Miller Family

1 week
Here she is finally getting her first bath at home
2 weeks
Aida loves holding her new sister
3 weeks
I was trying to get a good picture of how her hair fuzzes out! Picture doesn't do it justice!
3 weeks
All 3 girls in their Halloween outfits!
3 weeks
Aliza and I went to sacrament meeting, but left after that so we keep her healthy. Even though it was a short time I still dressed her up. Here she is after we got home.
3 1/2 weeks
The first picture of the 4 people I can't live without, all together!
1 month

1 month
Such a pretty little profile

1 month
Both sisters trying to take care of her! (trying to give her the Binky)

5 Weeks
1st smile! For daddy of course!

5 weeks
She was the cutest little ladybug for Halloween

7 weeks
She smiles all the time now, and is close to laughing

After 22 hours of contractions at 35 weeks we were happy that Aliza stayed in for another 2 weeks. She was born at 37 weeks. We arrived at the hospital around 8:30 AM thinking that my water had broken. It turns out it was a pre-sac, but the main one was still intact. But when it was discovered that I was dialated to a six, there was no sending me home. I was getting quite uncomfortable with the contractions, and was more than pleased when I got my epidural, but it did take until close to 10:00. They said to let me know when I felt pressure, and about 20 minutes later I was at a 10. In the mean time my water had broken and they found out that little Aliza had pooped and so there was now a risk due to the meconium. They got the respiratory specialists in there for the delivery and got my OB there quickly before they had a baby coming out on her own! It took two and a half short pushes and Aliza was born at 10:40.

We were relieved to hear her cry right after birth and she was put on the table for the respiratory specialists to check to make sure she hadn't inhaled any meconium into her lungs. All of a sudden there were 12 medical staff in my room surrounding my little baby. We didn't know what was going on exactly, but knew it wasn't good. They worked on her for a little while in the room and got her breathing again before rolling her off to the NICU. Nathan went with her, and my room emptied out. I was left there with the nurse wondering what all just happened. I knew nothing about my little one, no weight, height, health. I did overhear her time of birth, but that was it.
After what seemed like forever Nathan returned with all of the news. Aliza had come out crying and breathing, but at 8 mins old had stopped breathing, and they had called in the help with a little button on the wall. They had to intubate her (tube down throat to lungs) and she was on oxygen. She had aspirated the meconium and had quite a bit stuck in her lungs. They were able to suck a lot of it out, but some stayed in there. They sucked out 3 1/2 cc. out of her lungs and 4 cc. out of her stomach. They immediately started antibiotics. They were able to do some catheters right through her belly button and she was receiving the medicine and liquid nutrition through that. She had a tube down her throat to her stomach monitoring the oxygen in there, and to have access to eventually give her nutrients through if needed.

The next day (Saturday), we went to see her and they had already started to ween her off of oxygen. She went from receiving 5 liters that morning and by six o'clock that night she was completely off! It can take babies weeks to do that, and she did it all in one day! And after about 24 hours the small tear was healed. I know this was only possible due to the prayers and fasting in her behalf. They also put a pic line in that day and took the catheters out of her belly button. That meant that we could finally hold our little girl.

Not only could we finally hold her, but I was allowed to nurse her. She did great her first time and got quite a bit for the first feeding. She was still receiving her vital nurishment through the pic line. But within the first day of nursing she was taking in enough milk to get her weened off of the intraveinous nutrition. They moved her out of the NICU and into the special care nursery and the girls were able to see her through the glass windows. They were not allowed in, but got to peek at her through the glass.
She kept doing great and was taking in more than enough milk! She is a little piggy! It seemed that she was now only in the hospital due to the 7 days of antibiotics she needed. So we were looking forward to bringing her home on Thursday. Then on Tuesday night she was not breathing in enough oxygen and even stopped breathing for 23 seconds. So she was put back on a low dose of oxygen and that helped. They ran x-rays, and lab work, but nothing turned up a reason for what was going on. The doctor decided on Thursday that it must just be her age now causing this. Although 37 weeks is considered full term. He said he has seen a lot of babies that age act almost like babies born at 35 weeks. The doctor had her taken off the oxygen again and if she did well we could take her home on Friday with no monitors or oxygen. But she also had to be in her car seat for 90 minutes without any breathing episodes.
She did not pass this and only lasted 30 minutes. So on Friday the doctor decided to send us home with an apnea monitor but no oxygen. But the regulations are that if the baby does not pass the car seat test they can not go home without oxygen, at least while in the car seat. So they did the car seat test again, and she lasted only 20 minutes this time.
So we finally got to bring her home on Friday at 5:00 PM with an apnea monitor 24/7 and oxygen when she is in her car seat. We are so happy to be home though. That week was hard on our whole family. My mom was able to leave her mission for the week and came down to help. I would go to the hospital starting at about 7:00 in the morning to nurse. I would go back every 3-4 hours until midnight, then I would call it a night. Then the next day I'd do the same thing. It was hard being away from home so much, and I could tell it was wearing on the girls. I averaged the amount of time each day spent at the hospital and it was 8-10 hours a day! And then I would get up 1-2 times each night to pump. I was sleep deprived, and exhausted!
If my mom hadn't been able to be here, that week would not have worked at all. We are so grateful for her help and all the other help we've received. Meals have been brought in, a family fast was done for her, and lots and lots of prayers went out in her behalf. I know that it was through the help of our Heavenly Father that Aliza recovered so quickly, and we are truly humbled by this whole experience.

Aliza finally ready to go home!

Waiting for the equipment so we can go home.

Ariah holding Aliza for the first time.

Aida getting her first time to hold Aliza.

Aliza with Grandma Finch. Thanks so much mom, we really could not have done it without you!

I am finally feeling like blogging again! I'm sorry to any dedicated followers out there. So here is a little bit of catch up. The month of June was a crazy one for our little family. Nathan had already officially finished his second year, but there was to be no break! He had to immediately hit the board studying so he could take them on June 17. And of course we had a home to find to rent in Utah as well as pack up an entire house to move 1200 miles across the country! There were some crazy days, but we did find some time for fun!



Baby birds:

We saw so many baby birds on our lawn. This one didn't have any parents around for quite a few hours, and so I let Aida play with it. She was in heaven!

Missouri rain:

It rained a lot in June. It was nice to not feel like a horrible mom because I needed to be inside packing when the kids wanted to be outside. So with it being so yucky out there it wasn't really a problem! The girls and I decided to go play in the rain, but we all got cold pretty quickly! Same day that Aida played with the bird, just hours later it turned stormy!

Birthday Girl:

I celebrated my 26th birthday. Nathan took me out to a movie and then we had cake and ice cream together as a family. My best present was finally finding the right place for us to move into in Utah. It was a huge stress off of my shoulders.

St. Louis:

My friend Jen and I really wanted to take one last trip to St. Louis, but knew our husbands were too busy studying. So we did it on our own. One night in a hotel with two adults and four sleeping children! We were all a little sleep deprived, but it was a great trip. We went to a fun children's museum called the Magic House and did some shopping. Then the next day we hit the zoo and headed home. The kids had a great time and I'm glad Aida got to spend so much time with her best friend Makenzie. She misses her so much!

I really only got pictures from the Magic House:

There was a fun tree the kids could climb and we spent a lot of time at this exhibit.

Ariah really enjoys coloring and stayed entertained for a while on this chalk board.

The girls loved playing in this tunnel. I think they were both some type of animal. No surprise there!

Right after this picture we had to move on because Ariah decided the sand belonged on a little boys head instead of in the box!

Aida could have stayed at the water the whole time!

Ariah really liked playing in the water too.

Fishing was Aida's favorite.

Our last trip to Nauvoo:

Amidst all of his studying Nathan really wanted to go to the Nauvoo temple one last time. So we went up and took turns going in since we didn't have a babysitter. It was a great last visit.

We will miss this temple, we loved having the opportunity to go here so often. There is such a strong spirit felt among it's walls.

Riding the bouncy animals at the park while mommy went into the temple.

Aida loved the Joseph and Hyrum statues, I don't think it was because she knew and understood who they were, but because of the horses!

About to leave Missouri:

Here the girls are playing just days before we moved. I had packed up most of their toys, but they had a lot of fun still with what was left out.

Moving day wore the girls out, and they didn't even have to do all of the hard work. This was just before we left Missouri. We put the girls right in the van and drove away just minutes after this.

After way too much time spent looking for a home to live in when we move back to Utah, we finally found one! It is even in the same ward we moved from. It is brand new and has everything we wanted, and come fall the yard will be fenced in, hooray!

It's funny because I told Nathan that all I wanted for my birthday was to have a place to live. And it all got figured out on that day! We are excited to be back in familiar territory, and we really like the location. Now I just have to put all the time I spent looking for a home into packing this home. As of yesterday we have only two weeks left, yikes!

I am spending a lot of time searching online for a place to move into in June. And we haven't found anywhere yet. I am posting this in hopes that anyone in the Provo/Orem area reading this could keep their eyes open for us. We would look as far as Payson or Pleasant Grove, if the price was right. We really want a house or townhome so the kids have somewhere outside to play, and we aren't too loud for any neighbors. I know three kids under 4 aren't going to be the quietest! We need a 3 bedroom, 1 bath (but would love 2!), and must have a dishwasher. We would love it to have a garage, fenced in yard, and A/C, but we can't be too picky for being on a poor med student budget. We are really hoping for something $800 or under. So if anyone knows of a good place, please let us know! I've been using KSL.com and Craigslist so far. We would be moving on June 18. Thanks everyone!

I'm sure this is not a surprise to anyone who has seen me lately! It is hard to hide a growing abdomen! I didn't want to give away the secret to everyone until after we told our family. So now that we sent out our cards, it's no longer a secret! We weren't going to try for another one until this summer, but after a trip to the temple back in October Nathan and I both knew that it was time to have another one. Luckily we didn't get pregnant right off the bat, because I really didn't want to move extremely pregnant again. As scared and unprepared I feel to be a mother of three, I have no doubts that this was the right time. I guess our kids will keep being just two years apart! I know it will be some crazy stressful years while they're young, but I know we'll find joy in it as well!

Well it's obvious it's been a while, so this will tell you a little about what we've been up to! Nathan is back in school, and not enjoying it so much. We are the first year without an 8th quarter, so they are trying to cram all of that quarters information into this one, instead of dispersing it out. He has long days with no study time. Boards are looming over his head, and our upcoming move is to. We are looking forward to life after book work! We are in search of a place to live in Utah and aren't having much luck yet. It is of course more expensive, but everyone is looking for tenants now or in May. We are hoping next month will be a little better. If we don't find somewhere I may move early with the girls and leave Nathan here on his own. But we would prefer to leave together. The girls are healthy and happy and growing like weeds. I'll have to do some posts about each one individually soon. We have just two months before we leave, and I am starting to feel the crunch on having everything ready to move. I am remembering how stressful moving can be. We look forward to settling down someday without a move every two years...someday! So I know words are boring, so here are some fun pictures of our past 3 or so weeks. Enjoy!

We are trying to have more movie nights with the girls. Here they are watching Bolt. They both loved the movie, and of course the popcorn!

We got an early spring and were out enjoying it through most of March. Ariah loves to hit the ground with sticks!

I took a picture of our early blooming daffodils to rub it in to all of my sisters who were getting winter weather still!

I never made that bragging post due to this! Snow!! After our flowers were blooming! But Aida was so excited. This was really the only snowfall that was worthy of playing in. We had temperatures around 0-15 degrees whenever we got snow over the winter, so we didn't play in it. Aida ran right out and made this snow angel!

Ariah loves this little car, and preferred playing it than tromping around in the snow.

Here is our snowman, or more-so slushman!

Ariah loves wearing her rain boots, but they fall off easily. Here she is running around the house in just a onesie and her boots.

Aida blowing bubbles, why on the floor? Who knows!

Ariah's first ice cream cone. Well first cone that was all hers!

Aida enjoying her ice cream cone.