At the first of this month I had reached the point in my pregnancy where I was just soooo unbelievably uncomfortable. I was waddling, not sleeping at night, just getting ready exhausted me but I was too uncomfortable to truly rest and worst of all I was having tonz of what I thought were just Braxton Hicks but since its was my first pregnancy I had no idea the pain I was feeling was much more serious. I had even talked to my Dr. about the pain I was feeling and she just kept telling me the pain was normal especially for how tiny I am. So I went on ignoring what I was feeling because I really had no idea what I was feeling.
But before all that drama happened we had an unexpected visitor from our landlord one night that brought some very bad and sad news :( He told us that because we were renting from the city the city council met and had decided they wanted to raise our rent to 50% of what we were originally paying and that we had 30 days to decide if we wanted to stay or go. Here I am huge and pregnant in pain and uncomfortable and knowing there was no way we could stay in our little home that we had worked so hard to make ours. We had so many memories of our first amazing year there and worse than that we were right in the middle of painting Jaces' nursery. We had no choice tho and we prayed and felt the best choice was to move into my parents and get settled so we had a stable place to stay when Jace got here and then we could start figuring out a new place to live. It totally broke both of our hearts and boxing up that house and taking down all our pictures was totally braking my heart. :(
In order to avoid having to pay rent and utilities for a house we were only gonna be in for not even a full month we immediatly started getting packed up. Like I said being pregnant and emotional trying to box everything up with a huge belly was extremely hard and thats when I felt pain like I never had before that would not go away. I called my Dr. and she said to take tylenol, drink lots of water, get in the tub and come into her office if the pain didn't stop. Well of course the pain didn't stop so I called Nate he came and picked me up and I ran out of a half boxed messy house. When we got to the Dr. she told me I was dialated to a three to get up to labor and delivery and hopefully they could stop my contractions so Jace would have more time to grow.
It was May 11th when I was admitted to Ogden Regional and I was just barely 33 weeks. Little did I know I wouldn't be home until little Jace was born. But before that I would spend 4 miserable days on bed rest in the hospital. They gave me steroids to help Jaces' lungs develop and holy pain I have never had a shot that hurt so bad. They gave me all kinds of IV medicine that made me feel like crap and all I could do was sit on that uncomfortable bed all day everyday getting shot after shot trying to stop my labor.
My family is super amazing tho the Drysdales came and brought me treats and spent time with me, my mom took many days off work to be there when Nate couldn't be there, bringing me all the food I wanted and she was so cute and taught me to crochet a little blankie for my little man :). And of course Nathan spent every second he could with me. He takes such good care of me. He had to sleep on a pull out bed then get up every morning at 3:30 for work. One night he had to get up with me literally every 15 minutes and help me move all my IVs and monitors so I could go to the bathroom. I am such a lucky girl to have a husband that cares so much for me.
By Friday I had finally gone a full 24 hrs. without any contractions and was thinking I would get to home when of course the contractions started again worse than they ever have been and nothing they were doing this time were stopping or even slowing them down. I was in soooo much pain and completely nauseated that they decided to give me my epidural, not to make delivery easier but in a last attempt to stop my labor. My epidural was a nightmare. They had to do it 3 times because every time they hit a blood vessel and I would slowly black out as he would pull it out. The nurse said that she had never ever seen him hit a blood vessel more than once. Just my luck I was super worried that he wouldn't be able to get it and I would have to have natural birth which so wasn't good. He finally got it and within minutes I was feeling AMAZING! By this time I was dialated to a seven and they still didn't want me to have Jace that night but my body was doing everything to get him out. My tempature started to rise which can be very dangerous when you are in labor so the Dr. decided to brake my water. It still didn't seem real at that point that our little baby would be there in just a few hours.
I had to deliver in the OR because it was closer to the NICU and Jace had to go straight there right when he was born because he was so early. Labor was nothing like I thought it was gonna be. Its not like the movies. There is nothing to be afraid of and for me it was fast and fairly easy! Being there with Nate and seeing Jace for the first time was the most amazing thing. I will never forget it.
Jace finally came at 4:29 in the morning,on May 14th, he weighed 5 lbs 10 ounces and was 18 inches long. A true miracle for how early he was. Jace did awesome only needing oxygen for about an hour.
Nathan and I were exhausted and slept pretty much all day on sunday and going to see our little guy in the NICU. I had to stay in the hospital an extra day because the Dr. wanted to make sure my fever was gone before she let me go home. By the time I got to go home on Monday I was more than ready to get out of the dang hospital. Unfortunately it was without Jace. Leaving that day I had no idea how hard the next two weeks would be.
Luckily while I was on bed rest my family got together and moved most of our things. My mom knew how sad I was about moving so her and my dad got our little place in the basement all ready and cute for us. And it was good that I didn't have to go back and spend to much time at the house. Especially since I had other things on my mind.
Jace spent two weeks and a day in the NICU and it was the hardest thing Nate and I have ever been through together. Feeling so helpless and not being able to mother my brand new baby was the worst. I was not happy with the NICU at ogden regional at all and I hope I never have to deal with it again. Nathan and I spent every free second at the hospital feeding Jace and holding him as much as we could. It was very hard especially since we were in the middle of moving it was very overwhelming. I don't know what we would have done without eachother.
On the other hand I have alot to be grateful for. I am so lucky that Jace had nothing more serious than just being premature. We had insurance so all his needs could be taken care of. And we were able to go home and get some good rest and get ready for our little guy to come home.
As more time went by it got more and more frustrating. One day Jace would be coming home and the next it seemed like he was moving backwords. Jace finally learned to eat really well on his own his only problem was his breathing apnea.
Jace finally got to come home to us on Sunday morning. Because he has to be on oxygen they had us stay the night with him on Saturday so we could make sure we knew how to work all his equipment.
Bringing Jace home was so amazing and everyone was so right. It really seems like those 2 weeks never happened. Jace is doing well and will be off his oxygen in about a week!! Yay! He is gaining weight vey quickly, eating like a big boy and making mommy and daddy very happy!!!
Today I had to take my poor little man to get circumcized :( it was super sad but Jace is being so tough! I am so proud of him. Thanks to my mom for coming with me keeping me sane and being a huge help!
Being a mom is definately challenging but soooo rewarding when I see Jaces big eyes look up at me I really can't believe Nate and I were blessed and trusted to be his parents! We are so super lucky! This all still doesn't seem real but I am so excited to raise my little guy!
Like always Nate has been so amazing! He even gets up in the middle of the night with Jace and lets me sleep. :) And still a hopeless romantic bringing me home red roses because I had to deal with Jace alone today.
We are now settle at my parents everything is put away and moved and I have realized whats really important in life. It doesn't matter where we are as long as my little family is together!
One last cool thing before I post pics. of baby Jace. The week we found out we were going to have to move we were at Harmons getting a few groceries to hopefully last us awhile as we were leaving a man came running up to us and handed me a 30 dollar gift card to Chilis and said he just wanted to wish us a Happy Mothers Day. I of course started crying. Its great to know there are still good people in the world who think of others. That man will never know how much that meant to us and he was gone so fast we were never able to thank him.
After all of this I am so so grateful for the power of prayer and the priesthood! Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers for my family!
2 Weeks before I popped! Sooo miserable
The 2 grandmas :) love this pic
Jace only a few min. old. My poor baby was hooked up so many machines :( so glad that is all over with
My sweet little angel
My boys mean the whole world to me!
Diaper cake! Thanks everyone who helped with my shower it was perfect!
all ready to go
Getting ready for summer in his sharky outfit!
I can't believe how in love I am with this little boy!