Growing the Family

My last post was nearly 4 years ago. A lot can happen in four years.
A. Whole. Lot.
Around May or June of 2015 Ashley informed me that she was pregnant. She slipped the positive pregnancy test under the bathroom door. Not the most exciting way to find out, but we had been trying for a few months to get pregnant, so I was still ecstatic.
The preceding months were interesting, to say the least. For the first time ever we left Mason with a babysitter over night while Ash and I went to Las Vegas for a Father’s Day weekend. I had never been, so it was a nice experience. We visited the Las Vegas Comic Con. I never felt less like a nerd. Walking the strip with a 3 months pregnant wife in 100+ degree weather took it’s toll on Ash, and we were very glad to get home to our little monster.
In September we started looking at houses. We knew we needed something bigger with the new baby on the way. We also did not want to pay rent anymore. In October we closed on a house in Payson, UT. It’s a cozy little duplex that we enjoy in a nice and quiet neighborhood.
December was getting close to the due date for our second little boy. Ash was sore and grumpy and just wanted the baby out, so we took more trips to the mall than was absolutely necessary (it was far too cold to walk in the snow. I had a long weekend for Christmas and New Years. We were convinced (and hoping) the baby would come during that time so I’d miss less work. The baby had other plans.
So on January 3 I went to bed around 11, joking to Ash that her water better not break. Famous last words. At 1:30 in the morning I hear a slightly distressed “Shawn, my water just broke!” from the bathroom. I went from asleep to ready to run a marathon in 0.5 seconds flat. We quickly got dressed and Mason wrapped up and in the car. After placing a quick call to Ashley’s parents we made the nearly hour-long drive from Payson to the American Fork Hospital, as we had no luck finding a good Ob/Gyn since moving from North Orem.
Once at the hospital things slowed down. They had to swab to check for amniotic fluid to make sure the water had actually broken. The baby’s head plugged the hole, so no more fluid came out. After a short nap on a very uncomfortable couch, the doctor came in to give Ash an epidural and start a pitocin IV. At around 8am Seth Michael Lelle was born on January 4, 2016. He was beautiful.
But all was not well.
One of the first things I noticed was that the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. The second thing I noticed was that he was not crying.
After a few short minutes we were in the NICU where Seth was attached to several machines to check his SO2 levels. They were very low. Doctors put him on a cpap machine to help get his levels up, but it was not working as well as they wanted. After a dose of Surfaxin and a lot of waiting, Seth was finally breathing better with the assistance of only an oxygen tube. Reluctantly, I left Ashley alone in the hospital to go get Mason and make sure he was okay. It was the worst night of my life. I had never been away from Ashley before. And to be leaving her with my newborn son in the NICU with a blizzard blowing in the night, not knowing if I’d even get to see them the next day, was nearly unbearable.
After 4 days in the NICU we were allowed to take our newest son home, complete with a tank of oxygen and several meters of tubing. For almost weeks we carried that tank around. Up and down the stairs and all over the house we dragged that infernal, life-giving tube. We hated and loved it at the same time. What joy we felt when we were finally told we could take Seth off of oxygen!
Seth is 14 months old now and doing perfectly. He has an appetite to manage mine and is our little goofball. Mason and Seth have their fights, but what brothers don’t?
Prior to Seth being born, Ash and I discussed if and when we wanted another baby. The consensus was that we’d wait until Seth was a year old. As time wore on we were less and less convinced we even wanted another baby. But the Lord tends to have ways of reminding us who is really in charge.
Ash was ready to say she was done having kids when she started getting sick. I repeatedly joked that she was pregnant, secretly hoping she was. Several pregnancy tests later and we were convinced that we were in the clear. After nearly 2 month of missed periods and still feeling sick Ashley made an appointment with a new Ob/Gyn just to try and figure out what the heck was wrong. On a whim, between the time the appointment was set and the time of the appointment, I bought another pregnancy test kit. The next morning I was sitting in my office getting ready for work when Ash woke up more than an hour earlier than normal. She went straight to the restroom and came out a few minutes later holding a pregnancy test. Positive. She took the second one about 15 minutes later. Also positive.
Our calculations put us about 13 weeks along by the time we went to the new Ob/Gyn appointment. We were surprised when he did an ultrasound and measured the baby at only 8 weeks. Ash was only slightly frustrated that she had an additional 5 weeks tacked on to the due date. We were hoping for a September baby. But October 24 seems like a good date to me. Hopefully the baby can come on Halloween, my favorite holiday. I’ll (hopefully) keep you updated on more baby news. As for now, we’re excited to be welcoming baby #3 in a few short months!