Happy Birthday to my 14 year olds!

Happy Birthday to Quade and Taylor...I can not believe how fast they have grown up. I can remember the day they were born like it was yesterday.

When we decided to try to have another baby we did not have insurance (luckily the only time we were without insurance) but we thought....hummm worst case scenario, we have a c-section, we pay $50 a month for the rest of our lives...no big deal. Little did we know we would get pregnant with TWO babies and that they would be 6 weeks early, spend 2 weeks in the NICU and the worst case scenario turned into nearly $100,000!

I was on bed rest with them after having meaningful contractions at around 28 weeks. I was put on medication to stop the contractions and that also meant That I would be put on full bed rest which meant that I spent the holidays in bed...unable to cook, clean, shop or anything else. It was a very hard thing too do having 3 other kids at home who needed to be cared for plus an exchange student. But somehow we made it work. Rich was amazing with all he did to keep things in order, my neighbor brought me lunch nearly every day and many of my friends helped out with the kids as much as possible.

At 36 weeks after a week of no electricity because of a HUGE snow storm (we had to cook on our wood stove and put our food out in the snow) the lights finally came back on and thankfully we were able to take hot showers....I woke in the early morning with contractions that would not stop. So off to the hospital we went. We called our friends, Paul and Michael, to have them come and give me a blessing, that helped put our mind at ease.

They started me on another medication that can only be given at the hospital intravenously. It was Mag sulfate. When they put it in your veins you can feel it as it feels warm and it fills your whole body until you feel hot. It was not fun..after the birth i actually had what seemed like a sunburn, I think it burned from the inside out...bazaar. This was still not stopping the contractions so they decided I needed an amnio to see if the babies lungs were developed enough to deliver them here on the mountain but because it was a Sunday there was no one here, on duty to do the test after it was drawn (this ended up being a blessing in disguise) So they decided that they would need to fly me to the valley "just in case" so they loaded Rich and I, with babes inside, in an ambulance and took us over to the airport so we could be flown by the medical plane as this was before we had any helicopters here. We had a very uneventful flight but at the same time we were very scared of the unknown. What would lie ahead for us once we arrived?
After touching down at sky harbor they loaded the 4 of us into another ambulance and whisked us off to Good Samaritan hospital. Once we arrived and were settled in they did the amnio and it seemed like we waited forever for the results. But when they came back in they told us that their lungs looked good and that we would go ahead and deliver. My sisters had arrived at this point and they were very helpful in lifting my spirits and helping me feel alittle calmer.
We delivered in the operating room "just in case" but luckily both babies were able to be delivered vaginally and quickly. What an interesting experience that was...its seems like a blur with all that was going on around us. There were so many people in the room but really in my mind I can only remember the intern that delivered and the doctor that stood over her shoulder. Oh ya, and the nurse who climbed up on the delivery table and pushed on my stomach with all her might (left bruises) to make sure baby B (Taylor) did not switch positions once baby A (Quade) was out.

I cant remember much right after they were born..I think I was just in shock but it turned out that their lungs were not fully developed (this is where the blessing in disguise comes in as in if we would have had the test at home and it came out that they were good to go then we would have been separated if we would have delivered on the mountain because they would have flown the babies out because of the premature lungs and I would have had to stay there to recover)

The babies were both intabated and put on respirators. Luckily they did not stay on them for more the 24 hours. But because of Jaundice and eating issues they were in the hospital for 2 weeks. Thankfully those were the only real issues they had. Luckily I was able to stay with my In-laws and go back and forth to the hospital daily to be with the babies. Rich came home to be with the other kids and to go to work and he would come back on the weekends to be with us. Again, my friends and ward members stepped up greatly at that time to provided meals and to take the kids after school and on the weekends...to them I will always be indebted.
After two weeks we were finally able to bring our sweet babies home! what a joy!

Quade Silas Jones
4lbs 11oz

18 inches

10:21 pm

Taylor Annaleise Jones

4 lbs 8oz

18 1/2 inches

10:30pm

Our little Miracles....