July 2013

Most of July was spent with us laying low. I was large & pregnant and had the nephrostomy tube in my back. The doctor in Denver said that once I had the baby, they'd go in and blast the kidney stone and remove the nephrostomy tube.

Here's what happens when the 2 year old gets the ranch before mom:

 We loved having cousins over for s'mores in our firepit.

 We took a quick trip up to Breckenridge with Tyler's siblings:

We saw our first Rocky Mountain Columbine!! We'd been on the look out for our state flower ever since we moved to Colorado the summer before, so it was super exciting to see one!

 With my lovely sisters-in-law

 The kids' first experience at Rudy's was very memorable:

After taking my mom home to the airport, Shannon barfed everywhere!

When I got her home to clean her off in the bath, she had another surprise for me--diarrhea in the tub! Not the best day cleaning up bodily fluids with my huge belly & nephrostomy tube. :/

Whitney participated in the cutest singing camp over the summer, and their final performance was at a nursing home where the residents were SO excited to see young faces.

I found a new urologist down near my house who saw me for a check up to see how my nephrostomy tube was doing. I had it in for about 3 weeks, so he was just checking the site to make sure I didn't have any problems. I'll never forget him walking into my exam room saying, "Hmmm... pregnant lady with a nephrostomy tube... Who did this to you?!?" I fought back the tears as he basically told me that there was no need for me to be wearing that nephrostomy tube, and how he takes pregnant ladies with kidney stones to the operating room all the time, and how none of them have ever gone into labor! I begged him to get me under the knife as soon as possible. 

My kidney stone surgery was scheduled for Tuesday, July 23rd. My sweet in-laws offered to take the kids to Utah for the week while I had the surgery and recovered. The plan was for me to drive to Grand Junction (the half-way point for me & Tyler's mom) on Monday, meet Tyler's mom & drop-off the kids, and then drive back home to Colorado Springs the same day.

But the day before on Sunday afternoon I was having crazy close contractions. They weren't too painful, but they were real. Tyler was really freaking out about me driving to Grand Junction the next day. As he was talking to his sister about things, she offered to drive our kids to Grand Junction for us. I think she earned permanent saint status with that kind act. I still can't believe she did it! It turned out to be such a blessing. I am forever in debt to her for doing that. She sent me these pictures:

Shannon got the front seat (as she's prone to barfing), and all the rest of the kids were in the back:

That Monday (when I was supposed to be driving to Grand Junction) was completely uneventful. My contractions had stopped & I sat around in a quiet house feeling totally guilty that Tyler's sister was driving my 4 kids + her 3 across the state and I wasn't. Tyler & I went out to eat that night by ourselves for the first time in a long time.

The next day, on Tuesday July 23rd, I went in to have my kidney stone zapped (lithotripsy). They assigned a labor & delivery nurse to monitor my uterus during the kidney stone surgery because I was 36 weeks & 3 days along. The surgery went perfectly--they removed the kidney stone that the nurses said impressed even the urologist with its almost 1 cm diameter. I went home feeling like a new woman with that pee-bag (as my kids called it) taken out of my back. My body could function normally again, and I was in HEAVEN!!

I remember getting up at midnight to use the bathroom (I didn't mind at all because my nephrostomy tube was gone!!!), and then again at 2:00. But at 3:00am, I woke up to a wet bed. I was so shocked I had wet the bed. I tried to go back to sleep but 10 minutes later I felt another gush of liquid. I was so confused as to why I couldn't control my bladder! At 3:35 it finally dawned on me that maybe my water had broken. I'd never felt my water break before, so I wasn't positive. I asked Tyler to drive me to the hospital to get checked out and he--with his half-awake brain--suggested I drive myself to the hospital to see if it really was my water that broke. I started thinking about how I could go to the grocery store and get some depends adult diapers, but then realized that was crazy. I told him that if I drove myself to the hospital right then and I was in labor, then he would never hear the end of it from me. So he sat up, got ready for the day and we went to the hospital around 4:30am.

By 6:30am I was officially admitted and I knew I would be having a baby that day, Wednesday July 24th, at 36 weeks, 4 days along. I was on a roller-coaster of emotions. I felt excited to meet the baby boy, nervous he would be coming so early, and relieved that my in-laws had all the other kids in Utah. By 8am I was dilated to 3cm and the baby was at -2 position. Tyler went to work for a little bit, but cancelled his non-urgent patients and came right back to the hospital to be with me. 

At 2:00pm, I was dilated to 5cm, and the baby was at a 0 position. So I got an epidural and rested for a bit. Around 3:30 I told the nurse that I felt some pressure. Sure enough, my body & the baby boy were ready. He arrived safe & sound at 3:39pm. He weighed 6lb 15 oz, was 20 3/4" long, and had lots of dark brown hair.

 

It was SUCH A RELIEF knowing the kids were taken care of by his parents and to have Tyler with me at the hospital whenever he could be there. Tyler's mom drove the kids back (with her mom, grandma Stout) to Colorado on Friday to meet the baby. What a saint!! They LOVED meeting their new brother, of course.

 The kids were all over him--all day, every day.