And we shall name him....

Joseph Friedrich Frazier

Our little man

Our "little man was born Tuesday, October 23rd at 11:09am
He was 31 weeks along.
(This ultra sound was taken the day before his surprise arrival) 

 This is how the story goes....

 Thursday, October 18th my doctor put me on bed rest due to my blood pressure being way too high. They ran more tests the next two days like a 24 hour urine test along with blood work. He was also concerned about how often I was having intense braxton hicks and cramping.

I met with my doctor again the following Monday, Oct. 22nd. The results came back as too much protein in my 24 hour urine test. My blood pressure was also still through the roof. He diagnosed it as Pre-eclampsia. He explained to me that Pre-eclampsia symptoms are too much protein in the urine and continued high blood pressure. I also had some swelling in the ankles. It was strict bed rest from then on out. He sent me to the hospital to get a steroid shot to help the baby's lungs develop quicker. I was supposed to go in for another one the next day, Tuesday Oct. 23rd.

Tuesday morning around 7:30am I was laying in "my bed" (the couch) and heard the children come down for breakfast. Derek was getting them fed and I repositioned myself and BOOM the intense cramping and braxtons began. They were strong. They continued being SO intense the entire hour. I was in a place called "Denial." This baby couldn't come yet. If Derek just takes me to the hospital they will stop the contractions. Then the second hour came around and they definitely turned into real contractions about 5 minutes apart.

Derek called the doctors office and they told us to go to the hospital because Dr. Young was already there and he would want to see me. Derek's mom came to our home a little after 10am and we were out the door and headed to Orem hospital, about 15 minutes away. The contractions were now about 2-3 minutes apart. Derek tried driving as fast as he could. I think we were driving behind the slowest people ever. The contractions turned into about a minute a half apart and I was deathly scared that I would deliver this baby in the car.

We arrived at the hospital and all I remember is Derek running into hospital to get a wheel chair and coming out with a nurse. She asked how far along I was, we replied 31 weeks and her face just dropped and she had a worried look and then her response was "Oh that's not we want to hear." Oh man, that was what I didn't want to hear. I was in a panic and kept saying, "this baby can't come now!"

I remember entering the doors and seeing bright colors of green and blue nurse uniforms charging to me and hearing all sorts of commands, "31 weeks, 31 weeks, get Dr. so and so, call the anesthesiologist, call the transporters, call the respiratory specialist," etc...  PANIC!

We arrived to hospital at 10:43am

They didn't even have time to get me into a hospital gown. They checked me and I was at a 6 1/2; too late for an epidural. The anesthesiologist tried doing a spinal block and when you are having contractions every minute and a half it's very hard to hold still. I remember I kept saying, "I can't have this baby, it's too early." The the spinal block didn't take. They told me to roll over onto my back and they checked me again and I was fully dilated. They said to get ready to push. I remember thinking, (but apparently I actually said it out loud) "Holy Sh.., I'm having this baby natural."

I started pushing at 11:08am and he came at 11:09am.

He weighed 3 lbs. 5 oz. 16 inches long.

He is beautiful. He was so quiet of course. He was blue at first, but they got him pinkish red pretty quickly. They took him away and got him prepped for the transport team to take him to the NICU in Provo. It was a blessing I had him natural because if I had been drugged then I wouldn't have been able to sit up to say goodbye to him when they came back an hour and a half later to transport him.

Derek followed them to the NICU and was with our little man all day/night. 

He is doing pretty well for his circumstances. All the nurses and doctor say he is quite feisty. He is a little fighter. :) I will give more updates later. 

The name is still being determined.

We love you sweet little man. We are grateful you came into our family.

A pumpkin for Rowan

So we accidentally grew a few tiny pumpkins in our garden this year. 

Emma decided to color one to take to our niece Rowan.

Our chicken Sarah

photo taken July 2011

While we were gone on our trip to Maine/New York, our sweet pet chicken, Sarah was killed by a raccoon. It happened the early morning the day, (Oct. 2nd) we got home. Our neighbors heard the chaos two mornings in a row, but Sarah and Spot fought their way until Sarah couldn't win anymore. It was terrible. I think the worst part was breaking the news to sweet Emma. It was the first time we have seen her so heart broken over such a loss. She buried her head into Derek's chest and just wept. Derek and I were heart broken for her. Throughout the day she was in better and better spirits especially after Preschool. Something that we find comforting, especially Emma is knowing that Sarah fought and protected Spot from the raccoon. Emma calls Sarah a hero. Later that day we went outside to entertain Spot and Emma started yelling at the top of her lungs at the raccoons,

"Get away raccoon! We don't like you. You didn't win.Raccoon why did you hurt Sarah?...she is the winner! You stay away from Sarah I mean it. Raccoons you don't take chicken eggs they are for people, not YOU!..."

I just let her yell as much as she wanted to get it off her chest. It was sweet.

Our other chicken Spot is pretty depressed. I never really witnessed a depressed animal but it's very apparent in Spot.  Each day, it gets a little better.

photo taken March 2012

 Spot is sitting at our window seal every day since the loss, just looking in and watching us. She just lets Thomas pet her and sit with her. When we told Thomas the news of Sarah, he just kept saying "Sarah, died?" "Spot sad?"

Ok, is this picture hilarious or what?

This is a letter Emma wrote to Sarah. It reads..

"Love, Emma

Dear Sarah 

You are a Hero

Thank you for 

trying to protect Spot

I will miss

you" 

We buried Sarah up in Grove Creek canyon up from our house. Emma read her letter to Sarah and the children watched Derek cover her box up. They helped cover it with rocks. 

Emma comforting Spot.

We will miss you Sarah.

dreamland

It's always so cute to find this little man asleep like this. ALWAYS has a book with him and off into dreamland. This is how I found him tonight. Hilarious.

Preschool year #2

Our little Emma girl started her second year of preschool. This little girl was geared up and all ready for another year. She misses the deadline by a few days and so she wasn't able to start kindergarten this year. She is SO ready for kindergarten. We have been trying to study it out of what our options are. She has been ready to read since last school year. So we tried finding a school that could give her more of a challenge and start her on her reading while she's pumped to do it. Her teacher from "My Smart World" in May after the Preschool program told me that Emma is advanced and will probably be bored with another year of preschool but to supplement her. I try doing that but we felt like she still needs a good school that could give her challenge, especially since baby #3 is on his/her way in December, I knew my hands would be tied.  We chose "Kids Village" and so far she is LOVING it. She brings home a new book every week and is so quick to pass it off. They have fun workshops like cooking, art, science, and music classes along with her core class. She can't get enough of it. We are so happy and proud of her. 

 Here she is with her new teacher Miss Kathleen.

Good luck with another school year sweet Emma.

Thomas Jumping!

By request, here's Thomas jumping down the stairs with Emma.