will hopefully see results. I will meet back with my doctor in six weeks to discuss. Hopefully soon I will be able to have more energy and less pain. It has been hard to be limited when I think I am so invincible.

But, there have been  many tender mercies and learning experiences along the way. I would rather be healed and not have to deal with this, but all we can do is move forward and hope for the best. There are many other things that are far worse that I could be dealing with. I continue to count my blessings and take it one day at a time.