Daniel and the ER

Daniel's third full day of life started out just like any other day. We were a little slow getting going, but were planning on getting things done that day. It was my first full day home from the hospital and we needed to get caught up on the things we'd let slide while we were in the hospital. Around 10:30 I fed Daniel and then laid him down on the changing table to change his diaper. Hannah and Sarah Kate were watching me when Sarah made a grossed out noise and said Daniel spit up something. I just thought it was milk, but when I looked at it I noticed it looked a little like blood. I called Kenny in and we decided to watch him and see what else he did. As he threw up a few more times we decided to call the doctor. It took a long time to get a hold of anyone, but when we finally did they told us to watch him and if he keeps spitting it up then we should take him to the ER. After about 5 or 6 times of spitting up a light colored blood, Daniel spit up a fair amount of bright colored, normal looking blood. At that point we decided to go to the ER. I ran to the neighbor's and asked if she would watch the kids and then we rushed Daniel to the hospital.

When we got there they took Daniel back as soon as we arrived. They took his temperature, listened to his heart and lungs, and hooked him up to find his pulse. Everything looked fine and from what they could tell he was healthy. They had me feed him and then observed him for an hour. At that point he still hadn't spit up any more blood so they decided to send us home, telling us if he spit up more blood to bring him back. We were relieved that he seemed to be fine and went home, took a nap, and went about the rest of our day. I made dinner and after dinner I went back to the bedroom to feed Dan again. Hannah saw him first and told me Daniel spit up yuckies. I looked at him and sure enough he had spit up some black, mucus stuff.

I called Kenny in again and we decided to call the doctor. They told us that he shouldn't be spitting up anything but milk and that we should take him back to the ER. So again, we called another neighbor to watch the kids and took Dan back to the ER. This time it took awhile for them to see us, but when we finally got back they decided to run some test to make sure Dan was fine this time. Kenny had to go back to the other kids so he left me there to find out what was going on with Dan. They drew some blood, took some x-rays of his tummy and then we sat and waited for the results. After awhile they came and asked for the bloody blanket from earlier. They ran some tests on the blood and determined that it was my blood and not his that he had spit up.

So much was explained when they determined this. The knot in Dan's umbilical cord had cut off his oxygen and blood supply during delivery, so to survive he had tried to start breathing early. Instead he just ended up ingesting fluids. Newborns don't have stomach acid so the blood he swallowed just sat in his stomach for those first three days until he finally spit it up. That's why it was still bright red, which is what really scared us. They told us we may see some more as it moves through his system, but not to worry.

We were so relieved that he was OK and that all his parts were in working condition. The x-ray came back normal and his blood count was actually higher than normal. We have a very healthy baby boy and there is nothing for us to worry about. What a relief that is. We love this little boy, but he has been quite worrisome. I much prefer to bring my babies home and have no issues. We're happy Dan's healthy and we're grateful to our wonderful neighbors who helped us out when we needed them. Needless to say we didn't get anything done that day, but we found out Dan's OK so that what really matters.

Daniel Days 1 and 2

Baby Daniel, with his first toy blue monkey, ready to leave the hospital.

My 2 cute boys

So, we have a new baby and he's really cute. His first full day of life was Wednesday the 24th. This was a very easy, laid back day due to the fact that he was still in the hospital with Mommy. Daddy spent the night and then around 10:30 in the morning he went home to get the rest of the kids to come and see baby Dan. With him Daddy brought all four of Daniel's siblings, his Grandma Newbry, Aunt Sarah, and cousins Travis and Trent. Thank goodness we had a big room because there was a lot of kids in there. Everyone was so pleased to see baby Dan and everyone wanted to hold him. Due to the number of kids, the visit was short, but it was still nice to have everyone. Grandma and Aunt Sarah took the kids to McDonald's and then home to nap while Daddy stayed at the hospital with Mommy and Daniel.

Hannah and Daniel

Cousin Trent holding Daniel

Daddy helping Gracie hold baby Daniel

Aunt Sarah and baby Daniel

Cousin Travis holding Daniel

Later in the day Grandma, Sarah Kate, and Ben came to pick up Daddy. They went and got pizza for the big kids and then Daddy came back to the hospital for a special dinner the hospital made just for new Mommy's and Daddy's. It was so nice of Grandma and Aunt Sarah to stay with the big kids so Daddy could stay in the hospital. After dinner Daddy went home to help put the kids in bed and then he came back to spend the night with Mommy and Daniel.

Grandma Newbry and baby Daniel

Sarah, Hannah, Trent, and Travis looking at baby Dan.

Our Mommy/Daddy dinner provided by the hospital (the flowers are from my Mother-in-law and Sister-in-law Sarah)

The next day we got up around 8:00 and began the check out process. Daddy went home to get ready for Daniel and to get the kids. Around 10:30 Mommy and Daniel were discharged from the hospital and Daddy, Sarah, Ben, Hannah, and Gracie all came to the hospital to get us. We all piled into the van and realized we now have a very full van.

Dan in his car seat getting ready to leave the hospital

Dan chilling on the changing table

We came home to a very clean house (thanks Grandma and Aunt Sarah) and were able to put the kids down for a nap. Around 1:00 Grandma and Aunt Sarah came back from shopping and we got a visit from Aunt April and her kids and Aunt Mindy and her daughter Savannah. It was nice of everyone to drive such a long ways to meet Daniel. We had a nice visit and then just before leaving Grandma and Aunt Sarah made us a great chicken dinner. We have been very blessed to have so much help during this time and we're so grateful to everyone who came to visit us.

Aunt April holding Dan with Hannah and cousin Carly looking on.

The kids have all taken quite nicely to baby Dan. They want to hold him all the time and they all rush to his side when he cries. Hannah has proven to be the best big sister ever. She is always kissing Daniel and loves to lay on the bed next to him and watch him sleep. She cleans his face when he spits up and the first thing she has done every morning since we got home from the hospital is give Dan a kiss good morning. Gracie has also decided to like him. She's fascinated with his little hands and loves to rub his hairy head. Ben and Sarah are busy doing what they always do, but they love to hold Daniel and are very curious about everything he does. We are so blessed to have 5 wonderful kids who all love each other very much. It may be a lot of kids, but they're all great and they get along so well. We are truly blessed.

Daniel Truman Newbry

We are so happy to announce the birth of our second son Daniel Truman Newbry. He was born yesterday June 23, 2009 at 5:34 pm. He was 7 lbs 10 oz and 20 inches long. He has tons of dark black hair and is looking more like his brother Ben (only with dark hair) with each passing hour. His delivery was scary and we are feeling very fortunate to have him here and alive. Let me start at the beginning of yesterday.

Daniel Truman Newbry

Kenny and I arrived at the hospital at 7:00 am for my much awaited induction. The hospital was very busy with Mom's in labor, but luckily they had an extra room available to make into a labor and delivery room that they were willing to give me. Because they were so busy it took awhile to get things started. Around 9:00 they finally started me on Pitocin and things were on there way. Everything progressed slowly, but things were looking great. Dan's heartbeat was great, I got an epidural around 11:30, and we settled in for the wait time.

Finally around 4:30 things really started moving and we began to getting anxious for baby to come. Kenny and I, Dr. Leavitt and the nurse started noticing Daniel heartbeat drop when I would have one of my contractions. With each passing contraction his heartbeat would drop lower and lower and then bounce back up to normal when the contraction was over. The doctor gave me some medicine to stabilize my blood pressure (which had also dropped) in hopes of leveling off my blood pressure and Daniel's heartbeat. The medicine didn't help either of us and we were very nervous watching just how low his heartbeat would drop. Kenny and I were very much aware that there something wrong and all we could do was hope everything would turn out OK.

Dr. Leavitt assumed the umbilical cord was wrapped around Daniel's neck. He told me when Dan's head came out I'd have to stop pushing until the cord was removed from around his neck. Around 5:15 everything was ready and I was able to start pushing. I've never had to really push on any of my kids, except for little Daniel. Dr Leavitt thought it was due to the umbilical cord being wrapped around Daniel neck and the pull that created for him. I knew I needed to get him out as quickly as possible to prevent any loss of blood flow during delivery. I pushed for about 15-20 minutes and finally little Daniel's head came out. Surprisingly the umbilical cord was not wrapped around his head. I pushed him the rest of the way out and delivered a VERY purple 7 lb 10 oz boy. It took him a couple seconds to breathe and start crying, and I remember thinking to myself, "Cry baby Cry." When he finally cried I was very relieved that he was breathing, but still nervous because of how purple he was.

Purple faced Daniel just after birth.

We quickly discovered what had been the issue and just how lucky we were that he was born alive. Sometime while he was still able to move inside of me, he managed to make a figure 8 knot out of his umbilical cord. Knots in the umbilical cord are common, but not figure 8 knots. Dr Leavitt said he's delivered 3000+ babies and has never seen a figure 8 knot. He said he's heard of about 13 cases of figure 8 knots and of those all but about 3 of the babies were not born alive. Because the large knot pulls tight during delivery it can cut off the flow of blood to the baby and can in turn cause a stillborn baby to be born. I don't know why we were so lucky, but I'm so grateful that we were. It's scary to think that if I had not been induced when I was and if we had waited until my due date or a few days later, the extra weight he would have gained could have been enough to cause too much strain on the umbilical cord, and could have caused him to die. The placement of the knot may have saved him or maybe it was my ability to push him out in a somewhat timely manner. I don't know exactly what it was that made us so fortunate, but we are constantly counting our blessings that he was born alive and healthy.

The figure 8 knot in Daniel's umbilical cord (sorry if this is gross to you)

Dr. Leavitt and Daniel. We are so grateful to Dr. Leavitt for delivering our son alive and healthy.

Once he arrived everything went smoothly just like all the other kids have. They weighed him and I got to hold and feed him. He was purple the entire time I had him, but as the minutes wore on he did start to pink up and by the time he was done with his bath and tests in the nursery he was a much better color. My mom had been watching the other kids all day and stopped by the hospital on her way home. When Mom left they took Daniel to the nursery and Kenny went home to get the kids (who were now being watched by my Mother-in-law and sister-in-law) so they could come and see their new brother. I got settled in my new room and just after the kids arrived they brought Daniel back to me for everyone to see.

Grandma Gass and Daniel

Mommy and Daniel just after he was delivered.

The kids absolutely love their new little brother. They all wanted to hold him as soon as they walked in the door and Ben was really disappointed that Dan was asleep and there was no way to wake him up. They each took a turn holding him and we took some pictures. I think Hannah was the most in awe of him. Wherever he went she was right there with him touching his face, kissing him, trying to hug him, or rubbing his hair. She just didn't want to leave his side and she was very soft with him. Gracie on the other hand was just happy to see mom. She was interested in the baby, but she was very tired and just wanted to hang out with mom. I think she likes Dan, but I also think she's a little afraid of him. She wants to touch him and look at him, but she's afraid to hold him. I'm sure that will get better with time.

Ben holding his new baby brother.

Hannah loves holding Daniel.

Sarah Kate holding Dan with Hannah close by.

Kenny and Grandma took the kids back home to get them in bed and then Kenny came back to the hospital later that night. We are so grateful to both set of Grandma's (and Aunt Sarah) for being willing to watch our kids so we are able to be in the hospital together with Daniel. It has been so nice to have Kenny here to help me and to bond with our newest little guy. It's started to really sink in that now we have 5 kids and that's a lot of kids. We are lucky they're all such good kids. We are very blessed to have Daniel here safe and sound and have decided that his delivery was a little too scary and we are glad to not have to go through that again.

Sleeping baby Dan.

Both Daniel and I are doing well. Dan is a very mild mannered baby (so far) and is happy to just be sleeping. I seem to be recovering quickly and so far I think this may be one of my easiest recoveries. That's definitely going to be a blessing when I get home and have all 5 kids to take care of. We are truly blessed and are so happy to welcome Daniel to our family.

Tuesday's the Day

This week has mostly been about getting ready for baby. I was hoping for an induction date of today, but at my Wednesday appointment Dr. Leavitt told me the earliest he could induce was Tuesday the 23th. I was a little bummed, but it's only a few more days and now I at least have a date and know this pregnancy will be over soon. I'm excited to not be pregnant and uncomfortable anymore and I'm excited to meet this new little guy. He's an active one so I'm sure he'll be just like his siblings. We have to be at the hospital at 7:00 a.m. so hopefully baby will be here by noon that day.

In the meantime I've been working hard to get the house as in order as I can. Last week was our week full of little outings and this week seems to be our week of cleaning and organizing. I've managed to get the entire basement cleaned, even the horribly messy office that seems to collect all the junk we don't know where to put. The weather has been chilly and rainy most of the week so it's been a good week for indoor cleaning. We're pretty much ready for the Grandma's to come help out when the baby comes, if I can just keep the house semi clean.

We also tackled the garage again this week. It's been a huge mess due to the broken wheel on the wave runner trailer, but I was determined not to have to step over a big mess when I brought the baby home. Kenny built the hanging rod for our wet suits while I organized the mess as best I could. It was nice to have everything put back in it's place and get it swept out. I love coming home to a clean, organized garage. Now we just need to get that tire fixed so we can put the trailer back.

While we were cleaning the kids were playing outside during our only sunny day this week. Kenny decided it would be fun to put them in time out, just as a little joke. He started with Ben and told him he needed to put on his life jacket. Then he hung Ben up. After that all the kids had to have a turn. It was the most fun they've ever had being in time. (Gracie was actually the first to hang up, but we didn't have the camera to take a picture of her. It's too bad because she was very cute and really enjoyed it.)

Ben pretending to be sad he's in time out.

Sarah was too big for Ben's life jacket and she didn't have a hook on hers so Kenny got the harness out instead. It worked great.

Here's Hannah. She had a blast.

Yesterday was mostly a hard day for me. I spent most of the morning and early afternoon feeling very pregnant and not so comfortable. I did, however, manage to finish the basement and then spend some time with the kids. Around 4:00, just after Kenny finished mowing the lawn, the rain started coming down. It poured like the rainstorms I remember in Virginia. It was about 15 minutes of pouring rain that made the driveway a river and made for some great fun for the kids. Ben and the little girls put on their rain jackets and went tromping in the rain (Sarah was so cold to go out.)

When the rain stopped we decided to go grocery shopping so we got all the kids in the car and headed out. On the way to the store we found a street with a huge puddle that Kenny just had to drive through. We found 2 teenage girls who had tried to go through the puddle too quickly and ended up flooding their engine. Kenny helped them look at their car, it never did start working again, and I decided to let the kids out to walk in the water. I should have know they wouldn't just wade, but would be wet within a few minutes. Ben was the first one wet when he tripped and fell on a piece of wood floating in the road. After that we decided to just let the kids play in it for awhile. We walked up and down the sidewalk and watched the neighborhood kids riding their bikes and rowing down the street in their row boat. We stayed for about a 1/2 and hour and had a blast playing in the big puddle. By the time we were done Gracie's diaper was very full and everyone was very happy. It was a fun experience, one you don't get very often in Idaho. Because the kids were all so wet, we took them home to get dry clothes and then headed to the grocery store. Who knew a trip to the grocery store could be so fun.

Today involved another trip to the library and hopefully I'll get some weeding done after naps. It's a beautiful sunny day out and I think all of us are looking forward to being outside again. We're all very excited for baby number 5 to arrive and we're trying to keep ourselves busy until then. On a side note, yesterday at breakfast I asked Ben to say the pray. In his prayer he said, "and bless the baby that he will come out safe and bless all of us that we can hang on until he comes." I thought it was very cute and a very grown-up thing to pray for. I guess he's ready for the baby to get here also.

A Week of Little Outings

This past week turned out to be a week of little outing. I don't know if I'm just going stir crazy being so pregnant, or maybe it was the week + of colder than normal, rainy weather, but it seemed like a good week to go out and do things. So we did just that. Tuesday was our trip to Brigham again where we saw the shuttle parts and the train (see next post if you want.) On Wednesday we headed to the library for our weekly library trip. Ben and Sarah have signed up for the reading program at the local library and they are taking it very seriously. In the first week they both read 11 books each. Sarah's reading chapter books like 'Junie B. Jones' and 'Cam Jensen' and Ben's reading beginner reading books. Their both highly motivated by the prizes they get from the library, but they also can't bear to let the other one read more books. I'm just thrilled that they're reading so much and enjoying it so much. I must say I'm very proud of my little bookworms. They'll definitely be ready for kindergarten and second grade this fall.

Thursday we decided to get some shopping done that we wanted done before the baby comes. We went to a few different stores and then headed over toward Best Buy. They were having a huge RV showing in the parking lot of Best Buy and because we're soooo in the market to buy an RV right now we decided to check it out. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a blast running from RV to RV climbing in each one and exploring it. The staff was great and let us look at all we wanted and were very happy to have the kids around as well. We've never really been camper people (we like camping in our tent), but they had this smaller camper that slept 8 people and was the coolest camper we'd ever seen. It was the perfect size, not too big, not too small and most importantly it slept all 7 of us plus 1 more. It was perfect. Ben wanted to buy it so we told him he needed to get a better job than just his chores. So far he hasn't made any effort to do so. After viewing the RVs we splurged and went out for ice cream. It's been so long since we've done anything like that that it was just so nice. It was such a great evening with our little family. After evenings like that I feel so blessed to have the family I have.

Friday was about Sarah Kate. It's been a long time since Sarah got a Mommy and me day and we figured we should get it done before the baby comes. So, I took Sarah to see the Hannah Montana movie at the dollar theater. She claims to love Hannah Montana, but doesn't know much about her. The show comes on after she goes to bed so she doesn't get to watch it very often. She knows some of the songs, but nothing like other girls. She was still, however, very excited to go to the movie. She was kind of bored during the first half, but really enjoyed the last half. I was actually surprised with the show. It wasn't anything I'd watch on my own, but it was entertaining. After the show we went to the craft store where Sarah bought herself a Webkinz with her allowance. She's been wanting to do this for a long time so this was definitely a treat. We followed that up with lunch at IHOP. It was a great outing for Sarah Kate and she loved being with just Mommy. Before we went home I needed to pick up a few things at Walmart. I'm always amazed at how much my kids love going to Walmart with just me and them. It's such a treat for them. Sarah enjoyed pushing the cart and having all my attention going to just her. By the end of Walmart I was pretty well shot. I hadn't slept well the night before thanks to little no name and Gracie and my body was starting to cramp trying to let me know I needed a break. We headed home and spent the rest of the evening being lazy. It was a great day and Sarah loved it. The other kids missed her terribly, but she loved it and I'm glad she got her special time.

Saturday was supposed to be a scouting for pictures day, but it turned out to be much more. We wanted to drive up to Island Park to see if there was a good place to take pictures of the kids and we ended up doing more than we planned. I'll save that for another blog though. We had some wonderful adventures this week and we've decided we need to do a lot more of the little things. Just getting out for little trips around town can help cheer everyone up and helps bring our family together. I'm so blessed to have my kids and my husband and I enjoy spending time with them, their so much fun.

Shuttles and Lame Trains

Kenny headed back to Brigham on Tuesday the 9th and asked if I wanted to go along or stay home. Being so pregnant, I'm very happy to not have the kids home all day with nothing to do, so I agreed to tag along. We decided to check out the Golden Spike sight which was not too far from where we were going. I've wanted to take the kids there to see the trains for awhile and this sounded like the perfect opportunity. We packed a lunch and headed out mid morning. Kenny had to drops some things off at the place he had interviewed with which was out west of Brigham City in the middle of nowhere. It's called ATK (formally known as Thycol) and the reason they are out in the middle of no where is because they make parts for the space shuttle. Outside their building they had a display of all the different parts of the shuttle and the rockets that they make and have made. The kids loved running through the different huge parts asking what each one was. It was actually quite impressive.

After the quick view of the rockets and shuttle parts we headed to the Golden Spike sight that was only about 10 miles away. This is the sight where back in the 1860's the railroad from the east met up with the railroad from the west and people could finally travel across the entire country by train. I remember going there when I was little, and I remember it being way cooler. To be completely truthful, it was extremely lame. When I came as a young child I remember 2 trains parked face to face just like they did when the railroad was complete. I thought they had trains you could go in and people dressed as old time engineers to talk to and take pictures with. There was none of that this time. There was one train you could look at and that was all. Really, really lame. To make matter worse a few minutes after we got out to the train it blew all of it's steam in a very loud couple minute burst out the top. This TERRIFIED poor Hannah and she didn't want to have anything to do with train after that. I felt so bad because she was the most excited to see the 'train track' (as she called it.) Oh well! We know not to go back there again. I'm glad we got to see the rockets and shuttle parts or the entire trip would have been a wash.

Even though it was lame I wanted a picture of the kids in front of the train. Gracie was not cooperating, and Hannah wouldn't sit unless I was with her. We never did get a good picture, but I guess that's fitting for the outing.

Brigham, Logan, and the Aquarium

Kenny had a job interview just outside of Brigham City on Thursday, June 4th. They were paying generously for gas so we decided to take the opportunity to go to Logan and then on to Salt Lake for some much needed shopping. We drove to my parents late Wednesday night in order to make the drive to Brigham shorter for Kenny. Thursday morning Kenny got up early and went to his interview while I stayed at Mom and Dad's playing with the kids. When he got back we went to lunch and then tried to get the kids to nap. That took forever, but finally the little girls slept. After naps we went to see 'Up' with my Mom, Aunt Cindy, cousin Kristin and her boys. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the movie. We had wanted to take some pictures of the kids (we still have yet to take their yearly pictures) but it was too late, too dark, and the kids were too tired to get any good pictures. We're going to have to try again and soon.

The best picture we got of Sarah.

Ben's best picture (it turned out cute, I thought)

We spent the night at Mom and Dad's again Thursday night and then headed to Salt Lake Friday morning for some much needed shopping. We wanted to take the kids to the Living Planet Aquarium in Salt Lake and even though they were exhausted, we decided to try it. After having been to the Baltimore Aquarium so many times the kids were a little surprised at how small it was (Sarah Kate asked where the dolphin show was.) Even though it was small, the kids enjoyed it. Some of the favorite things we saw were the jelly fish, sea horses, the pretend boat, the electric eels, and the sting rays (you got to pet them.) It was a fun outing and they did very well, especially considering how tired they were. After the aquarium we headed home. It was a fun little outing for our little family.

Looking at the sea horses.

Watching the sting rays.

Sarah Kate touched one of the sting rays, but didn't like the slimy feeling. We tried to get her to do it again for a picture, but she didn't want to feel it again. This is as good a picture as we could get.

Gracie loved looking at the fish. Her face is sooo cute.

Ben peeking his head out of one of the holes in the play area.