Our yellow baby

Surprise Drew has Jaundice. I don't know what it is, but everyone of my babies gets it. You would think I would be used to it. But I cry every time. Drew however had it the very worst. When we left the hospital they told me to go to my pediatricians the next day. I did and she called me and said It was up to me to put him on light therapy. Her advice was to hold off and wait one more day. So what do you do? Follow your doctors advice and wait one more day for it to maybe get better, but maybe get worse. Against my better judgment I followed her advice. The following day I went in again for more blood to be drawn. I immediately got a call letting me know that Drews levels had sky rocketed and were in the very dangerous levels. If it did not go down one point quickly we would be getting blood transfusions. I was not loving my doctor at this point. The IHC man was quickly at my door teaching me how to use the light bed and light blanket. Usually they just use the blanket or the bed. But because of his high levels and the danger we were in, they double treated my little guy. I was so scared. I had to go back twelve hours later to get him checked. Needless to say, the longest twelve hours ever. But to my great relief his levels dropped two points. YES!! So we kept him on for one more day. I was so tired of getting his heal pricked and the many trips to the hospital. He had a total of six pricks. Poor baby. But of course being Jaundice they are so sleepy, so he never even knew they pricked him. Thank goodness.

See how different his skin color is than mine.

Drews first few days...

McKenna and Sage wanted their pictures taken with Drew sleeping. We are all loving him so much. I thought I would have a hard time coming home to four kids all needing me. To my surprise I am doing so well. The kids are SO careful with him and are so helpful. Aspen is always asking what she can do for me. She is my runner. If I need water, a burp cloth, diaper, or anything I ask her.
I was worried about Bodie. I didn't know how he would act. He is super protective and knows the baby is part of the pack. He guards him and has gotten a bit more aggressive to anyone who is not our family. Not that a five pound dog could do anything, but he sure tries to protect his pack.

I am so happy Drew is so good. He NEVER cries. He makes a grunting noise to let me know he is hungry. He is doing great at night. He sleeps four to five hours and wakes to nurse, but goes right back to bed.

Coming home...

McKenna and Aspen could not contain their excitment! They were SO excited to show Drew his new home. They kept telling me all the things they wanted to show him. I was so nervous to drive home. We had two cars at the hospital because I had driven myself there. I'm sure everyone on the road was frustrated with me. Its funny how that first time driving with a new baby, your so careful. The kids kept yelling at me to drive faster. Pretty funny.

One day old

I have been amazed at how calm and relaxed Drew is. There is nothing like the first few hours and days with your new baby. I feel I can sense what a strong wonderful person he is going to be. Through out my pregnancy I had many priesthood blessings. They all made me feel the same. That everything would be ok and Drew has a very special mission here. I know that he does and can not wait to see the impact he has on people for the good. He is so special. He is like a little light and just warms me.

Welcoming Baby Drew...

Drew Jerome Anderson is finally here. I can't believe it. This was the LONGEST pregnancy ever. We have all waited so long for him to come. I am so happy everything went so well and he is so healthy. Nate was working the night shift and I was home with the kids. About two in the morning I woke up and was having really bad back pain. My brother does a paper route in the night so I have gotten really used to calling and talking to him through this pregnancy. It seems I never could sleep due to stress and just being sick and uncomfortable. So I called him and told him my back was really really hurting. I thought I might be in labor. We talked for an hour and the pain never let up. He was laughing at me and didn't think it was labor because I was talking just fine and not really suffering. I decided to go clean out Aspens room. It was now three in the morning. I cleaned her room for an hour. The pain was not going away. I could not time my contractions because they seemed to just be constant. I called the nurse at the hospital. She thought I was fine too. I called my brother back and said "Ok I can't do this I think I'm going to go in." I couldn't call Nate because were not supposed to call out there unless an emergency. Well this kind of was one but I didn't even know the number. I figured I would go in and they would send me home. I have never been early like this before. Drew was not due for three more weeks. Well I called my mom and she came down to watch the kids for me. It was about five when she showed up. Then I drove myself to the hospital. When I got there, the nurse asked who was with me. I told her I drove myself. She said "well either your crazy or really not in labor." They hooked me up and there it was. My contractions were every two to three minutes apart and lasting one minute. Ouch is right. The pain was all in my back because Drew was posterior. At this time it was now six thirty in the morning. Nate was driving home from work so I called him. He came right to the hospital. It was a perfect day. I had wonderful nurses. Nate was tired so he laid on the pretend couch and slept and got a good nap. It was Memorial Day and no one had appointments to be induced. And no one else was in labor. So it was just me in the hospital delivering. It made it so nice. No one was in a hurry and my doctor came and hung out and kept checking on me. This was my longest labor, but it was great. The nurse I had does not like giving to much medicine to make you go to quickly. The doctor did not like her for it. She was cute to me but argued with the nurse. She told her to give me more and the nurse would come in and say "The doctor want me to up your meds but I don't believe in it. I think its better for the baby to come at his speed not ours." Well at Two in the afternoon he was ready to come. They got me all ready and i pushed four times and by Two ten he was out. I could give birth everyday. He was so beautiful and perfect. They let me nurse him right away. Then Nate got to give him his first bath and everything. It was perfect. He couldn't have come on a better day.
Through out my pregnancy I really felt my Grandpa with me. Seeing how Drew was born on Memorial day, we gave him the name Jerome because it was my Grandpas middle name and my uncle who passed aways middle name as well. It seemed so fitting.

Drew was six pounds six ounces and nineteen inches long.

Our family is now a family of six. Three girls and three boys, perfect!

Apen was SO excited. She was so great with him. She didn't need any help holding him. I hope these two become as close as Sage and McKenna.

It was SO cute when McKenna came to the hospital. She saw the two bulbs used for suctioning out the fluid from the baby and said "Oh look mom the baby has merocas". It was darling. We laughed and laughed.

Sage has waited so long for a brother. His primary teacher just told me that a few years ago he told her that when he is eight his mom will give him a brother. I never knew he said that then. I quess he just knew because he was right.

Last outing as a family of five

This was our last outing as a family of five. It was Nates day off and I really wanted to take the kids to the Children's Museum. My friend Zildy gave us free passes. Nate's dad wanted to go fishing with Sage and have me go later to the museum. I'm glad I pushed for this day because Drew was born three weeks early. There would not have been another Saturday to do it with Nate being able to come. There was a really cute area that had a stage. The kids put on the cutest performance for us. Sage was being so funny. He kept getting in costumes that were way to small. Nate and I were laughing so hard.

This was a really cool helicopter. It used to be used as a hospital life flight helicopter. The kids LOVED it and played in it forever.

I don't know what was going on with the kids on this day. But they were so funny all day. I'm so happy that my kids love each other so much and are truly each others best friends.

McKenna age 7, Sage age 8, Aspen age 4

End of School performances and programs

At the kids school they have an amazing music class. Every week they have music and art classes. I was very impressed with the songs Sage performed. They performed several songs and they sounded SO good. Sage is in the end of third grade. His teacher was Mrs Baize. She was very interactive with the parents. It was great. Sage did well in all of his subjects. He improved on his math and reading. He surprised Nate and I this year with his awesome piano skills. He is so good. Great Job Sage!

McKenna is ending her first grade year. She loved her teacher Mrs Stoll so much. She thrived this year. I don't think we could have asked for a better teacher. McKenna is ahead in math and reading. She completed Saxon math 2 and Reading mastery 2. We were so proud of her. She learned all of her times tables and is amazing at grammar. We went to her program and they showed us everything they had learned during the year. She showed my what she had learned about electricity and how it worked. Im so proud of you McKenna!

They performed a few songs for us as well.

Aspen is finishing her last year of preschool. It was so fun for her to be in Jasmines class. She loved her teacher Mrs Karen. They put on a darling performance at the Library. Nate and I could not believe how many songs they all had memorized. She loved it. They made all the mothers really cute cards. Thanks Aspen.

Derby

Sage had his first Pinewood Derby with the Scouts. He was SO excited. Nate and Sage worked for a few weeks on his car. It payed off. His car beat everyone that he raced. I was really impressed. The girls came and sat on the front lines and cheered everyone on.

The winning car!

These are all of the cars that Sages car beat.

Ready, set, GO!

Sage is so lucky that he has grandparents who love him so much. Ed and Lorna love to come to everything they can to support their grand kids. Ed took Sage early so they could weigh in the car. They were able to add a few pennies.

Aspen, McKenna, and Raegan were Sages cheerleaders.

This is a horrible picture of me. I am pregnant and so sick. It reflects perfectly how I was feeling. If you notice Sages lip is huge. He had just been through a terrible bike accident. I wish I would have taken pictures, but I am still in shock. Sage was riding his bike outside and Nate and I heard the most horrible, loud, terrifying scream. We ran outside and Sage was standing in the street bawling hysterically. Nate ran to him. I froze. Nate came running to me yelling to find a Dentist and handed me Sages two front permanent teeth. I about collapsed. Sage came in the house with Nate. He was screaming "I'm dying, I'm dying." Nate and I were in total panic mode. I told him we needed to just go straight to the hospital. He wanted me to call a Dentist. There are two in the family and my best friend Kandices husband is a pediatric Dentist. I called Brent, no answer. Called Kandice, few she answered. She was talking to Paul and they told me to run up to the hospital. As I was driving she told me to pull over and put the teeth back in. I couldn't. I get the bad mom award. I just knew there was no way I could pin him down and put teeth back in his gums. So she told me to put them in milk. Sage was screaming the whole way "I'm going to die mom". I was trying to keep it together. We ran into the emergency and everyone was staring and it was packed in there. Sage had blood all over him, and so did I. I gave the nurse the teeth and instructed her to put them in milk. We waited a minute or two to be seen and thank heavens Nate arrived ten minutes behind us. The nurse took us to a room off of the Emergency room. The Dentist was on his way but told her to put the teeth in. They had four people come in to hold him down. I couldn't keep in together anymore. I walked out of the little room am lost it. I cried and cried. Everyone was staring at me and I didn't care. I kept thinking "nothing could be worse." Then Nate peeked his head out and said "Katie come look at his teeth". Giving me that look that means be careful what you say. Sage opened his SO swollen mouth and I felt sick. His teeth were put back in backwards. I'm not aggressive but I wanted to strangle the nurse and yell really mean words. I had to go back out and I put my face to the wall and cried hysterically. I thought for sure I would go into labor. The Dentist came and put Sage in a chair with laughing gas. He finally was able to settle down. They had to put me in a chair to lay down because I was going to pass out. He took the teeth out, cleaned out the gums and broken pieces of bone, and put the teeth back in. He put a splint on them for the next few weeks. We were told the teeth will probably die. So we are looking at root canals in the future, gum grafting, and implants. Its going to be a long haul with these teeth. Too bad his braces had just come off and they were all straight. But I'm so thankful my boy is OK and I do know things could be so much worse. It was just so hard. I really struggled for a few days. I wanted to put all three kids on my bed and lock my door and not go any where. It just showed my how in the blink of an eye things can change so quickly. I had nightmares for a week and felt in shock for a few days. I think being so sick and pregnant made my hormones crazy and I just didn't handle this well. When Aspen had her fingers cut off when she was two, I did OK and held it together. This just pushed me over the edge.