Adalyn Faye Hymas - Birth Story

We are so excited to finally have our baby girl here!

Adalyn Faye Hymas

Born on 08/04/2015 at 3:32 pm. 

She weighed 6 lbs 9 oz and was 18.5 inches long. 

She has tons of dark curly hair, and is the sweetest baby ever!

We are all so in love!!

I like recording my Birth story's when they are fresh in my mind and I remember most details. If you aren't interested in all the details of her birth then scroll down to see pictures. 

Things in my pregnancy have gone quite smoothly since my subchorionic hemorrhage resolved completely at 32 weeks. I've had careful and frequent monitoring for any complications and have still had some activity restrictions to prevent problems. My blood pressure has been normal which has been both shocking and wonderful!! My high risk Dr. recommended that I deliver at 38 weeks, even if my blood pressure stays normal. He explained with my history it isn't worth waiting any longer as major problems could arise very suddenly and be extremely serious. My OB/GYN in Wyoming agreed with this. We scheduled my induction for Monday August 3rd at exactly 38 weeks. My mom arrived the Saturday before. We were all ready to go!

 I woke up at 4:30 on the 3rd and started getting ready. At 5:30 my former co-worker and friend Sarah called me to let me know that they were too busy for me to come in. Every room was full. She said they could probably get me in later in the day after some people were discharged. I needed to hang tight and wait for them to call me. I tried to go back to sleep after that without much success. 

We spent the morning sitting around, waiting. Finally at about 11 my phone rings. I thought they were calling me in! It was my OB, Dr. Wheeler. He was calling to tell me he'd been trying all morning to get me in, but it just wasn't looking good. There was just too much going on. So the new plan was 5:30 am on the 4th. 

I wanted to feel productive and pass time, so my mom and I spent hours that day cleaning out and organizing our entire storage room and garage. It was so nice to have her help and it felt good to have it done!

I went to bed at 10pm monday night ready to get a full night's rest in preparation for my early induction the next day. I checked in with Sarah who was working and they had room and were planning on seeing me in the morning.

Less than an hour later I woke up feeling the end of a contraction. I fell back asleep right away. I woke up again 4 minutes later feeling another contraction. This continued every 3-5 minutes for the next hour. I dozed between contractions, but they were uncomfortable and woke me up when I was having them. About midnight they were getting stronger and quite painful. I was breathing through them and it woke Devry. I got up and walked around and they got stronger. I showered and worked through contractions. I spent a couple of hours alternating between standing and laying down. The contractions were persistent and strong. Around 2 I felt some incredibly intense ones. I decided it was time to go to the hospital. I let Sarah know I was coming and we headed in. 

After I got my epidural.

I arrived on L&D and Sarah checked me. I was only 3 cm. I was 2 cm the week before in the office so I was sure I would be more then that. Regardless of dilation I was staying since I was scheduled to be there that morning. The contractions continued. I was exhausted. I had been up since 4:30 am the day before and knowing I would be having a baby that day, I decided it would be best to get my epidural and get some sleep. Sarah called Dr. Mack, the anesthesiologist on call. He came right in and by about 5:30am I was pain free and comfortable. Devry and I both fell asleep. 

I kept waking up feeling weird though. I realized my epidural had gotten very strong and quite high. My arms were numb, and I would feel slightly short of breath when I started falling asleep. Sarah turned off the epidural and called Dr. Mack back in. He came and turned the rate down. By that point it had worn off enough it was the perfect balance of controlling pain without taking away all feeling. I was very happy with it.

In the meantime, my contractions had spaced out quite a bit. Dr. Wheeler was planning on coming in at 6:30 to break my water. He arrived and told me he had 2 surgeries. He knew that when I delivered my twins I went from 3cm to delivery in 2 hours and with only breaking my water. We were planning on just breaking my water and not using pitocin unless it was needed. He would be in surgery for over 3 hours and didn't want to miss the delivery. We decided he should come back between the two surgeries to break my water. In the meantime Devry and I would try to rest as much as we could. 

We slept off and on from 6:30-9:30. Not much was happening with contractions. 

Dr. Wheeler came back about 9:30 to get things started. I was still 3cm. 

He broke my water and headed off to surgery. He said he would be about an hour and a half, and we all thought he would come back to me being ready or close to ready for him to deliver. 

Then nothing happened. 

I didn't contract more. I had 3 contractions in 30 minutes. 

The next 30 minutes wasn't much better. I called in Carol (my day shift nurse who had come on) and asked her to start pitocin. She checked me and I was still 3cm. My body was not doing what we thought it would. 

She started the pitocin and thought things would start moving quicker. 

She continued to turn up the pitocin, and my contractions became more regular again. 

She checked me again at 1:00, and I was only 4 cm. 

We could hardly believe how slow things were moving! With Both of my other labors I went quickly. With Payton I went from 4-10cm in 4 hours. With the twins I went from 3cm-10cm in 2 hours. 

We continued to wait. And wait. 

I made progress but it was slow. By 2:00 I was 5 cm. 

It was time to make things happen. I used my labor nurse knowledge and changed positions. I had good mobility with my epidural, so I spent the next 45 minutes alternating positions and doing what I could. It seemed to help a lot! At 2:45 I was 6-7cm. Then I started feeling pain on my right side. In a matter of 3 contractions I went from moderate pain on just my right side to very intense pain that was over most of my stomach.  I hit my "bolus" button for my epidural which was supposed to give me a boost of medicine. It didn't make a difference at all and the pain was getting much worse. With each contraction I felt more and more pain. I was breathing through them, shaking and couldn't concentrate on anything else. At 3:20 Carol checked and I was 8 cm. She called, and Dr. Wheeler was there a couple of minutes later. At this point I was having a very hard time with contractions. The pain was VERY intense. He checked me and said I was 10cm and ready to deliver. I started having a contraction and tried to push. 

I immediately felt the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life. 

Devry and Carol were holding my legs, and along with Dr Wheeler  and Carley (the nursery nurse who was there for Adalyn) they were encouraging me to push. I tried to push, and the pain would hit and I couldn't do anything but scream. 

I swear it all happened in slow motion. I look over and see poor carol fighting to hold my leg that was trying to push her away. I felt my bed inflating and raising up(which was my arm pushing buttons on the bed by accident). My blood pressure cuff was inflating, but because I was not relaxed it was getting tighter and tighter. There was just so much going on. I felt so out of control and I hated it! 

I'd push, then scream. Then try to pull myself up the bed, away from the pain. My semi rational thinking would take over. I'd think "Ok I know I need to push through it. That's the only way for it to be over. How many patients have I talked through this. I can do it." I'd start to push again and all rational thinking left when I felt the pain again. Dr. Wheeler and Carol kept telling me I was close. I was convinced they were lying to me. Devry looked like a deer in headlights. I heard myself scream and scream at the top of my lungs and think "NO I can't be this patient! I can't!" I was scared to push again. I kept saying "Carol, I can't do this I can't do this!" I wanted to stop and tell them to get Dr. Mack to fix my epidural. I was paying for an epidural! It should be working! Finally, someway, somehow I found the will power to push through the pain to get her head out. I pushed through the "ring of fire." The burning, the pain was more horrific then anything I could imagine. 

Her head was out, then with a tiny push for her shoulders she came out. I've never felt such relief in my life. Dr. Wheeler placed her on me right away. I look down and see this perfect, dark haired beauty. I started crying. From the pain. From the relief. From my PERFECT daughter laying on my chest. I fell in love instantly. She cried right away. She was pink, breathing perfectly and able to stay right with me. 

About a minute old.

She laid skin to skin with me for an hour and a half after delivery. She breastfed perfectly for over an hour. This was exactly what I had hoped for. All of my boys needed to be wisked away after delivery. I longed for instant skin to skin time with a baby and it was every bit as perfect as I'd imagined!

As soon as she finished eating, I was able to get right out of bed. I guess that was one benefit of my epidural not working. Carol went to pull out my epidural and found it was barely in. I think maybe all of my position changes to progress labor may have loosened the epidural catheter so I wasn't getting any of the medicine. I kept apologizing over and over to Dr. Wheeler and my nurses for screaming, and loosing control. They were laughing at me for apologizing and kept reassuring me that I did great and it wasn't even minutes that I had to push. It felt like forever, but in reality it was probably a minute. I'm convinced that  the most painful minute ever actually feels like 20 minutes. 

I got cleaned up and moved to our post partum room. What a difference this time around has been. I didn't need ANY stitches. That alone makes the first few days a million times easier. My blood pressure has been normal. I have had no swelling or issues. I have felt GREAT! 

I'm not sure if its because she is my last, or a girl, or because I haven't had problems or much pain, but I have spent the last 4 days completely consumed by this little girl. I can truly say that instant skin to skin with her gave me an immediate bond I've never felt before. Of course I bonded with my boys, and had no difficulty doing so, it just wasn't as instantaneous. Having her in our home has brought such a different feeling. A sense of completeness maybe? She is a wonderful, sweet, content baby. She eats great, she sleeps amazingly good, especially at night. She fits into our family and into our world with ease. We are on cloud 9 and could not be happier then with this darling little girl here.

We didn't expect her to be so small, but I sure do love it! 

First time being held by Daddy. About 2 hours old. 

The boys meeting baby Addy for the first time. 

Holding Addy for the first time. 

Sarah gave Adalyn her first bath. I was SO lucky to have such amazing nurses who were also great friends of mine. 

Hair done after her bath. 

My OB, Dr. Wheeler holding Adalyn. He really is an incredible doctor! 

It was so nice having my mom here!

Devry and the boys brought me beautiful Daisy's. 

Payton is obsessed. He asks to hold her constantly, he sings to her, he talks to her. He is so fascinated by it all!

Family picture before going home. 

Another family Picture.

Nanny helped the boys write "Welcome Adalyn" on the Driveway. They were all so excited to have her home. 

My 4 kiddos!

Precious little girl. 

21 Weeks

21 weeks feels great!

Last Monday, at 20 weeks, I had another visit with my MFM Dr. in Utah. I had another very thorough ultrasound. They checked out the blood clot, and all of baby's anatomy. She looks healthy and is growing well (something they will watch very closely since there is a large chance of her growth being restricted from the complications I have had). The Dr. came in and showed us the blood clot again. He said because of the position of it, it is hard to accurately measure it, but it doesn't look any bigger. Even better, all of the blood looks "old" so there is no active bleeding. Since things hadn't worsened, my cramping was minimal and baby was growing good he allowed me to be off strict bed rest. I am still restricted in activity (no lifting, exercise, overdoing it at all, etc), but I can be up with frequent resting. This was wonderful news. I was going crazy being stuck in bed or on the couch so being allowed to be up and semi-productive is a huge improvement. He was very thorough in explaining everything and answering all of our questions. I have 2 wonderful Dr.'s who both never rush through my appts, and take the time to address every concern I have. They answer my questions and discuss the situation with me as though it is the only thing on their mind, and they have all the time in the world to focus on me. I knew my OB/GYN would be that way since I've worked with him, but I was lucky to choose a MFM who has a similar bedside manner. As long

as things stay the way they are, he will see me again at 28 weeks in Salt Lake, and I will see my OB every 2 weeks here in Wyoming. I was told I couldn't work and I still need to listen very closely to my body to know what is overdoing it.  Here is a picture of me at 20 weeks and 5 days and one of little miss at 20 weeks on the ultrasound. 

Physically I am feeling fantastic. I do not have the terrible constant back pain I had with my other 2 pregnancies, I have a decent amount of energy, no more nausea, nothing more then very minor aches and pains that come with growing a human. So far this has physically been easier for me then either of my other pregnancies. I cramp if I overdo it, but resting helps so I am trying to still take it easy. 

Emotionally I will admit I am struggling a bit. Before these complications arose, I had a contract for an 8 week travel nursing assignment in Jackson. This would allow Devry to be off for his wrist surgery without financial strain on our family. Of course with the complications, I had to cancel that contract. Devry still needed his surgery so we went ahead with it. He was off for 3 weeks, and despite his wrist still being sore, he went back to work last week since financially we couldn't afford him to take any more time off.  Cohen ended up with a very sudden and unexpected case of pneumonia that put him in the hospital for a day. In the last week I have received thousands of dollars in medical bills from my appts, lab work, ultrasounds, Devry's surgery and more will be coming from Cohen's hospital stay. This is just the start and we have burned through a large chunk of our savings to pay medical bill after medical bill as well as make ends meet for our monthly bills with Devry's decreased income. Devry is back to work, with a sore wrist and picking up every shift of overtime he can find to try to get us back on track. I am discouraged. I feel awful not being able to work and help out financially. I feel bad encouraging him to stay late at work, or go in at 4am or even midnight to try  to catch us up because I know he will be hurting. I am grateful we chose to save the majority of what I made last year doing travel nursing. This has allowed us to pay for everything we need without any debt. I am grateful for that. But it is still hard to see that money go, when I was supposed to be working right now to prevent that from happening. Having him gone working so much is hard. It is hard for him (although he won't admit it), it is hard for the kids, and it is hard for me. Days he works long hours is emotionally exhausting for me since the kids miss him (and have gotten used to having him home all day everyday), and I have to take care of all of their needs. "Taking it easy" is challenging with three little people needing your constant help and attention. They have done well and are learning independence in a lot things. 

Through all of this I have had a hard time not becoming frustrated with the fact that I have zero paid maternity leave, medical leave, sick leave, paid time off or any other benefits that could help us during this time. My only option was to cancel my travel contract, quit my hospital job and loose all of my income for almost my entire pregnancy (longer since I will stay home after I have her for at least a few months). It is discouraging and frustrating when we have always worked so hard. The one time I have to be off work for medical reasons we have no option but going without my pay, while adding thousands in medical bills at the same time. It is just so different then the way it is in Canada and what I was raised with so I am having a bit of a hard time wrapping my head around the lack of benefits here for hardworking families that face a time of need. (In Canada, I could receive 17 weeks of paid employment insurance for pregnancy complications as well as the normal 52 weeks of paid maternity leave). I'm just not even going to open the soap box of those abusing government aid here and never working for a thing they get while hardworking people are forced to struggle. 

Yes I am ranting. It's my blog. I'm allowed.  

I am trying to stay positive. We are very blessed for Devry to have such a great job that he is able to work so much overtime. We are grateful for the money I was able to make and save doing travel nursing. We are very glad we ignored the seemingly logical decision to pay off a car, buy food storage or other great options with the money I made last year. Although we didn't know why, we felt like we needed to leave it in savings for the time being. A lot of the medical bills we've received offer a 10-20% discount for paying in full when it is first billed. Having that money in savings has allowed us to pay in full and save 10-20% on many of the bills we have had. Without that option we would not only be paying the bill in full, but also have interest added if we had to make monthly payments. I am so grateful to be feeling so great despite having to stay "down" for a month. Although I am frustrated with the situation, I am grateful that even though it will be tight I CAN be off work right now. Devry works so hard for us and I know he will work every second he can to make everything up we have lost. It is stressful, but we are both willing to do anything for the health and safety of this baby. I am incredibly grateful for an amazing husband who gets up at 3 am, works 16 hours, then comes home to help with kids, clean the house, and comfort an exhausted and emotional pregnant wife. 

I am so lucky to have him. Men like him are unusual. He spent 4 weeks taking care of EVERYTHING. I'm not kidding. Laundry, dishes, baths, meals, cleaning, cooking, disciplining, playing, yard work, house work, emotional breakdowns, bad dreams, middle of the night meltdowns, sick and cranky kiddos, EVERYTHING. If I lifted a finger to do something he was right there to take it right out of my hands and send me back to the couch or bed. He never complained. Not a single time. He willingly took on both of our roles in the house (and I think he probably did a better job then I do). Oh and did I mention for 3 weeks of it he was recovering from surgery? He is incredible.  My mom came to be here for his initial surgery recovery to help, which was great! But it didn't really stop him much. We were in idaho for a week and had some help when Grandma and Grandpa weren't working or aunts and uncles were there, but he still took care of almost everything. He stayed awake all night at the hospital because Cohen wouldn't let anyone but him hold him when he was sick. Cohen wouldn't keep oxygen on, but needed it, so Devry would wait until he was asleep and stay awake to hold it close to his face. Despite the lack of sleep he spent the next day comforting Cohen, and playing with the other boys when we were discharged from the hospital. He has the best attitude and is so willing to do everything and anything without ANY complaining. He takes very little time for himself, won't spend a cent on himself, sacrifices everything for us. I do not know what I would do without him. He is the most selfless person I know. He amazes me. 

I haven't really mentioned the fact that I am beyond thrilled to be having a little girl! Boys are fun, don't get me wrong, but after 3 of them a little girl is so exciting! I had an OB appt on Friday and we took the boys to it. They were excited to see her on the ultrasound machine, and my Dr printed them each a picture of her to keep. They constantly talk to, sing to, talk about, and pray for their baby sister. It is so sweet!  We look forward to meeting this little miss, and are hoping and praying for her safe (preferably full term) arrival! 

Pregnancy complications

When deciding to try for another baby we were very hesitant because of the serious complications I had with the twins. 

I consulted with 2 OB/GYN's and a perinatologist about my history and was told by all 3 that with careful management they felt confidant I could have another baby. 

We decided that although I have a history of infertility, we didn't want to increase the chance of twins again with medications. We decided to try to get pregnant and if it couldn't happen without medications then we would be ok with being done. After 8 months without success I was worried it wouldn't happen. I did some research and talked to a couple of OB/GYN's, and decided to follow a very strict diet with no sugar or carbs. I did that for 3 months, and in the process lost 30 lbs. On the third month I got pregnant. 

We were very excited! But also very nervous. The problems I had last time were life threatening for me. We decided to see my OB, who is WONDERFUL here in Rock Springs, but also consult with a high risk Maternal Fetal Medicine Dr. in Salt Lake City. Initially I saw him and he developed a plan of care based on history of pre-eclampsia. I would see both Doctors, and where I delivered would depend on if my blood pressure goes up and at what point in pregnancy. I felt great, my blood pressure was great, and I was doing everything I could to prevent complications. I was in great hands with my doctors and was at ease about the pregnancy. Devry was scheduled for wrist surgery and would have to take some time off work for recovery, so I signed up for an 8 week travel nursing contract to Jackson again to help make up the difference financially. I would be finished the contract at 25 weeks, before any of the problems I have had would begin. I was feeling GREAT and my Doctors both said it would be fine to work that period of time. 

Then last Monday I woke up bleeding.

As a labor and delivery nurse I am very comfortable with knowing how much bleeding can be normal in pregnancy and in what situations so I knew the amount of bleeding I was having was not normal and something wasn't right.

I called my friend who works in my OB's office. She said they didn't have an opening until 2:30 but she would talk to my Dr. as soon as he got there. A few minutes later I get a call from my Dr. I had worked with him for a couple of years, and know him well. He said to come in right away and he would get me in. I went in and luckily a spot with the ultrasound machine had opened up at the perfect time and he was able to look at things. He found a couple of concerns on the ultrasound. First, my placenta is "low-lying." This means that the placenta is low in my uterus. Typically that alone isn't a huge deal as it normally resolves as pregnancy progresses, but because of the location of the placenta, the bleeding I was having was low in my uterus, right over my cervix. There was a small area of blood that had accumulated, called a subchorionic hemorrhage. The baby looked good. He was able to confirm that the baby was a girl. He said to go home and take it easy. Not strict bed rest, but decrease my activity, no heavy lifting, exercise, strenuous activity etc until the bleeding stopped. I also needed to stop taking the Low dose Aspirin I was on to prevent pre-eclampsia. 

And he was ADAMANT that I call him personally if the bleeding gets worse or with any other concerns. 

I went home monday, and took it easy. My bleeding started decreasing to the point on Tuesday that it was hardly noticeable. We decided we wanted to tell the boys. At that point they didn't know I was even pregnant. We had a fun time telling them they were going to have a baby sister! We felt so much love and support when we made the fun announcement! It seemed like things were improving. Tuesday and Wednesday were much better!

I went to bed Wednesday night at 10. At midnight I woke up and realized I was soaked with blood. Through a pad and all of my clothes. I got up to the bathroom and had another large gush of blood. I was scared. It was WAY too much bleeding. I decided to wait and watch it. It decreased some through the rest of the night so I waited.  I spent the night tossing, turning and crying. I was so nervous I would go in the next day to find out I lost the baby. 

I text my Dr at 7:45 Thursday morning and said "I am bleeding A lot more. Can you call me when you have a minute."

He is pretty awesome. He called me right away and said come in right away. Devry had a class he couldn't miss for work, so I took my boys to a friends house (I have the best friends!) and headed in. 

I got there at 8:30 and was greeted by my good friend Makayla, who works there. She checked me in and within minutes Dr. Wheeler was in the ultrasound room. I could hardly hold it together and he was concerned too. He put the ultrasound on and immediately saw a strong heartbeat and baby girl moving around. I started crying from the relief I felt. 

He looked at the bleeding and said the area of the subchoronic hemorrhage had grown. He said I needed to cancel my work contract, and go on bed rest until the bleeding resolves. I had blood work done and was given Rhogam for my negative blood type. I went home and parked it on the couch. 

The amazing support I felt from family and friends was incredible. I had so many calls, text, messages, posts etc with offers to help with my kids, or meals, or any way I needed. My mom was traveling, but I got a hold of her Friday morning and she immediately made plans to come help me. 

Devry was scheduled for surgery on Tuesday morning. We coordinated my next Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) appointment for the day before. I saw Dr. Wheeler again monday morning who said the bleed was big but looked like it was clotted. Then we headed to Salt lake to my MFM appt. 

An ultrasound tech did a very thorough ultrasound of the baby and the bleeding. Dr. Esplin (my MFM), came in after reviewing the ultrasound and spent a while explaining what was found. He did an ultrasound himself to look and show us what was going on.  He said he was quite concerned with the subchorionic hemorrhage. It is a very large one, and since it is happening in my second trimester, the risks are much higher. He explained that 3 things could happen- 1. My body absorbs the blood (best case, and the least chance of problems), 2. I pass the blood (next best case), or 3. The blood stays there. This is concerning because any blood in that area causes irritation of the uterus. The blood staying there would significantly increase my chance of preterm labor or my water breaking early. Those things could potentially happen at any time. The hard part was hearing that there is nothing that can be done right now. If my body went into labor or my water broke between now and 24 weeks, I loose the baby. So I stay on bed rest, and watch the bleeding very closely to see if it is decreasing or not. If I get to 24 weeks and the bleeding and cramping is still there, he says I will probably have to go stay in Salt Lake City in case my water breaks or I go into labor. If that happened here, she wouldn't make it, but being there would give us access to the most advanced NICU and the chances of her making it are much higher. 

There is a chance the bleeding will absorb or pass, and I could go full term with no problems. We just don't know. We are praying that is what happens. Or at least that I get to a point that she can come with minimal problems. 

I am so grateful for the love and concern I have felt from people. I have some AMAZING friends who take my kids, run errands for me, bring me meals, send me words of encouragement and concern, or simply spend time with me to help me stay sane. My mom is here and helping so much. The boys ADORE her and she spends so much time with them. She cooks and cleans. She is a WONDERFUL help and having her here gives me such a calm feeling. Nothing is better then having your mom around when you're down. 

And Devry. I can't say enough about him. He had surgery yesterday and is already back up and taking care of kids, helping with meals, getting me anything I need. He is an exceptional man. He cleans, cooks, takes care of EVERYTHING around the house and does all of it willingly. He sees things that need done and does them. He will be off for 3 weeks from his surgery. I know he will spend most of his time helping me rest and taking care of everything else. I don't know what I would do without him. 

We could have a long road a head of us with this little girl. We appreciate all the thoughts, prayers and support. 

Baby #4!

We are thrilled to announce that we are expecting our 4th baby!

And it is a GIRL!!

I am 17 weeks along, and due August 17th. 

We are beyond excited to be having a little girl!

Payton turns 5!

On July 27th our not so little man turned 5!

We had a fun, busy weekend celebrating.

I worked the 3 nights before in Jackson. Devry's brother Joe and his Family were visiting from Florida so Devry took all three kids to Rexburg on the 25th.

I was able to join them after work on the morning of his Birthday. 

It was a great day! 

Payton was in heaven playing with his cousins, and of course we enjoyed visiting with family. 

blowing out candles on his superman ice cream cake

Opening presents with all of his cousins watching. 

We are very grateful for this funny, sweet guy.

I'm pretty sure he is the most independent (aka stubborn) boy in the world. 

But his sweet, loving side sure makes up for it. Most of the time. 

He is still very tall for his age, and wears size 6 or 7 clothes.

He loves anything that goes, Cars, trains, trucks, planes. 

He is SO smart, but only learns things he wants to. 

He is very social, and is ALWAYS inviting people over to play (including the kids he just meets at the grocery store).

He is a great older brother, and enjoys playing with Cohen and Kayson.

We love Payton so much! We are so lucky he is ours!

Happy 5th Birthday buddy!!

Crazy life.

Our life is a little nuts.

Devry rarely works his set 40 hours a week. It's more like 60, sometimes 80. Hardest worker ever.

Being a mom is a full time job. And I have two part time jobs on the side.

I am really enjoying my phone nursing job. I started in March and am able to work about 40-50 hours a month taking patient calls from home. A great way for me to get some more hours, use my knowledge but still be home.

My 2 nights a week at the hospital has gotten to be very challening. The boys are at very VERY busy stages and need constant attention and help. I rarely get more then 3 hours of sleep after shifts. Doing that for a couple shifs in a row is beyond exhausting. I become overtired, impatient, cranky and mean. It is effecting how I treat the kids. After some very challenging weeks, I finally said it was enough. I could not continue to do what I was doing. So despite the financial stress it would cause, I called my boss and told her I needed to go CPT (casual part time) starting the middle of June. This means I will work 2-3 shifts per month at the hospital. We werent sure how we would make up my pay, but knew I couldn't keep working as much as I was without sleeping.

Then a week or so after making that decision, I received a call from a travel nursing company about a travel contract in Riverton, WY. At first I kind of brushed off the idea, thinking there is no way it would work out. I started looking into it more and became interested. I could work 13 weeks and make what I was making in a full year at the hospital. I decided to put my profile in for the job just to see what happened. The unit manager called me the next day and after a quick phone interview, told me HR would be in contact with me for an official job offer. Luckily it was a Friday afternoon, and I had the weekend to sort things out. I immediately began searching for a Nanny. I had used the BYUI classifieds to find my previous Nanny, so I started there. I soon decided to pay to use a nanny website (the same one I used to find my Nanny job way back when). I began talking with literally dozens of candidates. We narrowed our options down and were able to drive to Utah and meet one of the ones we felt the best about. She was great! We officially offered her the job, and I accepted the travel contract.

So starting in 2.5 weeks, I will be driving to Riverton WY to work 3 shifts a week. I will work 3 then drive home. I am hoping to work 6 in a row and have 8 days off. It will be a very crazy stressful time, but ultimately it allows me to be home with the boys without the financial stress we were worried about. The nice thing about it being out of town is that I will be able to sleep between shifts. We have found a wonderful girl to care for the boys when I'm gone, and have been able to work out all the details. I will be able to continue to do my phone nursing job while I complete the contract.

Between work, vacations, house projects and more we have a pretty crazy summer planned!

Cohen and Kayson Turn 2!

On March 18th, Cohen and Kayson turned 2 years old!

These little guys have brought such an indescribable amount of love into our lives in the past 2 years.

They are such sweet, funny, busy little guys and I am so lucky to be their mom!

Both boys are growing so fast, and learning so much. It seemed like in a matter of a few weeks they have transformed from my little babies to these talking, independent toddlers. They are so SO different from each other, but best buds!

Cohen is a tender hearted, silly, affectionate little guy. He is kind of quiet and shy, and takes a bit to warm up to people. When he does though, his goofy, silly sense of humor side comes out. He cracks us up constantly with his silly phrases, funny faces and goofyness. If you are sitting somewhere and get up, he stops whatever he is doing, and runs to sit in your spot. He is so proud of himself and with a huge grin laughs and says "My spot!!" He talks a TON. Since he is quieter, sometimes you miss what he is saying, but he talks in full sentences. "Mommy, I need apple juice. PULEASSSE," "Mommy, where'd daddy go?" "Paytee let's go play!" I can't even keep up with everything he can say since the list grows at least 10 words a day. A few of our favorite words and sayings are;

- "aww man."

-"lets go! Lets go! Lets GOOOO"

"Daddy at work" (with a huge sigh and sad face)."

"MOOOOOOOOOM.I toot." or "Paytee toot!" (literally anytime he toot's... he usually laughs and blames it on whoever is around him.)
Paytee (Payton)
Taysee (kayson)
Praying - He will say an entire prayer on his own. It is adorable!

He is still quite a bit bigger then Kayson. He is 29 lbs, and 35". He is a great eater. Some of his favorites are, grilled cheese, pasta, any kind of fruit, and chicken. 

Cohen is very independent, and wants to do everything himself. He is quite cautious though, and doesn't do anything he isn't completely comfortable with. He will spend hours just playing with toys, cars, blocks, books, and gets mad when his brothers come around and mess up what he is doing.  He LOVES mickey mouse, and constantly says "I need Mitey Mouse. Where da mote go?" (translation: I need Mickey mouse, where did the remote go?).
Some of his favorite things:
Mickey Mouse
Baths
His pacifier
Wearing shoes (he ALWAYS wants shoes on).
Playing outside
Cuddling (he is my little cuddle bug and always wants to be on my lap or sitting next to me. I love it because Payton and Kayson are not like that."
Sleep. This boy needs his sleep. He sleeps from 7pm until 7:30-8am. If he is woken up early, or woken up at any point during the night he is a monster the next day. He needs a solid 12 hours and he is the happiest little guy ever!


Kayson is such a silly, busy little guy! He is always on the go! He is feisty and knows exactly what he wants, and lets you know if he doesn't get it! Devry says he has a good case of little man syndrome, because he runs the show! He beats his older brothers up constantly. It is really hard not to laugh to see the littlest one picking on the others. He is tough too! He can take quite a fall and jump up ready to go again. He is a little daredevil and has NO fear. He goes down every slide he can find, jumps off anything, climbs anything. He will be at the top of the stairs, and I could be at the very bottom and he will leap assuming I will catch him. We have to watch him close, he will leap towards us from anywhere without notice. He will go down our deck slide head first and backwards. I doubt we will make it through this kids childhood without a broken bone or two. or 6.

Like I said he is quite the little guy. He barely broke 24 lbs, and is 33.5" tall. He eats good though! Although he is a bit pickier. If he doesn't want something, it is across the room and on the floor immediately. We are constantly working on having him push it aside, or telling us when he is done. So far it isn't working too well.
Some favorite foods: Popcorn, omelets, bananas (or any fruit), hot dogs, pb&j.
Kayson has a huuuuge vocabulary. He is very outgoing and talkative. He says hi to everyone he sees, and is quite the little flirt. He is constantly talking, so sometimes its hard to decipher words from babble. He talks in sentences, just very fast. Some favorite sayings;

"see!" Anything he wants to show us he says "see the book" "see the car." etc.
Co (cohen)
Paytee (payton)
Thank you - combination of saying thank you and signing thank you and blowing kisses.
"Les read a book!" He LOVES books. I think he would sit on my lap all day if I was reading the whole time.
"les go outside." - he LOVES playing outside and constantly asks to.

Kayson LOVES music. I have never seen a kid react to music like he does. He dances, sings, and conducts (usually all at once). He has really good rhythm too! I turn music on all the time just for some entertainment from his dance moves. He gets really into it! He is such a little goofball!
He is SO silly. Always making silly faces, laughing and playing. He is a happy guy!
He is not the best sleeper though. He has been a challenge when it comes to sleep. About 8 months ago he started having night terrors. Waking up sometimes 3-4 times a night in hysterics. Screaming and screaming. He wouldn't focus on us and wasn't really awake. I did some research and found out he was having night terrors. It was bad for a few months, usually every night. Then they started spacing out. Now he rarely has one, maybe once a month. Unfortunately all the night terrors made him seem to get in a habit of waking up at night. For a long time he was waking up 3,4, 5, 10 times a night for absolutely nothing. It wasn't night terrors, there was a big difference, but he didn't need anything. We'd pick him up, calm him down and he'd go back to sleep. Sometimes it took longer, sometimes he had to cry to go back to sleep. It was challenging. I didn't want to let him cry it out because 1. he had had a legitimate reason to wake up and even though it was over I still felt bad, and 2. his brother was 2 feet away from him and is a complete monster if he is woken up at night. A couple months ago I started playing lullaby music all night long. It has helped a TON. The past month he has only woken up once every few nights. Hopefully it will continue to improve so he is sleeping all night every night.
One problem for both boys has been pacifiers. With Payton, I took away his pacifier everywhere but in his crib at a year then it was completely gone by 15 months. It was a fairly easy transition. I planned on doing the same with the twins. The year transition to nighttime only was easy. They learned quickly and the pacifiers never left their crib. Then at 16 months I tried to take them away, it was a huuuge fight and Kayson started sucking his thumb. My purpose in having a pacifier is to prevent that, so I gave them back. Now, at 2, they are SO attached to them it will be very hard to take them away. I think Cohen would do ok, but I think Kayson would struggle a lot. My plan was to put them in separate rooms for a few weeks, take away their pacifiers and let Kayson figure out how to sleep better at night. I was ready for some tough love. But he started sleeping better. So the idea of messing with it now is hard! Plus we have a TON of trips coming up in the next 4 months, Denver, Idaho, Cardston twice, and it is really nice to have for traveling. So I am going to put it off till late summer or fall. I love pacifiers! but they sure can be a pain!

I still can't believe two years has passed since these two came into our family. We ADORE them. They are such sweet fun little guys. They keep life fun and busy!

Here are some pictures of their Birthday, and their Birthday Party. Enjoy!