Surgery

Kaden had a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy on Monday, August 23rd. The poor kid inherited my golf-ball sized tonsils (literally) and was having issues breathing at night. I was 15 years old before my parents FINALLY had mine taken out (even though I was getting strep twice a month since I was 7), so I understood the whole surgery thing (plus I'd had two previous surgeries anyway). I was more than a little worried about how Kaden, my almost-3-year-old, would handle it. We tried explaining it to him, but how do you explain "surgery" to a toddler? He got a blessing and I wasn't worried about the actual surgery (am I a bad mom for that?)-I've had way too many myself to worry about that, but I was REALLY worried about the recovery part. So, here we go....

We got Kaden up at 6:30 AM and gave him Pedialyte (he could drink either that, water, or Sprite until 7:00). We left at 7:00 and headed to Salt Lake for Primary Children's hospital.

Kaden got a new toy to distract him from wanting cereal, but he was too tired to care.

We got checked in and Kaden got to play in the play area while we waited for his vitals to get taken.

After they took his vitals (he's 32 1/2 lbs, by the way!! Well, at least he was. I'm sure he's lost weight since then) we had to dress him in little hospital jammies. He was VERY upset about that, but only because he had to take his soccer ball shirt off. :) Kaden has been obsessed with clocks lately (I have no idea why) so I got him a new puzzle-clock and it was worth every penny.

After he was dressed, we moved to another waiting area where Kaden got to play with even more toys. This kid was in heaven.

He fought against those socks so hard, then he was so protective of them when they started slipping off. "MY SOCKS! MY SOCKS!!" haha

The anesthesiologist came out and talked to us and asked if we would prefer that he gave Kaden a mild sedative before they took him back. He said that it wouldn't knock Kaden out, but it would relax him so much that he wouldn't care at all that we didn't go in the OR with him. I was all over that. I had been picturing Kaden screaming and crying for me as they wheeled him off in the fun wagon. They gave him the drugs (they said it's comparative to giving an adult Valium) and 10 minutes later he was SOOOO relaxed in the wagon. It was HILARIOUS! And Kaden couldn't have cared less that we didn't go into surgery with him. Awesome!

We were directed to the family waiting room and told the doctor would meet with us there after the surgery was done in 30-45 minutes. While waiting, I saw this and thought it was ironic/funny:

Can you read it?
Michael Jackson is working at Primary CHILDREN'S hospital. Oh well, at least I was amused. ;)

About 20 minutes later, the doctor came in and said that everything went fantastic and Kaden was still coming out of the anesthesia. He said that they would let us know when one of us could go back to him, then the other one of us could join sometime after that. The LONGEST 15 minutes later (remember this was the part I was worried about...), we were told that one of us could go see him. Shane did his best to keep a straight face when he looked at me and said, "So, you want me to go back first?"

LET ME SEE MY BABY!!

I went back and it was the most sad sight a mother could ever see. Kaden was still SOOO drugged and the nurse said that he would gain consciousness for a second, then stop breathing and go back to sleep while they put an oxygen mask on him. They had taken off the shirt part of his hospital jammies so that they could monitor him better with his low oxygen. As soon as he heard my voice, he tried SO hard to open his eyes and just starting BAWLING. It was such a sad little cry since his throat was raw. I was with him there for a few minutes, then they decided he was fine to move to a different recovery room. After we were there, they called Shane back.

The new nurse in the new recovery room observed Kaden and said that he was most likely in a lot of pain and that is why he was passing out after gaining consciousness. The angel brought us Lortab (why didn't the other nurse do that?!) and it helped SO much!!

Kaden had a TV above his bed and between that and the Sprite (and the Lortab), he was content after not too long. We were there for about an hour before they decided Kaden was okay to go home. The nurse came by to give us the discharge papers/instructions and I was sitting in a rocking chair listening to her when all of a sudden I passed out.

I have NO idea why. Shane was convinced it was my blood sugar, but I don't think so. I thought it was funny (later) because Shane said that right when I passed out, Kaden starting crying again and needed the oxygen mask. So Shane was freaking out trying to help us both. haha Anyway, the nurse brought me Sprite and cheese and crackers and I am alive. :)

Shane drove home (he didn't trust me not to pass out) while I sat in the back with Kaden and a puke bucket (for both of us, although neither of us needed it). :)

We got home and Kaden took a nap. He got more Lortab when he woke up and, while he wasn't happy, he was better than at the hospital.

That first day wasn't too bad since he still had the anesthesia in his system, but Days 2 and 3 I would rather forget. Kaden HATED taking medicine (he was on both Lortab and Ammoxicillian) and would pass out when he saw me coming with the syringes (he held his breath). Shane had to come home from work on those days to help give Kaden drugs (we had to time it just right with his breaks). Lots of fun.

Day 4 was 100 times better than Day 3. Kaden would still whine about taking medicine, but not pass out. After a few days, he started asking if Lexi could take his medicine. haha Today is actually the first day in over a week where Kaden hasn't had ANY medicine!! Every now and then he will say, "My hurt" and point to his neck, but if he keeps talking and eating after saying that, we just ignore it. It's hard since we can't figure out exactly how much pain he is in. Everything just "hurts."

All in all, though, it really hasn't been anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. I thought it would be DAYS before he could talk (he knows more than enough sign language to get by, but I was still worried) and instead he was talking immediately out of surgery. I thought he would STARVE for at least a week since all he eats is cereal and crackers, but he was back to cereal on day 3 and is completely back to his normal diet already. I do know that he lost weight since his pants are falling off and they fit perfectly before, but hopefully he will gain it back quickly.

Lexi has had to suffer through and eat all the pudding, Go-Gurts, and Otter Pops we bought for Kaden since he wouldn't touch them.

Sometimes ya just gotta take one for the team, y'know? ;)

Kaden is feeling MUCH better and is back to his normal self....running around and playing with Lexi. His voice did change (which they said would happen and will last 3-4 months). It is higher now and some of what he says sounds really funny. But we are happy to have gotten this taken care of now (and BEFORE Ari comes) and happy that our little man is doing so well.

P.S. There was a little boy Kaden played with in one of the waiting rooms who is turning 4 in December. Kaden was at least 2 inches taller than him and the kids' mom was super shocked that Kaden isn't even 3 yet. :)

Picky, picky...

Kaden's surgery was a week ago and I haven't blogged about it yet because I am patiently waiting for Shane to hook the printer/scanner thingy up (he moved it) so that I can get the pictures off of our friend's camera that we borrowed. Since I know absolutely nothing about techy stuff, I am at the mercy of waiting for it to be high on Shane's priority list. After a week of waiting, though, TRUST ME, it is getting higher up on his list due to my endless nagging, pleading, seducing, asking nicely to just PLEASE hook the dang thing up. I will make SURE he does it tonight, though, so that I can blog about the surgery tomorrow, um-kay? :)

Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know that Shane OFFICIALLY agreed on a middle name for Ariana!!! He actually announced it to my family during my birthday party a couple of weeks ago. He hadn't even told me he had been thinking about it, so it was a fun surprise. :D

It was between Ariana Nicole and Ariana Yvette.

There were 13 awesome people who voted on here. 7 for Yvette and 6 for Nicole. So, about half of you will be disappointed. :) (Thanks for voting!)

Our daughter's name will be.....

Drum roll please.....


Ariana Yvette Porter!!


I gotta say, I never imagined passing along one of my names to my daughter(s), but I really like it with Ariana. :) Good thing God gave us a second chance to pass on the name, right? haha For those of you still lost on how to pronounce it, I'll try again:

Ariana= R-E-ON-AH
Yvette= E-VETT

Make sense yet? It's okay if not. They aren't common names. (Shane's grandma even said to me, "Alexandria....Ariana...where on EARTH do you come up with these names?!" hahaha

P.S. I go in to the doctor every week now! WOO! Ari is looking perfectly healthy and strong, which is all I ask for (well, that and her getting Shane's lips....*sigh*).

Stay tuned for the surgery post tomorrow! :D

My turn

My youngest sister, Natalie, was born with dirty blond hair and really fair skin (so, yes, she's pasty like me). Over the last few years, I have been silently standing by, watching her dye her hair darker and darker and darker. Then, she tried doing her own highlights and they turned out orange. I couldn't take it anymore and intervened. I set a date with her and told her to come to my house and just trust me. My amazing friend, Ashley, came over and worked her magic.

I let Natalie know as soon as she got to my house that she gets NO say in what we were doing to her hair. She had had her chance with her hair and now it was MY turn.

Enjoy some crappy quality before and afters:


I showed her she can do it straight...

...or curly!

AHH!! LURVE!!!

You cannot seriously tell me her "after" look is not a million times better! I am IN. LOVE. with the color (and so is she). The length will take some getting used to for her, but I think it's a much better look for her.

Ok, now leave me tons of comments telling me how brilliant I am and how FAB she looks so that I can show her and prove that I am always right. Mwahahahahaha

Cutie patootie!

Remember last month when Shane's sister, Val, got married? Well, I got promised more pictures of Lexi being the adorable flower girl, so here ya go! :D (Some of these are from the photographer, some are from random people at the wedding who thought Lexi was freaking adorable and sent me the pictures they took of her....)

This was when Shane's mom threw the flower petals on the ground (we were thinking that it would help Lexi understand to throw them). Can you see the look of concern on Lexi's face? :)

Lexi cleaning up the flower petals. hahaha

Trying to get a good (smiley) shot with the bride and groom. I was standing behind the photographer doing everything I could to get a smile out of her. :) (So, that's me on the right hand side of the picture...)

The most current family shot we have with Shane's side of the family. At least until Ariana comes. ;) Please note that I look amazingly huge (from the pregnancy, of course...*coughcough*) as well as being freakishly tall (the heels don't help). Plus, I am the only girl wearing sleeves. Can we say "misfit"?

Then it was time for pictures with the ring bearer (pretty sure his name was Cameron):

(P.S. Cameron had, of course, fallen and scraped up his nose REALLY well a couple days before the wedding. Awesome. I know his mom was thrilled.)

Lexi was blowing kisses. Cameron was......not.

She didn't want to let go of his hand. hahahaha

Leaning in for a kiss. Giving him the eyes, too. She never got a kiss from him (apparently he didn't want to catch her cooties), but I'm still gonna need to teach this girl about being the "chasee" rather than the "chaser." :D

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!!

Traci, over at Beneath My Heart, had a FAB giveaway this past weekend and I totally WON!! WOO! I never win anything! The giveaway was with the site My Design Guide and I won a $50 gift certificate to use on their site. :D You really should check it out, it's a pretty cool site. They do room makeovers and you can take a (FREE!) test telling you what your "style" is. I was pretty surprised with mine. :) Anyway, I am SUPER excited and I think I will choose my living room for them to makeover since I've been itching to do something with it and make it pretty.

Shane, of course, doesn't see the point to any of this and wishes I had won something "useful." Probably meaning a computer or something boring like that. ;)
But I LOVE IT!

YAY! What a great way to start my birthday week!!

New 'do

Remember I told you how awesome my mom is? Well, I was complaining, venting, talking to her about how horribly hot our house is (no A/C, plus pregnancy, PLUS long, thick hair). She surprised me a few days later with a letter in the mail that just so happened to have some cash with it for a haircut. :) She said that all women, but especially pregnant women, should feel good about themselves and not die of heat stroke in their own homes. (I'm paraphrasing...)

I LOVE HER!

I got a haircut tonight!!

So, here ya go:
(Just so you know, no matter what type of camera Shane has, his pictures will always be blurry...sorry for the blur!)

Before...

And after!
I ended up taking over the camera phone when Shane couldn't get a shot that wasn't blurry. Sorry it's dark, too. It was really late when I took it so there was no light coming in from outside to help. Anyway, the stylist did it beach-wavy and I love it, but it looks good straightened, too. Not the best pic, but I love my new haircut!! Shane loves it, too. :) AND the stylist thinned my super thick hair out a TON and it's SO much nicer now!!! Cooler......lighter....ahhh.

Thanks again mom!! MWAH!

P.S. I WILL post a better pic.....sometime. :)

P.P.P.S.S.S.S. No comments about pregnancy weight! I swear it's coming off just as soon as I can start exercising again!

Edited to add:
Ok, here is a pic from this morning. Ignore the "I'm-still-waking-up" face. This is after I straightened it.....in LESS THAN 10 MINUTES!! Probably closer to 5!! AHH!! I LOVE IT!

So this lets you see the cut a little better. With how thin my hair is now, it won't be a big deal at all to do it the beach-wavy way that I love, too. :D Before, that would take a minimum of 30 minutes to do. I bet I could do it in 10 or less now. :D

I'll be missin' you

I feel like all I've blogged about lately are doctor's office visits. *Yawn*

I thought long and hard about what else I could post (since my life is hecka boring right now) and came up with this cute story for you:

I taught the CTR 4 class (the kids who are 4 turning 5 this year) for almost a year. They recently released me because of Ariana. A couple of weeks before that happened, though, a family in our ward moved out. Their adorable little boy, Ben, was in my class and during his last Sunday in class, everyone was coloring and he was telling me about his grandparent's house that they were moving closer to. Suddenly, he got really quiet, turned to me and with a completely straight face said,
"You are soooooooo gonna miss me."


I cannot even tell you how hard I was laughing (and the other teacher in there was, too). It was absolutely the best comment I have ever heard and I will never forget that kid.

I let him know he was right. I knew I would sooooooo miss him. ;)
I told his dad about his comment after class that day and he was just like, "Oh, geez. That kid." But he was totally laughing, too. I miss all my kiddos in that class. They were so stinkin' adorable. If you ever want to hear the cutest prayer ever, ask a 4 year old to pray for you.

My mom knows everything

Lexi woke up this morning with a little bit of a rash. As the morning went on, however, it turned into red bumps all over her body. I immediately thought of chicken pox, but she wasn't itching and didn't have a fever. She has had one of the two part vaccine for chicken pox, so I thought maybe the part she got took care of itching and fevers. :) I called Shane and let him know we would need to take Lexi in to the doctor's office....AGAIN. He said, "Do you realize how many times we've had to take her in in the last month?" Um, yes! Because I have been the one doing it EVERY time. I am just as sick of doctor's offices as he is (although I still LOVE seeing my midwife). :)

My mom has had five kids go through chicken pox (some of us even got it more than once...and my little sis got shingles). So, I called her for her advice. She immediately asked if Lexi had a fever or itching.

Nope.

Ok, well, it's probably an allergic reaction.

Ummmm....to what??

How long has she been taking amoxicillian for her double ear infection?

Well, as of today, she's been on it a week. There's no way she would have an allergic reaction after a WEEK on a medicine!

Actually, when it's your first time taking a medicine, allergic reactions take a week to show up. It's kind of like your body takes a while to realize, "Hey! I don't like this!" Given the fact that today is the 7th day she's been on it, my bet is on an allergy.

I took Lexi in to the doctor and, sure enough, my mom was right. The doctor told me the exact same thing my mom had. I'm pretty sure my mom hides her PhD degree.

Anyway, Lexi's ears look fantastic and the infections are totally gone (YAY!). We are taking her off of the amoxicillian and are not going to put her on anything else (even though it's only been 7 of the 10 days on the medicine) since the cold that caused the infections is all but gone. Doc said that the bumps will take 5-7 days to go away since it was in her system for so long and to not worry about giving her Benedryl unless she starts itching. I'm thinking about giving her Benedryl anyway-just to make the bumps go away faster.

Maybe I'll ask my mom what she thinks....

Ultrasound pics

We have been rearranging our house lately and moved the computer and printer to a new area. During that process (which Shane did by himself since I shouldn't be helping), Shane lost the cord that connects our printer/scanner/copier to the computer. Nice. I have no idea where it is, and it's so frustrating when I need to print/scan things. ANYWAY....

I had a second 4-D ultrasound on July 20th (they wanted to check on my amniotic fluid level again...and it went up! WOO!) and that time we actually got some decent shots of Ariana! :) Since I can't scan them, I took a picture with my phone. Good luck trying to make sense of them. :)

On the left is the uterus (sorry-gross), and you can see some of her face on the right. Her left eye, half of her nose, and her big, full lips! (THANK YOU SHANE!)

Her eye looks totally creepy in this pic, but she was puckering up those beautiful lips of hers. Seriously-I married Shane so that he could give me kids with full lips and/or curly hair. (Plus he doesn't like tomatoes, either. Man of my dreams!)

Ok, this one is a bit harder. She is showing off her guns here. Towards the right is her shoulder/bicep and then her arm is coming up (her hands are curled until her chin). See what I am talking about?

This one isn't 4-D, but it's a really cute shot of her foot. Can you see it? Towards the top right side....

I had another appointment yesterday (every two weeks now-YAY!) and Ariana looks healthy and is around 3 1/2 lbs. Kathy (my midwife) came in and told me that during the last 4-D ultrasound, they found out that the umbilical cord only has one artery instead of the normal two. I was completely confused so Kathy explained that cords normally have two arteries and one vein. Sometimes, though, they will only have the one vein and one artery-like mine. She said that normally this means that the baby has some sort of defect.

And she DOESN'T want me to stress out during this pregnancy?!?!

Kathy said that they have run all the tests, though, and everything has come back completely normal and hasn't detected anything wrong with Ari. Ari is still gaining weight like she should be, which is a great sign. So, Kathy isn't worried about Ariana having health issues.

That makes one of us.

BUT, this also means that the chance for preterm labor just went up............a lot. Especially where you combine that and my low fluid level. So, we are keeping a close watch for any warning signs of preterm labor. And by "we" I mean Kathy. All I can do is sit at home and take it easy (and worry-even though that doesn't help anything). A big problem would be if Ari stops gaining weight. That would mean that my placenta has matured past the point of being able to support her, and they would need to get her out immediately.
Kathy said a lot of the time when women have SUA (single umbilical artery), the babies are born about a month early (at 36 weeks). I told her that is the weekend of Kaden's birthday and birthday party, so that won't work for me. I'm pretty sure she thinks I should have learned back in February (when I found out I was preggo) that I am not always in control of everything like I would like to think. :)

P.S. I told Shane that we need to make sure that Ari is gaining weight, but don't tell him that Oreo's don't necessarily help....um-kay? :D

Sunday Story Time

We have been having a relaxing Sunday-which is really nice. :) I got to take a nap this morning. I slept for a couple of hours (well, "slept" as well as a 7 month preggo woman can...). When I got up, I came in the front room and Shane was on the computer while Kaden watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I looked around and saw that Lexi's bedroom door was closed. I was impressed that Shane knew what time to put her down for a nap and told him thanks for putting Lexi down. He looked up at me and said, "Seriously? I didn't put her down for a nap. I thought YOU did!" We both raced to her room and I gently/quietly opened her door. Good thing I did, because she was sitting right next to the door. She immediately jumped up when she saw me and started crying. She clung to me for a good half an hour after wards and just sniffled. I felt so bad, but I'm pretty sure Shane felt worse (at least he should have). Apparently, about an hour after I went in to sleep, Lexi disappeared. Shane went looking for her and saw her door was closed. He assumed that I had gotten up and put her down for a nap. WHAT THE?!?! Seriously?! I told him that I would have let him know if I had done that, but he told me he didn't think I would. Anyway, we figure the poor little thing was in there for at least an hour. We aren't sure if she slept at all or just sat by the door, wondering why no one was rescuing her. I don't know if she was crying or not. Usually, even when I'm asleep, I hear her crying/whining, but I didn't hear anything. We have a lot of fans going in our house (no A/C), so I doubt if she was crying that Shane would have heard her. Yeah. Crappy parents of the week award goes right here.

For those of you angels who are on my side and think the above story was all Shane's fault, this next story will make it up to you. :) Later today (after that last story), Shane went to get Kaden up from his nap. Kaden will just lie in bed until someone tells him it is okay to get up. Even when his door is wide open. So, Kaden told Shane that he needed to go potty. Shane took Kaden to the bathroom and while Shane was helping Kaden with his "underwears," Kaden looked at Shane and said, "Here. Hold this." while holding out a fist to Shane. Shane didn't see him holding anything and thought maybe it was some imaginary game Kaden and I play together. Shane said, "Thank you Kaden!" as Kaden was handing over his treasure. Shane looked down at his palm and saw a big 'ole BOOGER! HAHAHA Both Shane and I were laughing SO HARD. It was completely awesome. Shane says he doesn't trust Kaden anymore when he says, "Hold this." HAHAHA