*Will and RJ film a small family vlog and Will talks about what has happened to him medically. Thank you so much to Rami-Is-A-Sweetheart for helping me write this! Enjoy! Love • Bree 💚*

It has been a crazy few weeks in the Shepherd-Aguiar household!

Luca turned two on April 4th, Arya and Oliver were born on May 7th and June was full of lots of graduations!

Benji graduated fifth grade, Averie graduated kindergarten and Theodore graduated from pre-kindergarten!

It has been a few weeks into summer vacation and Will, RJ and the kids have been enjoying it together! The best they can with baby twins anyway.

Three weeks ago, Will, RJ, Benji, Coralei, Averie, Theodore, Harlow, Luca, Arya and Oliver all flew to Florida to spend much needed time with their family for two weeks.

The vlog starts with Arya and Oliver laying on a light green blanket and they are doing tummy time.

*Arya and Oliver's outfits*

"Hi, Ari. Hi, Ollie. You two are really doing well with tummy time! Yeah!" Will says in a babyfied voice at the twins.

Will then films Dobby, Astrid and Sammy all laying on their beds before he begins to film himself sitting on the couch. Will smirks at the camera before he waves hello.

"Helloooo! Long time no see! I know RJ or myself have vlogged anything since we filmed us heading to Florida for a few weeks to see family. We did vlog some in Florida but not a lot because we just really wanted to hang out with our family and just have fun. It was so nice to see everyone and for everyone to meet Arya and Oliver in person." Will says as he yawns.

"If you are wonder where the other kids are, they all outside playing with the slip 'n' slide with RJ so the twins and I can nap. Clearly, Arya and Oliver aren't ready to nap yet." Will says with a chuckle.

"But while the older kids are busy and not listening, I wanna talk about what has been going on with me health wise because a lot has happened. It has been crazy!" Will says as he fixes his glasses.

"So as you all know, Arya and Oliver were born on May 7th, which made them three weeks early. We originally had a c-section date, which was May 16th but because of my blood pressure was rising pretty quickly during the last few weeks of my pregnancy we upped the c-section date by a few days. With my blood pressure rising and my risk of having a placenta abruption just like I did with Luca, my doctor and her whole team all decided to deliver the twins on the 7th which was on a Saturday, they didn't want to wait for that Monday. I felt so bad interrupting everyone's weekend but I'm so thankful to have a doctor that listens to her patients thoughts and feelings because she knew how terrified I was to have another placenta abruption even though the chances were still extremely low. Luca and I almost died that day so being pregnant again was terrifying to me to be completely honest but I love and adore Arya and Oliver, I couldn't imagine our family without them in it." Will says to the camera.

"So on May 7th the twins were born and a few days later we all went home, happy and healthy. Literally once the babies were born, my blood pressure went down and back to normal, which I was so thankful for because I've heard stories of people having blood pressure problems even after having their babies or it starting to rise after birth, which is called postpartum preeclampsia. I wasn't officially diagnosed with preeclampsia but it would have gotten to that point if we waited to deliver the twins." Will says as Arya fusses in the background.

"Sorry, Arya wants to join me and Oliver wanted to nap so he is in the pack 'n' play sleeping." Will says, kissing Arya's cheek.

"After the twins were born, we mainly stayed home, unless the kids had an activity or school function to go to. June was busy with the school year ending and hanging out with all of our friends. With the pandemic, we really haven't hung out with a lot of people. So now, with almost all of the kids vaccinated we can! Theodore, Harlow and Luca have one more covid shot to get while Avy, Cora and Benji are fully vaxxed and Benji just got his booster. Teddy, Avy and Cora can get a booster soon, I have to check when. I don't think Harlow and Luca can get a booster yet because of them being too young." Will says thinking about the kids covid shots.

"Anyway, so Benji is a middle schooler now, which I cannot believe, Averie graduated kindergarten and Theodore graduated pre-kindergarten. So next school year we will have a sixth grader, a second grader, a first grader, a kindergartener, a pre-kindergartner and a preschooler. Yeah, we are super busy," Will says as he chuckles.

"So almost four weeks ago, RJ, the kids and I all flew to Florida to visit our family. This is a trip we take every single year for the summer to visit and spend time with our family since we rarely see them throughout the year. We really like to go to Florida a few weeks in the summer. We all get to Florida and we are busy every single day with activities and just going to house to house visiting everyone. This trip was special because this was Arya and Oliver's first ever trip as well as all of our family got to meet them in person for the first time." Will says with a big grin.

"So after two and a half weeks we left Florida to head back home and everything was fine. Obviously we all had a little bit of jet lag but after a few days everyone was back to themselves. However, I was experiencing severe migraines. Back to back for almost a week, it was awful. I've had migraines before and these were so much worse. I couldn't do anything. Poor RJ had to watch the six older kids plus the twins and it was a lot. Luckily the older kids played at the neighbors houses during the day and had a blast while RJ stayed here with me and the babies. So as they days went on, I started to panic because I was thinking, maybe my aneurysm bursted or was about to burst. Migraines don't last this long unless something else is wrong." Will says as Arya hiccups a few time, causing Will to smile.

"Let's back track for a minute just incase any of you are new here, In 2008, I discovered I had a fusiform brain aneurysm on my left vertebral artery. I was super young at the time, I was 19 and I wasn't with RJ yet, we got together the next year. So medicine at the time wasn't as equipped back then to handle aneurysms which really sucked because to be honest I would have gotten it taken care of way back then. In context, a dangerous aneurysm is 7mm in diameter and mine was 13mm, which is fucking crazy. I don't know how survived that long before finding it and then surviving all of this time with it." Will says as he rocks Arya and Arya lays on his chest.

"The risks of the operation they had to treat an aneurysm back then were greater than the risks of just letting it be, so I decided to wait and monitor the aneurysm to see if it grew. Obviously fast forward to now, a lot has happened in my life. I  graduated college, I moved across the country, I've gotten married, adopted Benji, then had Coralei, Theodore and Harlow back to back after thinking I couldn't get pregnant. All of their pregnancies were easy and their births were a breeze, I'm sure you all watched their birth vlogs. We adopted Averie but that was after Luca was born but she came in our home right after he was born, literally a week later. I got pregnant with Luca and the pregnancy was fine until I hit 33-34 weeks, I forgot which week this happened. I wasn't feeling him move much one day and I was diagnosed with a placental abruption which we both could have died from, but luckily my incredible doctor saw what was happening and saved both of us. A year after having Luca, I found out I was pregnant with the twins, which was a complete shock because we were done having kids after Luca was born even before his traumatic birth happened. With multiples you are considered high risk anyway, so I was monitored like a hawk until Ari and Ollie were born in May." Will says to the vlogging camera.

"So back to my aneurysm. I told RJ we should go to the emergency room just to make sure I'm not about to die here at home. How traumatic that would have been for the kids, you know? One minute Daddy is fine and the next minute he is dead. So we called some of our friends and they came over to watch the kids for us while we went to the emergency room. At the emergency room, the doctors discovered my aneurysm grew to 18mm from 13mm which is a lot of growth for an aneurysm but not really with all of the time that passed, I guess, I don't know much about this kind of stuff. So, I contacted the doctors back in Florida, Shands Hospital in Gainesville to be exact. This was the same team that  discovered my aneurysm way back in the day, and they said I needed to get an angiogram ASAP. At first, they wanted me to fly back to Florida to get this done but due to the situation being intense and life threatening, they decided against it and they would just have to communicate with the hospital I was already at." Will says as Oliver cries in the background.

"Sorry, Oliver wants to be held now. Arya is sleeping on her Boppy pillow next to me. Don't worry, I'm watching her she won't fall. Please don't be the parent police and tell me what to do. Anyway, so a few hours later, I had the angiogram done, where they opened my femoral artery in my thigh and stuck a camera up to my brain to scan the aneurysm. The doctors said my aneurysm was so large it should have already bursted, and I was living on borrowed time if I didn't seek corrective treatment immediately. After the doctor said that, I literally was panicking because I obviously don't want to die. I didn't want to die back when I found out about it and I sure don't want to die now when I have 8 young children, two of them being newborns and a husband. My kids needs both of their parents and not lose one because I didn't do anything to fix this aneurysm, you know?" Will says as he tears up.

"So last Friday, I decided to do a procedure to get rid of this aneurysm once and for all. The procedure was to go under anesthesia to insert a stent into my aneurysm. This procedure was INCREDIBLY risky and had a high chance of death, coma, paralysis, loss of vision, speech, balance, the list goes on and on. I was terrified to my core that firsts would be my last day alive. Thankfully the hospital let RJ bring all eight the kids and I was able to hug and kiss all of them and just made them feel loved. RJ and I didn't tell them about how risky this procedure was and that I could die from it, We didn't want to traumatized them, they would have been traumatized enough if I died." Will says wiping a small tear that fell.

"However, I am very lucky because the procedure went perfectly, and I now have a stent that stretches across my 1.8cm aneurysm, and in three months, once the blood clots properly around the stent, my aneurysm will be officially cured. I can now stop worrying if I'Il see 40 or 50 due to a stroke and start realizing I just might live to see my hair turn gray, well grayer than it's getting now. Having eight kids gives you lots of gray hairs! By the grace of some higher being, or just sheer luck, I've managed to cure my aneurysm before something truly terrible happened to me and I'm so grateful for the love and support that everyone has sent us during the past week. It has been so amazing. A lot of of friends have been awesome with helping with the kids and buying us meals so RJ doesn't have to cook so I can just rest and heal. Thankfully I'm on maternity leave so I don't have to worry about working right now and my job told me I can take more time off if need be which I'll probably do because I want to spend time with the kids. I haven't been able to for about two weeks wish me having the migraines, me being in the hospital and now me healing from this procedure." Will says to the vlogging camera.

Arya coos and tries to look at the camera, but obviously her eyes don't see more than eighteen inches away yet, though she is interested.

Will takes a deep breath as he thinks about what to say next, as that was a lot to talk about emotionally and physically.

"Arya likes the camera. And she coos a lot more than Oliver, he's a sleepy boy. They have strong personalities for only being two months old." Will says and chuckles softly.

"So, it will be a bit of time before I'm back to
normal. But my migraines have been improving, and using a green light helps." Will explains.

Theodore comes into the room suddenly, but Will finds out it was just that he'd left his favorite teddy bear in there, and he soon left and went back outside.

"Why is RJ letting Teddy bring his bear outside. It's going to get so gross." Will huffs a little.

"RJ is consider the fun parent because he lets the kids do just about anything. I do as well, but sometimes you can't do something and that's okay." Will says to the vlogging camera.

Will vlogs Oliver and Arya cuddling on the boppy pillow together. Oliver and Arya are now sleeping.

"Dobby is doing well. He is getting older, so he is sleeping a lot more than Astrid and Sammy who are much younger than him." Will says to the vlogging camera, filming the dogs all laying together.

Sammy looks up when he hears his name mentioned, but soon looks back down and slowly wags his tail.

Averie then comes into the room and watches,
hesitant to say what she wants. Will notices and turns to face her, leaning back in his chair.

*Averie's swimsuit*

"Hi, Aves. Is there something you needed?" Will asks her quietly.

"Um, yeah.... I just didn't wanna be outside anymore. But I don't wanna be alone, can I sit with you, Daddy?" Averie asks softly.

Will nods and lifts her onto his lap carefully,
reminding her to be quiet since the twins are
asleep.

"Did you have fun playing with the slip 'n' slide today?" Will asks Averie as he kisses her cheek.

"Uh huh! But Papi didn't make it soapy enough so it was a little hard to slwide!" Averie says and Will giggles.

"Yeah, Papi and I forgot to get some soap at the store for it. And Papi keeps forgetting he has to put it on the small hill we have in the yard so it's easier to slide down." Will says and Averie giggles.

"Yeah! Bubba told him and Papi moved the slwide but it still didn't work right." Averie says to Will and Will giggles again.

"Does Papi know you are inside now?" Will asks Averie and Averie nods.

"Ari and Ollie sleepy Daddy?" Averie asks Will softly and Will nods.

"Mhm! It is their nap time but they weren't tired just yet so they both just went down for their nap." Will says to Averie as he vlogs Averie admiring her baby brother and baby sister.

Averie loved having a new baby brother and sister, she loved all her siblings. Even when the twins currently just coo and do tummy time, Averie helps them whenever.

"Do you love taking care of Arya and Ollie?" Will asks Averie with a smile.

"Yeah, I wanna be a mommy or babysitter when I gwrow up." Averie replies and then gets a little shy when she notices the vlogging camera.

"You will make a great mommy when you grow up. You, Coralei and Harlow!" Will says to Averie.

"And Arya too, Daddy!" Averie says to Will with some playful sass.

"That's right and Arya too!" Will says with a grin.

Averie smiles at Arya and Oliver and gives them each a kiss.

"Aww, that was so sweet Avy." Will says tenderly to Averie.

Just then Luca and Harlow walk into the house together, wrapped in their beach towels.

*Luca and Harlow's swimsuits*

"DADDY!" Luca yells happily as he runs over to Will, Averie, Arya and Oliver.

"LUCA! We can't yell!" Harlow yells at her little brother.

Will makes a nervous face and shushes the loud kids, but he knows things like this happen sometimes.

Arya and Oliver start to move around and fuss,
Oliver wakes up this time and Arya goes back to sleep.

"Guys, the babies were asleep. And now Oliver is awake." Will says strictly but gently.

Benji walks in after his dad said that, picking up Luca so he won't start crying.

*Benji's swimsuit*

"Sorry, Daddy." Harlow and Luca both apologize and Luca looking very sad.

"It's okay, just please try not to do that next time." Will explains to the kids.

Just then, Coralei, Theodore and RJ all come inside and walk into the living room where Will, Arya, Oliver, Averie, Luca, Benji, Harlow and they dogs are.

*Coralei and Theodore's swimsuits*

"Where did everybody go? You left Cora, Teddy and I outside!" RJ says playfully to Averie, Luca, Harlow and Benji.

"Oops, sorry, Papi." Harlow giggles.

"Sorry, Papi!" Benji and Averie both say in unison to RJ.

"Oops!" Luca says as he runs over to RJ and hugs him.

RJ smiles at his kids and looks over at his
newborn son.

"Mister sleepy boy is now awake, is he? He sleeps a lot. His sister loves to stay awake more." RJ comments, picking up Oliver and holding him away from his wet clothes.

"Yes, babies their age need like 14-15 hours of
sleep a day." Will adds playfully to RJ and RJ smiles at him

"That's a long time to sweep!" Theodore says,
hugging his teddy bear.

"Well, babies sleep for long periods of time but as they get older they sleep a few hours just like you six do." RJ explains to Theodore.

"Did your teddy bear have a fun time swimming?" Will asks Theodore and looking at the damp brown teddy bear.

"Yes! But he dirty and wet now!" Theodore says to Will and Will chuckles.

"I'll put him in the washer and dryer for you okay?" Will says and Theodore nods but then frowns.

"I don't want him to fall apart." Theodore says in worry.

Theodore has talked to classmates before about their stuffed animals falling apart and this scared him because he loved his teddy bear very much.

"He won't fall apart bud. I promise. I'll put him in the washer and dryer all by himself." Will explains to Theodore, calming the five year old's fears.

"Thank you, Daddy." Theodore says and puts his teddy bear down on the table near Will.

"No problem, would you like to say hi to the vlog?" Will asks with a smile.

Theodore nods and finds the camera before waving happily at it.

Harlow, Luca, Benji and Coralei all walk over to where Theodore is and they all wave as well.

"Whatcha vlogging about?" RJ asks Will as he kisses Will's forehead and then kisses the babies.

"Just an update of everything! Like Benji graduating fifth grade, Averie graduating kindergarten, Theodore graduating pre-kindergarten, us going to Florida for a few weeks and finally about my surgery." Will says to RJ as the kids play with the vlogging camera.

RJ playfully puts a hand to his chest as he looks at the kids.

"Ah, my heart. Our babies are growing up so fast." RJ says with a cute pout.

"I know, it feels like just yesterday they were
all babies and toddlers. Now we have two more." Will agrees, glancing at Arya, who's still sleeping, and Oliver, who's on his back, cooing.

"I like vlogging." Coralei says to her siblings
quietly, making funny faces to the camera.

"Me too!" Averie says as she stands behind Coralei and makes silly faces too.

"This is turning into quite a family vlog, isn't it?"
RJ asks and laughs a little.

"Yes, it is, but we do show what goes on in real life a lot." Will says back with a grin.

Oliver makes noises at RJ, gurgling a little as he tries to focus his eyes on his Papi.

Will gently rubs his hand against Arya's hair, smoothing it down. Both Arya and Oliver have head fulls of hair. Arya has brown hair like Will and Oliver has black hair like RJ.

"Well, I guess that's what we've got for this vlog.
Again, thanks so much for the love and support,
everyone, and we will see you next time." Will
says to the camera and ends the video.

"We should do something!" Coralei says with a big grin.

"Yeah! We should all get out of the house!" Benji says out loud.

"We should, but Daddy really should stay home and relax. He just had surgery." RJ says with the kids.

"Going out will make him feel better! Right, Daddy?" Averie says to RJ and then Will.

"Well, not necessarily. It's safer to stay home right now." Will tells Averie.

"But when my head doesn't hurt so much and I
have more energy, maybe in a few days we can go out together with all of us." Will explains.

"Oh. Can we do something at home, then?" Coralei asks curiously and Will thinks about it for a moment.

"Yeah, we can make food, maybe. Like chocolate covered strawberries or guacamole and salsa." Will answers.

RJ nods, knowing the kids wouldn't need much
help with cooking either of those, so it would be less energy consuming.

"Oooo chocolate strawberries sounds really good!" Benji says with a big grin.

"I wike those too!" Luca says as he dances around happily.

"We can have ice cream sundaes too!" RJ says happily.

"Yay!" Benji, Coralei, Averie, Theodore, Harlow and Luca all say in unison.

Benji, Coralei, Averie, Theodore, Harlow and Luca all change into some clothes before they run back downstairs and head to the kitchen!

Will and RJ place Arya and Oliver into their pack 'n' play to nap and they follow the older six kids into the kitchen.

Will, RJ, Benji, Coralei, Averie, Theodore, Harlow and Luca all happily spend time together :)

Will posts a picture of Averie, Luca, Benji, Arya, Theodore, Oliver, Harlow and Coralei all sitting on the master bed together. Benji is holding Arya and Theodore is holding Oliver. All of them are smiling.
shep689 forever grateful being their dad. ❤️ so lucky and happy to be there for them without worrying about dying due to my aneurysm

Will posts another picture of RJ sitting in a hospital chair and he is smiling at Will.
shep689 thankful for you, always. I love you, @damnitrj. thank you for being the greatest husband I could have asked for ❤️

Will posts another picture of Arya and Oliver laying on his chest and they are both sleeping.
shep689 cuddles with my babies. they are growing up so fast 🥺

RJ posts a picture of Will smiling at RJ as he sits in his hospital bed.
damnitrj You did it, baby! No more aneurysm! You are one of the strongest people I have ever met and I love you so fucking much! ❤️

RJ posts another picture of Harlow, Benji, Luca, Theodore, Averie and Coralei all dipping the strawberries in the chocolate.
damnitrj Making chocolate covered strawberries with the kids! 🍓🍫 Making memories!