Two Year Checkup

We went to Brody's 2 year check up today. He did a great job and impressed the doctor with his talking. He said "Have a good day, Dr. Dave!" Dr. Dave reminded me how lucky I am to have a good talker. I don't need a reminder I am thankful for Brody's words every day.

Here are his stats.

Weight: 25 lbs. (15%)
Height: 33 1/2 in. (25%)
Head Circumference: 20 in. (92%)

Brody's Birth Story

Two years ago (March 28, 2007) we welcomed Brody Robert Barquist into our lives. Every year on his birthday I'm sure I will remember the way he entered this world. (Since our blog didn't exist then here is a recap of that day.)

I woke up Wednesday morning feeling a little weird. I knew something was different so I told Brad to make sure his bags were packed. He had them ready to go and put them in the car. He left for work. I went downstairs and had a small bowl of cereal. I really wasn’t hungry but knew I had to have something in case I was going into labor. After I ate my cereal I got ready to drive down to my parents’ house. As I was driving down there I was talking to Jenny on the phone. A few minutes into our phone conversation I felt like I was going to throw up. I got off the phone and quickly called Brad to see if I could stop by his work.

I drove a few more minutes and stopped by Onrax. Five minutes after I got there I threw up my cereal. I threw up 2 more times before I left. (I thought this was just something that happened with being pregnant). I continued to drive down to my parents’ house. As soon as I pulled into the driveway I threw up again. I
went into the house and tried to lie down but couldn’t get comfortable. Soon after I got home my mom arrived….thank goodness. I think my dad was getting nervous about taking care of me. I was starting to have contractions (or I thought they were contractions). They weren’t very strong and were not very consistent, but we decided to write down the times. After about an hour and a half of walking around and being very uncomfortable we decided it would be good to call the doctor. The nurse at the doctor’s office told us to head to the hospital since I was dehydrated and having contractions.

Brad was only a few minutes from getting to my parents house. Once he arrived we drove up to Overlake Hospital.

We were admitted about 12:15. They quickly had me hooked up to monitors including one that monitored Brody’s heartbeat. Since I was dehydrated they wanted to get fluids in my body and went to work putting in an IV. They had trouble finding a vein, poked me 9 times and even had to bring in the IV specialist team. Brad was getting annoyed. I just wanted it to be done.


Don't I look great! My mom and Brad never told me how bad I really looked until a few days after.


There was one point when Brody’s heartbeat was too fast. They quickly brought in a number of nurses and moved me in a few different directions. Brody’s heartbeat went back down. Within 10 minutes it went high again and my dad said something to the nurse, wondering if it usually stayed that high. She said that sometimes it did.

At this point the anesthesiologist came in to talk to me about getting an epidural. I was going to at least be put on the list, although I was hoping to go as natural as possible. The anesthesiologist was concerned because I had very little fluids in me. My doctor came in to check on me and said I was about 4 cm. It gets a little blurry at this point….but about a half hour later the doctor came in and said my platelet level was low and they were concerned about it. She left and came back 10 minutes later and recommended an emergency c-section. This is not what I wanted to hear. She asked if we had any questions and Brad asked her what this meant for having future children. Her quick response “We are not sacrificing this baby for future babies.” This is when we knew it was something far more serious. I had developed HELLP syndrome.

A C-section is definitely not what I had envisioned. I started to cry but knew that it was the best option for us. (During our birthing class I had asked Brad to pray that I would be ok if a c-section is what happened to me.) As the doctors and nurses were preparing us for the procedure I had asked if it was ok for my parents to be in the room as well. They said no and in fact no one (not even Brad) was allowed in the room because I would be completely under anesthesia. I didn’t know what to think at this point but I wanted them to knock me out as soon as possible. This was so I didn’t have time to think and get too emotional about it. It all happened so fast.


They rolled me out of the room and I left behind my parents and Brad. They were the ones that had to sit and wait. About 20 minutes after I left the room they brought Brody back to meet his dad and his grandparents. I was still under for 2 more hours. When I woke up they had told me that I had a little boy, but I still had not seen him. I was in such a daze that I wasn’t quite sure what was going on. I kept asking them “what did I have again?” And I was very anxious to meet him. They brought me back to my room once my blood pressure was down and I met Brody for the first time. Words will never be able to convey the feeling I had when Brad showed Brody to me for the very first time. I was relieved, excited, overjoyed, and extremely grateful for this amazingly beautiful gift.




Although the delivery was far from what I had envisioned or hoped for I am extremely thankful that both Brody and I are very healthy. We know we were surrounded by prayers on that day. God was and still is watching over us.

7 months

Colt is 7 months old as of the 20th. Here are a few pictures of our smiley little guy. He is sitting up but topples over. Eats like a champion but has no teeth. Loves his brother but doesn't like to get tackled.

Dear God...

We have been praying with Brody before bedtime ever since he came home from the hospital. Now we have been able to include Colt in on the prayers to make it a family prayer time.

It's a very simple prayer something along the lines of "Dear God, thank you for today. Thank you that Brody got to play with his friends, Thank you for Brody visiting daddy at work, thank you for a good nap." We then pray for different people and now Brody has input with that. Grandma Shari is a popular prayer request from Brody - not sure why but we pray for her.

We always end with "In Jesus' name we pray...AMEN!" Brody quickly picked up on the Amen part and has been saying it for quite awhile.

Two nights ago Brody decided to start the prayer.

"Dear God, Thank you SO much!"

Race Report

This blog is mostly about the cute antics of our boys and pictures of them. This time it's a post about me. Yesterday I completed my second 1/2 marathon. After Colt was born I was anxious to get back in shape and knew that if I set some type of goal it would be easier to be motivated. Plus, if Brad knew I had something I was working towards he could help me along the way.

My first goal for the Mercer Island half marathon was to finish and my second goal was to run faster than my first one. I accomplished both. Although I still wish I could have ran faster. I guess I will have to get in some better training next time.

I know I could not have completed this race without Brad's support and without some running friends to join me on long runs. It's definitely a little more complicated squeezing in long runs (sometimes at 6:00 in the morning), but having a goal and a plan makes it that much more feasible.

Now on to my next athletic pursuit....any suggestions?

Brody's Homework

Last week I started tutoring our 2nd cousin, JT. He is in 4th grade and is quite the little charmer. It's a great arrangement because he comes over to our house. As soon as JT arrived Brody was very excited and wanted to play with him. We had to tell him that JT needed to work on his homework. Brody was clearly distressed about this. The conversation between Brody and daddy went something like this.

Brody: I want to go upstairs. (starting to produce some fake tears)
Daddy: No, you can't go upstairs.
B: I want to go upstairs with Jon and Catina. (Jon and Catina are our neighbors...a little random...but I guess it sounds like JT)
D: Jon and Catina are not upstairs.
B: (through fake tears) Jon & Catina, Jon & Catina.
D: Jon & Catina are not upstairs. JT is upstairs and he is working on his homework.
B: Yeah, upstairs. I want to go upstairs.
D: Ok, we will go upstairs to say hi to JT but then we have to let him do his homework.

So Brody and daddy went upstairs to say hi to JT. This didn't really satisfy Brody's needs so Brad came up with a brilliant idea.

Daddy: Brody, why don't we work on your homework?
Brody: Ok. Yeah, homework.

Off they went to Brody's little table and Brad and Brody worked on homework. It makes me happy to know Brody is already enjoying his homework. :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I love holidays! I love to celebrate and love to get into the spirit of things. I'm very excited for the day (hopefully next year) when Brody and Colt get just as excited as I do. HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! I am also a little frugal so I don't like to buy stuff to celebrate holidays. I like to be resourceful. Fortunately, I had some green clothes for the boys to wear. You may not notice but Colt's green outfit is a little snug on him. It looks cute though! I had to take a picture of my boys in their outfits with their green blanket and green frog. It's always an adventure taking a picture with my two boys.

I don't think I really need to add any captions. You can make them up yourself.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Jumping

We have been working on it and we think Brody is starting to get some air with both feet completely coming off the ground. Check out this video to see for yourself.

Track Practice

It's Track season which means things are a little busier for our family, but it also means that spring is here. Or maybe it's on it's way...at least we hope so. It was a beautiful, but cold day on Thursday so I took the boys to Brad's track practice. Both of the boys love being outside and Brody loves the attention he gets from all the track athletes. He loves to cheer for them when the are doing their workouts.

Super Powers!

When Brody puts on his "cape" he turns into a super hero. Well, maybe he just enjoys running as fast as he can. It's a great way to tire him out for bed time and it is lots of fun for all of us to watch. Colt especially loves watching him.
Sorry the videos are sideways and a little dark.


And here are a few pictures.

Happy Birthday Dad!

For some reason Brody doesn't say daddy very often, he likes to call Brad "Dad". This last week we celebrated Brad's 41st birthday and as Brody would say "Happy Birthday Dad!" On Tuesday (his actual birthday) we went to Outback Steakhouse and joined Uncle Brian and Brad's friend Ed for dinner. The boys did a great job at the restaurant making it a pleasant evening for everyone. We came back home and enjoyed some cupcakes to celebrate.

On Saturday we had another party with Fafa, Grammy, Papa Bob, Grandma Shari, Uncle Brian, Aunt Angie, Abi, Eugene, and Mark. We had a yummy dinner, good conversation and more cupcakes to celebrate. It's fun to celebrate birthdays when you have someone so excited to sing happy birthday, help blow out the candles and unwrap presents for you.

Happy Birthday Brad! We LOVE YOU!

Fun times!

Colt recently discovered the joy of sitting up by himself. Life is so much better when you aren't staring at the ceiling.

We are trying to save money on our heat, so we have turned our thermostat down. Since it gets cold at night Brody needs to wear his hat and gloves to bed.

....or maybe Brody just likes to wear random articles of clothing at various times during the day.