Abram? Nope David!

Here is my awesome husband....27 years ago! Look familiar?

A Couple Pics

Here is a picture of Abram. He just got out of the bath so his hair was on the fluffy side. They say you take fewer pictures of the second child. So it would seem. I think part of it has to do with his being on oxygen also. For some reason I have a mental block when it comes taking his picture. He always has his cannula (the plastic nose piece)on his face. Rarely do we get to see our little man's face as it should be. We did the overnight test again last week. On Friday the doctor called back with the results. Although they were much better than last time, she wants to keep him on for another two weeks and then we will test again. His oxygen percentages were better, but he still had some apnatic episodes. If the test results aren't better this next time then we will have to do some further testing. Hopefully his lungs will continue to get stronger these next two weeks and we won't have to worry about it. Then I can carry around my little man without lugging a tank. We'll also have a serious photo shoot once the cannula is off. His poor skin is so irritated where the "stickers" hold the cannula up on the side of his face. I know that we are so fortunate to have him home, so I'll quit complaining!




Malia is being a great big sister. She announces several times a day that she is a big sister and loves to pat Abram on his head. She does get annoyed that I have to spend so much time holding him. The little guy eats constantly! She is getting pretty bored. It will be nice when it warms up some and we can get out of the house more. I really need to find some playmates for Mali. The other day I was downstairs feeding Abram and she was up playing in her room. I went upstairs to check on her and she was standing at the window, looking out so forlorn. She was calling out, "Allie? Allie, you come play with me?". Allie is our 21 year old neighbor who watched Malia while I had Abram! We are in serious need of a playgroup! Malia cracks me up every day. Here are a few of her latest....

"Shampoo"- This is Malia's version of Winnie the Pooh. I have tried time and time again to convince her that his name is Winnie the Pooh, but she is pretty adamant that the bear's name is "shampoo"!

"I farted"- Announced loudly, anytime, any place the event occurs. I have tried repeatedly to get her to at least say, "Excuse Me". No luck yet.

"Papa is at 'work'"- She actually puts the quotations around work! One night the Wallaces (Allie and Matt) were over and we were joking how they aren't doing a whole lot right now, since they are deploying soon. She picked up on it and now does it too often. I will have to break her of that once my man is serving in Afghanistan. Definitely not the kind of work that deserves quotations!

Whenever she coughs, she adds an "Achoo!". I think she has realized that the simple cough doesn't get much of a reaction. If she sneezes, she at least gets a "Bless You!" She is pretty good at giving a needed "Bless You" herself.

She is still obsessed with shopping. She wants to go everyday!!

Potty training is at a stand still. I made a half hearted attempt last week, telling her she could get stickers if she went on the potty. We were in the kitchen and she says, "I pooped. I get no stickers." Not upset in the least. Totally gets the concept, just not interested.

I know there are a thousand other amusing things that she says and does that I can't think of now that I am trying to write them. The point is that Malia rocks!



Most of David's family came to visit this weekend. Although they only got to be here for a short time, it was good to see them. My aversion to picture taking extends to everyone, I guess, because I didn't get a single picture! Oh, well. Maybe we will make it down there sometime soon.

Abram David Mata

It's a boy! On Tuesday, March 10th we were blessed to have our little man come into the world. He was born at 7:30pm by emergency C-Section. He weighed 6lbs. 3oz. and was 19 inches long.

Abram was exactly two weeks early. That Tuesday I woke up not getting the usual morning barrage of kicks. I took a shower, at which time he was usually quite active, and nothing. It was a hectic morning with a broken hose flooding my kitchen floor twice. I thought that maybe because I was so distracted, I was just not noticing when the baby was kicking. So I drank some soda and decided to lay down for a few hours.

At my last OB appointment, the midwife reminded me of counting fetal kicks. I don't remember it ever being a concern with Malia. I had asked the midwife in the appointment if it wasn't true that they do slow down near the end because they are getting so big. She said they did, but that I should still be able to feel at least ten kicks in a 2 hour period. I laid down and alternately chatted with David, Mom and Britt. Still nothing. All 3 of them strongly urged me to head to the hospital. I tried poking and prodding my belly. Nothing.

David got off at three and we headed over to the hospital. More than anything I was thinking that I was just being paranoid. They got me all hooked up to the fetal monitor and the heartbeat was steady and strong. I laid there for about 20 minutes thinking that I was a dumb girl and wasting these people's time. The nurse came back in and told me that the baby wasn't moving and that I had to be admitted. What!?! I tried telling her that I had a pot roast in the crock pot, hadn't even bought diapers yet, my living room was full of boxes, and that my sister wasn't coming until Monday! She basically said "Tough cookies!" and that I was having the baby.

I had never even contemplated the possibility of a C-Section and was terrified. Fortunately my neighbors took Malia and David was with me. Abram was born and swiftly taken from the room. I didn't even get to see him! His condition was so dire that the doctor didn't even call out what I had had! Remember how we wanted to be surprised? The anaesthesiologist was trying to find out for me. "You had a boy... I think." Calling out to the nurses, "It was a boy, right?". Craziness!!!

They took him to the NICU, not really knowing what the situation was. They knew he had an dangerously low blood count and that he needed a transfusion. However, the NICU on base is only able to administer Oxygen, which he was promptly put on. They sent down an emergency team from Children's Memorial in Colorado Springs. The nurse wasn't sure if I was going to get to see him before they transported him to Memorial. So less than an hour after my C-section I got myself into a wheelchair so that I could meet my little man. It's amazing what adrenaline and a mother's willpower can accomplish!!

I was in the NICU visiting him when the transport team came. They gave him a transfusion on the spot. My nurse took me back to bed and I thought my little man had left (we had yet to name him). The transport team then came into my room and let me hold him!! I was so grateful. The lady even pulled out her Polaroid and took a picture! We didn't even have a camera with us!

So David went with Abram to Memorial and I stayed at Evans (on FT. Carson). Needless to say, it was a rough night. A second baby taken from me immediately and whisked to the NICU!! I kept calling the NICU at Memorial trying to get updates. All I knew was that he was stable. The next morning they took blood from me to see if Abram had been bleeding into me. That was it. Turns out there was a fetal maternal hemorrhage. For some reason the placenta had been breached and Abram was losing blood. He had two more transfusions throughout that night. 20 hours after my C-section I was released from the hospital to go be with him.

He was on a ventilator and were not sure what kind of damage had been done. I wanted to know why it had happened. They said we may never know. They said that it can be caused by some kind of trauma- a fall, accident, etc. But none of those things had happened. On Monday he was moving perfectly fine, and then Tuesday nothing. They said that if I hadn't of come in, I probably would have lost my baby. Thank goodness for mother's intuition and the prodding of my husband, sister, and mom!! The doctor said they have approximately one case per month in the NICU with a similar situation. Who knew? Now I know first had the importance of counting fetal kicks!

The next ten days were pretty intense. Lots of testing to see what damage had been done. The short of it is... everything came back normal! Abram had been given a priesthood blessing and we were told he would be okay. So ten days later we got to bring our little man home. He is still on oxygen. Partly because the altitude and partly because his little body is still trying to recover from the traumatic beginning.

My mom and sister got here the day after he was born. I can't even begin to put into words my gratitude towards them. I'm pretty sure I would have lost it had they not been here helping us. They stayed for 10 days. They stocked me up on groceries, filled the freezer with meals, helped finish unpacking, and entertained Malia. Then a few days after they left, my aunt/friend Dianne came down from Idaho with her girls. They stayed for a week and helped out too. I have an amazing family and am SO grateful for all the support. Thanks to all of you that sent well wishes and prayers.

I am also so grateful to my husband. He was great. It was a super stressful time, but I am so glad that he was here for everything. He is getting deployed to Afghanistan in May. I am grateful that he was able to be here for Abram's birth. I love David with all my heart and am constantly amazed at what an attentive father he is.

Above all I am grateful for Abram. He is a great baby. Such a trooper. Even with all of the poking and prodding that has gone on since his birth, he is still a even tempered baby. They will continue to do testing. We had a cat scan last week that came back fine. In a few weeks we will have to meet with the cardiologist to make sure everything is still okay with his heart. Tuesday we will testing his breathing again. Hopefully it will come back good so that we can take him off the oxygen. It gets pretty old having to plug your kid in. It's like I have a 5 foot tether!

I know I have rattled on, but what do expect when it's been over a month since I have posted!! Thanks again to everyone! Pictures soon coming....