Bath Time

Oloiso is now 1 week & 1 day old. This is our first time giving our son a bath. Here he is sleeping so peacefully prior to getting a bath.

Getting everything ready for bath time.
Notice how the preemie diaper dwarfs him. Even those were too small for his tiny bum bum.

Washing his beautiful face.

Now he's getting very unhappy.

My little peanut.

He doesn't like getting a bath one bit. Funny, he still makes this same face when I bathe him.

Me and my baby boy.


Daddy taking a rest in my room.

*Pictures taken Tuesday, April 6, 2010*

NICU

I'm so horrible because I didn't get very many pictures or video of the baby while we were at the hospital. Anyways, here is proud daddy with his baby boy.

I was already discharged from the hospital and was able to stay in the guest quarters because I was nursing and baby was still in the NICU. It was nice to be so close to my son. I was really tired though because I was nursing every three hours and it would take about 45 minutes for the whole process. Then when I would return to my room I would have to pump for 15 minutes. So I didn't get much sleep. The nurses in the NICU kept telling me I could skip a feeding and get a good 6 hours of sleep but I didn't want to miss any time with my son. I wanted to be there for him and encourage him to eat so we could leave the hospital.

As you can see from the below picture, Oloiso has a cabash (sp??) in his nose. While I would nurse they would feed him through a tube in his nose. Any milk I could pump would be put in the cabash. Of course they had to supplement formula because I was having a hard time producing enough breast milk to feed my son.

You can see how tiny my baby boy was with Kodi's hand right next to him.

Kodi visiting his baby brother for the first time.

My husband bought me these beautiful flowers. So bright and pretty. I LOVE flowers!

It even had this beautiful butterfly accessory.

The special note from my loving husband.

*Pictures taken Saturday, April 3, 2010*

2 Days Old

Here is our son at just two days old. It's hard to tell in these pictures just how tiny he was. I wish I would have taken more pictures and video. I guess I was just too tired to remember.
Oloiso with Auntie Dacia.

My precious baby boy.

*Pictures taken Wednesday, March 31, 2010*

Olivia's Toe

So last night I had to change the bandages on Olivia's toe. This was the first time Olivia was able to see it other than looking at the pictures I took.

This is what she thought was sooooo cool . . . her stitches were a dark blue.

Her toe all bandaged up again.

Looks like it's healing rather well. Still looks pretty disgusting though. She's walking around pretty good on her foot. She really hasn't put much pressure on her toe though. And she tried to put a shoe on yesterday, that didn't feel too good. So she just wears a sock for now.

On Monday the 16th she's supposed to get her stitches removed. So good so far, yeah!

Another Day at the Holden's

Thursday, August 5, 2010.

What an interesting day this turned out to be. The baby and I have found a new thing we enjoy doing...sitting on the porch and enjoying the out doors.

I took a couple of pictures of his beautiful little face. I can't get enough of him! He's just so perfect.



While the baby and I are enjoying the evening the girls decide to play dress up...which of course involves make up. After they are finished with their make up they come out on the porch to show me. I really don't like them wearing make up because it makes them look to old. But I let them do it at home as long as it's cleaned off before we go anywhere.

Sora was supposed to be some kind of vampire, so here she is biting dad's neck. Then of course a picture of her make up...you see why I don't like it. You'd never believe she's only 10.

Then Olivia is supposed to be some kind of monster bride but she doesn't really look that monstrous to me. Yikes! They are just too young for make up.

Here is Selena, the make up artist. She's the one that always dresses them up, does their hair and puts make up on them.


So after all the fun of dressing up and taking pictures we decided we are going to go to the store. Our plans were to get up early Friday morning and head to the lake with the jet skis. So we needed to get some food and a life jacket for the baby. The girls run in to clean the horrible make up off their faces, dad heads to the garage, and I start to bring the baby inside. As I open the front door I hear one of the girls screaming and crying hysterically, "Mom, Mom, Mommy!"

I leave the baby on the porch head to the girls room, in the bathroom and what do I see? Selena holding Olivia's foot and blood everywhere! Olivia is crying out of control, I'm trying to find out what happened, and Selena's trying to explain while Olivia continues to cry.

I look at Olivia's foot and see that her big toe is ripped open. I tell Selena to run and get me a clean towel because she was using toilet paper for the blood. At least she knew to keep pressure on her foot. I put the towel on her foot and keep pressure on it while trying to calm her down at the same time.

Selena tells me that Olivia ran into the bathroom and slipped cutting her toe on the vent. I'm looking at the vent and thinking...How in the heck did she get such a huge cut from this?! You're thinking the same thing, right?

Well no time to worry about it at this moment. I tell Selena that she needs to get dad right now. I'm trying to keep Olivia calm but at the same time trying to convey to Selena that this is an emergency. Selena returns with no dad. I asked her what he was doing, she said he was on his way. At that point I told her that she needed to tell him it was an emergency! So off she went again. I would have just carried Olivia but I couldn't do that while keeping pressure on her foot. She's 71 lbs already. Finally dad came into the bathroom, looked at the injury and went to get me some gauze bandages. I wrapped as best I could and off we were to the hospital emergency.

On the way to the hospital we got the real story. Selena had removed the air vent cover, for reasons only the man upstairs knows. Olivia had cut her toe on the metal pipe in the air vent. Selena was scared to admit it and sad at the same time because she felt it was her fault Olivia was hurting and going to the hospital. This picture doesn't do it justice but now I can understand how she got such a big, deep cut.

Unfortunately, it was a horrible night to be in emergency at the hospital. The place was packed when we arrived. Yeah! It's no fun sitting for hours with a 4 1/2 month old, three girls and your husband who hasn't eaten. None the less, it was good quality family time...right. =0)

We finally get into the room where a nurse looks at her toe, cleans it a bit and we wait more to see the doctor. Here is Olivia praying. She was such a strong little trooper.

Her toe being cleaned.

What it looked like when the blood was cleaned off. Yeah, not pretty. You can't tell from this picture but it was actually really deep.

When the doctor finally came in to take a look he told us what our options were. She could get about eight, yeah I said eight, shots of Novocain around the wound (she would feel each one) then he could stitch it up OR we'd have to put an IV in, give her some medication that would sedate her, then he could stitch it up. Um, yeah a no brainer right. There is just no way she would have been able to handle getting 8 shots right near the wound, could you?

Here is our little girl trying to be strong, holding my hand.


Here is daddy trying to comfort his daughter by letting her know that if she lost her toe he promises he'll wear it on a necklace around his neck. Why couldn't I think of that?

Our little baby with an IV in her arm waiting for the sedation medication.

Let me just tell you that as a parent this experience was a tough one. One, trying to stay calm while your child is in pain. Two, trying to remember the right things to do, to get bleeding under control, calming your child and reassuring her that everything is going to be okay. Three, keeping every one else calm. Four, knowing and making the decisions for the best care or treatment for your child. So scared that something might go wrong or that your child might have a bad reaction to the medication. The whole experience was heart rendering.

While Olivia was sedated the medication affected her speech. She was talking gibberish which was so hilarious. I wish I would have had my video camera. Then after she started to come out of it, the medication can make you hallucinate. Well that was quite interesting. She wanted to know why she was on the beach, why there were three suns, she wanted me to kill a huge bug on the ceiling, asked me why I had two heads and four eyes, why I had 100 fingers, why there was snow on my head, why were there pixies flying around and one landed on my shoulder, definitely very entertaining.

I had Rocky take the baby, Selena and Sora home around 11:30 pm. There was no point in having everyone wait. We finally got finished and daddy picked us up at about 2:30 am. What a night!

All in all, I am thankful to my Heavenly Father that it was not worse. I'm thankful she was able to keep her toe and that she only needed nine stitches. I'm thankful that she was strong and brave. I just hope we don't have very many more of these experiences.

Oloiso Makana'akua Rock Holden

Here is daddy enjoying his little bundle of joy

My sister & my best friend, Summer

My best friend, Lisa.
Note to Skrizz: (I can't find a picture with you and baby)

Our baby boy
Note: For some reason when I added the below pictures this is the biggest I could make them. Not sure why.

Grampa, Grama Geri, & Nana. All enjoying their moment with the new addition to the family.

Oloiso in NICU

My Long Awaited Blessing

So this is going to be a little longer post than I normally make because it is one of the most amazing, beautiful experiences and days of my life.

Monday, March 29, 2010 at 7:20 am in the morning I run to the bathroom. My husband is in the shower and I throw open the curtain and I tell him, "I think my water broke! How do I know if my water broke?" He looks at me and says, "How am I supposed to know? Your mom is here, why don't you ask her. She would probably know."

I run to the guest room where my mother is sleeping and knock on the door. "Mom, I think my water broke! How do I know?" I tell her I was laying in bed and all of a sudden it was wet everywhere and I still had liquid running down my legs. She tells me that we better head to the hospital. I ask my mom, "Is it okay if I take a shower first?" She tells me, "A very short one."

I head back to our bathroom and my husband is still in the shower. I open the curtain and tell him that my water broke and we need to head to the hospital but I want to shower first. He looks at me and says, "What are you doing? You don't have time to take a shower. Go get ready to go." I told him I was going to take a shower before we go and that was that.

We arrive at the hospital, St Luke's in Meridian, about 7:50 am. We get all checked in and hooked up to the machines. Which tell me I'm having contractions every 4 minutes. It kind of tickled to me. I thought this isn't so bad.

Fortunately, my doctor was on call that morning so he came in to see me. There was concern of possibly having seizures because of my high blood pressure and the baby being only 35 weeks. So he explained all the possibilities and that they would need to put an IV in just in case they had to give me magnesium to stop the seizures and to give me pitocin to induce labor.

Let me just tell you that my veins are the worst for drawing blood from and trying to get an IV in. The nurses tried 6 times before they called a specialist in. Then the specialist had to use an ultrasound machine to locate a good vein and he tried once. On the second try he got one in my left arm but it was a smaller one and he was afraid it would collapse. So he asked if he could try again. I said, "Sure why not...this is more painful than my contractions." So he got a better IV in my right arm but he left the one in my left arm, which was right in the bend of my arm...NOT comfortable at all! Anyways, the process took NINE times to get an IV in. It's a good thing needles don't scare me and I can handle the poking and probing.

Everything was going smoothly so far. I had my absolutely amazing mother there to help coach me. My poor sister, Dacia, left Sunday evening to head back to Rexburg. So when we called her to tell her I was in the hospital, she took the kids out of school and headed back to Boise. A 4 1/2 hour drive. My daddy and his fiancee where still in town. My best friend, Lisa, was fortunately still in town but was schedule to fly out this day. Luckily she was able to change her ticket to stay. And my best friend, Summer, worked at the very hospital I was at.

So now it was the waiting game. When I had talked to my doctor earlier I asked, "When do you think I'll have the baby." He said, "Maybe not until later this evening, possibly tomorrow." So I'm thinking...okay, this isn't so bad if my contractions tickle like this and don't get worse I should be good.

Mom, Geri & Dad.

Well Mom, Dad & his fiancee are in the room with me just chatting away while watching me concentrate on my breathing when the contractions would come. Still no problem. Then about 1:30 pm, I look at them and say, "I don't think I want to hear you talk anymore." I sat there for a while thinking about what to say because I didn't want to be one of those crazy women in labor. And at that time I thought that was the nicest way I could put it. Dad & his fiancee, Geri, looked at me and said, "I think it's time for us to go." So they left to babysit so Lisa and my husband could head back to the hospital.

My Skrizzy.

Earlier the nurse informed me that if I was thinking about having an epidural that I would need to let her know in advance because it takes about 45 minutes for the entire process.

My beautiful friend, Summer, was finally able to get away from work and visit me. Of course she came after my father and Geri left so I'm really concentrating on breathing. She comes in all bubbly and excited that we are having a baby. I just look at her like she isn't there because I'm concentrating. She said I gave her a look like I was going to rip her head off. I was very thankful though because she noticed I was totally congested and couldn't breathe easily and got me some oxygen. Which helped. Summer stayed for a bit then had to go back to work to see if someone could cover her.

So as my contractions are getting stronger and not tickling so much anymore, I'm thinking, "If it's like this all night possibly until tomorrow, I don't know if I can handle it without an epidural." So I finally ask the nurse to start the process of getting me an epidural. She checks my cervix and I've dilated to 5-6 cm.

Okay, trying to get an epidural while your having strong contractions and are completely congested and can't breathe even with oxygen, is quite the experience. Not to mention it was scaring me a little because I couldn't breathe and all I wanted to do was push. While my mom is telling me, "Blow out the candles." Meanwhile, you are supposed to stay still during the process. Rather difficult but somehow I managed.

So things are progressing rather fast, I hear myself grunting and wanting to push everything out. Mom tells me not to push but to breathe "Blow out the candles" and let your body do the rest. I ask my mom if I'm screaming. She says no, you are doing excellent. Just "blow out the candles".

I tell the nurse the baby is coming. She checks my cervix and I've dilated to 8 cm. No one is in the room except my mom, the nurse and the guy putting in the epidural. Where's my doctor? Where's all the other nurses? The guy (I don't know what you call them) finished putting the epidural in and I had probably three more contractions and said, "The baby is coming and I'm ripping!" Because that's exactly how it felt. And our baby boy literally shot out.

I wanted it video taped but well it happened all so fast there was no time.

I heard my son cry and it brought tears to my eyes. I couldn't believe he was here. I couldn't believe I just delivered a baby. I couldn't believe he was finally here. And I felt EVERYTHING! So much for an epidural. It was all so surreal. I can't even explain the emotions and feelings that were running through me. Fortunately, my doctor and nurses were there just in the nick of time.

Then this beautiful baby boy was placed in my arms. It was love at first sight! It makes me cry just remembering and writing about it now. I LOVE him so much! No words can ever explain what I feel for him. I always imagined what it would be like but never in my life did I think it would feel like this.

Oloiso Makana'akua Rock Holden
Born March 29, 2010
At 15:16
Weighing 4 lbs 11 oz
Measuring 17 1/2 inches long

Oloiso meaning: Olo (The man) iso (royal).
Translation: the man of royalty or the royal man.

Makana' akua: Makana (gift, present) Akua (God).
Translation: Gift of God or Matthew

Warning: These are not very good pictures of me because I was so swollen during my pregnancy. But here is our first moment together as mother and son.

And my husband, the proud father.

My amazing mother, who stayed calm and helped me stay calm. I love her to death! What would I have done without her. Thank you mom!

Elisha, Jesse, Brielle, Dacia and Lisa.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. For all those that know the challenges I have been through, I know you can appreciate my story.
What an experience! Absolutely amazing! And now I am blessed with the child I have always dreamed of. My miracle baby! Dreams do come true and prayers truly are answered.

I thank my Father in Heaven for answering my prayers and for the most amazing blessing I could have ever received. To be a mother. My son is truly a GIFT of GOD!