A Story about a Dime

Caution: I might mention poop once or twice.

Bode still needs a diaper for naps and bedtime because, well.. he gushes out pee like he’s Niagara Falls when he’s asleep. He will have gone to the bathroom 5 times that morning and once again before nap and still wake up in 2 hours with a full diaper. It’s the craziest thing. Anyway, I was laying him down one afternoon to put a diaper on him. I didn’t realize at the time but he had a dime in his mouth. He immediately started choking on it and I swiped around his mouth trying to see what it was. He was mad that my hand was in his mouth and he was making it impossible to feel around. I looked down and saw a dime in the back of his throat. Almost immediately after that he swallowed it. Ugh. I was annoyed but really didn’t think much of it. Kids swallow crap all the time, right? Fast forward like 3 days and I finally got around to telling Clint about the whole ordeal. Clint was acting really worried and insisted that we check every poopy diaper because his internet research indicated it should come out 3 to 5 days at the max. I sifted through all his old diapers and made myself check the new ones every day. This is a lot harder than it sounds, especially being pregnant. GROSS. I never found the dime and it had been about 10 days at this point. He started acting lethargic, wouldn’t eat much, had a low grade fever, and started throwing up. A few days into this stomach bug thing I called his pediatrician. I told them about the dime. They didn’t know for sure if all those symptoms were a result of the dime, or if he just had a bug or what. They suggested we take him into the hospital for x-rays immediately. Normally it wouldn’t be such a big deal but ever since the surgery it seems like the tiniest little thing ends up being a big deal for Bode.

 

Bode in the waiting area at American Fork Hospital.

Bode did great and laid on the table alone like a champ. I couldn’t be next to him because of the whole baby in belly deal. The image pulled up and sure enough I see a dime. Of course the techs can’t say a word to you so I was sent home to wait on a call from his Dr. A few hours later the same nurse I talked to before called me. She said that they did see a dime and that she and Bode’s Dr. were in shock because they didn’t think it would actually still be in there and that they had to suggest the x-rays just as a precaution. She said we had to take him into Primary Children’s ER right away. Um… what?? She told me they were the only facility with the tools and surgeons etc. to help him.  I asked her if there was anything else we could do and that seemed a little crazy. She said unfortunately that was our only option. Hmm. Clint got home from work about an hour later and we both talked it over and decided that was ridiculous. We’ve been in the ER with Bode before and it’s not a good time to say the least. It was already 6:30 and Bode was getting ready for bed and driving an hour and spending the night in the ER was not going to happen.

I decided to call Bode’s surgeon to get a second opinion. He wasn’t there, but I talked to the one on call and they looked over the x-ray. She said that it didn’t look like an emergency situation but that we should bring him into the office the next morning for another x-ray and consult a surgeon. So first thing the next morning I drove all the way down to Primary Children’s for another x-ray. It didn’t really look like the dime had moved at all. It was still chilling in his upper intestine. We waited in the waiting room for what seemed like FOREVER (maybe 2 hours?) and finally were able to talk to a surgeon. She said we really shouldn’t worry about something as small as a dime for now, and that we could do a few things to help it move along. We have been giving him miralax and trying to get him to drink a lot of juice. This is not an easy task because he hates juice! The miralax is awful because it just gives him the runs. He is having no trouble going #2!!! There is just never a dime in it. There was no indication the dime was actually stuck, especially since he wasn’t having issues going to the bathroom. All the symptoms the previous week were probably due to a little stomach bug. If the throw up had been because of the dime, it would be green and more like bile since the dime had already passed through his stomach. Bode throws up ALL the time anyway, so we are used to it by now and I never thought it was due to the dime in the first place.

We made a follow up appointment with the surgeon 6 weeks from then (April 14th), so it would be about 8 weeks from the time he swallowed it. She said they’d do another x-ray and see what to do from there. The only option for removing it is surgery because it was too far up for a scope to reach. Having the dime inside of him was less of a risk than putting him through surgery to remove it. It’s been 3 weeks and 1 day and still no dime!!!! I am so baffled because where it was in the x-rays meant that it hadn’t even made it to the lower intestine where he had the surgery at birth. We are really hoping if it ever makes it’s way down to the lower bowel it can pass through without issues.

I really hope it comes out before that appointment so we can cancel it and move on with our lives. I am so over sifting through poop.

 

Clint and Bode hanging out while we waited. I’m so glad Clint left work to be there with us. It was a long morning.

I never thought I’d be hanging out in the surgery part of the hospital ever again!

Oh and Bode threw up in the car on the way home. Luckily Clint was driving behind me and pulled over with me to help clean it up. And he fell asleep for like 20 minutes on the drive home and refused to go back down once we got home. He was a royal pain the rest of the day.

St. Patrick’s Day

I really wanted to snap some pictures of Bode for the Holiday. It’s been so cold and yucky for such a long time, I figured we’d take advantage of the warmer weather. We were going to meet Clint at the Wingers in American Fork for dinner, so I had like 15 minutes to grab a few shots. Bode was all over the place! It’s so hard to get anything decent when it’s just me and him. We were at Lehi Roller Mills and luckily Clint spotted us on his way to the restaurant. He helped me get Bode’s attention for a few so I can have smiling pictures of my little dude.

He roars at everything. It really does scare me sometimes because he’s so loud!

 

Once we got the Wingers I realized that I wanted to get ONE picture of Bode and I and I totally forgot about it. So Clint was a doll and took this one before we walked in.

Bode is such a little stud! He was cracking us up at dinner. He kept laying down on the seat and pretending to sleep. His eyes were closed and he kept making his fake sleeping noises. He pointed to everything all around us and was being so loud! We had to keep reminding him to be quiet and that other people were around. He usually doesn’t eat a thing when we go out to eat anymore. It’s so strange but he doesn’t like fries, hamburgers, chicken nuggets.. hardly anything! I decided to get him alfredo and he pounded it! He’s so funny.

Clint was lame and didn’t wear green that day so I guess someone at his work gave him a sticker.  He was watching TV, although it does look like he is deep in thought. His beard and hair have gotten out of control these days. I don’t really notice it anymore because it’s been like that forever it seems, but everyone else does!

Bode hates lemons! For some reason he always wants to try one when he has a chance.

One of his new favorite things to do is COLOR! He’s coloring right now actually.. which means I better go keep an eye on him before he colors the TV again.

I’m Pregnant!

Ok so everyone knows already. I’m finally getting around to blogging more about it. I feel like we tried to get pregnant FOREVER, but I know that’s not the case. I really do feel for people who suffer with fertility because it’s heart breaking to think you’re pregnant month after month when you’re not. I found out that I was indeed pregnant the day after Christmas. I was so excited! I told Bode and then we sent a little video to Clint at work telling him. He called back right away and was so excited too. Clint has been wanting a baby forever! I was the one who held us back because I wanted to wait until I knew I was ready again. I can’t imagine me with 2 babies to take care of, so I wanted Bode to be a bit older. I really feel like 3 years apart will be perfect for us. I guess we’ll see!

When I first found out I was totally fine. I didn’t feel sick and I was still working out a few times a week. Things were going really well actually until about 9 or 10 weeks along. Then the fatigue set in! All I wanted to do was SLEEP. I was exhausted, well beyond exhausted. It was so crazy for me to be feeling like that because with Bode I had the symptomless pregnancy. I’m not even joking when I say I wasn’t tired, sick, my eating habits didn’t change, I never had to pee more often than normal, I didn’t have soreness, no cravings, I forgot all about being pregnant ALL the time and was jolted back to reality thinking, “Wow, I’m pregnant!” This time around I can never forget about it. For a few months straight poor Bode woke up to breakfast and a movie or two. I could not make myself get off the couch. When I was up and moving around I felt fatigued, weak, dizzy, and then I would start to feel sick. As long as I stayed on the couch I felt fine! Tired, but fine. I’ve felt sick quite a few mornings, but the couch solved everything. As soon as I would lay down I’d feel ok again. A few times I ignored the feelings and did my thing anyway. I was still scheduling hair appointments and I had a few miserable ones. I can hide it ok, especially when I’m behind someone. Those days I got sick. Yuck. I never threw up with Bode or felt nauseous and I really had no idea how bad it was. I just thought pregnant people got sick and threw up and life was good again. I had no idea it’s like you have the flu or something! It was horrible. I’m very lucky that it didn’t happen more than a few times. I got smarter after that and planned nothing from 8-11am. Now that I’m further along I feel great! I still get tired sometimes, but I’m not so weak and dizzy most days. I’m anemic and so I’ve been taking Iron everyday. I thought my prenatal pills with the iron pill were making me sick, but I think it’s helping now.

I usually stay pretty calm when I’m pregnant. With Bode I was oblivious to everything and went along super excited with no cares in the world. I know a lot of women get stressed and overwhelmed with worry for the little baby, but I had none of that! Everyone I ever knew got pregnant and had healthy babies. I was so naive. Bode was born and I felt like we were hit by a bus. Being in the NICU amongst lots of other sick babies for so long I feel like my eyes have been opened up. I really think it’s a miracle for any baby to be born normal and healthy!  I really try not to worry about stuff in my life I have no control over. I didn’t worry about this pregnancy until the day I had an appointment with maternal fetal medicine. They wanted to check for down syndrome, trisomy 18, and spinebifida. I had the same test with Bode, but this time around was different. I was getting ready that morning and I started feeling sick to my stomach. I went along just feeling nervous and uneasy the whole drive to my grandma’s. I dropped Bode off and my grandma B told me everything would be ok and not to worry. I started tearing up. UGH what was the matter with me. I left grams and just started bawling the drive to the hospital. I get there and had to wait 40 min! Talk about torture. I’ve had spotting with this pregnancy (TMI sorry) and so I was worried about that. The ultrasound tech started doing her thing not really saying much. I asked her if she could see a heart beat and she says, “Oh yes! Everything looks great.” Phew, I felt better after that. All the test results came back normal with no concern to think this baby will have any of those issues.

Bode had an abnormal u/s result when he was about 18 weeks along and we never followed up on it! It showed an echogenic bowel, which means it was really bright on the u/s when it should have been dark. It could have been a number of things ranging from nothing was wrong to a whole slew of problems. The genetic counselor strongly urged we do follow up and that she would forward the info to my Dr. Well, my Dr. never really mentioned it and when we asked she seemed like it was nothing to worry about. I’m so glad we didn’t do any follow up! I am happy to have gone through my pregnancy without anything to worry about. I met mothers at the Ronald McDonald house with babies who had the same problems, only they knew something was wrong early on in pregnancy. None of them knew for sure what the problems were until the babies were born. They thought their babies would be severely disabled with lots of other problems than the small bowel atresia. These moms also got HUGE due to the levels of amniotic fluid building up inside of them. I had tons of amniotic fluid, dangerously high levels. We never tested for it though! My belly never got that big, and I delivered 3 weeks early because of it. I had a really great birth story and I know things would have been a lot different had I known what to expect with Bode after the delivery.

My 18 week check up is April 4th (I might be 19 weeks along by then.. we still don’t really know) and I am anxiously awaiting to find out the sex of the baby! I really hope it’s a girl, but I think Bode would have so much fun with a little brother as well. I  hope they don’t find any issues with the baby! I was told that what happened to Bode was a random thing, and we have no reason to think this baby will have it. No matter what happens we’ll be fine and love him/her just the same. It sure changes everything going through an experience like we did. I kind of miss going along with out a care in the world.  

Baby #2 8 weeks long. I know you can’t see much, but it was really neat to see the heart beating along! Bode and Clint came with me to this appointment. I’m glad they did! Bode was all over the place and I had to give lots of blood so I was very thankful Clint kept an eye on Bode. No one knew I was pregnant and everyone was suspicious already, so I didn’t ask anyone to babysit.

Here is baby at 13 weeks along. The tech was trying to measure fluid in the back of the neck and this baby didn’t want anything to do with it! It was moving all around and she could not get what she needed for the longest time! I had to get up and go to the bathroom to see if it would move. Then I had to lay on my side for a few minutes to see if it would move. The girl kept putting tons of pressure on my belly with the thing to try and move it. It was crazy! Then all the sudden it started doing flips in there! It literally did a bunch of somersaults. It was so weird to me to see it moving around so much when I felt nothing!

Ok so this is from the same appointment. I asked the girl to check the sex of the baby because she had been talking earlier about how she could. I didn’t realize you could tell so early on before she mentioned it. Clint was pretty upset I would have her check for that when he wasn’t there. Sorry love! She said it looks like a boy. It’s totally obvious to me it looks like a boy too. She said that when babies are that little it’s easy to mistake a girl for a boy because their girly parts can protrude to look like a boys. She said not to go out and buy boy stuff or tell anyone it was a boy because she had been wrong in the past. This view was still on the TV when the Dr. came in and I had him look at it and tell me what he thought it was. He wouldn’t say a word! He said it’s way too early to see anything and to wait for my sex check u/s. Clint has been calling it buster ever since he saw this picture, but I’m still hoping we could be surprised and it will be a girl!

 

I sent cell pictures to my sister Kelli showing her what I look like. Not like she cares.. haha but I figure she’s not here to see me so what the heck! I was freaking out because at 8 weeks along I felt HUGE. I didn’t show with Bode until like 5 or 6 months so I was really worried this time around I was just going to look like a whale.

8-9 weeks 

(I really hate not knowing for sure. I hope they can give me a for sure due date at my next appointment.)

Don’t look at all the crap behind me! I had just gotten home from Costco and hadn’t put anything away yet.

12-13 weeks

I feel like I looked the same as I did the month before so I was a little relieved.

15-16 weeks

So I was wearing a maternity shirt in this picture. I’m not sure why because I haven’t gained any weight yet and it’s still baggy in the belly! I kind of want a belly already though! Maybe if I could just skip the stage where people don’t know if you’re pregnant or just gaining weight would be great.

Clint thinks when I take pictures of my belly I push it out. He says it doesn’t even show normally. Maybe I do? I don’t know what I look like to other people! Friends: Am I showing? Do these snap shots do the belly justice??  I’m curious because what does Clint know. (j/k love… )

I was telling my sis Kelli ya know how you try to stand up straight and suck in your gut normally? Maybe I’m crazy and people don’t do that normally… but these pics are me letting it all hang out! Why take a picture of nothing.. I kind of want a belly!

 

I’ll be really surprised if anyone reads this all the way through. I’ve already forgotten so much about my last pregnancy I am going to try and document better this time around.

 

Oh and my due date is either August 28th or September 4th. It was Sept 5th at some point. So annoying! I’m either 15 weeks and 3 days or 16 weeks and 3 days.

OH another thing! I felt the baby move for the very first time when I was at a fly fishing film tour with Clint. I thought I had felt it before then but wasn’t sure, but that night I knew. Clint was so stoked and thinks it’s a boy who is destined to fly fish because of where we were.

Scouting Trip

The day before we got out on the boat Clint wanted to check out Utah Lake for different access points. Bode LOVED it! If the kid sees water and rocks, he’s a happy camper. He runs to grab a bunch of rocks and then throws them all in and it restarts all over again. He’s so funny. He enlists our help in the gathering of the rocks part. He just can’t get to them fast enough! It got a bit chilly towards the end, but we had fun anyway. I imagine Utah Lake to be dirty and gross with yucky water.. but it’s not so bad.

Would I swim in it… no.

We had to wait for a train on the way to dinner after scouting around and Bode was in awe! I don’t think he’d ever been that close to a train before. Well, a moving one.

Too much fast food..

I was pulling up to the drive through and 5 buck pizza tonight and Bode yelled from the back seat,

“ I hab a kids meal.. chickn’ nuggets ….. with fries.”

I felt like such a bad mom!!! He has never heard me say kids meal other than at McDonalds! Ahhhhh!!!

The Maiden Voyage

Clint has been wanting a drift boat for the longest time! He’s been on many trips with friends that have boats and was constantly researching them out. He searched and searched until he found the boat of his dreams. It was at a dealership in Idaho and he worked it out with the owners for him to buy it in a few months when the weather warmed up and he could get the funds in order. He went back and forth about going in with a friend and ultimately decided that’s what he would do.  They picked it up a few weeks back and yesterday we finally got to try her out! Clint was just giddy all day long. We took it out on Utah Lake, which ended up being a good thing. Clint’s a pretty good rower, but we all got some practice before trying it out on a river. They also found a problem with the size of oar locks, so it’s good they know to fix that before going on an 8 hour float down stream.  Clint’s fly fishing days just got a whole lot better and I’m so happy for my love. He deserves it!

Clint and Josh getting ready to launch her. Isn’t she a beauty!?

Bode was such a great helper.

Bode took along his fishing pole, tackle box, and a HUGE bag of rocks to keep him entertained. He did pretty well. He definitely had his moments and was not happy when we tried to grab his hood or life jacket to keep track of him. It was very nerve wracking to have him in there with us. Maybe I won’t be so worried when the water warms up, but I kept thinking he was going to fall right in! Ahhh! Clint had the highest hopes that Bode would love it and do so well and be a dream on the boat etc etc. I kept trying to remind him that he’s a 2 year old and acts just like one! Clint was kind of bummed it didn’t go as smooth as he had hoped with the buster, but I’m sure he’ll get better as he gets older.

Josh and Ashley ready to go, and Bode with his bag of rocks.

“I’n fishin’ dad!! Yook! One’s comin’ dad! I see it… “ Bode was SO cute fishing away with a hot dog for bait. We didn’t catch any fish! Bode kept at it for the longest time, not deterred. I would have been bored long before Bode, he tried and tried.  On the way home Bode kept saying, “We got skund’ dad.” Yes, we got skunked.

Josh, Ashley, me (My dr. keeps going back and forth on the date so I’m either 15 or 16 weeks prego) Clint, and Bode. (Obviously..)

 

Here’s to many more fishing trips on the newest member of the family!

Bouncy House Fun

My sister Erica is in town with her cute little family. Bode could NOT stop talking about playing with Logan. He kept telling me he would be nice and a good boy and share, etc. So I called them up to see if they wanted to join us at Kangaroo Zoo. Bode and Logan were in heaven! It was so much fun just watching them run around. I hadn’t seen my niece Eva since her baby blessing, and she’s grown so much! She has a lot of fat rolls that are pretty cute. I wish my fat rolls were cute! We all went to dinner after and the boys were sooo warn out. I think it was a successful night.

My dad hopped right in even though he was over the posted weight limit. Bode loved it.