Grandma's Sleepover

It was the thrid annual Grandma's sleepover, where all of the grandkids sleep over at Grandma Nancy's house and my parents send all of the adults out to dinner together. I think kids, parents, and grandparents alike look forward to this every year. Brynn talked about getting in the hot tub at Grandma's sleepover all week leading up to the sleepover and Mason had a countdown going right along with his Christmas countdown. This year ended up being a little different for us since Miles and I were still in the hospital, so Scott and I spent our date night in the hospital with Mr. Miles. It worked out perfectly because it provided some extra special attention and fun for our kids and allowed Scott to spend the night with me down at the hospital. Even with the number of kids going up, my parents reported that this year was the best year yet. I wasn't there but it sure looks like everyone had a good time.

All the cousins, minus Miles, in their matching jammies. Youngest to oldest from left to right.

Andrew, Chase, Brynn, Rachel, Kennedy, Mason, and Cannon.

Miles' Story

To say we are surprised to be holding sweet little Miles in our arms so early is an understatement, but our surprise is nothing compared to the gratitude and relief we feel to have him here healthy and safe after several unexpected things led to him coming early. I haven't talked to very many people about the circumstances surrounding Mile's birth mostly because It was all such a whirlwind it hasn't really sunk in that it really happened until I brought my baby home today. So for anyone who cares, here is my attempt at a brief recap of Miles' birth story. It all started on Tuesday December 13 when I had a fall. Nothing more than a stupid pregnancy moment when I tripped on a crack in the sidewalk with my arms full and was unable to regain my balance or catch myself before my stomach took the entire impact of the fall. It was painful and scary, not to mention humiliating, and it earned me 6 hours of being monitored in the hospital that night. Baby looked great the entire time, an ultrasound showed no sign of rupture in the placenta, but it appeared to have put me in labor. After several hours of contractions increasing in frequency and strength they were talking about giving me medication to stop labor, but then things started to settle down on their own. So I got to go home relieved not to be having a baby at 36 weeks. The next few days consisted of me continuing to feel pretty lousy and periodically contracting, but not enough to merit any real concerns so life continued on as normal. Then Monday December 19 rolled around and I started experiencing sharp shooting pains through my abdomen. These pains were nothing like contractions I had ever had. I was a little worried, but didn't want to call and make a big deal about nothing. Later that evening I went to the bathroom and had a spurt of bright red blood. It was just a little bit, but definitely fresh bright red blood. I hesistated to call because I really didn't want to end up back at the hospital where I felt like I was wasting everyone's time, but Scott insisted that I call and go get checked out. Sure enough I was sent to the hospital where all the nurses remembered me from the week before and I felt stupid despite all the "it's better to be safe than sorry" reassurances I got from everyone. They hooked me up to the monitors and baby looked great but the doctor still wanted to do another ultrasound to check the placenta. As soon as I returned from the ultrasound several nurses came into the room and informed me the Radiologist called and said my placenta was abrupting (pulling away from the uterus) and that they needed to prep me for an emergency C-section. I couldn't believe what I was hearing and started bawling. The nurse told me the on call doctor, Dr. Haskett, was on his way and I needed to call my husband immediately. I called Scott and tried to explain the situation to him through my sobs as one nurse was starting an IV in one hand and I was signing a pile of consents with the other. Thankfully this was the one night my parents weren't at a party of some sort and were able to drop what they were doing so my dad could stay with our kids and my mom came to the hospital with Scott. Dr. Haskett arrived and said the baby was still looking great on the monitors so we could wait for Scott to arrive. I had never met Dr. Haskett before and at first I was nervous not to be with Dr. Watabe who I know and trust, but Dr. Haskett was great and quickly lightened the atmosphere and put me at ease. As soon as Scott walked in they handed him his awesome marshmallow suit to get dressed in (he somehow forgot to get a picture of himself in it) and he was able to give me a quick kiss before they took me to the OR to give me my spinal. After the fact I learned that abruptions often times result in a crash C-Section where they won't even wait to give you a spinal they just put you out under general anethesia and you miss the whole thing. I am so grateful I was at least able to be awake for my baby's birth even if I did feel robbed of the rest of the birthing experience. Before I knew it I was preped and ready and Scott was at my side. Just a few minutes later at 9:29pm Miles was born. It was the weirdest sensation I have ever had feeling them tug and pull each layer of my abdomen back. It felt like they were playing a game of tug-a-war with my stomach. They were able to pull baby Miles out without any difficulty. Hearing his cries was wonderful, but it was so hard not being able to see and hold him. I got one quick peek and a kiss before they took him to the nursery to be evaluated. I sent Scott with him while I got sewn up. After they left I lay there in tears as I felt like a part of me was missing. It was so hard to not even know if he was doing okay or not. Since I was just shy of 37 weeks, making him preterm, I knew there was a chance he'd have a hard time breathing. I soon got word that they had to put him on CPAP to help him breath a little bit and had to start an IV to give him a fluid bolus because he was volume depleted due to the abruption. The doctor kept saying how lucky I was that I had come in as soon as I did because he rarely saw babies looking as strong and good as Miles had when there was an abruption. When he removed the placenta there was about 400 ml of blood behind it. He said it would have been only a matter of time before Miles would have been in distress. He says lucky, I say blessed. I truely feel we were being watched over and that's why I got that little spurt of blood as a warning before the serious bleeding began.

When they took me back to my room my mom came to be with me. I was so grateful to have her there by my side. Scott continued to call and text us with updates. I was so worried that they would have to transfer Miles to a bigger hospital and I would be stuck at American Fork without him. I was relieved when my sister-in-law, Kacie, who is a NICU nurse arrived. She was able to see Miles and talk to the Respiratory Therapist who she knows from work to find out how he was doing. When she told me he was doing great and this was all expected with how early he was and a c-section delivery, I was able to relax a little. Finally after what felt like an eternity they took me down to Mother/Baby where I was able to peek through the nursery at Miles who was now off the CPAP (he only had to be on it for an hour) and was getting bathed. Scott gave me a reassuring smile and thumbs up to let me know he was doing okay. Finally after 4 hours of being apart I was reunited with my sweet baby boy. They brought him to me in a Christmas stocking which was very appropriate since he was the best Christmas gift I could get.

He looked pretty beat up and brusied that night thanks to the CPAP. We weren't able to hold him very much that night because his breathing was better when he was lying flat, but his breathing got stronger and stronger throughout the night and by the next day his coloring was looking much better. We had no idea what his name would be before he was born. We had come up with a list of possible names which we had taken Miles off, but then threw it back on at the last minute. Our favorites included Cooper, Connor, and Maddax so we were surprised when after one look at him we both knew Miles was the perfect fit. We tried it out for the night and the next day knew it was the right name. The next morning he finally got to meet his older brother and sister who were dying to see him. Mason is completely obsessed with him and has to be forced to put him down. Brynn thinks he's cute and is excited by the idea of him, but is too busy to actually stop and notice him. We had to bribe Brynn with a glove to get in a family picture. You'll notice I get more and more swollen as the days pass thanks to the many liters of fluid they dumped in my IV. Words can't describe how in love Mason is.And I love hearing Brynn's little voice call him Baby Miles. She is handling his arrival really well.

My three beautiful kiddos. It's crazy to think our family might be complete. It's so different this time because with my first two I had such positive birth experiences and easy recoveries that I have always looked forward to doing it again. Having an unexpected c-section has been no walk in the park and the recovery has been much harder this time. It will definitely take some time to forget before I'm ready to sign up for this again. But the end result of my perfect little Miles is well worth every ounce of pain and discomfort I am feeling now.

Miles is truely our Christmas Miracle. He pretty much sleeps all the time since he was supposed to have a couple more weeks to grow inside. Feedings have been hard for him because he is so sleepy and tires so eaily. We have had to do pumping and finger feeds to help him get what he needs without having to work so hard. Every once in a while we catch a glimpse of his eyes, but it is usually brief. Miles and I spent 3 days in the hospital but are happy to finally be home with the rest of our family. I am so grateful to my amazing husband who yet again amazes me by taking care of us all and making it seem easy. Also thanks to my parents who as always have done so much to help us. So much for keeping it brief, but there you have it.

Merry Christmas!

Special Delivery

A very surprising but welcome Christmas gift arrived early at our house!!

Miles Aaron Murray

December 19, 2011 at 9:29 pm

6 lbs 10 oz 18.5 inches

We are so deeply in love with this little guy it is unbelievable.

7 Years in the Making

Today Scott and I celebrate our 7 year anniversary. This year our gift to each other was a new bedroom. You see, although we have been married for 7 years, we've never really had a bedroom. Now, of course we've had a room with 4 walls where our bed and clothes were, but it's never been a nice, put together room. The log bed we had, that my friend, Stacie, and I made in high school, was great, but way too big for the small space we have and forced our mismatched dressers from DI to be too small to hold all of our clothes causing piles of clean laundry to pile up on the floors. This has made for a cluttered and uninviting room that we just kept the door closed to most of the time and really only used to sleep and get dressed in. After years of the bedroom being bumped down on our project list we finally said enough and made it a priority. After hours of browsing pinterest and ksl we had a vision and were on our way to making it happen. I am still looking for some things to hang on the walls, but other than that here is the finished product. We started with a new paint color (Excaliber from Kwal for anyone who wants to know) and replacing the old aluminum blinds. I got to pull the pregnancy card on this one and Scott was left to paint the entire room himself. He did a great job and we really like how it turned out.

You can see from the pictures that it really is a small space, but I feel like we optimized the space by eliminating a bed frame and just opting for a headboard instead. The headboard is actually one of my favorite things we did. We were planning on making our own headboard out of wood when Scott came across the idea of using shutters to make it. A few shutters off KSL for $30 and 20 minutes to hang them on the wall and we had ourselves and very space saving and fun headboard.

We got all new linens, pillows, down comforter, and duvet cover for our bed and it is the best money we've ever spent. It's like a little piece of heaven climbing into wonderful, fresh, sheets every night.
The main accent piece of the room is our dresser which Scott refinished. We found a dresser on KSL that was perfect for the space we had, and it was a screamin' deal. It started out a normal brown dresser. Scott started by spray painting it black. He then rubbed candle wax on all the places we wanted it distressed. Then, after he painted it our desired yellow, he was able to just scratch off the paint with the end of a knife where the wax was to give it the black distressed look. I love how it turned out and think it is such a fun piece that adds a lot of character to the room.

You'll notice our Christmas present from my parents sitting on top of the dresser. Now that we love our room so much we like to watch our nightly Cobert Report (Scott got me totally hooked...that guy cracks me up) along with all of our other shows (modern family, community, grey's anatomy, and biggest loser) in bed at night so we really wanted to replace the awesome tube TV we inherited from my parents that was from the 1990s that honestly had wood paneling laminate pieces on the sides that made it look real nice. Thanks Mom and Dad for the great gift that really completed our room.

The final pieces were all more KSL finds by Scott. He got our night stand and hope chest from a couple who runs a little business out of their house called Shabby to Chic. We were looking for something to refinish in similar ways so it was bonus to find them already done for a reasonable price. We are so happy with the transformation of our room. It has turned into a relaxing and inviting place where our whole family likes to spend time. And since this is kind of my anniversary post I will just say that I truely have the best roommate in the world!

Scott, I love you the most!

The Big Man

Our Christmas season this year definitely has had a different feel to it. In years past we have been super busy and slightly overbooked with Christmas parties, outings, and activities. I guess with me being at the end of my pregnany and trying to keep life simple and calm I prioritized a little more and cut out some of the extra things that just felt like things to do. The result has been a wonderful, slower paced December that has had a lot more time spent at home as a family enjoying each other and doing simple but fun projects and activities together. When deciding what would and would not make the cut this year I asked my kids what things they remembered most about Christmas last year. Of course visiting Santa topped the list. Mason talked a lot about when we saw Santa come in a helicopter which we did two years ago. So the day after Thanksgiving we went to University Mall and waited for Santa to arrive in the helicopter. Brynn was so excited to see Santa and couldn't stop talking about it all morning. But it turned out to be all talk. The super windy conditions of the helicopter landing rattle her nerves and she still hadn't quite recovered from that when Santa came around so she hid in my arms at the back of the crowd. But the sweet Santa noticed her and had a special little moment with her when he made eye contact and gave her a little wave and smile and she gave a sweet little wave back. Mason on the other hand couldn't wait to see Santa and say hi to him. Brynn might not have been a fan of the helicopter or Santa, but she loved the balloon we got there, so the outing was a success. I really wanted to get all my Christmas shopping done early this year (and thank goodness I did since I was completely out of commition the entire week before Christmas) so I needed the kids to lock in on what they wanted from Santa. Our kids know that Santa brings one present to each person in our house so they think really hard about the thing they want the very most and ask him for it. I didn't want any mind changing after my shopping was done so we solidified our requests early by writing our letters to Santa and then visiting the big guy himself. Because once he's gone back and told the elfs what toys to make we can't do anything about it. So this year Mason asked for an Optimus Prime sword that lights up and makes sounds and Brynn asked for a doll house (although sometimes she would randomly say she wanted a pink piggy helmet...no idea where that came from).
So we went down to the Riverwoods to sit on Santa's lap. Both kids were very excited to see Santa while in line, but once again Brynn changed her mind as soon as it was our turn. I let Mason have a sweet little chat with Santa before trying to get Brynn to at least get close enough for a picture. The closest she got was arm's length away just long enough to take the candy cane from his hand then she was back in my arms. He asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she did respond loud and clear she wanted a doll house. When our turn was done she would stand in the doorway for a picture with Santa in the background at least.

My grandparents are so sweet and send each of the grandkids a personalized letter from Santa each year. Our letters arrived in the mail on a day when unknown to me Mason had snuck my phone and hid it to play angry birds when he wasn't supposed to. When he read in the letter that he had been a good boy this year and was on the nice list he exclaimed, "I am so surprised!! I thought I was on the naughty list because I sneeked your phone!" He made me laugh so hard that he got off pretty easy for his poor choice he accidentally confessed to.

This year I have really charished and loved the sweet and pure belief in Santa that Mason has. I know that Santa is not the important part of Christmas and we stress that very much in our home, but it still is a wonderful and magical thing that will be gone too soon. Earlier this year I thought we had been robbed of the few short years of belief. You see back in June a little neighbor girl told Mason the whole truth about Christmas explaining every last detail of how your parents put out the presents after you are asleep and everything. For the next few days Mason explained to us that Santa wasn't real and we just bought the presents. I was so sad I cried all day trying to figure out what to say to him. I ended up not saying a whole lot about it but just stating that I believed in Santa. I was so relieved as Christmas approached and Mason never brought it up again and based on his words and actions his belief was strong as ever. It made for a wonderful Christmas season of anticipation and excitement.

The Dangers of Nesting

According to Wikipedia, Nesting refers to an instinct or urge in pregnant animals, including humans, to prepare a home for the upcoming newborn. In human females it is commonly characterized by a strong urge to clean and organize one's home.

There has definitely been some nesting going on around our house this last month as we are trying to get all the projects crossed off our list before baby boy comes. Some of these projects include redoing our entire bedroom with painting, refinishing furniture, new bedding, pretty much everything new. Moving Brynn down into Mason's room and reorganizing all of their stuff to fit in one room together. Dejunking and reorganizing our toy room. Moving all of our furniture out and getting our carpets professionally cleaned (thanks mom for the perfect baby gift of clean carpets). Repainting and setting up the nursery. Along with the neverending cleaning and decluttering of the rest of our house. The completion of all these projects sounds great, but there is definitely a dangerous side of nesting.

Last Saturday while attempting to wash all my blinds and windows, I found myself feeling very unbalanced and awkward trying to stand on a step stool and reach over the kitchen sink to wash the window. So I opted to just sit on the counter with my feet in the sink. While leaning forward to reach the far side of the window I shifted all of my petite little body's weight onto my feet which were standing in the sink, and suddenly our 200 lb castiron sink holding a very pregnant woman went crashing through the countertop.

Scott came running upstairs thinking I had fallen and was actually relieved to find a broken sink with shattered pipes underneath it holding his unharmed pregnant wife. So thanks to my nesting Scott got to add to his ever growing handyman skills and replace our kitchen sink including redoing all the plumbing underneath.
The most ironic part is that not 15 minutes before I had commented how I really wanted to replace our 1970s sink. Scott has asked that next time I want to replace something I just ask instead of breaking the old one and tripling his work. The good news is I love my new sink. Hard to believe only one short month until I'll be bathing our baby brother in it.

Family Time

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend that was filled with lots of family time. Brandon and Whitney came from Arizona with their kids and as always we took advantage of every second we could spend with them. With Kacie and Chris not living down the street from us anymore it is always extra exciting when we get to see and play with them, too. So this made for an ideal 4 days of cousins playing together. This left plenty of time for all of us siblings to catch up and laugh with (and sometimes at) each other. I love my family so much. We snapped some quick family pictures at Thanksgiving dinner. They turned out great, especially considering we just walked outside and had my grandpa snap some pictures. Grandma and Grandpa with their 7 grandchildren.

Mason (4), Brynn (2), Rachel (3), Andrew (1), Chase (1), Cannon (6), Kennedy (4)

This year I am grateful for so much, but I can honestly say that at the very top of that list is my family.

My parents are amazing. Words can't even begin to describe the strength I get from their love and support.

Still to this day, I have to put up with a lot of teasing from my brothers, but I wouldn't have it any other way. And they both have made up for it by marrying the most amazing women and giving me the 2 sisters I never had. For that I can never repay them.

My wonderful husband Scott never ceases to give of himself to serve me and our family. He is the most incredible Dad in the world and every time I watch him with our children my heart melts.

Mason is my sweet boy that will still cuddle up with me and smother me with kisses on a regular basis.

Brynn is my one and only little girl who is always excited to see me even if I've just been in the other room.

I haven't met our baby brother yet, but I feel his little spirit in me every day and am so grateful to a kind Heavenly Father who has sent him to our family.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by those you love.