select few

 Grandpa John

 Grandma Trina

 Grandma Julie

 Grandpa Randy

 Uncle Jeremy

 Aunt Liana

 Uncle Travis

 Aunt Collette

 Aunt Emily

 Uncle Josh

 Uncle Ryan

 Aunt Melissa

 Great Grandma Allred

 Great Grandpa Jackson

 Great Grandma Jackson

Great Aunt Cheryl

Kohen is such a loved baby boy. Many more people would love to come meet him but with  him being so tiny the nurses have asked us to pick a select few to come meet him. We are so glad our siblings, grandparents and his sweet aunt Cheryl could come meet him and we can't wait for him to come home and get bigger so everyone can meet him :)



update on Kohen

 Kohen LOVES his binki :)

 so tiny in daddy's arms

 one week old



2 weeks old

I thought we should do a little update on how Kohen is doing.

First off, we wanted to thank ALL our family and friends for all the calls, visits, texts, prayers, love and support! I can not believe all the love we have received. We apologize for staying distant. This was physically and emotionally hard. Emotionally sooo hard! We are getting used to things each day. We spend most of our day at the hospital and when we aren't there we are usually sleeping/resting at home. Thank you so much, we can't wait for everyone to meet him one day!

Our baby Kohen is doing amazing! He is up to eating 26 cc every 3 hours in his feeding tube (30 cc's is 1 ounce) He now weighs 3 pounds 1 ounce!!!!!!!!!!!!! I screamed and could not even sleep I was so excited about his weight gain. He is getting some cute chubby cheeks :) very kissable! The humidity has been turned off in his bed and he will be graduating to a different bed that helps heat only. His brain scan came back NORMAL! we can not believe how blessed we have been and how amazing he is doing. Some nurses say he looks so much like Kellen and I both but all the family members think he just looks like his daddy! Whoever he looks he is darn cute! lol

Kohen will be 3 weeks this Monday and I can not believe he will already be 3 weeks old! He is still so small but he already looks bigger. 

our little miracle baby, Kohen

We were able to go to one, yes only one hypnobirthing class. The November class filled up and the teacher suggested we take it in December so we have more one on one with the teacher and we had the time since baby wasn't due till February so we waited and Kohen came before our classes officially started!

Monday, November 26th Kellen and I went to our doctors office for our first non stress test. Baby looked great and I was having contractions every 3 minutes and still didn't know they were contractions. (first time being pregnant I was a bit clueless) The doc sent us home and we planned on coming in on Thursday for another test. As the night went on I started to feel the contractions and realize when they happened. I was up every hour very uncomfortable and then from 3-6 I didn't
sleep at all. I kept getting in the bath tub hoping it would relax me and that I would be able to feel baby kick. Kellen had left to work and I was able to sleep for an hour and was up again trying a bath. I started to get really nervous that I had not felt the baby kick all night. Every time I went to feel him kick my stomach would get tight again so I called my doctors office and told them what was going on. They made me an appointment an hour later. Kellen's work would not let him leave so I took my dad's truck and went to the doctor. He checked me as soon as I got there and I was dialted to a 1 and was 60% effaced. He sent me straight over to Labor and delivery. Who knew a drive accross the street could be so hard? I drove over and sat in the car for five minutes just trying to calm myself and get the energy to walk inside. As I am walking inside I puked 3 times having many people look over at me all grossed out. I get inside and they have me get in a gown and hook me up to see baby's heart beat and my contractions. They were every 1-4 minutes apart. They started an IV and gave me the first shot to help his lungs. They tried a couple different things to get my labor to stop and it just wouldn't so they admitted me and started me on magnisium. They kept me on magnisium for a little less than 48 hours and let me tell you that drug is strong and hard. I felt like I had to keep my eyes shut all the time because it changed everything. They gave me a cathitor and that is when the contractions finally stopped. That cathitor was more pain than labor all together. I hated it and freaked out any time they talked about it. They moved me upstairs and planned on me staying till Monday and if I had not dialted anymore I could go home on strict bedrest. I had no contractions and was doing good all day Saturday.

(29 weeks, so swollen from all the IV fluids!)



 Sunday morning Kellen went to our nephew's baby blessing and my parents came to hang out with me. We went down to Labor and delivery to do my daily testing and I mentioned to my mom that I had felt pretty wet but didn't say anything to the nurse because I thought it was nothing. My mom said something as soon as the nurse came in and so she did a check and my water was broken.They called my doc and decided not to stop labor anymore. I called Kellen who came back as soon as he could. My brother Ryan, dad and Kellen gave me a blessing and thirty minutes later labor started and started good! Everyone left so Kellen and I could do this labor business together. I was really nervous about everything and didn't know if I could do natural. The nurse came and checked me and I was a 4-5 and I decided to get an epidural. She checked again right after the epidural was in and I was a 6. Kellen and I laid down to take a nap and about 45 minutes later I was a 10 and ready to push! Our nurse called my doc who came for the delivery and kellen called my mom. We have always wanted to deliver our kids just the two of us and it was just the two of us. We decided since this was so scary and a lot to take in, that when kellen went with the baby my mom would come be with me. We were so excited we were getting to meet our baby boy but we were beyond scared. We were only 29 weeks and 5 days. He was going to be so little. I pushed for 3 contractions and was able to watch the entire thing in a mirror. I LOVED every second of pushing and seeing Kellen so excited. 3:16 AM Kohen was here! Dr. Watts laid him on my belly and let Kellen cut the cord.  We were both freaking out and just wanting them to take him. He was purple and we knew he needed help as soon as they could. The NICU team was in the room ready to help him. They handed him over to the team and my doctor kept finishing my delivery. The NICU doc had told us that Kohen would not cry when he came out and so we knew not to wait for that but it is hard not to wait for his cry. The NICU team was working so hard to get Kohen stable and was having a hard time. They did CODE BLUE and many many more doctors came running in. They were doing compressions and trying to get his heart rate going. Kellen grabbed a chair and was having a hard time while I was trying not to listen to anything they were saying and freaking out. My sweet doctor finished my delivery, came and sat next to me on the bed and held my hand. Finally they took Kohen into the NICU and Kellen followed. My mom came in and I just lost it in her arms. My doctor went to see how things were going and came back in and told us Kohen was stable and that he weighed 2 pounds 4 ounces. Kellen came in a while later and showed me pictures of our amazing little boy:) It was the scariest minutes of my life! I am so glad my mom was able to be there to comfort me so Kellen could be there with baby Kohen! about an hour later I was able to get up and go visit Kohen for my first time. I could not believe he was here and he was ok!

Kohen is doing so amazing! He was taken off the ventilator a couple hours after being born. He was taken off oxygen at 6 days old. He has graduated into room 2/3. He started food 12-6 in a feeding tube he started off with 1cc every 6 hours and did so well that they gave him 1cc every 3 hours. He is now going up in cc's every 12 hours. He still has his IV in his belly button but once he is doing full feedings that will be coming out! The NICU nurses are the sweetest people and are so cute with Kohen. The nurses that were in the delivery room come up to him often and say how much he scared them and how strong he is! I can't believe I am a mom, Kellen is a dad... We just sit and look at pics of him when we are home and stare at him the entire time we are with him. We are now able to hold him 30 minutes once a day and have a hard time sharing that time with each other lol

 

27 and 28 weeks

 

This week was an interesting one to say the least.

It all started on a Wednesday, I was itchy head to toe and thiking maybe I was allergic to something different I ate, the only thing I ate differently was ice cream at my cousins wedding. I just thought it would pass but as time went on the itching got worse and worse. Finally after nights of no sleep I decided to go to labor and delivery after no response from my doc for a while. They took my blood and said it would take a couple days for the results.

We saw the doc the next day and asked a million questions like always. baby looked great and we were still waitng for results. Tuesday I finally got the call.. I knew it wasn't good when Dr. Watts said "do you have a minute to talk" He told me that bile acid levels are normal when they are in the range of 0-10 and that mine were 100! My heart sunk. This meant I have cholestasis. Cholestasis of pregnancy is a condition in which the normal flow of bile in the gallbladder is affected by the high amounts of pregnancy hormones. When my body was super itchy I had read about this and read that it could cause preterm labor and stillborns which scared us so bad! My doc talked to me for some time about this over the phone and told me that I would now need to start medications to help and that I need to come into his office every Monday and Thursday to have baby checked along with my every 2 week appointments with him and my every 4 week ultrasounds. I got off the phone with him and started to cry but had to keep it together since Kellen and I were at the dentist office. I went back in and talked to Kellen and my sister on the phone. We decided I needed to call my colon doctor to see if I am able to take the medicine very first. I did and he agreed that I should take it. phew!

That night my brothers, dad and father in law came and gave me a blessing. Kellen gave me the sweetest blessing! I am so lucky to have all these men in my life! I am miserable scratching all over all the time but I will be miserable for the rest of this pregnancy as long as he is growing in there and getting ready to meet us. We had another ultrasound Wednesday and he is growing perfectly! He weighs 2 pounds 7 ounces :)

The medicine has not been agreeing with my stomach so far so I have been sooo sick but I think it will just take some time to get used to it. I thought the medicine was going to help me to not itch but it doesn't. I asked a nurse what does help and she said having a baby helps. We are hoping to make it to 36 weeks, they say most docs take the baby between 35-36 weeks when you have cholestasis. If this is the case baby Kohen will be our January baby!

 

We are now 28 weeks, I don't have a picture. I didn't even take any on Thanksgiving, does that tell you how awful I have been feeling? lol Every Thursday marks another week down. We want to thank all our family and friends who have said prayers for baby Kohen and I. We know we are so loved.

26 weeks

This week we went and registered for Kohen's things! It was so much fun but at the same time it was so hard! For how long I have wanted to be a mom you would think I had everything all picked out. I have had the car seat picked out since we were trying to get pregnant and I LOVE it!!! Everything else was so hard for us to pick out but we are so excited to start to get things and add them into our home. It will make it that much more real.

We always thought we would want to decorate his room argyle but after looking and looking we have decided we don't love any of the fabrics we have found for an entire room. I have been searching for new ideas for his bedroom and I decided I love dark grey/white chevron and red. Kellen kept saying he didn't like it so the other day I found online exactly the colors I was looking for and showed them to Kellen. He said he actually liked them and it is a go! yay! now to start looking for just what we want:)

My niece Ava was hanging out with Kellen and I while her mom and Abi were gone and she found the ball and started laughing, put it up to her stomach and said "I look like you!" hahahaha so dang cute!

We also took our Christmas pictures :) We love them! Thanks to my sister Emily.

I love the holidays but I want them to go quickly so it will be time to meet our baby boy! 

We are loving all this snow, I think it is so pretty:) Kellen and Duke have been playing in it so much and for some reason Duke has enjoyed eating it this year.

13 &1/2 weeks and 94 days to go!

halloween 2012

Halloween 2012

Our friends Josh & Ashley let us borrow the cute shirts, they were pregnant with their little girl Stella at this time last year and we loved the shirts! Thank you guys. They also stopped by to show us cute Stella's costume, which was seriously the cutest halloween costume. She looked sooo cute!

We then went out for some trick or treating with my two oldest nieces! We didn't go out for too long because we were going to have our family halloween party. Always so fun!

Amelia sitting on Kohen lol

My three cute nieces all dressed up!

Everyone who dressed up.. we are missing Ryan, Melissa, my dad,Collette(&baby) and Travis who was at work.

We played the coconut game off of the movie "just go with it" but we called it the pumpkin game lol it was so funny watching others do this. My parents were so hillarious with it!

Our friends Austin and Ashli also stopped by with their kids Bryatt and Kinlee to trick or treat and to say hi! The kids of coarse wanted to see Duke or as Kinlee says it "Dupe".

We had a great Halloween and can not wait for next year when we will have a little one of our own to enjoy the holiday with.

23 and 24 weeks!

 23 weeks

With my ulcerative colitis I am on medicine that will not hurt the baby but the medicine works when my body takes to it. At 23 weeks we had a HUGE scare. How we know I am out of remission is I have blood in my stool. I woke up one morning and had just that. I immediately started to cry and worry about baby Kohen. If I were to get our of remission he would still be ok but I would have to get on steroids till he is born. Kellen was at work but luckily my mom had a break from school and was home. I ran upstairs to her house and was crying in her arms, freaking out! We went into the "no no room" as the kids call it, the living room and my mom said a prayer for Kohen and I. The craziest thing ever happened... I am still in remission and have been fine. I watched what I ate and drank making sure I stayed away from things I know will upset my stomach (Milk, lettuce, red meat, juice). This has never happened!!! Once it starts to go downhill it usually just keeps going down and down. Some people may say it was just luck? that it wasn't blood? but I think it was my heavenly father watching out for Kohen and I, making sure we are healthy to welcome him into this world! With having UC and being on medications my doc, ultrasound doc, Kellen and I decided that an ultrasound of Kohen every 4 weeks to check and make sure he is growing accordingly would be best. I am not sad about this at all :) seeing him more often will be so great!

 24 weeks

We started our hypnobirthing classes this week. I was excited to go see what this class had to offer and that Kellen was right by my side:) I was a bit more skeptical about the information than Kell. He was SO into it! He is so excited for us to keep going to the classes and to use this technique during labor. What he did realize about this class was that it could help more than just in labor. It could help me with my anxiety, with my stress to help calm me when I have a colon scare. We are excited!

 24 weeks, 6 months! We are getting closer:)