Nicholas!!

Nicholas is now 4 months old. He is the happiest baby boy!! He is all smiles and loves to laugh and play with mom and dad. He weighs over 17 pounds, and I love all of his rolls, and chub!! He wears 6-12 month old clothes, depending on the brand. He has been in size 2 diapers for the last month and is quickly out growing them. I can't believe how fast my baby is growing. I am so excited to see him grow and change, but I wish that he would stay little for just a while longer!!

Nicholas loves bath time. He kicks and kicks, I think he runs about 5 miles in the bath tub every night. He loves his jumparoo, and is so happy to play in it. He still hates tummy time, but we still do it several times a day. He's getting better at it, and last a little longer every day. He loves to go swimming, but not as much as bath time. This last month we have had trouble with him sleeping at night. We have been working on it, but have to remember that he is still a baby, and not every baby is the same. We have a little bed time routine, he has a bath, then we rub him down with lotion/little massage, then read a book, and rocked to sleep. He loves the song "I am a Child of God" and if he is crying if you start to sing that song he will calm right down. I have tried other primary songs but others don't seem to have to same effect.

He is a drooling monster and can soak a bib in under an hour. He loves sucking on his hands and will hold and chew on a teething toy. With in the last week he has started to do raspberries with his tongue, which makes for a mess of drool or milk!! But it is about the cutest thing ever!! He has finally grown out of his puking stage, which I'm so grateful for. He no longer uses a burb cloth per feeding one can usually last a couple or more!!

In January we went to the Children's Hospital for a consult with a pediatric surgeon. Nicholas is scheduled to have surgery on the 6th of April to fix his hernia.

We love Nicholas so much and can't imagine life with out him!!

Gall Bladder

On December 28th Zac and I had just finished eating lunch (pepperoni pizza), when I went to the bedroom to finish getting ready for the day. I was blow drying my hair when all of a sudden I got the worst pain ever! I immediately dropped to my knees. I could hardly move. The pain was indescribable. I couldn't tell if i needed to use the bathroom, if I needed to puke or what. Zac didn't know what to do either. I was miserable. After about a half hour of no relief Zac decided that I needed to go up to the ER. We headed up to the ER only to be told that there was no Doctor and that I would have to go to the clinic. I was ticked. I was in so much pain, and couldn't even imagine having to go wait up at the clinic to see a doctor. So we headed to the clinic, but before we got there I vomited because of the pain. I was so glad that we had grabbed a bucket before we left or there would of been a mess in the car. When we got to the clinic they were kind enough to take me right back to see the doctor. After seeing the doctor for about five minutes he concluded that I was most likely having a gall bladder attack. He then sent me back up to the ER so that I could get something for pain. The gave me some morphine and gravol, and I finally had some relief. At 530 the doctor sent me home cause I was feeling better, and told me to take it easy and try not to eat anything fatty. That evening I laid on the couch and didn't do much, but that night everything changed, I started to puke, and could not stop. I was so nauseated that every time I moved I would puke. The next day I went back to the ER to get some fluids because I was worried about my milk supply because I couldn't keep anything down. While I was there they drew some blood. They sent me home a little while later. On Thursday I was feeling a bit better and thought that the worst was behind me. However, that night I looked in the mirror and I was yellow, and I was also having more pain. I had got my lab work back and my billi level was high but I didn't think much about it. Zac and I again loaded the baby up and went to the ER. I was given another shot of morphine for the pain and was told that I something was definitely up a that I needed to come back in the morning for repeat labs and that a surgeon would be contacted. Friday I went and did the repeat labs and by 1030 I was on my way to Lethbridge to see the surgeon. I sat in the ER in Lethbridge while I waited for a ultrasound, which was one of the most painful things ever. I was hurting pretty bad then when some one is pressing on you and moving a stick back and forth is really not pleasant. By 200 I was given the news that I would have to admitted because I had a stone in my common bile duct that was causing my jaundice and that I would need an ERCP and then my gall bladder removed. Well friends I do not recommend getting sick over the holidays.

By this time I was so sick and hadn't ate anything in days that I didn't have much milk so we were having to supplement Nick. I spend New Year's Eve laying in a hospital bed, hooked up to an IV, puking my guts out. It was a great start to the year!! We initially thought that Zac and Nicholas would stay in the hospital room with me, but I couldn't feed Nick and a crying baby in a little hospital room is not a nice sound. Nicholas just wanted me to rock and cuddle him, but because I was so weak and nauseated I couldn't. Nicholas and Zac went out to his moms were Grandma Susie helped out for the next week.

I was admitted on friday and waited until Tuesday afternoon for my ERCP. Because I was waiting for this procedure I wasn't allowed to eat, which wasn't that hard because I was nauseated. The stone was causing the bile to back up into my stomach so I constantly was puking bile. An ERCP is a procedure that were they put a tube down your throat, into the stomach and small intestine. Using dye they find the common bile duct and remove the stone. They sedate you, so really its not bad at all. After that was done I felt so much better. I was rarely nauseated, and was actually hungry. However, I was on the wait list for surgery to get my gall bladder out so I still could not eat anything. On Wednesday, the surgeon visited me and I was told that I would have surgery that day. I waited and waited and waited. By 530 that night I still had not had surgery. I was starting to get really frustrated because I wanted to be home with my family. I started to get really grumby, and was kinda rude to the nurses. Finally the told me that they had just talked to the surgeon and he had me booked for 900 that night. 900 came and went, and I was still not in surgery. At 1000 the nurse finally came and told me that I was not going to have surgery that evening. I was so mad that I started to cry. They finally let me eat something. All I wanted was jello, but they didn't have any so I had a half a piece of toast, and a couple sips of a carnation breakfast drink. This was a really bad idea! I was sick that night and in so much pain. Again I was NPO after midnight. The next day I was finally taken for surgery just after 1200, I waited in the pre op hold for about an hour before I was taken in to the OR. I was back in recovery by about 330, and to my room by 430. I was so thirsty that all I wanted was a huge drink of ice cold water. Felt so good after surgery. I got up right away and peed, so that I could go home. I was discharged that night!! It was the happiest day ever!! One week in the hospital, two surgeries later, and i was finally on the mend!!

I couldn't lift over 10 pounds for 2 weeks so my mom came to my house every day while Zac was at school to help with Nicholas. Nicholas took back to nursing, and my milk supply finally came back. I was really relieved. I love breast feeding and I was not ready to quite. It was a struggle at times and we still had to supplement with formula, but about 3 weeks later I was back in the game, and Nicholas was getting enough from me, and we quite supplementing. I hadn't lost my supply totally, I tried to pump about twice a day while in the hospital, and every day when Nicholas came to visit I would try to feed him, even though he wasn't getting much, his suckling helped to keep my supply up.

A month has past, and everything is finally back to normal. I feel great, and Nicholas is doing awesome. I really learned a lot during this trial, as did Zac. I was so grateful for amazing family members that stepped in and helped to care for Nicholas. He spend a lot of time with the Grandmas. I am so thankful for a loving husband who was so helpful, and caring. I am so grateful for the worthy priesthood holder that he is and that he was able to give me blessings when I needed them. I know that the Lord was watching over my family, and me. Even with everything that was going on with me, there were no complications with either of my surgeries, and I returned to full health, and had a really speedy recovery. I am so thankful for caring people in my ward who brought meals to us. I truly am grateful for the awesome, amazing family I have. Thank you so much for all your help!!

Have you ever....

not blogged in forever, and the thought of doing it is overwhelming? I have been thinking about blogging for the past month but every time I think about it, I push it to the back burner because there is so much that I haven't blogged about. So to help myself out I thought that tonight I would try to tackle the task.

Christmas this year was awesome! It was a bit lower key than most years because Nicholas and I were both feeling sick so we just hang out in Raymond and didn't travel any where. Not that we really travel much, usually we go into Lethbridge to the Live Nativity, then go to my dads for a little bit.

This year we started off the Christmas celebration on Saturday with the Williams Christmas party. It is always nice to get together with family and visit. Zac and I were in charge of the Nativity this year, which was a little stressful because it was the first year doing it and we didn't know how it would go over. It turned out really well and was a really good way to end the christmas party. I also won a door prize this year at the party which made it that much better!! The next day, Sunday we went to my dad's house. My brother and his family were there so we opened presents with them. The next week was pretty busy. Between the Dahl Christmas party, a dentist appointment, a doctors appointment, and finishing up shopping we didn't get a break.

We then kicked Christmas eve off at Grandma and Grandpa Dudley's by opening Gramma Jammas. This is always a favorite. This was Nicholas's first pair, and he loved them!! We than went to my mom's for a little bit while every one else went into the Nativity. We than headed out to Kevin and Monette's were we had a bit a visit. We headed over to grandma and grandpa Erickson were we put our jammies on and just relaxed.

Christmas day was pretty awesome!! I got spoiled!! As did Zac and Nicholas. This year I got a cedar chest, which was made by Grandpa Dudley and Zac, it was such a special gift that I will treasure always. I also got a bike trailer, which I am so excited to use this summer!! Zac got a guitar, and apple TV. Nicholas got a jumparoo, which he loves!!

We then went to my mom's house were we got spoiled some more. We than went to Grandpa and Grandma Dudleys for Christmas dinner. It was so good, and I ate way to much. It is so nice to get together and spend time with family. I love holidays for that reason!

On Boxing Day we headed out to Tim's (my brother) house. It is so fun when we visit with them. He has two little boys that are so cute and it is fun to see them play with Nicholas. Lexi is also such a good sister and plays with the boys so well. Tim bbq some steaks and we ate salads. it was a nice change from turkey. WE then had fruit and chocolate for dessert. Lexi than talked us in to playing some Phase 10, which is always a good time.

The next day Zac and I headed into Lethbridge to do a little Boxing Day Shopping. Because we had been really busy the week before Christmas we decided that the next day we were grounded and that we weren't going to go any where. This is when the most exciting part of christmas break happened.