The Lyon's Den

After 6 full long days at the hospital I am now home and on strict bedrest. I need to keep this brief cause I need to get back to laying down. The doctor released me but I have to stay down and continue taking the meds to stop contractions every 4 hours (even through the night). I go back to the doctor on monday for another ultrasound and also to the pediatric cardiologist. I start my non stress tests twice a week next week as well. That's all for now and I'll keep you updated. Thanks everyone for the thoughts, prayers, and phone calls!!

So I thought I would give everyone updates from my hospital bed now that I am connected to the outside world with the laptop my parent's brought me today. I really don't know a whole lot about how long I'm going to be here; we just have to take one day at a time.
For those of you who haven't heard, I decided to go to the hospital on saturday evening because I was having some mild but regular contractions. The ER docs decided to call my Dr in Sacramento to see what they should do. They decided to transfer me to Sutter Memorial in downtown Sac by amblance. Code 3 with the flashing lights and sirens. It was kind of nerve racking and the ride was not nearly as smooth as I had expected. Then the contractions got worse and was put on three different meds to stop the contractions. So here I am at day four and I'm still on all the meds and the doc has no idea if and when he will send me home. Every day we just wait and see if anything new changes. My cervix doesn't appear to be changing which is very good. The baby seems to be doing very well other than measuring really small. I have been given both steroid shots to develop her lungs and they will be in effect by tonight. I'm feeling very positive about the abilities of this hospital and all the doctors. The hospital has about 6 or 7 floors (not that I've seen the outside because I was brought in by ambulance). When I first got here there were 58 babies in the NICU. I've met with a neonatologist who will be taking care of my baby when she's here. He was very reassuring. It's just kind of a wait and see game here for us. Aaron returned to work yesterday and mom and dad have had the kids during the day; Aaron kinda takes over at night. I just got a visit from the boys and it was very nice to see them. I've feel pretty isolated here but it should be getting better. Let me just tell you, daytime television is awful. If anyone cares to make a visit or give a call I'm at Sutter Memorial room 222B. I'll keep ya posted.

Yesterday was a very full day and I have sunburns on my calves and arms to show for it. We started the day with the local Run Drugs Out of Town 5K. Aaron hasn't done a fun run in almost five years and thought it was about time. He didn't get to do a whole lot of training beforehand...maybe got out with the jogging stroller twice a week for a couple weeks. He ended up doing very well, and lots better than he thought he could do. Aaron ran a mile around the Tierra Buena track not too long ago and could only pull it off in about 8 and a half minutes and was kinda disappointed. Well yesterday he managed to average just under 7 minutes a mile for the whole 5K. He came in 4th in his age category (20-29) and he'll be 29 in just a couple of weeks. Not too shabby I say! It was pretty well organized and they even had games and a bounce house set up for the kids. And some raffles that we didn't win. :(

As soon as we got home and got Aaron cleaned up from the run, we headed to Woodland to the Scottish Highland games. I think that is where most of the sun damage happened. It was pretty interesting watching all the men in skirts and the events that went on. IE: caber toss, hammer throw and highland dance competition. I think the kids' favorite part was visiting the Scottish animals. I personally thought the Scottish cow was beautiful. The dogs were the boys' favorites though and got to play with little Scottie dogs the most. All in all it was a good day and everyone seemed to have a good time. Oh, and I must not forget to mention tasting Scottish Pasties (meat pies) and Haggis (you don't want to know, but it involves sheep stomach, heart liver and lungs).

The boys had an Easter Egg Hunt at Great Grandma and Grandpa Hawley's place. It was a really nice day and lots of fun for the kids; as you can tell by their huge cheesy grins!






















Brechin was pretending to fall into the ditch/ creek. He really was just copying his big brother.

Well as most of you know, we've had a very challenging past 5 weeks....all to do with my pregnancy. We've been through the depths of despair and are on the upside right now. We had some tragic news about our baby girl and things are finally beginning to look more and more up. I've seen a couple of different perinatologists and today I even went and saw a Pediatric Cardiologist to have an echo-cardiogram done on our little girl. In case some of you haven't heard, we were told our baby most likely had a chromosome problem and would be incompatible with life. By an amniocentesis, we have ruled that out which now gives us some hope. We don't and won't know the extent of any structural defects or brain defects really until she's born. But we did find out about her heart this morning. It looks like she has what is called a Primum septum defect, which is a hole in a certain spot of the heart. It really is great news compared to what we were looking at. This heart defect has nothing to do with the rest of her development. Blood is going where it should and the heart shouldn't slow her down any until about 4 to 5 months by which she will have had surgery by then. She should have a normal delivery (from the heart's standpoint at least) and will hopefully be able to come home with me from the hospital. About three or so months later they will have to do open heart surgery and close the gap. It is a very successful surgery and as far as the heart goes, she should have a normal life once that is fixed. We still aren't out of the woods with her other problems. I have another ultrasound in 2 and a half weeks and maybe we can rule out some other problems. We truly appreciate everyone's prayers and fasts in our behalf. We know many of you have been suffering along with us. I know that it is by the faith and prayers of so many that things are really coming together. We love and appreciate all of you. We will keep you updated with the progress of our little girl.

BABY!!! So we had an ultra sound yesterday and got to see our very wiggly, modest little girl!! Yes...we can make girls after all!!! We're very excited. She kept crossing her legs and squeezing her little knees together. The techs let me get up and walk around and try to get her to move again...as if she wasn't moving a ton already. So finally after two techs taking a look they decided it WAS a girl. Most everything looked great and heartbeat was strong, but after going to my Dr's appt right after he let me know they found some fluid around the baby; other than amniotic. They're not sure what it is or if it's anything. But to be sure my Dr is doing some blood work on me and referring me to a Perinatologist for a detailed ultrasound. I guess we'll know from there what to expect. We don't know much more for now. We'll let ya all know when we find out but we're praying they won't find a darn thing when we go back in. :)

Sorry It's been so long everyone...We have a super slow internet and it takes forever to load my page let alone a post with pictures! I had to wait for a day where I had much patience and that doesn't come very often these days. Let's see...what are some highlights of the last two months.

Well, this week we sold our dog Nia. We posted her in the paper wednesday and we had a call at 6:45AM and the lady came and got her with money and everything by 7:30. Insane!!! We got several calls and probably could've gotten more money for her. I know I should feel sad about selling our dog but I mostly feel relieved. Kelman needs to grow up a little before he can have a dog because he was always hitting her with pillows and trying to torment her. Even though he did like her. Plus she had sooooo much hair all over the house; it was driving me crazy. Especially when I started finding it in my dinner or the thought of it mixed with brand new baby things. I really think she's in a better place cause she's got a nine month old boy Corgi to play with. It'll happen again someday for us.

In January, Aaron and I were able to get away for a night and go to Sacramento to this really nice bed and breakfast spa resort. The way everything was set up was sooo nice and relaxing. I just wish we would've gotten a room in their newer building because the old house we were staying in; although it was very nice, the windows hadn't been updated and it was quite noisy from outside traffic. Other than that it was very nice and we got to go to the downtown plaza the next day and just enjoy shopping with no kids. We even met a very nice couple during wine/ sparkling cider and cheese hour the night before. Although, we suspect it was a married man and his mistress on a get away for the weekend from LA. Who knows.

As I'm writing this I'm realizing I don't have anything really exciting to tell about the kids, or any new pictures. I will get on that soon. I will tell about Carter though. He has been having some bum issues since at least december. Don't quite know what's up with him but he HATES to go potty because it hurts him so much. On the diet regimen and meds we have him on right now it's not so bad but the kid's gotta learn to go on his own. We are taking him to a pediatric GI specialist in two weeks so hopefully we'll get some answers. The doctor says that as a side effect his skin as been really rough so we're having to do stuff for that as well.

I guess as some other news on the boys...we moved the twins into Kelman's room!! Big BOYS!!!! They're in big beds now and are loving it...a little too much. Brechin and Carter would play for hours at nap time before falling asleep so we've eased that up by separating them for nap time now that we have a free room. I kept Brechin's toddler bed up in their old room and he naps in there. Now to make up for the lost 2 hours of play time together, they play for about that long every night before falling asleep. Kelman falls right to sleep on the top bunk but not the twins. We're trying to break them of the habit but it's hard. I sat in their doorway last night in hopes it would keep them in their own beds (Carter tends to climb into Brechin's bed and play). But they were so funny to listen to I couldn't help laughing so I don't think I helped settle them down much. We usually have to stick Brechin in the other room for a while until they both settle down...almost to sleep and then return him to his big bed. They cry and hate being separated though. I'm glad I have some time before this baby comes to get this all figured out.

Oh yeah....and we get to find out if we're having a boy or a girl in just over two weeks!! YEA!!!

Okay so onto the title of this blog. Micah and Sarah sent us a really fun date night idea for Christmas. It was a Yuba Sutter Mall Scavenger Hunt. We were to go into the mall and find certain items and play certain games. And to also take pictures while doing it. At the end we were to share a snack in the food court and play mall bingo. it was hilarious. They had pictures on a bingo card of things such as a cigarette, crying baby, turban/east indian man, ipod, fat belly and lots of other funny things. Surprisingly it took a long time to get a bingo. No turbans out that night. After bingo they treated us to dinner at Chili's...YUM!! Here are some pictures and descriptions of our fun night.



We had to go into a store our spouse wouldn't shop in and pick out an outfit for them to try on. This was particularly funny because we went into Images (a gangster store) and we got in so much trouble for taking pictures in there. An old man worked there and came and gave me a hard time about it and said "how do I know you're not spying to check on prices in another store". Totally lame. Then on Aaron's way out of the store he stopped him and asked him to remove his shirt (button up) and show him what was underneath to make sure he wasn't stealing. For one...like that baggy stuff could fit under his clothes...and two, why would we take pictures of ourselves committing a crime. Lame old man!




We also had to go to GNC and do the body weight/fat test. And my belly HAS grown since this picture.


We had to go into the arcade and race eachother on a game, which I won and also play games for tickets and buy eachother a prize. We bought some candy, fangs, and cute little rings.


We had to try on some shades at a sunglass stand.

We had a blast...thanks Micah and Sarah!!

All of our family knows our news so I guess it's time to share with the rest of the class. We're expecting baby number 4. I will be due the first week of August. My symptoms have been very different this pregnancy from my other two so we're hoping for some pink this time around. But of course we'd be happy with another boy! :) Besides, I don't know if a girl would survive with all these wild boys.
Here are some of my favorite Christmas pictures. We had a good Christmas and New Year, although we couldn't manage to stay up till midnight...but we were close. I quite enjoy my sleep.
We hope you all have enjoyed the holidays!!

The boys all got cowboy belts from Grandma and Grandpa Stubz.

This has got to be their favorite present. They all sure love COOKIN'! Brechin even calls himself "chef". But that is Carter in the Picture.

This cool thing has all the loopty loops and fun stuff!























We told Brechin to sit by the game so we could take his picture and he ended up sitting ON the game!


They sure love playing their new Elefun game. Those are butterflies they are catching.
Just checking out their stocking goodies!!