June 2010 archive

Content

From 4th Boy

Dinner was good.

Posted by Bryan on June 29, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 3 comments

He's Home!

Davis was discharged from the hospital today. We need to take him to see the pediatrician once a day for the next few days, but that’s a whole lot easier than going to the hospital every three hours to feed him. His brothers were super excited and even delayed their trip to the pool so they could all take a turn holding him for the first time.

From 4th Boy

From 4th Boy

Posted by Bryan on June 29, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 6 comments

Status Report Sunday June 27th

Since the baby started nursing on Saturday, we decided it would be easiest to have me do a “Hotel Stay” at the hospital so I can be with Davis and nurse him every 3 hours. I am still on lovely pain medications so I can’t drive myself around so this just makes things much easier for Bryan, who has been a fabulous taxi driver, dad, and husband for the past few days, but is getting rather tired from doing everything at once all day long. So after I got discharged from the hospital officially, I was able to just stay in my room, without nurses coming to visit and without food service, just so I can be near the baby for a low price of $30 per day. So the amenities are great (shower, toilet, sink, bed, chairs what more could I need?), there is a cafeteria in the hospital I get to use lest you think I will go hungry, and the “commute” from here to “work” – AKA the special care nursery- is only about 100 ft. I have stayed one night and possibly I will stay tonight also. We are taking this one day at a time really. The more I nurse Davis, the faster he will likely get strong enough to come home, so I may hang out here for a while.

Davis is doing amazing and nursing really well. I am also pumping and he has taken what I have to offer via bottle rather than a tube feeding which is also fabulous. We have had low expectations for his feeding and have been really surprised by how well he is doing. It takes lots of energy to eat so we won’t expect him to be a fabulous nurser every time yet. He is a bit jaundiced so he has to go under the billi lights here in the nursery which is just fine because he is already here so he just will hang out under those while he sleeps between feedings. The nurses removed his IV this morning but have still left the “IV stuff” in so he can go back on it if he needs to. He has not started gaining weight back yet and he has to do that also to be able to go home. I am not sure what other milestones he needs to pass in order to be able to come home so I have no predictions yet on when he will be discharged.

As far as how I am doing, I am l fine. I slept really well last night and got a 5 hour stretch while the nurses bottle fed Davis at 3 am. I have been napping, pumping, watching infomercials on the tv because that is just about all that is on here, reading, resting, and exercising. In case you are wondering, walking to the nursery is my exercise. And going to the cafeteria is my vigorous exercise! And doing all that actually poops me out!

As far as the rest of the family goes, Bryan is really tired and I think the boys are too. The boys have gone to several different homes over the last few days and I think they are going to be glad to just stay home today and rest. Bryan seems pretty happy to not have to drive them to each new place and run home to feed them and put them to bed as well as take care of some of my needs. The man has been super busy!

So that is about all we have to report for today! Thank you again to all of you who have helped us out in these past few days! We have been super blessed at this crazy time.

Ily

Posted by Ily on June 27, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 3 comments

small joys

Little small things that have picked up my spirits:

The baby started nursing! One of the things he needs to do is eat on his own regularly so I am happy he is making progress. We are one step closer to bringing him home.

We picked a name. For whatever it is worth, he has a name we can call him.

I put on clothes today rather than just hung out in hospital gowns. Clothes are so nice.

The kids keep wanting to come see their cute baby brother and they are bragging about him to others. I find this super sweet.

I keep getting reports that my boys have been doing so well at the homes they have been visiting. They have been going all over the place… They really could be going crazy by now and grumpy to be anywhere but home but they have been doing good! What a miracle!

A sweet friend brought me cake. And it was delish!

There is a Cafe Rio right next to the hospital 8-D. Yum. Yum. Yum.

Posted by Ily on June 26, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 0 comments

He Has Been Named

Due to our extreme indecision in naming this kid, you get a long blog entry justifying it all to announce what we finally decided.

Ily likes names that aren’t popular. I like names that aren’t really odd sounding, and we both kind of want them to have some sort of nice meaning or significance. We both have associations with various names from people we knew growing up or in college that need to be avoided. We also want to avoid names of family and extended family. We also consider initials, potential nicknames, sound-alikes, famous people with the same name, etc.

With Isaac we bantered back and forth and by the time he was born we had a list of about 5 names that we liked. About three of those were just a little too unusual for me, but I figured I could get used to them if I had to. After Isaac was born we held him for a bit, looked at each other, and kind of both said, “Isaac,” which was one of those top-two for me from the list.

For Micah we batted around a lot of new ideas, but then after he was born we looked at that original list from Isaac’s name list and chose Micah, the other one that I liked originally.

Reece hadn’t actually made the cut on that first list, not for lack of Ily trying. I had serious qualms about Reese Witherspoon turning it into a female name, ie Stacey, Tracey, Shannon, or Kelly. I still worry about that when, say, a boy on Micah’s soccer team has a little sister named Reese, but it’s a family name on Ily’s side, and I do actually like it a lot, so hopefully it won’t become completely hijacked by females.

And then, we found out we were having a fourth boy. We looked back at the original list and the remaining names have grown pretty popular in the intervening 10 years, so they are out for Ily, and I still think one or two of them is weird (no offense to any of you that have used those). So we batted around a bunch of new ideas and came up with a list of roughly 25. Then we stopped talking about it for a while after that. Ily really liked one name that I just couldn’t handle, and we were having a hard time. Then, a couple nights before our 4th was born (not that we knew it at the time…) we weeded the list down to 6.

After he was born we agonized and couldn’t decide. I say we, but actually it was mostly me. The names were all on the odd side for me. A couple weren’t really that odd, but they had some other slight, nagging issues. Two days after he was born we still couldn’t agree. We had a tentative choice, but we just couldn’t commit to it for a few reasons. This afternoon I finally went back to the list of 25, wrote them all down on little slips of paper, put them in a little box, shook them up, and had Ily close her eyes and pick. She picked Davis. Since I couldn’t really get behind any of them before, I squirmed a bit with Davis, so she said she’d pick four more and then we pick amongst those 5. I agreed, not really sure if we’d carry this all the way through. She picked 4 more, put them in the box, shook it, and she picked Davis again. We laughed at the coincidence, considered that maybe it wasn’t just coincidence, and decided to go for it. Davis it is. One website says Davis is Hebrew for Beloved, others say it’s Scottish for Son of David. Whatever, it’s good enough.

Middle names are a whole 'nother story, and this is too long already. To honor Ily’s Estonian heritage this time, we picked Kalev, a mythical Estonian hero, and, as it turns out, a modern day Estonian candy company.

Welcome to the world, Davis Kalev Murdock.

Posted by Bryan on June 26, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 4 comments

4th Boy Pictures

From 4th Boy

From 4th Boy

From 4th Boy

From 4th Boy

From 4th Boy

From 4th Boy

Posted by Bryan on June 26, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 7 comments

Surprise!

We had a big surprise happen yesterday. After I got up in the morning I keep feeling like I was having small trickling “accidents.” Being 34 weeks pregnant, it was not entirely impossible that I could be having incontinence problems, but knowing that I kept going to the bathroom and barely anything would come out, I got a bit nervous that I might have a leak in my amniotic fluid. Bryan urged me to call the doctor. He was scheduled to leave town the next day for scout camp and he wanted to err on the safe side and make sure he was not leaving his wife with potential pregnancy problems while he was a few hours away. So I did call and they told me to go get checked out in the hospital. The word HOSPITAL sounded big and scary and like they were overreacting, but rather than ignore their suggestion, which I really felt like doing, I did go in. Ok and truth be told, my doctor’s office is on the third floor of the same building that the labor and delivery department of the hospital is in. So I was really just driving to the same place. But oh that second floor where labor and delivery is seems scary to girl a who still has 6 weeks until her due date.

Bryan worked from home that morning so he could stay with the boys while I drove myself to the hospital to make sure this was a false alarm. All the way over there I kept thinking this has to be a false alarm, I really can’t have a leak in my amniotic fluid. I had done nothing strenuous to cause such a leak. I mean getting out of bed while all huge and awkwardly pregnant 4 times a night to use the bathroom is hard, but not THAT hard. Besides, I have no plans in place for what to do with the kids if I really have to have this baby today. Where will we send them? This really can’t be real. This HAS to be a false alarm. I must have a leaky bladder, one more part of me must be falling apart…

After I got to the hospital they did these tests and did everything they could to prove it was not amniotic fluid, but alas it was. So I asked the nurse working me if I needed to go on bedrest and she said, no you are having a baby today. I teared up and poetically said “crap.” That was not in my plans. Once your water breaks, you have to have the baby within 24 hours. Being rather shocked, my brain turned to thoughts that somehow this will have to work out. I was so not ready for labor. They started my induction right as I called Bryan to say that we are having a baby today. Within a few minutes of my call to Bryan to tell him the news that a baby was in our immediate plans for the day, a sweet woman in our ward called to say she felt impressed to call and see if we needed anything today and ask if I was doing all right. Bryan told her that she must be very in tune with the spirit because my water had broken and that I was already at the hospital and we needed someone to help with our other children so he could go join me. Immediately plans were made for them to go spend the night at her house and other people were called to help take care of them during the times she was unavailable. We were taken care of right away. OK, so I have to say this is my favorite part of being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. When there is a need, it can really get taken care of quickly, and sometimes before you even know you have a need!

I was not excited to have to go through labor so soon. I was thrilled to not have to spend my whole hot summer pregnant, but I knew I did not want the risks that come with having a premature baby. Honestly, I was rather ticked about the whole thing! I did not want to be induced because I know from experience it feels much worse than going into labor naturally. I was also mad because we did not have a name picked out yet. And I was mad because the little contractions hurt a ton thanks to the induction drugs and my epidural did not work very well just like the last time I was induced so I was actually not pleasant to be around due to my pain level and the grumpiness that resulted from it. And add to it that my doctor came in at 10 am after they started me on pitocin to say hi and that she was leaving town for vacation at 1pm so someone else was going to deliver the baby if I did not have the baby by then. And this someone was not at the hospital just hanging around waiting for my baby to be born but was around town and on call and that I would like him… knowing that my previous births went really quick once I reached a 6, I was kinda mad that this guy wasn’t hanging around the hospital. The last two births the doctor barely made it… Let’s just say it was not my lucky day.

So once I reached a 6 around 7:00 pm I told the nurse that the doctor better get here fast. She said she would call him, and she wandered off… It was shift change time darn it. She had other things to take care of right then. So as the pain level increased and I progressed really fast, and I started being a bit too mean while telling them to get the doctor there, they actually started getting everyone together… Did I say that labor hurts? Because it really does… A lot…. Anyhow, the doctor finally got there at 7: 38 in shorts, a t-shirt, flip flops, and a baseball cap and the baby was delivered 3 minutes later at 7:41. Let me just tell you it is hard NOT TO PUSH when your epidural is not working. The doctor barely had time to wash his hands and throw on a gown over his clothes before catching little boy blue.

We were expecting a little pip squeak of a baby since he was 34 weeks along. We expected at most 4.5 pounds and when I got him out after three quick pushes the first words out of my mouth were “He’s huge!” Very poetic I know. But he was. He weighed in at 6 lbs 10 oz and was 18 in long. That is huge for a boy who is 5.5 weeks early!

He was having some breathing troubles right off so they took him off to the nursery right away to work their magic and he seems to be doing great. He has not needed oxygen and he is on an IV in an incubator and reports are that he acts more like a 36 week baby than a 34 week baby. He needs to be able to eat and maintain his body temperature before we can take him home. We are so pleased that he is doing well.

Now that all the initial excitement is over, I can honestly say that I am so glad to not be pregnant anymore and having a preemie is so easy because the nursery staff takes care of him in every way while I rest and pump and recover. And I don’t have to be pregnant all the hot summer long! So as unexpected as this was, I am glad it is over! And knowing that we are all healthy makes me not feel guilty at all for being so thrilled that little boy blue is here, and early to boot.

Just for the record, we have not decided on a name yet. We are in negotiations as I write this. Just remember, I was supposed to have a few more weeks before D-Day to narrow the pickings down to a name that is right for this boy.

With the first three boys, I knew exactly what day they would be born on before hand and they were each about 2 weeks early. It was basically mother’s intuition that told me the day. With this boy, I just did not know the day. I kept trying to figure it out, but alas I could not this time. If I had known the day before hand I may have died of anxiety. So thank heavens it is over and that I did not know the day this time around!

Posted by Ily on June 25, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 5 comments

The cutting of the hair

Last night I decided to give my scruffy boys haircuts rather than take them out to the pros. Whenever I think about taking them out to get haircuts, I then think “This costs as much as a babysitter for when we go on a date….let’s go on a date instead…” And then I am convinced I will just do one more haircut for each boy and THEN next time I will for sure take them for pro hair cuts.

Last night seemed tougher than other nights to do haircuts. I chose to go out in the garage to do them because the clean-up would be easier and then there won’t be as much hair all over the house, it will mainly be outside. The downside of this plan is that since I had the garage door open for more light, the boys could see the neighbor kids playing. The older boys were pretty good and mostly stayed still, but Reece was like that dog in the movie UP who got totally distracted by a squirrel. His hair is too fine to work well with clippers so I have to use scissors on him. Any movement in the yard or street made him turn. I kept telling him to hold still or he would end up with a really bad haircut. Thus begin the questions: “Is my haircut Horrrreeble Mom?” (said as he jerks his head around to look at me); “Did you mess up mom?” (more turning around); “Why are you holding my head so I can’t move?” (Can you guess why?). He was very talkative the whole time and I was very exasperated because each statement involved him turning to look at me. Moral of the story… Reece gets to go to the pros next time no matter what.

His hair turned out ok, but he took at least 3 or 4 times longer than the other boys and he may have some uneven spots, but we will not worry about those this time.

During one of the haircuts, the neighbors girls came in to see what exciting thing we were doing in the garage. One of them was so amazed that I could do a haircut that she asked me “What do you do?” As in, what is your job? My response was “I am a mom.” They looked at me with perplexed expressions. Then they asked how I give haircuts with which I responded with haircutting tools… I guess they tried to reconcile why I could give a haircut when their own moms, who both work during the day don’t do such things.

Is it that abnormal for a mom to give simple haircuts? I don’t think so. Oh well, I thought it was so funny that those girls were so confused by my ability to use clippers and scissors on someone’s head to make their hair look a little better. As long as you don’t look too close, their hair looks OK so we will keep doing it at home occasionally.

Overall, it just seems weird to me that I am an anomaly here in Utah as a stay at home mom who cuts her kids hair on occasion. I have realized I am the only mom on our street who stays home. The others work or are too old to have kids at home anymore. There are some moms who stay home elsewhere in the neighborhood, but they are few and far between. I think I can count them on one hand even. Mainly because most everyone in our neighborhood is in their 80’s rather than in family rearing age. Well, I guess we moved in to spice things up or something.

Posted by Ily on June 2, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 1 comment