Happy Birthday Skylar! a little early

Tuesday, February 3rd, you will turn 27 years old. These are all the things we love about you:


You were such a cute chubby baby!


You are a very hard worker and won't quit until the job is done.
You always seem to have the best of luck.

You are anxious to teach your son how to use a bow and arrow...in the house.

You enjoy giving lessons on how to hit things with a stick.

You can sleep almost anywhere.

You have the patience to teach a 3 year old and a 1 year old how to fly a kite.

You are such a softy when it comes to your daughter.

You are a good sport to dress up as a hunter :)

You endure all the picture taking that your wife makes you pose for.

You are SO handsome!

You love your wife and she knows it.

You give your kids fire to play with.

You enjoy killing Bambi.

You like telling me its time to put the camera away.

You endured the fire academy!

You enjoy playing with your kids.

You like bringing home the bacon.

Squirting water on a fire amuses you.

You love your job.

You like getting woken up in the wee hours of the morning to put on a heavy suit in order to save lives.

Skylar, you are such an amazing man, husband and father. We love your sense of humor and your wonderful laugh. We are grateful for how hard you work for us and love when you are able to spend the day playing with us. I love the example you are to our children and am grateful for your patience! We hope you have a wonderful birthday and WE LOVE YOU!!

Love,

Kari, Slade and Daisy

Just to Clarify

Some of you may be confused at why my baby needs to come early, so I am going to try to explain it better.

My baby girl is not growing like she should be.
Her environment is good, meaning she is getting the blood flow that she needs and there is plenty of amniotic fluid for her.
She has a strong heart and moves around just fine.

The Problem: Because everything looks good from an ultrasound point of view, she should be gaining weight consistently like a normal baby, but she isn't. That is the puzzling thing. Why isn't she growing if her environment is good?
That is why my doctor wants her out to see if there is an underlying issue that is not showing up in the ultrasounds and tests. The sooner she is out, the sooner she can be treated if there is something going on.
If I were to wait and deliver her as normally planned, it may be too late and the outcome could be bad.
My doctor was planning on taking her at 32 weeks, but at that time she decided to gain weight. He decided to wait and monitor her to see if she would continue to grow.
Since then, she has not made enough progress for my doctor to be comfortable to keep in her the womb, and that is why she will come early. He is being cautious regarding the development of her lungs and I believe that is very important.
I hope that clears up any questions that some of you may have. I know its all been quite confusing for some of you but I hope this helped.

Photo Shoot!

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to have my awesome photographer sister, Kendyl, take some maternity pictures of me. I absolutely love how they turned out! Thanks Kendyl! She was also able to snap a few of my kids...
I was 35 weeks when these were taken.

Amnio Follow Up

Turns out the baby scored a 1.8 on the "readiness" scale. They like to see that number between 2 and 2.5 before they will deliver. She was considered to be borderline, but my doctor didn't want to take any chances by delivering her yet. He was disappointed as well because she should be doing better than that by now. I was also having contractions all day yesterday, but they were about 15 minutes apart and very mild so it didn't concern me. My doctor checked me to see if I was going into labor, but I wasn't.
I have to go back to see him on Friday for an ultrasound to check on the baby, then on Monday I get to have another amniocentesis done! Yes, another one. How did I get so lucky? A week makes a huge difference so he is also scheduling me for a c-section on Tuesday! Of course, it will depend once again on the outcome of the amnio results. Tuesday just happens to be Skylar's birthday! I think that it would be really special if they get to share a birthday. That is something they will always have in common, no matter what.
I am trying not to get my hopes up but at the same time, I need to prepare myself mentally for another c-section! This will be my third and its better to be prepared than not to be, trust me!
I have three other friends that are scheduled to deliver next week as well, so it would be awesome if we all delivered within days of each other!
I am bummed that Skylar has to work on Monday so he won't be able to be with me when I get the amnio done, but my mom is coming instead! Skylar starts his four days off on Tuesday, so it would be perfect if the baby was to come then. I am also hoping that the baby will come Tuesday because my mother in-law will be in town until Wednesday, so she will get to see the baby as well. I think she has yet to see one of her grandkids in person the day they were born.
I am so grateful to all of you for your thoughts and prayers and comments during my emotional time. I have a very good feeling that it will work out wonderfully, no matter when she comes.
Oh yeah, we still need a name. I have written down every name that has been suggested, but if any of you know my husband, you will understand why we don't have a name yet.

My Feelings Today...

Now that I have had time to cry, eat, sleep and somewhat calm down, I wanted to express my feelings about what has been going on.
My emotions that I have been feeling have come from all of the uncertainty regarding the well being of this baby. She isn't growing inside of me like she should be and no one can figure out why.
Also, I have been told several times that she needs to come out, so I had prepared myself mentally several times, only to be told that she isn't coming. (I think I now understand the feeling that those of you feel when you are told a baby is ready to be adopted by you, but it falls through.) It's extremely difficult not to get my hopes up when I am told she will be coming. How can I not?
I have many questions that I want answered but I know that most of them may never be answered. I am grateful for my knowledge of the gospel and understand that things happen on the Lord's time and not mine.
I have a follow up appointment with my doctor tomorrow that we are both anxious for. Instead of having a baby today, I get to go grocery shopping and treat today like any other day. I do, however, get to spend the day with the people I love most.

Amniocentesis Results

I just received a call from the hospital and was told that the baby's lungs are immature. My doctor was confident that she was ready to be born going off of the cloudiness of the fluid, but apparently she is not. I have mixed emotions right now. I really just want to cry because this whole pregnancy has been such an emotional roller coaster! I don't have much information at this point but was told to call and get an appointment with my doctor as soon as I can.
What frustrates me the most right now is that Daisy was born 6 weeks early and didn't have any issues with breathing, but I will be 36 weeks Wednesday and this baby's lungs are not developed enough. I know she is small and that may be the reason but I am so confused at this point and want to know what is going on with her. I understand that I may not get any answers until she is born and I am being so impatient.
At the same time, I understand the importance of waiting for her to be ready to breath on her own. I want her to be healthy and strong and not dependent on machines. I already love this baby so much and I don't even know her.
I am grateful for all of the support that I have received throughout this pregnancy from family and friends. I appreciate it, thank you! When I find out more, I will let you know!

Amniocentesis Experience

The day started out early with me waking up at 5:45am to eat a bowl of cereal because I wasn't allowed to eat, drink or chew gum by 6am. I get light headed and my hands shake when I don't eat and I'm glad I got up to eat, although I went back to bed for a little while longer.
The morning went by as normal, feeding the kids, getting them ready for the day, getting myself ready for the day and cleaning up the house a bit.
My mom came over to watch the kids and Skylar and I headed for the hospital at 12:30pm. I had to check in at 1pm, and was in a room shortly after that. We were told that there were quite a few emergencies today, so the doctor was running behind. We waited until 2:25pm when a nurse finally came in and took my vitals and informed me that I had to get an IV as well. She hooked up the baby monitors and asked me if I had felt any contractions, and I hadn't so I said no. Right after she left, I thought I had felt a contraction! It was very mild but I know what they feel like and I was pretty sure I had one. I continued to feel the same pain every three minutes for the next half hour so I had Skylar check out the monitor paper and of course he wasn't sure what he was looking at. The nurse came back a little later to put the IV in and that was the most painful IV I have ever had! I am never able to look while they stick me, but I did feel blood pour down my hand and the nurse said, "oh, no!" That's never good. She had to tape it all weird for it to stay and it continued to hurt the whole time I was there. I felt like I couldn't move my thumb and pointer finger. Anyway, I asked if the monitor was showing me having contractions and it did but she said it was probably because I was a little dehydrated from fasting.
About an hour later the ultrasound guy came in and it turned out he was a student! I figured because he was an ultrasound tech, that there was no way he could hurt me. Boy was I wrong! He had NO idea what he was doing, but a lady was there telling him what to do. He also just squirted the gel on my bellybutton and didn't spread it around! He had to check the baby out before the procedure and he pushed SO hard on my belly!
My doctor finally came in to check on me and get things ready for the procedure. Before I knew it, he was sitting on my bed sterilizing my stomach. Skylar took some pictures but I needed him to hold my hand so he didn't get to take a picture of the needle in me like he wanted to. I'm okay with that, as long as he got to see it.
I was able to watch the ultrasound screen during the stick and actually saw the needle in me! I can't explain the pain that I felt other than extreme pressure and some burning. It felt like it was never going to end because he had to push the needle in slow. Once it was in place, I didn't want to even breathe because I could feel it every time I took a breath. It didn't last long and didn't hurt as bad coming out. I got a little bandaid and then the ultrasound guy checked on the baby again. She did great the whole time! I had to be monitored for an hour after the procedure and was given a turkey sandwich and juice. After the hour was done, I got my IV out and was able to head home! My doctor said the fluid looks mature enough, so he is planning on delivering the baby tomorrow!! I do have to wait for the actual results that will be available in the morning, but I am scheduled for a c-section at noon! I am so excited for this baby and am grateful I am done with the amniocentesis. I don't EVER want to do that again. I am now very tired and my hand is extremely sore. I was told not to eat anything again tomorrow but at this point I don't care. I'm ready for this baby!

Just getting settled in...

After the procedure...

Yay! Amniotic fluid! He took three vials and I got to hold them :)

By the way, we will be at Mountain Vista Medical Center on Crismon/Southern. So far, I love that hospital. The rooms and bathrooms are SO big! I also checked out the menu and holy crap, I cannot wait to try some of those entree's! I think the rooms have wireless internet, so hopefully I can update tomorrow night. And, still no names for this baby girl...