Lydia is turning one!

I can’t believe our little girl turns one tomorrow!  (I’m writing this today since tomorrow Joseph is off work and we will be partying!).  It was exactly a year ago today that I got a call from my doctor that the labs they had run at my 36 week appointment came back looking dangerous.  An hour later I was in labor and delivery getting induced.  24 hours and a c-section later we had a beautiful daughter!  My life has forever been changed.

A year ago I never thought I would make it today because making it a year means I somehow made it through two semesters of school (which seemed impossible at the time), graduated, and we were officially in the Air Force!  Little did we know we would be just weeks away from having our second child.  It certainly hasn’t been an easy year, but it has been so fulfilling!

Lydia brings us more joy than anything I could try describing with mere words.  She is the light in our lives.  Seeing her grow, learn, and develop has been so incredible.  

A little bit about Lydia:  She weighs about 18 pounds (I’ll know precisely at our appointment next week, then I’ll update with her measurements).  Her favorite thing in the world is her daddy.  She will wait at the door for him to come home, give him the biggest smile in the world, and then not let him put her down until it’s time for bed.  It’s so cute!  

Her favorite foods are goldfishies and cheese sticks.  She’s walking a bit (just a few steps at a time).  Her record right now is seven steps in a row, so it can’t be long until she gets it down.  She normally has a very relaxed and sweet disposition.  She will sit calmly in my lap for the entire duration of a movie together.  

Her favorite thing to sleep with is her stuffed broccoli (Thanks Laura!)  It’s actually pretty funny because the thing is bigger than she is.  She loves to talk, and she’s very good at mimicking the sounds we make.  Many people will think she’s actually talking because she’s so good at copying, but we’re pretty sure she has no idea what she’s saying.  Today we are officially moving her into her “big girl” bed in preparation for Hyrum’s arrival.  We’ll see how it goes…

We love you Lydia and can’t wait for the year ahead!

Update On Our Life

 We made it to 29 weeks!  Every week that passes by I count as a solid victory.  Luckily this week was uneventful.  Besides the routine OB visits, I just stayed at home on bed rest.  There were no blood pressure scares and my protein levels haven’t gone up.  All the prayers and fasting must be working.  I’m trying really hard to be a good little bed rest mama so I don’t cause something to go wrong.  I couldn’t live with myself knowing I did something deliberate to hurt my child.    

I feel like Lydia is handling things well.  She mostly plays with her toys all day, and we watch veggietales together.  I’m hoping these few months of little outside interaction won’t permanently harm her development.  My mom has assured me I’m just being paranoid.  

Random story (Please don’t judge!).  I’m not sure whether I should laugh or be mortified.  Right now it’s towards the latter.  I’m sure I’ll laugh at it one day.  We were at an Air Force function.  Joseph and I were talking with some couples and letting Lydia crawl around with the other babies.  Before we know it, she’s climbed up to the table, and is reaching for someone’s cup.  Before we can stop her she takes a drink, spilling some on her.  It turns out the cup was full of beer!  I felt AWFUL and TERRIBLE and like the WORST mother ever.  Truthfully it will take me a while to get over the fact that I let my daughter have beer.  Everyone else just laughed.  I will too…someday.  

Thanks everyone for all your prayers on our behalf. We have felt their power and know that the Lord is helping us so much right now.  Here is a big thank you to our ward too for bringing us meals every day this week!  You guys are amazing!

Complicated Complicated

     I finally went to the OB here in California after not seeing one for 9 or 10 weeks with our lapse in insurance and the move and everything.  At my first appointment the protein level in my urine sample came back too high (a 2+ if anyone cares to know).  So they sent me in for some labs and tests to see what was up.  Now with Lydia I measured at a 2+, then did the labs, then I delivered the next day with severe preeclampsia.  So obviously I was freaking out since I was only 27 weeks at the time.  After a 24 hour urine lab, my protein count came back at 900mg.  Anything above a 300 is the preeclampsia zone, so I’m very much at risk, but it’s still nowhere near the 5000mg I was at with Lydia when I delivered.  Basically at this point we are just waiting for the rest of the preeclampsia symptoms to show up before they deliver me (mostly waiting for my blood pressure to rise dramatically).  It’s a bit scary knowing that my baby could be delivered any day (I’m at 28 weeks now), and I don’t have any control over it.  There is a small chance that it could never show up, and I make it full term.  It would take a miracle, but miracles happen!  For now my OB would be thrilled if I made it to 34 weeks (I would be too!).
      Right now I’m on bed rest to try to keep the rest of the symptoms from coming up.  It’s a modified bed rest thankfully so I can still take care of Lydia meaning I can feed her, change her, and bathe her, but that’s pretty much all I’m allowed to do. We did have one scare last Friday where my blood pressure went up too high and I got sent to the hospital for some tests and such, but luckily during the hours I was there it went back down and the tests came back looking awesome (no kidney failure yet!), so I am in the clear for now.  It’s really unnerving to have to be prepared and packed to have little Hyrum delivered anytime from tomorrow to 12 weeks from now.
     We have been incredibly blessed to have such help.  Our families are praying for us, which we can feel the blessings of already.  Ward members have babysat and brought over meals.  Best of all the Air Force has given Joseph permission to go on extended medical leave if something very serious comes up.  That’s a huge relief right there.   
     Probably the hardest part for me is that if the preeclampsia does show up, this will most likely be our last biological child.  The chance of preeclampsia in a third pregnancy after these two is nearly 100% and the chance of it showing up much early and more severe, resulting in fetal or my death, is about 50%.  Those statistics are way too high to even mess with.  For a couple who wanted 6-8 kids, this news had been devastating, but I’m always hopeful that something will happen that could allow to us to bring more children into our family somehow.  
       The person who has been most amazing is my dear Joseph.  He’s balancing training, being young men’s president, and now doing everything I used to do like cooking and cleaning.  The poor guy is always moving, getting things done, and doesn’t have a moment to himself.  But he’s taken it really well, and is willing to do anything to keep this baby healthy.  I could not have done any of this without him.
     In other news Lydia turns one in less than three weeks!  Wow time has flown!  She probably will just get a cake for her birthday since neither Joseph nor I are in any condition to plan a party, but luckily she’s one and couldn’t care less. She took her first steps last week and is very close to walking. She brings us so much joy and we love her to pieces!
     Overall we have been really blessed, and ask you all to keep Hyrum in your prayers.  We want him to last at least a few more weeks!