Trials = Blessings in disguise

November was a really tough month. My 16 month-old nephew tragically passed away the day before Thanksgiving. At the time that it happened, I was very, very mad at the Lord. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law are two of the most AMAZING people you will ever meet. Over the course of several weeks, I recalled a conversation I had with my sister-in-law several years ago. She was talking about how there is a misconception in the church. We sometimes think that the Lord will never give us more than we can handle, which is completely untrue. The fact is, the Lord intentionally gives us more than we can handle, so that we are forced to rely on him and turn to him to help us through whatever trial(s) we are going through. Once I re-remembered this, my testimony of the gospel has been strengthened 10 times. As I stopped being angry with the Lord, I started to look back at the blessings that have come from our trials.

When we lost the contract on the house, I was really upset. But our closing date on the house was the day Ryatt was born. Ryatt was born 6 weeks early and even though we are close to $7,000 in medical bills, he needed to come early, or else I wouldn't have been able to travel for Chase's funeral. I really miss the little guy, and in talking to my sister-in-law, she says that Chase's life has touched so many people, both members and non-members. There are people investigating the church that attended his funeral. My other brother-in-law and sister-in-law came down from Utah for the funeral. While they were here, we were able to get Travis a job with Josh on the same unit. We've also been able to refocus our lives as to what is important: FAMILY! We are trying to spend as much time with extended family as possible, as well as enjoy our little family and not get so caught up in the little things.

Halloween

We came home with Ryatt Sunday night and Halloween was the next day. It was also Josh's first day at Banner Good Sam and my first day being a mother of three at home. I remember it being a fairly easy day. Ryatt slept most of the time and the girls were well behaved because they were excited to finally have mom home. Abbi and Kenna were ballerinas and Ryatt was a little devil. Enjoy the two pictures! I thought I had a bunch more, but apparently I don't. Oh well!

Ryatt's Story Part Two

So the goal was to have me deliver on Monday morning. Well Monday morning came and I still hadn't gone into labor on my own. So Dr. Huish decided that since the baby was doing well to see if I could make it to Friday, when I would almost be 34 weeks and then induce me. So I was on antibiotics around the clock. Soooooooo.... what do you do when you are on bed rest in the hospital for a week? I made 4 tu-tus, 2 orange ones for my girls' Halloween costume and 2 blue for my friend Tabitha's twins.

I did A LOT of coloring for Family Home Evening Kits and quiet magnet books for church, read a little, watched television, worked on puzzles and so forth. Josh kept me company most of the time. We watched movies together and played games. The highlights of my day for the first part were being able to get up to go to the bathroom or shower and then getting to go to the garden area outside. Ken and Calie (my in-laws) kept the girls in Utah until Tuesday night and then drove them down. I hadn't seen my girls since we put them to bed Friday night and I was really homesick for them. They would come visit for a few hours in the day. We would go out to the garden area and play. Then they would come back at night to read scriptures and say prayers. That was the hardest part of the day.

So I made it to Friday morning. They induced me at 6ish in the morning. I had my epidural around 12:30pm. Everyone kept telling me he was going to be a small baby and that we would probably spend a week or two in the hospital. And I kept telling everyone he was going to be about 5lbs 4oz and he would be coming home with me. So at 3:25 pm he was born weighing 5lbs 2oz and 19 inches long. The whole NICU team they had in there was astonished at his size and that we was not behaving like a normal 34 weeker. They gave him an IV just to finish up antibiotics, but he didn't need oxygen, which was a good sign! I smiled! The girls came shortly after with Grandma!

Chillin' in the NICU.

This is the only picture I have with him. I'm not sure if anyone took one of the whole family together at the hospital. Oh well!

Ryatt LaDell finally had a name Sunday morning and came home Sunday night with me, 48 hours after delivery. I had a lot of issues with the nurses in the NICU. I'd rather not go into a lot of detail but I basically felt that he wasn't getting the attention he deserved and if they weren't going to give him the proper attention, I just assumed to take him home with me and take care of him myself. There was also A LOT of miscommunication going on between nurses, doctors and myself and I was so happy to take him home with me, girly car seat and all!

Side note: the pediatrician in the hospital thinks he was more like 36 weeks along, instead of almost 34 weeks, and that my due date was off. I know for a fact, this is not the case, I'm just truly blessed!

Ryatt's Story Part One

The Lord works in mysterious ways. We have seen this all too much the last couple of months as I am beginning to recap and catch up on blogging. Josh and I started looking at buying a house in July. We found one that we loved in August and put in our offer. We had been pre-approved, the bank accepted our offer and we were waiting on the funding. Long story short, October 17th, less than 2 weeks before we would close, we were told we were not eligible to buy until January 2013. Devastated beyond belief, we decided to pack up and head to Blanding, UT to visit Josh's parents. We wanted to get away from everything. Josh was starting a new job October 31 and I was almost 33 weeks pregnant. We knew starting a new job and me being close to the end of my pregnancy, it would be a while before we made it back to Utah. So we went on Abbi's field trip Thursday morning and headed to Blanding Thursday afternoon.

Now you can ask some of my friends and family to confirm, but I had a dream Ryatt would be coming early. I had a dream that Abbi was going to have a lot of dark hair when she was born and she had a lot of dark hair! I also guessed that she would be 8lbs 1 oz and she was. With Kenna, I had a dream that she would come on a Sunday, early in January. She was born January 10th, the 2nd Sunday in January. So I was a little freaked out when I dreamt I would be having #3 early. In my mind, he was coming at 3o weeks, on October 1st, because his birthday would be a math equation 10/1/11 or 10 + 1 = 11. 30 weeks came and went, so I figured I was just being dumb.

Anyways, so we arrived in Blanding late Thursday night. We played all day Friday with Grandma and Papa. Josh joked around about taking me on a quad ride, which I turned down. We ate dinner some delicious bbq with Grandma Skinner and joked around that we would be back tomorrow and that she couldn't get rid of us. We put the girls to bed. Visited some more with Josh's parents and then I went to get ready for bed around 10:00 Utah time, 9:00 our time. I went to the bathroom, and then as I was washing my face, it felt like I peed my pants. Embarrassed, I snuck into our room and grabbed some new garment bottoms and finished getting ready for bed. I laid down in bed and then I "peed" again.

So I went back to the bathroom again and then had the thought that my water had broke. I called Josh to come talk to me and he said that it was probably nothing and so I went to bed. Well less than 2 hours later, I woke up soaked and freaked out. I woke Josh up and told him we needed to go to ER in Blanding. We let Josh's parents know we were leaving and took off. When I got to the ER, they confirmed my water had broke and were making arrangements to send me to Salt Lake City. Blanding apparently can deliver babies, but are not equipped to deal with preemies. So they were going to fly me to Salt Lake, instead of driving me 3 hours to Grand Junction.

When the nurse told me, I started BALLING!! I said and I quote, "My mom is going to kill me!! Please send me to Mesa!" Blanding is in the middle between Mesa and Salt Lake, so they called my OB and he found someone to come get me! Before I left, Josh and his dad gave me a priesthood blessing and I flew in a little airplane down to Mesa. For lack of better terms, it was a fun ride. Both my flight nurse and medic were married men with kids. They were so nice and understanding and made me think how lucky/grateful I am for Josh and how lucky their wives and kids are. I arrived in Mesa about 6:30a.m. our time.

Meanwhile, Josh and his dad went back home. They made Josh take a nap and then he was on the road. Originally the plan was to have Josh ride back with the girls, hence him not riding with me on the airplane. But the more he talked it over with his parents, they decided it would be best for him to drive down by himself and then his parents would follow shortly after with the girls.

So one airplane ride and two separate ambulance rides later, I arrived at Banner Gateway Saturday morning. I was known as the 33 weeker who was flown in from visiting family out of town. They did an ultrasound and found out that the baby was still doing well and surprisingly hadn't lost a ton of fluid. I had been given a steriod shot to help the baby's lungs develop quicker and was told the plan was to try and make it to Monday for delivery...

Abbi's First Field Trip

Mother Nature's Farm has been down the street from me since my family moved when I was 12, but I had never been. Abbi's preschool took a field trip to the pumpkin patch in October. They were able to run around and look at some pumpkins, go on a hayride, see some animals, go through maze, play in a playhouse, hay and bounce house, as well as decorate pumpkins and have a picnic. It was a lot of fun to see Abbi with her bff Ellie from preschool! I was almost 33 weeks pregnant, so I had Josh come to help with Kenna. Here are some of our fun pictures!