More About Kaylie

So we have even more good news to report! Kaylie is breastfeeding and doing amazing, her liver function is now in normal range, and she is doing extremely well managing her body temperature. So, they have to draw labs tomorrow, but then hopefully her arterial line can be discontinued and she will be in an open crib fully dressed. We are giving her a trial today to see how she does if we let her decide how much and when to eat. She is still requiring just a little bit of oxygen, but they said that she could go home on a little bit if she needs to. So we may be looking at being able to go home early next week, we'll keep our fingers crossed! The largest things that are keeping us here are her eating well enough and also her platelet levels are dropping slowly each day, but we will see if they level out and she can maintain them. Sorry, I know all of this is confusing, but she really is doing so much better!! To see pictures of our sweet little fighter, click on "Trixie and Mark" on our list (my in-laws). We'll contine to keep everyone updated and thank you all again for all your love and support and prayers and well wishes, we love you!!!!

Update from Utah

Sorry I have no pictures, but I wanted to quickly post and let everyone know that everything is going well here in Utah. We were life-flighted to Primary Children's because they found a large mass on Kaylie's liver. Cancer has now been ruled out and we are waiting to find out what type of infection she has so that they can treat it more effectively. Her bilirubin has dropped from near life-threatening to minimal, so now she is free of the three bili lights and she they are weaning her off of IV nutrition to breastmilk. They also know that she has some sort of genetic abnormality, but have no clue as to which one. Hopefully we will have more answers by the end of the week, but know that we are all doing well here and appreciate ALL the love and support that has been shown on our behalf. Thankyou everyone!!!

Kaylie Renee Skousen

Baby Kaylie is Coming

So this will be just a quick post to update everyone, but yesterday I started having regular contractions every 5 to 10 minutes apart. That wasn't all that extraordinary, except little Kaylie is still breech and we had an aversion (or whatever the heck it is they call it!) scheduled for Wednesday morning. But since the contractions kept up all day despite rest and rehydration, I thought I should call the Dr. and sure enough they told me to come in. I was having contracts every five minutes of mediocure intensity and dilated, but only to a 1. So we decided to attempt the aversion then and there. OH MY GOSH, never before have I felt such intense discomfort! Really! Anyways, to skip the details no one wants to hear anyways, it was unsuccessful. You don't know how disappointed I was to hear that a C-section is inevitable. Bummer. So, after monitoring me for a while, Kaylie was doing fine and I was calming down, so they sent me home in hopes that labor would stop or that they could delay the C-section a little longer because I am still a little over two weeks early. They gave me something to "help" me sleep, but I'm never trying those again. I couldn't get to sleep and then when Sammy woke up in the middle of the night, I couldn't "connect the dots" so to speak and am even now a little dizzy.
So now I am up bright and early (and yes, still having contractions) waiting until around 7 to give the good Dr. a call to verify that we should go back for the C-section because my water broke sometime during the night and I am having some bleeding as well. Man, if THAT doesn't necessitate a C-section, I will be quite irked. I am ready to just have this baby out and be done with the whole doctors thing, I have had way more than my fill lately! Sorry, I know I said a quick update, but oh well. We will try to get pictures posted soon for those of you who are far away! Wish us luck that nothing ELSE happens! :) (P.S. No, I really am excited to be having my baby and to know that soon I can hold that sweet spirit in my arms and have a little piece of heaven with me to make all of this worth it.)

The Latest

What do you get when you mix hot glue, ribbon, buttons, sparkly gems and four hours with nothing better to do?

Fifty hair bows ready to be sent out to the nieces and cousins! Needless to say, I had myself a great time coming up with new ideas for hair bows and by the time I stopped, I realized that there WAY too many for just my little girl (who won't even be able to wear them for a few years)

So, they are going to find new homes with nieces and cousins - the only secret is which ones are going to which little girls? :)

Upon further update of the Skousens, when I arrived home from playgroup this morning, I found some friends in the backyard. They aren't new, they actually live in the field behind our house - yes, the cows broke our fence and were grazing on what little grass we have on the side and back of our house. Thankfully Robert was able to get ahold of the cowboys who came and shooed the cows back through the fence and hopefully fixed it for good. Of course Sammy thought it was the coolest thing ever, yelling at them and just standing there watching them graze.

Family Visit

So I unfortunately did not get any pictures of our weekend, but I still wanted to share because it is actually something interesting and is not about the baby or Sammy (well, not entirely). My dad only works three days a week now, so they decided to come up for a visit even though he had to speak in church today. They arrived Thursday night and stayed until Saturday afternoon. Play group was canceled this week and my friend Bec and her family are in Australia, so Sammy has not played with anyone except boring old Mommy all week, so he was thrilled when my parents and two little brothers walked in the door. He was even more thrilled (if that is even possible) when they showed him the new toy they brought for him - a sorting barn toy.
We mainly just visited all evening, staying up late. Friday morning we went for a walk along the Idaho Falls river by the temple. It was kind of cold with the wind, but it was wonderful to get outside in the fresh air. Then we went out for pizza and came home and crashed. We spent Friday night playing the Farming Game with my parents and my little brothers played the Wii with Sammy happily watching.
To our amazement and delight, Robert was able to get Saturday off work, so we went to see the Titanic exhibit going on at the Museum of Idaho. It was cool to see the aritfacts and read about what happened and compare it to how the story was portrayed in the movie. Then, we went to go see the mommy and baby cows in the barn, which my brothers thought was so cool. After that, the guys went shooting and me and my mom got to have some "girl time" while Sammy took a nap. We got to chat, paint our toes, and get my next crosstitching project in the works. Then we met up with the guys at Big Judd's for a late lunch before my parents had to head home. It was so great to get to see my family again, we have really missed them after becoming accustomed to seeing them almost daily when we lived in Payson. Thanks for coming, Mom and Dad we really had a great time!

Baby Gifts

I have been beginning to recieve gifts for little Kaylee, which has gotten me even more excited for this little one to come, so I thought I would share them. First, in the picture above are the five little outfits my mom brought up this weekend on their visit (which was a blast!) As you can see, all are pink and they are also all 0-3 mo size, which is great! They are all way adorable from a little sweatsuit to a "princess" onesie to a winne the pooh outfit with striped pants! Thanks Oma!!

Next on the list of gifts is the wonderful baby quilt Robert's mom made. Not only are the colors wonderful and the quilted hearts charming, but it is amazing how fast she got it done! She had me pick out a design I liked way back in November when we were staying with them, but had been working on a full-sized quilt for Lisa's wedding up until January. Thanks Grandma!!

Last, but definitely not least, are the gifts Robert's older sister Kayla sent. First we recieved a pair of cute shoes for Kaylee to wear. They have little flowers are leather so they won't be uncomfortable. Then, she was so sweet and thought of Mommy (me) and all the little projects I have been pursuing and found a book of little sewing projects I can do for Kaylee. Things like making a diaper bag, PJ's and even a little hat! Thanks Auntie Kayla!!

Another Giveaway

Just a quick mention of another FREE giveaway going on at Make It & Love It (the button is on the side of my blog). Although tons of people enter, it couldn't hurt to try, right? The giveaway this time is for a matching set of belt, purse and capri's for a little girl. The capri's are size 3T, but even if those don't fit right now, the belt and purse are worth it! Good luck!

Great News

So we will NOT be having our baby this weekend. Turns out, the doctor wanted to do the aversion (sorry, I misheard him) tomorrow, monitor me for four hours, then send me home until I go into labor. When I heard that, I said "Seeya lata!" For those of you who may be unaware, my little brother Daniel was transverse (sideways), so they did this procedure with my mom and he almost died because the placenta tore away, but he was on top of it, so they couldn't see it with the ultrasound. Thankfully they had induced labor with her and everyone was right there to do an emergency C-section. But even then he was close to dying, can you imagine if that were to happen when I got home?!
I am also at higher risk for the placenta tearing because it isn't attached to my uterus very well (or at least that is why they think my mid-pregnancy hormone levels were high). With knowing all of this, it just didn't seem to be the right thing to do. So, we will wait it out a few more weeks and are considering doing the aversion when I am about two weeks away from my due date and then inducing labor following the aversion. They just like to do the aversion this early because the baby is smaller and easier to turn. But, in my mind it is an unnecessary risk and she may end up turning on her own in that time anyways, or, if we did do it she could also turn back breech again. If she is still breech at that time, we will try the aversion then and if THAT doesn't work, then we will see what our options are (which probably means a C-section, oh how fun! But we won't think that far for now)
And to my amazement, when I got out to the car following my appointment, I felt such immense relief at knowing I still have a little longer. I thought I would be disappointed because that is the way my feelings have been over the last week, but truly I am ok with waiting and making sure that little Kaylee is ready. So thank you all again for your love and support and we will continue to keep you updated!

Nesting Instinct

So you know that "nesting instinct" all expecting Mommies get? Well, mine has been driving me mad since Robert won't let me buy any more baby clothes (I think he still hopes it's a boy) and there is no crib or anything to decorate or set up to help me feel like we are ready for this baby to come. But this last weekend we went to Furniture Row and found this amazing bookshelf for really cheap. It has been bothering me pretty much since we got married that we didn't have anywhere to keep all our books and the number of boxes of books has grown each time we have moved. So, Monday night we went and picked it up and now I feel that my nesting instinct has been satisfied with being able to empty all those boxes of books and free up some room, not to mention it looks so nice! (And yes, that second to the bottom shelf is completely full of my nursing books)

And just another cute picture of my Sammy. Soon enough he will have to share the limelight with his little sister :)

Baby Kaylie Update

Ok, so we have pretty much decided that we are going to name this sweet little thing Kaylie/Kaylee (we don't know how we want to spell it yet), so I am going to start calling her that. I know everyone has probably been anxious to hear whether we are going to be induced or not and I'm sorry for the delay. We found out on Monday that baby Kaylie is breech, so we go back on Thursday for another non-stress test to see how she is doing and they will talk about when to do an inversion (spelling?) where they manually push on my tummy to turn her around and then we have the baby. The doctor was talking about doing this on Friday, but I was really quite overwhelmed with everything and he was unsure, so we will figure things out on Thursday for sure. So for now, we are still here and doing fairly well and we'll let everyone know as soon as we know more! Thanks for all the love and support!

Sammy and Daddy Time

I have to admit, Sundays are now my favorite day of the week because I get to watch Sammy spend time with Daddy. They have so much fun rolling around, pushing trucks, chasing each other around the house. Plus, Robert will let Sammy do some crazy things that I would never think of, but end up giving us quite a laugh. Like today, he gave Sam the water bottle so he could take a drink, which ended up with Sammy being drenched and quite surprised (hence the missing clothes)

Yesterday was great, too because Daddy was given the entire day off (a very rare happening around here) so after fixing a few things and doing the vaccuming for me, Robert took Sam to a gun show so that I could focus completely on the baby shower. They had a great time looking at guns and test driving a new Toyota Tundra (Robert's dream truck)

But most of all, I love it when they fall asleep together on the couch next to a blazing fire without a care in the world (sigh) and I get to sit back and feel so grateful for these two amazing, wonderful, sweet and simply fantastic boys (men, guys, whatever you want to call them) in my life - I am so blessed!

Baby Shower

So I hope Ashlee doesn't mind, but I wanted to share some pictures from the baby shower. I felt like it really went well and all who attended had an enjoyable time celebrating Ashlee and Nate's new arrival.

Here we are playing games. Take a good look at this one because it is the ONLY picture I am going to post of me being THIS pregnant :)

Ian Nathan Southwick. He is such a cute little guy! Sammy and I got to go visit with Ashlee Thursday night while our husbands were at class. Ian was born Wednesday night around 8:45 weighing 7 lbs 3 oz and measuring 20.5 inches.

This picture is so sweet, I just have to post it! Doesn't she look fabulous for just having a baby 24 hrs ago?! Geez! Ashlee is already such a wonderful mother and I am so excited we get to share in the new babies experience together!

Friday Night

It's a great Friday night when you spend it shopping with Mommy and Daddy at furniture stores with lots of things to destroy and end it with Oreo's smeared all over your face!

Baby Time

So I'm going to all this work (ok, so not a ton, but some) for my friend's baby shower this weekend and lo and behold, as my luck would have it, the lucky duck is having her baby today! She went in for a Dr. visit yesterday and they checked her and she was 90% and dilated to a 4, without having a single painful contraction!! And with her first baby!!! They induced her today because she has been on heparin therapy due to her blood clot and they want her off of it ASAP, which is understandable, but still! Not only does this mess up baby shower plans, but has also left me feeling many things, but mostly depressed that I'm not having my own baby. Such is life!

Baby Shower

So my friend Ashlee is having a baby boy two weeks before me and I am planning a baby shower for her, my first ever, and it has been so much fun! Yesterday I hauled Sammy with me to all my favorite craft stores and we started getting things together for the party next weekend.

First is the diaper cake. I feel like it turned out pretty well, it being my first attempt. The ribbon in the middle I found while shopping and I loved it so much that I decided to base all the invites, favors and decorations around this ribbon.

Gotta love duckies!! I couldn't really think of anything boyish that would work as a topper, but if anyone has any ideas, please let me know!

These are the favors I decided to go with. I wasn't going to do anything, but found these cute boxes at the dollar store and decided it would be fun to! Each is filled with spring colored M&M's and the whopper easter eggs along with a little "thank you" card in the colors coordinating with my ribbon.