The Long Recovery

Now that I have more then one finger to type with I thought I would give the run-down of the delivery.

We went in on at 7 am Tuesday August 4^th to be induced. Everything was going pretty well. I was able to get an epidural when I was dilated to about 6, but it took about an hour to kick in. It only worked for about an hour before it wore off. It then took another hour to get it working again (that was a “fun” hour). After that I didn’t have any problems with it. I was to a 10 at about at 9 pm. I started pushing and pushed for a good three hours. The baby seemed to be stuck. The doctor came in and decided to have us try the vacuum. We did a couple of pushes with that and no luck! My pelvis was not opening up, and it looked like the baby’s head might have been turned a little. This lead to an emergency c-section. To say that I was not happy about this is an understatement. (I still get emotional about it all.)

Zachary was born on August 5^th at 12:37 am with a set of lungs. Lee’s parents could hear him screaming down the hall. The entire time he was in the operating room he didn’t stop. He was a beautiful baby. Lots bigger then we were expecting. I was measuring about 37 weeks, so when he came out at 8.2lbs we were a bit surprised! But he was PERFECT and even had a little hair!

Afterwards I was brought to our room and was able to feed him. Not only did he have a set of lungs, he also was ready to eat. He was a champ at nursing. The next day I found that when I would be feeding him I would tend to get a little dizzy. I thought this was because I had not eaten real food for almost two days. I guess they were watching me pretty closely. I got a call from the doctor saying that he was going to order a ultrasound of my stomach and that they thought I might have been low on iron. Not even 5 minutes later they had people in my room doing an ultrasound. After they left I was waiting for Lee to show up from being at home because the nurses kept asking about him. When next thing I know the doctor is in my room. He had ran into the ultrasound nurses in the hall and it looked like I had internal bleeding. They were going to have to go back in. Lee showed up at this point and got the news too. With nothing I could do about it, I decided there was no point in getting all worked up about it.

They rushed me to the OR. Everything was so fast. Next thing I knew I was getting moved to an operating table and getting all hooked up to things. The operation started around 4pm and I don’t have any real memory of things until after it was 9pm. I woke up with a breathing tube in my throat. It hurt so bad!! I guess Lee had to hold me down earlier to stop me from taking it out. It was very painful to say the least.

In the operation they found 2 liters of blood just in the open. They were worried that the uterus had not been closed all the way, but it looked ok. They ended up coating things inside, pumped a ton of blood back in me, and sewed me back up.

Because I had been not breathing on my own and I was so low on blood I was put into Intensive Care Unit. It ended up being a good thing that we were so naive about everything because later we were talking to a nurse about how serious everything was. And how my life really had been on the line. I was unable to be with Zachary for 48 hours (no babies can be in the ICU). Lee was busy jumping back and forth taking care of Zachary and checking on me. I think Lee didn’t expect to jump into parenthood that quickly! My wonderful mother-in-law was also so kind to also help out with Zac. I was just grateful that Zachary was healthy and that we didn’t need to be worrying about the both of us. I am just so thankful for such a wonderful husband who takes such good care of our family. I could not ask for anyone better.

We stayed in the hospital for another 3 days (a total of a week). It was nice to have such great nurses to take Zachary in the night (he was not a good sleeper!) Mom Passey showed up on Saturday night, so that was also a help to have her there for a few days.

We are happy to now have everyone home and healthy. It was a LONG first month. But things are going well. Zachary is such a joy in our life. I am so thankful for my little boy and wonderful husband. I am also so thankful for Priesthood blessings, the power of prayer, and a loving Heavenly Father who has watched over us. I know that we really have been blessed.

Zachary James
August 5, 2009
8.2 lbs
20.5 inches
12:37am

First time holding him. He only wanted to have one eye opened.
He still likes to do that. We would call him our little pirate.

These next few are when I was in the ICU.

Lee was such a good dad.

Zac got to have bottles when I was gone.
He would drink them in about 2 minutes!

Visitors! Grandpa and Kenzie.

These next few are when I was in the ICU.

Mostly I ate Jell-O. I had so many things hooked up to me.

Jessica came and visited!

First time seeing Zachary after being in the ICU.

They let me go back for about 30 minutes to
feed Zachary on the last night I was in the ICU.

Back with Zachary and Lee

On the last night they give you a "celebration dinner."

Our cute little Zachary!
We love him.

Home at last

These are just a few pictures of when we came home.
Zachary looks so tiny!

friday night fun

For our date night we decided to take Zachary along with us.
We had a picnic dinner at sunset on the edge of a
beautiful lake in the foothills.
Zac enjoyed the walk, the animals, and all the people
oohing and awing over him (even the ducks wanted to come and take a look at him).
We will have to go back another night when we have time
walk around the entire thing.


Zac is giving us so many smiles these days.

Yummy BLT's! We love them!
And a little chips and homemade salsa.
So good!

Zac wanted to go out on the paddle boats,
but we didn't have time.
Maybe we will just have to had up to
Grandpa Acheson's to do that.

smiles

Lets just say that life has improved greatly after the first month of Zachary's little life. We are no longer saying "What were we thinking?"

Zac turned into an entire different baby the day before he turned one month. All of the sudden he decided that sleeping more then 15 minutes at a time was going to be a good idea. He now takes a few hours naps! I didn't know babies slept so much! And the fact that now he sleeps somewhere other then my arms is the best. He now uses his bassinet and crib for actually sleeping! I used to have to sleep with him in my arms at night so that way I could get more then 15 minutes of sleep. He did 7 hours last night! Heaven.
And even now, as I'm typing this, he is sitting in his swing. He hated that thing! AND he will sit in his bouncy seat for more then 15 minutes. I'm telling you--this is a different baby!
Oh, and we no longer have to work with him for hours to stop him from crying. It is so nice to have time to even take a shower without him screaming the entire time.

Interaction is a great thing! Zac is smiling these days when we smile at him. He is even doing little laughs. It is a lot of fun.He is such a happier baby! (I think the no sleep thing was not working for him.) He watches me when I walk around the room. And he even follows toys with his eyes! We have fun talking to each other. He loves to make noises.
He is just so cute!

*Sorry the pictures are fuzzy. He just wont stop moving!

Blessing Day

On Sept 6, 2009 Zachary James was given a
beautiful blessing by his Dad.

We had a wonderful day spending time with family and friends.
Little Zac was such an angel all day.

A special thanks to Aunt Katie for the blanket! It worked perfect.
(It was hand delivered all the way from Bethlehem!)


Happy Parents


Grandma and Grandpa Passey

The Cooper Bunch

Sisters

John
Can you belive how tall my 14 year old brother is? 6'4"!!
And he is still growing!


Friends
Cousin brad surprised us.
Jake and Rachel,
Jenny holding Macey (born 3 days before Zac)
Chris, and Kate


Us with Janette

Thanks again to everyone for coming!!
We had a wonderful time with you all.
We love you so much.

One Month

On 9/9/09 we went in for Zac's 5 week appointment.
Here are some of his stats:

Height: 22 in 63%
Weight: 11 lbs 74%
Head: 15 in 40%

He is getting bigger everyday.
This past week we have put him in 0-3 month old clothes.

Zachary at exactly One Month.


This is me trying to burp him.
He was being really cute.



Yup, still grabbing his face!
He has not grown out of that one yet!

the fam in san fran

We were so lucky to have Mom and Dad Passey, Claire, Caitlyn, John, and Maren visit us over the Labor Day weekend!!

On Saturday we headed into the city for some fun.
Zachary pretty much just wanted to sleep through his first experience going in. We were more then ok with it seeing how we didn't want to indroduce him to all the crazy people-yet.

We had lunch at peir 39.
The Sea Lions were as stinky as ever.

Who knew all you needed to do to be a Sea Lion was a kissing face?
I guess Claire and I had the same idea.
John probably had the better idea!


Then after walking down the crazy streets we NEEDED some chocolate.

John wanted seconds.


Zachary finally decided to get out of the stroller for a picture.

.

We thought we would get a family picture with the Golden Gate Bridge...

let's just say we just drove across!
Better luck next time!

Our Family

bath time!

Zachary had a few hard first couple baths, but once he could get all the way in he decided they were ok.
We now just have to work with his attitude about the before and after. He is not very happy about not having clothes on!

I just had to add this picture in because this outfit kills me. I can't decide what "theme" they were going with. The dinosaurs just throw me off.

thanks cait!

Caitlyn,

Can we just say that we love the car seat cover that you made for us?! Because we do! It is so perfect to quickly cover little Zac's eyes from the bright sun. And stays on even with the wind.

We love the buttons.

We love how it matches his seat.

And we love how big it is that we even use it on the stroller.
It is great to not have to take an extra blanket with us!

Thanks for being so talented.
We sure have loved having and using it!

Thank you, thank you!

Love,
Lee, Allie, and Zachary