Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Highly Emotional

i'm not to sure i understand post pregnancy emotions. but they may not have been meant to understand and are terribly ridiculous. i have pretty good days for the most part considering my little boy can't come home yet. which brings me to my yesterday and my emotional state.

i've been battling an itch around my c-section incision, which just looked like a reaction to the tape over the stitches or quite possibly an itch from the hair growing back. then this irritation turned into red bumps and on sunday night they were under my arms and by monday on certain spots on my arms and now today on my back. the hits keep coming.

yesterday i called the doctor, who is amazing btw, and they worked me in, despite the fact that they had to resch. 8 of their morning patients to the afternoon because he had 2 emergency c-sections. i waited for three hours and he told me it was a yeast infection. let me say i am glad that i went because everyone else that i talked to was telling me it was a heat rash. if i would have waited longer my whole body could have been covered in it, even though it seems like my whole body is.

now for some good news on baby. he is now at 2 lbs 14.4 oz. they are having to feed him his 22cc's over a one hour period (still on a feeding tube) because of some spit up spells that he was having. his last spit up spell was 7:15pm on sunday night and so far he hasn't spit up again since. he had some blood work drawn today because he was forgetting to breath, which we've been told preemie do, and they all come back negative but they gave him a med with his feedings to help that. it's basically caffeine. we are going back tonight to see him and hoping for an increase in weight gain.

please continue to pray for sawyer and definitely for me as i live the day with itching. he didn't give me that pill for a yeast infection but it's 5 pills at 150mg that i take every 3 days for the next 14 days. thursday morning, when i can take my next one, can't get here soon enough.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Sawyer Steps


first bottle

good news coming you way. last night when they weighted him he was 2 pounds 13.2 ounces. he was 2 lbs 11.4 oz the night before so we were super dupper excited about the weight gain.


eskimo kisses

today when we went to see him durning the morning the nurse was just getting him out of his incubator and she had a bottle. she said that she wanted to see if he would take it. she thinks that every baby should get at least one chance a day to take a bottle. it doesn't mean that he will get a bottle every time that they feed him though.


looking right into the camera

after she fed him she said that i could hold him. of course i will take every oppourtunity to hold him. then michael came in and asked about holding him and she said that he could (he hadn't held him yet) he was letting mommy do all the holding.


daddy holding him for the first time

so here is a picture of daddy holding him for the first time. it was so cute to see them together.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Bath Time

yesterday baby sawyer got his first bath.
i was so excited for this time. after we got him out of the incubator and got his diaper off and all his wires we started the process.

we filled up a little pink bucket with some warm water and got some johnson and johnson baby wash and some soft wash cloths. the nurse told me to start with his face and to wash his eyes from the inside out. and i also washed his mouth. she also said that he probably wouldn't like his little face being washed, and he didn't. until i got to his ears. he loved that and just stopped fussing and watched me.

then she squeezed water on his body and some soap and i started to clean his body. he wasn't happy about this either. i washed his whole body and arms and legs and hands and feet and that's when it happened again. i got to his feet and he got real quiet and i could tell that he liked his feet being washed. then we rinsed him off and wrapped him in a blanket, patting him dry and i got to hold him over the little pink tub while the nurse washed his hair with the little brush (as shown in pic) and of course hie just loved that too. he laid there looking around and was so sweet. it was such a fun time and i was so glad that we were there at that time for his bath.

he's gained 2 ounces over the last two days and they weighted him tonight but i haven't been in there yet to find out what it was at. it would be wonderful if he's gained another ounce. here's to hoping. continue to pray, he's doing great.



Monday, July 23, 2007

I'm Here

i'm not to sure how detailed i need to get about the whole hospital ordeal because so much has happened this post could be miles long if i did so i will try to keep it brief.

i was put in the hospital for my high blood pressure and potential preeclampsia on thursday july 12th. after blood and urine analysis they came the the conclusion that they needed a little more tests but that i would be spending then night in the hospital that night for sure. we started to collect my urine for a 24 hour urine analysis. after that on late friday night they came in and started my iv on magnesium sulfate which burned the heck out of my arm and body. i was hot for the next 3 days after that. they also started me on my steroid shot and i got to of those with 24 hours in between them. this all meaning that they were going to deliver the baby on sunday night around 8:30ish. the doc came in and let me know that he was going to have to do a c-section because he thought that there would be to much stress on the baby to try to deliver. i was fine with that because obviously i wanted what was best for the baby.

i had a ton of visitors during the whole time but was so out of it that i didn't get to really communicate with any of them. i knew that they were all there though because i recalled conversations that they had when they were all visiting. it was a little twilight zone-ish. very strange.

so on sunday the anystesiagiolgist (sp?) came in and after not being happy with the way my arm that had the iv in it was swelling he asked the nurse to change it to the other arm and then let me know what there was a chance that he wouldn't do a spinal and he would put me to sleep. this was not completely alright with me but i said okay for the good of the baby. it was very scary for my hubby though. luckily he came back in 5 min later and said that my labs were good and that they could do the spinal. once i was ready they got me to surgery and got started. it wasn't as terrible as i expected and hearing his cry for the first time was wonderful. it made me start crying and then a few minutes later they brought him over all bundled up where i could just see his beautiful face and let me look at him really quick before they whisked him away to get him hooked up to all the monitors and machines. he was so beautiful and just opened his eyes and looked right in my face as i talked to him. it was wonderful.

i didn't get to see him until tuesday and i was still a little out of it even for that trip.
i got discharged on thursday afternoon and i've been resting a lot but getting to the hospital twice a day every day. i would go more but it's really exhausting and the nurses (even the ones in the NICU) encourage mothers to get plenty of rest. my healing is going well though.

baby boy is doing great though. he's up to 12cc's of milk every 3 hours and we figured that was about 1/2 an ounce. i've changed his diaper a couple of times and fed him (he's on a feeding tube) and today for the first time i actually got to hold him. it was so amazing. he was so light but just fit right in my arm perfectly and was so still and quiet as i fed him. he opened his eyes occasionally and looked right at me. i was so shocked that i was able to hold him and thrilled at the same time. i'm not sure how often i will get to hold him but i will take what i can get and enjoy every minute of it.

please continue to pray for him as he still has a long way to go. when the weighted him last night he was 2 lbs 9.2 oz and he was to get to at least 4 lbs before he can go home and has to maintain a body temp. we know that he has a while to go and as much as we want him in our arms we know that the NICU is the best place for him right now. the nurses and doctors are great and we are so grateful for all the wonderful care that they provide for these babies.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

unexpected treasures

my hubby and baby
me seeing my baby boy for the first time

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

20 things (REVISED)

....i want to do this summer!
1. finish setting up the nursery
2. rent some good movies
so i've seen you, me and dupree and
ice age: the melt down

3. go to the theater to see some movies
4. read some great books
i've read reason and romance by debra white smith
finding noel by richard paul evans
sisterhood of the traveling pants by ann brashares

5. cook something new
6. bake something new
7. finish updating my photo albums
almost done with this task. i think i have to get through may and june and then i'll be updated.

8. have some friends over for a girls night
9. teach my nephew something new
10. spend quality time with my hubby
11. kint a baby blanket
i just finished it last night and it's so pretty i want to keep it for me. :)

12. finish kintting the stocking for my friend
13. have maternity pictures taken
these are coming up soon but they haven't been taken yet

14. finish setting up the house
i think that we are pretty much done here. we still have some boxes and stuff laying around but i'm really not to sure what we are going to do about that now. we really need to get some book shelves and we just aren't ready yet to buy them.

15. get some pictures hung in the house
16. buy an album for little guys soon to be pictures
at one of my baby showers i got a scrapbook kit to make for little guy. it's a little scary to me to be doing one because i'm not all that creative and crafty when it comes to scrapbooking. i'm nervous to see how it comes out. i'll keep you posted on that one.

17. plan a trip for next summer
18. take some good pictures
19. try out a new restaurant
20. deliver a healthy baby

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Random Tuesday

just a little more pregnancy randomness.
i've been having some really bad back pains and chest pains and pains in my ribs.
i know, i'm a big baby and need to suck it up.
i'm at 32 weeks today.
last night my sweet chariot took me to the mall to purchase this.
yes i am now the proud owner and wearer of the belly belt.
it seems to work too.
at least my back seems to feel better.
i'm just a little worried that i'm squishing my baby boy.
it's not all the tight either.
i'm going to call the nurse today and ask her about it today.

oh and keeping with the randomness we went to get the babies stroller set this weekend.
you can see it here.
i put it together all by myself and it's so stinking cute.
we also got the high chair which i love.
you can see it here.
being the geniuses' my hubby and i are we arrived at target in our car and then quickly realized that the 2 big boxes probably wouldn't fit in the car.
we weren't really thinking, which i guess is sometime like us, because we do have a truck that we could have brought.
anyways we got the high chair box in the back seat and then quickly realized that the stroller box wasn't going to fit back their with it.
we decided to put it in the front seat and while my hubby was diligently shoving it into the front seat he knocked the rear view mirror off the windshield.
so i'm rear viewless but he's going to fix it tonight.
i'm sure the whole scene would have been hilarious to someone passing by.

hope everyone has a random tuesday.
i'll check you out later.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Random Tuesday

this isn't my normal random tuesday post the i get from cheryl. although is there really anything normal about random tuesday. this tuesday though was far from normal. well let's see..........it seemed to start out normal.

i was off of work, so after sleeping in i got up, got ready for the day and ran some errands. i went to the bank, walmart, got gas in the car and the library. after that i went to my mother in laws house to see my nephew and at around 1:50 left for my doctor's appointment. this is where it gets a little random. my apt was for 2:15, but being the day before the 4th the reception area was packed. i waited about an hour and 15 min before the got me back and put me in a room. in the mean time they had gotten my vitals and a urine sample. it really wasn't a big deal to me because i had my book with me. never leave the house without a book, you never know where you will be, what you will be doing, or if the people you are around are so boring that you need something to entertain you. (just kidding about the last one but i guess it could happen. it would be rude though, huh!?!)

so once i got back the doctor came in and went through his list of normal questions and then he got to my blood pressure and stopped saying the it wasn't normal. he had me lay back and the nurse came back in and checked it again and it wasn't normal. also he said that there was protein in my urine which i guess is the beginning signs of preclampsia (sp?). i'm getting a little freaked out at this point but trying not to show it. so he writes up some papers and sends me over to the hospital for some further monitoring and tests.

on the short drive over there i'm telling my hubby what's going on and he's asking me what they are going to do and i'm just as clueless as he is. i get there and the nurses are super nice. they get me a gown and hook me up to a blood pressure monitor and take forever locating the baby. they could hear him but he wasn't really cooperating with them. finally they found him and got the monitor in place and i just rested there and waited. my hubby showed up and waited with me. they took some blood for testing and did a swab and after what seemed like waiting forever they came back and let us know that all the tests were negative and that i could go home. during the monitoring part they were checking for contractions which i was having but they weren't to painful. just a tightening up of my tummy. what hurt was that whenever i would have a contraction my chest would tighten up as well. after telling the doctor all of this my orders were to drink a lot more water. try to get my feet up as much as possible during the day and that the tightening up in my chest was probably a little anxiety whenever i was having the contraction. we didn't leave the hospital will probably 7ish and at the point i was super hungry.

i'd say that this was about as random a tuesday as any. the doc wants to see me back in a week to make sure that i am doing okay. i only have 9 weeks left till full term. i'm hanging in there. hopefully i won't have to go back to the hospital again but to deliver the baby.