Friday, July 31, 2009

Ridge's Birth Announcement


My very talentend friend Kaedell took these pictures of Ridge and made this adorable birth announcement- thanks so much Kaedell!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Three weeks after Ridge was born I was still feeling pretty crummy because my body was still trying to get my blood platelet count back up to where it should be and I was in a lot of pain because the hemotoma was putting so much pressure on my incision. Plus, Ridge was still in the NICU. Well the hemotoma finally caused my incision to split clear open and Jake had to run me up to the ER and they had to irrigate (squirt saline into) my wound and try to get the blood clots out. Some of the blood clots they took out required them to go inside my wound and cut them into pieces in order to get them through the incision. It took them over an hour and it was extremely painful. After they got the wound cleaned out the best they could they packed the inside of my wound with gauze and told Jake that he would have to change the gauze every day until the wound healed up. It has been an extremely long and painful process to say the least. My OB referred me to a surgeon because he really doesn't deal with this type of thing, he's never had a patient have this happen to them before. So the surgeon decided to try a wound vac, this vacuum thing that I had to carry around like a purse with a hose hanging out of it connected to my wound with a sponge inside the wound. Also very painful. I've had a wonderful home health care nurse assigned to me to change out the wound vac sponge every other day. The first time she came to change it out my wound had closed in so fast that my skin and tissue had grown into the sponge. The only way to get the sponge out of the wound was to literally tear my skin and newly formed tissue out of the sponge. It was excruciating and took three hours! Absolutely the most pain I've ever experienced. My nurse called her charge nurse and a lady who works for the wound vac company to come out to try to figure out the best way to try to get my wound to heal without killing me in the process. They tried the wound vac one more time and then I went back for another check up with the surgeon who decided to bag the wound vac (thank goodness!) and go back to packing with gauze twice a day. I went back in to the surgeon for a follow up apt. on Weds. and he said that it is healing great and we no longer need to pack any more and it should be completely closed up in about a week! YAY! I'm so excited to finally get my life back! I can tell that I'm pretty close to having my platelet count back to normal and, other than being sleep deprived from being up all night with a newborn, I'm feeling sooo much better.
I think most of us take our health for granted. We run around in our crazy busy lives not giving a second thought to how amazing our bodies are and how well they function until something goes wrong. I definitely appreciate my health so much more after all of this. I am so grateful to finally have it back and be able to take care of my family again. I am so extremely grateful for such wonderful family and friends who have stepped in to help take care of my kids and home while I've been unable to. I'm so grateful for a loving father in heaven who has heard and answered my prayers and has helped carry me through this difficult time. I know that he gives us trials to make us stronger and to help us keep things in an eternal perspective. Life is definitely a rollar coaster ride and we need to hang on tight and put our trust in the Lord.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

2 Months Old




Ridge went in for his two month check up today. He is up to 6lbs. 7 1/2 oz.! He's just about doubled his birth weight! He's still not as big as Dalton and Gunnar were when they were born.
I'm so grateful for Ridge. He is such a sweet baby. He's already very spoiled. He loves to be held and cuddled. His big brothers love him so much, they're always saying "Ridge is sooo cute and little!" They love to touch his feet and marvel at how teeny tiny they are.


I'm slowly adjusting to life with three kids. It's a lot of work. Hopefully as I get feeling better we will adjust better.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Mud Monsters!











I had to put these pics on here. Jake flooded the back yard to see if it's level so when we plant grass it will water evenly. The boys just couldn't resist all that mud. . . Taylor and Kaitlyn joined in on the fun too . . .
Kaitlyn wins the contest for being the muddiest!

Ridge is Finally Home!
















Ridge was finally released from the NICU on June 24th. He weighed 4 lbs. 9 oz. when he was released and he is now a little over 5 lbs. We're so glad to have our baby boy home! His brothers were so excited to finally meet him! It's so nice to have everybody under one roof!