Merry Christmas, Hospital Style

Let's go through the last little while chronologically with pictures.

-Kason was super excited to write his first letter to Santa. I put it in our mailbox thinking the mailman would just leave it there and I would go get it later to keep it, but it seems that he took it. The gist of the letter went like this: Dear Santa, I have been good this year. We will leave some cookies and carrots out. I would like a bumble bee car, tool set and legos. Fly safe. Love Kason. It took forever to write. He was pretty proud though.

-I call Emry our little snowman in this outfit.

-So, Kason and Asher got terrible colds when Emry came home from the hospital. I was worried about her getting it and even threw around the dreaded RSV phrase. Asher had it when he was 8 months old and it wasn't fun. I thought she was ok. But, as time went on her cough got worse and she was really sleepy. We called a nurse a couple times and went back and forth on whether or not we should go in. Sunday night (the 18th) her breathing seemed funny (she was retracting) and so we decided to go to the ER at 11pm. They did an x ray (blah) and an RSV test and I knew we were in for it. Sure enough, the RSV test came back positive. I almost lost it when the nurse told us that like it was nothing. So, they admitted my 12 day old to the hospital at 4 am. Luckily, my sister was here for the next few days to watch the boys, which was a life saver. The next few days were awful. Turns out RSV in a 2 week old is different than for an 8 month old. It was much more drawn out, takes longer to heal and was scarier. She was on oxygen and had so many tubes hooked up to her. She had one episode of apnea. MISERABLE physically, mentally, and emotionally. Having just had a baby two weeks ago and then being in the hospital with her, I'm afraid I wasn't the most positive person, to put it lightly. I felt like if I started to lose it I wouldn't be able to stop and I would really lose it. Isaac did a whole lot of driving back and forth. Really though, looking back, we were really blessed; she never stopped eating, she didn't get pneumonia, and she only needed two breathing treatments. We stayed for 5 very long days. She had to go 24 hours without oxygen support before we could go home and watching those monitors showing her oxygen level was a love/hate relationship. Isaac and a friend gave her a blessing and during that night they took off the oxygen. We got to come home on Friday and I am so so so thankful it was before Christmas. Sickness just makes me tired thinking about it, but it sure makes me thankful for good health and for getting better!



This was our home for almost a week. Because of her wires/cords she could only be moved from her little crib to the bed. It was a very small, confining space to be in for that long of a time! I watched lots of TLC's What Not to Wear.

At least I had a great view.

So we were home, before Christmas, and super tired, but happy. After being with Emry for so long Asher seems HUGE. He is a stocky boy. Christmas Eve the boys left out cookies, carrots, and milk.

Our Christmas present

Christmas morning. The boys were so excited and were peeking out their bedroom door, ready to go. They can both loudly sing Away in a Manger and Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and I do mean loudly.

Emry is recovering great. She just has a leftover nasty cough, which can last for a week or two. We went to the doctor today and her lungs sound great. She is 3 weeks and weighs 9 lbs 2 oz - 60% and is 21 in - 60%. She has the most hair of any of our kids at this age, which makes me glad since she is a girl. I gave her a bath and put a beanie on while her hair was still damp. when I took the beanie off this is what I found, quite the mohawk/mullet:

Now we are getting excited for the Rose bowl, go Ducks!

And, because I am a proud wife, I wanted to post about Isaac's "jump to fame" amidst all this.:) His second paper that he wrote with his two advisors got a bunch of media attention. Within a matter of days their paper was linked all over the country in over 150 news sites. It was linked to the Associated Press and was on all the major news sites. He was especially happy it was on ESPN.COM. Isaac did a live radio interview and another over the phone interview. Grad school has a lot of ups and downs! https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&btnmeta_news_search=1&q=swensen+football&oq=swensen+football&aq=f&aqi=d1d-o1&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=1365l4980l0l5174l18l17l0l14l0l0l186l370l1.2l3l0

What a Week

It has been a blur of a week. I thought I'd write down a little bit more about Emry (or Whippy as she is still called somewhat frequently because of Kason's long standing name suggestion for her) now that she is 10 days old! I was almost a week overdue, which was a fun new experience. I had tried some of the myths to induce labor to no avail. Isaac and I went on a curb walk every night, which I'm sure was a pretty funny sight. I decided to get induced, not my first preference, but I wanted family to be here to watch the boys. So, Tuesday morning at 7:30 we went in. I got started on pitocin at 8:30 and was hoping things would go quickly since I was already dilated, but it didn't. I could feel the contractions, but wasn't really in alot of pain. We walked around, played cards, watched some stuff on hulu... at 2ish the doctor broke my water and things started going quickly then. I sat on one of those balls for the rest of the time and I think that made all the difference. It helped alot! The doctor checked me and I was at an 8/9. He said it could be up to an hour longer, which stressed me out, there was no way I could handle it for another hour! 3 contractions later I needed to push and 3 awful contractions after that Emry was born at 4:38 pm!

Going Home

Kason's first time holding her, he was very careful.

Asher's first time holding her. He took his time before he was ready.

The boys have had to have some quality time together!

Grandma was here to save the days!

2 days after we got home from the hospital Asher came down with a high fever, cough, and cold. A few days later Kason got it. I think I've about had a nervous breakdown about Emry getting it. I think I'm a bit paranoid ever since Asher had RSV. Anyway, the boys are on the mend now, Emry did end up getting it, but it's not as bad as the boys. Lets hope it stays that way.

Love this picture.

This is just to remember how much hair she has! It's almost mullet-ish in the back!

I am so so glad Isaac has stayed home to help. She didn't sleep at first, well, still struggles, but it's getting slightly better, I think. I don't know how I will do laundry and make dinner when I'm by myself! Before she was born we put up our Christmas decorations, one of my favorite things to do.

And the boys got to see Santa. Kason went right up and said he wanted a bumble bee transformer car. Asher was shy, but got bribed up with a piece of candy. We got this smile out of him and he talked a little bit and then...

...he just kind of shut down and didn't have any facial expressions and just leaned against Santa. It was pretty funny.

~BaBy~

Emry Leigh

12/6/11

8 lbs 3 oz

K & A

It seems that baby girl could be coming sooner rather than later so I wanted to get down a few things I want to remember about Kason and Asher. I've been having ALOT of Braxton Hicks or contractions or whatever they are and the doctor says he wouldn't be surprised if I went a couple weeks early. Kason was 3 weeks early and was tiny and had a hard time eating so I have been slightly stressed it's going to be like that again. I've been taking things pretty easy and we're already past the point when Kason was born. I'd like her to wait just a little longer, maybe til my family gets here! Isaac has really made up for my laziness! He works hard at school all day and then comes home and works here.

These boys are best buds, but boy they sure can fight too - and make a huge mess in seconds.

(Photography by Asher)

*Kason

-He really is a super helper

-He's taking a hip hop class right now and thinks it is great.

-He feels pretty special when Isaac designates him as the man of the house when Isaac leaves.

-He is very sweet.

-Some things he said in his prayer last night:

Please help us to get to the hospital fast and the baby to not come too quick.

Please help me to have special dreams and not bad dreams.

Please help me to have a smart brain when I count to 25 (He has trouble with 16-18)

Please help the car to not stop in the middle of the road. (it happened once, we don't know why, and must have traumatized him)

*Asher

-He is at a fun age now (2 1/2) and has been saying lots of funny stuff.

-In these pictures he was just singing his own little song while he was playing and when I tuned in to what he was singing I heard this: "...and the dragon gets the alligator with his wings, his basketball wings, his basketball wings..."

-He is really sweet too and always blows us kisses when we are leaving or he is going to bed.

-If I am getting frustrated with him alot of times he rubs my hair and says, "I love your hair" or the other night he rubbed my arm and said, "so soft and warm".

-When we do thumbs up, he does his pointer finger instead of his thumb.

-He has been showing me his ultimate act of love by shoving his doggie under my head when I am laying down.

-He talks about 20 decibels above normal all. the. time.


He is also kind of potty training! We're not pushing it too much, but he's doing pretty well. He goes about 100 times a day and wants to go 10 times when he's going to bed, but he hasn't had any accidents really. Well, any wet accidents, the other one is a different story!

I love these pictures cause he just still looks so stocky in underwear. It's so funny to see him run from one side of the apartment to the other. According to him, underwear makes you fast. He hasn't gotten down the art of getting the underwear around that bum of his when he's pulling them up or down.


And because someday I'll want to remember. I think this is 36 or 37 weeks.

HaPpY FaLL

The leaves around here are so pretty in the fall, and they aren't too soaked yet, so it's still nice.

Kason made a squirrel, bird, and worm house and feeder (in his own words) out of a cereal box. He worked diligently on it one afternoon.

Carving Pumpkins

Just like last year Kason dug right into getting all the guts out and Asher didn't really even want to touch them.

The finished products.

We had a cowboy and an army guy this year.

Sometimes Asher would knock too softly so we told him to knock loudly and he just would yell, "knock, knock".

Asher got pretty into it and when we were back at home and kids kept coming to the door he would open the door and yell "trick or treat" to them.

Kason wanted to carry the blanket for me to sit on at the park today (yes, it was pretty cold, but we still went). He said he didn't want me to have to carry two things-"your HUGE belly, and the blanket". We have about 4 more weeks to go and are anxiously and nervously waiting for this little girl. Let's hope she can keep up with this: