Catherine Jacobson Walther aka "Catherine the Great"

I am only posting a brief post for now. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to get more here later.

Grandma passed quickly over the last weekend. She maintained her independence until the very end. Last week she slept a lot, but managed to continue to move around the house and eat some food. She was in pretty good spirits and continued to make us laugh. On Thursday last week the Hospice nurse and I talked about her and she said she really felt like she had a few more months in her. That almost broke my heart, because it meant we would probably have to move out before she went.

Friday morning she got up and showered with her aide Nubia (the best aide ever!) and was up to the bathroom on her own. Friday evening when I took her the last of her pills I helped her get her stockings off and she attempted to get out of her recliner to get to her chair. She was unable without my help, in fact she almost did not make it into the bed. It took an hour for me to get her situated that night, between shortness of breath and the lack of mobility. As soon as I got her into bed I told Mike what was happening and called Dad. We determined that we would rearrange her room the next morning and get her a hospital bed from Hospice so we could help her more.

During the night she got up about 3 am and managed to get herself back to the recliner. She was very confused and disoriented, and once again it took all of my strength to get her back to bed. Mike and I were up early and started rearranging the house, and trying to keep grandma safe. Grandma did manage to ask very clearly if we needed to call Cathy, and I told her Dad was coming and we would contact Cathy as soon as we felt it necessary. She moved into the chair for a while, and by the time mom and dad came it took two of us to get her back to bed. Saturday her speech was almost unintelligible, occasionally she would go to great effort to get out a word or two. Mostly she slept.

It took all day to get a hospital bed, but in the mean time Susie (one of the wonderful Hospice nurses) came and helped me toilet grandma (we were doing bed changes at this point.) All day long we worked on ideas to get her from one bed to the other, but when the time came she rallied enough to stand up and turn. Ever the lady, she did not want to inconvenience anyone.

Saturday night we got to be late, and around 1:45 am she managed to get to a folding chair next to the bed. Fortunately Dad was staying upstairs for the night and heard her knock some statues off the dresser. He ran and got me and we put her back to bed. She stayed in bed for the rest of the night, and we all got some rest. Early in the morning she Dad and I changed her again (much to her mortification and Dad's) and got her settled in bed. Susie had told us if grandma had a TIA (mini stroke) it would resolve within 24 hours, and by Sunday morning she was talking better and back communicating better. We thought she was going to rally again! Sunday afternoon an aide came and helped to once again get her clean and comfortable. What a blessing once again.

All day Sunday Grandma was very uncomfortable and moving a lot. We tried hard to relieve her pain and make her comfortable. By evening she was breathing hard and coughing a lot so I decided to check her oxygen saturations. She was in the mid 70s and I realized that things were going to happen quickly. Dad had returned after church and I had him start making phone calls. I called the Hospice nurse on call and he gave us instructions on medications that would help decrease Grandma's pain and agitation. Once Jay arrived and they gave her a blessing we started the medication. We gave her a dose at 9:45 pm and her agitation decreased measurably. We were able to give them to her every 4 hours after that, and each dose seemed to make her more comfortable. At 5:45 am I gave her a final dose and sat with her until 6. Then I went to feed F. While I fed F Dad went to check on her and found that her breathing had stopped.

I can not express the wonderful help that Hospice has been to our family. The nurses and aides have been kind to the kids, to Mike and I, as well as helpful with Grandma. Nubia has been so kind, especially to S. Every morning for the last few weeks he has run up the stairs to great her yelling, "I talk to Nubia!" Then when we would find her he would clam up and be shy. Nubia would talk to him and play with him for a moment before starting to attend to Grandma.

One lovely month....OK, now it is two...

I started this post for weeks ago. Lol. Nice, but I never finished it, in fact it never got past its title.
So here she is and her two months glory!

Life is good, but crazy busy. C is still on  home and hospital, M is almost done with 6th grade, S is almost 2 and proving it daily, and little F is trying to figure out this crazy world.

Other than that things are about the same: lots of laughter, very little sleep, and miracles daily! What more can a girl ask for?

Elkins Reunion

We are in charge of the Elkins reunion this year with Mike's sister Ronda. We are really excited to have a reservation at the SUU mountain center. Just thought I would post a few of the details for the family to look at.

M went to Klondike

M went to Klondike a few weeks ago with our Riverton ward. It was so kind of them to invite him! They just sent us pictures, so I thought I would post them here so we don't lose them.

She is Finally Here!

I know, I know, no parent should ever wish for a baby born before 37 weeks. However, having two very healthy at 35 weeks makes going past that torture. Somehow, we made it to 38 weeks! I am so grateful that we did, because things have not gone completely smoothly.

Yesterday morning we saw my doctor at 8 am. By 8:30 we were checking in at Labor and Delivery. I was contracting (every 10 minutes or so) and dilated to a 5+. Hooray! Finally we knew we were not going home.

I continued to contract, and around 10:45 am the doctor broke my water. At that point I was a 6. At 12:09 (the nurse checked the charting for me) the doc checked me again and said I was a 7 and having regular contractions every 8 minutes. Doc said he was going to get lunch, but planned to see us within the hour.

Well, that is when things went wild. Instead of returning to the sitting position I had been laboring in I rolled onto my side. The contractions started rolling back to back, the pain was off the charts and I felt  everything change. The nurse started calling for the staff for delivery as I shrieked my way through each intense pain. My volume was so high the nurse couldn't get her pager to register calls.

I told her the baby was coming, fortunately she believed me, and started to push. She was amazing, she encouraged, unwrapped the cord from the baby's neck, and managed to keep me from giving up all within a couple of minutes! Fortunately, I was loud enough that the charge nurse also came running, and helped us get her out. Poor Dr. Smith walked back in the room just as the final push forced her out. Time of delivery? 12:29 p.m.

Yeah, that is the way we do it... Our poor little sweetie came quite blue with a fist against her face. A little oxygen and chest tapping got her back on track, but her face is still very bruised.

We got her back from the nursery an hour after delivery, and thought we were good to go. However, then her blood sugar began to drop.We tried a bottle, but it wasn't enough. She has been in the nursery since  about 6:30 last night. They stabilized her blood sugar with an IV, which she hates. She was so tired she slept all night, but has been nursing well today.

Because of the bruising the checked her bilirubin this afternoon, and started her on lights tonight. We aren't doing anything the easy way this time, but we are so grateful she is ok. These minor trials will hopefully be over soon, and we will all be on our way home. It has given me new found respect for friends and family who have had NICU babies- this is hard, but we have an end in sight.

Love you all! Hope you are well, and finding joy in your corner of the world! We are so blessed!

The kids are looking forward to holding our sweetie soon, even Stormond.

35 Weeks!

We are so lucky to have made 35 weeks again this pregnancy. There are lots of milestones in pregnancy, but for our family 35 weeks is a magic number. Both C and M were born in the 35th week with no complications and were able to come home right away.

We have been to Labor and Delivery 2 times so far: 31 weeks 3 days ( right after my last final) and 33 weeks 6 days. Both times they helped stop my labor, but now we are in the clear to deliver if we get started again.

We went in and were checked yesterday, I was 2.5 cm and 80% effaced. The baby is getting really vocal about each contraction I have. She is not enjoying being squeezed. We keep telling her there is a way to stop it, but so far no luck!

The kids are all well. Hopefully C is going back to school full-time on the 20th. S is still keeping us all on our toes, he thinks naps should be a thing of the past- but he,definitely still needs one each day.

M turned 12 and receive the Aaronic priesthood last month. It is so hard to be a December birthday, especially when mom has to spend the day flat in bed! He was a trooper, helping make his own cake from scratch!

C said it was only fair because I was too sick while pregnant with S to make her 12 year-old cake, so she made her own too. What a fine tradition!

We are so proud of the older kids and the way they are stepping up to help with S, making dinner, and even helping grandma.

Grandma is slowing down a lot the last few months. We hope she will continue to be healthy, but her heart is really having a tough time lately.

Love you all. More pictures soon!

Happy Halloween

Here's hoping I actually get this posted in the next week or so...
Had a test for school today, so the kids got to watch S on their day off school. Lucky them! He has had a bad cold, so they are lucky he is such a happy guy. Even when he feels horrible he is sweet and cuddly!

Our excitement for the day is visiting Mor-Mor, trick-or-treating at Dad's office, and then M is going trick-or-treating with friends while C goes to a Hunger Games Marathon, I don't think she will make it through both movies, the Mono is still reeking havoc with her fatigue level.

I wanted to add pictures, but they are still only on the camera. Here is the post anyway...