Guess who...

...is one month old today:

It is so hard to believe that she is a whole month old already.  I am slowly getting into the groove with two kiddos.  Some days are more challenging than others.  We had a big test this week a Austin came home early from school on Wednesday with a stomach bug.  It was a challenge to care for him and yet try not to spread the germs to Katy.  Luckily it only lasted 24 hours for him and he is back to his spunky old self, and so far Katy seems to not have gotten it.  Please keep your fingers crossed that we are free and clear. 

Katy is such a character already. She is full of expressions and definitely already has her own personality.  She hates diaper changes, seriously wails while getting a diaper change.  She loves nursing and her favorite spot is to snuggle up and nap at my chest.  We are trying to have her sleep in the cradle and now transitioning to the crib, but she does not like to sleep alone. 

Austin is a great big brother and is totally smitten with his sister.  He loves to give her kisses and pet her head.  Sometimes he forgets to be gentle when approaching her, but complies when reminded that he needs to be gentle.  He also loves to bring Katy the little blanky lovey that he picked out for her and place it on her. 

3 week weight check

We took Katy to her Pediatrician yesterday for a check up.  She was up to 6lbs 11oz which bumped her up from the 2nd percentile to the 6th for weight.  She was 20.3in long which puts her in the 35th percentile for height.  The Pediatrician was very pleased with her progress and said she was looking good in every other way.  I am so happy that she is over all the premie health issues and on her way to growing into a chubby baby!

Baptism

We had Katy baptized on Sunday since my in-laws came in and my Mom was still here.  It just so happened to also be Katy’s original due date.  My sister drove down for the service as we asked her to be Katy’s Godmother. 

My sister Cathy, and Mom on the left, Deacon Will, father-in-law Steve and mother-in-law Karen on the right

The actual baptism was a bit of a nightmare since it was super hot up on the alter and Katy screamed through the whole thing.  Austin was also insistent on coming up with us, which I was ok with, until he started telling me he had to “go poo-poo” and being insistent upon it.  I kept whispering to him that he would have to wait and he finally threw himself down on the floor crying.  I had to pick him up and carry him down to Grandma.  He didn’t end up going poo-poo, he just knows that usually that request gets my immediate attention. But in the end our precious girl is officially dedicated to God and the pictures look pretty good anyway.

The cake I made, it was strawberry with vanilla custard filling

My Mom crocheted her outfit

Giving her name in the back of church

Two and a half weeks

Katy is two and a half weeks old now and my head is still spinning.  In some ways I can hardly believe she is here and looking in her eyes is totally surreal, and yet it also already feels like she has been a part of our family forever and I can't remember what life was like with out her. 

We are settling into a groove and trying to grasp our new normal.  I feel a little blindsided since she arrived so early and I didn't have my time at home to nest and prepare.  My last day of work was supposed to be July 26, but she was born on July 24.  I get little things done here and there as I feel up to it.  I know I have to stop and take it easy though too otherwise I start to ache.  The hardest transition has been that we had not yet gotten Austin moved to his new room and we have been working on that transition, but it has been tough so far.  He loves his new room by day and plays in there, but does not want to lay by himself at night and go to sleep.  Every night does get a little better though. 

My Mom has been here since we have been home and it has been a huge help to have her here.  Since I was rushed into my C-section we didn't have anyone from our family here to watch Austin.  My sister and Mom drove down the day after and luckily we have good friends who picked up Austin from school and kept him that first night.  My in-laws are now in route and we are expecting them to arrive some time tomorrow.  My sister is also on her way back as we are having Katy baptized on Sunday and we asked her to be the Godmother.  She and my Mom will head home shortly after mass that morning.  My in-laws will leave next Friday and then one of my brothers is planning on coming in for the weekend with his family.  My other brother wants to visit as well, but not sure if they will be able to make it before Labor Day weekend. 

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Little Bitty

“A little bitty baby in a little bitty gown
It'll grow up in a little bitty town”

-Alan Jackson

In the wee hours of the morning on July 24 I woke up and was having terrible pain in my upper abdomen.  I got up and used the bathroom and laid back down and tried to get comfy and finally fell back to sleep.  I woke up again at about 4:00am to a raging monsoon thunderstorm and realized the pain was even greater and I could not position myself to get comfortable.  I got up and ran a warm bath and got in.  This is when I felt my tummy contracting, although the pain was separate and continuous.  I thought that I caught a stomach bug that has been going around town lately, but started to worry since it was starting contractions.  My biggest worry was that my Mom wasn’t here yet and wasn’t sure what we would do with Austin if I was in fact going into real labor.  When Dustin got up he came in and I told him what was going on.  We decided to call my OB office to see what we should do. 

 

 

Dr. Lunt himself called me back and I talked through my symptoms.  He said it sounded like I probably had the stomach bug, and yes it could cause the contractions.  He said it would probably pass in a day or two, but in the end he recommended that it never hurts to go into Labor and Delivery and be monitored just to make sure everything was ok.  We decided to wait until we could drop Austin off at school and then head over the 75 miles to the hospital.

We got to L&D and they started monitoring my contractions.  I still had  the horrendous pain in my upper abdomen/chest.  They had my start drinking a bunch of water so I could avoid an IV.  They also drew blood.  All indicators seemed to point to they would get me rehydrated and then we could go home to wait out my stomach bug.  Then around noon Dr. Lunt came in and said that the blood test showed that my liver counts were high (thus the abdominal pain) and my platelets were low.  These signs either indicated a failing gull bladder, or that I was developing pre eclampsia.  My blood pressure was a bit elevated, so that is what he was leaning to.  He said that the only cure for pre-e is to deliver the baby.  He checked me and I was no where near ready for delivery, and since I had a previous c-section he would not give me any induction drugs.  So the nurses began prepping me for c-section #2.

Miss Kaitlan Grace was delivered at 2:21pm (MDT) on July 24.  She was 5lbs, 9ozs and 18” long.  As soon as they had me closed up they wheeled me in to a L&D room where Dustin had Katy and I was able to hold her and nurse her, probably within 30 minutes of delivery which was way better than when I had Austin and they made me sit in a recovery room for over and hour by myself. 

We spent the rest of the week in the hospital and both came home last Friday.  During our stay Katy dropped weight and was 4lb, 13oz the last time we had her weighed.  We also battled low blood sugar levels with her, so we did some formula supplementation until my milk came in. 

They tested her bilirubin levels the day before we left the hospital and of course they were in the intermediate-high side so the Pediatrician ordered us to take her to our local hospital lab on Saturday to have the test repeated.  Again it was high, so we had to take her in on Sunday for a retest.  The doctor told us to keep supplementing her so she would poop a lot to help flush out the bilirubin.  We also put her in the sunlight for 10 minutes 3 times a day by order of the doctor.  On Sunday the levels showed a drop, so they said we could stop repeating the test.  Believe me this was such a relief as each test required a heel prick and then having the technician milk the poke until he filled a small vial with blood.  Her poor little heels are covered in marks from all the bili and blood sugar tests. 





We take her back to the Pediatrician tomorrow, so hopefully she has put on weight and any test they give her shows she is doing well.  She has been nursing like a champ, so we stopped formula supplementing on Sunday. 



We are absolutely smitten with our precious little bitty girl, she is the perfect addition to complete our family!

Nutshells to catch up

Ha, ha, ha, I started writing the post below on the evening of July 23rd.  Then a little something happened on July 24th that totally changed my life and I never got it finished.  More to come on the life changing event soon, but for now...


Wow, where is the time going?  I have so many things to share here, but life is running me over.  I have 2.5 days of work left and then I will be unemployed, by choice of course.  Maybe that will bode well for my blogging time!

So what has been going on, a LOT!


Dustin's assistant and her husband left the local Forest Service Office and moved to a new Office in Oregon to be closer to family since they just had their first little girl.  We hosted a going away party for them two weekends ago.  He is a firefighter and she was a range technician, so I came up with this for the cake:

The party was a lot of fun, everyone was talking about how great it was.

We grilled burgers, hot dogs and brats. Everyone brought sides to share and there was a ton of food.

We got Korin's baby a stick horse since she loved working with the Forest Service horses so much.

I have been working on crocheting hats for Katy.  I got all my patterns from the blog: allicrafts.blogspot.com

My hats for Katy

Source: allicrafts.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: allicrafts.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: allicrafts.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

I got a new book for my book club.  We are now reading The Night Circus.  I am a little ways in and so far kind of bored, but maybe it will pick up.

Swimming lessons wrapped up tonight.