When Southwest flights end up being $69.00 each way, I had to take advantage of that and go see my family. Brian and I decided we would not be going to Utah for Thanksgiving, so I ended up booking a flight for me and the boys to go for the first two weeks of November.
We had a great time visiting with my family. My dad ended up having a knee replacement while I was out there and it turned out while he was in the hospital recovering I was at their house in Sun River taking care of the construction guys. They had a flood in their kitchen and had to tear out their kitchen flooring and cabinets.
I also had to spend a lot of time working on Young Women’s stuff as I had YW in Excellence the night I flew home. It was busier than I would have like, but we loved every minute spent in sunny St. George.
This was Diesol's first attempt to eat fry sauce. Forget about dipping fries in it, he thought it was better to eat it straight.
The boys loved riding these little cars Grandma and Grandpa Holt have. They would ride them around the kitchen until we kicked them out and then they would ride them around and around in the garage. Titon was quite the good little driver and would take Diesol on rides. It brought smiles to everyone's faces. I especially loved the tongues in this one.
Another highlight was being able to go to Time Out for Women with my sisters, my sister-in-laws, and my mom. What a fun day it was to be with these beautiful women and daughters of God and be spiritually uplifted as well. I love them all and love the fact we do this…. Looking forward to next year!
Here are the wonderful ladies I was able to go with. We wanted to get a picture in front of the big projector screen, but as we all got up in front of it, they turned it off. We still ended up getting the picture, but it was an awesome blank screen, don't you think?
My beautiful sisters and mom!
We were able to take a break and eat a yummy Cafe Rio styled lunch thanks to Hollie and Caren. They called it in and picked it up for us. I especially loved the great weather and the sunshine.
I was so lucky and was able to attend the blessing of my new little nephew Hudson in Las Vegas while I was out there. What a blessing this little boy is. He is our miracle baby and a wonder to be here. His mom is one of the bravest and strongest women I know. My pregnancies are nothing compared to what she went through. My hats off to you Chanda. You are amazing. Here is Cory, Chanda, Alesha, Kylie, and baby Hudson. We love you guys!
Baby Hudson in his blessing outfit.
New mommas and their babies. Chanda with Hudson and Jacque with Jayte. Love them babies!
Grandma’s
He was born on Wednesday, May 15th, at 5:41 p.m. weighing 8lbs, 4oz and was 21" tall. Jenny was scheduled to be induced as her doctor thought the baby was going to be around 10lbs, and both Jenny and the doctor didn't want to have a big baby, so Jenny and Brian checked into the hospital the night of Tuesday, May 14th, which was two days after her due date (May 12th). After a couple of pills and monitoring through the night, they started Pitocin the next morning, which kicked off labor. It was a pretty easy labor and delivery. Thank you to modern technology and medicine! Jenny only had to push twice and out Traccor came with a head full of dark hair! We had such a hard time this time picking out a name for our little man. Nothing really stuck out, but we finally decided Thursday night right before he was transported. His middle name 'Cade come from a trip we took to the Cascade Mountains.
Ariana and Trac
Titon and Trac
Diesol with Trac
He seemed healthy at birth, but we learned by the next morning that he had developed spontaneous Pneumothorax, which most likely happened at his birth when he took his first breath. During that first breath, it was so much force going down through his little body, that it made a tear in his left lung, causing it to collapse and the air pocket to form. They believe his lung wasn't fully developed. Even though he was a full-term baby, his lungs looked like a 37 week old.
Poor little guy had it rough. He was breathing at least twice as hard as he really should have been. They tried to treat him with Oxygen therapy throughout that day at St. Peters, but it had no effect, so with the guidance of Seattle Children's Hospital Doctors they decided to transport him to the University of Washington NICU, while he was somewhat stable before the next procedure. That was probably the hardest thing to say goodbye to him and let three strangers take him away as neither Brian nor Jenny could ride along. Once he was on his way to Seattle, Jenny still had to go through the discharge process and then home to gather a few more things and spend a couple of minutes with the rest of the family before we left as we didn't know when we would be back.
We arrived at the NICU about three hours after Trac arrived. We were met by his nurse and doctor as we walked down to his room, telling us they were about to do an emergency procedure to place a chest tube down through the ribs to the air pocket, which would continuously pull the air out of the air pocket allowing his lung to heal and restore itself. This news was definitely a shocker as we thought this was the last resort procedure, we soon learned that they had already tried another procedure where they stick a small needle down through his chest to let the air seep out. When they did that one, the pocket just filled back up with air again. After that, Trac wasn't doing so good. His coloring wasn't very good and he was pretty lethargic. As they were prepping for the chest tube, we were able to go in for a few minutes to see him. It is not an easy thing to see your baby, who seemed healthy at birth, and who just went through additional procedure without us, hooked up to several monitors, IV, and tubes.
It was good though to see him and let him know we were there. We had to step outside the room for the procedure, which didn't last long at all. Our emotions were running pretty high, but during the procedure Jenny really felt peace and comfort know everything would be okay. She knew the prayers that were being said on our behalf and felt that the priesthood blessing Trac received before he was transported was taking place.
The chest tube placed Friday morning worked wonderfully. The air pocket was gone and his lung seems to be healed by Saturday night, so they were able to take out the chest tube. It was just a matter of weaning him slowly off the oxygen and additional air flow. We had two wonderful nurses who stayed on top of it and ensured we moved to the next step of his recovery as soon as he was ready. By Monday morning, we were taking our little man home. Brian and I stayed in the room with him, taking turns sleeping between the couch and a reclining chair. Needless to say, we were all glad to be going home with our little man!
Since being home, he has been doing great. He went from 7lb 11oz right out of the hospital to 9lbs 8oz about two weeks later.
We love this guy. He is strong and has been such a trooper with his rough start to life. We are so grateful prayers were answered and that this little one is still around. Ariana, Titon, and Diesol all love him and the boys are especially loving being big brothers.
Grandma’s
