The 3 year old!

Before I get to blogging our Utah trip, there was Cy's Birthday!!

Cyrus is 3!!!! I can't believe it. Right on cue he has started to really "grow up" a little, he is so helpful and inquisitive, he loves his Daddy and wants to do everything he does, he speaks so much better, he loves his siblings SO much and he is my little Pal. He is very gentle and sweet, but on the other hand he LOVES to play rough and doesn't quite realize his own strength...we are working on it! He is talking like crazy and has become even more hilarious than he already was! Oh how I love this boy and just can't believe that he is growing up.

Here are some shots from his Birthday Party, I felt bad because I had lots of things planned that I just couldn't do after all that happened in our family the week of his party. I came home from the hospital just the day before his party so I am just glad that we did it at all! He is such an awesome kid though and I LOVE him to bits.

He is a HuMoNgOuS fan of "Cars"

It borders a little on an obsession, but it is so fun to see him get so excited!

Ellery and Bailey were the photographers here, I think they were as excited as he was because they knew he was going to get "Woody" & "Buzz" they are a very close second favorite to Cars! He did not disappoint the girls' excitement...we was in heaven!

He is just such a good boy. When he gets tired he just asks to go to bed, he will even go kiss his sisters while they are doing something he loves but he still just wants to go take a nap! I love it! He is happy and fun. Loves books and tractors of all kinds. He LOVES church and is slightly obsessed with his teacher. Just a great boy!!

I love each and every one of my children so very much, each is special to me in their own way and bring something completely unique into my life! I am truly blessed to have them all and this little man is just precious to me. He is always running up to me out of nowhere and plastering sloppy wet kisses all over my face...and it makes my DAY! He tells me he loves me at least 49 times a day and each time it reminds me why Mothers have it made: we get to feel that love, that pure love that I believe comes straight from our Father in Heaven which our little ones are still so close to!

One last note. I think Cy is much more observant than I give him credit for. I hadn't thought that he was grasping much of all that happened the week before his party, but he surprises me. He keeps coming over to me and asking "When is Bince coming? Where's Bince?" Bince is how he says Vince and it melts my heart to hear him say it. He has been so concerned over me. He has asked me at least a hundred times since I have come home if I am okay, "Mommy, you okay?" As long as I have you buddy I will ALWAYS be way more than okay!

We are OFF!

Well, we are in Utah now...WaaHOOO! I am going to be out of the blogging game until we get back and we'll have tons of stories I am sure. I just wanted to write down a couple of precious little stories from when I was in the hospital before I forget them.

Matt brought the kids over to visit me while I was in labor and thank heavens before all the fireworks started. I was frustrated and so relieved to have all my babies come and give me love. Cy was very nervous when he saw me there in bed with the IVs and all that stuff. He came over and said "Momma, you hurt?" He climbed up on my lap and gave me his classic Cy loves complete with humongous hugs and sloppy kisses that I love!
He would get down for a second but then he would want to be right back up in my lap to make sure I was alright. When Matt said it was time to go, Cyrus came over to my bed and said, "Okay, lets GO!"
I told him that I had to stay and he became very sad, "Mommy, get UP! Get UP! You not stay here, Cyrus need you!" It was so sad. He sobbed the whole way out. All the nurses came in and said that he was crying all the way down the hall "Mommy!"

When I did come home, he woke up in the night and I came into his room. He said, groggily, "Mommy...you here! You NOT go back to the Doctor's house, stay wiff Cy Cy!"
Doctor's house instead of hospital, cracks me up. I just love that boy so much!


I also thought it was so precious to hear how Taitem explained to her cousin all that had happened. Gavin came to stay with his Mom to help us out with the kids while we were at the hospital. Gavin ran up to Taite (they are great friends!) and was so excited that we were having the baby!! Taite said "Oh, Gavin. The baby died already. We don't get to bring the baby home. But it is okay because he gets to go and live with our Heavenly Father."
She paused and then finished, "Actually, that is a really good thing becauase Heavenly Father is SO very nice! Plus he gets to stay with Emma until we get up there!"
I am so glad that all the kids have such a good outlook on things. It just melts my heart.

My Little Vince

Well, this week was definitely not what I expected or anything I had planned on. Last weekend was kind of frustrating, the kind where every little thing seems to go wrong. Then it takes something big to make you realize just how insignificant the little things are. Monday I had my regular appointment with my OB for the baby. We had already heard the heartbeat twice, but my girls get SO excited every time. I took Bailey and Taite with me, Ellery was sick and missed out. As we sat waiting for the Dr. I just kept having an impression that we weren't going to hear the baby's heartbeat. I kept brushing this preparatory thought away and rationalized that we had already heard the heartbeat and the chances of loosing a baby after you've heard it just drop so dramatically, that I just knew this couldn't be happening.

After loosing Emma, our first daughter at 28 weeks, I still have never been worried with all our other pregnancies. I guess I always thought that we had as high a chance as anyone for having an early miscarriage since they unfortunately happen often. I dreaded that would ever happen, but with every pregnancy, as soon as we hear the heartbeat I just completely relax and figure that we are in the clear~ surely something like Emma will never happen again. I have always been so grateful for the reassurance and lack of anxiety that I have always experienced with each pregnancy.

As the doctor came in I calmed down. She is the most amazing doctor I have ever met. She is so loving and kind and also knowledgeable....I just LOVE her. She is especially great with kids and asked the girls if they would like to find the baby's heartbeat! To which of course they went crazy with excitement. They were moving the doppler all around my belly and they weren't getting anything. I just kept saying that it was because they weren't pushing hard enough, but really my heart was just sinking. Dr. Rutherford took over and she wasn't able to hear anything either. She thought it was just the placement of my placenta, she had me feeling a little better as we went to have an ultra sound. We just could not be loosing another baby this far into a pregnancy! I had felt him moving and heard his heartbeat...I feel like I know this little person already. I can feel him alive! Man, this hurts!

The girls and I were alone together and Bailey looked at me and said "Momma, is this just like Emma? I don't want it to be like her."

I was trying to keep it together. As soon as the ultra sound came up, it was obvious to me after having so many...this wasn't a good one. Dr. Rutherford asked the girls if they wanted to go get a sucker, to which Taite excitedly jumped up and headed for the door. Bailey jumped up and headed to my side. Again, she asked me if this was just like Emma and she didn't want to leave me. We convinced her and when the door closed, my heart broke. I just couldn't believe we were loosing another baby so far along. Dr. Rutherford was great and very comforting, but it was all a blur. I just didn't want the girls to know something was wrong until I could tell Matt.

I got home and it was, well it was all just sad. Telling Matt was awful, he was so broken hearted and when we told the girls they were just crushed. It was such a sad night and we found comfort as a family in each other's arms and through lots of prayer.

We had some decisions to make. We really had 2 options: induce labor or surgery. Dr. told me that surgery was not a good option this far along. A DNC at this many weeks can really do a lot of damage to your uterus or cervix. She strongly suggested induction and as much as I was dreading another early induction experience, we decided it was best.

(You might want to skip all this if you don't like all the female anatomy discussion.)

I knew it could be very difficult to get me started, but we never expected all that happened. I just wanted to see my baby so badly, get some closure. I just wanted to see that little boy! I went into the hospital and Matt joined me shortly after. It was very uncomfortable, but not at all what I expected, like with Emma, so I was feeling very calm and comforted. After about 8 hours of contractions I started to bleed. I took this a good sign. We had some branch members visiting my room giving comfort and I felt a very sharp pain in my stomach with a lot of blood. They hurried out because I was sure that the baby was on his way. The nurses came and were wonderful. They weren't worried about all the blood because they figured it was amniotic fluid as well. Then another huge pain and even more blood. The nurse was still not worried but went to call the Dr. immediately. She came back in and after a few more of these big pains and gushes, I thought the baby was coming out. It turned out to be the placenta coming out first.

This is where things changed very quickly. I started to feel strangely and began throwing up. I got very sweaty and hot and the room started spinning. They laid me back a little and gave me some oxygen. The nurse was asking me some questions and I just couldn't answer. She came and looked at my face and said to the other nurse that my lips were pure white. I passed out. I don't know what happened for a few minutes, but when I came to there were about 12 people in the room and one Dr. hollering out orders. Everyone was running around and Matt was no longer by my side stroking my hair, he was against the wall. I tried to look at him, but I couldn't see anything. The Dr. was shoving his fist into my leg and yelling that he barely had a femoral pulse. My blood pressure dropped to almost nothing and he was yelling for blood blood BLOOD! He yelled for the "crash cart" and said things like "we're going to need resuscitation here!" I remember thinking to myself as the Doctor yelled for a central line that I wished I hadn't watched the show ER so many times so I wouldn't know what that was.

I just couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe what I was hearing and that I couldn't say anything. I lay there thinking "this isn't it, is it?" This can't be it, I have to make sure my kids get another hug and know just how I think they are the most special little people to ever live. And I have never been shy about my feelings of adoration for Matt, but that is because I am still looking for the words that are even adequate. I am not done searching for those words that get it just right, I need more time to make sure he really knows how I love him and how he makes me feel!

As soon as they got the first unit of blood in, I started to improve, but my blood pressure was still so low and the bleeding continued. My Dr. came rushing in and tried to figure out what was going on. The placenta had come all apart in my uterus and now after all the induction was over, I had to have surgery anyway to stop the hemorrhaging. She was upfront that the damage might be too great to my uterus and I might have to have a hysterectomy. She would try to repair the damages and save it as best she could.

Matt got to come back over to me and I don't know that I have the right words to describe his face. I felt so bad that he had to go through that, just watching helplessly. As they prepared me for surgery I was so nervous. Afraid really. I just kept thinking about the blessing Matt had given me that morning and started to calm down. I wanted more than anything to not loose my ability to have children, but I was sure that the Lord was in control and all would be well...regardless of the outcome.

They wheeled me away. I was so grateful to wake up and find out that they had saved my uterus. I had another blood transfusion during surgery and they weren't able to stop the bleeding completely without ruining my uterus. I went to the ICU and that night my blood pressure continued to keep dropping. The Dr. told me if they weren't able to get it under control quickly they would have to go back in and remove the uterus after all. They discovered a platelet problem and began giving me several units of plasma. I started to improve a lot after this.

To come to the end here. I am much better and after a couple of days I am finally home resting. I have to see a hematologist to figure out the low platelet problem, but other than that I feel like I was spared tremendously. No hysterectomy is a direct blessing from the Lord. I know that I was blessed and watched over. I don't know yet if we will be able to have any more children, but I sure am thankful for the ones we have and to still be here to raise them with my loving eternal companion.

It has just been such an intense week. I still just can't believe that our little Vince will not get to be a part of our family here on earth. I just had such clear images of that little guy and how he would fit into our family. But what a great thing to think that we have another little valiant Spirit waiting for us in Heaven. It is amazing that the Lord finds a way through our grief and sorrow to make us feel more loved than ever. Our family is strengthened by this and the love we have felt is just unbelievable. This has been a very wonderful and uplifting week, even though it has been sad. Thanks to all of you have shown us so much love! We love all of you so much and may I just say...this life is SO good and we are SO very blessed!

We love you Vince Thomas Johnson

March 2, 2010