Monday, July 30, 2012

Pioneer Day

Our lives have been so crazy lately that we completely forgot it was pioneer day until we heard fireworks that night.  So we lit our fireworks off the next night instead.  We invited my mom, sister, and my sister's friend over to use up the last of our sparklers.
And I have to include these pictures as well:
 It's always hard to take a good picture when you are holding the baby you are trying to take a picture of....

Monday, July 23, 2012

Progress

This week has been all about celebrating progress.

When we were first home all last week, Clara took a few days to adjust to being home again.  We celebrated her progress in controlling her tantrums.
Joseph was able to start getting to practice eating on his own.  I've been driving down 2 times a day to feed him and he's slowly catching on.  Last night I was informed that he now gets to eat 3 times a day, which is another progress to be celebrated.
Jeremy got his stitches out this week and was told he can take his arm out of the sling periodically throughout the day.  We still have another month with him needing to wear it, but at least he gets to take his arm out every once in a while.

I'm finally getting my schedule down.  With taking care of Jeremy and Clara at home and going to the hospital twice a day, it's been rough trying to figure out how to use my time wisely.  But I've made progress too and am not feeling so overwhelmed these days. And I feel so blessed to have these 2 wonderful children in my life.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Jeremy's Surgery

With the very unexpected delivery of our son, we talked about putting Jeremy's surgery off.  However, we decided that since he was in so much pain, and it would be while before Joseph was home, we should just go ahead and have him keep his appointment.

So Tuesday, July 10, Jeremy's Dad drove him to the Riverton hospital at 6:00 am.  (Which meant that 3 of our 4 family members were in 3 different hospitals in 1 day.)  By 8 am, Jeremy was in the OR.  The surgery took about an hour and a half.  But it was successful!  And Jeremy even got to bring home some pictures of the surgery.
Jeremy got to spend Tuesday and Wednesday at his parent's house so they could take care of him since I was still in the hospital.  Jeremy was feeling well enough again on Thursday to come and join me back at the hospital.  I know he still looks out of it, but I was so grateful to not be by myself anymore that I had to take a picture of him.  Look at that sling!
Luckily, I was released later that night so we were both able to sleep comfortably in our own home.

We are both doing great considering we've both had surgery in the last week.  But it is so nice to be home as a family and can't wait for little Joseph to come home and join us!

Welcoming Joseph Cooper Beck

So on Friday, July 6, I dropped Clara off at my sister's (for what I thought would be an hour) while I headed to my 34 week doctor appointment.

As soon as the nurse took my blood pressure (twice,) the Dr came in and told me to head to the hospital immediately for a non-stress test.  I was thinking that they would just do the non-stress test and send me home on best rest for the duration of my pregnancy.  About an hour after arriving, the nurse came in and told me to get Jeremy there ASAP because I would most likely be having the baby that night.

Jeremy arrived just before the Dr did.  My blood pressure was so high that the baby needed to come ASAP.  The doctor told me that they could induce me, but sine I was only 34 weeks, it rarely works.  My blood pressure was high enough that I was at a very real danger of having seizures (or a stroke.)  So he highly recommended a c-section so that I could get the baby out quickly.

Joseph Cooper Beck was born at 5:25 pm on July 6th.  He weighed 4 lbs 5 oz and was 15.5 inches long.  They were able to put him next to me before they took him to the level 2 nursery.  (American Fork Hospital's version of NICU.)
Jeremy got to go with him and take pictures for me.
By 9 pm that night, the Pediatrician at AF Hospital decided that Joe needed to be transported to an actual NICU unit.  So they let Jeremy and I go in and hold him while they waited for the transport team to come and get our little Joseph.
They brought him into my room just before he left the hospital so I could see him one last time.  Here he is already to go for a ride in an ambulance.
While I was in the hospital, Jeremy would go over to see Joe and get lots of pictures for me. I also got to see my sweet Clara every day too.
Clara gets to go see Joseph on weekends, so the Sunday after he was born, Jeremy took Clara to go meet her brother.  I was sorry I wasn't there to see it, but Jeremy told me how sweet she was to him.
I especially loved that we were able to do face time, so I could see Joseph every time Jeremy went to see him!

Joseph was on a ventalator for only 1 day. He was then put on a C-Pap machine for another 2 days, but has since been able to breathe on his own. He is doing great for how premature he was. It seems as though he progressed far better than I did!

My blood pressure wouldn't go down, so I got to stay in the hospital for nearly a week.  I was finally released Thursday July 12, and I had been in there since the Friday before.  I almost didn't get to go home on Thursday either, but I pleaded with the Dr.  And finally at 5 pm Thursday night, he said I could go home with lots of meds!

As soon as I was released, I went to see my baby! I was able to spend about an hour with him before we had to leave.  (I had to make it to the pharmacy before it closed to get my blood pressure meds.)  But lucky for me, they moved him from NICU A to NICU B.  Which meant I got to actually hold him!  All anyone else got to do before that was touch him.
Joseph has since been upgraded to the NICU overflow area.  He's down to just learning how to eat orally (rather than being fed through a feeding tube.)  As soon as he can get that down, he'll be released.  But the pediatrician said that they usually don't learn that until 37 weeks, which is over a week away for us.  But here's to hoping for a quick learner!

And since today is Saturday, Clara got to go see her baby brother again.  She was so excited to wear her Big Sister T-shirt.  And we finally got our first family picture!

Zachreson Family Reunion

I was in charge of my family reunion this year.  We held it July 3rd and 4th.  We had everyone staying at our house, and Clara was loving having so many cousins to play with.

We started our reunion by visiting the Salt Lake City Cemetery.  We saw a few relatives, but the one I always like to visit best is this one.  He was the first Zachreson.  He came over to Salt Lake from Sweeden.  Sweedish tradition changes last names depending on your father's first name.  Mathias's father was Zacharias Anderson, so Mathias was the first one whose last name was Zachreson.  It was fun to have a little family history lesson for the family reuion.
We then headed over to Kenecott Copper Mine.  The kids loved walking around the visitor center.  We ended up staying a lot longer than I planned.  I had assumed the kids would get bored quickly, but they were entertained for quite a while.
Of course we had to watch the big trucks working in the mine too.
We ended the evening with a very small firework show.  We just had smoke bombs, flowers, and sparklers, but the kids loved it all.
The next day we headed to a park and then played in the water!
After everyone had showered and were clean from the water, we took our family pictures.  We were missing both my sister-in-laws due to some unforeseen health issues, along with the newest grandchild (at the time...)  But here is a picture of all my siblings, their kids, and the spouses that could make it.
 I figured I would end the reunion with a bang, so we watched Thanksgiving Point's firework show from a near by park.
And the Zachreson Family reunion isn't complete with out a game of late night Monopoly!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Hospital

Sorry I didn't post on Monday, but it's been an exciting week at the Beck house hold.  I will dedicate a post to each of the following happenings, but I know that there are many of you who don't even know some basics, so here is a quick summary:

Joseph Cooper Beck was born at 5:25 pm on July 6.  I was only 34.5 weeks along, so he is in NICU at one hospital and I'm still in a different hospital trying to get my blood pressure regulated (the reason for the sudden birth.)

Jeremy went ahead with his scheduled surgery on Tues, and is recovering well.  He actually got to come see me today in the hospital and was able to head to the other hospital to see Joseph.  Thanks John for being his chauffeur so he could visit us!

Monday, July 2, 2012

Bony Bankhart Lesion

We FINALLY got the results back from Jeremy's MRI this week, and he has a Bony Bankhart Lesion, which needs to be repaired with surgery.  So that will happen in about a week and a half.  And the recovery time puts him healing just in time for baby brother to come.  It's going to be an exciting month for us!

I have a niece that knows I always have a camera on me.  She frequently asks me to take her picture.  So for your view pleasure, here my my niece, Kaycee: