Brett Alan Tracy

It wasn't perfect and it wasn't routine, but then again neither was my pregnancy. Wednesday morning started at 3am for me, after a couple of hours my contractions progressed and I woke Nate up and we dropped off the girls. On the way into the hospital the pain that I had been having on my right side continued to intensify. The nurse started to monitor the baby's heart rate and after a few minutes she called my OB who arrived within minutes. The next thing I know, I have nurses all around me prepping me for an emergency C-Section. Somehow in the midst of all of this, Nate and I were left alone just long enough for him to give me a blessing(I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband)The baby's heart rate had increased to 210 and continued to go up. We arrived at the hospital at around 6:20 and by 7:36 baby Brett had arrived.

The pain in my right side was my placenta rupturing which put stress on the baby and caused his heart rate to increase and put him in a state of distress. Brett's recpitory was high, his blood oxygen was low and he had a PDA(Patent Ductus Arteriosus)a type of heart murmur. They started an IV, put him on oxygen, and to help the PDA correct itself he was put in a NICU box in a dark room and wasn't allowed any stimulation. Which meant that Nate and I weren't allowed to touch or even talk to him. I was a mess, I couldn't hold my sweet baby boy that I had worked so hard to get here. Finally Thursday afternoon wonderful nurse Jenny(she's been there for all 3 of our babies deliveries)came and got Nate and I. She decided that since someone had to hold Brett while she was changing his bedding that it may as well be us. We got to hold him for 10 minutes and then we had to give him back. It was Friday afternoon before we got to hold him again. They let me burp him after they fed him thru his feeding tube.

My poor little guy has had a rough go, but he is making progress everyday. He started Wednesday at 80% oxygen and tonight(Sunday)he is down to 33% and he has to be at 21% for 24 hours before he can go home. They took out the feeding tube this morning and he is nursing well. He still has 3 to 4 days of antibiotics left but I'm being optimistic that we'll be able to go home soon. Everyone has been so wonderful, so many prayers and visitors. The nurses and my doctors are amazing. Nate and I have been so blessed to have wonderful friends and family to help take care of us.

The countdown begins!

26 weeks ago I thought there was no way possible that I would make it this far, let alone with my sanity intact. After months of throwing up, needles, IV's, hospitals, and Dr.'s appointments I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! This pregnancy has been filled with ups and downs(more downs than ups) but I am so grateful to be having this baby boy. As of my last ultrasound 2 weeks ago, the baby is right on schedule. I have to say that with everything that has happened its been so nice to get to see him every 3 weeks, I've had 11 ultrasounds in the pregnancy. We just pray and are keeping our fingers crossed that there are no ill effects on the baby with everything that has happened and all the medication that they have had me on. My perinatologist and my nephrologist both think that it will take somewhere between 3 to 6 weeks for my body to reset and if it doesn't then I'll have to have a biopsy done on my kidneys.

In other news, the girls are growing like weeds and watering them doesn't help! Every Thursday Nate flood irrigates our yard and the girls think that it is the coolest thing.  It's only been warm enough for the girls to play in the water once over the past month. The weather here has been crazy, rain, snow, wind, and if we are lucky, occasionally the sun will shine. So we spend a lot of time inside making forts, watching netflix, and using our imagination:

Here they are using empty diaper boxes as race cars, spaceships, and a train. I love that they play together, don't let me fool you....they definitely fight with each other and Maya loves to antagonize Jensen. Its really sad that Maya is only 2 and she knows exactly what to do to push Jensen's buttons! Nate and I really have to use our self control sometimes and not laugh when Maya does stuff to Jensen, we don't want to encourage her to pick on Jensen, but sometimes its hilarious! The girls share a room and have their own beds but sleep together. Every night at 8:30 they lay sideways on Jensen's bed, Nate reads them 4 to 5 of their books and then a chapter or two out of the classics, i.e. Peter Pan, The Little Princess, Camelot, and Treasure Island. They love story time and only Daddy is allowed to read, if I read to them Daddy still has to come in and read before they will go to bed.

Well, as you can clearly see, I am not an avid blogger. It's been almost a year since my last entry. You would think with all the time I have on my hands while I am at the hospital I would have updated you all a couple of times by now.

Just in case your in the dark, let me shed some light.....

We are expecting baby #3, now you all may be excited and think this is wonderful news, and its not that I don't, but let me share with you what the past 14 weeks have been like.

At the beginning of December I found out that I was indeed pregnant!! On December 22 I became ill, thinking that I had the flu, however, after 4 days of throwing up and body aches and fevers I sent myself to the Dr. It took several days, IV fluids, and numerous blood tests to find out that I had West Nile Virus. Apparently you can become infected and then it can lay dormant in your body until your immune system is weakened and then it takes over. On January 14th, I went in for my first O.B. appointment. Dr. B took one look at me and had me admitted. My blood pressure was 83/46, I had lost 7 lbs in 5 days(a total of 13 lbs all together), and I could barely walk. After 5 days of IV fluids and lots of medication she released me to go home, but I was not allowed to be alone. I have been diagnosed with a condition called Hyperemesis, it affects 1 to 2% of pregnant women and can last the entire pregnancy. With Nate in school and still coaching basketball, me and the girlies moved in with Grandma and Grandpa. They take wonderful care of us and Nate stays with us on the weekends.

So after I got out of the hospital I still required IV fluids. The easiest way for this to be done was to put in a PICC line, a permanent IV line that goes in at my arm all the way to chest. They draw my blood from this line as well as give me my IV fluids. So EVERY day I go to the hospital and they draw my blood, run the labs and send them to the pharmacy where they mix me a custom "banana" bag according to what I'm low on(yesterday for example, they gave me 10 grams of Magnesium, whereas a normal person would get 1 maybe 2 grams). All of this takes anywhere from 7 to 10 hours a day! I go and see a high risk Dr from the University of Utah on the 4th of March and we will go from there. They have done 2 ultrasounds and everything with the baby looks great so far!! So we wait and we pray that this baby will be healthy and strong.

In other exciting news, In April we take our sweet Jensen to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City to find out why her body isn't working properly. Her bowels don't work and she has a difficult time going poop.

Maya and Jensen on Halloween

Other than that, we are doing great. Little Maya isn't so little anymore and Jensen is smart as a whip. She loves learning and going to preschool, or as she calls it "playschool". We are so grateful for the prayers and helping hands that have been extended to us, everyone has been so wonderful these past few weeks. We love you all!