The Lindsey Loop: October 2008

I can't believe my baby (for the next 3+ months) turned 3! I wanted to post on her actual birthday (Oct 3rd) but it was such a stressful day that there was NO way that was going to happen. We didn't own a digital camera when she was born so I've been scanning in pictures of her when she was tiny so you can all see some of the things she went through and how far she's come! I'm probably going to do multiple posts throughout the next couple days so I'm not here for hours... But all in all there will be LOTS of pictures =). Some of them will be similar but I can't not post them all =). She's such a sweet girl and we are so glad that we're able to be her parents. Even through we've gone through so many trials to help her, it's all been worth it. She's got such a spunky personality and we just love her so much! We can't imagine life any other way than with her =).

The night of Oct 2nd, 2005 was VERY eventful. Rhett was in the ER all night. He was having severe abdominal pains. He was on IV's, pain meds, and having lots of testing/scans done. We probably didn't leave the hospital until about 5 in the morning on Oct. 3rd. I was scheduled to be induced in just hours, and had NO sleep and a VERY drugged husband! Lovely! The delivery room tried calling me multiple times that morning to let me know I needed to come get checked in by guess what I was doing! That's right, sleeping! I think I woke up around 10 or so and dragged Rhett to the hospital (I think I might have been the one driving...). We got checked in okay and started on my pitocin. I got my epidural almost immediately after the doctor broke my water (I think I was maybe a 2 or 3 when he did that so it was NOT pleasant!). I'm all about the pain meds as soon as I'm able. Both my kids were coming along posterior and therefore I had MAJOR back labor, along with normal labor pains =). Jordan came pretty quickly (compared to her Brother's 36ish hours in labor...). She was born I think around 5 that evening. She had 2 9's on her apgar, weighed in at 7lbs 1oz and was 20.5 inches long. it was VERY obvious right when she came out that something was wrong with her spine. They immediately called the ICU people to come into the room (I think there's a button somewhere in the room that calls them automatically... It was really fast that they came in...). Thankfully Jordan was breathing very well on her own so they were able to keep her on her stomach the entire time. They got the "opening" on her back covered with sterile stuff pretty quickly and then we all learned that UVRMC in Provo, UT doesn't have a neurosurgeon which Jordan would need to surgically close her spine/back. She was taken by the "life flight" team (by ambulance though) up to Primary Childrens Hospital in Salt Lake a couple hours later. They had to wait for them to drive down from Salt Lake to get her- and thankfully she was so stable that they were able to take her by ambulance. Both my mom and my mother-in-law flew in that night once they got word that their new grand daughter was going to have some health problems. You might be wondering about where Bennett is during all this... The week before I delivered Rhett was in AZ for his friends graduation and had taken Bennett down there with him. My mom offered to watch him down there so we wouldn't have to worry about finding a place to take him when I delivered. What a blessing! So Bennett flew back up with my mom that night. My mom and Bennett stayed the night in South Jordan with my Grandma (after vising Jordan in SLC) and Connie and Rhett stayed in a hotel close to Primary Childrens (after Rhett was up at the hospital with our home teachers to give Jordan a blessing). I guess that night was pretty eventful at the hotel with Rhett having more stomach problems and still being drugged up... I'm glad I was able to miss that! So here I was, in Provo, having delivered my daughter hours earlier, alone and in a different city from my child. That was hard. And on top of that I wanted to nurse her so I was up frequently pumping my heart out with no baby to help =). I was discharged about 2 days later (I think!) and went up to SLC to see Jordan. She had surgery the day after she was born and that went really well. She was discharged from the hospital 6 days after she was born, which is really good for her having spina bifida. Enjoy the pics. I'll give some explaination underneath the pics.

Jordan in her isolette (sp?!) on the way to the ambulance

On her way to SLC!

Pics of our pretty princess soon after she was born. I think this was in her room at Primary's.

You can see her bandages from her surgery. She had to stay on her stomach until she was about 5 days old. Look how red her face/body is! Poor dolly. They kept her diaper undone and had what they called a "mud flap" covering her incision too so that poop wouldn't get close to it =). It was so fun learning how to clean that up =)

Finally on her back!

And with the diaper on all the way...

Some pictures at about 2 months old at Jordan's blessing. She hadn't had her shunt put in at this time so ou can see how funny looking and big her head is.

Jordan is about 3 or 4 months old. She had just had her shunt put in and was having a very hard time getting off her vent. I guess I would too with RSV and pneumonia!