Rocco turned two months old yesterday. YAY! I'm so excited to be getting out of the newborn stage and to know I WILL NEVER HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN! I feel like I'm starting to come out of the newborn haze, you know, where all the days and nights are a blur and it's all you can do to hang on and survive. This fourth child has really rocked my world. When I had Beckham Jada hadn't even started school yet. Now I've got two kids in school, so I have to set my alarm and get up in the morning to get them ready and make their lunches. And I have to pick them up every day, which means getting both Beckham and Rocco up from naps, on most days. Plus they have dance, and soccer, and playdates with friends. It's just much harder to make everything work and go smoothly.

Really, though, this kid is a sweetheart. He's so mild tempered and basically just chills. The kids love him to pieces. The second Beckham hears him cry he'll run over to his crib saying, "Oh baby, baby, shh shh shh" and try to get him to take his binkie. He likes to hold him, but after about five seconds he says he's done. Jada could hold him all day long, which has been very helpful. Caleb likes to hold him once in a while, just for a while. He really just likes to look at him. He says, "He's so cute, I can't stop saying that cause he's so cute."

He had his two month check up and shots yesterday. Dr. Kaddu said he's supposed to gain one pound every two weeks and since he was last there six weeks ago he's gained over 4 pounds. Holy cow! That's crazy cause we were so worried about him not gaining weight in the beginning. It's cause all he wants to do from 6 p.m. on is eat. I breastfeed him then he has a bottle of formula then I breastfeed him again till he goes to bed around 11. Yep, he's a little pig and he's gonna be huge! I'm glad he's not so scrawny and fragile anymore, I'd much rather have a chunky, healthy baby. He does spit up a lot, Dr. Kaddu said he's a "happy spitter", meaning he spits a lot but is still smiley and gaining weight and not too fussy. He had three shots and that didn't make him too happy. But I was relieved to have him get the pertussis vaccination, I've been a little freaked out about that.

Isn't he just so precious?



Rocco at two months old:

10.5 lbs, 24%

22.4 inches, 31%

To sum it up.....

October went something like this:

Casey ran and rocked the St. George Marathon. His first! He said he will do one more, next year we plan on running it together, but after that he's done. We'll see. We've all said that before. Other family who ran it: Melissa, Kaelee, Matt, and Travis.

The kiddos can't get enough of Rocco. They want to hold him and kiss him and play with him all the time. I think we're all trying to take advantage of the fact that this is the last baby in our house.

Note the laundry in the background. Laundry has officially taken over my life.

Jada and Caleb were on the same co-ed 1st/2nd grade soccer team for Fall soccer. They loved it and I loved watching them. This was Caleb's first time playing and he's a natural. Jada has already improved a ton since Spring soccer.

Halloween seemed to last at least a week this year. It is probably my least favorite holiday. It's just become such a hassle and so much work, and you can't just dress up on Halloween night anymore. It's for school and parties and then trick-or-treating (I know, I'm a scrooge). My kids sure did love it this year though.

Our friends put on a fabulous Halloween party the Saturday before Halloween and the kids had a blast. It included a hay ride on a trailer, white elephant gift exchange, guess how many candies in a jar (Caleb won!), costume parade, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, and yummy food.

Jada and Caleb wore their costumes to school on Halloween and we went to the school for the costume parade. Beckham had to be a super hero all day.

Halloween night we went trick-or-treating in Melissa's neighborhood then out to Mama Jo's for a Halloween party put on by Erin, who did an amazing job. The kids had a cupcake walk, then we all had a donut eating contest, followed by bobbing for apples and the costume contest. And of course, there was lots of yummy food.

November is already here, crazy! Maybe I'll post more than once a month, but no promises:)

Photoshoot

My friend Susie with Adelaide Photography took these adorable pictures of Rocco on Saturday. He was so, so good and cooperative and even gave us a few sleep smiles:) What a sweetheart.

Rocco's Birthday

Saturday afternoon I started timing my contractions around 4:00. I'd been having irregular contractions all day, but they seemed to be getting stronger and more regular. By the time Casey got home from work at 5:30 the contractions were 5-7 minutes apart and I told him we would be going to the hospital that night. We fed the kids and gave them baths. I finished packing my hospital bag then called my mom to let her know what was going on. She came to pick up the kids and we left for the hospital at 7:00. I was 36 weeks and 2 days pregnant. 

After we checked in and I was hooked up to the monitors the nurse let us know Dr. Lunt was there doing a delivery and he would come check me when he finished. He came to check me and said I was dilated to a 3+, but my contractions were so regular he wanted me to hang around for a while. I knew I would not be going home. Apparently he did too, cause after about five minutes he came back in and said, "You know what, I'm calling it. You're contracting like crazy and I'm not going to send you home so let's just do this thing." It was 8:30 and he said he was planning a 9:30 cut time. So baby would be here in just one hour, crazy! The nurse brought in Casey's scrubs, booties, and hat and we started to get ready to transition to the operating room.

We walked back to the OR and I was shaking like crazy. The nurse brought me a heated blanket and I was able to relax a little. The anesthesiologist came to do my spinal tap and it was surprisingly not as painful as I remember from before. His name was Dr. Nielson, and I really liked him. He kept me updated on everything that was going on. The nurses and doctor laid me down and those miracle drugs kicked in immediately. That's one of the hardest parts for me, when they numb me from the belly down I feel extremely claustrophobic. I have to concentrate on anything other than the fact that I absolutely cannot move. One of the nurses asked if they were also tying my tubes and I said no. We were pretty certain that this was our last baby, but not certain enough to make it permanent. At this point Casey came back, then Dr. Lunt was there and we were ready to roll. I love that this is such an incredible moment for us and the doctors chat like it's just another surgery. I remember last C-section they were talking about Disneyland. This time they were just chit chatting then Dr. Lunt says, "Wow! Oh wow, look at that!" Then there was a lot of commotion and I started to panic. I asked, "What's going on?!" Dr. Lunt said, "The amniotic sac is outside the uterine wall and the wall is very thin. We call it a uterine rupture." I said, "Is it dangerous?" and he said, "Very". Now I'm just waiting for the sound of my baby to cry, which seems to take forever. Dr. Lunt said, "Look at all that hair" then there was pressure and baby was out, screaming. The nurse brought him up to my head and said, "How does he look?" and I said, "Gross" and they all laughed. Casey went with the nurse to check the baby and Dr. Lunt started to repair my uterus and continued to explain about the uterine rupture. Somehow the amniotic sac had pushed through and if he had let me contract longer and the contractions had become stronger both the wall of the uterus and possibly the sac would have burst. If I had gone another day it probably would have happened. He kept saying he wished he would have taken a picture of it. I wish I would have been thinking clearly enough to have him tie my tubes right then. The wall of my uterus was so thin he had to stretch it to be able to sew it back together. A few days later Dr. Lunt said no more pregnancies for me, it would be too risky.

Rocco's grand entrance

6 lbs. 8 oz.

First time holding my baby

We noticed Rocco grunting a lot and had a lot of bubbles coming out of his mouth. The NICU nurse was called up to monitor him and after about 15 minutes she says she's taking him to the NICU, he's really struggling to take every breath.

Isn't this the best picture?!

 Sunday afternoon the kids came to see their brother. They were so excited.

Awe, brothers

"Holding" my baby

Finally, really holding my baby

Daddy's in love

 4:00 Monday morning the NICU nurse came into my room and told us the baby had taken a turn for the worse. He had developed a pneumothorax, which means there was a hole in the tissue around his lungs and it had caused his right lung to collapse. He had to have a chest tube inserted to pull the air out and was hooked up to an oscillator to keep his lungs expanded. She said he was sedated but stable, and to be prepared that he would look different when we next saw him. The rest of the night was pretty much sleepless, I was so worried.

This picture is hard for me to look at. This is Monday morning, after the pneumothorax crap.

 Monday morning we went to see our baby. It was hard. Like, super hard. My dad and two brothers-in-laws, Matt and Leif, came to help Casey give him a blessing. We felt more at peace after that. We knew he was a fighter, we just didn't know how long it would take him to recover and be able to go home. Dr. Carroll told us to plan 1-2 weeks. That seemed like forever.

NICU doctor, Dr. Carroll. We loved him.

So sad to see my baby like this and not be able to hold him:(

 At noon on Monday the chest tube showed that it was no longer pulling air bubbles so the tube was clamped off and baby was closely monitored to make sure there were no signs that it was needed. Dr. Carroll told us the hole usually repaired itself in 24-48 hours, but our little guy was having none of that.
He decided 12 hours was sufficient. The chest tube came out Tuesday morning. Next step was getting him off the ventilator. At rounds on Wednesday morning Dr. Carroll said he wanted baby weaned off the ventilator by the end of the day. When I brought my sister Melissa in to see him at 11:30, he was off! The nurse said Baby had his day planned out and decided to take the tube out himself:) So they were just going to go with it and monitor him. He was put on oxygen. Next step: wean off oxygen and get him breastfeeding.

Off his ventilator!

I was released from the hospital Wednesday evening and went home to be with my kids. It was so weird leaving the hospital without my baby. I knew he was in good hands, though, and that my other kids needed me too. Thursday morning I went to the hospital to give them the breast milk I had pumped the previous evening and throughout the night. Baby was still being fed through a feeding tube. When Casey and I went to see him Thursday night he was off the oxygen! Little stinker pulled that out as well.

Off the oxygen!

I stayed at the hospital all day Friday to see if we could get him breastfeeding. It didn't go so well, and I went home that evening so frustrated. As soon as he could prove he could breastfeed he could have the feeding tube taken out and we could go home.

Day 6 of his recovery and looking so good

Snuggling time:)

Saturday evening I took my stuff prepared to stay overnight and get this little guy eating. He did well all day Saturday, so out came the feeding tube. Yay, finally no more tubes and cords, except for his monitors! We were put up in a room on the mother's floor and would stay there through the night. The kids came to see him and loved being able to finally hold their brother. Jada is super excited.

Mama #2

First bath was a full week after he was born. Gross.

He did awesome throughout the night and I was so relieved to know we'd finally be able to take him home. Dr. Carroll came in Sunday morning around 10:00 and officially released him. It had been a long week, and I was so ready to take my baby home.

He preferred to sleep with me instead of his plastic bin crib. Smart boy.

Going home from the hospital!

Such a handsome boy

We got home before Casey and the kids got home from church, so they had a nice surprise for them when they came home. The kids can't get enough of this little guy. Neither can we.