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Home at last!

We almost had to stay another day -- right before we were suppose to leave the nurse came in and let us know that our little one had some lab results that came back "abnormal" and that we would probably need to stay another day or two to make sure that the were on top of it. 

They drew some more blood from her and inserted an IV into her head (ready to give antibiotics and draw more blood etc.) and back to my room I went.

IV's in the head make moms cry.

Luckily a few hours later they came back and said the short term follow up results were good and that they would let us go home but we have to go back for more blood draws tomorrow to follow up on both her bilirubin and the other blood work that was done.

Before we left I took a picture of the kids all next to each other.  We have 3 of them.  THREE! We drove home in the mini-van (that's what cool people do when they have 3 kids).

After 5 days at the hospital it feels good to be home!

Inappropriate

Saturday the 17th came - and we were suppose to be to the hospital by 6:00 in the morning.  One thing to know about me, is that when I get nervous, I talk a lot, and when I talk a lot, I can't help but be inappropriate.

So typically when I am in a medical situation - like, let's say lying naked on the O.R. being filleted open - I tend to talk too much and make inappropriate jokes.    

Apparently I woke up all ready to go because this song was all ready playing in my head - and I sung it to Mark all the way to the hospital;

The Countdown

The last few weeks were full of lots of tests and appointments to determine when she would come out.  For a number of reasons the doctors wanted to take her early.  1- In case she did have any problems 2- Risk for Rupture: I had a large window on my uterus from my last c-section which puts me at higher risk for rupturing and having something catastrophic happen.

I was shooting for the 21st or 23rd -- (I wanted an Aquarius) ;)  but we ended up with January 17th.  We had an amnio last week that said her lungs were cooked and ready to go and the Dr. felt like it didn't make sense to leave her in there much longer.  We booked her appointment for Saturday the 17th and off we went crazily getting ready for her arrival!

3rd Trimester

Food: I started to eat normally again!  Except when heartburn hit me . . . and everything would give me heartburn - even CHOCOLATE! And with the holidays in full swing and all the good deserts around that was totally depressing.  I cried a single tear for every good dessert that I could not partake of!  I finally gave in mid September and started taking Prilosec OTC - which SAVED MY LIFE.  Throw the tums in the garbage and just get the over the counter stuff - it rocks!  

Life: We had super fun holidays with the kids and started getting ready for the baby.  As you all know I started posting some of our ultra sounds from the "Smokin' Hot Baby".  The Doctor's were following her closely so we started doing lots of detailed ultrasounds to track her growth and watch for soft markers for genetic disorders.  I also started doing NST's (non stress tests) to make sure she was doing well.

Oddly, with as much watching as she had - she was my healthiest pregnancy.  My blood pressure was awesome, my weight gain was awesome (but doesn't look awesome now that she is out of my body and I'm staring at the pile of mush that is on my belly). and she was growing bigger than my other two were.  At 34 weeks she was on track to being an 8-9 pound baby!

2nd Trimester

Food: Here is where I moved on to cheese quesadillas and Oreo shakes.  Oddly I was doing pretty good and hadn't gained much weight, no thanks to the pork extravaganza I had just put myself through.  I started to feel better about 20 weeks and got more energy.

Life: Just as I started feeling better life got a bit crazy.  As everyone knows my sister passed away the end of September.  She was diagnosed with cancer the first week of August, started chemo immediately, was hospitalized by the first of September and passed away in the hospital by the end of September.  

The same day the doctors let us know that Heather was probably not going to make it home from the hospital - I got a call from the doctor's letting me know that my AFP test had flagged me for a high risk of down syndrome in the baby.  We had completed an ultrasound earlier that day which also revealed that she had some cysts on her brain that were correlated with having Down Syndrome.  That was on a Friday.  I cried so much that weekend that my eyes were about swollen shut and I walked around with a cold wash cloth on my face to try to reduce my swollenness.  (don't think that is a word)

I'm glad that I was physically feeling better during this time and that I was at the stage of my pregnancy that I was so that I could be at the hospital with Heather and to be able to be with my family the way I was throughout the experience.  Oddly her death has been one of the most trying and amazing experiences of my life.  I've never learned so much about the way God works as through her passing.  

As you all know by now - the baby is healthy and doing great.  She does not have Down Syndrome or anything else that went a rye with the pregnancy aside from her jaundice which each of my kids have had.  She is sun tanning under the lights as I type.

1st Trimester

Or, first Porkmester - whatever you'd like to call it.  All I wanted to eat was bacon and sausage.  It was pathetic.  I went to my first Dr. Appointment and "if you do my blood-work and my cholesterol is high - it's because I've put myself on a pork only diet!. Don't worry, I'll stop soon . . ."

I think I only threw up once or twice, and once was because of food poisoning - but in general was super tired and mildly nauseous all the way to 20 weeks.  

Telling the Kids

We waited until July to tell the kids - 5 year old (at the time, now 6) had all ready been asking me if I as pregnant saying things like "Mommy, your chest chests look big - are you pregnant?"   That's what they are called at our house apparently . . . "Chest Chests"

We told the kids on our family vacation with Mark's family to Laguna beach.  We went on a walk on the beach before everyone else got there and told them in a cool little beach cave.  

They weren't as ecstatic as I thought they'd be - I think they'd been waiting too long and were like "finally!".  But my ever so smart little boy connected the dots too quickly and said "mommy, you LIED to me! I asked you if you were and you said no!".  To which I was like . . . "well buddy, that wasn't really a lie . . . ."  good parenting skills in action!

Pre-Pregnancy

Getting pregnant with baby #3 was a total leap of faith for us.  Our two kids are potty trained, sleeping through the night, mildly bearable in public, can feed and clothe themselves when necessary and are both in school (pre-school and kindergarten) and soon to both be in elementary school by the fall.  

As you all know Mark and I have our own businesses - and by most accounts I'm going to say that we have mildly unpredictable lives.  

We starting thinking about it in December and by May decided we were ready and we got pregnant that same month.  

It's amazing how decision making works - if we had decided to try in December like I originally thought - had we gotten pregnant we would have been due the week that my little sister passed away.  The timing of this little one has been amazing both considering the circumstances of our lives and the joy that she has brought to all of our family in a brand new year.  

Her original due date: February 8th 2009

How I told Mark: he found a test that I thought was negative in the garbage, and it had turned positive so he made me go take another one.  :)

Woulda Coulda Shoulda

Woulda Coulda Shoulda meant to blog more about this whole pregnancy and baby thing.  Not so much that you'd all want every detail - but at least I'd be keeping track of it somewhere!  

Now I've got some free time on my hands with an extra day in the hospital and the baby sun tanning under the "bili lights" for her jaundice so I figured I'd do some catching up.

I'll do it in a series of shorter posts so that I don't write a massive novel post.  Most will probably be pointless -- but bare with me -- or go visit another blog! ;)

Smokin' Hot Baby Gets Smokin' Mad!

As you all know - my 4D ultrasounds have revealed that I am carrying a smokin' hot baby!  Well, we made her smokin' mad the other day when we tried to get her to turn her face to get a better shot during or last regularly scheduled ultrasound (I think she's sick of them!)

The nurse started to push my belly a bit to try to get her to move since she is so squished in there and the baby literally screamed at us!  I'm just glad she didn't open her eyes!

I will fight you

If you don't think this is the cutest baby you have ever seen . . . I will fight you.

Now I realize that there are those of you out there who think these pictures are alien looking . . . even mutant. Put your irrational judgments aside and also consider that she had her mouth open and the umbilical chord was covering the side of her face (which we edited out).  For those of you who know my other two kids, in my estimation, this cute little nugget has her brothers face shape and her sisters Angelina Jolie lips.  

Three Words: Smokin' Hot Baby.