These pictures were taken by Chrisi yesterday when Izzy was off oxygen. Unfortunately she is back on oxygen today.....
Also, Chrisi was the first sibling to hold her and she is very proud of the picture of her holding Izzy.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
The Suppository….
Izzy is doing great, she is off her IV and looks like she will be in a open crib soon. We are just waiting for her to slow her breathing down a little.
She has had one hold up for a few days, which required the help of a, um, suppository.
Now, I want you to think about all those cartoons you have seen over the years, and think about the ones where something surprising happens and the eyes pop out of the cartoon characters head…. This is exactly what Izzy did upon the insertion of the suppository. Honestly both me and the nurse just about fell over laughing. She was fussing and crying, because she hates it when we bother her, then came the suppository and she went completely quiet, her eyes briefly popped out of her little head in surprise, and you could just read her facial expression that was saying “What the hell was that, honestly guys is there no ground that you don’t touch? Seriously are there any holes that you don’t stick things in?!?!?!?!?"
She has had one hold up for a few days, which required the help of a, um, suppository.
Now, I want you to think about all those cartoons you have seen over the years, and think about the ones where something surprising happens and the eyes pop out of the cartoon characters head…. This is exactly what Izzy did upon the insertion of the suppository. Honestly both me and the nurse just about fell over laughing. She was fussing and crying, because she hates it when we bother her, then came the suppository and she went completely quiet, her eyes briefly popped out of her little head in surprise, and you could just read her facial expression that was saying “What the hell was that, honestly guys is there no ground that you don’t touch? Seriously are there any holes that you don’t stick things in?!?!?!?!?"
The Quiet Game
The quiet game should be part of the Olympics and my kids should be the first to compete, because no one, and I mean no one, is better at this game than them….
First off, when driving down the road and my darling children are louder than speeding locomotive, you can suggest they play the quiet game. Soon after you say the word “start” you will forget the number of children sitting in the back of the car. You will literally be able to hear a pin drop inside your car. This is usually the only time I use the quiet game, I wouldn't want to wear out this "quiet time".
However, Monday I just happen to go home for some clean clothes to bring back to the Ronald McDonald house and I checked the answering machine, hmmm Dani has a Doctors appointment in an hour (I completely forgot about this, imagine that). So I load all the kids up and head to the doctors’ office, completely unprepared for the long wait. This long wait got to the kids when we were sitting in the exam room so I suggested the quiet game; this was also when I decided it needed to be an Olympic event with my children.
First we had to decide what we are playing for… I suggested a ride home; looser(s) would run behind the car…. The kids decided the chocolate sucker in my pocket was a better prize.
So we start. I decided to add a little more challenge to the game and sat there asking question after question, didn’t work. Tried funny faces, no luck. Tried being quiet then a surprise “serious” questions, nope, not a peep out of any of them…. Then the Dr came in and commented on how quiet everyone was being, I explained the quiet game and he said, with confidence, that he could make them crack. So he started in, first trying to examine the wrong kid, then went on to asking questions, he tried to cut out of our conversation from time to time and asking one of them a off the wall question, but still no talking. Finally in his last effort he asked the kids who didn’t want shots today, still not one of them said a word. “alright” he said while finishing up his paperwork, then turned around pointing and counting each child and as he walked out of the room shaking his head he said “that will be a round of shots for everyone”.
Still not a word from any of my kids! I ended up having to find 3 more chocolate suckers, they all just happened to be wrapped in gold foil.
First off, when driving down the road and my darling children are louder than speeding locomotive, you can suggest they play the quiet game. Soon after you say the word “start” you will forget the number of children sitting in the back of the car. You will literally be able to hear a pin drop inside your car. This is usually the only time I use the quiet game, I wouldn't want to wear out this "quiet time".
However, Monday I just happen to go home for some clean clothes to bring back to the Ronald McDonald house and I checked the answering machine, hmmm Dani has a Doctors appointment in an hour (I completely forgot about this, imagine that). So I load all the kids up and head to the doctors’ office, completely unprepared for the long wait. This long wait got to the kids when we were sitting in the exam room so I suggested the quiet game; this was also when I decided it needed to be an Olympic event with my children.
First we had to decide what we are playing for… I suggested a ride home; looser(s) would run behind the car…. The kids decided the chocolate sucker in my pocket was a better prize.
So we start. I decided to add a little more challenge to the game and sat there asking question after question, didn’t work. Tried funny faces, no luck. Tried being quiet then a surprise “serious” questions, nope, not a peep out of any of them…. Then the Dr came in and commented on how quiet everyone was being, I explained the quiet game and he said, with confidence, that he could make them crack. So he started in, first trying to examine the wrong kid, then went on to asking questions, he tried to cut out of our conversation from time to time and asking one of them a off the wall question, but still no talking. Finally in his last effort he asked the kids who didn’t want shots today, still not one of them said a word. “alright” he said while finishing up his paperwork, then turned around pointing and counting each child and as he walked out of the room shaking his head he said “that will be a round of shots for everyone”.
Still not a word from any of my kids! I ended up having to find 3 more chocolate suckers, they all just happened to be wrapped in gold foil.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
More from the bedside
Greetings from Izzy's bedside. I am sitting here holding Izzy, my new favorite pastime. She is doing great, her bili levels have come down and mommy has been taking lots of pictures .....
(By the way, purple and white hat was mommy's latest knitting creation)
(By the way, purple and white hat was mommy's latest knitting creation)
Greetings from Izzy's Bedside
Greetings from the bedside of Izzy.
Izzy came off the ventilator yesterday morning. I stopped in real quick on the way to the wedding and she was off the vent and laying out under the bili lights. I told her to pretend she was tanning at the beach, lol. I am thinking I should bring her in some ocean sound music and play it for her. She is doing good off the vent, she is still breathing fast but her blood gas is good so they aren't too worried. If the blood gas gets bad they will try putting her on c-pap, which is just high pressure nasal prongs before they would go back to the vent.
She also started feedings yesterday and is doing great with that so far and it looks like they are going to increase her feedings today if everything is going well. Hopefully she will start going poo now that she has food in her and she will get rid of this bili and then I will be able to hold her as much as I want when ever I want. I told the nurses at that point they will be lucky to get her back ;)
Well, got to go she lost her binki again which means I am going to have to hold it for her. By the way, hearing your baby cry is the absolute best sound, especially when you haven't been able to hear her cry because she has been on the vent. (something I am going to have to remember at 3 am in a few weeks).
Izzy came off the ventilator yesterday morning. I stopped in real quick on the way to the wedding and she was off the vent and laying out under the bili lights. I told her to pretend she was tanning at the beach, lol. I am thinking I should bring her in some ocean sound music and play it for her. She is doing good off the vent, she is still breathing fast but her blood gas is good so they aren't too worried. If the blood gas gets bad they will try putting her on c-pap, which is just high pressure nasal prongs before they would go back to the vent.
She also started feedings yesterday and is doing great with that so far and it looks like they are going to increase her feedings today if everything is going well. Hopefully she will start going poo now that she has food in her and she will get rid of this bili and then I will be able to hold her as much as I want when ever I want. I told the nurses at that point they will be lucky to get her back ;)
Well, got to go she lost her binki again which means I am going to have to hold it for her. By the way, hearing your baby cry is the absolute best sound, especially when you haven't been able to hear her cry because she has been on the vent. (something I am going to have to remember at 3 am in a few weeks).
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Guess who's here...
Here are the quick stats:
Elizabeth Maire arrived at 1:58 on July 21, 2008 after a VERY FAST labor. She is weighed in at 4lbs 13 oz and 17 inches long.
Here is the long birth story (read the purple for a short timeline of labor if you don't want to read the whole story):
Saturday night we went to L&D with contractions, I was now 3 cm and they gave me another 2 shots of brethine to try and stop labor, all it did was ease labor up so I wouldn't dilate. I got home and I was once again very sick all night from the brethine and in tons of pain with all the contractions so I got no sleep. All day Sunday I was contracting and still sick and still couldn't sleep. At 1 am very hard contractions started. we headed back to L&D. They wanted to give us more brethine but with all the really bad reactions I have been having to it and the doctors not listening to our concerns we refused that and left the hospital.
We got back home at 5AM and I laid in bed crying until around 9 AM, then decided I NEEDED pain meds, which I figured I would need at some point because I am not the home birth type (I am a wimp when it comes to pain), even if getting pain meds meant going back to the stupid doctors and risking getting brethine and ending up very sick again. However, Rick decided he wasn't going to drive me because he didn't want to make another trip all the way to the hospital and just get sent back home, I could understand that, but I was in pain. After a short argument with Rick, and me attempting to drive myself, he decided to drive me.
Now, here is the time line of events once we got back to the hospital, honestly it seemed like all this took place in less than 1 hour....
~10:58, we arrive at hospital and get checked into L&D triage (I checked the time with the nurse a few minutes ago).
~11:15, I get checked, still 4 cm same as I was when I left a few hours ago, grrrrrrr, I really thought I would be at least a little further along with how much pain I was in. Nurse calls doctor while I stood laboring next to the bed because I can no longer sit because of the pain and pressure durring contrax in my lower abdomen/upper legs and bottom.
~11:30, Doctor calls back and says he just got my results back from my Beta Strep, it is positive. Doc wants to start Antibiotics and watch my contractions while I am getting the meds and see what happens. but won't allow me any pain meds yet!
~12:00 Rick goes to lunch, I can't remember my Lamaze breathing!!!! Find Ipod in purse and tune into that and finally relax a little durring contractions. Only worked for about 4 contractions then it was back to waking the dead with my moans and screams.
~12:45, Re check, 5-6 cm and a OMG bulging bag, called doc and I am having baby and get just a little nubane ( I was worried about it drugging Izzy), which did NOTHING aside from make me a little loopy, but the nurse alerted anesthesia to how I go fast after 6 and started getting things arranged for my epi and moved me to a room.
~1:15, anesthesia arrives and I start getting a epi.
~1:30, I lay back after getting the needle put in my back and I am given a small "test dose" of epi meds and I am told I need to lay on my back in this position until 1:50, etc., and durring all this Doc arrives at hospital, he checks as I am being positioned and I am now 9. He is afraid if he breaks my water right then I will immediately deliver. Everyone is literally running in and out of my room getting me ready to deliver. And because they are still figuring on me being 33/34 weeks along and positive strep and didn't have enough time to get all the antibiotic in me, I am taken (OK the nurses ran down the hall with me in my bed and doctor at the foot of my bed) to the OR to deliver.
~1:40, I realize anesthesia didn't come with us to finish my epi, like hook me up to the meds pump etc. Rick told me later it was because the doc told them to stop because there wasn't enough time. Finishing the epidural is the only thing on my mind while everyone is running around the room like mad people and breaking down the bed and getting ready fot Izzy.
~1:45 Doc touches bag of water, it breaks everywhere, I am complete and I am told to push. I look at the clock and the only thing I am thinking is, I am not supposed to be moving around yet, why are you moving me, everyone is going to screw up my epidural, and why am I not numb?!?!?!?!?!?! My butt cheeks and legs sort of feel like they are asleep, but that is it. (yea, I have a one track mind when it comes to pain)
~1:50, There is NO WAY IN H#LL I AM PUSHING BECAUSE I TRIED AND IT HURT!!! still wondering in my head where my epi is, lol
~1:58 Mommy finally decides to push and Elizabeth Marie makes her grand entrance into the world screaming her little heart out.
~2:00, WOW, did I just have a baby without meds! everything happened so fast it seemed surreal. Usually I come to the hospital, take all day to make it to 6 or 7, then go super fast.
I am still having problems realizing this all actually happened. I just can't believe it happened so fast. I still haven't been able to hold Izzy, Rick cut the cord and they ran her right over to be suctioned out because I didn't get all the Antibiotic I should have. A little while later she had to be put on a ventilator. There was a tear in the placenta, which the doctor believes is the cause of my preterm labor and could be one reason she is having problems breathing. But this was most likely the cause of all the pain I had been in in the last few months, especially when she moved, the tear was behind the placenta (or something like that) and that is why I didn't have any bleeding and only pain, but this is something that should have shown up in the 20 week u/s and should have been in my records that never got sent over to the new doctor and new hospital when I switched from the old crazy bad doctor, I can't wait to get my hands on my records to find out if anything else was wrong/overlooked. Also the NICU nurses said that sometimes because of the positive strep and I didn't get all my antibiotics before she was born it can cause early babies to need extra help breathing (I guess respiratory problems is one complication that babies have from the strep). Then the fact that I had received so much brethine after week 35 could have something to do with it also (I guess new studies show that 35 weeks should be the cut off for brethine because it will start causing more problems, which is one thing I was worried about). SO the odds are against her when it comes to breathing, but the air she is on is room air, she just needs help inflating her lungs. They evaluated her and they said she was 36 weeks on the nose, which goes along with MY due date and last period, not any of the cue dates the old or new doctor gave me. So I have been mumbling all day long, "I was right!!!".
My back hurts where I got the needle for the Epi, which sucks because I never actually had a epi. I can't believe I basically went natural. I will NEVER do it again by my own free will, I seriously can't believe I lived through it. Rick is just amazed I did it also. I was up walking around about a hour after she was born, as soon as that tingling from the epi "test dose" wore off, and I have been walking back and forth from my room to the NICU all day/night.
Izzy is doing great. She just has a few minor breathing issues from the few complications I had.
Here is a picture, I hope it works, the hospital internet doesn't work very well when it comes to uploading things. But at least they have wireless, I can't live without my laptop and the internet, lol.
Elizabeth Maire arrived at 1:58 on July 21, 2008 after a VERY FAST labor. She is weighed in at 4lbs 13 oz and 17 inches long.
Here is the long birth story (read the purple for a short timeline of labor if you don't want to read the whole story):
Saturday night we went to L&D with contractions, I was now 3 cm and they gave me another 2 shots of brethine to try and stop labor, all it did was ease labor up so I wouldn't dilate. I got home and I was once again very sick all night from the brethine and in tons of pain with all the contractions so I got no sleep. All day Sunday I was contracting and still sick and still couldn't sleep. At 1 am very hard contractions started. we headed back to L&D. They wanted to give us more brethine but with all the really bad reactions I have been having to it and the doctors not listening to our concerns we refused that and left the hospital.
We got back home at 5AM and I laid in bed crying until around 9 AM, then decided I NEEDED pain meds, which I figured I would need at some point because I am not the home birth type (I am a wimp when it comes to pain), even if getting pain meds meant going back to the stupid doctors and risking getting brethine and ending up very sick again. However, Rick decided he wasn't going to drive me because he didn't want to make another trip all the way to the hospital and just get sent back home, I could understand that, but I was in pain. After a short argument with Rick, and me attempting to drive myself, he decided to drive me.
Now, here is the time line of events once we got back to the hospital, honestly it seemed like all this took place in less than 1 hour....
~10:58, we arrive at hospital and get checked into L&D triage (I checked the time with the nurse a few minutes ago).
~11:15, I get checked, still 4 cm same as I was when I left a few hours ago, grrrrrrr, I really thought I would be at least a little further along with how much pain I was in. Nurse calls doctor while I stood laboring next to the bed because I can no longer sit because of the pain and pressure durring contrax in my lower abdomen/upper legs and bottom.
~11:30, Doctor calls back and says he just got my results back from my Beta Strep, it is positive. Doc wants to start Antibiotics and watch my contractions while I am getting the meds and see what happens. but won't allow me any pain meds yet!
~12:00 Rick goes to lunch, I can't remember my Lamaze breathing!!!! Find Ipod in purse and tune into that and finally relax a little durring contractions. Only worked for about 4 contractions then it was back to waking the dead with my moans and screams.
~12:45, Re check, 5-6 cm and a OMG bulging bag, called doc and I am having baby and get just a little nubane ( I was worried about it drugging Izzy), which did NOTHING aside from make me a little loopy, but the nurse alerted anesthesia to how I go fast after 6 and started getting things arranged for my epi and moved me to a room.
~1:15, anesthesia arrives and I start getting a epi.
~1:30, I lay back after getting the needle put in my back and I am given a small "test dose" of epi meds and I am told I need to lay on my back in this position until 1:50, etc., and durring all this Doc arrives at hospital, he checks as I am being positioned and I am now 9. He is afraid if he breaks my water right then I will immediately deliver. Everyone is literally running in and out of my room getting me ready to deliver. And because they are still figuring on me being 33/34 weeks along and positive strep and didn't have enough time to get all the antibiotic in me, I am taken (OK the nurses ran down the hall with me in my bed and doctor at the foot of my bed) to the OR to deliver.
~1:40, I realize anesthesia didn't come with us to finish my epi, like hook me up to the meds pump etc. Rick told me later it was because the doc told them to stop because there wasn't enough time. Finishing the epidural is the only thing on my mind while everyone is running around the room like mad people and breaking down the bed and getting ready fot Izzy.
~1:45 Doc touches bag of water, it breaks everywhere, I am complete and I am told to push. I look at the clock and the only thing I am thinking is, I am not supposed to be moving around yet, why are you moving me, everyone is going to screw up my epidural, and why am I not numb?!?!?!?!?!?! My butt cheeks and legs sort of feel like they are asleep, but that is it. (yea, I have a one track mind when it comes to pain)
~1:50, There is NO WAY IN H#LL I AM PUSHING BECAUSE I TRIED AND IT HURT!!! still wondering in my head where my epi is, lol
~1:58 Mommy finally decides to push and Elizabeth Marie makes her grand entrance into the world screaming her little heart out.
~2:00, WOW, did I just have a baby without meds! everything happened so fast it seemed surreal. Usually I come to the hospital, take all day to make it to 6 or 7, then go super fast.
I am still having problems realizing this all actually happened. I just can't believe it happened so fast. I still haven't been able to hold Izzy, Rick cut the cord and they ran her right over to be suctioned out because I didn't get all the Antibiotic I should have. A little while later she had to be put on a ventilator. There was a tear in the placenta, which the doctor believes is the cause of my preterm labor and could be one reason she is having problems breathing. But this was most likely the cause of all the pain I had been in in the last few months, especially when she moved, the tear was behind the placenta (or something like that) and that is why I didn't have any bleeding and only pain, but this is something that should have shown up in the 20 week u/s and should have been in my records that never got sent over to the new doctor and new hospital when I switched from the old crazy bad doctor, I can't wait to get my hands on my records to find out if anything else was wrong/overlooked. Also the NICU nurses said that sometimes because of the positive strep and I didn't get all my antibiotics before she was born it can cause early babies to need extra help breathing (I guess respiratory problems is one complication that babies have from the strep). Then the fact that I had received so much brethine after week 35 could have something to do with it also (I guess new studies show that 35 weeks should be the cut off for brethine because it will start causing more problems, which is one thing I was worried about). SO the odds are against her when it comes to breathing, but the air she is on is room air, she just needs help inflating her lungs. They evaluated her and they said she was 36 weeks on the nose, which goes along with MY due date and last period, not any of the cue dates the old or new doctor gave me. So I have been mumbling all day long, "I was right!!!".
My back hurts where I got the needle for the Epi, which sucks because I never actually had a epi. I can't believe I basically went natural. I will NEVER do it again by my own free will, I seriously can't believe I lived through it. Rick is just amazed I did it also. I was up walking around about a hour after she was born, as soon as that tingling from the epi "test dose" wore off, and I have been walking back and forth from my room to the NICU all day/night.
Izzy is doing great. She just has a few minor breathing issues from the few complications I had.
Here is a picture, I hope it works, the hospital internet doesn't work very well when it comes to uploading things. But at least they have wireless, I can't live without my laptop and the internet, lol.
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