Really summer

Now that we've been to the pool for the first time, it really feels like summer.

Saturday Chris worked until 4:00 so we decided to meet at the pool for a couple hours as soon as he was done. I told the kids the good news at 12:30 and 7 minutes later they had their swimming suits on, and were happily collecting their new goggles and towels. It was a long afternoon to wait but it was worth it. At 4:00 we loaded up the double stroller and went to pay. The pool guy looked at my big group and said, "Um, we have a 1 adult to 3 kid ratio here..." As I started to chuckle, the second worker said, "Are they all yours?" and then let us in. What else could he do? I was well aware of how difficult it would be to watch six kids... luckily Chris was on his way.

The pool was so much less crowded at 4:00. Maybe we'll plan on heading then every time we go... especially if Chris can join in the fun. Ryan, Katie and Emily dashed off to play in the deep end. Megan, donned with arm floaties, splashed around like a fish and Luke couldn't help but just smile to be in the water. And to add to our perfect pool evening, our friends (with six kids) joined us unexpectedly. Now that it's really summer, we're looking forward to many more trips to the pool.

So sleepy

This is the magic blanket (hand tied by my 2nd grade class when I was teaching and pregnant with Ryan)... the one that makes him toasty warm and puts him right to sleep... that or he's still a newborn and just likes to sleep a lot.

After bath pictures

Matthew after his bath.
2 weeks old... 8 pounds 15 ounces - 21 inches

Last Day

Every day around 4:00 looks a lot like this. I say "Are the kids home?" and Megan and Luke run to the front door and peek out the windows while Luke says 'Ry-ry, Ry-ry!' with a huge smile. Then I breathe a sigh of relief knowing Megan and Emily will be inseparable and Luke will follow Ryan around. But now they'll never part again. SCHOOL'S OUT FOR THE SUMMER!

Best buds

There is a baby at my house. He is a nice baby. I like to point at him and say 'baby'. When he cries I put on my surprised face and then point at him and say 'baby'. I like to say 'baby' all the time. Daddy tells me to say 'Baby Matt'. I say 'Baby Mah'.

I get so excited to see the baby. Sometimes I see the baby across the room and get my lips puckered up and ready before I run to him to give him a kiss. My mom and dad smile when I do that. I like to kiss the baby on the head or on the foot. Sometimes I kiss the baby over and over. Sometimes I get so excited to see the baby that I don't know what to do with my excitement and I slap the baby on the head. Mommy says 'no-no' with a frown but I still like to do it again.

When the baby is on the floor I like to be a bridge over top of him. I like to lay on him too. Mom doesn't put him on the floor very often.

The baby has a swing in our house. He likes to swing. I like to swing too. One time the baby let me sit on his lap for a swing. I like the baby to swing really big so I help to push him. I say 'Wee-wee' and then mom says 'no-no'. I think the baby will like to swing big but mom doesn't think so.

I like to share with the baby. One day I gave the baby my very favorite horse figurine. I put it right on his chin so he could see it. Mom laughed and was glad I placed it on him instead of throwing it on him. I like to throw things. Dad is happy that I like to throw balls. Mom isn't happy that I like to throw toy cars.

The baby has a soother. I like to have a soother. Baby lets me have his. Mommy doesn't like it when he shares with me.

Whenever I come over to see Mommy feeding the baby, Mom puts her free hand up in front of the baby -- just in case. I like to hit the baby and mom while mom tries to grab my hand to stop me. Mom tries to talk to me and sing songs but I like to hit and try to roll on top of them instead.

Mom says that I will kiss, lay on, share with and hit Baby for a lot of years... and that we will be best buds too.

18 months old today

Like clockwork, after the big kids go to school and Luke has eaten his cereal and watched Backyardigans with Megan, he wanders into my bedroom to come find me. Then he spots the big bathtub in the master bathroom and suddenly he can think of nothing else. 'Baf Baf Baf Baf' he repeats over and over until I turn the water on. He's so excited he can hardly stand it and sticks his arms in the stream of water usually getting his pajama sleeves soaking wet. Megan comes out of nowhere, and jumps into the bath, already naked. She knows the routine. Then they splash and play for a half hour while I straighten the bathroom and sit at the computer. When they decide they've had enough they pull the plug and scream for towels. Megan wraps herself in a towel... sometimes only her bottom half ('like dad') and sometimes her whole body ('like mom') and parades upstairs to find something wonderful to wear. Because I have a stack of size 5 diapers in my bathroom, Luke gets a new diaper on and spends the next half hour running around in his diaper while I say "Go get a SHIRT" hoping he'll bring back something adequate. Sometimes he does. Sometimes Megan helps. Sometimes he stays in his diaper until I walk over and get something... like today. I say 'ready, set' and he says 'Doh' as I throw him on the bed. Then I tickle him and he wants to do it over and over and over. Today he jumped on the bed and got in the covers. Say 'cheese' I said. And he did.

Don't grow up little baby.

I spent so long wishing that time would speed by until little Matthew arrived. Now that he's here I want time to stop, or at least slow down a bit. Just let me hold him and smell him, and hear his little newborn cry a little longer. Don't grow up little baby.

I am treasuring these days with my newborn. He is such a good baby. He sleeps a lot. For the past six nights he's let me sleep 5 hours straight and then another 3 after he eats. And last night it was 6 1/2 hours straight. He loves to be cuddled up in a blanket. We've figured out the exact right way to wrap him up with the exact blankets and he's set for the night. Even during the day when I want a nap, I just wrap him up and put him in his little crib and he'll give me 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Thank you baby. He takes a soother well. He likes his little swing -- it makes him fall asleep. He loves being held. He sleeps in his car seat. He smiles in his sleep... a lot. It takes awhile to burp him but I enjoy him cuddled up on my shoulder. He has a 'angel's kiss' on his forehead that will stay for up to a year before it fades away. Every time I walk past a mirror while I'm holding him, I stop to really look at how small he is in my arms. He is a good little nurser. In fact, this is probably the best transition into nursing I've ever had. Still a couple seconds of ouch at the beginning there, but not bad at all. He doesn't cry much... but I like it when he does... it sounds so desperate and adorable. He grunts. He gets the hiccups a lot. I smile when he sneezes. I love this baby.

Ballerinas

The Columbus Ballet Conservatory had it's 'end of the year recital' tonight. We got a babysitter for Megan and Luke (they already went to the dress rehearsal the night before) so Chris and I could actually enjoy it. I took the girls early and Chris came later with Matthew and flowers for the girls. Then he left at intermission to make it to a stake meeting and the girls and I stayed to watch all of the dancers. So fun to have two ballerinas.


Katie spent the year in Ballet Level 1 and performed 'Heidi' to Minuette in G by Bach. She loved her costume... especially the headpiece. She really did a great job. Her teacher is recommending her for two classes a week next year. Congratulations Katie! We are so proud of you!


Emily spent the year in a Creative Movement Level 2 class, and although some days she wasn't super excited about going to class, she could hardly wait till the performance. Yesterday she said, "This is my favorite day ever!" She performed 'Cats' to the Broadway Cats music. It was adorable... and there may just be some muffled chuckling on the video we took of her. The whole class bumping into each other as they turned around... it was pretty funny. Emily knew her dance moves though and was a great little dancer. Emily, we are so proud of you!

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson just left on Thursday. We were lucky enough to have them here for a week. They watched the kids while Chris and I went into the hospital to have Matthew. They came to visit in the hospital and brought flowers. They took the kids home so Chris could spend more time with me. They went to a Mother Daughter luncheon (check Katie's blog). They celebrated Mother's Day with us. They made lasagna. They put kids to bed. They went to ballet. They drove the kids to school every morning. They watched Megan and Luke while we made frequent trips to the hospital. They brought books for the kids. They went to gymnastics. They held Matthew in his biliblanket. They went to Ryan's 5th grade success night. They made dinners. They went to Ryan's soccer game. They made a treasure hunt with treats. They watched movies with us. They went to horseback riding lessons. They got up early and let us sleep in.

And we loved having them. Thanks for everything Grandma and Grandpa.

My alien baby.

We've never had a jaundice baby before now.

When we left the hospital on Sunday, Matthew's bilirubin level was at a 9.8. They asked that we come to the hospital on Monday to get it checked again. On Monday it was a 15.6. Too high. Instead of having him admitted to the hospital for treatment under the lights our doctor said we could try out the Biliblanket PLUS Phototherapy System... a blanket plugged into a generator plugged into the wall that lights up his blanket producing the appropriate 'fake sunlight' to help his bilirubin levels go down.

So now he glows. We stripped him down to his little newborn sized diaper and wrapped his biliblanket around him and then covered him with blankets to keep him warm. He hangs out on our brown leather chair without much room to wander since he's basically plugged into the wall.

When the kids came home from school on Monday they thought it was a bit odd that Matthew was glowing. Yep, I said, he's my alien baby. -- And you should see him light up our room at night. He glows in the dark!

On Tuesday we went back to the hospital. His bili level was at 17.1. So another day of the biliblanket. Feeding him while plugged in is getting old. Burping him is even harder. Today we headed back to the hospital. Bili level down to 16.7. Getting better.

Hopefully that means only 24 more hours with an alien baby.

Coming home

In the hospital

The kids were so excited to come to the hospital they could hardly stand it. Before I had even moved from the delivery room to the mother and baby wing they were here to meet their new little brother. I was holding him as they ran in the room. They crowded around and seemed to simultaneously 'ooooh' and say 'he's so cute!' Luke ran in with just as much enthusiasm only he had no idea what he would find. He was pleased to see me sitting there, and then a little shocked to see what was in my arms. But after pointing and saying 'baby' he seemed just fine with the new turn of events. My nurse handed all the kids "I'm a big brother" and "I'm a big sister" stickers which they wore proudly. Everyone getting their turn to hold the baby definitely took a lot of time but was priceless. A family of eight... sounds perfect.

Matthew's Birth Story... from the both of us

Chris' sixth delivery story...

"After sleeping in Ryan's bed (also known as the pregnancy bed) for the last time, I woke up to my cell phone alarm at 5:00am. I called the Labor and Delivery unit to see if we could come in and they told us they were expecting us. We showered and headed down, arriving at about 6:00am. They were anxiously awaiting us as no one else was laboring at that time. In fact, they had already filled out most of the paperwork, guessing on what our answers were. The answers about use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco were easy for them knowing we were an LDS couple coming in for our 6th baby.

All the paperwork was finally finished in time for shift change. Then the interesting and somewhat obnoxious anesthesiologist came in and talked shop for about an hour, finding just enough time in between his stories, to consent Lisa and give her the epidural. However, we were not through with him. Her bolus dose and subsequent anesthesia was pretty much limited to the right side, with no effect on her left side. They finally got him back a bit before 11:00am and he adjusted the catheter and finally got a bilateral epidural.

Dr. Burchard had been in about 8:00am and consented Lisa and went over the plan for the day. She came back at 10:50am and checked her. She was at a 3 and 50% effaced. She broke her water, and then our nurse hovered over Lisa for the next few hours, providing extremely detailed documentation of everything that happened. At one point, we repositioned Lisa on her right side down, but Matthew instantly dropped his heart rate with the next contraction and had a hard time getting it back up. So I quickly moved her back to her left side and he recovered well over the next couple of contractions. That caused the nurses to stop the slow drip of pitocin just in case he kept having problems. However, we would not need the pitocin to be turned back on. Lisa had regular and steady contractions and seemed to be progressing well. Dr. Burchard checked her about 2:00pm and Lisa was at a 4, 70% effaced, and -1 position. I think Lisa was frustrated she had not progressed farther along.

She kept having regular contractions, but started feeling them from that point on in her left lower pelvis and throughout her back. It was really frustrating to her, and was not helped by the fact she was stuck laying on her left side through everything. She never does well on her back when she is this pregnant because of the compression on her IVC and her inability to breath adequately. We finally tried her on her right side down again (although I was against this decision.) Matthew immediately started acting up again and this time I didn't wait for any nurses to help. I just maneuvered her back to her left side and Matthew once again recovered well over the next few minutes.

The contractions seemed to increase in intensity and frequency then. Dr. Burchard checked Lisa again at about 3:30 and she was at a 9 and 90% effaced, but still at a -1 position. Lisa kept trucking through contractions for about another 40 minutes and then said she had enough. She called the nurse in saying she felt pressure ( the magic words) and the nurse checked her. She was a 10 with a thin rim of cervix left, but she had Lisa push and Matthew's head came right down. So she called Dr. Burchard and set the room up. Lisa was pushing by about 4:25 and it took longer than usual. Matthew was applying extreme pressure to Lisa's left lower ribs with contractions and it stopped Lisa from breathing well during contractions and therefore limited her ability to push. After a few more pushes than she is used to, however, the head was delivered and we were not surprised to see a large amount of curly black hair. One more set of pushes and he was delivered at 4:47pm.

They got him cleaned up and finished up with Lisa over the next few minutes. Again, Elastigirl did not have a tear and did not require stitches. Matthew weighed 8 pounds 9 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. He is a great looking baby. Plump and healthy and cute as can be. We already love him so much. He got his bath and then started nursing right away, seeming to know exactly what to do. The kids and Grandma and Grandpa Johnson came down about 6:45 and spent some precious time with him. It is so fun to have a newborn. What a great day. Lisa was amazing as usual. She was made to be a Mom. She is the best ever."


This is the sixth 'birth story' Chris has journaled. He gives a fairly accurate accounting of everything that happened but it seems to lack some of the drama and emotion that I have associated with it. Perhaps my additional comments might add some needed insight...

Indeed I have been sleeping in Ryan's bed for the past 5 weeks. It is our old queen mattress and it is ultra comfy and perfect to cradle my huge belly. Ryan was happy to sleep on the floor and be my roommate and while Chris was generally unhappy with the whole 'his bed - her bed' idea was happy that I was not complaining about a backache every morning and also enjoyed being able to keep his lamp on while reading into the wee hours of the morning every night before falling asleep.

We got to the hospital at 6:00am filled with excitement and nervousness. As we followed the nurse into our delivery room I glanced over to see the newborn station in the corner and got emotional for the first of many times that day. Counting down to the end of pregnancy was one thing... but thinking about holding my newborn in a matter of hours was something else entirely. I dressed and got settled on the bed while the nurses got ready for my IV. I hate the IV. The first nurse tried unsuccessfully digging around in my vein not realizing that she had bent the catheter or something like that. The other nurse tried my right arm while my left arm throbbed to the point that everything got dizzy and I threw up in the handy little container they grabbed just in time. Ya, me and pain, not good friends.

I was happy to see Mr. Epidural man come in the room, but when he realized Chris was the chief of Radiology it was all doctor talk and he could barely focus on me for a second. He even had to pause to take a call from a 'hot nurse' who he made plans with for that evening and then came running back in the room later to dig through the trash so he could find her number which was scribbled on a sterile glove container. He was amusing but it took longer to get the whole thing going than we had hoped. Luckily I was not having contractions through this whole thing or I would have really been ticked.

The epidural ended up working about 75 percent. My legs were entirely numb but a patch by my left pelvis could feel everything and I didn't like it a bit. It got increasingly painful as I dilated... especially since I had to lay on that side the whole time (since Matthew couldn't stand being on the right). My blood pressure was low several times so I wore an oxygen mask most of the day. Chris brought the chair over to the left side of the bed so he could talk to me and distract me through the constant contraction.

You would think that having done this so many times I wouldn't have been so nervous, but I think it's because I've done this so many times that I was so nervous. Because of the pain I was a bit impatient waiting for the go-ahead to start pushing. I called the doctor in and asked her if I could just start pushing now. I was at a 10 but he still needed to come down a little. I gave a couple of good first pushes and as soon as he moved down a little he stretched out his long legs right into my left rib. All my subsequent pushes were not nearly so effective. I could hardly breathe between pushes and needed longer to rest in between. 25 minutes of pushing and he was out. What an amazing feeling that is. I actually like the pushing part - minus the pain in the ribs, that is. It is pretty exhilarating.

Little Matthew was cleaned up and weighted. Chris took pictures while I watched from a distance... blissfully happy and pain free. I did it. Six times I did it. And now I'm done.

Happy to be here...

Introducing our 6th sweet little baby...

Matthew David Johnson

born on Friday, May 8th, 2009

at 4:47 PM

8 pounds 9 ounces

20.5 inches long

279 days pregnant

Ya, it's not pretty but it is me... about to explode. We can't wait till tomorrow.

Big Sister Rules

I had to laugh when I found this piece of paper with a list of Katie's 'Big Sister Rules'.

1. Give your attention to the little kids.
2. Let them pick the game.
3. Help them with homework, drawings and everything else.
4. Try to do everything their way.
5. You can laugh at them but sometimes you might not want to do it in front of them.
6. Make sure they're away if you are doing something fun without them.
7. Deal with their screaming, crying, tooting and burping.

What a great big sister you are, Katie! You'll have one more of them to deal with tomorrow!

Emily's Big News

This morning Emily woke me up saying that her tooth was hurting a little. I peered into her mouth and sure enough one of her bottom teeth was loose. We've never had a Kindergartener with a wiggly tooth! She was so thrilled.

All day long Katie shared her enthusiasm and Megan kept having me check her mouth as well. By bedtime Katie had convinced Emily that by just brushing her teeth it might fall out. Katie oversaw the whole thing, even being careful to plug up the sink so it wouldn't go down the drain...

All of a sudden screams of delight came from upstairs. The tooth was out. Blood had dripped onto her shirt and the sink and Megan started to get a little panicked... rethinking her own desire to have a loose tooth. I could hear Katie calm Megan down by saying, "Megan, it's OK, it happens to everyone." Isn't it nice to have a big sister who's been through everything before you?

Emily ran for the Tooth Fairy Book that Grandma Walton had given her for her birthday. Perfect timing! She found the purple velvet tooth holder, cleaned off her tiny tooth and put it under her pillow all the while jumping up and down and smiling.

Even better, she knew exactly what she was going to show for Kindergarten show and tell tomorrow... her new smile.

Ready and waiting

This newborn crib is an heirloom.

My father's parents received it from friends in Alberta, Canada in 1949 right before my dad was born, 60 years ago. (Grandma, I can't remember if you told me it was new or used then?!) They used it for each of their five children and then passed it on to my parents right before I was born. Each of my five siblings and I spent our newborn nights here. I can even remember where it was in my parents room, in the house we grew up in, when my younger brothers were born.

Right before I had Ryan, the crib was passed on to me and I have loved having it. Each of our children have slept in it. Ryan in Provo and Maryland. Katie in Maryland. Emily and Megan in Washington. Luke in Georgia.

And just last week Chris set it up again. He says this crib has seen it's last days. He says it looks old.

But I love it. I love that it has been painted and repainted and repainted. I love it's history. I love that my dad, my kids and I have shared our newborn slumbers within the same white slats. I love the connection. I love the tradition.

And believe me, I am counting down the days till we can put our sixth sweet baby in this little crib.