2 Months

At Axel’s 2 month appointment he weighed 8 lbs 7 oz and was 21 in long. He is growing so fast. Right now he loves to be held and rocked, his binky and eating. He is getting more control of his head and is not a huge fan of tummy time. He has acid reflux and just got put on omeprazole to help him with it. He doesn’t give much of a warning of when he is getting hungry, but he is very good at letting you know when he wants food as soon as he realizes he is hungry (as in asleep one minute to screaming the next saying I want food now!) He is in between newborn and size 1 diapers, newborn are getting a little too small and size 1 is huge. It is the same with clothes; we just started putting him in 0-3 month clothes and most of them are a little too big. He is starting to fill out and getting some chubby cheeks. We love him more than anything in the world and we love to watch him grow and develop. He is such a good baby; we are so extremely blessed to have him. I love being a mommy; it is the best job in the world!

NICU

Axel had to spend 24 days in the NICU. We got to bring him home on August 3^rd  weighing 5 lbs 1 oz. What an amazing day that was! It was so hard watching him in his little incubator and not being able to hold him whenever I wanted. The NICU staff was wonderful and as hard as it was for those 24 days we learned so much while we were there. I am so grateful for modern technology.

Most of the time I was by myself at the hospital while Shane had to go to work, it was really hard not having him with me all the time. There were numerous times when I would hold Axel and I could feel how close he was still to Heavenly Father.  I could feel the spirit so strong when I would hold him and several times I got tears in my eyes when I thought about all we had to go through to get him here. When I got to hold him during his feeding times I got to ponder so many things. Whenever I was having a hard time I could just look at my baby and feel so much better. He is such a miracle and blessing. I remember holding him one day and thinking about how hard it must have been for Heavenly Father to watch his Son go through so much pain and suffering. He could have taken it away from Jesus, but didn’t because of Jesus’ purpose in coming to the earth.  I am so grateful that Jesus suffered so much for me so I can be forgiven over and over for my mistakes and sins. What love He has for all of us to be willing to go through so much. If I knew that Axel is who I would be getting as a son my trial may not have been so hard, but going through that trial taught me so much. I am so much more thankful for the opportunity I have of being a mother and I get to really appreciate my baby.  I love him more than words can express. The gift of life is so amazing! 

Axel received 2 blessings from Shane and my dad and was told that he had angels in heaven and on earth watching over him. It was so comforting to hear. I also received blessings from my wonderful husband and father that helped me greatly. One day I was having a hard time because Axel had a week where he wasn’t really progressing with drinking his bottle and I wanted my baby to come home and this made him have to stay in the NICU longer. I was sitting there holding him and was sad and getting tears in my eyes and all of the sudden I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked around and couldn’t see anybody. I started to cry a little because I knew it was a special hand meant just for me. I knew then that everything would be okay and that Heavenly Father knew what I was going through and was there to comfort me. He knew how much I needed that reassurance that He loves me and that He hears my prayers. 

D&C

On July 12^th I woke up and couldn’t stop bleeding. Thankfully we had stayed in our trailer the night before so I was close to the emergency room. Shane was at work and I called him freaking out. I was going through a pad in 10 mins. I got myself to the ER and had to have a D&C done. I had retained placenta still inside my uterus that was bleeding. I had passed a few clots within a week and kept getting told it was normal and that I shouldn’t worry about it unless I started to bleed really heavy.  Sure enough, something was wrong and 6 hours later I left the ER. Shane and I went to see Axel for a few before going home. I had been away from my baby all day and it was really hard to not see him.

Our Birth Story

Thursday, July 10 started out like any other day, except the fact that I had lost my mucus plug. I called the nurse and she told me not to worry, losing my mucus plug didn’t mean that I would go into labor. So I went to my parent’s house to clean for my baby shower that we were having on Saturday. I was having contractions every hour or so but didn’t think anything of it, I would wait for the pain to go away and proceed to clean. I had started to get contractions more frequently, but still the thought of going into labor didn’t cross my mind. I came back home around 5:00 and got in the shower to get ready to drive to Utah with Shane to get a transmission for a truck. I talked to him on the phone and told him I was hurting but was probably fine to still go to Utah. I got in the shower and my contractions started to be about 10 minutes apart. I called my sister and told her the pains I was having. She told me I was having contractions and needed to get to the hospital. I told her I would probably be okay and I didn’t want to drive to the hospital for them to tell me I wasn’t dilated enough and to go home. She told me now wasn’t the time to be tough and I needed to be checked just to make sure. We tried calling my mom, who was visiting teaching and didn’t have her phone on her and then my sister called my dad to come to my house and take me to the hospital. I called Shane and told him I was hurting really bad and my contractions were now 5 minutes apart. He drove really fast home and got here about the same time as my dad. They both gave me a priesthood blessing that told me everything would be okay. It was then that it finally dawned on me I was in labor (yes, I’m a little slow!). Shane rushed me to the hospital and we got there about 7:15 p.m. We got to labor and delivery and they got me to a room to be checked. They thought maybe my placenta had separated from my uterus. I got checked and was told they could see hair. I asked what that meant and they said the baby was coming that night. I started to cry, I was so nervous and scared. I was only 33 weeks pregnant and didn’t want my sweet baby coming that early. I went to a delivery room and got checked by Dr. Cox. He told me I was fully dilated and the baby would be here within the hour. It was too late for an epidural so I got a spinal instead along with a steroid shot to help with Axel’s lungs. About 9:45 p.m. I started to push. Shane and my mom were in the room with me. In between pushed Dr. Cox let me see down there with a mirror, which was really neat. At 10:16 p.m. my sweet baby boy was born. He had the cord wrapped around his neck, which thankfully I didn’t see or I would have been a wreck. The resident helping Dr. Cox got the cord off his neck and they got him over to the nurses to be weighed. I waited to hear his first cry and when I finally heard it I started to cry myself. It was so good to hear.  They got his weight at 5 lbs 1 oz, but they were rushing to get an oxygen mask on him because his chest was kind of caved in and he was struggling to breath. He probably weighed more around 4 lbs 12 oz. I got to see my baby for a split second from across the room before he was taken into the NICU.  I didn’t get to hold my baby and I was devastated. I started crying hard and asking when I could see my baby. I got to see him 2 hours later after my meds had worn off. It was the longest 2 hours ever. Shane and my dad gave Axel a blessing and that was so comforting to me. I am so thankful for the priesthood and the power of prayer.  I am also so thankful for miracles.