6 weeks and doing what????

So last night Ethan and I were laying on the floor for "tummy time". He loves being on his tummy and both Jeff and I lay down with him for this fun time. Last night, Jeff ran to get some dinner, so it was just Ethan and I. The little stinker ROLLED OVER!!!! At first, I thought I had imagined it and put him back on his tummy. Then he did it again! I was crushed! So I waited for Jeff to get him - just to make sure I wasn't losing my mind. He did it again. Jeff was shocked. At that point I decided enough was enough and there would be no more of that. He is NOT supposed to roll over so quickly. He's been trying for a couple of weeks. Kim was playing with him one day a couple of weeks ago and noticed, but she said surely not for a few months. Why is time passing by so quickly?

Granny

One of the most important people in my life is my Granny. She has been my rock and angel. She has also been my greatest strength and comfort for most of my life, especially as an adult. She is tireless in her efforts to help everyone. Her testimony of our Savior is such an example. I love her so much and am so grateful to her for everything! Some of my fondest memories growing up were of her. I would spend the night on a Friday and get up early to go to garage sales with her. She always hopped out of the truck before Papa stopped all the way. It was so funny! I went and spent some time in the summer with her in Missouri. It was such a happy time for me. She holds such a magical place in my heart and I am so thankful to have such an amazing grandmother. I wanted my son to know her and to love her as I do. I know it was so hard for her to travel to come to his blessing, but it was so important to me and also to my son (He just doesn't know it yet!) I wanted him to have our Granny there with him while he was being blessed. I am so thankful she would come!!!

I love you Granny!

My Mom

There is so much I can say about my mom, but I wanted only to tell her I love her! I am grateful to her!!! I enjoy being with her and our silly traditions.

My mom has SO many wonderful talents. I can't being to describe her talents except to say that whatever she wants to do, she does. Her garden is amazing, she can build her own house, she has become a great hair dresser, she tiled my beautiful back splash, she remodeled her own home by herself, she is a fantastic photographer, she is extremely artistic, she is amazingly kind and a huge heart. The list could go on. My mom is wonderful in so many ways!

Mother's Day

Words can't describe the feeling of being a mother. It's been said that you can't understand until it happens to you; that statement is so true. I had no idea the love that would be felt so overwhelmingly strong for such a small little bundle of joy. I never imagined having such a beautiful child. Little Ethan, I love you so much - you are my light and joy. You can't imagine the love that your father and I feel for you! We love you!
Here is a poem that was in a talk given by President Monson some several years ago.

“The Name of Mother”
The holiest words my tongue can frame,
The noblest thoughts my soul can claim,
Unworthy are to praise the name
More precious than all other.
An infant, when her love first came,
A man, I find it still the same,
Reverently I breathe her name,The blessed name of mother


I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for sending me one of his precious spirits. I am so thankful he would trust me enough to raise him as my child. I LOVE being a mother!!!

Blessing

He wore the special booties Granny made for him and we used the sweet blanket Aunt Ann knitted for him. Thank you both so much!!!

So today was Ethan's special day. Today he was given his blessing. His Uncle Terrance Thedell blessed him. What a joyous time for all of us, but especially for his Dad and I. Uncle Terrance gave him such a beautiful blessing, one that was prompted only by the Spirit and our Heavenly Father. Ethan fussed for the majority of his blessing. But his blessing was one of great emotion and peace for me. I am so grateful to those that participated, especially Terrance. How grateful I am for the restored Gospel in which we have the Priesthood! I am grateful that we are able to bless our babies, to bring them up in the gospel. I am grateful that my son will be able to have the priesthood one day and be able to bless his children. Oh what a joy!

Those that came for his blessing are:

His Granny - Mrs. Aleen Wakefield

The Thedell Family - Uncle Terrance, Aunt Celeen, Cousins -Sterling, Lecil, Corrienne, Levi, Brigham. Also Jerrica and our newest cousin, Ben, her soon to be husband.

The Guenin Famiy - Uncle Dan, Aunt Laurie and our little cousin Joseph.

His Aunt Ann - or Andy as I like to call her.

His Nana and Aunt Sarah

Thank you to all that partcipated in his blessing.

Uncle Terrance, Uncle Dan, Sterling, Bishop Tanner, Tommy Cook

Uncle Terrance and Aunt Celeen

Our family came a long way, some 6 hours, to be here. We are so grateful to you! We love you so much!!!

Sad

So today is Ethan's one month birthday. Some would say Woo Hoo! But I am so sad. He is growing so fast. We waited so long for him to come to us, I don't want him to grow up so fast. It seems like just yesterday we were going to the hospital. How is it that it takes forever for every month of pregnancy to pass, but just seconds for a month with a newborn???
He is so darn cute. He has some baby acne and he has a big bald spot in one area, but we think he's adorable. We took some pictures on Saturday and we had to do a backwards comb-over to cover up the bald spot. It really didn't help, but it was funny doing it.

He has had some gas the past couple of days. I am not sure if it's the PF Changs I ate, or just him. He lights up my life and we love him beyond belief.

2 weeks

Ethan has his two week check up on Monday with Dr. Adair. He weighed in at 7lbs 5oz. He was 19 1/2 inches long. He is growing. I almost cried. :-( I want him to stay tiny and just the way he is!
He makes the funniest faces. He has a million of them. He smiles at us sometimes - no it isn't gas. He even laughed in his sleep. My VT were over and she was holding him. She thought it was so funny he was laughing. He is just such a little ham already. Just like his Daddy. I am in for some real problems!!! Little Gumby as his Papa calls him. :-)
Smiling
Mad
Smiling
We call him Popeye sometimes becuase of this little face.

5 days old

Sleeping like normal
This is his "mad" face. He has a lot of those. :-)
Handsome little guy in the outfit Kim gave him.

He is such a cutie! I won't be posting every little mile stone, except now. :-)

First Bath

Not a pleasant experience for any of us. Now, he does fine - relaxed and quiet,
but the first, so not good.

Delivery

I have been thinking about how to record Ethan's delivery and what to post. I decided to make a record of all of the details I could remember so I would be able to look back and share his birth with him. Some of this is a little personal, sorry - I want to be able to have all of the details for his book.

Sorry if it's long and boring.

We went to the hospital at 5 on Sunday evening, March 30. We arrived and checked in. I was starving, but was told we couldn't eat for 2 hours. (Or go to the bathroom. Yikes!)

They put the cervadil in, which was supposed to stay in overnight. It was to soften and ripen my cervix. We started a movie and Jeff went to get dinner. Jeff took a sleeping pill after dinner and the poor guy was OUT! They also gave me an Ambien to sleep but of course, I didn't. The cervadil started giving me cramps. The nurse came in around midnight and told me there was a serious storm and we may have a tornado. if that happened, they would move us to the surgery rooms. Silly me, all night I worried that Jeff wouldn't be able to wake up because the sleeping pill knocked him OUT!. He's quite the heavy sleeper.

I got up to take the cervadil out around 5am and took a shower. Dr. Seres came to check me and I was still not dialated and only 50% effaced. So she started the pitocin at 5:30. She came in around 9am, my contractions were pretty consistent and painful, but nothing I wasn't prepared to handle. She said that she wanted me to have an epidural, even though I didn't want one. Around noon, she came back and I was only dialated to 1 cm. She broke my water and up went the pitocin (AGAIN). About 30 minutes later, Ethan's heart rate started dropping, especially if I laid down. He struggled to have it come back up. It would drop to the 40-60's. They put me on oxygen and I had to sit in the same position. His heart rate continued to have problems so around 4 Dr. Seres came back in and said that I needed to have a C-section, there wasn't a choice. I was devastated. I called Aunt Laurie, she agreed. I didn't want to do it if I didn't need to. Jeff and I both cried and I just couldn't understand why I couldn't have him "normally". Dr. Seres said she didn't want to wait and after the OR cleared out, we would be going in. She said about 5:15. They came and got me around 5pm. The Dr. turned up the epidural. I had the worst headache and was so distraught. It freaked me out when they strapped me to the table with my arms out to the side. Then he put on the oxygen and the mask on my face made me really freak out. He had to take it off. I was burning up and cold at the same time.

Jeff and my mom finally came in after they prepped me. I couldn't stop the devastating feeling that I had. Jeff stayed right in front of my face and kept whispering encouraging and loving words. My mom watched.

I felt them cut me. Yes, I actually felt the knif slice my stomach. It didn't hurt but scared me even more. What a bizarre feeling. Then they started to try to get Ethan out. They struggled for quite some time. He was stuck in my pelvis or something. I kept feeling them push and pull on my stomach. Jeff and my mom said the table was rocking back and forth. There were two nurses on the side of the bed that crawled up to help. It took them over 20 minutes to get Ethan out. They finally got him out at 6:07.

They showed to me immediately, and then took him away. I sent Jeff with him. I wanted to make sure he was OK. I heard him cry and I started to cry. (or maybe I was still crying - I just cried harder!) My mom stayed with me until they made her and Jeff leave.

After hearing Ethan cry, I fell asleep or they put me to sleep (not quite sure). When I woke up, they were starting to move me. I kept asking what happened, because I knew something wasn't right, but all they would say is "you just had a baby". Well Duh! :-) I felt so strange. After talking to Dr. Seres, she told me they put me to sleep. She said that I was in shock and couldn't handle what was happening, so they had to knock me out. She said it took quite some time to repair the damage and close me up.

They started to take me to my room, passing the nursery so I could see Ethan and Jeff. What a joyous sight!!! I saw my mom and asked her what was wrong with me. She told me that Dr. Seres came to talk to them. A large vein started bleeding and she couldn't stop the bleeding. So I lost a lot of blood. I was so concerned that she gave me a hysterectomy or something. I wanted to make sure I could still have kids. (yes, everything is just fine!)

Normally one should have a hemoglobin level of 12-14. I lost quite a bit and only had 5.5. Dr. Seres told me I needed a transfusion, but I refused. I didn't understand what she was saying. All I knew is I didn't want a strangers blood in me. She tried to tell me several times, but I kept refusing.

I can't remember a lot of the first couple of days. It's a Little blurry. I remember seeing Ethan and wanting him so bad, but being so weak that I was afraid to hold him. But I couldn't stop holding him. I wanted to look him over, but just didn't know how. (sounds strange, but I was kind of out of it.) He was so beautiful. I just loved him so much, it was overwhelming! I remember wanting to take a shower so badly but couldn't hardly stand up to make it to the shower. They put a chair in the shower for me and Jeff practically carried me to it. He bathed me, washed my hair (cute husband!) and then dried me off while I sat there. He dressed me and put me back into bed. Ahhhh... to be clean.

I had an enormous headache, even before having him, but it just got worse. Finally Wednesday night I told the nurse around 11 I couldn't take the headache anymore. She said the on call Dr. requested that I get another blood count. It dropped another unit from what they thought and so she said I pretty much had no choice. They tried to start a new IV because the needle needs to be rather large and they had 3 nurses try to start a line. One location had infiltrated so the whole arm was painful and sore. They had to take blood several times from my hand and then some retarded lab tech couldn't find a vein in the other arm so he went fishing until I couldn't take it anymore and told him to quit. So needless to say, the veins in my arms and hands were not happy with having another IV started with an even bigger needle! Finally the baby nurse came in and she got the line started after a couple of tries. It was horribly painful. So they did a blood transfusion. They have to check your blood pressure and temp every 5 minutes for the first little while of each bag they give you. So the nurse stayed with me and she helped reassure me that the blood was safe.

After two weeks being home, I am finally starting to feel better and a little normal. My blood count is still low, which is probably why I am still so weak and tired, but I am feeling a ton better! The Dr. said it would be several months before it was built back up.

Ethan had a slight case of jaundice and so he had to sit on the billiruben lights for a day. That was horrible for me becasue I couldn't hold him. I wanted to so desperatly. He was circumsised on Wednesday. The Dr. said he slept through the whole thing. What an angel. He is such a sweet little boy. Who knew such a tiny little guy could bring such a flood of overwhelming feelings of love. All of the pain and trauma I went through was worth 5 seconds with him.

Ethan Jeffery Johnston was born on March 31, 2008 at 6:07pm. He was 7lbs 2oz, 18 3/4 inches long. He had a beautiful head (not pointy!) with a ton of hair. I never got to see his eyes open for about 2 days. His eyes are probably going to be brown like his daddy's but for now they are a dark grey brown. He looks just like daddy, handsome. He is so loved, so wanted and so darn cute!!!

Baby Update

I went to the Dr. this morning. I am still not progressing, I've been the same for about 5-6 weeks. The baby's head is REALLY low and I am 50% effaced, but no dialation. We wanted to be induced today, which she was happy to do, but the hospital is full until Sunday night. I about started crying - I just want it over with. But she said I would go in Sunday evening at 5 and they would insert the cervadil. That may or may not start labor. When we first started talking about inducing, she said if it didn't work that we could stop it to avoid a C-section. But since I will already be past my due date, she said that we won't stop the induction... Let's hope it works!!!
She sent me for an ultrasound to see the position and size of baby. Both look good...

The ultrasound showed that he was 7lbs 15oz. (what's one ounce? He's 8lbs). It can be off up to a pound either way. So I could have a 7lb baby or a 9lb baby. Lets hope for the 7lb. He is face down like he should be. We couldn't see the face at all because he was real low and facing my back. It was kind of strange to see a faceless head... I'll probably have nightmares - great.


Anyway - that's the scoop. I am not real thrilled, but will do what I have to I guess. (not much choice! :-))

Home Teachers

The power of the priesthood is so amazing. I called James Eddleman (our home teacher) today for a blessing. Of course he came right away. I can't begin to express my gratitude to him and to my Heavenly Father. What a comfort that blessing was! Almost immediately after the blessing I started to feel better. The cramping was gone, the back ache was gone and emotionally I was "whole". What a comfort! What a comfort for him to promise that I would be able to handle everything just fine. It's almost silly that I didn't ask before. He told me to rely on my friends and family from my ward. In the blessing I thought it was such a strange thing to say, but after thinking about it - I know that so many people in our ward would be so willing to help us. But I never before would accept the help, forget asking. I am more than willing and happy to help others, but I would never ask or accept help. Maybe this is Heavenly Father's way of telling me I am not super woman... Right now I feel like I could do anything in the world - I feel SO much better! Physically and emotionally!

I have such a strong testimony of the Priesthood and blessings!!! I can't thank James enough for being so willing and quick to come help! What a great home teacher I have!!

Done

I know that I should be so grateful for every second of this pregnancy. We waited SO long to get pregnant. But I have to be honest, I am MISERABLE! I really can't stand being pregnant anymore. I am fine with the running to pee every five minutes, I am fine with waddling, I am even fine with not sleeping. But I am NOT fine with the pain. I have this tremendous lower back ache and I feel so crampy, like a horrible period. It last for hours with no relief. Yesterday I had contractions all night and morning about 10-15 minutes apart (sometimes sooner sometimes longer). I had a regular Dr. appt so I just waited until then. But of course, as soon as I got there - the contractions stop. On top of that - I am not even dilated! I am still only 50% effaced. The baby is still engaged to a station 0 (has been for about 5 weeks!). I am SO miserable! I just want him out. If the back ache and cramps would go away I could probably handle the pregnancy a little longer. But this is insane. It's like having the flu - there is no point to the misery.

The Dr. gave the option of being induced tonight but said that there was a 50% risk of C-Section because I am not dilating. She also gave me the choice of taking some Ambien and getting some sleep. Of course I want the induciton but with some prompting from my hubby I chose the Ambien and rest for a few more days. (Thanks honey!!!) So I come home and take the Ambien. I start to fall asleep and can't because the pain gets too intense. The baby has shifted to the left and caused constant pain on my back and front. I call my aunt and she helps me get more comfy but it takes about an hour. So I am really tired at that point. I fall asleep and the stupid doorbell rings. I answer the door, fall asleep and the doorbell rings again! This happened 4 times. By that time - I gave up. It was 5pm and there was no resting. I slept for only about 30 minutes. That Ambien made me so sleepy but there was no sleeping! But I slept great last night! :-) From about 10pm till 4 this morning.

I went for a massage around noon and had to have her stop about 20 minutes in. The baby moved over to that left side again and I couldn't take the pain anymore. Luckily I was only about 2 minutes from home. I came home and tried everything to get the baby to move. I took a lot of praying and an hour and a half, and finally he shifted off whatever it was that was causing so much pain.

Now it's just a constant lower back ache and period cramps. When is it going to end?? Am I horrible for being so ungrateful? I have wanted this baby for so long and now I can't wait to get him out. I want it to be over with... I feel like a horrible mom!

Book

I started this blog as a way of keeping a journal. After reading a friends post, I learned you can make your blog into a real journal by turning it into a book. It's an awesome idea that doesn't cost a lot. I'm excited to be able to keep a family journal to pass on! Thanks Carrie for the great idea! Here's the link.
http://www.blurb.com/learn_more/flip/

Camping

This is a little old, but I wanted to record it anyway.

So we love to go camping. We went with Kim and Tommy in October and had a lot of fun. So we all decided to go again. (In February) Kim and Tommy took their kids to Kim's dad's house and so we were kid-less. We had so much fun. HOWEVER! I was 33 weeks pregnant, so the air mattress was not negotiable. If we didn't have one, it was a deal breaker - I was coming home. I called Tommy and told him to make sure he brought the air pump. He said of course. We got up there, it was supposed to be perfect weather.
We finally found a camp site that was right on the water (we went to the lake). We were the only people around and it was fantastic! Jeff and Tommy started setting up our tents and built a fire. When it came time to blow up the beds - oops, Tommy forgot the pump. So Kim and I decide to go to the gas station a couple of miles away. Our air mattress just plugs in and does it's thing. Theirs needs an actual pump. So we find a tire air filler. Luckily there is a plug in right next to it, so I plug mine in and Kim and I start with hers. We had to use a pen to push down the nozzle (it's made for tires you see) and so the air blows in. It takes a while, but we got it filled (mostly). Mine fills up and we go to put it back in the van and it doesn't fit. It's too wide. Since it's a double decker, there is no folding it. Ahhh!!! So we thought we'd ask one of the scary hicks to put it in their truck and drive it over to our camp site. By the time Kim got over to where they were, all but the creepiest left. So we decided to strap it to the top of the van. I went and bought some rope.
I am a big ole prego lady, but let me tell you - I can tie some knots!!! :-) It took us a long time to get it up there and secure but it wasn't going anywhere! We were total girl scouts!!! We are pretty sure if the guys came instead of us - they would have given up. Not us, we were such the mountain girls!!!

The night went great until bed time. A cold front moved in and it dropped to the teens. We FROZE to death!!!! There were wolves or dogs howling and barking in the background all night and we were freezing. Forget sleeping!!! We all got out of bed and tried to warm up next to the fire, but it was just too cold and we weren't prepared. It was supposed to be warm that night. So much for reliable weathermen!!! My shoes melted because I was trying to warm my feet.

About 4am we decided to go sleep in the van. We turned it on and were nice and toasty. Kim and I slept in the back and Jeff and Tommy slept in the front. (After of course they tried to rough it - couldn't let each other see how "wimpy" they were!)

By 7 am we were packed and gone. It was freezing!!! But we laughed the whole trip and had a blast! None of us regrets going, even though we froze. It was awesome!

A Name

When we first found out I was pregnant, we decided on a name for a girl right away. And kind of for a boy. A girl would have been Rylee Janeel. The boy would have been Jeffery Ryan - we would call him Ryan. We thought Ryan and Rylee would have been so cute. But when we discovered we were having a boy, the whole name thing went out the window. Ryan just became too blah for me and I didn't LOVE it. So we started the search for a boy name. Or rather, I did. Jeff didn't like ANYTHING. He is one of those that associates names with people he knows. Every name I chose he knew someone in 3rd grade that picked his nose. My uncle said that since all 3rd graders pick their noses, we needed to weed out the ones that ate their boogers. Not helpful, but funny just the same.
So for the past few months, we have talked and talked. Jeff would always say no and never come up with anything but silly names. He started telling people at church that we were going to name him JEDIDIAH MONTEGO. What the heck is that!!! He then told them that we were going to call him Jedi. I was constantly going behind him telling people that he really was kidding. Horrible!!!
So we have a name. FINALLY. 2 weeks before he is scheduled to arrive. (Hopefully sooner!!) It's not so much that my husband said yes as it was that he didn't say NO. I'm going with it.

ETHAN JEFFERY

Flu

So our whole ward has been sick with he flu the last few weeks. I really did everything to avoid it, but instead I got it. It was HORRIBLE! I was sick for 7 days! Today I finally am starting to feel like a normal human, with of course a giant watermelon right on my bladder and pelvis. But I feel better! Yeah!!!

Prom Pictures

He HAS to point out my big ole belly in every picture. :-)

Our Bishop and his wonderful wife - They were our Prom King and Queen! :-) We have been friends with them since they helped with our wedding 6 years ago. We absolutely love them!










Doing the Train - Sister Young was leading! I was so tired after that dance!




Some of the ladies doing the MACARENA! Yes, that was on the list! LOL





Kim and Tommy - She's one of my councilors. He works for Jeff.
:-) We love them to death!



















Us. Ahhh - Feeling the baby move.














Mary Ellen and Kent Davick - She is my favorite person in the world. She's our RS president and she couldn't be better!!!

"Senior Prom"

Even though I am in YW, I had the bright idea to mention an idea that I had for an activity to our Bishop in ward council. I figured he would forward the idea on to the activities committee, but instead - he told me to plan it. By the time it happened, I was 34 weeks and the baby had just dropped. REALLY low! My idea was to have a SENIOR PROM for all of the "old" people in the ward. Basically the adults. :-) My councilor and I started planning it. It turned into a pretty big deal. We asked for attendees to send us "their" song. We decorated the whole gym and had a really nice meal. For dessert, we had a chocolate fountain with a ton of things to be dipped. We even made a balloon arch for prom pictures. It took us weeks to plan it. The temple workers had a huge conference the same morning so we had only a few hours to set up. Our YM Pres. really stepped in and helped set up along with our RS president (my visiting teacher and one of my favorite people in the whole world!) and her sweet husband. He hung all the lights for me since I couldn't get on a ladder. Everyone really helped out!
I woke up feeling really horrible. I had contractions and a lower back ache the WHOLE day and night. But I just kept plugging along. I was in so much pain. But it was such an important night that I just ignored it and kept working. I am so thankful everyone helped so much! Cleanup only took an hour because everyone helped so much! It was awesome!!!

Ultrasound

We had our ultrasound. Our little guy looks great. We reconfirmed he's a HE. :-) He is so adorable! I also asked the Dr. to check for a hair lip. A guy spoke about it in church and then I had a dream our little one had one. The Dr. acted like I was nuts, but said, No, he was just fine.

Retarded I know.

Here are some pics from his ultrasound.

Last Monday I was really worried. I hadn't felt our little guy move in quite a while. Since Sunday morning. So I called the Dr. and she said to come in. I figured I would drink that nasty glucose syrup on the way and have them do the test since I was supposed to have taken it almost a month before. The baby was fine - they did a non-stress test for a good chunk of the day.

BUT - I failed the first GTT. So I had to go back for the 3 hr test. How HORRIBLE!!! I had to fast for 12 hrs before, which would be fine except that I was awake since 3am and didn't sleep. (common occurance in my life) So I basically was starving since 3 am and couldn't eat until noon that day. It was so difficult. I got so sleepy and I had a massive headache.

Turns out, I am just fine, no diabetes! yeah! That would have been so awful. Our baby is doing well. We have an ultrasound scheduled on Thursday and I am so anxious to see him again! I'm 30 weeks today and just hope he comes on time so that I can meet him!