~ The Parcell's ~: I am so grateful...

Friday, January 9, 2009

I am so grateful...

+ Well after drowning in pain and periods of self pity and loathing, I have reached the surface and I can finally breath! So in response to the new oxygen I have received, I would like to tell you the things in my life that I am grateful for and just how blessed I truly am! Enjoy these pictures and see the joy I have in my life! There are good days and there are bad days but in all days there is joy to be found. Call it an epiphany or a light bulb moment, but whatever you call it, it has been a true comfort and I can see the tender mercy's of the Lord at work in my life. I am so grateful for the savior and his love and the gospel that gives me direction! I am grateful that my oldest child holds hands with his little sister and loves her! I am grateful that my kids stop to enjoy the simple things in life. No matter how small those pleasures are in fact! I am grateful for my tub and the little bundles of joy who enjoy big bubbles like their mom! I am grateful that my kids have faith and believe, but I am also grateful that... when my son has questions of life, he goes straight to the source to find the truth!!!! I am grateful that Nick is a great father and that he is patient with our kids when they (Conner) wants to make his dad warm and continues to bring all the blankets and pillows that he could find in the house! I am grateful that there is music in our home and .... and rhythm in their hearts while dancing all around! I am grateful for a mother- in- law that buys really cute ensembles! I am grateful for my beautiful children.... I am grateful for loving children... I am grateful that my kids love their cousins and grandparents so much that they would not sit still for pictures since they just wanted to be with them! I am grateful for the little smirks that always invoke a smile on my face! Gifts from God! I am grateful for friends who will pummel people and risk life and limb to grab free loaves of bread that she saw them restocking after the initial stash was ran sacked and devoured! I am so grateful for friends who patiently explain to me how to pinch my coupons and teach me how to only spends 36 dollars on all of this stuff that actually would have cost 130 dollars! I am grateful for my friends and their love as well as our love of coldstone get aways! I am grateful for my husband who's passion is infectious! I am grateful for my best friend in whom I can confide! I am so grateful that I am not this couple! hehehe But I am grateful for this couple and their love and the love I have for them! I am grateful for all of my friends and the fun we have! (EVEN those who are not pictured!) And last but not least I am grateful for my parents and my brothers and sisters for all of their love support and guidance! Thank You for everything!!!!

5 comments:

Ryan, Melissa, and Family said...: I don't even know where to start so I am going to sum it all up with...GREAT POST!! I loved all the fun pictures:); Friday, January 09, 2009 2:59:00 PM
stephanie said...: Jen, you are very blessed and I am blessed to have such a wonderful daughter, wife to the son I adore, and mother to my most precious blessings of all, my grandchildren. I find in you a person of enourmous strength, unconditional love for others, and one who in the utmost turmoil can look to the blessings of life and know with faith and love for her Heavenly Father can find peace within. Know that we love and appreciate you!; Friday, January 09, 2009 4:37:00 PM
Jen B. said...: What a great post, it was so fun to read and see the pictures!! I love how your personality comes out through your words!! Thanks for always sharing yourself with us!; Friday, January 09, 2009 5:59:00 PM
Lacie said...: I love this post, especially the one of the prego. hehehe; Saturday, January 10, 2009 10:02:00 AM
Tom & Michelle said...: Jen I love you.; Tuesday, January 13, 2009 3:54:00 PM

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Dear friends and family,I recently changed templates and in the process lost most of my blog! I was so devastated since I had been obsessed with my blog and worked very hard. In the days that have followed I have replaced and added most of what I lost. Except for a post on our story. I was overwhelmed at the thought of rewriting it due to it's size and it's emotional effect that is has on me. I had resolved to let it go, that is until my dad flat out told me to put it back on! So here I am back at the beginning and ready to put my heart out once again! Nick and I will be reaching our ninth anniversary in August. We are extremely blessed and have much to be grateful for! When I met Nick it all happened so fast, yet I never doubted the feelings that I had. We got married and one month into our marriage we found out that I was pregnant. "Oh dear!" This was not what we had envisioned. Nick struggled with the reality while I blissfully took on my role as mother. Well maybe not so blissfully, but I had excepted that I was going to have a baby. At about five months into the pregnancy Nick finally came around. We were not ready, but we were very excited. Caden was born on the fourth of July! I remember that night as I held my brand new baby as I stood there staring out the window watching the spectacular fireworks! I was so overwhelmed with the moment that I had tears streaming down my face. That night Nick held Caden in his arms sleeping with him in his arms the whole night! It was such an amazing moment. Caden was a great baby, but he had some problems with going to the bathroom. When he was a month old he was admitted to Primary Children's Hospital where they did a rectal biopsy. It was very scary, but to our relief the tests came back negative. We struggled to find a solution over the next eight months. A specialist helped out with some of the pain issues, but he still had issues. One day we got tickets to go to a Jazz game for free! I did not have time to pump milk so we left him with formula and some whole milk just in case! He refused the formula and downed the whole milk! From that day on he never has had another problem. It was either something in my breast milk that hurt or something in the whole milk that helped! I will never know, but we were so happy to have a thriving baby once again. Who would of thought that a Jazz game would be such a blessing!Nick got hired on with Qwest and we moved up to Riverdale. Shortly after that we got pregnant with Ashley. It seemed that we were on cloud nine! Until Nick was layed off and days before Ashley was born we had to move to Spanish Fork. Nick worked for Fibertel and any other odd job he could do. He worked like a slave to make money for our family. He never once complained about all the hard work. He was such a trooper. His hard work payed off and since Qwest lost in court for the layoffs, we got his job back. Suddenly things were again looking good! Except for the kitchen fire that almost burned Ashley's sweet little face. No one got hurt so that was a huge blessing. We were living life and enjoying our tedious life, until one day every thing changed! I was holding Ashley and I slipped and fell down all fourteen steps. I seriously hurt my back and completely broke my tailbone. It was very painful and it seemed that the doctors couldn't help. It was also a hard time due to the fact that when I fell I knocked my IUD out of place and it got infected as well as my getting pregnant and due to the infection I miscarried. The pain was enormous yet my family suffered as well. I just handled the pain and said a lot of prayers and moved on with life as best as I could. Months passed by and I knew it was time for a baby! Nick was not as sure as I was since Ashley had a lot of ear infections and was either the happiest baby or the worst. No middle ground at all. We all lost sleep and Nick was still recovering. After weeks of persuading and a week moment on his part, I was pregnant. I knew that we were supposed to have four kids, but I also knew that this was my last pregnancy. So I immediately began praying for twins. My prayers were as always heard. I knew right away that I was carrying twins. I had this uncanny awareness that it was twins and that one was a boy and the one lowest was a girl. Nick was in shock, but he was excited as well. He was nervous because we were doubling our kid count and our mortgage all at the same time. We had just begun building out first home. At first things went really well! Nineteen weeks came and I started having problems with my heart. At twenty four weeks I passed out and Nick had to carry me out to car and rush me to the hospital. He was so scared and worried for me and the babies. Once there they decided to keep me there and monitor my heart and the babies. I went into labor and they gave me magnesium sulfate a drug that stops labor and makes you very sick! It stopped the contractions but for the next two months I was in and out of the hospital. Bed rest is the worst and especially when you have a four year old and a two year old not understanding. Halloween came and then the very next day at 351/2 weeks the twins were born. Allie came flying out and with very effective lungs. Conner was transverse so my Dr. reached up and pulled him out! It was very intense for everyone involved, especially when he came out and was blue and not crying or moving! I thought he was gone and it did not help that a team of doctors rushed him out! It seemed like forever, while they brought out Allie and tried to distract us with her very loud health. I was dying inside and the sudden quietness pierced my soul. In the distance a dull cry began that quickly escalated into a full on tantrum! It was Conner and he was alive and screaming! I could breath again and I knew that he would be ok. Two weeks in the Nicu they were finally ready to go home but first I got to hold them together for the first time. It was a sweet moment that carried me through the many difficult and sleepness nights! When the twins were four months old I had my first back surgery. It was supposed to have been a week recovery. Not so much! It only made things worse and I could not do much of anything. A year passed by and I finally found a neurosurgeon who knew what he was doing! He did some tests and was shocked by the results. He said that he did not know how I was walking since the trauma was so bad! I was scheduled for surgery, and began making arrangements for my four children.The surgery was only supposed to be two hours but it ended up being six and a half hours long! They told Nick that it was such a mess inside and they ended up fusing my entire lower lumbar. The nerve expansion they did was crucial, but it was a little too late since when I woke up, I could not move my right leg from the knee down. I also had a drop foot so I walked like a trotting horse for months. I was still in major pain two months later and a cat scan proved effective. It showed that the lowest fusion had failed and bowed away from the bone. This caused three bone fragments to break off and fall into my nerve. Excruciating pain! The next morning I had surgery to redo the fusion and remove the fragments. Recovery was slow, but I was doing great. I began working out and healing was advancing every week! I had some minor set backs with ovarian cysts, one of which I had removed and biopsied due to some hardened masses they found. It all worked out ok and I continued getting better with my back. So much better in fact that they decided to take out all of the metal in my back. I had so much bone growth that the hardware was being rejected. In January they took it all out. It went remarkably well. I was feeling great when I started to feel tired and almost pregnant like. I kept brushing the thought away since I had had my tubes tied. I gave in and took a test. It came back positive! Thirty minutes later I began to miscarry. This was actually a blessing in disguise, since carrying a baby would have been very dangerous to me and a baby.I went and saw a specialist who informed me that due to my history and current situation, a hysterectomy was necessary. It was scheduled for the end of February. The was a success and recovery began that way as well. That night, I got the flu and threw up violently. Unknown until later, I had ripped all of my stitches open and for a day I had massive internal bleeding that was blocked off by a huge clot. When I did start bleeding it happened very fast. I was rushed back into surgery before Nick could even get there. The next morning, I had lost over half of my bodies blood count. I needed a blood transfusion. A couple of days later I was home and on my way to recovery! It has gone really well, other than getting tired I find that I feel pretty good! So why have I shared this with the world? Good question! Well my answer is this. I may not have all the answers and I don't know why we have had to go through so much, but I do know that we are stronger for it! We have been thrown into so many bad situations, but have come out standing stronger and happier. I would like to take this chance to thank my friends and family who have been there for me and my family every step of the way! It was never easy, but no matter how difficult, the support was always there! Thank you! I would also like to tell my husband that I love him so much and that I am so sorry that I have been such a burden. Through out all of this time Nick has suffered from terrible acid reflux. It is so bad that he had a scope done that was biopsied showing that he had Barrett's Esophagus Cancer! He is such a trooper! Medicine will hopefully keep it at bay and regular scopes. The road has not been easy, but it has been very worth it! We have an amazing family and together we know that we can get through anything and that while we are getting through things, we are enjoying all the small things and loving the big things! "We may not have it all together, but together we have it all!"

~ The Parcell's ~

Friday, January 9, 2009

I am so grateful...

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