Update!

As of today, Helen's home!

What?! Yeah, I said the same thing.

Apparently, our doctor did a ferny test where they analyze the leaking fluid. If it looks like a fern, it's amniotic fluid. Hence, the "ferny" test. Well, the test was done and was found to NOT be amniotic fluid.

When asked why the on call doctor did not do this test, he was unable to give an answer. But the on call doctor felt that he had sufficient evidence to not have to do the test.

Was he wrong? Maybe.

While it is rare, it's not unheard of for rupture to actually seal up by themselves. Or it might not have been an actual leak in the first place. Or, we've been really really blessed.

Even though she's home she's still needs to be on bed rest. And we are going to need weekly doctor visits and regular ultrasounds from here on out.

But we're happy to have Helen home and she's happy to be home.

Thanks for everyone help and concern, we'll keep you posted as things progress.

Christmas News

We hope everyone is having a fulfilling Christmas this year. As for us, we have a bit of news.

Early Saturday morning, 2 am to be exact. Helen awoke to a wet bed. Her first thought was, "Did I just wet the bed?". You know occasionally you have one of those dreams where you're going to the restroom, only to wake up ALMOST going to the restroom. Never fun. Anyways, she hadn't had one of those dreams and soon after she changed clothes, she felt another gush of fluid. Definitely not an accident.

This was followed by several nervous calls to the Doctor and searches on the internet for possible causes.

We found one.

Helen's amniotic sac had ruptured. Causing amniotic fluid to slowly drain out.

What do you do at 2-3am, knowing you have to go to the hospital while having 3 sleeping children in the other room. We had several options.

Option #1: Wake the kids and take them with us.
-While entirely do-able, the prospects of waking all 3 getting them suited for travel and stay to a hospital for an undetermined amount of time was not appealing to us.

Option #2: Helen goes to the hospital and I stay with the kids.
-Also very do-able but I was not going to allow Helen to go through that virtually alone, sitting in an examination room to fret, while I worried at home.

Option #3: Find a babysitter.
-Easier said that done at 2-3 in the morning. This was the choice that we settled on. We made several frantic phone calls to families we felt close to and who might be willing to take this responsibility for us that early in the morning. Well, I forgot throw in one key component, try getting a hold of someone at 3am on December 23rd. Heh! We were calling people who were out of town, or for some reasons, phones had been turned off accidentally or left in other parts of the house. Once we were able to get someone, 45 nerve racking minutes had passed.

Thankfully, one of Helen's Visiting Teachers was able to come over and watch the kids. And we raced to the hospital. The traffic is light at 345am which let us make up a couple minutes on the way to there.

At the hospital, they ran a series of test to determine that the fluid was in fact amniotic fluid as well as an ultrasound to assess how much fluid remained. I'm not exactly sure what it is measured in but we were told that we would need to be concerned if the levels dropped to below 5.0, at the time, she was at a 10.8.

So, I'll answer a couple of questions you've probably thought and we've already asked.

Can you "patch" the rupture.
-No. To even explore for the rupture might cause it to worsen.

Does the body replenish it's supply of amniotic fluid.
-Yes and no. The body will produce amniotic fluid but not enough to compensate for the loss.

What's the cause for the rupture?
-We/they don't know. It's "one of those things".

So back to the narrative. After all the tests, nurses, doctors, ultrasounds we were placed in the labor and delivery ward of the hospital with a window view of the Timpanogos Temple. Helen and I dozed off for some uncomfortable and wary sleep.

The prognosis is not good for the baby. If he were to come now, he'd have a 30% chance of survival. Helen has been placed under bedrest and is to remain under 24 hour hospital care until the baby is delivered. Which brings us to two tricky situations. The hospital we're admitted to does not have the capabilities to care for a 16 week pre-mature baby. (Helen's 24 weeks along. Give or take) So, while she and the baby are stable, they'll stay at the current hospital (American Fork). After the holidays (tuesday or wednesday) she will be moved to Utah Valley Regional, where they have larger facilities and staff to cope with a 4 month pre-mature baby.

The second issue is, we have 3 kids that need supervision while I work (12am-7am) and sleep. Thankfully, we've received tremendous support from members of our ward (that's part of our Church for you non-LDS types, don't worry, we forgive you). They've already scheduled meals to be prepared and a list and schedule of people to watch the kids while I'm at work. We've also received many gifts and offers of other support to help in any way possible. We are so overwhelmed with gratitude for everyone that has gone out of the their way, especially with the holidays, to make sure that we're taken care of.

It's been interesting emotionally. Hard really. One of our biggest concerns is for Josh. Yeah, I said Josh. You see, he's claimed this baby. It's not Helen's, mine or the family's. It's his. He was so looking forward to having a baby brother that we're not sure how losing the baby might effect him. We haven't discussed exactly why Mommy is in the hospital and what the possibilities might be, for now, they just know that Helen has to stay with the doctors.

We're both drained but are trying to remain strong and "in control" although I believe for different reasons. Helen's doing so to not worry the children, I'm doing so for Helen. It works well while we're all together, not so well when we're apart. I know that after we've left and the kids have been put to bed, that a sudden weight rests upon us. And being separated leaves us to cope with this alone. Don't ask how we're doing, cause I'm not sure we know. Of course you'll get the same "Oh we're doing alright." song and dance but that's to be expected. We don't want anyone to worry or be burdened.

Anyways, back to the fluid. The last ultrasound that was done, showed a fluid content level of 9.2. That's a 1.6 drop from the first ultrasound.

Reasoned to be concerned?

Maybe.

It's difficult to determine the exact amount of fluid when you have to factor in, the change of the baby and Helen's position. So, while Helen may have lost 1.6, it could also be attributed to the change in positions. If we were to assume that a 1.6 daily loss remained constant, that would give us 4 days before something would have to be done for the baby's safety.

Everyday that the baby stays put, adds another 2 - 2.5% increase in survivability. So postponing the birth 10 days, odds increase to 50%, 20 days to 70%, etc. The catch is, they aren't able to predict when the baby will come. If could be now, it could be 4 months from now (keep in mind Helen has to stay in bed rest for the entire time).

Today (Sunday) was difficult. First, I had to get everyone ready for Church AND comb Morgan's hair. So naturally, we were late for Church but in time for the announcement to the congregation about our situation and who to contact for assistance. It was hard for me to remain composed with all this talk about sacrifice, and helping others and other Christmasy type stuff, when we had been the recipients of all of those things that very day. Not the mention answering all the same questions.

How's Helen doing?
Fine.

Which hospital is she at?
AF

What the matter?
She's sprung a leak.

What are they going to do?
Wait.

Answer than a dozen times and it gets strained. Everyone offers to help but realistically, we'll call the least amount of people possible. If you're one of the one's we don't/haven't called, it's nothing personal, we just would like to shoulder as much of the responsibility ourselves.

On the bright side, since Helen was admitted we decided to open some presents early. Yesterday and today, I took a large box of presents to the hospital for us (mainly the kids) to open. Which reminds me, everyone who send gifts, both named and anonymously, thank you very much but you could seriously half what you've send and we'd be happy. Even after taking 2 boxes loaded with presents, we still have 2 more boxes for Christmas day. And we got the kids 1 to 2 toys each and an outfit, plus Helen made jammies for each of them and a Christmas dress (finished by Aunt Johanna) for Morgan. I made of couple of small things for Helen to use with the business and I'm good. I got a free iPod at the end of November. Thank you KeyBank.

So that pretty much brings us current, I have a couple of things to wrap, some boxes to fill, dishes to clean and the house to tidy up. All before I can fall asleep on the couch, I dislike sleeping in the bed without Helen.

So, thank you in advance for your prayers, thoughts, gifts and otherwise. We really do appreciate it. Getting a hold of us is easy, we have the home phone set up to forward all calls to one of our cell phones. If you'd like to visit Helen, she's currently at American Fork Hospital, in order to see her, you will need to know her room number and pass code. Both you can get by calling us first.

Again, thanks for everything and may you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Family Pictures!

Historically, we've been consistently inconsistent with having family pictures taken. Our plan was to have them done every year but as it turns out, we've only been doing them on even numbered years since Josh was born.

Over the weekend, we decided that this was something that we couldn't procrastinate any longer about, so we made an appointment at a Sears Portrait Studio and planned for the mayhem that would ensue.

We had planned on getting the boys haircuts before the shoot but some dilly-dallying on my part left us an hour to get both of their hair cuts, get them ready and get to Sears. And since most of you have and/or had kids you know that that's practically impossible. So we skipped the cuts, which left us plenty of time to get ready. After the pre-determined amount of time yelling, threatening and bribing the boys got dressed with out a fuss. They dress themselves and Helen dresses Morgan. Technically, I could dress Morgan and I do on occasion but that usually also includes doing her hair, which is perfectly fine if we want her to look like she just got done skydiving after a 2 hour nap.

Previous experience has taught us, that going into a portrait studio unprepared is a recipe for disaster, so careful thought went into packing our supplies. Comb, check, spray bottle, check, gel, check, sippy cup, check, blankie, check, candy, check. For you that just thought "Candy?", yes, candy. A certain amount of "behavioral motivation & modification" is necessary to have a decent outing, for us, that motivation is supplied by candy. As the kids get older, we'll need to bump that up to something more significant but at 6, 4 and 2, the lure of a skittle does the trick nicely.

Having all of our gear in order, we're off. This was our first time at a Sears Portrait Studio, normally we go the cheap route and hit Wal-Mart but after several less that stellar experiences and feeling that the pictures looked... cheap, we switched it up. We have had one professional family picture taken, when Ben was almost a year and that picture is by far my favorite. When the budget allows, I plan on having professional pictures done. This time though it was a step up from Wal-Mart.

We took family pictures in two different poses, pictures of the kids in three different poses, individuals of the kids and one of Helen and I.

I don't know if it was the skittles, or the air in Sears but the kids were practically perfect! Normally there's a bit of resistance, the don't want to sit or sit still or smile or... you get the drift. This time, Josh protested once and that was cured by dangling a purple skittle in front of him. We were amazed, shocked at how well they did. When the photographer gave instructions, the kids did it immediately in unison! Smiles, posing, you name it. It was awesome.

Almost every picture came out fine. The only difficulty came in that, they have a monitor set up so we can preview the picture right after it was taken. The kids caught onto this and liked seeing the picture come up and themselves on tv. So they, especially Josh, tried to anticipate the picture on the screen and several shots had to be retaken as he/they were looking at the screen and not the camera.

To see the pictures click here. Sears family pictures.

You can even log in and purchase them if you so choose. We're planning on sending out SOME family portraits and at $8 bucks a pop we can't send each portrait to everyone and actually, we can't send one portrait to everyone. The family pictures need to be rotated, which can be done if you create an account.

Of course, when we get the pictures I'll be scanning them in and posting them as well!

Enjoy!