A Name & A Blessing

Today we had Max's baby blessing. We held it in our home, which was really nice! All of our family in the area came, and we're so grateful for their support!!!

And we are especially grateful for this little guy! He's 7 weeks old today, and growing so fast. The outfit that he was blessed in was the same one his daddy was blessed in 30 years ago.

"Leave me alone crazy lady! Quit taking pictures and let me go back to sleep!!!" Poor kid.

Max did sleep most of the evening (when I wasn't tormenting him), which was great! Getting a picture with him was a piece of cake...

Getting a picture with a cranky 3 year old on the other hand... not so easy : )! This was the best family picture that we got, and we were just focused on trying to get Mya to quit crying. Good times!

Alex did a beautiful job of conducting the evening, as well as giving the blessing. I'm so proud of my sweet family. I'm so thankful for each of them. I'm especially thankful for the Gospel. It is true, and I know that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and love us beyond what we can comprehend. What incredible blessings I have in my life because of this powerful truth.

My Happy Boy

We've been busy having fun adjusting to life as a family of four! Mya LOVES her new baby brother Max. We all love the little guy dearly!! He is almost 7 weeks old, and is quite the funny baby. Here are a couple of pictures and a video of Max and Mya!

Notice Max's crossed eyes... Newborns are hilarious

Yes, question?

Happy America Party!

On this beautiful 4th of July, I'm thrilled to say that my family and I have more to be grateful for than ever. We've had our little boy home from the hospital for a week now, and he's doing great. We've had some of the usual ups and downs of bringing home a new baby, but as of today, everyone is healthy and doing really well! The day he came home, I came down with some bad breast infections; that was surprisingly rough, and I was pretty sick for about 3 days because of them. The antibiotics have kicked in now, and thankfully I'm feeling much better!

Mya and Max have been so cute together. Mya absolutely adores her baby brother, and so far, has been so loving and sweet with him!

On Saturday, July 3rd, we had some family over for a 4th of July party. As we explained to Mya what the 4th of July means, her cute interpretation was that we were having an America Party--and she had a GREAT time with family, food, and her very own sparklers!

Max was clearly wiped out from all of the excitement, and having to entertain all of our family! He was a champ though. Our 4th of July turned out to be one of the best ever--Happy America Party!!!

Our New Little Man

After a couple of months of stress, unknowns, and almost constant contractions... THE TIME HAS COME!! At my 38 week doctor's appointment, I was 5cm dilated, 80% effaced. My OB-GYN went ahead and scheduled me to be induced the following week, on 6/22. Alex and I were getting all set to have this kid!

The night after that appointment, I started having contractions... nothing real consistent or strong... nothing different from the previous two months. The next morning, Saturday 6/19, I was still having contractions. I took a shower, and they got stronger--was I actually in labor??? Shortly after that, things got really intense, really fast. Of course, it would make sense that my little boy would come on the ONE day that my doctor was out of town : )! We started getting things ready around 9:45am, and got to the hospital around 10:45. That hour SUCKED. BAD. What didn't help was that while I was crawling on all four during my 20-30 second breaks between contractions, trying to get things together, Mya thought that Mommy looked like a horse... and of course, who could resist a horsey ride? Ouch!

When we got to the hospital, the nursing staff got me into a room and checked me really quickly. In that hour before getting to the hospital, I had gone from 5cm to 8cm! Thankfully the nurses moved REALLY quickly after that, and within about 20 minutes, I had my beloved epidural. (Irrelevant side-note, our anesthesiologist was in our stake presidency : )! ) They checked me a few minutes later, and I was at 9cm. After one more contraction, I was at 10cm and ready to go!! My doctor's partner was there and ready for the show to begin! The labor continued to go really fast. After 6 sets of pushes, and about 12 minutes (and a short break for me to vomit a bit), Max was in our arms!

Max Alexander Berndt. Born on Saturday, 6/19/2010 at 12:42pm, weighed 8 lbs. 2 oz., and was 18 inches in length. He cried a little after his arrival, but not much--not as much as we'd have liked. Some NICU nurses came up to check on him and get him to cry a bit more. His APGAR score was 8.9, and they decided they'd take him to the nursery to do his bath and initial testing. Alex went with him while I recouped a bit, and got moved to my postpartum room. We were thrilled to have him here!!!

After Max was in the nursery for a couple of hours, the nurse came and talked to us about some concerns they were having. His breathing was still quite irregular. This of course is normal for most infants, but the problem was that he wasn't pulling himself out of it. He'd fall asleep and stop breathing, turning blue a couple of times. They sent him to the NICU for some closer care. This was a concern to hear, but we felt good that he'd be in good care, and felt like things were going to be okay... maybe it would just take a little longer to get him there than we had thought.

As it turns out, part of why Max was having breathing problems was because he was fighting some sort of infection. He also had some fluid in his lungs, which may have been what showed up as an infection in his blood work (we'll never know for sure what was wrong specifically). They started him on a full round of antibiotics to clear up whatever may have been wrong with him. Having a quick delivery was nice for me, but it was probably to quick for our little Max, because that was likely the cause of the fluid in his lungs and the infection--it was too shocky and he didn't experience much of the stress that is needed in the birth canal. It's interesting, and a little ironic if you ask me!

It's been nearly a week, and Max is ready to come home tomorrow! We are so proud of him, and the progress he has made. His breathing is perfectly 'normal' (I hate that word--normal--but I'm not sure how else to put it) now, and his blood work is all clear. They would have actually released him a couple days ago, except that they needed to finish up the antibiotics. Mya has loved seeing him through the window, but I think we're all ready to start our lives together as a family of four! I will admit that getting more rest at night this past week has been kind of nice, but I'm ready to not be going back and forth between the hospital, pumping almost constantly when I'm at home (and not fully being able to get the hang of nursing Max at the hospital, especially since they need to bottle feed him for most of his meals), and being able to truly feel like his mommy.

I can't even express how grateful I am that Max is here, and that he is well. Being in the NICU, we've had the chance to see a lot of newborns at different stages of life, and talk to their parents about their experiences. There have been a couple of babies that were born at 28 or 29 weeks. I was at 29 weeks when I first went into labor with Max... After seeing what these babies and parents have gone through, I am more thankful now than ever that Heavenly Father blessed Max to stay inside me for an additional 9 weeks. We've been really impressed with the NICU too, and we've been really thankful for all of the caring nurses who have taken such good care of our little angel! We're so excited to bring him home tomorrow, and I will try to post updates as I can!

Birthday Time for Mya!

My little girl is 3 years old! We had a little birthday party for her on Memorial Day (her birthday was on June 5, but we had her party early since her soon to be baby brother was/is due to arrive any day!), and we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day or a more fun party. Thank you to all of our awesome family and friends who not only came to support Mya, but who helped out tremendously (since I was still supposed to be on bed rest and couldn't do much to help...)!

We got some bubbles and tattoos for all of the kids--they were a big hit!

Time for presents!

I think Mya was a little overwhelmed with all the people, treats, presents, attention, etc. A couple times we found her sitting off by herself, just hanging out and getting some peace and quiet : ).

Alex recreated this scene from the first Toy Story movie for Mya's cake (where Buzz and Woody are chasing the moving truck on RC)--as always, he did an incredible job! He even put sparklers in the back of the rocket : )

I'm so thankful for this little girl! I'm grateful for the chance we have each year to take a day to celebrate the day she was born, and what a wonderful day that was. Happy Birthday my sweet little angel!!!!!

The Coolest Surprise Ever

QUICK UPDATE ON THE BABY AND I: Things are going quite well with us these days... and by that, I mainly mean that I'm still pregnant! Tomorrow marks my 34th week, and I'm getting more relieved day by day, and more excited, as I gain more confidence that he'll be more ready to enter the world when he decides to do so. I did go to the hospital again last week, but thankfully they let me come home (barely)! They upped my medication a bit, and ordered me to be on strict bed rest (rather than the 'modified' that I've been on). It's made a big difference in keeping the contractions under control!

Last week, my incredible sister, and her husband and little boy, drove up from Arizona to surprise me. They stayed with our Mom for about 5 days. While here, they made freezer meals, helped with some baby prep stuff, and took Mya out on some awesome outings. I still can't believe that she did that for me! It was the best.

Not only did my Mom and sister make freezer meals, but they catered them to my present needs. Most of the meals are already cooked, and are portioned individually--ready to just be popped into the microwave and enjoyed! Our kitchen is upstairs, which I can't really do; and my Dad and sister just barely bought us a chest freezer for downstairs. SO, with the fridge and microwave we already have down here, now I can actually take care of Mya and I when Alex isn't here!

Kara helped put together some shelves that I've been wanting to put together before the baby comes. One thing that's tough about being on bed rest is that I'M STILL PREGNANT.... meaning, I still have little cravings for things that I can't go get for myself, and I'm still nesting (in my head). My dear big sis helped get some of the nesting things ready for me! (And of course, Mya loved to help her Aunt Kara!)

I just loved this picture too much not to share it. And I know, I cheated a bit on the 'strict' part of the bed rest orders.

One day, Kara and Jared took the kiddos to Hogel Zoo. Obviously, it was a WONDERFUL day!

Aunt Kara, her adorable little boy Liam, and Mya

Again, too cute not to share--they didn't pose her or anything!

Here are the kids playing together at the park

Cheating again (by not laying down). We haven't been great about taking 'pregnancy pictures' at the different stages. So here's me at 33 weeks!

My nephew Liam turns 2 next week, and Mya turns 3 on June 5th. So while they were in town, they planned a little birthday party for the kids! This train cake turned out so completely awesome--and of course, the kids LOVED it!!!

Presents!

My beautiful, amazing sister and I

Fun family time : )

As usual, there's a million pictures--sorry about that! There was just too much fun over the past 5 days not to share. I can't thank my sister enough for taking the time, and making the effort to come up and be with me. I really needed that time with her. On top of that, it was just great of her and her husband, Jared, to help so much with the food, baby preparations, and taking Mya out to have such a great time (and give me some extra rest time). I LOVE YOU SO MUCH KARA!!!

I Won't Complain About Bed Rest Anymore, I Promise

What a week. A lot has happened with our little unborn baby and myself these past several days. I am really grateful to say that at this point, the baby is still unborn and safe in my good ol' uterus. Almost two weeks ago I went to the hospital because of some really consistent contractions (see a couple posts below if you care about the details of that ordeal). Since then, I've been on modified bed rest and have been taking some medication, nifedipine, as needed to stop contractions. Well, this past Sunday afternoon, I started having quite a few contractions again. I took as much of the nifedipine as I was allowed to, but unfortunately, things just still didn't seem right. I went to the hospital again, and it's a really good thing that I did.

I was feeling an occasional contraction, but was having a hard time actually telling what was a contraction and what wasn't--they weren't painful, so I didn't notice a lot of the 'sensations' in my lower back and abdomen. When they got me hooked up to monitors in triage however, I was contracting every 3 minutes or so--yikes. I hadn't dilated much further, thank goodness. I was at 1.5 cm/50% effaced. One of the biggest concerns though was a test they did called the fetal fibro nectin (FFN). This test can help determine the likelihood of me delivering the baby within the next 14 days. The test came back positive. This doesn't mean that he's for sure coming within 2 weeks, but it does up the chances to about 1 in 6. Also, the baby was pretty low in my pelvis, with a really soft cervix.

I was at 31 weeks when I went in. They went ahead and admitted me to a labor and delivery room and started all sorts of fun stuff. First they gave me a steroid shot (betamethasone) to help my baby's lung development (it was a big shot in my hip--I have so much extra fluff around my hips, and yet, they went for one of the less 'fluffy' areas--not a terribly pleasant shot, just to warn anyone that gets one in the future!). They had given me more nifedipine, which did nothing to stop the labor. So the doctor on call gave me some demerol (again,

an unpleasant hip shot) to try to relax my uterus. She was trying to avoid having to put me on magnesium sulfate, but alas, it was not meant to be...

The next couple days were a bit of a blur. My doctor came in first thing Monday morning and had them start me on a pretty aggressive dose of the magnesium. Anyone who's been on that stuff knows that it's pretty yucky. The way they explained it to me is that it's kind of the big guns when it comes to stopping labor--it's basically a big muscle relaxant. The goal is to relax the uterus and stop the contracting; some of the side effects are that it can relax other smooth muscles too much, such as the heart and lungs, so they had to monitor me pretty closely. And the super fun side effects that I got to experience were dizzy spells, hot flashes/sweating, vomiting, aching, blurred vision, and stuff like that. They had me on an IV with lots of magnesium for nearly 48 hours--maybe that's why those couple days were such a blur : ) ?

I think the worst part of those few days actually had to be the catheter. I won't go into too many of those details, but in short, I ended up having issues with the first one, so they had to pull it out and put in a second one....it was one of the more painful things I've ever experienced; it actually caused me to spasm so bad that it made me vomit. Yuck. Are catheters really supposed to be that bad?

Also, my veins weren't helping anything. I have at least 6 awesome bruises on my hands and arms from them struggling to get my IV in a good vein. Oh well, those look much worse than they actually are! At one point they thought my water broke; thankfully I just peed my bed (thus the need for the 2nd catheter, placed properly this time). Did I just say: "thankfully I just peed my bed"? At another point, they thought I had fluid in my lungs from the magnesium. Again, thankfully, it's just a cold.

Have I complained enough yet??? Sorry. I'm a BIG baby. A big baby with a low tolerance for pain and discomfort. So here's what the end result of my 6 day stay at the hospital: They were able to stop the labor (at least for the time being), as long as I make sure and take nifedipine every 4 hours. I am at home now, and am so grateful to be here! My bed rest is fairly strict for this week. I have my next appointment on Thursday, and depending on how that goes, I may or may not have to stay on as strict of bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy. To be completely honest, I have still been contracting a bit. Not tons, but enough to concern me, and enough to most likely necessitate that the strict bed rest continue. After the hellish time in the hospital though, I promise you won't hear me complaining anymore about being on bed rest at home!

I can't even begin to express how thankful I am right now. I have been overwhelmed with gratitude in so many ways. The medical technology that has more than likely saved my son's life, and the medical staff that were so incredible--my doctor is amazing, and every single nurse that helped me was wonderful. All of mine and Alex's family, our friends, and everyone in our ward have all been completely willing to help us in every way. We've needed help, and probably will for a little while....... and I have no idea what we'd do without our selfless, generous loved ones. Among the support they have all shown, I have felt the countless prayers on our behalf. THANK YOU--from the bottom of our hearts. Calling my husband incredible really doesn't even do him justice... he's really been a saint, and has been calm under pressure as he handles being both Mom and Dad to Mya, plus working, making arrangements for Mya, taking care of me, etc. I swear I love him more and more each day. And then there's Mya. If you were to spend time with her, you'd never know that things have been weird at home. She has been so very loving, understanding, and adaptable. She's an amazing little girl.