Elsie is loving baby Porter. She is a big helper. Tonight we asked her to get a diaper...and she did. This is the first time she has ever opened the drawer...she did such a great job...(so of course we did it again so we could get it on video.) As you can tell she continues to make great progress! Shes a great little girl!

And here is a little shot with Porters eyes open...he seems to have his days and nights mixed up right now...so eyes open in the day is kinda rare. He is such a cute little boy! We sure do love him!

So here what we did the last few days...

As I said, we were admitted to the hospital because Porter had Jaundice and wasn't keeping the supplement formula down (and my milk hadn't come in yet).
Well, we knew we would have to stay the night for him to have photo therapy.
Brent and I were watching him in the isolette and we noticed that his breathing looked really weird. So we called the nurse in and she said that sometimes babies just breathe weird. Well, Brent suggested checking it out, just to be safe. So they hooked him up to the monitors, and sure enough, he wasn't breathing good. His SAT's kept dropping a lot lower than the Dr's felt comfortable with. So we went onto trying to figure out WHY he was doing this.

We did a chest x-ray, ruled out pneumonia, RSV and stuff like that.
The Dr. ordered an ultrasound for his head. Because of his vacuum delivery, they wanted to make sure there wasn't any bleeding on the brain. All looked good with that test.

He had to be put with oxygen, just breathe by, a tube placed by his face to help him get more air. That helped him keep his SATs up.

Our Dr. said she wanted to put Porter on caffeine. It helps to stimulate the brain and remind the baby to breathe. She also said we were very lucky that his jaundice got us to the hospital.

I am glad that we took him there for being yellow...if we would have waited, we would be taking him for being blue!

So we gave him the caffeine late...one of the nights (it is all a blur to me). He hated it and threw it all up. Gave him another dose with some breast milk, which he took just fine. A couple hours later, at about 1:00 a.m. he woke up acting so weird, crying, but just really off. But I guess that was due to caffeine. It makes the babies really irritable and uncomfortable for the first little while of being on it. After that he slept good...not me...how good can you really sleep with your baby all hooked up to monitors!

Then we tried a car seat study for the second time...he failed it previously. He didn't pass again. A car seat study is a test they usually give preemie babies before they can come home from the hospital. The baby has to stay in the car seat for 90 min. without dropping too low in his SATs. So they move onto the car bed study...it is like a car seat, only the baby lays flat to not obstruct the airway. So he passed that test so that is why we got to come home.

We were sent home with all kinds of goodies. He went home in a car bed. He still needs to have a billi-blanket to get rid of the little bit of jaundice he has left. We were also sent home with a SAT monitor as well as an apnea monitor. So needless to say, we won't be going anywhere for a while! Sure wish I would have gotten my Christmas shopping done!

So he still will have a dose of caffeine every night, for a couple weeks. Then we will see. At that point he may be taken off it, and monitored for a while longer to make sure he doesn't need it anymore.

As far as why he is doing this...we don't know. The pediatrician thinks that his body is just younger than what we think...who knows...I just hope he gets over it soon. It is hard to cuddle a baby with lots of wires attached!

(Porter in the billi-blanket)

And yes...we did spend Thanksgiving here at the hospital...actually our second year in a row. Last year we were with Brent's Mom. A tradition we do not want to keep up!

The girls made some pictures for Porter to look at while laying in his huge giant bed!

He is such a sweet little guy! I feel bad he has to go through all of this!

Lots more updates to come!!!

4 more days in hospital...

So, I will write more later, but we got home tonight from the hospital after 4 days there with Porter.

It started out because of jaundice

and him beginning to be dehydrated (because my milk hadn't come in) and he threw up when we tried to supplement....and ended up being so much more.

But we are home now and things are good.

I will go into more detail later....but it is so good to be home now!

Launching Rockets!

This afternoon we took little Porter out to launch rockets!

The girls built rockets with Dad a few days ago, so we went to watch the take-offs!

Happy Elsie...

Cassi getting ready to push the launch button...

3...2...1...blast-off!

Then the rocket comes down with the parachute.

Madi's went very high!

Elsie with Aunt Em...we love Aunt Em!

Little Porter...I guess not so into rockets yet...

Did I mention how happy Brent is to have his little BOY!!!

Porter B.

Again...can I even tell you enough how much this little guy has wormed his way into our hearts!

I thought I would write a little bit about how he made it here.

We got to the hospital right at 6:00.

They started the PIT and broke my water by 7:00.

I was still only dilated to a 2 at that point.

At 9:00 I was at a 4.

Dr. predicted he would be born by 10:00.

At 9:45 they checked me again, I was still a 4! Uhhggg!!!

So, we just had to wait.

I got an epidural. Yay!

They checked me again at 10:30, I was a 9...finally baby time.

They called the Dr. in and we started pushing.

Well, Porter was posterior, face up, which meant the pushing wasn't doing any good.

They brought out the suction so they could turn and pull him at the same time.

His head finally came out, but the cord was wound very tightly around his neck.

So tight the Dr. had to cut the cord before Porter could come out any further.

He came out not breathing. Didn't breathe for about a minute and a half.

The nurses had called the NICU to come and take him.

I saw him for only a second and they took him away.

Brent got to go with him.

We were so worried.

We had to deal with the NICU with Madi, and didn't want complications like that again.

Brent came back and said they were just working with him to get him to breathe the way they wanted him to.

We sat and worried.

For almost 2 hours we didn't see him.

Finally we found out he was sent to the baby nursery.

So we went to visit him.

His poor little head, not only did he have the cone-head that all my babies get, but his head was so bruised and mushy from the suction...poor guy. If you accidentally touched it he would wail. I am sure he had a major headache too!

They didn't have a room ready for me, so I just sat in the nursery and held my brand new beautiful baby boy.

He is so perfect.

I was in love instantly.

The girls came to visit a little while later.

We are all in love with this little guy.

Oh, and did I mention how proud Brent is.

It is so amazing to have this little man in our family.

He fits perfectly here.

First Football Game

I can't even tell you how much we are in LOVE with this little guy!!!

Here he is, finally home watching the BSU game with his Daddy! Daddy has been waiting for this day forever!!!

I will write more later...

But our little guy is just perfect!!!

Meet Little Porter

This is my little man Port. He gave us a little scare earlier but after a short stint in the NICU all is good. This is the extent of my posting abilities so you will have to wait for Kimi to return for more. He was 8lbs 4oz. and 21 3/4 long.

Friday, 6:00 a.m.

Well, Friday will be the day.

My doctor will induce me early...he doesn't want me to mess up his Thanksgiving.

I am sure he is sick of me whining too!

I shouldn't have counted on him being as early as the other kiddos...

Obviously he will be his Daddy's boy...STUBBORN!

I just can't wait to meet him!

Preggo picts

My AMAZING friend Alesha took some preggo picts for me a couple weeks ago. I figured I should document this pregnancy. I have so few picts of me pregnant with the girls, and this will be the LAST time I am pregnant, so I wanted some pictures to cherish...I think she did such a great job. Believe it or not...I am even bigger now! Yikes!

Welcome...

Nope...not my baby...YET!!!

But my neice had her little boy

BRIDGER KADE BUCHANAN

on November 9...

Then to rub it in even more my little sister had her baby

SEAN NICHOLAS STORMS, JR.

on November 12.

Aren't they cuties?!!!?!

So his buddys are here...now we are just waiting for our guy!!!

Update

Room is painted

Bags' all packed

Still pregnant!

Birthday Pictures

You try and try to get them to pose perfectly...

Then when you finally just let them just do their 'thing'...

You get the cutest stinkin pictures!

Happy birthday Cass!

She HAD to wear the boots!!! And in case anyone was wondering....yes, they are about 3 sizes too big! But SOOO Cassi!

Happy #5 to our Crazy Cass!

Happy 5th birthday to our Cassidy Leath!

This little kiddo has always put adventure in everything that we do.

Cassi has energy like I have never seen before.

She is always hopping from one thing to another.

Cassi is also the most lovable little girl we have. She always wants a cuddle.

She has a tender little heart that doesn't like to hurt others feelings, or get her feelings hurt.

She isn't afraid to try anything.

No matter how scary it might be...or how gross it is...or how high it is, she will try it.

Cassi also loves to do anything that her big sister does. I know it annoys Madi alot, but Cassi really looks up to her.

My little Cassi has become the best little helper with Elsie. She will play with her for hours and take care of anything that Elsie needs help with. That is gonna come in real handy when this baby comes.

She is also just an all-around great helper. She is the one who is willing to do any chore you ask her to do. She wants to make us happy and she is such a great little girl.

Her favorite thing to say is "CAN I HAVE A SNACK?" I can't even tell you how many times I hear that in a day!

Cassi is a beautiful little girl with sunshine eyes...as you can see from her pictures of years past, those sunshine eyes have always been around.

Cassi is a sparkle in our everyday lives.

We love you so much Crazy Cass!

Hope you have a wonderful day!

10 days old

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

Also 4

Almost 5 years old

I will take her out later today and do some actual birthday pictures.

Happy Birthday Cassi!

Birthday Dinner

Cassi chose to go to Red Robin for her Birthday dinner...big shocker, right?

Anyway...we had a fun time.

Here is a shot of our side of the table.

I had to put this picture in...I think I look better here than I have in many months!

The other side of the table

The birthday girl getting sung to.

Let the Celebrations begin!!!

Cassi's birthday is tomorrow. She has been asking to go swimming every day since our pool closed. So I thought today would be the perfect day to do it. We all had a fun time.

Now dinner tonight...party and sleepover to come tomorrow!

Pre-birthday girl!

Smiley Elsie...she loves swimming!

Cassi on the slide...she kept saying to me after we were done swimming..."See Mom, I'm not chicken!"

Brent with all the cuties he picked up at the pool!