Red Ribbon Parade

We went to the Red Ribbon Parade on Halloween morning.  It was a cold one!! I was not prepared for how cold it was.  Haha.  Bentley didn't really get off of our laps much so Kolton gathered all the candy for him.  He was so awesome.  He'd get some for him and then some for Bentley and then some for the kids next to us.  It was awesome. 

 The boys got a ton of candy again! Kolton's bucket was full before the parade was even over.  It didn't help that we kept seeing people we knew so then they would come put extra candy in our kids buckets so they came home with quite the loot. 

Just so show how freezing it was.  Haha.  Even Brady was bundled up! 

 

School Halloween Party

Sunday, the 25th, was Stake Conference.  We got there like 30 or 40 minutes early but were still half way through the gym.  I don't mind sitting in the gym...I don't like sitting on the metal chairs because everything you or your kids do is loud.  Bentley was distracted for 5 minutes there by putting stickers on himself.  Haha. 

 Kolton only had a couple more soccer practices left at this point.  It was about to start getting dark by 5:45 and after that we didn't have practice. 

 Bentley loved bringing a ball to practice and throwing it in the air and trying to kick it as it came back down so that he could kick it "high."

 One day we were watching football or basketball or something and I looked over at Kolton and he just looked so old sitting there.  He is getting so big and it is just so weird to me!

 My mom flew in on Thursday night (the 29th).  She wanted to come to OK for Halloween and for Bentley's birthday party.  Friday she helped me get everything ready for Kolton's Halloween party at school that afternoon.  We spent half the morning making guts for one of the games. 

 I tried to dress up as a scarecrow but I think I ended up looking a little scary/creepy.  Haha.  It was cold and rainy that day which wasn't fun at all when trying to bring all the stuff into the school for the party but we got it done. 

 I love dry ice! So cool!

 My mom and I ran the guts relay game.  The kids had to reach in and find an eyeball and when they did they could take a letter back to their team.  Once they had all the letters they could try and figure out what word the letters made.  We did "SKELETON" because it had 8 letters and each group of kids that came in was supposed to have 24 kids in it.  That way we could divide them into 3 teams and there would be enough letters for them all. 

Kolton got chosen to be the one to dress up as the scarecrow for his team during the scarecrow relay.  One of the other moms sent me this picture.  I love it. 

 It was so fun to be able to go participate in his party.  Bentley had a good time too! And the kids loved my mom's witch hackle.  Haha. 

 Kolton had to decorate a pumpkin like a book character so he chose the Hulk.  I forgot to take a picture of it before he took it to school so I snapped one when he brought it home.  He did a great job!

Balkman Halloween Party

The Balkman's Halloween party was the 24th of October.  The boys had a blast.  I walked around with Bentley, Vanessa, and Esme and Kolton went around with his cousins while Brady passed out candy.  Bentley definitely got the hang of it and was so cute saying "trick or treat" and "thank you."

As usual the boys came home with full buckets and happy hearts! :) 

School Carnival

So Bentley was binkie free (except for at bedtime) before my surgery.  Then with my surgery and him getting sick he got the binkie back and now it is back with a vengeance.  Haha. 

 We went and got Bentley's Halloween costume finally.  He picked Buzz out so I was happy he was able to wear something he knew and liked. 

On the 23rd of October Kolton's school had a carnival.  I bought both kids bracelets so they could play all the games and then bought a couple dollars worth of tickets for things like the dunk tank.  Kolton really wanted to dunk Mrs. James.  So we went over there when it was her turn to be in the tank and he totally dunked her!! He was the first to do it and was so happy! It was awesome! We then played some more games and the boys had a blast.    

 One of the games was a free throw shooting game.  Kolton obviously loved that game.  haha.  A teacher was working it and after Kolton shot he came over to me and asked "What is his name and what grade is he in?" I told him and he said "Oh, I've heard about him.  Mr. Hixon has talked about him." I thought that was pretty cool.  Our little stud. 

 The boys played the cake walk together and Bentley won! He didn't get it...he was just happy to walk around the carpet.  :)

 I tried to get Kolton to take a picture with me but he refused.  Haha.  He's too funny. 

 I asked my brother Shawn if he'd be willing to make an invitation for Bentley's birthday party and he did an awesome job!! It is just what I wanted and it is so cute!

Post-op

Saturday (10th) morning Kolton had a soccer game. I did not want to miss it so I convinced Brady to let me go.  Haha.  It was a little painful but so worth it to go watch him.  He played so well and scored 4 goals that game! It was so awesome to watch. 

 Brady was awesome with the kids.  I loved watching him play with them and take care of them while I laid on the couch.  :) It was great!

 My dad had to come to OK for work on Monday so he brought us dinner that night.  My mom had him pick up some flowers and candy for me to cheer me up.  It was so nice!

 On Sunday Brady ended up taking Bentley to our doctor's after hours care because he was breathing really weird and heavy.  They sent him home with a nebulizer and some albuterol to use.  She said she doesn't want to label him asthmatic yet but that he has some of the symptoms.  The nebulizer helped so much.  Well, I had to take him for a follow-up on Tuesday.  This whole situation really freaked Bentley out.  He didn't like that I couldn't carry him and was weirded out that Brady's mom had been at our house for a couple of days and he just felt off.  He wouldn't let anyone pick him up or anything.  So it was fun at the doctor's office.  Haha.   

 Brady's mom came over every day that week to clean the house and take care of the kids.  I wasn't supposed to do much and with Brady not having any time off of work he couldn't stay so it was great to have her available to help.  We also had meals brought in to us for a week.  That was awesome too.  I had friends and family texting or calling me every day asking how I was and checking in on me.  I definitely felt the love and support of all my friends and family. 



Ruptured Ectopic Pregnancy

On Wednesday morning, the 7th of October, I all of a sudden had a really sharp pain in my abdomen.  I tried to go to the bathroom to see if that would help but it did not.  So, I went and laid down in my bed for a couple of hours and the pain finally faded but it did not go away.  I was able to stand up but not straight.  I told Brady I wondered if it was pain associated with an ectopic pregnancy but wasn't sure. We were having the missionaries over for dinner that night so I had to get ready and get the house clean and food prepared. That evening while watching tv in bed my stomach just hurt and you couldn't touch it without it hurting.  I honestly couldn't tell if I was just being a baby with gas pains or if this was something more serious.  Brady just kept telling me that if it was bad I needed to go to the hospital but that he didn't know what I was feeling so it was up to me to make that decision.  The next morning, Thursday the 8th, I pretty much felt the same as the night before.  Then at around 1:00 I got an extreme pain in my abdomen again and just couldn't ignore it anymore.  It was so bad at that point that I could hardly move.  I called Brady wondering what I should do.  He said I needed to go to the hospital.  I didn't want to pay a $100 copay for them to tell me I was constipated or something so I called my doctor's office to see if I could just come into their office for them to check and make sure everything was ok.  After I told her my symptoms the nurse said it sounded like an ectopic pregnancy and I needed to go to the hospital because that's where they would send me anyway.  So I called Brady in tears because of pain and stress.  I didn't know what to do.  I was just sitting there on my bed on all fours in so much pain.  After a couple minutes on the phone he said he'd call me right back.  When he called me back he said his parents were on their way to take me to the hospital.  His dad stayed with Bentley and his mom drove me to the hospital.  I texted my friend Cassidy, whose husband is an ER resident at the hospital I was going to (Southwest Integris) to see if he was there so I could request him as my physician.  He was there but I didn't get assigned to him.  His friend Deacon was the resident that helped me.  They had me change my clothes and put on a hospital gown and then they did a quick ultrasound scan to see if they could see anything right away.  After just a couple of seconds Deacon told his assistant (a medical student) to hook me up to the monitors asap and then left the room.  I was like "What is going on?" He came back with the attending physician and she did an ultrasound also and told me that there is a bunch of fluid in my abdomen that shouldn't be there and that they think I had an ectopic pregnancy and that it had ruptured.  They started an IV, gave me morphine, and then took me to radiology to get a better look.  I did not like being on the morphine.  It just made me feel all dizzy and tired and out of it.  They rolled me back to radiology and the technician did a transvaginal and a regular ultrasound.  The whole ultrasound lasted about 30 or 40 minutes.  It was so painful.  Laying flat on my back was the most uncomfortable position to be in and then having her push on my stomach and stuff just hurt so bad.  She finished up and put me back in the wheelchair and then left.  I wasn't sure when she was coming back and it felt like she had been gone for a long time.  Brady's mom was about to go see if she could find her when she finally came back.  She wheeled me back to the ER and then Mike (Cassidy's husband came in) and told us that it does indeed look like a ruptured ectopic pregnancy and I'm bleeding internally and they will have to do surgery.  Then Deacon and the doctor came in and told me the same thing.  Brady got there at about that time and Brady's mom left.  They then brought with them the OBGYN that would be performing the surgery (they couldn't get ahold of my doctor).  She explained what they would be doing and that I would feel 10 times better after the surgery because I wouldn't have the pain of the blood in my abdomen.  She said they would try to do it laprascopically but that she wasn't too confident that they'd be able to because of how much blood was in my abdomen.  She said if they couldn't do it that way then they'd have to do an incision similar to a C-section incision and I'd have to stay in the hospital for 72 hours.   I was hoping and praying I wouldn't have to have that incision!! They started another IV in my so that if I needed a transfusion they could do it asap and not have to wait.  They then took me back and got me ready for surgery.  I went in around 7:00 or so.  They were able to do it laprascopically!! That is the first thing I asked when I came out of anesthesia.  They removed the tube and sucked out all the blood.  I had 3 incisions, each about an inch or inch and a half long.  I had 500 ml of free flowing blood in my abdomen.  I really did feel so much better after surgery, though! It was such a relief to not have that pain in my abdomen anymore! I was able to go home that night.  Brady's mom had taken the boys to her house and they stayed the night there.  Brady's work let him take Friday off without pay which was nice of them so that he could stay and take care of me.  This was such a traumatic experience and everything seemed to happen so fast.  We really didn't have much time or opportunity to emotionally process the fact that we weren't pregnant anymore because of the need to take care of my body physically.  Sometimes I can't believe that I've been pregnant now 5 times and I have 2 kids here at home and that all 3 of our losses have been in 3 different ways.  I now have a really small chance of getting pregnant again because my working ovary now doesn't have a tube.  The tube from the other side can grab the egg but it doesn't happen very often.  Brady and I aren't sure what the future holds for us but for now we aren't ready to go through the emotional and physical journey of pregnancy any time soon.