Alissa was born on August 13, 2002. She weighed 6 lbs 3 ozs and was 19 inches long. She is the most beautiful little girl in the whole world! She has a head full of hair. Her hair is so thick it is amazing to me. She was born 5 weeks early. Here's the story:
On Friday, August 9th, roger and I traveled to salt Lake to go to a Huffaker family reunion. There was a barbecue, skits, and a lot of visiting and playing games. After it was over, we went to Linda's house to spend the night. I hardly got any sleep. I was so uncomfortable. roger and I got out of bed at around 7:30am. I woke up feeling a little bit of pain in both of my sides. I wasn't worried about it, I just assumed it was because we were in a different bed and I had such a hard time getting comfortable. so we got ready for the day and headed to McDonalds for breakfast before going to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to meet Roger's family and watch 'The Testament'. By the time we got there the pain in my sides had spread to my back and stomach. I was not very comfortable. I thought that maybe something was not normal, so I asked Cindi (Roger's sister who is a Midwife) what she thought. She told me that I could be having those pains from not sleeping well. so, she pretty much just confirmed what I had been thinking. By the time we sat down to watch the movie, the pain had grown and was becoming unbearable. I asked Roger to take me back to Linda's house so that I could try and sleep and hopefully the pain would go away. So, Roger took me to Linda's. I tried to sleep while Roger headed back to the reunion. They were having a picnic at a park. I couldn't get to sleep and the pain continued to get worse. I called Roger and asked him to come and take me to the hospital - I was sure that something was wrong. We went to the Cottonwood Hospital. They checked me out and ran some tests. They said that I was not in labor and they couldn't find any reason for the pain I was having. We were there for an hour, then they sent us home and told us to come back if the pain got worse. It was not very long before the pain got worse and we were back at the hospital. We spent the rest of the day at the hospital. They did a ton of tests, trying to figure out what was wrong. They even did an ultra sound and looked around trying to figure out what could be causing me so much pain. They couldn't find anything. Sometime in between 9:00 and 10:00pm they gave me some pain medicine and sent me home with instructions to go to the emergency room in Brigham City first thing in the morning. While we were at the Cottonwood Hospital, Cindi and her kids came to visit. Cindi decided to send Becca (Roger's 14 year old niece) home with us, so she could help take care of me. She was very helpful and it was so nice to have her there with us. I was in so much pain that I couldn't do anything. Roger had to help me get dressed, go to the bathroom, get up and down, roll over in bed, and sometimes walk. It was excruciatingly painful to move any muscle in my body. It was miserable!
The next morning, Sunday, August 11th, we woke up and went to the Brigham City Hospital. That was the day that Roger's mom was having her farewell. I was supposed to be there and sing a song with Roger's sister, Caroline. Jeanne ended up singing with her instead.
We ended up spending the whole day at the Brigham City Hospital. They could not figure out what was wrong. At the end of the day, they gave me the choice to go home and sleep in my bed or sleep there. Of course, I chose to go home and sleep in my bad. Dr. Wilding wanted us to come to his office first thing in the morning. So we went home, slept, then went to his office first thing in the morning. While we were in the waiting room, the pain was so unbearable. I couldn't sit anymore, it hurt so bad. I got up and walked over to Roger for some love and support. Roger says that I walked toward him and pretty much collapsed into his arms. It scared him so bad that he started yelling for help and demanded that they get me in a room right now. Dr. Wilding could not figure out what was wrong. He said he had never seen anything like this in the 30 years that he has been a doctor. He knew something was seriously wrong, so he spent the morning trying to get an appointment for me to see a specialist in Ogden. The doctor was booked and insisted that he couldn't see me. Dr. Wilding wouldn't give up. He fought to get me in there. He knew that I was dying and something had to be done as soon as possible. He got me an appointment with the specialist, Dr. Smithing, in Ogden at 2:00pm. Dr. Smithing checked me out and said that he didn't know what was wrong with me, but I was too sick to go home, so he wanted Roger to drive me over to Mckay Dee Hospital and get me checked in. Roger went out to get the car. He drove out in front, then came inside to wheel me out to the car in a wheel chair. When he went to open the car door, he realized that he had locked the keys in the car with the engine running. Luckily I had a security system installed that made it possible to unlock the doors by calling a number. It took us a while to remember the number. But eventually we did. We hurried over to Mckay Dee Hospital and got me checked in.
It was Monday afternoon when I got admitted to Mckay Dee. Dr. Smithing called two other specialists to come and look at me also. On Tuesday, August 13, 2002 at 11:00 am, the doctors came in and explained that they could not figure out what was wrong with me. They kind of think it might be my appendix, but they really weren't sure. They explained that if they were right and it was my appendix, they need to remove it right away. They told me that they needed to do surgery right away and get the baby out and my appendix out. They were going to remove my appendix, even if it wasn't the problem. then they would look around and try to figure out what the problem was. So they quickly got me ready and rushed me into surgery. I was so scared! They were wheeling me down the hall and roger was following, but by the time we got to the operating room, Roger was gone. The operating room looked so scary! I was so nervous and was feeling especially upset that Roger wasn't there and they hadn't let me say "good-bye" to him. After they got me on the operating table, roger came in. I was so relieved to see him. I was so scared because I had no idea what to expect. Roger got to sit next to me and hold my hand the whole time. I was shaking uncontrollably. The shaking didn't stop until 3 hours after the surgery. They gave me an epidural while they did the surgery, so I was awake the whole time. It was so weird not being able to feel anything below my arms. My arms were even getting a little numb. It didn't take too long after they started for them too get Alissa out. They held her up for Roger and I to see. She was crying and kicking her arms and legs. Then they rushed her off to the NICU. It was so exciting to see her and I wished I could have held her, but they still had to take my appendix out and make sure Alissa was okay. Roger could have watched the surgery, but he was afraid that he would pass out or something. He looked every once in a while, but he didn't watch for very long. Now roger can say that he had seen my insides. He jokes that I am not beautiful on the inside.
It turns out that it was my appendix that was the problem. The reason that it had been so hard for them to tell what was wrong with me was that my appendix was in an unusual spot. It had been pushed to my back and was being bent from the pregnancy. One of the ways that they were able to guess that it was my appendix was when they gave me the pain medication, it didn't eliminate the pain, it just localized the pain to my right side. anyways, It turns out that my appendix had ruptured, but an abscess had grown around it and contained all of the poisons from spreading through my body. After they delivered Alissa and started to take my appendix out, the abscess ruptured. They removed it and had to spend a long time suctioning all of the poisons out of my body. Roger was amazed at how much stuff they cleaned out of my system. Alissa and I were very blessed. Both of us could have died if things didn't work out the way they did. After the surgery, it was very uncomfortable not being able to feel my legs, I kept trying to move them, until I barely got my right toes to move slightly. I was so excited when I could move my whole foot. When they wheeled me out into the hall to take me to go see Alissa, and we passed all of my family and friends, I told everybody to look what I could do, and I pointed to my feet while I wiggled them back and forth. Everybody thought that was funny.
I was still shaking pretty badly when they took me to see Alissa. she was hooked up to a ton of machines and she was in an incubator. I reached my hand in to touch her and tell her that I love her. My voice was shaking just as much as my arms were. roger said from the way alissa acted she knew that it was her mom talking to her. He thought it was really cute. I had to stay in the hospital for one week and Alissa had to stay there for two weeks. Alissa's lungs weren't fully developed.
The first week after she was born, it was hard for me to go and see her, because I was hooked up to the I.V. and my feet were swollen. While I was in the hospital, I saw her once or twice a day. After I got out of the hospital, I visited her twice a day. It was the hardest thing for me to leave her at the hospital. I cried so much. It was really hard on Roger and I. My emotions were so out of control during that time. I could not be alone. I would have a panic attack every time I was left alone. It was so crazy. I called my parents and asked them to come and stay with me as much as they could. My mom understood how I was feeling so they came the next day. My mom helped me a lot. She understands what I'm feeling and we cry about it together.
It was such a happy day when we finally got to bring her home. It was also a little scary, realizing that we are in charge of taking care of this precious human being. That was overwhelming.
Here are some of the videos I took:
August 15th,
August 21st,
August 22nd,
August 28th.
