Pictures

Bring Him Home

Surprises happen often but miracles happen everyday.

Little Peter is very sweet. He is starting to sleep for longer stretches at night- most of the time. :)

Peter's 'twin' brother was born on June 17, 2013 at 6:52 a.m. weighing 6 lbs 14 oz and 18 inches long. He has dark hair and looks like Michael. He is also going through drug withdrawals. His birth mom has declared to court that she doesn't want reunification services.

He will be Sarah & Michael's last biological half sibling and we have been asked to adopt him.

It is difficult to think of our many dear friends who have no children when Andrew & I have been blessed with 4--almost 5.  After the years of dealing and struggling with infertility we still remember the heartache and pain that we went though.

We feel guilty & blessed & nervous. Guilty for adopting again when others have none--but I cannot in my heart willingly separate my kids from their sibling. Blessed that we have the chance. Nervous to care for twins.

We still have things that need to be finished in order to adopt him, books to read, home improvements and nothing is certain yet.

For now, I call him Oliver. But that may not be his final name.

*Sarah* Michael*James*Peter*Oliver*

Peter's Birth

LABOR story-- or just scroll down for pictures. :)

I had the pleasure of sitting/laying through 4 non-stress tests. The first because contractions were 3 minutes apart for 2 hours. The second because I started bleeding. The 3rd because my blood pressure went high. The 4th because the doctor was confused as to why I wasn't yet in active labor - measuring 43 weeks, dilated 5... waz' up baby?

Three hours after the 4th stress test on June 6, 2013, around 8:30 pm, Andrew and I went back to the hospital. I was having contractions 3-5 minutes apart that were powerful enough to make me cry. My mom met us at the hospital to take Sarie, Mikey and James. My mom ran inside to get me a wheelchair, but I really didn't want to ride in it, I walked instead. "walked" -- paused, limped, cringed...

At the desk the nurse asked, "Last Name and spelling?"

I replied, "Rosenvall, R-O-S-E-N-V, as in Valley, A-L-L."

"And first name?" The nurse looked at me, turned to Andrew and said, "What's her first name and birthdate?" (I was in the middle of another contraction.)

"Amy, A-M-Y," Andrew replied, "and birthday... uh... February, 2nd NO, 1st, 2013...uh mean '80 no..."

He was obliviously nervous but eventually got the correct date.

They sent me to a room, I dressed in a lovely hospital gown, went to the bathroom and was greeted by blood...everywhere... Sat on the bed, the nurse came in, saw the blood... checked me, I was dilated to a 6.5, then asked me to walk across the hall into a labor & delivery room. I made it halfway across the hall before another contraction.

My mom came up to give us the spare keys we had left in the van, then she left again to take care of our kiddos. We had also arranged to have Andrew's mom show up at 10 pm to be with the kiddos through the night.

In labor & delivery, I was hooked up to the heart/baby, contractions monitor, an IV with antibiotics (strep b positive) and yes, I did request an epidural. I was very nervous to have an epidural because in a c-section the epidural froze my lungs and I couldn't breath. Apparently epidurals with c-sections are set very high so you feel nothing. I appreciated the epidural since it was much less this time and I could still tell when contractions came/went.

My nurse was named Kimmy. She told me, "We want the antibiotics to take a good long time, so we will encourage things to slow down, I will check you again in 1 hour."

She left and we waited. By now it was 10 pm. I was able to eat a lime Popsicle, and ice chips. Andrew dozed off on the couch about midnight. I was progressing faster than they wished, they slowed me down a little bit. Kimmy checked every hour and for the most part I was fairly comfortable and time passed quickly.

Around 2 Kimmy came in, checked me again, "Okay Amy, you are really close, but since this is your first VBAC we want you to wait as long as possible to let the baby descend on his own, I will check in 1 hour, but most likely you will be ready before then."

Then THE contractions started. The epidural machine allows you to click a button to increase the flow and you feel less- I didn't touch that button.

Andrew let me squeeze the daylight out of his fingers and around 3 am I was feeling the urge to push.... At 3:20 am Kimmy came in. I hear her ask the doctor, "Do you want us to call right when she starts pushing?" The doctor replied, "No, let her push for awhile then call me when she's closer."

I was set up, Kimmy gave me instructions on how to push and told me to push. One push, Kimmy ran to the door and called Dr. Aagard. In one push baby's head was at 3+ (if you know what that means?)  Dr. Aagard hurried in, I pushed 9 times (3 contractions) and baby Peter was here!

He had an awesome figure 8 knot in his umbilical cord, we're lucky it didn't cause problems. I tore- and yes it still hurts.

8 pounds, 8.3 ounces, 20.5 inches.  3:43 a.m June 7, 2013

They took his downstairs to check his oxygen, because he looked rather red/darker to the nurses. But, that darker coloring runs in my family-- yep-- Peter was normal so they brought him back to L&D. (J looked like a Rosenvall - light color, blond hair, blue eyes. Peter is dark skinned, dark hair, very dark eyes so far.)

Kimmy.

G'pa Rosenvall

G'ma & g'pa Tolson

My sister Eileen.

My brother Matt.

Pictures

I finally figured out how to load pictures from my camera to my computer. I am not a pro at taking pictures at all, but I hope you enjoy.

This was on purpose with the kiddos, Andrew just so happened to walk in at the right time- I think it's funny.

My birthday cake - yes, I made and decorated it. Inside was chocolate with a fresh strawberry mousse filling. Oh... so yummy!

We ran over Sarah's bike with the van and replaced it with a new one. (Cheaper than buying just a back wheel, or so we thought.)

One day, I got the kids dressed, Sarah ready for school -- everything. I had been away with Science Olympiad all week long and spent the weekend up in Syracuse, UT. Sarah started crying on the way to school, said she missed me, Michael joined which caused James to pipe in....

She didn't go to school that day. I drove to the Zoo instead.

The newer Rocky Shores exhibit is awesome! Sea lions, otters, eagles, polar bear.

James reaction to Easter- he discovered that the eggs had candy inside very quickly.

Mikey & Sarah collecting Easter Eggs!

James had claimed the tricycle. Even though it's way too big....

Sarah's replacement bike. She no longer needs training wheels and has been going on longer bike rides with Daddy with Mikey & James in the kids trailer.

Remember that we replaced Sarah's bike beacuse the van ran over it? Well, when I opened the new bike (same company) and put it together, I found a service number to call. I called and asked if it was possible to purchase a replacement back wheel (which is what we ran over...) The guy on the phone responded-- "Your bike is less than 1 year old, we are sending your replacment for free."  Therefore, Mikey has a bike...

Sarah's Birthday. I was too tired to make a cake- she chose this one from Costco. *sigh*

We stopped the destruction of the flowers.

She chose Heap's Brick Oven for dinner. Actually- several months earlier we were at Brick Oven and she found a "Fill out this Birthday card" Being an excellent reader and writer (I LOVE her Kindergarten teacher Ms. Park)- she filled it out with a crayon (name, address, phone number, birthdate) and gave it to the server. Just before her birthday, they mailed it to us- she received a free pizza dinner with soda, a lollipop and ice cream.

Andrew was on a business trip in Ohio, auditing aerospace/airplane Manufacturing parts/businesses. I asked him to take pictures, but apparently the camera's battery died, oops! Here's one picture.

Coming Baby?

I am measuring at 41 weeks (though I should only be 36) 3 cm dialated. According to ultrasound measurements, the baby is somewhere close to 7 pounds... if I go full term I'll have an 11 pound baby... teaser contractions have been going all week long, my feet are swollen, I can barely walk.... Can this be over please? (provided the tiny P is ready....) Please, Please, Please....

Darling Little Ones

In 2011, my daughter Sarah-Ruby came to me one evening and said, "Mommy, get ready you are going to have a little brother that looks like Daddy and a sister that looks like me." I've shared this before-but I left out the last part, because of uncertainty.

I called our birth mom's family (from whom we adopted Sarah and Michael) and they didn't know where Birth Mom (BM) was. Two weeks later I found out I was pregnant. 4 months later the birth family called back, BM was in prison and pregnant.

BM invited us to visit her in prison and we did with the kids. I didn't share with her that I was expecting because it didn't seem right.

Sarah-Ruby remained adamant that she was getting a sister. BM was expecting a girl. I was expecting James.

We discovered that BM choose another family to adopt the little girl and in March 2012--Caitlin was placed into a loving couples arms whom we are not allowed to contact. We don't even truly know her birthday. Also, I have never seen a picture of Caitlin, but I know without a doubt that she looks like my daughter. And Sarah-Ruby still insists that her sister should be in our home.

I have heard people say, "If the Lord wishes it, then it will happen." But I disagree with this statement. The Lord allows people their agency and allows them to choose what they will do with their lives. He told Sarah-Ruby about her sister and told Andrew and I to get ready which we did. But the Lord did not interfere with BM's agency when she choose another couple.

I hope that someday, we will be able to meet this couple, so that my little Sarie will have a chance to meet her sister.

I am expecting and due in June-another boy! We received a text tonight that BM is pregnant too, due the same week (or maybe the week before) that I am.

Merry Christmas, Review of 2012

Merry Christmas to you!

Changes this year:

James joined the family  on February 27th a full month early. He is a big boy (99% percentile for height) and has mastered sitting up, crawling and holding his own bottle. He loves to sit at the table and laughs at his siblings.

Michael is in Preschool and speech therapy class. He loves trains and My Little Pony. His teacher told me to get him different whistles/horns to help his speech which he loves to play.

Sarah is lovely Kindergarten and can read most simple books. She loves to write letters and especially grocery lists for when she goes shopping with me. She is a girly-girly and loves to do her hair, paint her nails and wear dresses.

Andrew is enjoying work at Wencor, where he was recently promoted to a full engineer. He was working in the inspection department previously. He also has been wonderful at helping me around the house.

Amy. I am getting used to being at home. It's been a rough transition from working but I'm taking things one day at a time. I still volunteer to OHMS on Thursdays for Science Olympiad and have started tutoring some local teenagers with Science Fair. In other news---shocker-- I'm pregnant again. Due June 19th 2013 o.O Yikes!