An Ulcer and Appendix

March was such a crazy month for us. It started with David having horrible pain in his stomach that would just not go away. He was in so much pain and I kept telling him to go to the doctor, but he was being stubborn. I was convinced it was either an ulcer or his appendix. He finally went to the doctor on a Monday and found out that he had an ulcer. The doctor gave him some numbing medicine and then some prescriptions to take. He then told him to go on a strict diet for 8 weeks, if he wanted to get rid of the ulcer completely. No sugar, carbonated drinks, tomatoes, fried food or anything with acidity, which it turns out is a lot of things! He was amazing at it and really stuck to it.  Even with all the yummy treats and other foods around that he couldn't eat, he stuck to it. There was a lot of grilled chicken and healthy shakes.  At the end of the LONG 8 weeks we had a celebration and had a few friends over to help celebrate.  We had all the foods that he hadn't been able to have...and I do mean all of the them. We had Popeye's chicken and fries, Iceburg Burgers, Pizza, Mcdonald's, and a few desserts, which included a Whipped icing cake from Sam's Club. $100 worth of food for one big exciting meal! The kids were all so excited and loved it!
Thursday, March 2nd I had gone to a friend's house for a girl's night and had been feeling great and eating all the yummy snacks, until about 10:00 that night. I thought I had just been sitting up too long and ate too much and was having some pains in my stomach.  I went home around 11:00 and David and I watched Impractical Jokers, which I was having a hard time laughing at because I was in pain. I was also throwing up all night, but I really just thought it was from the baby and eating too much food that night. I just figured it was another pregnancy pain, but I knew it was one I had never felt before. I had my check up the next day with my OBGYN and so I thought for sure I could make it until then and see what he said. I think I slept about 2 hours total that night. I had tried everything I could to make the pain stop and nothing was working. The next morning after one of the worst nights of my life, I called my doctor, but unfortunately I was put on hold and after 45 minutes I was in so much pain and started having contractions about 2 minutes apart, so David took me to labor and delivery at the hospital.  They checked me and saw that the baby was okay and said it wasn't labor, so they sent me to the emergency room.  It was just constant horrible pain in my stomach. They gave me some pain medication and were pretty confident it was my appendix. They said they would try an ultrasound to see if they could see the appendix. They said it was a low chance that they would be able to through ultrasound and if they couldn't they would have to do a CT Scan. On a positive note, we got to see little Scarlett again.  The tech was very excited when she saw the appendix and told us it was so rare during pregnancy to see the appendix and it was a huge blessing.  She of course couldn't officially tell us if it was the appendix, but was very confident. While we were waiting for the doctor to come and tell us, my doctor finally returned my call and said not to go to the emergency room and that I should be just fine. They said to just keep my regular appointment and come in. I am so grateful I didn't listen to them. The doctor/surgeon came in a little while later after I was in my room and told us it was in fact the appendix and they would be taking me to surgery within the next little bit.  He told us that unfortunately it was somewhat risky for the baby and that they would not be able to monitor her during the surgery. I was so out of it from lack of sleep and intense pain that I don't think it really registered what he was saying, but there was no way around it. I know David was more terrified than I was at the time, since I was on medication and my mind could just not wrap around the thought of anything going wrong for Scarlett.  So they took me back into surgery and about 30 minutes later, they were done.  Everything went great and Scarlett was completely safe and well after.  The doctor came to talk to us later and I told him it had to be kind of cool to see the baby inside me, but he said it was terrifying. Apparently it's 1 in 1,000 that this happens, while you're pregnant, so somewhat rare. They had to make 4 incisions in my stomach. Then he said they kind of blew up my stomach like a balloon, went in and took out the appendix. So now I have 3 nice scars to remember my first surgery.While David and I were at the hospital, my sister Trish took off work to go watch all the kids for us and I think there were some neighbors who helped out as well, but my memory is foggy on what all happened. I had to stay overnight, so they could keep an eye on me and the baby, but then I was sent home the next day. My mom had asked if I wanted her to come out and I said, "Of course!" and then started balling. I was so relieved that she was coming to help out, since I wouldn't be able to pick up P.J. or anything heavy for the next week and recovery would be a little bit, since I was pregnant. My stomach was so soar and I was in a lot of pain. It was hard to walk and I had to be on a strict diet along with David, but only for one week. :) I let my mom and David take over everything and just tried to recover and take advantage of the help and rest.  I was so grateful that my mom jumped on a plane and came out to help so fast! It was such a blessing.  I still can't believe all the illness and things that happened to me during this last pregnancy. Between surgery, wisdom teeth and the flu, it was a rough pregnancy. At least now I know if any of my kids have intense pain and throwing up, I will know what to do for them. ;)
While all this was going on, we also had Giselle and Kevin and their 2 kids move in with us for a few weeks, while their townhouse was being built. It was a somewhat crazy month all around, but we all survived and we are grateful for family and friends to be around to help.

February 2017

 P.J. loves cheese balls and Teddy loves eating his rejects.  Elizabeth can write her whole name and it is a long one! She is so smart and just loves school.

 Lizzy wanted to try a lemon and had a perfect reaction to it. 

We had to soak up the small amount of sun that we got in February. It was a brutal winter with a ton of snow, so we enjoyed anytime when the snow melted and we could play outside.  

 P.J. loved having his backpack on at all times for a few weeks and it was precious.

Sister Trip 2017

 Marji designed some cute things for sister shirts and I made them with my amazing heat press for all of us. 

All the DeVaux girls enjoying sushi and a painting night to celebrate Mom's birthday. :)

I decided that since I was pregnant with our 6th child, I should take a trip with my sisters. I wanted to, since I would have a baby attached to me for the next year. So we started planning and originally we were going to go to Dallas, Texas and do shopping and eating, but as it got closer we decided to just hang out in Arkansas and do a lot of shopping and eating there. It was so much fun! I was about 5 months pregnant, but that didn't slow me down. We spent a full day shopping at all the stores and we all found an amazing sale on boots and treated ourselves to those. There were pedicures, painting classes, shopping, eating and of course tons of laughs. We also all got massages from Molly, also. It was so great to see all my Arkansas family and get to actually have conversations with them without being interrupted by my kids.  It was just the break I needed. I left Wednesday, February 15th and went home the next Monday. Trish and Gabby flew out with me. Best flight ever. It had been a while since I had flown without a baby.  My feet didn't really appreciate it though. They swelled up so much from the flight! Good thing I had flip flops on or it could have been really uncomfortable.  It was great spending time with my family and being in Arkansas. David is a saint for letting me go and taking care of all the kids, while I was gone. I am blessed for sure. So glad to be so close to all my sisters as well.  I talk to each of them on a daily basis and we love comparing notes on the chaos of  being a mom to crazy kids.  

January 2017

 David got his Arrow of Light for Scouts in January and we had a great time celebrating with him with a nice short ceremony!

 Parker started tumbling in January and loved it. He is a natural gymnast.

 We got so much snow this winter. We got 10 inches over night. The kids loved playing in it. 

 Elizabeth got a fat lip...she fell off her bed in the middle of the night. Poor girl.

 Parker dressed up like an old man for the 100th day of school.

David got tickets to the Jazz game and so we had a date night. It was so fun and the food was delicious. It was box seats and free, which makes it awesome!

Thank goodness for Instagram so that I can keep up with all the things we did, so that when I'm a slacker with blogging I can look back and have some help with what happened that month.

 4 months

David taught the kids Dungeons and Dragons and they all love playing and it's cute seeing all of them work together.

 David built the boys beds and they are amazing! We still need to finish sanding, filling in the holes and painting them, but they are so neat and the boys love them.

 P.J. found a love for baby dolls this month and was once again sick for most of the month, so spent a lot of time snuggling with mom in bed.

 Biscuit hiding from Teddy in the boys room.

 We decided to go find out what we were having with our 6th baby and went to one of the Ultrasound places. It was so fun and the kids loved being a part of it. We found out we would be welcoming a little girl and complete the pattern! We were all so excited. A few days before Elizabeth told me, "we are having a girl and we are going to name her Scarlett." I had never thought of the name Scarlett, but she was pretty convinced and so we told her that we would think about it. It was so much fun to see her on the ultrasound moving around. She was being a little difficult to see if she was a girl, but eventually we all saw for sure that she was definitely a girl.  This was the best time of my pregnancy for sure. I wasn't too big and I was over all my illnesses from the past couple of months and had more energy too, but still required a nap a day.  

December 2016

 Tom the Elf brought the kids their annual Christmas pajamas.

 David Pascal turned 11 this year and celebrated with family and a went to see Star Wars with Dad at the theater. He also picked out a lemon cake from the store, since I was pregnant and once again sick with the flu. He is an amazing kid and we are so glad to have him as our oldest kids for all the other kids to follow after. He's amazing!

 P.J. really enjoyed watching the First Presidency Christmas Devotional and we all enjoyed watching Maggie sing and dance in her winter dance recital. 

 I put my new heat press to good use this year. I made the shirts on the top left for Pam and Micha.  I made my dad these socks that say his favorite quote, "Shhh...I'm reenacting Lehi's dream." They were a big hit for him! Then for mom and Sherrie I had each of the kids tell me what they love most about each of them and then made them each a blanket with what they said on it. Holy Crap, what was I thinking doing a project this size while pregnant with my sixth? But I did it and survived.  

Christmas came once again and it was as magical as all the years previous.  One funny and ridiculous thing that happened is that I forgot a few of Elizabeth's presents in my room. I kept thinking the whole morning that her pile seemed so small and that we were missing some, but thought I was just losing my mind. Then later that night we went to our room and there sat a whole pile of her presents.  So we called her into our room and showed her the presents we missed. She was pretty excited to have more presents to open, which made me think that maybe I should do this every year except on purpose! Make the magic continue the whole day.  We'll see. ;) David also took the kids sledding down at the big hill, since we got about 5 inches the night before. It was Trish and Gabby celebrating with us as well and we read Luke 2 Christmas Eve and had the kids act it out. Clearly I was out of my element with this pregnancy because I didn't get any pictures of the kids dressed up. The Flints were planning on coming, but unfortunately little Dax was sick again with RSV. Winter babies are so hard.  In the pictures below are the kids decorating sugar cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve and then us going to see Christmas in Color.

 Maggie's birthday was a lot of fun this year. I took her and one of her best friends, Ava, to get pedicures, eat at Red Robin and a little shopping. It is ridiculous how fast she is growing. She is the best helper, especially with Pierce. He even calls her "Da" and knows she is always ready to help him. She is a great girl and I love watching her grow.

 And finally came Dad's birthday. He got lots of new clothes and a half eaten Frozen cake leftover from Maggie's birthday 2 days before. Poor guy...by the time it gets to his birthday, we are all done with cake and don't really want anymore so he is a great sport and said he would take the leftovers. What a trooper!