Satisfying Simple Life!?: It's been a long Winter

Well it has been an eventful few months here on the farm. We have gotten ready for winter, Fall has came and gone and now we are in the dead of winter. I have had upwards of 3" of snow or more in my yard and white has become my most hated color right now. Utah (where I live) this week got a very unusual ice storm on Thursday. The inversion has made the air quality horrible. With that being said I have stayed indoors more then usual for the winter. This has made it hard to not come down with "cabin fever" which I have a pretty good does of right now.
Cold temperatures have set new recorders here also making it hard to be outside for any amount of time. There was a day not to long along ago that the mighty Provo River froze completely over. I have lived in Utah all my life and never seen or heard of that happening.

The river Jan 2013

Icicles Jan 2013

The mighty Provo 2013

What a View!!!!

Well to update all of you what is new on the farm a few things.
This snow and cold have not hurt our chickens laying patterns at all. We are still getting 8 eggs or more a day. Krik put up lights to keep them thinking it is daylight and it is on a timer that goes off and turns on at the best times. This has given the chicken a false sense of time and her laying is spot on still. The only problem is getting to the eggs before they freeze and crack. Some times that has not happened and we loose them. This cold snap has caused that to happen twice since it started. The chickens are warm though with the straw and heater they stay pretty well regulated and warm. If all else fails we know we still have protein from eggs to fall back on if we can't get to the grocery store for some reason.
Remember those cute bunnies we got this summer. Well we went through pains trying to make sure we had all male rabbits Turns out the very first rabbit we got was actually female. We lost a rabbit this fall, Camo went missing after getting loose, so we were left with Nibbles and Oreo. We moved their pen into the barn with the chickens for the winter and put a heater in with them. For those who are not aware, rabbits need to spend most of their time in a warm place so we set it up for them. So how did we find out that Nibbles was a doe? She had babies of course. On Thanksgiving of all days. A litter of 7 kits. They were cute and all. But we decided to let them go to good homes, by Christmas day they were all gone. She is nesting again so it is just a matter of time before she has another littler.

Well one more thing keeping me inside this winter and time of yucky air, Our new baby. I have had problems with this pregnancy after being involved in a car accident with a semi truck in Aug. I was 21 weeks along at that time. Frustrated and fearful for the baby I listened to my doctor in October and went on bed rest. This has been hard for me. Krik and the boys ran the farm and I got to watch from a distance most of the time. 3 months of bed rest and doctors appointments every three days or week I got to full term with the baby.
On Dec 18th they decided to induce me.

Labor Started

What the days looked like

My Awesome Nurse Alley

I went in at 7 am. by 2 pm we were having problems. The babies heart rate was dropping with each contraction and had been for the last few hours. They would stop the medicine and I would contract on my own still the baby was not doing well. By 2:45 I was ready and in the operating room. For those who have never experienced having and emergency c-section it is quite the experience It is quite scary as well. I was terrified. My 5th child and never had problems like this. By 2:55 the baby was born. I however, would not get to see him until he was 7 hours old. After they got him here their was more complications. He was not breathing well at all. They put in on a C-Pap machine in the NICU 2 unit at the hospital. I was stitched up and sent back to my room while Krik went with the baby and watched as they put him on the machine's to help him breath. By 4 hours old his lungs were still not functioning. They were like balloons that had gotten wet inside that when you go to blow up the balloon it sticks, even thought it will eventually blow up, it takes more effort. For a 4 hour old baby it was more effort than he could handle. They put medicine into his lungs to help lubricate it so his lungs would stop sticking. It worked but he was still not able to get enough oxygene to be off machines. If I ever doubted that prayer and blessings don't work I was made a believer by what happened next. .

C-Pap machine

Poo r Little one.

Hard as it was for me to believe Krik had a very hard time finding any one home to give our new baby a blessing. Finally after 30 mins of trying he found someone who answered the phone and two elders came to give our baby his very first health blessing exactly 6 hours and 45 mins old.. I prayed so hard that the baby be okay. I got the news after 7 hours of being alive that the news came they were going to transport him to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center who had one of the best Newborn Intensive Care Units in the State. I would be able to see him after I was released from Orem Community Hospital in 4-5 days.
Krik being Krik insisted that the nurse let me see the baby before he leave the hospital. I had not yet seen him and he would carry me down the hall if that is what it took. The nurse got me a wheel chair and I went to see my baby.
Now I have had time to reflect over the last four weeks and I can call this a Miracle. As I was wheeled in the baby was being prepared to get on an ambulance to go to the next hospital. Then his oxygen levels started to stabilize The doctor told the nurse to wait 15 mins. monitor the situation and if no change we would have to go. I held his little tiny hand and prayed again harder then before, if that was possible, that he be okay. By the time I left he was being taken off the C-Pap machine. He was not loaded into an ambulance but was very very close. These pictures were taken as I got to hold him for the time after 7 1/2 hour of him being born.