Tayla Elaine

Tayla Elaine Tarbet
born March 25, 2009
8 lbs. 11 oz. 19.75 inches long

Sorry this took me so long to post, the hospital didn't have great internet, so it was hard to upload. Then we got home and all craziness broke out! A lot of adjustment to having 4 kids. :)

Cahoon's visit

A quick shot of all of us in front of the house before they left!

Update before leaving for the hospital...

To continue from my last post... Spencer woke up at 5am on Saturday and threw up. He threw up several more times until about noon. After that he rested a bit, ate a grilled cheese sandwich (certainly NOT something I would think sounded good, but it did to him) and he never threw up again. He was doing much better by that night. Both boys woke up at about 4am and headed downstairs to watch TV. One came up to ask me a question and told him that it was still the middle of the night and that they needed to go back to bed. They did. I woke up at 7am and they were awake, but I don't know how long they had been up. Spencer seemed okay, until it was time for church. He kept saying that he was really cold. I took his temperature and it was normal. We went to church and he fell asleep during Sacrament Meeting (as did Carter). When they woke up, both boys were feeling good and ready for class. We got home and Spencer started complaining of being really hot. I took his temperature again, this time it was at 99 degrees, so I gave him some water and sent him up to rest, he was asleep within a few minutes, slept for an hour and then we gave him some children's Advil. When it kicked in, he was going great. Which is good because we had guests...
Woohoo!!! The Cahoons came for a visit!!! It was fun to have see Jann and Mike (and of course Mike's wife, Alicia, and their 2 girls). They seem to be doing well. Made me wish that we lived closer to them (or them to us) so we could get together more often. We had a great time (at least I did)! We wish Mike well as he heads off to Puerto Rico, it should be a new and exciting adventure for their family. Who knows, we just might have to visit some time!

This week...

Monday morning I had a doctor's appointment. My blood pressure was low and I had no internal progress at all... so no need to take the baby earlier than planned. The doctor told me that there were no more office visits needed, just to check in at the hospital next week for my c-section. Okay, that means 1.5 weeks. I can do that, right? (Please note, that my RS President knew that I was going to be at the doctor that day, so she brought me dinner that night so I wouldn't have to worry about it.) That night, I had trouble getting comfortable and couldn't fall asleep. I fell asleep about 10:30pm and then woke up with a jolt, I needed to use the bathroom. I looked at the clock and got angry. It was only 11pm. Not fair that I only slept for 1/2 hour... and then couldn't get back to sleep. I then tossed and turned until 11:40 when I had to go to the bathroom again... and my foot itched horribly. Back in bed at 11:43 I layed there trying to fall asleep. At 11:50 Miana woke up crying, I went in there and immediately smelled the throw up, it was ALL over the bed. I scooped her up, took her to my bathroom undressed her and cleaned her off, by 11:56 I was downstairs doing laundry, by 12:03 I was making a bed on my bathroom floor for Miana. She stayed there for a whole 5 minutes, then she brought me her entire bed (3 blankets and a towel) to my bed and wanted to lay with me. I took the towel and put her in bed with me. About 10 minutes later, she started talking to herself, loudly. "Night, night. Bed. Mommy, Daddy." I asked her to be quiet several times and finally decided to take her back to the bathroom. I put her down on the floor gathered up her towel and blankets and walked into the bathroom, I then heard her... throwing up... again... she did it on the carpet between my bed and the bathroom. I finished her bed, gave her a bottle with water in it and then went to clean up the carpetby the time I got back in bed, ready to sleep, it was nearly 1am. A few minutes later, Dave jumps out of bed because he could hear her drinking from her bottle and it sounded like throwing up (he didn't know she had a bottle). I told him to relax and he got back in bed and she heard us, came out of the bathroom and wanted to get in bed. Dave tried to take her back to her room but she started laughing and running all over the bed, it took both of us to catch her. She threw up about a half an hour later, but Dave took care of it. During the night, I had to go to the boys' bathroom to pee all night because I didn't want to chance waking her up. That morning she heard the alarm go off, came into my room, I put a towel down in my bed and she laid by Dave while I took a shower and then he brought her in to me at the end, so she could get a shower and make sure she was all cleaned up from the night. She threw up again at 8:30am, so I called a friend to come take Carter to school and while we were waiting, I heard a horrible sound come from Miana's rear end. I changed her diaper (diarrhea) after Carter left and I tried laying down for a minute, but it was hard because she was not tired and was running all over the house. The nice thing is that Miana is learning that she should throw up in the toilet, so every so often she would run into the bathroom, spit in the toilet and say, "good girl" and then run away, it was funny. She ran around the house all morning singing the "hello song" from church right now, which is also funny. She had some mild diarrhea all day, but no more throwing up... until bedtime. I had washed her sheets and Dave made the bed up for her so she could sleep in her own bed. She slept for about 1/2 hour when we heard cry again. I went in and she had thrown up a little bit on the floor and on the bed in, all the clean blankets and clean mattress pad were now dirty once again. She came downstairs and stayed up with us until about 10pm. She slept on the floor in our bathroom again. Wednesday morning I woke up and started to feel a little sick to my stomach, this happens when you're pregnant, so I ate breakfast. Which I then threw up. I threw up one more time before taking Carter to school (9am) I went to the store to stock up on Gatorade, ginger ale, crackers, bananas and apples (to stop diarrhea), and Pedialyte (to rehydrate Miana). I then threw up in the parking lot. I ran one more errand, came home and threw up again. By 11am I was throwing up every 10 minutes or so, with some diarrhea of my own... I called a friend to pick up Carter (the same one who had taken him the day before for me). He came home, I got him some lunch, gave Miana some crackers and Pedialyte, and my neighbor called. "I hear you are sick, please send Carter to my house so you can get some rest." I thanked her and sent him on his way. I put Miana down for a nap and laid down. I slept the rest of the afternoon. Waking up to 2 of my friends cleaning my kitchen. My neighbor, who had Carter, picked up Spencer after school. I was still not able to keep anything down, at all, so I called the doctor to see how worried I should be about the baby. I was told that if I could not keep anything down by the next morning that I should go to the ER and get IV fluids to rehydrate. One more thing to worry about. Another friend called me shortly after that and offered to watch Miana the next morning should I need to go to the ER. Someone brought us dinner that night. I was able to rest knowing that my family was taken care of. My friends are really amazing!! I threw up at 4:45, and that was it until about 10pm or so. During that time I was able to get some gatorade down and a few crackers. After that last throw up, I was able to get a whole bottle of gatorade down (the 12 oz. size) and started to feel better. We went to bed and I fell asleep quickly. Dave had trouble sleeping and had some indigestion, I felt bad that I was able to rest and he wasn't. Sometime around 11:30 or 12, Carter woke up crying. He said he just had to go to the bathroom, but I had a bad feeling about it. Dave, who still hadn't fallen asleep yet, took care of him and put him back in bed. At 12:15, we heard "the cry." Carter always screams and cries when he throws up. I jumped out of bed, grabbed him and dragged him to the bathroom to finish throwing up in the toilet. He kept saying, "I threw up, I threw up" I asked him where, fearful it was on the bed. He said, "on the floor." Floors I can do, beds shared with sleeping brothers, I can not. I got Carter cleaned up and situated on the "bed" on my bathroom floor and returned to clean up the mess in his room. Also, the toilet in his bathroom was now clogged, we're not sure why. I saw that he had been climbing down the ladder on his bed when he "tossed his cookies" and so it was on the ladder, the lower bed (just a mattress right now, not even a mattress pad), and on the carpet. I cleaned up what I could but the smell was getting to me and my stomach was a still a little touchy. I asked Dave, who still had not been to sleep yet, to help me. He cleaned up what he could, rinsed out the cloth, and unclogged the toilet. We had one more bout of throw up before Dave got to sleep at 2am. I took the rest of the night so he could sleep and try to fight whatever he was coming down with. He woke up at 6am to go to work. During the night, Carter threw up 2 more times, had diarrhea once, and was either very upset (half asleep and crying) or very alert and talkative. He was having very deep conversations with me when he should be sleeping. He was concerned about missing school because Thursdays are gym days. He loves gym with Coach Terry. At 5am his conversation was the most thoughtful. "Mom, I can not go to school because I still have germs, right? They will all sit in a circle and the teacher will say, 'and we are missing Carter today.' I will go to school on Monday. Can I go out to play when Spencer gets home from school?" I explained that he needed to stay in and make sure all of the germs were gone before playing with any friends or dogs. He went back to sleep but came into my bed when Dave got up for work. Carter has had no more issues. Miana's diarrhea has gotten a little worse, I am doing well, but OH SO TIRED. Dave is going through some tough times at work trying to finish up projects before we have this baby next week, and they have just given him some new projects this week... knowing that he only has until today to work on them. Monday and Tuesday he will be in Atlanta teaching a class, Wednesday, we are having a baby. He has to find capable people to finish the projects up while he is unavailable. I am hoping that we can relax a little AFTER the baby comes because before that, we're not getting any rest... HA, HA, HA! Very funny, resting when you have a newborn!!! That IS Funny!

Miana being cute

In an attempt to make room on the memory card in my camera (in preparation for a new baby) I found a couple of videos that I took back in Jan. or Feb. that I thought I would share with you. Here's the first, I'll do another one when I have time...

Journal Entry: Now what?

On Tuesday night, I attended RS Enrichment and it was all about being spiritually prepared. Brother Kidd talked about many aspects of spiritual preparedness, taking most of his time driving home the point that ALL aspects of our life are spiritual. He talked about putting the spiritual needs first in our lives and that the mental and physical tasks would seem easier to handle if we did that. His presentation was uplifting and enjoyable. I was glad I went.

2 weeks ago, I had a doctor's appointment where the doctor told me she didn't think I would make it 4 more weeks to my c-section. I was given a list of things to look out for that would indicate early labor and would require having my baby as soon as possible. I have had many small indications that might mean something (they didn't, but at the time I was wondering) and have been worried about what to do with my children in the event of an unexpected visit to the hospital. Also, I have been slowly putting things into a pile to pack in my hospital bag, but it is still not actually packed. I just don't feel ready to have this baby.

Yesterday, I had a doctor's appointment. My blood pressure was high and I had protein in my urine, both are symptoms of Preeclampsia or the slightly less dangerous Pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH). (as a quick side note, the doc also found the baby's heartrate up above my belly button and said, "I don't think the baby is head down, I found the heartbeat too high." I told her that I was quite sure the baby was upside down. She did a quick sonogram proving me right and although she did not measure the baby she said that she looks really big.) So, back to the blood pressure issues... other signs of these conditions are headaches, swelling, and vision changes. In the last 2 weeks I have had fairly bad headaches and quite a bit of swelling. The doctor told me to go directly to labor and delivery at the hospital and have them do the blood tests for these conditions. If the tests come back positive for either condition, I would be having my c-section in the afternoon. I left the office, immediately called my husband to see if he could meet me at the hospital to watch Miana while they drew my blood. (I really thought that was all they were going to do, draw my blood, get results and then admit me or send me home...) I then went and picked her up from Chris' house, frantically trying to figure out what to do with Carter who was getting out of school in 1 hour. I called one friend, no answer. I called another who was leaving for the airport at the same time as needing to pick up Carter. She told me not to worry and that she would find someone to pick him up. I got to the hospital and there was not a single parking spot available anywhere near labor and delivery. I parked at the opposite end of the hospital. Grabbed Miana and the diaper bag out of the car and ran into the hospital. There I am standing at an information desk, obviously pregnant, holding my 2 year old. I asked which way was the fasted way to get to labor and delivery, the lady looked at me and said, a little shocked, "are you the patient?" I nodded and she said, frantically, "do you need a wheel chair?" I simply said, "I am the patient, but I am not in labor. I just need to do some blood work, but I might have the baby today, we won't know until I get the results." She smiled, although I am not sure she fully understood, and pointed me towards labor and delivery. I walked down the hall having Miana run next to me as fast as she could to keep up. I got to the right place and was very relieved to see Dave in the lobby ready to go (he had no idea what we were in for)... The got me registered and admitted me to the hospital. They took me to the surgical prep room, had me change into the hospital gown and hooked me up to all of the monitors. They drew my blood and then we waited. During this time we realized that we didn't know if Carter had been taken care of or who even had him. We made several phone calls and couldn't get ahold of anyone. Finally, we got 2 separate phone calls from both of my Visiting Teachers, letting me know that another friend had Carter and that we could leave him there as long as we needed to and wanting to know what they could do to help with the other 2 kids... I got one more phone call from a friend saying that she would keep an eye out for Spencer after school and have him come to her house if no one was home at our house... What a relief to have everyone taken care of and know that I have such great friends who were so willing to help. 2.5 hours after leaving my doctor's office, my blood work came back normal and I was discharged from the hospital. My next appt. is on Monday and they may move my c-section date up if my blood pressure is high again.
When I went to pick up Carter, Wendy told me that she was making us dinner for that night and even though I protested, she insisted. It was really nice to be able to go home and only worry about getting homework done and resting and not have stress over dinner. I have really amazing friends. I am extremely blessed.
While I was there in the hospital, we were scrambling to see if we had the camera with us, if it had batteries, etc. Dave said to me, "if nothing else comes of this, we will know to have your bag packed and in the car." I was not prepared at all. I was not prepared with plans for the children in place. I wasn't prepared with things I needed. I didn't even have phone numbers with me to call for help. Today I am typing up a list of phone numbers to keep in the car with me. I am packing my bag. I am finishing the schedule/instruction sheets for the kids. I am typing up a note for Carter's school with a list of people who have my permission to pick him up in an emergency. (They have a small list, but I will make a long list to include most of my ward.) Last night, Dave took care of his personal preparation, downloading a couple more movies to his phone and adding more of the scriptures to it. He said he is now ready to sit by my side through anything...
Preparation is something that we are told to do/have/be constantly. I really was not ready yesterday and am grateful for a second chance. You can believe that I will be contacting many people today to make arrangements for future "what ifs." Glad for the many reminders to be prepared.

Random Thoughts and Random Actions

Here are a few thoughts about my pregnancy: I am 3 weeks away from my due date, yesterday marked 2 weeks away from my scheduled c-section. I am exhausted, fairly big, and extremely uncomfortable. The baby is riding low, making every movement difficult for me. I can't get comfortable at night, I wake up every 1-2 hours to use the restroom and get a drink (I've been so thirsty lately), then I have to try to go back to sleep, which can take a while. I haven't been very hungry for the last week or so, which is bad because I have to eat. Sometimes I feel like I'm forcing myself to do it, other times, I don't eat regularly, which later causes me to binge on things I shouldn't be eating. My stomach is big and very, very round. In other pregnancies I was more filled out in the front of me by this time. What I mean is that upper and lower abdomin were equally big by now. For this pregnancy, my lower abdomin is not as big as the upper part, making it seem like I have a nice watermelon, sitting horizontally, under my shirt. Then I have just my normal fat roll below that.

This brings me to my story. I have to write this so I don't forget that it happened, but it is a little gross and so, if you don't want to read it, stop now.

Yesterday, I was on the phone with Andrea. Carter walked into the kitchen where I was and gave me a big hug. His head hits right at my big tummy level. He often likes to lift up my shirt and kiss my tummy because he says he is giving the new baby kisses. This is very sweet, so I don't mind. He also is fascinated by how firm my huge stomach is... So, when he started to lift up my shirt and put his mouth to my stomach, I didn't think much of it, I countinued my phone conversation. Then, I noticed that he wasn't kissing, he was... licking. Yes, he began licking my tummy all over, side to side and around in circles. I sat there shocked. I didn't even know what to do. Then, I just started laughing. The more I laughed, the more he thought it was a funny thing and so he licked more. I got off the phone with Andrea and said to him, "why are you licking me?" He smiled and said, "because your tummy is like a big trampoline." I was a bit confused... I asked, "Do you lick trampolines?" "No." The conversation went back and forth like this for a while. I got from him only this... my tummy is hard, but a little bouncy, like a trampoline and he wanted to lick it, because it reminded him of a trampoline. I'm still not sure of the connection.
Anyway, I told you it was gross and not to read, so no comments about how gross it was... :) He's a funny, very random, loving child!

Pay it forward!

Chris Riker had this on her blog and I thought it was a good idea!

The rules:
The first 3 people to leave a comment on this (my) post will receive a handmade gift from me during this year—when and what will be a surprise. There’s a small catch. You knew there would be, didn’t you? Post this on your blog and then come back and leave a comment telling me you’re in. Fun, huh? Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift.
You are risking what a handmade gift from me might entail, but that is the fun right. :-)