Moving

We are moving back to Utah. Most people who know about this know that we were planning on moving at the end of the month but it has now been moved up to the 15th. We will be staying for a short time with my mother-in-law, (thankfully she has room for all of us), in Cedar City. We hope that in a short time we will be able to move up north to the Provo area again. Not quite so isolated (MiL lives 10 miles out of town) and more job opportunities.

We do love our friends here in Tempe and will miss everyone dearly. I will particularly miss several special women who touched my heart and made me feel loved. I hope that you know who you are, if not I have failed miserably as a friend to you in return. At least the world is a little smaller with blogging. lol. I will be without regular access to the internet for awhile but I intend to keep writing posts on my computer and post at the library when I can... hopefully that works out... So keep checking while it may be awhile between posts you may get a bunch to read at once, lol.

P.S. I hope to post a few more b4 we leave, so this hopefully won't be the last for awhile.

Sisters

I haven't gotten many pictures of the older girls

with Ashellia yet but here are a few.

Still need a picture of all three of them together...

All 5 of us for that matter.

I still can't believe there is already 5 of us!

Emmalyne was the first to want to hold Ashe.

Ok I admit it, letting Laurana hold her isn't so easy

so these are the pics of these 2 so far. 

Preemie Fashion Show

Ashellia has received numerous adorable outfits and

sundresses from people and I just had to showcase a few of them.

Thank you to those of you who picked

 these beautiful little outfits for her.

Vogue

Strike a pose

Look at me!

Superstar!

Ashellia is HOME!

Tuesday July 22nd Ashellia came home from the hospital.

Ashellia's last few moments in her hospital crib.

Dressed in a dress her Grandma Byrne gave her.

Preemie size and she still swims in it a little.

lol.

We forgot to take more pics in between hospital and home but

here she is oh so tiny in her bassinet.

I was nervous about her coming home

because I hadn't had much alone time with her

in the 18 days since she was born...

Always a nurse close by and monitors

making sure she was alright and everything.

She is just so tiny

and while she is like a normal term baby

as far as most of her care goes

it just made me nervous because of everything.

But the good news is that so far things are going pretty well.

We are all adjusting relatively well.

Emmalyne is loving her role as big sissy

taking it on more and more now that she has 2 little sisters.

She loves to help with Ashellia,

brining the wipes and a diaper when it's her changing time

and wanting to help feed her sometimes too.

Laurana is fascinated by this baby that is smaller than her,

wanting to hold Ashellia's hand

and for some reason always trying to take her binky out of her mouth.

She had a problem when I tried to use one of the bottles

that she's known to be hers till just recently for Ashellia

but it didn't seem to work out for Ashe

so she doesn't have to worry about that at this point.

She sometimes gets upset when Daddy has Ashe too

because she has become a major Daddy's Girl in the last month or so.

But I think we are helping her to understand a little better

and she will adjust hopefully without much if any jealousy.

Sickness and Health in Labor and Love

This post is long... like a book...

but there was a lot that happened and a lot to say...

Idk hope I didn't do TMI for anyone...

You can always skip to the end of it and see the pictures... lol.

The end of June was a time of sickness for my girls and myself. The girls got impetigo and what I got was kind of a mystery... First they thought I just had the flu cuz they checked me for a couple of things and got negative results. Then they thought it was my gal bladder because I was getting a pain mainly in the front just below my ribs that sometimes went all around to my back when I would try and eat anything and sometimes even when I would try and drink anything. I went in to OB/triage Sunday night (June 29th) and Monday morning they admitted me into the hospital in the antenatal unit. They did ultrasounds trying to figure things out, even one that went down my throat to look at my gal bladder and liver and such. My gal bladder had no stones so they figured it wasn't that. They did blood tests... Found that my liver enzymes were high and climbing. By Thursday they had decided that I had Atypical H.E.L.L.P. Syndrome. "HELLP is an acronym for Hemolysis (breakup of red blood cells), Elevated Liver enzymes (a measure of liver damage) and Low Platelets (platelets are particles in blood that keep our blood vessels from becoming too leaky). A variation of pre-eclampsia/eclampsia (also called PIH, pregnancy induced hypertension), this syndrome causes Mom to become very sick and places the baby at risk." I didn't have all of the symptoms of it thus why I was atypical. The situation was manageable at this point, things were not to really dangerous levels yet. They could deliver the baby and it had a good chance at 34 weeks gestation. And I should get better with delivery so Thursday it was decided that the induction process would begin. They transfered me to a room in labor and delivery. The baby was perfectly oblivious and happy to stay in so they used a special pill to soften things up down there first. It takes like 4 hours for it to work and they did 2 doses so it all went into Friday. They started me on pitocin (sp?) Friday morning and they put me on magnesium to prevent me from having a seizure due to the risk of such in the case of preeclampsia conditions. I guess... thats the gist of what they told me about it anyway... The contractions were mild when I even felt them until around 2:30 or 3 in the afternoon when they broke my water and soon after I began to really feel them and had to really focus on breathing through them and relaxing. It wasn't easy... course it never is but it was a little harder for me this time cuz Mark had to be with the girls and wasn't yet able to be with me. In labor he is so much of my strength. I almost gave in and got an epidural even though I already knew it was likely pointless because my body seems to always get the urge to push around a 6. I also have a reluctancy to get one due to it sometimes slowing people down and such. I had actually said to the nurse that I wanted one and it was ordered... but a part of me was relieved when she told me that the anastesiologyst (sp?) was busy with a C-section and so would be a little bit. She offered to give me a different painkiller through the IV to help me out for the moment and I took her up on it. Soon after I was pleasantly surprised by Mark showing up sooner than I was expecting him to... From the sound of things I had assumed he would be longer than he was. With him there I was able to turn down the epidural and no longer had to question if I was feeling the urge to push because I knew he was going to be able to be there for the birth but wasn't there till then. And sure enough I got the urge not long after he got there. The nurse told me to try not to push... I was trying not to... Because I had become high risk there was a doctor and my midwife there for the delivery. They were prepping and I was saying that I needed to push and my midwife, Donna Tash, was all let your body do what its going to do just don't help it. So I did. One natural push and the baby's head was out second one almost on top of the first and the body was out... The baby was caught by the bed, lol. They quickly picked the baby up and started taking care and told me that I had had another girl. Another girl... somehow I think I'd known it was a girl but still was trying to make myself believe it was a boy... wishful thinking I suppose... but like I had said to those who had asked I was happy either way. A boy would be nice but I'm prepared for a girl... although I didn't have many preemie outfits. (Thank you to those who have helped us in this area).

Her name is Ashellia Bonnee Joyce Hoffman. She was born on the 4th of July 2008 at 6:31pm. 4lbs 14oz and 16 1/2 inches long. She had a little difficulty with her breathing so they took her to the NICU and put her on a respirator which she was able to be off of within 24 hours. She has remained in the NICU working through different things at a rather rapid pace. She had to be under billi lights for jaundice for like only about a day and a half. At a week old she was moved to the intermediate nursery and then the following Tuesday was moved down to the nursery annex. Her biggest hurdle in her short little life so far has been nippling her whole feedings. It has taken her probably the longest to get the hang of this part.

She looks like she is clapping already.

She's holding my finger look at that tiny hand!

Her beanie baby bear next to her

gives you a little more idea of just how small she is.

Of course she is a little curled up here but you get the idea.

A Birthday Party for Emily

Emily is a little girl just about a month younger

than Laurana that lives in our complex.

Her mother decided to throw a

McDonald's party for her and

invited both Emmalyne and Laurana.

Emily and Laurana both only being a year old

really had no clue what was going on,

they did an excellent job of taking things in though.

I was amazed at how long Laurana kept this hat on!

But I think Daddy put it on just the right tightness

and she couldn't see a brim so she left it alone.

Emmalyne didn't last as long with it on

but I managed to get a shot or 2.

Eme's favorite part was playing

in the big play area she stayed in

there most of the time and

hardly ate anything there. lol.

I snuck my hat onto Mark

and he didn't even know it

till I took this picture

and showed it to him. lol.

Daddy's Girls

My little girls Love their Daddy so much!

(Yes, they love their binkies too).

Sometimes they both have to be held

by daddy at the same time.

Not an easy feat when they are

each 24-25 lbs on any given day.

So yeah Daddy is strong holding 50 lbs.