T-I-R-E-D...and a little annoyed

Last night sucked. Brooke went to bed at 8:30. I went to bed at 11, but couldn't fall asleep because it was SO windy and the noise bothers me. I drifted off sometime between 11:30 and midnight. Brooke decided at midnight that it was time to wake up. I tried giving her blanket to her, but that didn't work. So I took her in bed and rocked her to sleep and laid her down and 2 minutes later she woke up again. I laid her in bed beside me and she immediately at up and started smiling and tried to get me to play. Very odd for her! I thought maybe she was hungry because she didn't drink much of her bottle before bed, so I made her a bottle. It was 12:30 then. She drank a few ounces and I got her to sleep. I laid her in her crib and she woke up at 20 after one. I tried putting her in bed with me again, but she was wide awake. So then I tried putting her in her crib and turning her crib toy on (lights up and plays music) and thought maybe she'd drift off to sleep. Nope. Got her out of her crib and she drank a little bit more of her bottle and I finally got her to go to sleep again at about 2:00. Laid her down beside me instead of in her crib and went to lay down myself and smelled it. Yes, she pooped. In the middle of the night. So weird. Of course then I had to WAKE HER UP to change her! GRRRRR. And then I had to rock her to sleep again, which took until almost 2:30. I figured maybe, for some odd ODD reason, she'd woken up because she had to poop (and maybe her belly was bothering her, even though she wasn't fussy). This time I laid her in her crib...and she stayed asleep. Whew. By this time, I felt like I was wide awake and did not fall asleep again until 3:00. The kids were both up at 7. UGH.

And I am a little annoyed. We go to Sears for the kids' pictures. I LOVE the one lady there, who happens to be the manager (sometimes she gives us deals just because she can : )), so we always request her. She just does so good with the kids. When I picked Brooke's 9 month pictures up, they told me if I scheduled the next appointment that I'd get 2 free sheets at that visit. So I went ahead and scheduled Brooke's 1 year pics for on her birthday, this past Thursday. At the end of the week before, I called in to see if it would be possible to get Mary to do them, but she wasn't going to be there that day. So I rescheduled for today at 5:30. They called this morning to tell me that she wouldn't be in today because of a family emergency, but she would be there all day tomorrow and wanted to know if I wanted to come in anyway or reschedule. I rescheduled. This happened for her 9 month pictures, too, except then it was because the day before we had a bad ice storm and Mary wasn't able to get home (she lives over an hour away), so she stayed with someone here overnight and the next day she just wanted to get home to see her daughter because she missed her. That day, I just said the heck with it and went in anyway. Brooke did good for the other lady, but we tried to get Ryan and Brooke together and this lady just could not get them to cooperate. I think we'll have better luck with Mary. I want to try to get them together again, as well as her 1st birthday pics, so I decided to reschedule and hope Mary has success, lol. I'm not annoyed at Mary...I'm just annoyed in general. I was hoping to go and get these done tonight, but now we have to wait. Oh well. Hopefully the wait will be worth it!

So there are my vents for the day. I need a nap!

Happy 1st Birthday, Brooke!!

Wow. How does a year go by SO fast??

Unfortunately, Brooke is sick AGAIN. She'd just gotten over this last bout and now she's coughing again and has even been throwing up here and there from all the mucous : (. This started Tuesday night. No fever this time. I'm hoping she'll be good to go for her party on Saturday!

Brooke reached some new milestones this month. She can now pick up small pieces of food (she loves fruit puffs!) and get them IN to her mouth, lol. She's been able to pick them up for awhile, but didn't figure out the "getting them in to her mouth" part until about 2 weeks ago. She has also had her first two teeth break through her gums within the last couple weeks! She loves "blowing kisses" back and forth (which is really just her smacking her lips...so cute). She'll do it and then wait for you to do it back and then do it again. She's starting to clap, but not correctly yet, which is SO cute. She either ends up patting the top of her other hand instead of her palm, or her arm. LOL. She has this really fun Fisher Price toy that has a big mirror on it and she figured out right after she got it a couple months ago that what she's looking at in the mirror is actually behind her and she loves to look at people in the mirror and then turn around and smile and "talk" to them. She thinks it's the coolest thing! That's one of her favorite things to do lately. She is very good at smiling at you while doing something she's not supposed to be doing (and she knows it)! Even if you're telling her "no", she still just smiles away. Little stinker. She is such a fun baby now that her little personality is really coming out (although she's already making think she's going to be a much bigger handful than Ryan has been!). As I was just typing this, she climbed in to her bouncy seat and STOOD UP in it at the gate it was sitting beside! Ryan was never this adventurous, lol.

It's hard to believe how tiny she was when she was born (although she seemed big to us after having 2 one pounders). She's come so far this year! I knew she wouldn't be as behind as Ryan was, but I never would have dreamed that she would be doing everything almost right on time! I am so blessed to be able to say that we have not one, but TWO little miracles now! How did I get so lucky :*).

Here are pictures of her birth to now! You should be able to click on the links under the pictures to see them bigger. These aren't really that great as far as size comparison because they're taken from different distances and stuff (I wasn't very consistent, lol), but you can definitely see how much she's changed!


http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/JenDZR99/Brooke/BirthdayCollage1.jpg


http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/JenDZR99/Brooke/BirthdayCollage2.jpg


http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/JenDZR99/Brooke/BirthdayCollage3.jpg


http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/JenDZR99/Brooke/BirthdayCollage4.jpg

Brooke's Birth Story (cont'd.)

You can read the first part here that I posted one week ago.


The doctor came in between 6:30 and 7:00pm that night and checked me and I was about the same, 2-3cm. Around 8:45 that night, my contractions started coming closer and getting stronger. After about 15-20 minutes, my nurse came in and asked if I was feeling them and if they hurt more and I told her yes. So she went to call the doctor. She said he was in the O.R. He must have been on his way up because he came in about 3 minutes later to check me. He said I was 5cm and we were going straight to the O.R.!

The nurse started prepping me right away. I had to get the catheter in and also drink this nasty stuff from anesthesia that I guess neutralizes the stomach acids. In the meantime, I called Doug. He answered the phone and I asked him if he was ready to be a Daddy again. He was very surprised! I told him to come straight down because they were taking me as soon as I was ready. That was about 9:15pm. Then I called my mom quick and also 2 friends to give them the heads up. Anesthesia came in and I signed all the consents. I was feeling pretty confident that Brooke would do well (I was 27 weeks 4 days then and had had the steroid shots for her lungs), but I was VERY nervous about the c-section. My c-section with Zachary went very smoothly, but with Ryan, the spinal did not work right and I felt them cut me. I was freaking out so bad that as soon as they got Ryan out, the put me to sleep. While I was under, I had disturbing dreams and I felt like the world was ending. It was so strange and I hated it. Then I got pretty nauseous when I woke up. It was just not a good experience. Plus, I was worried about some other unforeseen complications, like hemorraghing or getting an infection afterwards or something. Anyway...

They got me ready VERY fast and took me to the O.R. I knew the spinal would take several minutes and it would also take a little bit for them to get everything else ready. I figured Doug would make it in time. All the while they were prepping me, the OR staff was joking around, trying to keep me relaxed and calm. They were pretty funny and it was nice that nobody was freaking out or anything over how early I was. One of them was even named Brooke! Pretty funny ; ). The anesthesiologist assured me that I would not feel anything and that I would not get the headache afterwards that I had gotten with both Zachary and Ryan (and he was right!).

By the time they were ready to start, Doug still wasn't there! I'm telling you, they were fast! It took Doug a little less than a half an hour to get to the hospital (but until you figure in parking and walking through the hospital and getting scrubs on, etc., it was even longer than that). He got there about 4 minutes after she was born. As the doctor pulled her out, he said she looked good. And then I heard her cry :*). The most beautiful sound in the world. I never got to hear that before with the other two. A couple minutes later, the neonatologist came over and gave me the "A-OK" sign and said they got her pink. I was expecting a Polaroid picture of her like I got with the boys, but instead I was told they were bring her over so I could see her. I couldn't believe it! And then there she was, all wrapped up in her little blanket with her hat on and only on oxygen! She looked wonderful :*). I got to say hi to her and give her a kiss. Right that minute, Doug came in and they let him hold her for a minute before they took her to the NICU. The look in his eyes was so awesome to see as he saw and held his daughter for the first time :*).

Prayer Request

Many of you probably already read MckMama's blog and are already praying for baby Stellan. For those that aren't aware of MckMama and her sweet baby boy, I want to ask for prayers and healing vibes for this precious baby.

While MckMama was still pregnant with Stellan, his heartrate became exremely high they diagnosed him with something called Supra Ventricular Tachycardia (SVT) and told his parents that he would not survive to be born. But they were wrong! He was born seemingly perfectly healthy! And he has been thriving ever since. A few days ago, however, during a visit to the ER due to being sick (coughing, wheezing, etc.), his SVT returned. They have not yet been able to get his heartrate back down to normal. It has come down periodically, but will not stay down. Along with all this, the meds they have him on to try to help him are making him extremely restless, manic, and even unable to sleep much. This little baby needs prayers! So if you feel so inclined, please pray. And feel free to snag the button and put it on your on blog to spread the word!

One year ago today...

...Brooke's birth story started, in a sense.

A year ago yesterday, I posted asking for prayers after finding out that day that my cervix was starting to thin. It didn't mean I would go in to labor right away, but I had a bad feeling and got extremely nervous. I was given procardia to take to keep contractions at bay and put on bedrest.

A year ago today, I was admitted in to the hospital in preterm labor. My mom had come over to help with Ryan. Things were going fine all day, until a little bit after Doug got home around 4. I started noticing some cramps that were coming and going every few minutes. Then I started noticing lower back pressure, same feeling I had when I went in to labor with Zachary and Ryan. I called L&D and they told me I should come in if I was worried. So off we went. The doctor examined me and I was still about the same as the day before, but I was having some contractions. They started me on another oral med and also ended up putting me on magnesium sulfate (through an IV). My bloodwork came back showing a high white blood count, so antibiotics were started as well and I had a Group B Strep test done. Obviously, I was admitted. I got the first steroid shot to help mature Brooke's lungs that night and the 2nd dose Thursday night. The mag made me SO sick. I couldn't open my eyes due to double vision and dizziness. It also made me a little nauseous and it made my mouth feel like it was filled with cotton. I got a very short break from it Thursday morning when they shut it off for about an hour because I was so sick. That was short lived. During this time I was contracting about every 30-60 minutes. Friday morning they cut the mag, but I was still on the 2 oral meds. My last contraction was at 11:15am on Friday. They moved me to a postpartum room that day since things were stable. Saturday my bloodwork still wasn't back to normal so he kept me until Sunday. Sunday (Easter) morning when I was hooked up to the monitor for an hour, I had a couple mild contractions, but they stopped as soon as I emptied my bladder. The doctor came in to examine me and my cervix was still the same as when I went in Wednesday night. My bloodwork was good, so he let me go home, still on bedrest (of course).

Not long after getting home I started noticing that I would feel like I had to go #2 every time I would stand up or sit down to pee. I was only having a contraction here and there, though, and was told not to worry unless I had more than 4 in a half hour or 6 in an hour. I called L&D that night around 8 to describe what I was feeling and was told it could be how the baby was laying and not to worry since my contractions weren't regular. I didn't get much sleep that night because the feeling kept getting more intense and then I started contracting more. By 7am, I knew I had to go back in. By the time we got there I was contracting every 5-10 minutes. The doctor came in to see me and we found out there was a tear in my cervix behind the cerclage and I was about 2cm dilated. So once again I was being admitted (NOT that I wanted to go home). I got a shot of brethine to stop the contractions and it worked FAST (and the side effects were MUCH better and WAY less brutal than the mag). I was put on total bedrest and had to use a bed pan.

The contractions did end up starting up again, but would only come about every 30-60 minutes and sometimes not even that close. Early Tuesday morning around 3am when I used the bed pan, I discovered I was bleeding. They alerted the doctor, but he assumed it was just from the tear in my cervix. I wasn't really actively bleeding, but every time I would use the bed pan and wipe it was there. I thought maybe Tuesday would be "the day". But when he came to see me in the morning, he didn't even examine me. He did come back in the evening and checked me then and everything was still the same. The blood was very unnerving to me, though, and it didn't help when at around 1am Wednesday morning, I bled a large amount on the bed pad. But it was only one time and then everything went back to normal. Before that happened, my nurse came in and asked if I was feeling the contractions because they were closer and stronger, but I hadn't because I was sleeping. She asked if I maybe needed to use the bed pan and I did and that's when we discovered the bleeding. Then she positioned me on my left side and the contractions lessened again.

Once again in the morning, the doctor didn't check me. All that day I was really nervous because Brooke's heartrate started dropping during contractions. It wasn't dangerously low or anything, still on the low side of normal and it came back up pretty quickly and the nurse assured me she was okay, but I didn't like it because she hadn't been doing it before. Maybe it was a sign of things to come.

To be continued, next Thursday.... ; )

Beautiful day!

It is SO gorgeous out today. Sunny and warm...it really feels like spring! Too bad tomorrow is supposed to be crappy : P.

I thought I should pop in and give a little update on our sickies. Ryan is still coughing some, mostly at night and first thing in the morning. Brooke is still coughing a little bit, too, but not as much. She's finally eating really well again and sleeping through the night, too. I'm still coughing a tad, but mostly just when I get a tickle in my throat...I HATE that. And still blowing my nose a good bit. Yuck. Of course, it's March and spring is nearly here and NOW is when we all get "the cold that won't go away". LOL. As long as everyone is feeling completely better by next Saturday (Brooke's birthday party...eeek!), I'll be happy : ).

Brooke was very proud of herself on Monday. When she first started to stand up at things and was falling all the time, I decided to block off the entertainment center with a couple baskets, one with her toys in it and another with blankets in it....to try to keep her from falling and hitting one of the sharp edges or corners. On Monday, I walked in to the living room to find her standing IN the basket with the blankets in it, holding on to the shelf on the entertainment center! Of course I had to hurry and grab the camera and then she "posed" for me. LOL.



What a stinker ; ). (The baskets have now been moved...lol.)

Sleep!

I got me some last night : ). Brooke went to sleep around 8:30 and I went to bed at 10. For some reason it took me FOREVER (at least an hour) to fall asleep, but once I did, I wasn't woken up until 5am! That's when I woke up to pee, lol...and Brooke happened to wake up at the same time. Not fussing or anything, she was just up. At first I thought she was going to be a good girl and go back to sleep, but finally around a quarter to 6, I put her in bed with me and she did go back to sleep until about 7. BIG BIG improvement over the last several nights! A few more nights of that and I should be caught back up ; ). I'm still feeling tired today, but nowhere near like yesterday or the day before. My cold is on it's way out, so that's helping me not feel as crappy, either. Of course, AF has decided it's *her turn to come visit, so I'll probably be dealing with her by late tonight/early tomorrow : P.

Blah

That's just how I feel today : P. I haven't had a good night's sleep since Saturday night and now I've been sick with a cold since Tuesday evening. I just feel drained. I think I'll be taking a nap this afternoon.

The good news is, Brooke is doing a lot better! She is no longer wheezing and has hardly been coughing and she's been drinking a little bit more today. Of course, being sick hasn't really kept her down AT ALL, besides being a little more fussy the first few days, especially when her temperature was up a bit. She's still on the go and in to everything. But I'm just so glad that the wheezing is gone : ). Now we just need to work on the sleeping through the night again, which I'm sure will come when she's completely all better. Last night was definitely better than the previous few nights, but she was in bed with me from midnight on (much like Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights) and I never sleep well when she's in bed with me, especially now that she's more mobile and I worry about her waking up and somehow falling off the bed. So I wake at every little movement. And she is a total BED HOG, lol. But she didn't wake up crying as much last night. I still slept like crap, with being sick, though. Four nights in a row of being up with a sick baby sure does take a lot out of you, especially when you're sick yourself! Taking care of a sick baby is definitely no fun, but it's even worse when YOU'RE sick and taking care of a sick baby.

So that's today's update! Hopefully tomorrow I can come on here and tell you that she slept all night in her crib and we both got a good night's rest. :::crossing fingers:::

Wheezy

That is Brooke's nickname for the day. She's been wheezing almost nonstop, but her cough seems to be improving. I've been giving her smaller amounts of formula more frequently because she just doesn't want to drink more than a few ounces at a time. She's also had a few (TMI) diarrhea diapers last night and today. Not really sure what that's all about. Despite all that, she has been acting like her normal old self today, minus being a bit more "dramatic" when she falls or something doesn't go her way. She's as active as ever, which probably doesn't help the wheezing, but it's not like I can tie her down. LOL. Last night we both slept a little better than the previous 2 nights, getting a couple 2 hour stretches in in between the waking up. But still not great. Maybe tonight will be even a little better than last night. If she's still wheezing like this tomorrow, I'm going to call the doctor and see if he wants to see her again. Oh and she has been fever free since around 8:00 last night : ). So that's today's update! Hopefully tomorrow's will be even better : ).

Doctor Visit

Does that look like a sick baby or what? : (

I decided to call the doctor's office this morning to see about getting Brooke in. Last night she started wheezing some and it continued on and off this morning and her cough just sounds terrible. It's not like any Ryan's ever had. It's like a high pitched, short "bark" and you can tell it hurts her to cough. She's not really coughing much at all, but when she does, it sounds bad. Between that and her fever coming and going, I figured it was better to just have her checked out.

The doctor said she has tracheal bronchitis and wants me to give her breathing treatments 3-4 times a day and call him if she's not better in a day or two or if she develops stridor and it doesn't get better by taking her out in the cold air. I'm really hoping the treatments do the trick and she doesn't get any worse. I'm also hoping maybe somehow she'll sleep a bit better tonight. Last night was terrible. She was up at least once every hour. I had her in bed with me, but the only way I could get her to go back to sleep was to sit up and rock her. She wasn't even hardly coughing, she was just so restless and kept waking up crying : (.

We could really use some get well soon vibes and restful sleep vibes over this way, please!

The sickies are back

Ugh. Isn't winter over yet??

Ryan started sounding like he was coming down with a cold Friday morning. That night he spiked a little bit of a fever, but it was gone by 3am. He's still coughing some and sneezing here and there, but he's doing well.

Last night Brooke started. She was extremely restless from the time she went to bed and I could tell her nose was a tad stuffy, so I just knew it was coming. She woke the first time at 11:30, right as I was falling asleep. I lost count, but she must've woken up about 6-8 more times between then and 3:15. At that time I noticed she felt warm and took her temp and it was 99.9. I gave her some Tylenol and put her in bed with me. She was still very restless and kept waking up. I think I got about 3 hours of sleep total. I felt so bad for her : (. She was miserable.

We got up around 8:00, when Ryan woke up. Brooke still had a slight fever, but it's gone now. She's coughing and sneezing a bit and just not quite herself : (. Hoping it doesn't turn in to anything worse! She's still trying to be her happy-go-lucky self and it's so cute to see her trying to act spunky when she is not feeling well!

She's no dummy!

The other day, Ryan was trying to play with one of his toys and Brooke was pestering him, so I blocked her in the dining room with some of her toys to give him a little peace. LOL. First, she stood there yelling at him. LOL. It didn't take her long to figure out she could do this...












She was quite pleased with herself! Ryan was not enthused. LOL.

P.S. One of her bottom front teeth (left one) is poking through her gums! I can only feel a tiny point...I hope it comes in fast, lol. I'm excited!

Another then and now

I bought some baby clothes off someone on a message board I post on when I was still pregnant and she sent this bow along with a few other little extras (very sweet!). I just had to put this on her when she was teeny tiny to see how silly it looked! This was taken in August 6th, so she was just over 5 months old.



And here she is wearing the same bow last week. It just so happens that it perfectly matches her birthday dress, which I purposely cropped out of this picture because I don't want to share on here yet : P. LOL. I may order a smaller bow (without a headband) that's brown with pink polka dots and see how that looks with her hair up in a little ponytail. Not sure yet.

I had her in for her monthly synagis shot(s) yesterday (yay, only one more month now!) and she weighed 16lbs. 8oz., so she gained 8oz. since last month (on the 4th). She's getting there, slowly but surely!

Wordless Wednesday

Birthdays!

The cupcakes you see as the background are in honor of March Madness Birthday Month. LOL.

24th - mine
25th - my brother-in-law
26th - Brooke
28th - my mom
31st - my dad

AND my mom and dad's anniversary is March 8th! Craziness. Brooke just couldn't hold out another 6 days to avoid the birthday rush...the nerve! ; ) LOL. Hey, at least she got her own day! I was first admitted with her on Wednesday, March 19th, in preterm labor. I got to go home Easter afternoon and was readmitted Monday morning, on my birthday. I was starting to wonder if she was going to end up being my birthday present! But she held out through my birthday and through her uncle's and got her own day : ). We're having her birthday party on Saturday, the 28th, which is my mom's birthday...but she doesn't mind. I'm 99% sure that her cake is going to have an edible image on it ~ a picture of her all dolled up in her "birthday dress", since I can't think of a theme to do for her. Then we'll just do pink and white and balloons and decorations. I seriously cannot believe that I'm already planning my baby girl's 1st birthday party : (. :::sniff sniff:::