Hunter's Announcement

Here's Hunter's announcement. We only sent one to people that aren't local so I figured I would also post it so everyone could see. This picture was at around 6 1/2 weeks. (He's still on oxygen, just took it off for some pictures!)

My Ten Motherhood Mysteries

1. How mother's survive on such little sleep?
2. Does the "front butt" ever really disappear?
3. Is a mother's house every really as clean as it once was?
4. Does time actually stop while you are looking at your child?
5. Where does the day actually go?
6. Does motherhood actually increase your ability to rhyme?
7. Does shopping for clothes ever become fun again?
8. Does motherhood come with an increased sense of sound (to hear your baby) and a decreased sense of smell to endure all sorts or baby bodily functions?
9. How do mother's accomplish so much with only the use of one hand?
10. Does any mother know they could love a little person so much?

More Pics!

Recent at top again!

He's Home!!!

Ok, so I've been a slacker/had a newborn home! It's official, he is home!! Hunter came home on February 17th. He was 4 pounds 13 ounces. They kept talking about him coming home and I just kept figuring they would wait until he was off the oxygen, but no, they sent him home on it. The blood transfusion did help the anemia and did reduce his oxygen even further, but he wasn't able to come completely off. Anyways, needless to say, I was bummed and so scared!! Nick and I roomed in the night before to make sure we were okay with it. You see, he came home with oxygen, but with no monitors. We were mostly nervous that he would pull it out, we wouldn't know it, and he would DSAT. I mean, I can't watch him 24/7 (although I think I did the first few days). So the room-in was fine, except reminded me of the no sleep that new moms really get. I went home and prepared to go back and get him when Nick got home from work that day. Well, in order to come home, he has to pass his carseat challenge. He has to be able to sit in his carseat for an hour and a half. Well, he failed...twice. So as if I'm not already nervous, now we are thinking he is coming home too soon. They were talking about sending him home in a carbed. Scary!!! Anyways, the pro came in and decided he is too small for our normal carseat and tried a preemie one. He passed and got to come home. PS. Who knew they made preemie carseats?? They look the same, but they have extra slots for the straps to go lower. Anyways, he is home and well. We figured we would jsut keep his hands covered with gowns and we swaddle him like crazy. We are brave now and his hands are out alot. He is more durable than I thought and hasn't stopped breathing yet, that I know of! :) Nonetheless, we haven't killed him and he is thriving!! :) A few weeks ago he was 5.13!!! We go to the dr's again tomorrow and I'll have a new weight for him. He is starting to get the double chin!!! It's still small, but hey I'll take it! He has updates with the eye, heart, and lung dr's for awhile along with the normal ped. But he's doing well and we feel so blessed! Anyways, things are good! Reagan has been really sweet with him and asks to touch him and hold him. She is our sanitizer queen and reminds everyone! She is also my runner. I almost feel bad that I ask her to get so many things, but it's nice!! Anyways, things are good and we are trying to get back used to everything. He is a good baby, but is definately getting spoiled. He's also much rather lay in our bed than the bassinet. He'd loves to be held, which is fine because I love to hold. I'm much more relaxed this time and not caring about pushing him along. With Reag I was always wishing. "I can't wait till she smiles, crawls, walks (what was I thinking?!), talks (REALLY, what was I thinking?!)." Now i don't want him to do those things! He is very alert now and his head is really strong. I'm don't push anything along so far and am just trying to enjoy it!!! I'm so thankful that I was even able to get pregnant this time, let alone have a healthy baby after all that has happened. And to get a boy along with my funny, sweet girl, is just perfect. We obviously could have done it a better way, but I would do it all over again to get Hunter. All you moms know that words can't describe how much and how quickly you can love someone. I am eternally thankful that my Heavenly Father would trust me enough to give his son to me. Thanks for all your support during this hard time. Things are better and we love you!! Again, picture overload!!!! The most current are at the top!

Thanks!

Thank you again for all the sweet comments and calls. This has trully been a crazy time for us and so unexpected and emotional and just hard. The sweet words of support and encouragment really do make a difference. Thanks for all the prayers too. We know that is what is getting Hunter better. We have been blessed with such great friends and family. Thanks for all you do! Thank you, thank you!!!

Latest Update

Since the last update, Hunter has gained more weight. He's up to 4.10!! He's doing well eating from a bottle, basically chows down and doesn't pace himself too well. We are working on nursing still. He's getting better, but gets so tired and he's just so little!! He also had a blood transfusion because his red blood cells were low (he was anemic) and also his hemoglobins and other things. They did the transfusion also hoping that would help him get off the oxygen. He has improved with that, but is still on it. The transfusion helped the other things though. They have switched him to home oxygen which he couldn't handle before the transfusion and is now tolerating. They think that maybe he will come home on it. :( SCARY!!! Anyways for now, here are more pictures. He is still tiny, but getting big to us! He's adorable and opening his eyes more and more. He's a good baby and doesn't cry too much, just when he's hungary. Even then he is very patient. We are so in love!!! (The most recent pics are on top, then decend to older ones.)

Ups and Downs

So, a few days ago, Hunter was doing good and they took out his PIC line, his feedings were at 35 cc's (30 cc's is an ounce), but still through a tube, and his oxygen was down to 21%. I bathed him for the first time and then left at 10pm. Then starting at midnight, he started having "episodes" where his heartrate and oxygen dropped 7 different times throughout the night. His heartrate should be at 180, his was dropping to 60. His oxygen needs to be at 80, it was dropping to 40. So, the had to prick him for blood to do labs and start IV's again. SO SAD!!!! They had just taken everything out, and then he had to be pricked lots all over again! Anyways, he has had an infection and they started antibiotics. They had to take him off his feedings and up the oxygen. He also lost a little weight. Really sad, we were bummed that he was going to have to start over again. However, he has rallied!! :) It only took him a few days and he is doing much better! Here is the current update as of today (which many of you know, this could all change by the time you read it-for good or bad). While I was in with him today, his nurse switched him into an open crib!!!! Yesterday they turned off the heat in his incubator to see if he could keep himself warm, therefore not losing any weight. He is doing okay, so they moved him over and keep him bundled! He is also up to 30 cc's feeding and his oxygen is at 25%. He is up to 4 pounds 6 ounces!!!!!! He is now one of the bigger ones in the NICU! Who'd of thought that 4 pounds would be big?! He also has all of his IV's out again, so hopefully, no more pricks. They are trying to get him to take a bottle, but he seems to not want to work for his food! And really why would you if you can just lay there and have it without doing anything?! :) Anyways, I'm nervous though that if he doesn't want to work at a bottle, he'll never want to nurse since that's harder! :) We'll see... Anyways, so as of today, he's doing better!! Thanks again for all the sweet comments and prayers and calls and everything! It helps us so much!! Thanks!!!

A few days ago....

Hunter Nicholas

Hunter Nicholas Holt is here! He was born on January 14th at 5:04 pm, EIGHT weeks early!! He weighed in at a wopping 3 pounds 6 ounces and 15 inches long. He is absolutley tiny and adorable. He looks like a little old man. Let me start from the beginning.... On the 13th, I went in to my normal appointment with my ob. Everything was fine, waited forever and saw her for like 5 minutes. (you know how that goes) No worries, no concerns. Later that day, I had a 10 week follow-up appointment with the perinatologist (because he has been measuring small). We did an ultrasound, everything looked great, just still small, but good. He hooked me up to the fetal monitor to make sure he was good and they checked my blood pressure then. Asked if I normally have high blood pressure, I said no, never. They checked 3 more times and all were high. Then they checked my urine and sure enough, protein in it. He told me he thought preeclampsia, said he would deliver me if I were further along and told me to go home and take it easy. The crazy thing is is that I hadn't been feeling good and even showed Nick the signs for preeclampsia about 2 weeks before. I had everything else but the big ones: high blood pressure and protein in my urine. I was really swollen allover though with REALLY bad headaches and sometimes blurry vision and just really worn out. I've been super busy though, so I just figured that that was it and this pregnancy was harder and different. I even told my dr. but nothing! I should have gone with my gut!! Anyways, he sent me for labs early the next day and I had to go back to his office to check blood pressure again and make a game plan. In my head, I just kept thinking bedrest and get the baby further along. I go to his office, he says labs are bad, blood pressure is really high and higher than last night and we are delivering the baby today. I immediately start bawling. (sad for him to deal with crazy hormonal pregnant lady!) So, I call Nick and my dad and cry the whole way home getting my bag. We go to the hospital and after being pricked 15 times in an hour (my veins kept blowing and moving, not fun!), we do an emergency c-section. I DO NOT recommend this to anyone. NOT FUN!!!!! With Reag, I was working in the yard 2 days later, this time, I swear if I got run over by a truck, I would have felt better! Plus, they were trying to get my blood pressure under control so I had to have different stuff done to me that made me out of it and loopy and kinda like a corpse! (you'll see in the pictures, I'm not lying). Anyways, so 5 days later, I go home and now tomorrow is 2 weeks and I'm still pooped by at least now I'm kinda bending! :) Hunter is in the NICU for awhile obviously, which sucks! There's no other way to put it. He goes back and forth most days between being on oxygen and not. He is also now feeding better, but it's still through a tube. At first he wasn't digesting it well and they would have to take it back out of his stomach, so they stopped feeding him and just did an IV. He's still on the IV, but also taking the breastmilk now, but still with a tube. He also had a heart valve that didn't close all the way, but is now so small, that they aren't too concerned. Pretty much everything that he is going through is pretty normal, from what they tell us. He is now 3 pounds 11 ounces thankfully. Thanks for everyone being so helpful and concerned and meals and gifts and phone calls, and visits. We trully feel loved and are so thankful for everyones support. Thanks for the prayers!! We know that it is only prayers and blessings that are getting us through this hard time. THANKS!!!!! I'll post some pics. All the pictures right when he was born are kinda scary with all the tubes and oxygen and just scary, so I'll post mostly recent ones.

Christmas

This year we decided to stay home until Christmas Day afternoon, then we would drive up to Caliente. This is the first time in 6 years that we have done this and I loved it! It was so much less chaotic and we didn't have to pack nearly as many things or try and divide our time evenly with both of our families. This was the first year that Reagan has really been into the whole Santa thing, so it was fun to start some traditions with her. Christmas Eve was perfect and relaxed. We made Santa cookies and also food for the reindeers. This was such a fun idea! You make reindeer food with oatmeal and mix in glitter or sprinkles to make it special. We let her go and dump it in the front yard and then after she went in, we put out chocolate covered peanuts to look like deer poo so that she knew they had come! She was so excited Christmas morning to wake up and look to see if they ate her food, then it was real proof that they had when she saw the poo!! :) We also read about the Savior's birth and some other stories and opened a present and had yummy dinner. Then Christmas morning we opened presents (Reagan slept in till 9! Nick kept wanting to wake her up!) and she couldn't believe that Santa would leave her presents, she didn't even need to unwrap the ones from us. We had a great breakfast and packed up and had a fun relaxing weekend in Caliente. Overall, a fabulous holiday and I'm not ready for life to start again!! I hope all of you had a great time as well and some days off to chill!