Saturday, January 14, 2012

August 2011 - Colby's Birth Pictures

After his bath - They had to wash his hair several times because he had SO much of it.

With Dr. Tutt

Mom holding Colby for the 1st time. It had been a long 2 days. I look pretty exhausted! And drugged!



After 5 long days in the hospital, Colby (and mom and dad) were WAY ready to go home!

August 2011 - Colby's Birth Story

So, along with having a baby in the month of August, I also switched jobs (careers, actually). I was so incredibly sad to say goodbye to my favorite people ever at Rollins & Petersen Orthodontics, but it was a huge blessing in our lives for me to be hired by Gilbert Public Schools as a sign language interpreter. It had better hours, summers off, more money, and health insurance benefits, all of which were quite important since we had our little boy on the way. I started at GPS on August 10 and just 13 days later, gave birth to the most precious baby. Here is the story (if you don't already know it):


So, my body broke out in a crazy rash just a few days before Colby was born. It was the most uncomfortable thing and didn't know if I could have lasted until Colby came on his own. After a hospital visit on Saturday, August 20 to see what the mysterious rash was, we left with no answers since all the blood work results came back normal. I did, however, receive a steroid shot to the booty, which seemed to help a bit. Dr. Beck (the doctor on call that weekend) said that I would need to be induced on Monday though, since we had no idea what this rash was or what was causing it. They had to wait until I was 39 weeks and 1 day. Plus, Dr. Tutt (my actual doctor) would be back Monday to see me and deliver our baby.

Monday morning, August 22, we were supposed to check in the hospital at 3:30am, but of course the rooms were full. We had both already taken work off so we sat around, very impatiently, for the hospital to call with a free room. That never happened, so we went to lunch and Target for some last minute things to keep ourselves busy. Finally, we went to Dr. Tutt's office to see if there was anything they could do to help us. At this point, the rash was unbearable. I was itchy all over and couldn't handle it anymore. Dr. Tutt wasn't in, but the front office girls suggested we just show up at the hospital and wait till they got us a room. So, we did!

We showed up at Banner Gateway around 3:00pm. Shockingly, they got us back in a labor and delivery room about an hour later and started me on pitocin. Because I wasn't progressing, they took me off pitocin and started me on cervidal. I was supposed to be on that for 12 hours, so I tried to relax and get some sleep before the big day. The next morning, Tuesday, August 23, they started me back on pitocin around 11:00am. They also got an epidural started for me. It worked for a little while, but eventually wore off (or as the nurses said, the needle moved, and I wasn't getting any medicine). They ordered ANOTHER epidural for me and again, it wore off. They said they've never seen anything like this before, where 2 epidurals moved and didn't work. So, needless to say, I was feeling a lot of the contractions and was very uncomfortable. Dr. Tutt kept coming in and checking on me, but things were moving very slow. They also told me that the baby was face up and had me start switching laying on my sides to get him to flip. I've never been in so much pain in my life and so exhausted since I hadn't eaten all day.


As it was getting later and things were just not progressing, Dr. Tutt finally made the call at about 9:15pm that we needed to schedule a c-section. I was completely terrified because this is exactly what I was afraid of. I did not want a c-section, but we didn't really have a choice, since I had already been in labor for about 30 hours. I was feeling every contraction as they prepped for surgery. It was the scariest experience of my life as I watched nurses and doctors rush all around me to get things in order and wheel me into the OR. Tyler had left to get scrubs on and fill our family in on what was happening. They had all been waiting in the lobby of the hospital for most of the day waiting to meet our baby. It was about 9:30pm when everyone was ready to go for the c-section.

At 9:51pm, our precious Colby Tyler Johnson was born by emergency c-section, weighing in at 7 pounds, 3 ounces and 21 and 1/4 inches long. Dr. Tutt said that Colby was extremely stuck in my pelvic bone and his bruised face showed that. He also said that even if things had progressed fully, Colby wouldn't have come on his own because my pelvic bone is too narrow to deliver. And we would have had to do a c-section anyway. I'm so grateful for modern medicine and a doctor who knew exactly what to do and when to say enough is enough. Although this was one of the scariest experiences in my life, it was also one of the most spiritual and life-changing experiences. Colby has changed our lives in so many amazing ways.

May 2011 - July 2011

May 2011


We had our 4 year anniversary. With a new house and baby on the way, we didn't do anything crazy.
June 2011

Summer started and we spent lots of time at the pool, since I was getting quite large and it was bloody hot!

July 2011


We went to San Diego for the 4th of July. It was a blast and we enjoyed our last year of being at the beach without a baby.

January 2011 - April 2011

January 2011

We were just getting settled in our new house when we found out we were expecting our first baby! WAHOO!


February 2011


We celebrated my golden birthday, 25 years old on the 25th of February.


March 2011


We celebrated Tyler's birthday on St. Patrick's Day.

April 2011


We found out on April 1st that we were having a precious baby boy. Even though I was REALLY hoping for pink, we were so excited to finally know what we were having. Tyler was especially excited to be getting his mini-me!

October 2010 - December 2010

Well, since it has been WAY over a year since an update, I figured I would fill you in on what has been happening in our lives. Let's just say that A LOT has changed since September 2010. We will just do a quick month-by-month recap of events, then I will try to keep a better journal of our lives from here on out....


October 2010


We were supposed to close on our house mid-October, but because of stupid Bank of America, the deal fell through the day before we were supposed to move. Everything happens for a reason though. We ended up signing a contract for a brand new house that weekend instead. (The other house we were supposed to buy was 10 years old and needed all the flooring ripped out and lots more money put into it. So, in the end, it was a true blessing.) Our new house was a spec home and would be done being built by the time we were supposed to close around Thanksgiving.



November 2010


Thanksgiving time - So grateful for all our many blessings! We had lots to be grateful for. Our new house was almost finished, but we weren't quite ready to close on it, like we had originally thought. Darn!


December 2010


What a busy month! Drew got married, we moved the very next day, and 3 days later it was Christmas!