ER

Vance did not want me to blog this for some reason, but this blog is like my journal, so I am blogging it anyways. Wednesday, Feb 18th was a day I wish I could forget forever. It started out just great, but ended with a haunting experience I'm afraid I will never forget (It seems like it's one thing after another with us). It started with Vance dropping me and the kids off at my parents so they could watch the kids while I went to a doctor appointment. After the appointment I had to run a few errands which I completely enjoyed. I feel like it had been months since I had been out driving around by myself during the day, and it felt great! I stopped at Bountiful Nutrition to get Gripe Water to try it with Isaac. He seems so uncomfortable all the time and I have heard people swear by it up and down, so I was quite excited to try it. When I arrived back at my parents house, the first thing I did was open the Gripe Water and get the dosage ready to give him. It comes with a syringe to use instead of a dropper, but I didn't really think anything of it. I measured out 1/2 tsp, and put it in his mouth. I barely pushed on it cause I know it can come out fast if you're not careful. Well, it did just that. It just shot right out and Isaac started choking and gasping for air. My mom was holding him, and she quickly started patting his back trying to help him get his breath. He got a small breath of air, and was right back to choking again. This happened over and over again until he was purple... and then gray. I was just yelling his name over and over again not knowing if he was going to take another breath again. I just kept thinking that he was just fine, and that there was no way this was happening to my baby. But my mom kept reminding me that he was still choking and turning purple. She called my dad in and we all started to panic. Julie walked in the house, and at that point, we were pretty much on our way out the door to take him to the ER. She took one look at him, and confirmed the idea of getting him there asap. His car seat was in our car at Vance's work, but that didn't matter. Car seat or not, we were taking him. I called Vance on the way and told him to meet us at the hospital. Luckily on the way there, Isaac burped a little and got some of it out and from that point on, he was able to breathe better, and started to slowly get his color back. When we got to the hospital, I was so shaken up that I could barely tell them what had happened. While filling out the paper work, they took his vitals and got us to a room for the Dr. to look at him. The main thing we were all concerned about is if he had aspirated or not. They said his lungs sounded real good but they did an x-ray just to make sure. The verdict was that everything looked good except there was a "marking" on the lower part of one of his lungs that they weren't sure what it was from. He said if he had aspirated, he would have expected something on the upper part of his lungs. So...they sent us home with the understanding that we would come back if he had any trouble breathing of any kind, or if he developed a fever. I was relieved that there was nothing serious enough for them to keep him there at the hospital, but what was the "marking" on his lung all about? I just pray that it's nothing serious and nothing more happens. This boy is already keeping us on our toes and has been from week 13 of the pregnancy. I'm so grateful he's okay!

Isaac's First "Real" Bath

After exactly one week, Isaac's umbilical cord fell off, and boy was I excited! This meant that we wouldn't have to keep folding down his diapers, rubbing alcohol on it 3 times a day, and that he could finally have a real bath! It's always interesting to see a baby's reaction to their first bath. Mason HATED sponge baths, but LOVED real baths right from the start. Isaac hated sponge baths, but he also doesn't care much at all for his real baths either. He loves to lie in the warm water, but as soon as we start lathering him up, he goes crazy! I even make sure I let the soap sit in the warm water for a while so it's not shockingly cold. Anyway, here are a few pics of Vance giving him his first bath.

Baby Isaac!

The day after Isaac was born, my parents brought Mason in to see us and to finally get to meet the baby he'd constantly been told about for the last 8 months. It was so fun to see his reaction as he grinned from ear to ear as he looked at his new baby brother. He made the real connection when Vance told him that this was Baby Isaac, and that he wasn't in Mommy's belly anymore.

He had already been walking around saying "Baby Isaac" all the time, especially when pointing to my belly. Well, when my parents took him home, he walked right over and picked up a stuffed animal duck that was in his toy box, then walked over and grabbed a blanket. He carefully wrapped up the duck in the blanket and carried it around for the rest of the day calling him Baby Isaac. Apparently he didn't let that duck out of his sight! I just thought that was so cute and how amazing it is how quickly kids learn and catch on to things.

In Mason's words, in this picture, he was "change a diaper!"

Warning to all Future Parents!

So while we were at the hospital, all three of us (Vance, Isaac, and myself) had to wear wrist bands for identification. Well, they have added extra security to the babies, which is awesome, but they need to come up with a lot better idea. They put the usual bands on each of his ankles, but they also put a strip of paper with his name on it onto his thigh and it was secured with tegaderm (the tape used to hold IV's in place). I was a little skittish about this idea from the beginning. It too the lovely CNA that put it on him kept 3-4 tries to finally figure out how the tegaderm works. Each time she kept putting the piece of paper too low, so the corner was jabbing into his knee. I kept kindly asking her to cut the extra inch off the paper because it kept jabbing into his knee, but she kept ignoring me. Finally after asking the nurse that was standing there for a pair of scissors, the CNA cut it off. Then as we were getting ready to leave the hospital, we asked the nurse if she would take it off, and she said to just do it at home and that it would peel right off. Well, this was not the case. Poor little Isaac just screamed every time we'd attempt to peel it off. I even used an adhesive remover. When we finally got it off, his poor leg was red and sore for quite a while. I was so mad at the whole situation that I just wanted to warn everyone about the possibility of this happening to your baby.

Our Midnight Scare

One night last week we were up still around midnight (which is pretty typical for us). We were trying to get settled for bed when Vance came in from the kitchen and said that something was burning. We went back into the kitchen and it quickly became clear that it was coming from the dreyer. We had our big fuzzy blanket in there and I guess it was way too big for our tiny dreyer. We opened the dreyer door and were over powered with the smell of fire. There wasn't any smoke but we weren't sure what the cituation was in the wall, or anywhere else we couldn't see, so I called 911. They told us to quickly get out of the house and wait for them to arrive. Vance quickly went outside and started the car so we could keep the kids warm while I got Isaac bundled up. After pulling Mason out of his crib and putting his coat on, we were just getting in the car when a fire truck and ambulance pulled up. Mason and I just danced to the music in the car while Vance went in with the Firemen to see what the verdict was. Luckily there was no damage anywhere and they said something in the dreyer caught on fire for a split second before we caught it. Otherwise we could have been in big trouble. We are so grateful that nothing serious happened and that we are all safe. It's so scary to think that we were that close to disaster. Unfortunately we are out of a dreyer for now until we can get it looked at to make sure it is safe to use again. Perfect timing with a new baby here! One thing I know for sure, we will NEVER run any dreyer in our house while were are sleeping, or not home. It's just not worth it.

Our Bundle of Joy!!!!!

Introducing...Isaac Vance Sandgren!! Born on January 23, 2009 at 6:16 am. Weighing in at 5 pounds 6 ounces and measuring 19 inches long, our precious new baby joined our family. It all started on Wednesday the 21st when I went into the hospital to have my amniotic fluid levels checked. Part of the testing was done by ultrasound where they divided my belly into four quadrants. Then they took a picture of each quadrant and measured the amount of fluid in each quadrant and added it together to get the total amount. Two of the quadrants had no fluid at all and the other two added up to be 6. Normal is 10-24. I was at 10.5 while at the hospital during Christmas, and in 4 weeks, it went down to 6. The nurse was a little concerned, I was way concerned, but she said to come back to have it checked again on Friday. Then we noticed with some contractions, the baby's hear beat would drop a little. They kept me there to monitor it a little longer and said everything looked fine and sent me home with the warning that if my levels had not changed or gone up by Friday, they might keep me there and induce me that day. I came home and Vance and I got our bags packed and got everything ready just in case. Thursday night, after finishing getting everything ready, we finally laid down in bed around 1:30am. Around 2:15, the contractions started. Every 2-5 minutes, and they hurt more than normal. I decided to take a bath to see if that would make them stop, but no luck. I went in the room and woke up Vance so we could go to the hospital. This was it!! I called my parents at 3:30 in the morning so we could drop Mason off (He danced in the car to the music all the way to my parents house! He didn't mind getting woken up at 4 in the morning at all! He's such a good boy). When we got to the hospital (around 4:30), they put monitors on me, and immediately noticed the babies heartbeat dropped with almost every contraction. They immediately called my doctor, and he got on the phone with me and prepared me for the strong possibility of a c-section. He arrived at the hospital rather quickly and he gave me the choice to wait it out and see how the baby does since he seemed to be doing better with contractions, or we could stay on the safer side and go forward with the c-section. Thinking only of the safety of my sweet baby, I gave the go-ahead for the c-section. They instantly started preparing me and within 10 minutes, had me sitting on the operating table getting my epidural. I had never been so nervous and scared in my entire life. They had me hooked up to machines so they could hear my heartbeat, and it had to been 40 beats per minute or lower. After they put up the famous blue shield to block my view, they started poking my belly to see if I was numb yet. I could feel almost every poke. The anesthesiologist asked me to look at his finger, and the next thing I knew, I was staring at the blue shield again and I could faintly hear a baby crying in the background as Vance told me he was good and healthy and weighed 5 lbs 6 oz. I guess before I was really awake again, I looked at Vance and said "pictures, pictures, pictures..." I told him before the surgery that all I wanted was pictures of the baby like crazy since I couldn't see anything, but I don't remember saying that to him. They had taken the baby into a room separate from the OR but it was connected by a window. So through my blurry vision, I could look over and barely see little arms and legs sticking up in the air frantically moving around. After they got me back to my room, I had to wait patiently, just hoping that everything was okay with the baby, for Vance and Isaac to come into the room so I could finally meet my new son. I was still very loopy and out of it, so the fact that I hadn't really seen him yet was just fine. I think if I hadn't been put under, I would of had a lot harder time with that. After what seemed like forever, and bugging the poor nurse like crazy asking where he was, in strolled little tiny Isaac with his proud daddy by his side. It was one of the happiest moments of my life. He was so TINY all bundled up in the blanket, and he was NOT happy. He just cried and cried from the moment he came out until the moment he was snuggled against his mommy! We are so incredibly grateful that everything went so smoothly and that our little boy arrived here safe and healthy. We love you baby Isaac!!!

New Years Party!!!

For New Year's this year, we decided to go to Provo and spend the holiday with Vance's family. His Grandparents were here from London and we always have such a fun time with the family while they are here, and this night was no different. We are always playing games, eating amazing food, telling funny jokes and stories, and celebrating like crazy. Right before midnight, we played a game where everyone gets in a circle and has their own balloon. We then took turns blowing up our balloon and letting it go. The goal was to catch as many of the flying balloons as you could. The pictures say it all!!

Everyone was trying to convince Mason to give them the balloon he caught!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!

Mason and his Great Uncle Mike!! That's right, so young and already a Great Uncle!!

Elder Broderick - Called to Serve!!!

On New Years Eve, my brother, Steven, got his mission call. We had all been waiting patiently through the holidays for it to come and it finally came just in time for the new year. My family was having a party at Mike and Gretchen's house so first thing, he opened the big white envelope...but first we went around the room and said where we each thought he was going. Of course none of us guessed it or even thought about this location (which was surprising because it's actually a pretty popular place to get called to). But that made it all the better and more exciting for when he read: ARGENTINA SALTA MISSION!!! He just sat there in complete shock and we all cheered with excitement! He leaves on March 18th. Congratulations Steven!!!

Our Christmas Story...

This Christmas was one that we will never forget. It was different than anything we would ever expect for Christmas. It all started on Christmas Eve. We were at Vance's aunt and uncle's house (Tim and Dana) in Highland having a party with his family. The night went really well and we had a great time visiting with his family, ate an amazing meal all prepared by Dana, and had a great Christmas program mainly put on by Vance's grandpa to help remind us of the true meaning of Christmas. When the event was over, we ate an amazing desert, and we all parted our ways to get ready for Christmas morning. Everyone had left while we were still trying to peel Mason away from all the excitement. Vance had gone out to pull the car in the driveway, and get it warmed up and when he got back, me and Mason were ready to go. Vance grabbed Mason and the diaper bag and led the way out to the car. But... we didn't get very far. As soon as Vance stepped off the porch, he took one more step and slipped on the ice, while holding Mason, and fell hard to his back. I naturally reacted to get to them as quickly as possible to help, not thinking, and I took one step and slipped as well onto my right side on the stairs. Vance cradled Mason really good so he knew he wasn't hurt, so he hurried and set Mason down and came to help me up. Tim and Dana were still standing at the door, so they were there instantly to help. Mason was screaming due to shock and being scared, and we were all quite worried about the baby. I called my doctor and he highly advised that I go straight to the hospital to get checked and have the baby monitored for a few hours. I wasn't hurting anywhere but my elbow (from catching myself) until I got up to walk to the car. I could barely walk to the car because the left side of my belly hurt real bad. Not a good sign, but the baby was moving good and I wasn't currently having any contractions, so I knew everything was okay. It was after 11pm when we got to the hospital. They hooked me up to monitors for the baby and said I would be here for 4 hours to make sure everything was okay. Vance ended up taking Mason to my parents house for the night while they did all sorts of things to me. First of all, after being monitored for a bit, the nurse came in and asked me if I could feel all the contractions I was having. Yes...I could feel them. They were every 2-5 minutes and were not going away. She talked to the doctor and told me they were keeping me for at least 12 hours now. They said the top two reasons for pre-term labor are UTI's and dehydration. So they had to take a urine sample straight from me, which meant getting straight cathed (which KILLS), and start an IV. They also drew blood, gave me 2 shots in my hip (one shot to help the baby's lungs develop faster in case he did come early, and another shot to make my body relax to try and stop the contractions. They also gave me a pill twice every 15 min to help stop contractions, but it lowered my blood pressure too much so they had to stop giving it to me. -By the way, at the time of all this excitement, I was only 32 weeks and 4 days along, so this was quite a scare. They also checked me for a hormone that if present, says you will most likely deliver within two weeks. If the test is negative, then it means you most likely will not deliver within two weeks. Luckily, this test came back negative, so that gave us all a bit of relief. But, I had already started dilating. I was at a 1 1/2 and 80% effaced. (Just a quick background update, I have been having contractions since week 20 and they were never consistent until two days before all this happened. So my body was slowly going into labor anyways. Me falling just MADE me go to the hospital to get it all stopped before it could have been too late.) Anyways, so Christmas Day they kept telling me that they had no idea for sure when I would be going home because the contractions were refusing to stop. They kept saying I could be there for a few more hours up to 4 more weeks! AHHHHH, that did not make me excited. But anything to keep my baby safe. Thank goodness for family that is so supportive and came to visit us during their busy Christmas Day. We were supposed to meet over at my parent's house at 8:30 that morning to celebrate, and with our situation, they all got together and decided they wanted to delay Christmas until we could be there with them. That meant so much to me. Luckily around 4:00pm, the nurse came in and said that they were going to let me go home! My contractions had finally slowed down enough that my doctor felt good about everything. The only catch was that I had to go back in the morning to get the 2nd shot in my hip to help the baby's lungs develop. But I was great with that. I was sooooo excited to just get to go home. We quickly gathered our stuff, took a few quick pictures, and we were out the door in a matter of minutes!

When we arrived at my parents house, everyone was sitting there patiently waiting, including our sweet little boy. I was so happy to see him. It's a good thing he doesn't know that it was Christmas or I would have felt so bad. It was so much fun watching him open his presents. It had been a while since he'd unwrapped anything, but he knew just what to do and didn't hesitate for a second. He got completely spoiled from the entire family (thanks everyone!) It was so much fun to watch him open all his gifts with such excitement. Moments like this just make everything okay and every sacrifice worth it entirely. I love being a mom!!!! Yes...we gave Mason a pink doll stroller. But he LOVES it and that's all that matters, right?!!? Plus, he has a baby brother coming soon, so it fits!