first rapids game

marryn's first colorado rapids game with dad.

she got a beanie. which she has to share.

and a scarf.  which is all hers.

oh, and they won.  2-0

the glare

he's been practicing many looks these days.

this one's fun because even if he really *means* it, 

it's usually followed by his fun little laugh.

summer fun

anyone else going to be sad to say goodbye to summer? 

a febrile seizure

My kids have been sick.

Nothing too bad, but it's just been a constant round of snot and coughing and even a complete strip down of Reganne's bed when she threw up.

But like I said, nothing too bad.  Or too serious.

Until the other night.

Kellen was running a slight fever Sunday night.  We gave him some Tylenol and put him to bed.  Didn't think much of it, other than Marryn had a fever the night before.  The next day he woke up fine.  Wasn't warm, but we could tell he wasn't feeling his best.  Nothing too bad though.  I even set him up in the cart when I went grocery shopping.  He was good.  Enjoyed it.  Then later that afternoon he started to warm up again.  I gave him some Tylenol.  Joe came home awhile later and he was still pretty hot, about 102 degrees.  So he stripped him down.  I had him later and he was still roasting, so we put a cool rag on his head.  And then as I was holding him, his plug suddenly fell out of his mouth.  Then his eyes glazed over.

"Kellen?  Kellen!"  I jumped up.  "Joey, something's wrong with Kellen!  Something's wrong with Kellen!!"

He took him as he yelled, "Call 911."  Of course I grabbed his iPhone, which would have taken me 5 minutes to get through passwords and apps and whatnot to even figure out how to even make a call, but then I noticed my phone sitting on the counter.  I grabbed it and started to dial.  I looked over at Joey, who was holding Kellen on his shoulder, as if he was burping him.  He was very still.

"Is he breathing?"  He put his hand on back to check.

He wasn't.  He handed him back to me and we could see that he was completely, head to toe, purple.

It was an all too familiar sight.

I took him and rushed into the living room where I layed him on the ground and just kept thinking "I'm going to bury another baby.  I'm going to bury another baby."   Joe's on the phone now, telling the dispatcher what's going on and I'm trying to do mouth to mouth.  But I can't get his chin to lift up.  I can't get his head to move back.  I'm giving him breaths (all the while I'm completely freaking out) but can't tell if they're going in or not.  I just can't get his head to move.  I look back over him and his purple little legs are drawn into his chest and won't go down.  And his stomach is complete sucked in.  But I keep with it, doing the best I could.  Then slowly his little body relaxes.  His color starts to come back.

And he starts to breathe again.

Soon his eyes open back up and he starts to cry a little.  I pick him up, but the dispatcher says to keep him laying down with his chin up.  So I do.  And he just looks at us, slightly out of it, as his cries get more and more consistent and stronger.  I just want to hold him, but I don't know what just happened and I don't want to hurt him, so I leave him there and talk to him.  I try to comfort us both.

Soon the firemen arrive.  They do some quick checks, but seeing that he's breathing fine on his own, they tell me I can hold him.  They ask tons of questions and shaking, I do my best to answer.  The ambulance arrives and offers to take him to the hospital.  They load his car seat in the ambulance and I go with him.  Joe follows later.  (Sometime after he started breathing again, I managed to get through Joey's phone and call Jean, his mom, to come over.  In addition we had a great neighbor who came over to offer help with the other kids and other neighbors who called as well.) 
  
In the ambulance, they don't find anything wrong other than a high temperature.  I relay the story again and the parametric thinks it was a seizure.  Again at the hospital I relay the story.

A Febrile Seizure.

Although extremely scary, they are completely benign.  The worry is not so much the seizure, but why do they have a temperature.

So at the hospital, they check him out.  His oxygen levels are excellent (98-99).  His heart rate is a little high, but nothing too worry about about (and it went down as the night went on).  His lungs are clear.  They did a quick test for the flu-negative.  Stiffness in the neck?  None.  (To rule out meningitis.)  Other than his high temp and a slightly stuffy nose, he was fine.  He mostly just wanted to snuggle with us, but occasionally would sit up and coo and play with his plug.  They gave him ibuprofen soon after we got there (around 8pm) and just kept monitoring his temp.  By 11 pm he was still running a temp around 102-103.  They gave him Tylenol and finally it started to go down a little.  We were on our way home now with instructions to keep him cool.  No clothes, no blankets, cool baths, cool room (open windows, turn on fans).  Just keep him cool.

Now, during all the commotion, Marryn was right there.  She was sitting on the couch when he seized up.  And although Joey sent her and the other kids upstairs, she knew something terrible was going on.  My freaking out didn't help either.  She was screaming, so much that the 911 dispatcher could hear her and Joey had to tell him that was another child crying.  She was complaining of an earache earlier, and while we were gone, kept complaining about it (despite having had medicine) and couldn't sleep.  I may not always know what's going on with my kids, but I knew that it wasn't as much her ear as it was Kellen that was keeping her up.  So when we got home, around 1 am, she was still awake, so I took Kellen into her room so she could see him.  That he was fine and home.  She went right to sleep after that.  And even the next day, she didn't have a trace of an earache and just wanted to be near Kellen and hold him.  It was really sweet.

So anyhow, we put Christian in our bed while I slept in his bed next to Kellen.  We closed off the vent to keep the room cool.  I froze.  He woke up twice.  The first I laid him down with me to nurse, and he was noticeably cooler.  He slept with me for awhile before waking up again, which we gave him more ibuprofen.  He then slept the rest the night.  Woke up happy and much cooler.  The day went on and as the afternoon hit, so did his fever.  We kept with the *treatments* of keeping him cool and didn't have anymore problems.   Woke up again without a fever, but was noticeably irritable.  And I myself wasn't feeling so great either.  I wasn't running a fever, but was constantly going from freezing to sweating, and my whole body just ached.  Even at night I couldn't sleep well.  But today I'm feeling a bit better.  And Kellen seems to be happier as well.   He even got into his favorite plant this morning.  Nothing like a little dirt to say I'm feeling better;).

Now back to his seizure.  

Is a Febrile Seizure dangerous?  No.  It is completely benign.  Yes, he stopped breathing, but only for about a minute or so.  There is no damage to him from this.  What caused this seizure?  An *overreaction* of his brain to his temperature rising too quickly.  Could he have one again?  Yes.  Now that he's had one, there is about a 30% chance he could have another, but only up until the age of 5 or so.  But he's not prone to seizures in general because of this.  Can we prevent them?  Possibly, by being proactive when he does start to warm up, but many times it may happen before we even realize he has started to develop a fever.  What should we do if it does happen?  Lay him down and wait for it to be over.  Am I comfortable with watching this happen again?  No.  Not at all.

This was a terrible experience.  But I am so very grateful that it was not something worse.  I have heard of these seizures before, but honestly knew very little about them.  Never thought it'd be something that I'd have to deal with.  So I hope our little story might help educate other parents.  But honestly when your child, for no apparent reason, stops breathing and turns purple, it's hard to stop and think, "Hmmm, maybe it's just a benign febrile seizure..."
 

sunny-side up

Apparently, sunny-side up refers to more than just a way to prepare eggs.

It is also a not-so-fun way to deliver a baby.

***Warning:  This is a birth story***

My doctor was willing to induce me any time after April 1st.  Anytime we wanted.  Or we could just wait.  I wasn't actually due until the 9th and really didn't want to have a baby over Easter...although I thought an April 4th baby would be fun-that would be my brother, John's birthday, of which is what we planned on naming the baby (it's a family name on both sides).  So it was ironic when late in the afternoon on April 1st I started to have severe back pain.  And it just wouldn't go away.  Now, this has been the first baby I've carried that I could actually tell where he was, for all his little extremities would pop out of just one side of my belly, for he was head down to the side.  And he was also facing more upward.  So the next day, Good Friday, Joey had off and I was getting a little worried.  The pain was awful, but on just that one side his head was pressing against.  I have also carried him really high, and could tell he was dropping.  In fact, I woke up one morning the week before panicking because he had dropped so much, and according to the *books*, this is a sign he's coming soon...  So I made a visit to the doctor's office only to find out that I was still only 2 centimeters dilated and about 50% effaced.  Well, I returned home and suffered through the rest of the day and night.  All the while thinking, how in the world am I going to keep this up?  Then I woke up the next day feeling nothing.  Ah, sweet relief.  And for many reasons.  We apparently don't *plan* our babies very well and Joey HAD to be at work the first part of the week.  It was either have the baby yesterday, or not until next Thursday... That and we weren't really sure what we'd do with the rest of our kids if he came early...  So we went on with our normal activities, I thinking that the baby had turned over, ready for a smooth trip into the world. 

Set up our induction date for Friday, April 9th.  My parents would be here Thursday night to watch the other kiddos and then we'd have all weekend.  (Joey again HAD to be at work the first part of the week-but then would have 2 weeks paid paternity leave.)  Now, a part of me wanted to just wait for him to come, but the whole, 'what do I do with 3 other little kids' made me a little nervous, although so many people in our ward had offered to help...

April 9th, 2010

1 am:  Finally get back into bed after giving Marryn another breathing treatment.  Why would my kids have to get sick now...first Reganne all week with her croupy cough she gets and now Marryn...

3 am:  Hear Marryn crying again.  Joey gets up this time.

5:30 am:  Time to get up.  Eat breakfast.  Take showers.

6:45 am:  Arrive 15 minutes late to our *appointment*. 

7:30-8:30ish am:  Get set up and started on the petocin.  Dilated to a 3.

10ish am:  Get epidural.  Not for the pain of the contractions (still pretty light), but for the pain in my pelvic area and thinking, he's probably getting closer to coming.  For some odd reason, I expected this delivery to be just like Christian's...

3 pm:  Have watched almost all of Season 9 of Friends, starving, tired and yet, only dilated to a 4 and still not effaced much.  Actually, I was effaced on one side, like a cresent shape...never heard of that before...  Even after spending an hour reclined on my sides with a leg up on an exercise ball to get the baby to move off my cervix so it could efface and dilate...  He wasn't ready to come out yet...  He's going to be tiny, I just know it...

4 pm:  Starting to feel some pressure...

4:32 pm:  Kellen is placed on my chest.  After about 15 minutes of hard pushing and burning and tearing (and what felt on the top, not bottom...).  This kid never actually turned (?) and made his way into this world face up.  Yeah, that did not feel good.  And boy, was he ugly...  His head was totally misshapen with a big red line going down the middle of his face and head.  His nose was huge and puffy and his hands.  So this had nothing to do with his delivery, but he's got the biggest hands.  They're huge.

They finally took him to check him out.  He wasn't breathing great.  And he wasn't tiny either;).  We had a respiratory therapist at the delivery checking him out and he was a little concerned.  Which brought panic to us.  But after he brought him back over to me all swaddled up, his breathing almost instantly cleared up.  And he's been great ever since.  I had told Joey from the beginning that I'm fine with this being our last baby, but not if he's sick.  I can't end on that.  But here Kellen is.   

1 day old. 

And already looking better;).

Healthy.  Fine.  

For now.  We'll be watching him carefully the next couple months, but we feel good that he's good. 

We stayed the extra day.  The kids were doing great with my parents (apparently better than with us;), oh, and Marryn was much better the next day, luckily) and I needed a little more rest.  The afterpains, terrible.  They say they get worse with each pregnancy.  They do.  I'm feeling alright now, a week later.  Although, I have just not bounced back like usual.  Still pretty sore down there.  My parents had to leave on Monday, so Joey worked from home all week.  He wasn't as productive as he would have liked to be, but it was SO nice to just have him here if I needed him.  Our good friend took Marryn to and from school almost everyday and another friend had Reganne over to play one afternoon.  So I've been able to take it really easy.  Went to Target with Reganne yesterday (needed size 1 diapers-although Kellen fits in the newborn ones, they just won't hold anything).  Was wiped by the time I got home.  The next 2 weeks will be great though.  Joey will be home and not working (for the most part).  Hopefully we'll get into a routine...

Christian has been really good with the baby.  Just wants to hold him, which we don't let him because now he's sick with a cough and runny nose.  And when he gets a runny nose, it lasts for about 2 months.  It really sucks.  But he has been acting out.  Probably a combination of bringing home a new baby and not feeling well.  The girls too adore Kellen.  Reganne constantly calls him "the new baby."  We're working on calling him his name.  Or K.J.  Our families aren't too fond of his name, so they've already  nicknamed him that.  They like the John, not the Kellen.  

And Kellen himself.  Perfect.  Has only cried a handful of times, mostly when getting changed.  Sleeps a little too much during the day and tends to get up more often at night...we're working on that:).  Nurses really really well.  I tend to be a *late bloomer* with my milk not coming in for about a week.  Not this time.  3 days.  And alot of it.  We've even gotten a few contentment smiles out of him.  He looks so different than all our other newborns.  Well, they've all looked different, but similar.  He just looks alot different, but still a little similar.  My family thinks he might actually look like my side.  We'll see though.  They change so much.  We're hoping he's going to have blonde hair.  And Marryn's hoping for blue eyes.  I think she feels left out;). 

Home at last.

Almost too long for his cute outfit.

Check out those huge hands.

  

It's funny looking back.  Although my pregnancies are similar and pretty plain, every delivery has been just so different.  Not sure there will be a 6th, so no telling what the next one would be like;).  For now we're just so grateful to have our 4 healthy children.  Don't know if we can handle the stress of what if again....

 

awesome blog music

I am the primary blogger.  The posts, the layout, the header, the pictures.  All me. 

But lately Joe has taken on a keen interest. 

Yes, this and the past 2 playlists have been created by him. 

So you might say this truly [one of Marryn's spelling words for the week] is a family affair;).

Vampire Weekend

The first song on this and the last playlist.

I think they're a favorite;).

christmas overload

Meeting with the Big Guy. And *adding* to their lists....

My new tree skirt. Last year's clearance.

And my festive black, red and green wrapping. I love it!

Our newest ornament. Courtesy our Home and Visiting Teachers!

At Grandpa Dave's. Playing with the dog's toy. All the kids' favorite - a rubber chicken.

Disobeying and sliding down the stair wall.

And it didn't take long to find the colorings.

Christmas Morning.

Look what Santa brought!

A Barbie Horse (and Barbie clothes).

A Barbie Horse (and Princess and the Frog toys...she asked for the actual movie-even Santa isn't that good;).

Candy!!!

Let 'er rip!

New shirts! I needed these!

This is boring. Can I just eat my candy now?

But wait! What is this?? A new trike??

Ah, that's better.

Grandpa's creative wrapping. And Marryn's creative unwrapping.

And a kiss for the Princess. Or would that be for the Frog....

Finally, double digit weather. Time for some sledding.

{I still bust up laughing when I look at these!}

But what a good sport (surprisingly). She hopped on again.

Some fast sledding with Dad.

Grandpa showing them how to make and throw snowballs.

Making snow angels (and of course she picked out a spot right next to the mailbox post...).

**********

Okay, so does anyone else have problems with Blogger and how it annoying the spacing of words and pictures can be??? I've been working on this post waaaaayyyy longer than I should be and it's still not how I want it!!! Grrrrr!!!

sweet birthday boy

One year old.

I can't believe how fast July 12th came along.

We had a little family party for him complete with a good ol' chocolate cake. That was a mess. He then opened a few presents. His favorite, probably his new basketball. Although the baseball came in a close second. Tied with the balloons;)

This little boy just lights up my world. He's a pro at crawling. Figured out the stairs the other night, just happened to be walking by and found him 4 stairs up, and LOVES to get into the plants. He's finally drinking somewhat from a sippy cup. His sisters still adore him as he does them. And his favorite toy? Balls! He's starting to cruise along the furniture, so it won't be long before he's really wrecking havoc on us all. I'm learning quite quickly that our home is not childproof. He has a few signs; more, eat, milk, ball and night-night. And he's got those most important sounds down too, ma, da, and ba (as in ball...;) He's become quite the chow hound interested to see if he's pulled himself out of the bottom of the percentiles. Loves his bananas, blueberries and cheese. Yes cheese-guess he really is my kid;)

And the girls finally got their tea set. The tea set I was saving as a surprise but had to tell Marryn about a few weeks ago to avoid an all out meltdown when I wouldn't buy her one at the store... We use it for pretend hot chocolate;)




On a last side note. I've pretty much lost all 50+ pounds this last year. I say almost because the scale says so, but not all my clothes do...