Our Pets 2014

2014~

Lily is still happily around but skittish, so I have no pictures of her!  That and she is normal compared to Drake and Maggie.

 

Maggie to too strange for words!  On the second picture Molly went up to her and asked "where is your belly button?"

   

Our Pets

2014~

Lily is still happily around but skittish, so I have no pictures of her!  That and she is normal compared to Drake and Maggie.

 

Maggie to too strange for words!  On the second picture Molly went up to her and asked "where is your belly button?"

   

2014 Chris Outdoors

2014~

Here are some random outdoor photos from Chris' adventures in 2014

A big mule deer shed

Boot sized perch

A 15" perch

Nice limit of kokanee

Hiking above the inversion in the Boise foothills

Found one

Pat with a nice trout on Lake Cascade

Deer shed within sight of the truck, can't beat that!

Kerry's brother Shane trying ice fishing

Shane again with an Owyhee brown trout

Kerry with an Owyhee brown

Hooked up

The guide got one too!

Bath Time

December 24th & 29th~

With Sam’s umbilical cord and circumcision, it was quite a while before we gave him a “real” bath in the sink.  He was a little uncertain when we started, but definitely seemed to like when I rubbed the warm washcloth over his belly. 

 

Molly helped with bath number two and other than needing help with washing his face and back, she took care of everything else. 

  

Christmas in Cascade

December 26th-29th~

The day after Christmas we all loaded up for the Cabin.  Grandma even joined us so we had the cabin loaded to maximum capacity.  Unfortanlety the lake was not frozen enough for any ice fishing, but the snow around the cabin made for some good sledding.  Papa even got the four wheeler running to pull the cousins around.  Surprisingly Molly even wanted to take a turn.  We only went 1 mph but Molly kept laughing and telling me "this is way fun."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meeting Family in the NICU

December 3rd, 4th~

The adults were able to come into the NICU to meet Sam.  They had all been patiently waiting in the L&D waiting room for Chris to come and announce that things were okay and what we had had.  I had warned them it would be closer to 8 am until we would be out of surgery.  However, Chris went straight to the NI with Sam and it was closer to 9 am until he got back to the waiting room.  That obviously had everyone nervous knowing something wasn't quite right, but once Chris came in smiling and saying it was a boy I guess our whole crew let out a huge yell of excitement and disbelief.  Mom even said Dad teared up a bit :)  I really wish I could have been there to see their reaction.

It's a Boy!!!

December 3rd~

December 3rd at 7:56 am Chris and I welcomed a beautiful baby boy, Sam Douglas, into our family. Sam was 22 inches long and weighed 7 lbs 14 ounces.

I am still a little surprised I made it to my scheduled date, but it definitely had it's benefits.  Molly spent the night with her cousins so Chris and I went out for a dinner date after making sure our house was clean and we were packed for the hospital.

I don't think either one of us slept for more than a few hours the night before, but we were just too excited.  Knowing ahead of time I was going in for a major surgery was different too.  With Molly, just too many things were happening, so by the time they said I need a c-section, all I cared about was getting my baby out safely.  I knew this was the only way to get this baby out safely too, but to causally walk into Labor and Delivery for the surgery is still something I cannot explain.

Leaving for the hospital.  39 weeks 3 days.       

In pre-op

We checked into recovery at 6 am and they had us change and fill out all the needed paperwork.  I was then wheeled into surgery right at 7:30 am.  Once I had my spinal and was completely prepped, they brought Chris in.  My surgery went well and everyone was talking football.  My nurse anesthetist said he thought I was having boy and he is "good at guessing."  Once Sam's head was out, he said "it looks like a boy!"  I said I hoped he was right then and it wasn't a girl who looked like a boy.  He laughed and said yeah he better watch what he says so he doesn't get himself in trouble.  By that point the doctor and nurse anesthetist started yelling it is, it is!  I wasn't sure what it was... Chris said he couldn't see real well because another nurse had jumped on the table (pretty much onto of me) to help push the baby out.  Chris finally got a look at our son right when the doctor looked at me over the drape saying you have an "Aaron Rogers."  I started to cry and could not believe it.  With Molly I was so completely exhausted after 14 hours of labor followed by a c-section I don't think I really had a chance to be right in that moment.  This time there was no exhaustion, just the excitement and pure joy of finding out we had a son.  The NICU team took Sam to look him over.  They said he was a big boy and I could hear him crying.  Walking into the hospital that day I told Chris if I had to guess I would say we were having a boy.  When I imagined them handing a baby to me, all I could see was a boy.  However, I really didn't feel I just knew either.....

  

The NICU team seemed to be taking a long time checking on Sam and the entire time I could not stop tearing up at the thought of my complete family.  Chris started to get anxious about the time line and the team finally told him Sam was grunting, a sign he swallowed amniotic fluid while he was being pulled out.  After fifteen or so minutes they said they wanted to take Sam to the NICU to observe him ( not admit).  My doctor said this is happens with 1 out of 5 c-sections and is not a huge deal.

Chris left with Sam and I finished getting sewn up.  Once in recovery they had difficulty keeping my body temperature up so I got covered in blankets galore.

Someone from the NICU then came down right about when Chris came back to tell us that they had taken an x-ray and that showed a bilateral pneumothorax.  This then got Sam admitted to the NICU. Once I was good to leave recovery they took me by stretcher to the NICU to really see Sam for the first time.  They had him on a no stimulation protocol so we were not allowed to touch him at all.  It was completely surreal.  They were afraid any stimulation could cause him to cry and that could increase the pneumothax causing a need for chest tubes and a drastically increased stay in the NICU. They were also concerned if he tried to eat he could aspirate food into his lungs so he kept NPO and only given sugar water through an IV.  From my x-ray days, I have seen some pretty difficult cases in the NICU and knew my close to 8 lb, full term baby was going to come out of it just fine, but we still did not how long it would take to get him fine.

Once we got to the floor a nurse brought me a pump so I could start right away since I would not be able to nurse Sam.  By 5 pm, I was off of bed rest and we were able to go visit Sam again.  This time we could touch him, but not stroke him.  One nurse was trying to prepare us for a few days in the NICU.  When we came back at 8pm they had been able to decrease his oxygen usage a bit and the PA was hopefully the stay would be shorter.

The next morning Chris and I made it down to the NICU in time for the doctor's rounds. Sam was off oxygen by this point and they decided to let us hold and nurse him and see how he did.  We spent most of that day in the NICU and I was hopeful we would have him back with us that night, but since he had spent a day with no food they wanted to keep a close eye on his blood sugar.

 

I originally tried to stay in my room overnight and go down to the NICU every 3 hours to feed so I could stay on top of my pain medication since the NICU staff could not give me my medication. However, Sam kept waking up before the 3 hour mark and by the time I could get to him, he had already worn himself out crying that we could not get him to wake back up for a good feeding.  I finally decided to sleep in a chair next to him so I could respond the second he needed me, but his blood sugar kept falling.  I finally gave him a bottle of formula around 3 am so his sugars would be good for the morning rounds.  That seemed to do the trick and give him enough food so he could start to wake up a bit and nurse.

By that mornings rounds the x-ray showed the pneumothoraxes where still healing and they decided to release Sam from NICU.  We were so happy.  The decision was made at 8 am but it took until noon for us to get back to our floor as a family. I was still a little worried since Sam wasn't eating the greatest, but once we could continually hold him in our arms he turned into a champ.

 

Finally all together!!!