Bracken and Julianne: February 2009

BEWARE...THIS IS A VERY LONG POST! JUST SO YOU KNOW :)

WOW! Thanks for all of the kind words and congratulations. I know a lot of you want more information so that will come but first, an update on life.

I haven't posted since before Christmas because life has been INSANE! The holidays were absolutely wonderful, full of family and food. My brother Billy and his family came into town so all 5 kids on my side of the family were around so we spent A LOT of time at my parents. My poor mom had a house full all the time and was so good at taking care of us and feeding all of us. It is so fun to all be together!! We were very spoiled and blessed this Christmas and couldn't thank our families enough. Bracken got a new touch screen phone which is now his pride and joy. I was spoiled with a new digital camera. It is perfect to fit in my purse and is so nice! My parents gave each family a wonderful gift. They gave us 72 hour pick up and go kits. They are awesome. They are in these nice backpacks and they started filling it with a few different things. It was something they knew that none of us would spend the money on it or had the money to spend on it. Any way, the holidays were wonderful. I am adding some pictures but I only got one picture of Brack and me together and most of the pictures I took are on my mom and dad's fancy camera :)

Harley ready for Christmas. This lasted about 10 seconds because she was so happy to wear it :)

Me and my niece Kenslee!

Brack and our nephew Cade

Our nephews McCoy and Cade. Born the same day but look oh so different! Love them both!

Niece Emma and McCoy

Tired Pete!

Brack with our nephew Pete, he's such a wiggle worm!

Em and Brack

Nephew Brody, look at those curls!

In January I had my birthday. It was a wonderful 24th birthday. The girls in my ward were great and we went to dinner the week before. I always have such a good time with them. They are the best! On my birthday is when I found out I was pregnant! FINALLY! We were so excited. I actually tested early and totally surprised Bracken and our families. I surprised Brack by buying a shirt and writing baby on it and pointing to my belly. When he walked in from work he came up to give me a kiss and looked down at my shirt. He followed the arrow with his finger and freaked out! My family knew we had been trying for awhile so they were so excited. We went over that night to have pizza and cake with them and we took all the pepperoni off of one pizza and rearranged it to read "BABY". Luckily they were smart and caught on right away! Bracken's family had no clue that we were trying so it was great! We told them we were coming up for cake for my birthday. We got a cake and instead of "Happy Birthday" we wrote "Happy Baby!" When we placed it in front of his parents, his mom just read it and then sat there. All of a sudden when it set in she started screaming! It was great! We loved it. They couldn't believe it. They had no clue how long we had been trying and were anxiously waiting for us to finally be pregnant. This will be the first grandchildren on their side! It made for a very wonderful birthday, the best present I could have gotten!!

I guess the next on the list is an absolutely horrible thing that happened 2 1/2 weeks ago. At about 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday February 9th I got a phone call from my sister. My mom had a heart attack and was being rushed to the hospital. In my delirious state I was in complete shock. I couldn't believe what she was saying. What? When? How? I didn't get much information because she had to call my other siblings. After the ambulance left with my mom, my sister called back and told me a little more. For over a week mom had told me that she felt like she was getting the flu. She was tired and felt nauseous a lot. Well Monday after work she started vomiting and had a little chest pain but thought it was heartburn so she went to bed early. I guess in the night she got up a few times and continued vomiting. At about midnight she got up and threw up and was overcome with a horrible pain that went from her chest, down her arms, to her back. She said it was a crushing feeling, like an elephant was stepping on her chest. It was so bad she didn't think she could get off the bathroom floor. Finally she did and went and woke up my dad. (A little bit to know about my mom is that she is a very healthy woman. She has regular 6 month checkups, exercises 3-4 times a week, and diets regularly, with no high cholesterol or anything. The bad thing is heart problems run rapid in her family.) She was rushed to the hospital, had emergent surgery because she had the main artery to her heart 100% clogged. That night we were given the worse possible prognosis and news. We cried, prayed, prayed, and prayed. It was a long night. She was then sent to the ICU and was there for 4 days. In those 4 days she had a total turn around and the doctor then said with medication they expect almost a full recovery. I know for a fact this was because of the many people who prayed for her and the for the wonderful power of priesthood blessings. She was given 2 in the first 24 hours that I know made a huge difference. I can't explain the emotions and feelings that were felt by our family during that time. It is not something I EVER want to go through again. My mom is my rock. She is my shelter and my best friend. I truly do not know what I would do without her. While she is sick in bed at the hospital she still called me like 10 times during my first doctors appt. to see how things were going. She was so worried about me in a time that she didn't need to be. She has a long road of recovery ahead of her but she is home and is getting stronger everyday! I cannot thank the Lord enough for her and for all that she is to me. If you have met her you know she is an amazing woman and is so strong! We are blessed to have her as our mother! We pray that she gets stronger and better everyday!

Now...to the part most of you have been waiting for. The babies! Yes it is true, we are having TRIPLETS!!! Kinda crazy huh? Think of what we were going through when we found out! We found out on February 11th when I was about 7 1/2 weeks along at my first doctor's appointment and ultrasound. It was SHOCKING! I'm pretty sure Brack stopped breathing for awhile. After telling us, the cute girl doing the ultrasound said, "Ok, you both need to breathe. It is too quiet in here." We were in complete shock. I was more worried about Bracken though. Once we were able to zoom in on each baby and see their little heartbeats flutter Bracken and I got very happy. It was such an amazing thing. Also, they are fraternal, no identicals in there. My doctor said this is safer because that way they all have their own sack and can grow better that way. Luckily, I was already going to a high risk doctor. I have a connective tissue disease that makes me "high risk" (along with a sister that has horrible pregnancies) so I was already set up to see a specialist. And I might add, I think he is the best!!! He has brought my sister her 3 babies safely and I trust him completely! He was actually very positive when we saw him. He said, "This is going to be hard. You are going to have premature babies, they are going to be in the NICU, and you are going to be stressed. Be ready for that. But...we will get the babies here safely and healthy." My due date is in September but my doctor said we will be happy to make it anywhere from 28-30 weeks which puts us in the middle to end of July.

I wish I could express all of the emotions and thoughts that have gone through our heads. It has been a big adjustment and I'm not sure it has totally set in yet. I am going to be relying on this blog a lot to talk about my feelings and emotions through this process. I know it will be a very special and hard process that I will want to document. We have a lot ahead of us. I will eventually be put on bed rest and may have hospital stays. I know that my size is going to be an issue, 5' tall gives me little to no room to hold 3 babies. Lets just say, I know I'm going to be HUGE! It is going to be quite the journey. I know that it we won't know until they come how hard it is going to be but I have helped raise a few of my nieces and nephews and I have a realistic view of taking care of children, so I do know it will be hard and that we will need help. Heck, I can't hold 3 babies at once :) We are trying to start figuring things out now. I am wanting to get a lot done before the bed rest hits. I am only 10 weeks now but time will go by fast. I could be put on bed rest as early as 20 weeks so I have a lot to do before then! My house needs to be prepared :) Any way, I hope that answered some of your questions. Like I said, I'll post more about it and probably be posting a lot. We feel very blessed that we have been entrusted with 3 special babies. I know that the Lord is watching over us and that this is His plan for us. I know that I could not do this without Bracken. He is such an amazing man, a hard worker, and he absolutely loves children! I cannot wait for him to be a dad!

Thank you again for all of your well wishes! We are super excited. I have stopped working now because I spend the day being an incubator for 3 babies instead. It's kind of kicking my butt...I'm very tired. I also can't wait to be through the first trimester, only 2 more weeks :)