What Matters Most

For Marc's birthday we got to go out to Kansas City and stay with his brother Scott and go to the Kansas City Temple open house. We had such an amazing time! The spirit was so strong there. It was truely a blessing to watch our girls walk through and feel of the power and spirit of that beautiful place. Julia looked up at the chandeleir and reverently said Wooooow! Natalie commented on how white everything is and said her favorite part was the baptismal font. It was such a great way to spend Marc's birthday and all be together! I hope we always remember that. And I hope my girls remember the way they felt and strive to go there someday to be married. I want them to know that they are loved. And that because of the temple families can be together forever. I'm glad we got some much needed family pictures as well. The girls wanted to wear their white dresses because that's what mommy wore to the temple when she got married. We also got to go to the visitor's center and Liberty Jail. It was such a fun time. Scott and Carolyn spoiled Marc with cheesecake and ribs and then a waffle breakfast. They're the best!

So this may be too long a post for most to read, but I want to remember all the details of Andrea's birth so for those of you who are interested you can have the whole story, too if you want it.

We had all been really sick the week before Andrea was born. So sick that the night before I didn't know how I was going to take care of the kids by myself. Marc's car didn't start and I had to take him to work with both of us sick. Then he wasn't there that night because he couldn't get a ride home 'til after basketball that night. So that night I started to feel better. I had prayed for strength and to get better before I delivered. At 3am I shot up out of bed, and Marc thought he hurt me. I said no I'm just hurting and feeling a lot of pressure. I didn't know that that was the start of labor pains. The first two were induced and the pain was completely different. The pain kept hurting through the night and I didn't sleep well. In the morning Marc was going up to help his dad with the condo and I was taking Natalie to a dance class. Marc had also taken his car with Kevin, his brother who had spent the night, to the shop. So I called my mom on the way to Natalie's dance class and told her how I was feeling. At first she said to call Marc and have him come home. That I should go home and take a bath and take it easy. Then she could hear the way I was panting and having a hard time speaking every couple of minutes and said I should go to the hospital instead. I was going to go after Natalie's class was over, but I couldn't wait. I was crying in the parking lot and feeling the pressure worse and worse. I called Marc and told him I was going to go to the hospital, but I didn't want to go in by myself with the girls. So he was trying to figure out with his family who was taking him to me. Then as I was sitting there Julia says, "Mom you are sick, you should go to the hopsital(hospital)." I thought this was insightful since she has seen me sick and never said that before. I texted Marc and said "It's possible that I'm having contractions because the intense pain calms down and then starts back up. This might be the real thing." So I went and got Natalie. Then I called my friend Faith, who lives close to dance, and she said she would take me to the hospital. We told Marc to meet us there.

When we got there the nurses looked at my like I was too small to be the one in labor. But then I had a contraction at the desk and they got me a room right away. (I was thinking how grateful I was that I called my mom that morning. I probably would have gone home and told myself it wasn't that bad.) So they hooked me up to the monitors and the baby's heartbeat dropped and the in house doctor said he may have to do an emergency c-section, but he wouldn't if he didn't have to. My doctor was off for the weekend and the doctor he rotates with said he was going to another hospital to deliver another baby and he'd be back. The in house doctor would deliver if he wasn't back in time. I was asking where is my husband? I can't have a c-section without him here. Then he walked in. The contractions were pretty intense and I was saying, I'll take that epidural as soon as you'll give it to me. I really liked the anesthesiologist, he had a great sense of humor. It was so much better after the epidural. I would have a contraction and I couldn't even feel it. They would look at the monitor and say "That was a big one". Marc came with his mom and brother. It was good to have Kevin there to take the girls to the waiting room. Terica came up, which was right during her son's pine wood derby. My mom came from work and called my dad on the way, so he came. So for most of my labor, my room was pretty full. They were trying to hold me off until the doctor got back. If they had broken my water I could have delivered a lot sooner. So my water broke on it's own, which feels to me like a balloon popping. The in house doctor was getting ready to deliver when the other doctor showed up just in time.

The nurse asked me who was going to stay in the room. My doctor told me he doesn't care how many people were in there, but since he wasn't delivering I didn't know. I asked her how many they would allow. She said she wasn't going to get in the middle of it, but usually this doctor doesn't want very many people in there. So it ended up being my mom and dad and Ann that got to watch, and of course Marc was there. It doesn't bother me if people want to watch. I don't think I would want to watch anyone else's. So I say if they want to be in there more power to 'em. So 3 pushes and some tears of joy from mommy later and she was there. Then they handed her to me to hold for a few minutes. I was thinking all the sickness and exhaustion was worth it for this little bundle of joy. I couldn't wait to see if she looked like she had in my dreams. She was 6lbs and 18 1/2 inches long. Her hair was dark when it was wet, but lightened up after she was dried off. She didn't have as much hair as the other 2, but still a full head of hair. I dreamt about her. That she would be born with dark hair, but that it would come in blonde like mine did. Since she has blonde roots, I think it's a good possibility that will happen. I always imagined my little Andi being blonde so I didn't think it was right to name my first 2 Andrea. It's a name I've had since high school. The ironic thing is I think she looks like her uncle Andy. I also see her aunt Nicole in her. Nicole's birthday is January 28th, the day before Andrea was born. I almost named her Andrea Nicole, but daddy said no cause our girls don't have middle names. But to me it's her unofficial middle name. If she gets in trouble I will call her Andrea Nicole Maddox. I guess it's important for Marc to stick with the no middle name tradition that runs on both sides of the family. Either that or he just thinks middle names pointless.

Everybody cleared out and went home after that pretty quickly. Then there was some time with just the 3 of us. Ben and Becca came to visit that night and took some pictures of her. Then we had a pretty restful night. That afternoon/evening we had lots of guests come back and see the baby. I was able to take a shower and everyone asked if I was going home. I was just feeling really good.

It wasn't until that night that I started to get really sick. It started with the room feeling really hot to me. So the nurse came and turned the thermostat all the way down. Then I woke up with chills all over, I was shaking and my teeth were chattering. I told the nurse and she gave me another blanket, but the room was still freezing. It wasn't 'til another nurse came on duty that she turned the thermostat back up and apologized, for how cold it was. Then I just layed there all morning, with a fever. I couldn't move and even though it was warmer, I didn't feel warmed up. I was so tired from all the shaking that I just slept. Later my fever broke and I was drenched in sweat. I couldn't get cooled down enough. I ended up on Marc's recliner where it was cool eating lunch and feeding the baby. My doctor came in to release me. I didn't tell him I had been feeling sick because I was feeling better. I got released and Marc and I decided with the bad storm that was coming to just go stay at his parent's for a couple days 'til it was over. Natalie and Julia had been staying there while we were in the hospital.

When we left the hospital I got out in the cold air and the chills started all over a again. So for the next couple of days I was going through that same cycle of hot and cold over and over again. So I called the emergency exchange number for the doctor since the office was closed because of the storms, on Wednesday. He asked me to meet him up there that afternoon and he put me on some antibiotics. He told me to stop nursing. I had an infection in my uterus. I was to come see him in a week. He said I could take Motrin for the pain if I needed to.

That night I took my fist dose and had another bad spell of pain and fever. But then I started to feel better and was up eating with everyone. The next day I was feeling great as well. I took a shower and blow dried my hair. I did the girl's hair and had a pretty normal morning. I was really tired, so I decided to take a nap during the afternoon naps. I went to pump, feed the baby, and lye down for a nap when the chills came back. I took my temp. and it was 102.2. My mom happened to text me as I was laying down. I texted back my temp. and told her I would call her later. She texted and said I needed to call the doctor. By that point I was laying there and I couldn't move. I asked her if she would call for me. So she had the doctor call me. She said to drink water and try to sleep until he calls. I was sooo tired and sick that I couldn't think of anything else or do anything. It was a stretch to reach for my water that was right beside me. It was bad. Right before the doctor called I had taken my temp again and it was 103. I told him what was going on, how I felt so much better that morning and then it turned bad. He said he wanted me to get to the hospital as soon as possible. He later told me I was panting so heavily when I was talking to him that it had him worried. I was still at my in-laws and Ann had been gone that afternoon to physical therapy. Kevin was taking care of the girls for me and putting them down for naps. When Ann got home, which when she left I was fine, she asked me if I had taken anything like Tylenol and I said no. I honestly wasn't thinking about taking anything. I was thinking sleep and drink water, that was how far my brain would stretch. I had called Marc and he was on his way home from work to take me back to the hospital. They asked if I had told the doctor I hadn't taken anything and I said no. So they wanted me to call the doctor back and tell him that now that Ann had given me Tylenol and my temp. was 102.6 if he was sure I still needed to go back to the hospital. He said that Tylenol was just masking the problem. I was just thinking he's the doctor I better do what he says if I want to get better. He's the one that's been to medical school, not me. Apparently for my fever to spike up like that after taking antibiotics is dangerous. While I was in the hospital I sent Marc to his parents to sleep in a real bed. I then told him he could go to work the next day. Then I slept pretty much the whole time I was in the hospital. Except when my mom came and visited me from about 7-11pm. I missed all of my babies. I was thinking how grateful I am that they were being so well taken care of with their grandparents. But I was missing them and wishing I could give them the love and hugs that only their mother can give. But I knew that I needed to get better so I could be there for them later.

The doctor came in when I got there and ordered all kinds of tests and a CAT scan of my stomach. As much a I didn't want to go back to the hospital, I know it was the right thing to do. I needed to get the extra antibiotics. When he got the results from all the tests back he said everything looked pretty good, except my white blood cell count was up and started going down when they took my blood the next morning. Which means my body was fighting something. He said the count going down meant I was doing better. I'm not sure if I could have gotten over the sickness as quickly, I think it would have dragged it out forever. The doctor told me he was going to treat this aggressively. He wanted to get me home asap, but wanted me to be better. I checked in to the hospital on Thursday night and checked out Saturday morning. Poor Terica, I asked her to come get me since Marc would have the girls and she came out in the snow before the plows were on the road. Then I called Marc and told him to come home and meet me there. When we left the roads were cleared and Marc made it home ok. It was so good to all be together, home.