Lainey

Its been one month since our sweet Lainey returned to her Heavenly Father. Last night we recounted some of the sweetest moments, and the hardest moments we had with her. While tears streamed down my face, I told Spencer that I was honored to be her Mom. And he agreed. We feel so blessed to have her part of our Eternal family, to have had her here on this earth for 20 days, and to know that we will see her again.
I read a scripture last night that described our situation perfectly. In Alma 36:3 it says: "...for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day." We didn't verbally say "ok, Heavenly Father, we are turning this situation over to you", we just seemed to do it, together. Meanwhile, Family, friends and our ward family, were all praying for us, for me, and for our baby Lainey. You all will never know how much your prayers and even thoughts helped us. I could not imagine going through this and not having all you and your support and especially the knowledge of our Eternal Family.
And now, the golden question, How are we really doing. We have our moments when the tears seem will never stop, and there are days that Sadie just doesn't get it, "when is Baby Lainey coming home?". But we are comforted in remembering the Plan, the many times that the Spirit comforted us knowing that this was her mission, and many other things that are so sacred to us we just cant put words to them.
When a baby is too little to really smile, but they do, people say its just gas. but us Mothers sometimes know better! Sometimes its not gas at all. Lainey was definitely too small to smile, but she gave us 'moments' when she let us know she knew we were there. And in her own little way, she communicated with us. We will never forget those moments and the moments that the Spirit was there.
A mission is a spiritual high so to speak, that's easy to explain why. But this experience, from the beginning to the end, was a spiritual high as well. During the pregnancy, while explaining the complications to a few friends, I didn't realize at the time, but afterwards learned they could see the severity of the situation and could not believe I was not freaking out.. well, go back to that scripture, we were truly lifted up and supported during this. He really helped us, and that is helping us now as we mourn for our sweet baby.
I know many dont know what to say or what to do. Some of you have been truly inspired and have called, stopped by and even brought me things to help in what has been truly the right moment. And I am TRULY grateful to you. I appreciate the hugs and even the 'I've been thinking about you' comments. Please, dont be afraid to talk to me or call me and please dont be worried about saying the wrong thing. Just being normal helps too!
We are ok, sad, grateful, happy, it all just depends on the day! But we are not bitter, depressed, or angry. We were truly blessed in this experience and we are not going to choose not to recognize that.
We love you all. Thank you.

Atrial Septal Defect AKA Hole in the heart

I've decided that everyone in my little family (except for me!) has wanted to "Stand Out" in one way or another. First was Sadie and her head, then Spencer and his neck, and now Hope and her heart! (Makes me wonder what Baby #3 will bring (and NO this is NOT an announcement, just wondering!)). Hope has had a heart murmur since her 2 week check up. Unfortunately, it has gradually gotten louder. And last week at her 6 month appointment her Dr said it was time to go see a Cardiologist.
So on Monday we went to the new Riverton Hospital, Primary Children's Out Patient clinic (YEAH we didn't have to drive clear downtown!). There after an EKG and an extensive Ultra Sound, she was diagnosed with Atrial Septal Defect... or Hole in the Heart. Long story short, all babies in womb have this hole, but upon being born or shortly before or after, it closes. Well Hope's didn't, not even a little bit! As the Dr put it, its a "Generous" hole!!! Good news is, it is NOT causing her problems now. Her heart is working harder than it should, but because she isn't super active, she isn't having any problems.
We will go back in 6 months and they will do an XRay, and unless she starts having problems, they wont do anything until she is 4 years old. At that time, depending on the status of the hole, they will do one of two procedures. One simple one, and one that involves stopping the heart, putting her on Bypass and building a wall.. We pray for the simple one, or none at all!!

Now with that said! Hope is STINKING cute!! She loves her big sister and does her big sister loves her. They sit across from each other smiling and talking to each other. Wish I could understand them! She is sitting up (of course with a pillow behind her, but she's getting it)!

Sadie is such a great big sister, she is always willing to help out and play with her sister. I thinks she likes her more that she is a little more interactive!

Spencer and I are doing well. We cant believe it has been almost 5 years since we were married. We are hoping that come our 5Th anniversary we will be able to afford a much needed weekend getaway! We also cant believe we have lived in this house for almost 4 years. Sadly, but gladly we are growing out of this house much quicker than we anticipated! Oh well. The more the merrier right!

Love to all!!

Raccoons and FireFighting

My dear sister Kristin asked me to re invite her to my blog. As I was about to do that, I realized my last post was September 16th... so i thought I should update before so that she has something to read! So Kristin this is for you!! (And any others who are interested)!

Since Sadie's surgery she has been awesome. No problems with the shunt and we are nearing the one year mark and are hoping to stay in the 40% group that has NO shunt failures the first year. She has a follow up appointment with the Plastic Surgeon to discuss her head shape. Until Hope was born i didn't really realize how different her head is. But we will see what the Dr says. If he leaves it up to us it might be a hard decision. I don't want her to go through another surgery but I also don't want her to ask me when she is 16 why we didn't do another one. Really we are just praying she will grow into it or it will even itself out. Either way, she is still Sadie and still stinking cute!
On December 6th, Hope Marie was born. She is now 5 1/2 months old and is fun to have around. Sadie adores her and vise versa. Hope can laugh at Sadie all day even when Sadie is doing nothing but eating or sitting there.
Spencer recently took an EMT class in preparation for taking the Firefighter test, with hopes of getting hired as a firefighter. He passed the EMT certification. He got an 88% on the fire test, but the cutoff was 91%. So he wont be moving on to the next series of tests. We are a little bummed but there is always next time...2012!

I recently started babysitting two little boys two days a week. A 9 month old and a 3 month old. On the day I have them both, it makes life interesting!! But I feel good being able to make a little mula that covers my food budget.

Spencer's business is still getting good jobs. Unfortunately they are still paying off the material bills from unpaid jobs from 2008. But they are close to being done. Its been a struggle and something I wish upon no one. but many lessons have been learned and we will emerge from this 'chapter' of our lives a little stronger in just about ever aspect of our life.

and for two short days, Spencer considered raising a baby raccoon that he removed from Dan's rental house chimney. Unfortunately the thing was WAY too high maintenance for me to even consider keeping. Luckily for the 3 raccoons, the neighbor called and rescued them from an early death. They currently reside with our neighbor, Pinky and Sue, who have in the past raised raccoons!

Sadie's Surgery

After another 4 hours at Primary Children's Hospital and another CT scan, Sadie's Dr confirmed she has Hydrocephalus and will need to have a shunt put in her head to drain the extra fluid.
They had us tentativly on their schedule tomorrow. We could have rescheduled but this has drawn on long enough and since her 1st birthday is on Tuesday we decided to get it over with so she could start her 2nd year of life off much better!
The surgery is only and hour so she should be done about 9am. But they will keep her overnight.
The Dr explained recovery as an exagerated bump on the head. In a few days she should be great.
We are glad they "unkown" period is over and are excited to have the next two days over with as well.
Other than that, Spencer's neck surgery went well. His three week check up was on Monday and the Dr said he is the fastest healing person he knows and gave him the go ahead to go hunting next week!
The other little person we are awaiting is doing great. Im roughly 6 months pregnant. Its been breeze so far! Which has been a blessing since Spencer and Sadie are keeping things exciting around here, we forget sometimes that I am even pregant...other than the fact that my stomach is getting big!
Thanks for all the love and support!
More to come from the exciting lives of the Stevens fam!

Update

Time is flying by. It seems like just yesterday Sadie got fitted for her helmet. And I would like to say she is done but unfortunatly we might not be quite done, though Im slacking drastically in making her wear it. Call me a bad mom, but sheesh you would too if you saw her sweating! Next week we have a follow up appointment with a different plastic surgeon (since hers moved to Arizona) per her pediatrician's request. He is concerned that her head is so big... well sorry but her Mom has a big one too! She is still ranging in the over 100 percential for her head size. If there is a problem he thinks it just fluid which is easily drained and not a serious problem. So promptly I scheduled the appt with the Dr.

Adding to my Dr appointments, Spencer thought he would join the fun but getting bucked off a mustang 3 times. The third time was the charm! He has always had a small problem with his neck if he twisted it just right but the third buck landed him some more problems. Just a torn disc and a herniated disc! So after meeting with nuerosurgeon last week who says surgery to fix the torn disc is the only was to go. And sooner the better since the two discs are smashing a nerve that runs down his left arm causing it to loose strength. No good since he is left handed. So next week I will be scheduling a few more Dr appts for him to get some second opinions!

Oh and I cant leave myself out of the fun! For those who dont know, Im PREGNANT! This no joke! Im currently 18 weeks along and expecting a girl! Yahoo! She is due December 10th making her and Sadie 14 short months apart! We are excited. But I am not longer teasing Spencer about being cursed with all girls since 2 out of 2 are now girls!! But he is excited and even came home one day with a name for this one and a girl name for our 3rd girl! But I can definetly say the 3rd one wont come as quickly as far as I have anything to do with it.

pictures include Sadie's first swim in her little pool, clapping hands, our first family picture since Sadie was born, the March of Dimes walk and Sadie's first chocolate chip cookie.

Sadies New Head Gear

On Friday, Sadie received her helmet! Once its on, she hardly notices it. Now, getting it on is another story! So just be lucky you aren't the bad guy!!! But I have hope we will get it down to an art before the few months is up. We will see the plastic surgeon in 6 weeks and in only 2 weeks we will go back to the helmet place so they can make any changes to the helmet that may be needed. So I guess they are expecting quick results. Sadie also had her first trip out to meet Dutch... and also had a friend over, Aslyn (Christa & Trevor Jensen's little girl)

Sadie's first Trip Outside!

Spring is Coming!!! Or atleast Mother Nature is tricking us with a few Spring days! Oh well, I'll take 'em! Yesterday Sadie and I ventured outside for a few minutes. Of course the only hat that fit her is one a bought in preparation for when she is 12-18 months!!! She also has moved up in the world to a high chair for eating her delious rice cereal! YUM!

She is doing great! She had a follow up with the Plastic Surgeon last week and he said she will need to wear a helmet for about 2 months. We went in for her first measurements. They just measured her head, took a few pics and now we wait for insurance approval. Then we will go back for them to make a cast mold of her head (that should be interesting!). Then it will be a week until its made. So some more fun pics to follow!!!

Operation Day...Came and Went

Well, we have made it! We cant believe this week has come and gone so quickly. The operation was on Tuesday, we got to Primary's about 6am. After meeting all the doctors and nurses they took her back just before 8am. The actually proceedure didn't begin until about 9am and finished just before 1pm. It was a long 5 hours! We saw her after they got her settled in the PICU. She was still waking up and incredibly drugged up! So needless to say, she was out of it! After getting some dinner we went back and she was awake enough to feed her. We werent able to stay that night with her because of being in the PICU so we stayed at Nate and Nicole's house which was much closer than ours, (THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!). On Wednesday morning when we got there Sadie was awake and literally kicking! She was happy. Her face was still a bit swollen so her smiles werent huge but we knew she was happy. She slept most they day Wednesday once they got her settled in her own regular room where I could stay with her. Thursday was even better! She was awake more, sitting up and smiling. You would have never guessed she had just had surgery! We even got a few laughs! Friday afternoon they released us with a clean bill of health. She will have follow ups with the plastic surgeon and if it does't shape how it should they she may have to wear a helmet for a few weeks. The change wasn't as drastic as we thought but thats ok. After talking to the surgeon and even seeing a few grafic pictures, we were informed that there was more pressure on her head then we realized. So much that her brain started to make holes in her skull.

We are truly grateful to the doctors and nurses who assisted her and us while we were there. We are so grateful to our Heavenly Father for blessing us with such a great daughter. She brings such a sweet spirit to our home and we are truly grateful for her. Thank you for all the love, support and prayers, we truly felt the power of those things this past week.

Since at home, Sadie is doing great. Its alittle scary to pick her up or lay her down but she is a good sport, and incredibly tough!

(Pictures: Top to bottom: Night before surgery, Tuesday after surgery (the tube was draining fluid from between the skull and skin) and Friday. There is still quite a bit of swelling which will take 3-4 weeks to completly go down.

Live and Learn... The Shed Fire

About 10:15pm last night as Spencer climbed into bed, I heard a strange noise, Spencer said it was just Buddy who was sleeping in the kitchen. But I kept thinking, no, it wasn't Buddy. Then another noise, this time I said "Its not the dog!". So we jumped out of bed and as Spencer walked down the hallway where he could see out our south facing window he yelled "THE SHED IS ON FIRE!!!" Before I could hit send on my cell phone the fire truck had already unloaded. Thank goodness to good neighbors who saw the flames! I didn't get the camera fast enough because I had to give information to the police officer. So enjoy the morning after pictures. We aren't sure how it started, but we know it started from the wood burning stove. Spence had a fire last night but left the shed around 7pm so anything that was still burning should have been completely out... apparently not though. Something lasted long enough to cause this damage. We are all well.. Sadie slept through the whole thing! And, so did Buddy....some guard dog! Poor dutch who likes to stand by the shed was found as far away as the corral would allow her to! A little shaken up, but she is fine. The lesson learned... put the fire completly out and make sure you have an inventory of EVERYTHING you have... that will be my Friday project! Of course once I inventory everything in my house nothing will happen but better to be safe than sorry!

Saide's Big Day

Just an update, Sadie's operation date is scheduled for January 13th! She will start recieving weekly shots 3 weeks prior that that will help increase her red blood cells. The operation will last about 5 hours. After spending a night in the NICU she will be in a regular room for another few days. No helmet required since the plastic surgeon will be shaping her skull for her. We are anxious for it all to be over, but know that all will turn out just fine.

Other than that, Sadie is growing fast, definetly out growing her cousins! She now weighs over 11lbs and is 23 inches tall.

She is smiling and working on the laughing. Just tonight Spencer got her to laugh multiple times. Afterwards he said he hadn't smiled so hard and so much since forever!
A few weeks ago, Spencer was finaly able to put the new shed in place. He transported it from a house that was going to just take it down. Needless to say, it was free if he could figure out how to move it. So after two nights of working on it, Spence and Matt were able to jack it onto a trailer and bring it to its new home. After weeks of sitting on the trailer.... and of course, me backing into it once, it made its way to the final resting spot. Now all it needs is a paint job to match the rest of the house. That will be a great spring project for me!

I've started working from home. Its great! I just need to get Sadie on a longer nap schedule.. but if that means her not sleeping through the night, I'll deal with it. I take all night sleeping over anything! Enjoy the new pics! From top to bottom: Thanksgiving day, after a delious meal, Dad and Baby Sadie fell sound asleep! Sadie with Grandma Helen (Spencer's Grandma from Texas). Spence about to give Sadie a bath, the time he got her to laugh real hard! The next pic is a bit blurry because I was trying to get a pic of her smiling but she knew and would stop when i would bring out the camera, so this is the best so far! The next two are the new shed and process of getting the shed into place. And the last one is Sadie with Jessica, my midwife who delivered her.

Operation Sadie

We finally met with the specialists up at Primary Children's Hospital yesterday. We were able to meet the plastic surgeon as well as the nurosurgeon. Sadie's skull is fussed in three places in the back of her head which is uncommon as well as having 3 fusions. So they will be doing the operation most likely the last week of December. The surgery is 5 hours long. Because of potential blood loss, Sadie's pediatrician will give her something each week for three weeks before to help boost her red blood cells. She will spend the night in the NICU and then will spend 3-4 days in a regular room. The Plastic Surgeon we will be using has done 3 of these surgeries in the last 10 days. He trained in Dallas under one of the most well known Drs who does these surgeries. Sadie feels totally comfortable with him as do we!!!

Other than that.. Everyone is doing great. Sadie weighed in today at 10 lbs 5 oz.... I cant believe how big she is getting!!

Almost 3 weeks old!!

Well Monday will be Saide's 3 week birthday! I can't believe it! She seems older than just three weeks!!! She had her two week check up last Monday and all checked out good. Her Dr gave me the information for the specialists up at Primary Children's Hospital, so I called right away and got her scheduled for an appointment with both of the specialist on October 29th. Ill let you know how that goes.

This week one of my best friend's, who happens to be my first and only American companion from my mission, Stephanie came up from Arizona to hang out with us. We had a lot of fun and Sadie had her first shopping expierence... though she slept through most....okay all of it!!! Regardless, I think she enjoyed it!

Kristin had her baby last week!!! YEAH!! Welcome Acacia Breanne Barlow (I hope I spelled that all right!) As you can see in the pictures they were excited to meet each other! Now we just await Ella (Nicole's Baby)...coming soon!

Baby Sadie Bell Stevens Sept 22nd 2008

She is here!!!! After 41 weeks Sadie Bell Stevens finally arrived. After being a week overdue I was scheduled to be induced on Monday the 22nd at 7am. Contractions started the Thursday night before and being new to this expierence we even ran to the hospital twice on false alarms! But by Sunday night at 3:30 am I couldn't do it any more! So I woke Spence up and said "we are going to the hospital to either have this baby or else they are going to start me now!" Well no induction was needed! She was born at 9:35 am weighing 8lbs 2oz and was 20 1/2 inches long!

She had a bit of an issue breathing right at first. One of her lungs was not opening up all the way causing her to breath really fast. They took her right away to the nursery to evaluate and decided she needed to be on a CPAP (continuous positive air pressure) to help inflate her lungs all the way. They also gave her some medicine so that her lung would not stick together. They moved her to the Level II nursery were she stayed to be monitored for a few days. On Wednesday they removed the CPAP and allowed us to finally hold her and start to feed her. She did great! We couldn't have asked for more, they just wanted to keep her for another day to monitor her. On Thursday morning her Dr ordered a CAT Scan to be done of her head because its a little funny shapped. That night they told us that seams on the back of her skull had prematuraly fused together. Something that doesn't happen till you are full grown. And if not fixed could cause problems. They are going to refer us next week to a specialist at Primary Childrens Hospital. The surgery will take place any time between 3 and 6 months. It is a few hours long surgery with a 3 or 4 day hospital stay. But after that she will be as good as new. Though this surgery is some what major, it is also a not that uncommon. It was a bit of a shock to hear that our little angel will have to have this surgery but on the upside it was a relief that it wasnt something more serious. We are truly grateful to have Sadie in our lives. Though it is an adjustment to get used to having her around, we couldn't imagine our lives without her.
They released her from the hospital on Friday and we are now finally starting to adjust to real life.
We appreciate all the prayers that went out for her behalf and all the love and support we recieve from you all.

3 Days After Due Date!!

Well, I was online today, so I thought I'd post a very boring update.... No baby yet! Though progress was made yesterday with a few contractions here and there. I was told that was a good thing! So hopefully she is getting ready to make her daybu. I'll let you all know when more happens!

Less than one month to go!!

Well the Summer is coming to an end! I really cant believe how fast it has gone. Everyone said I would hate the summer while pregnant, but I have to admit, it hasn't been that bad! We have spent almost every weekend for the past 2 months camping up at Current Creek. It has been a blast! But I think I am done for now. Spencer is currently up at Current Creek with Russ and Matt for the archery hunt. We will have a few weeks off from hunting trips, and hopefully Sadie Bell will arrive early enough for Spence to make it to the muzzle loader hunt!
I had my first baby shower this last week, put on by Mikaila, Holly and Amy. It was a lot of fun. See the new pictures at the bottom!

Its been awhile so I thought I better bring ya up to date! I am now 34 weeks prego and doing great. We aren't quite ready yet, so hopefully she doesn't come early! As for names, we kept going back to Saydee (spelling still up for changes), of course it could all change if she comes out looking like something else! But at least I think I will get the middle name that I really want which is Bell, my Grandma Whyte's middle name.
We have spent a lot of time this year up at Currant Creek, our hunting spot. Spencer wanted to scout out deer as much as he could, and I just wanted to sleep nice and cool! Dutch is now a part of our camping trips as well as Buddy. I think they both really enjoy it. Spencer is torn between the 4 wheeler and Dutch, both have their advantages so it will be tough call if he ever has to choose between the two of them. But until then, we take the both of them, which makes packing for the trips interesting. Spencer asked where we will put the baby once she gets here, that wasn't hard to decide, Buddy would have to move to the trailer where there is a designated place for dogs. So this weekend we tried it out... I think he did well though I am sure he misses the air conditioned truck! Oh well, the Baby has first dips!

Mexico

Trip to Arizona/Mexico

We have just returned home from our trip to Arizona/Mexico. Our friends, Stephanie (my mission comp) and her hubby Steven live in Arizona, so we flew down Wednesday May 14 to see them. Thursday we packed up the car and drove to Rocky Point Mexico, about a 3 hour drive. Before leaving to Mexico we stopped at Stephanie's office (a Dr's office) so she could do another ultrasound on me for fun. I think this was the funnest for Spence because he asked to do it himself! (Girls let me just tell you it was the cutest thing ever!) Once he found her little head and realized she was holding her hands together by her face, he started talking to her. She dropped one hand and waved! It was so cute! The more he talked, the more she moved! It was nice to not be rushed by a nurse!
Once in Mexico we stayed at Las Palmas resort. First thing first, we headed down to the beach. The weather was perfect as was the water. Friday morning the boys rented jet skis for an hour. We spent half the time at the ocean and the other half at the pool. We ate a lot of quesadillas with a lot of pico de gallo! On Friday night Emily and Drew (friends of Steven and Stephanie) came down. She also is prego at 7 months. It was lot of fun.
We headed back to Arizona after a few more hours in the ocean Sunday afternoon.
Overall, it was a great getaway!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

Well I was right!!! We will be having a girl! I guess we were both a bit surprised, but Spencer especially! He asked for a few confirmations and then asked how sure she was! The nurse said she was 99% positive and so he left it at that!
Later that night, when I was so ready to fall asleep Spencer was adamant about picking a name that night! Luckily I finally fell asleep and he gave up. But the search continues!!!