Fletcher Family Reunion

We had a great time at the family reunion for my Mom’s side of the family.  We went up to the beautiful Heber Valley Camp and stayed in some nice cabins and had so much fun.  It was nice to catch up with cousins, aunts, uncles, and of course, Grandma Fletcher. 

Here is Andrew having a nice chat with a deer that wandered through camp. 

Yummy Café Rio style salads and burritos for dinner. 

We celebrated Luke’s first birthday up there.  Here he is enjoying his new toy from Grandma and Grandpa.
My family, all 16 of us, were put in one cabin together.  I think it was one of the most sleepless nights many of us have experienced.  We had a great time together before bed with a lot of good laughs, but as soon as we laid down to sleep, all we could hear was snoring, shushing, creaking beds and mattresses, talking, etc.  We were all exhausted the next day, but we did have a lot of fun laughing about it. 

The next morning we went canoeing and paddle boating out on the lake and had a good time.  Lizzy came in the boat with Matt and me directed us where to go. 



Afterwards we played volleyball for awhile and then the adults *ahem* I mean the kids played in the sandbox.  Eric buried some coins for the kids to find, which they found some of, but we lost the rest…bummer. 
That afternoon we hung out by the fire as it rained, and then it started to POUR.  We all ran for cover.  Check out these cute kiddos. 
We ate lunch at the pavilion and played a game to see who knows Grandma Fletcher the best.  When it got too cold, everybody retreated to their cabins to warm up. 


Finally it stopped raining and we were able to go to the ropes course.  Here are a few family members on the giant swing.  I was sad that I couldn’t participate…nobody who was pregnant or post surgery was allowed…double rejectionL 



Next came the rope walk challenge (I don’t know what else to call it). 
Next we all had to get from point a to point b using only these little wooden platforms.  We had rules about how many people had to be on each platform at once and it got pretty cozy at times, but we made by only cheating a little bit… 

A couple of other games entailed having to pick up a bucket of water without touching the ground, and running around like maniacs with blindfolds on. 

All in all we had a great weekend.  We grateful to have such a fun, awesome family!

Moving, and More Family Fun

We had been arranging with our landlord for awhile to move upstairs to a 2 bedroom apartment before the baby came.  Well, we got our chance, it was just a lot more sudden than we had planned.  We found out on Wednesday night we would need to be out of our apartment by Saturday.  It was a little overwhelming at the time, but thanks to the help of our family, especially my brother Brett who spent all of Friday night helping us, we got it done pretty quickly.  We didn’t have a chance to get many pictures, but here is a glimpse of our new and very messy kitchen. 

Here is a fun picture of me, my sister, and my sister-in-law all pregnant.  Megan, furthest to the right, is no longer pregnant since she had the baby last week.  Rachelle and I will still have to stick it out through the summer!
Here is cute baby Luke again.

Happy Birthday Daddy and 2nd Anniversary

For Dad’s birthday this year we got together for a delicious barbeque.

Here is Lucas enjoying a nice massage and trying to pull the tablecloth out from under us—isn’t he adorable?
Our 2^nd anniversary was on June 2^nd.  We didn’t do much as I was still at home recovering and Matt was swamped with school, but we managed to sneak in a little bit of fun together.  We went to breakfast in the morning and then walked for awhile in Liberty Park.  Finally Matt took me for a ride on the ferris wheel there and we ate some good old fashioned snow cones.  It was a nice day.

Pre-Hospital Fun

I planted herbs this summer, which we have been enjoying when I have had the chance or been able to cook.  Fresh herbs, yum!

We had a fun evening with the sensational 6 playing Mario Kart.

When we found out we were having a boy, Matt and I took the day off to do some shopping for baby stuff.  Mostly we ate a lot and just had fun together.  In fact, I don’t think we actually came home with anything for the baby….? 

Here we are eating Swedish meatballs and Ikea-they are delish! 

As a joke for mother’s day, we bought my Mom some mop slippers, since she is always mopping the floor.  I thought she would just laugh, but she actually liked them!  Matt chose them, so he gets all the credit.
This picture is about 20 weeks. 
One weekend was spent doing some car repairs and car washing.  Check out this sexy mechanic in the floods!



This picture was right before I went into the hospital, so probably just about 22 weeks. 

Finally, after everything here we are leaving the hospital.  I know I don’t look too excited, but trust me…I was.  Please disregard the puffy face.  I guess 4 days on an i.v. will do that to you.

Update

Where is the world has the time gone again?  Let me sum that up for you.  In the last MONTH the following events have occurred in my immediate family.  Two children in four different emergency rooms/hospitals (one was me), three children moved (one was us), a family reunion, the death of a family pet, my parents hosted a wedding reception in their yard, a graduation from medical school, 4 birthdays, father’s day, our anniversary, and a baby was born.  We have been very busy to say the least.   

Life finally feels like it is getting back to normal.  We are still not moved in completely which is driving me crazy, but there is only so much I can do on my own.  Our apartment is on the third floor facing west and is hotter than heck when I get home, so I usually climb in a cold bath, or sit in front of the fan and don’t start doing any work in our apartment until around 8:30 when it cools down.  Despite the heat we love our new apartment.  It is nice and quiet since we are on an upper corner. 

I am healing well and haven’t had any further problems with being sick or anything like that which has been really nice.  I generally just try to take it easy, so I can’t complain.  Matt is working his tail off doing summer school full time and working.  Besides all that, the next few posts will be a little glimpse into what we have been up to in the meantime.

We Are Alive!

I know we haven't posted for awhile, but we wanted to let everybody know we are alive and well.  I am doing much much better and have gone back to work.  This weekend we are in the process of moving, which happened much faster than we expected, but thanks to our wonderful families, we are now in our new apartment.  I have much more to tell later, but I've got to get back to unpacking!

Just wanted to say a quick thanks to everybody for their kind notes, phone calls, dinners, etc, etc, etc.  We are truly blessed to be friends with so many wonderful people.  We'll update you more when we can!

Update on Camille

First of all, I speak for both Camille and myself (she's sleeping right now) in saying how grateful we are for all of your love, prayers, and support. It has been a very long three days, but I think we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

As I mentioned before, Camille and I went to the hospital at about 1 am Friday morning because she was having very intense contractions and constant nausea.  To our relief, it turned out that her body was not actually going into labor, but just causing her a great deal pain (as if that were a positive note).  Apparently there was some miscommunication between us and the nurses because we were discharged and sent home around 5 am; it wasn't long until the the medications wore off and we realized that we probably should not have left the hospital.  Her doctor had us come into her office around 9 am and in less than 5 minutes of examining Camille rushed us to the Emergency Room.

The rest of that day was pretty miserable.  The pain and nausea meds only seemed to provide brief relief from the pain and endless pokes and prods and our frustration continued to mount as each test and examination came back negative for any internal problems and/ or infections.  Once all of the blood, ultra sound, and MRI test came back normal we hesitantly agreed to go ahead with an amniocentesis test where amniotic fluid around the baby would be tested for an infection.  The risks felt really high - a positive result would have required us to give up our baby boy and an accident of any kind would have likely sent Camille directly into labor way too early to save the baby - but the risk of not knowing seemed even higher.  What a relief it was to hear that everything in the uterus was healthy and working correctly.  At this point, even thought the Doctors has ruled out the possibility of all of this being caused by an infected appendix, they felt like it was necessary to visually check it.  At approximately 11:30 pm on Friday night Camille and I were separated for the first time during this ordeal as she was rolled down the hall to surgery.  When the surgeon returned he, as you can probably guess by now, informed us that nothing was wrong, out of place, or abnormal; the appendix however, even though it was healthy, was removed as a precaution.  No one had a clue as to what could be causing There was no sleep that night.

Saturday was less eventful, but was just as busy: hourly blood tests, IV changes, nausea, pain, and a constant flow of specialists and consulting doctors kept us wide awake throughout the day.  It was decided that Camille needed closer attention by a neonatalogist group of doctors who specialize in uncommon and unsolvable pregnancy issues, so she was transferred to a much larger, more central hospital here in Salt Lake.

Things began to turn around late Saturday night and early Sunday Morning.  Her white blood count dropped to half the level it had been and the contractions faded off and stopped.  We spent Sunday in recovery mode: sleeping a lot, walking around a little bit, and drinking.  We were transferred to the post-partum area on Sunday night, so that she could rest more without as much interruption and tests.

So far this morning things are really looking good.  They removed the IV and are slowing trying her on crackers and liquids.  Camille is starting to move around a lot more and we took a short walk around the floor.  Actually, we're listening to our baby's heart beat right now.  I think he's starved for attention because he keeps kicking the Doppler.  Strong heart beat, 144 beets per minute.  Unless anything drastically changes, we were told that she is making good progress and that we should be able to go home either later tonight or first thing on Tuesday.

I am so proud of Camille, she has gone through so much in the past couple days and though in a lot of pain and frustration, has stayed positive throughout.  It's nice to see her smiling a little bit again and such a relief to know that things are finally past us and that she's on the road to being healthy again.  I love you Camille and I'll never leave your side.

Thanks again to everyone for your kind words, calls, and visits.  It means a lot to know how many people out there are thinking and praying for Camille.  We love you all and hope to see you soon.

Drumroll Please....

We are happy to announce a baby BOY will be joining our little family in a few months.

We had our ultrasound yesterday and everything looked great. We are right on schedule for our due date of September 27th.

We were both able to take the day off work and just have fun hanging out together. We went shopping intending to come home with some new baby necessities, but mostly ended up eating lots of good food, and only bought a stuffed soccer ball for our little guy.

Despite our lack of accomplishing anything we had planned, we had a great day and we couldn't be more excited!

UGH

I'm reading all the blog updates on google reader. They are all so happy and bubbly about the spring weather. Now, I'm not complaining...ok, I'm TOTALLY complaining. I'm at home, laying on the couch with some kind of stomach bug. All I can think is...ummmm...I'm almost 18 weeks, so when does this get any better? When do I get to stop spontaneously throwing everything up?

Don't get me wrong. We couldn't be more excited for this baby--we are absolutely stoked and thankful. I shouldn't complain at all, some days I just get to the end of my rope, and this feels like one of those days. In all honesty, I would go through another full 9 months of this just for the blessing of a little baby.

To get myself out of my whiner's funk, here is today's list of what I am thankful for:

*The recent BEAUTIFUL weather, including being able to wear flip-flops

*My wonderful husband who would do absolutely anything for me, despite his insane schedule

*A fun visit with my best friend Lauren before she went to New York last night

*A good job, and an understanding Boss

*A spectacular family, both mine and Matt's, who are wonderfully supportive

*A comfortable apartment that we love

*The herbs growing beautifully on my balcony

*An awesome ward

*Having my sister and her family live just a couple blocks away

Ok, I feel much better now. Well...emotionally, not physcially:) I think it is so important to realize all that I have in spite of some minor struggles here and there, and I must say I have a pretty great life, don't you think? What makes your life so great?

We're Back!

Where in the world have we been for the last few months? For a lot of it, I have been sick. Nausea. Headaches. Throwing up. Fatigue. Yuck.

I have been having some ongoing issues with migraines, so I definitely have my good days and my bad days. We have been out and about a little bit on those good days. Here is just a little bit of what we've been doing!

We spent a fun evening with my brother, sister and their families playing pool up at the U. As a side note, unimportant to anybody reading this...just a random memory of mine, this was the night before I found out I was pregnant!

Looks like fun huh?

Not sure why I'm making such an angry face...

The good news we received one Saturday afternoon!

I was lucky enough to be invited by my niece and nephew to a fancy tea party, English accents and all.

One of my dearest friends from when I lived up in Logan, Brooke, came home from her mission and it was so fun to see her!

Matt had a fun snow shoeing excursion with my Dad and brothers, and after the whole family went out to Chili's together.

Happy Baby!

Andrew was pinned between the table and the wall, but was kind enough to give a smile anyway.

We got together with the sensational six for a trip to the temple and then lunch at Cafe Rio!

You are witnessing my first sip of a caffeinated drink. Since the headaches have been so bad and so often, my Doctor recommended taking a tylenol and drinking something caffeinated at the same time. Don't know if that is working or not...

Here I am 12 weeks pregnant.

We had a fun/eventful camping trip with my 2 brothers and their families. We went to the San Rafael Swell and it was really great weather during the day and absolutely FREEZING at night. We had a mishap on the way home with the trailer bearings pretty much burning out completely, so the girls ended up in the suburban on the side of the road watching a movie with all the kids, while the guys headed into town to get a new trailer...fun times...

Cute little Lucas

The guys assessing the damage to the trailer...

This is conference weekend. During the Priesthood session the girls and kids did a little shopping and then we went out for ice cream!

Conference Sunday with the family.

No Easter pics. I spent the day with a migraine, but my parents were sweet enough to come down and bring us some delicious left overs, thanks Mom and Dad!

16 weeks pregnant.

And...that pretty much brings us up to speed. I'll try to keep up with this blog, but no promises until I am really feeling better!