Our Beautiful Baby Ashtyn Arianna

I was able to work for almost three weeks. And then on Wednesday June 1st,2011 I was experiencing what I thought was just a bad back ache. I went to bed really tired. I woke up in the middle of the night to relieve my bladder, which had become a very normal thing for me to do. I remember checking the clock and it was 4 am. I was thinking that it sucked that I was going to have to get up in two hours to get ready for work. I was laying in bed when all of a sudden, my pants were soaked. I thought I had peed my pants. I got up and changed and attempted to go back to bed again. And again, my pants were soaked. At this point I woke Jake up and we headed to the hospital where we were told that my water had broke and we would be having baby Ashtyn six weeks early.

I was overwhelmed with feelings of excitement and fear. Fear for my baby that was coming into the world too early, fear for myself because I didnt know what to expect with childbirth, fear for Jake and myself on becoming new parents, and excitement to finally be meeting the little girl that had been kicking me in the ribs for the past few weeks. My labor was short and sweet, unlike what the doctor and nurses had told us to expect. I was told that I would be in labor for a few hours. I made the decision to get an epidural,which was a very interesting experience. The anesthesiologist had to put mine in twice because I couldnt relax enough for him to get it into the right spot. Once he did, it did its magic. It was then that I was told to expect a few hours until my labor would start progressing. Jake needed to run home (which was about 10 minutes away from the hospital) to get our cell phone chargers and a few other things from home. He was gone for about 15 minutes before I started to feel a slight pressure, the nurse came in and checked me and said that I was to the point that I could start pushing. I had to wait for Jake to get back and once he was there, I pushed for about 10 minutes, and then Ashtyn was here!

She was born at 2:06 pm on June 2nd, 2011. Born at 4 lbs 10 oz and 16 1/2 inches long. She looked beautiful. What a miracle!!

My mom got to cut the umbilical cord and she was soo happy to be able to do that!!!!

Ashtyn was born with only slight breathing problems. Our respiratory therapist was Mr. Bentley's wife from Sanpete. It was so awesome to have someone that I was so close to be there to take care of my baby. I knew that she was in good hands. I gave birth to Ashtyn at American Fork Hospital. The pediatrician that was on call said that they were going to give Ashtyn some surfactanct to help keep her lungs inflated and they would put her on a CPAP in hopes that that would be all that she needed to help improve her breathing. Unfortunately, he felt that she was going to need a respirator inserted to help her progress to the point of breathing on her own. American Fork Hospital didnt have the capability to keep her there with her needs, so they made the request to have her transported up to IMC Medical Center in Murray. So a few short hours after she was born, she was taken away from us. I had to stay the night in the AF hospital, and let my little newborn be taken by herself up to IMC. The next morning I was very anxious to get released so that I could get up to the other hospital and be with my baby. When we arrived at IMC, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that Ashtyn had only needed the respirator for the ambulance ride up to the hospital, and hadnt needed any other oxygen supports since then. She was progressing so well! The IMC hospital had parent rooms that we were able to stay in for free while Ashtyn was critical. I cannot begin to express what a blessing that was. I spent as much time with her as I could. I couldnt get enough of her. She was perfect!! Once she started to really gain weight, the doctors made the choice to transport Ashtyn back to American Fork hospital where she was able to be closer to home. We were so glad to have her so close. She only had to spend 17 days in the NICU between the two hospitals and then she was able to come home! Jake received a fantastic Father's Day present, his baby girl came home! We were very anxious to have her home with us, but nervous at the same time. The first few days at home were very nerve racking, every little sound that she made, I was there by her side to make sure that she was still alright. At nearly 2 and a 1/2 months, I cant say that that has really changed :-). She is my perfect little baby and I simply cannot get enough of her. I love every day that I get to spend with her, and I am so grateful that she is doing so well. She is such a little trooper, and I cant help but to think that that blessing is coming from her sweet guardian angel, Arianna. We are so blessed to be able to name our baby after such a sweet little girl. I know that our baby was able to spend time with Ari while they were in Heaven together, and I hope that that bond is held throughout Ashtyn's life.

I am very excited for the opportunity we have to be Ashtyn's parents, I am excited for the journey that we have started. I love my little girl more than I could ever express. She is so perfect in every way!

Our Life as of Lately... and the Past year!

Well Hello Blogger World!!! I think that it has been way too long since I have made a visit :-) I have so much that I have to catch up on.

This past year has gone by in a blur! My last blog post was announcing my first pregnancy,well that pregnancy was very short lived. I miscarried at 7 weeks. I know that I wasn't that far along, but it was a very rough time. For those of you that have had the unfortunate experience of a miscarriage you know that you feel the biggest feeling of loss and disappointment.

Shortly after my miscarriage, Jake and I moved to Ketchikan, AK. We drove the car on a 17 hour drive to Bellingham, WA, where we boarded the Ferry. It was a 3 day ferry trip from there to Ketchikan.

These are just a few of the pictures that we have from our ferry ride. We had alot of fun on the ship. It was like a mini cruise. We didn't want to pay $250 plus a night for a mini sized room to sleep in, so we slept in the theater room. They had cushions on the seats that came off and we used them as pads. I unfortunately, get motion sickness really easily and had to live on Dramamine. We met alot of neat people on the ferry ride, alot of them were retired people that we just traveling.

We arrived in Ketchikan on August 29, 2010. We were greeted by a very welcoming Ron and Vicki. It was so good to see them. I immediately started working the next day and The Gateway Center for Human Services as a Behavior Health Associate. That was an experience that I will forever be grateful for. I learned to be very appreciative of my health. I worked with many people that were struggling with mental, substance and physical abuse, and ages that ranged from preschool to adults. There were some clients that would come into our office so sad, and after having just an hour of therapy from any of our therapists, they would leave with a huge load removed from their shoulders. It was great to be part of such an amazing team of people.

We were welcomed into a great LDS ward, and we enjoyed every Sunday that we had there. They were all so great. I was called to be a primary teacher for the 7-8 year olds, and I loved it. Those kids taught me more about the Gospel than I did them.

Since I had had my miscarriage, we had been trying again to conceive, and in October of 2010, I had a positive pregnancy test. I was soooo excited. I was really nervous though, I didnt want to get myself excited and have the disappointment that followed if I were to miscarry again. I didnt tell anyone that I was pregnant until about 12 weeks along. That was a very hard secret to keep. I scheduled my first appointment and was very relieved to see a strong heartbeat. Our baby was real! That first ultrasound just looked like a little lima bean, but it was still sooo dang cute!

Soon after finding out that I was pregnant, I came down with a severe case of bronchitis. I was coughing non-stop day and night. And then I got another round of kidney stones... or so I thought! Jake had me go the ER for my coughing and pain from "kidney stones," after a quick urine test, I was told that I was only experiencing tendon stretching from being pregnant. Boy was I embarrassed. :-) They sent me home with an inhaler for my bronchitis and said to stick out with the back pain. I had spent the last week sleeping on the hardwood floor because it relieved my "kidney stone" pain. Ha ha!

I had the idea that i was going to try and do a natural birth with no drugs, but I was soon faced with reality when I found out that there would not be an option for an epidural if I stayed in Alaska. We made the decision to move back to Utah, not only because of the epidural, but that did play a HUGE part in the decision. We purchased plane tickets for me and ferry tickets for Jake and the car. The family flew Brian out to Alaska for Thanksgiving so that he could ferry back with Jake. We enjoyed a very good Thanksgiving holiday with Ron and Vicki, it was a nice send off for us. We thoroughly enjoyed spending the time that we did with them. It was great to get to know them, since I hadnt really gotten the chance before that.

The flight home was miserable, I was in the middle of my bronchitis which meant I had lots of nasal plugging. Taking off and landing made my ears pop and snap, which was very painful. The trip couldnt have gone faster. I was very relieved when I landed in Salt Lake.

Soon after moving back to Utah, my grandparents offered their basement apartment to us. That was such a great thing for us at the time, we were struggling to find Jake or myself employment. Little did we know, that was going to be nearly a 7 month battle.

In January we had to experience the loss of our niece, Arianna Lane. She had been fighting a nearly two year battle with LCH, and she lost that struggle in January. We were able to spend many hours with Ari and her family at Primary Children's hospital in Salt Lake. We were able to get to know Ari's sweet spirit, which is why we asked Travis and Haley's permission to name our baby after theirs.

For Valentines Day, my mom and Jake took me to Fetal Studios in South Towne Mall. We were there to find out if we were having a boy or a girl. It didnt take long for the technician to see that we were having a girl!! My mom had been telling me throughout the pregnancy that I would be having a girl, so all she could say was I told you so. Jake and I were both excited, it just took Jake a little longer to realize it!!

The next few months went by really quick and fairly smoothly. I made the decision to go back to Kroger in May and I was planning on working up until I had the baby, which was supposed to be nearly 8 weeks. But our little Ashtyn had other plans.