Still Going Good

Things are still going well!  Everett is starting to "wake up" a bit more and gets fussy sometimes, but for the most part he still sleeps most of the time (granted I would only have been 36 weeks on Friday!).  Despite that, Gary and I don't seem to be getting much sleep, and we are TIRED.  Ella is still enthralled with him and shows not a hint of jealously...YET.  She is going a little bonkers from being stuck in the house 24 hours a day (throwing diapers around, taking her clothes off, hitting Rylee, etc.) so we had a little mommy/ella time this morning.

We went to Pretend City...

And made berry and kale smoothies when we got home :)

Ella Meets Her Little Brother & First Day Home

Ella met her baby brother for the first time yesterday!  She was a little shy at first, but then everything became about "baby broder".  She wants to be around him all the time and wants to help us with everything.  It's SO sweet.  I hope it lasts, but we'll see how she is when I'm home alone with both of them and have to split my attention.

It's hard because she wants to be near him all the time, kiss him, hug him, touch him, and we can't let her get too close to him.  The NICU doctors said to keep contact between them as limited as possible, and absolutely no other kids around him.  

Everett's first day home went well.  He just sleeps and eats.  He is eating 45 ml every 3 hours right now.  That's the best thing about the NICU- it gets them on an easy 3 hour feeding schedule.  Dealing with the wee wee and circumcision is WEIRD.  Baby girls are so much easier!  He peed on his face, and I think some got in his mouth- oops.  But we can't cover it up while we're trying to get ten tons of vaseline on it.  ARGH!  I'm sure it will get easier.

And OF COURSE, right before bed Ella vomited all over me, all over the couch and all over the family room rug.  I don't think I've seen that much vomit come out of a human being.  I mean, REALLY?!  The FIRST day Everett comes home?  I'm just praying it was some kind of food poisoning and not a virus.  She doesn't have a fever and is acting fine, but it was the strangest thing.  She was fine, and then she just looked at me and pulled an exorcist on me.  Vomit EVERYWHERE!  Puleez don't let the baby get sick!!!!!  Our entire family room now smells like vomit, and it's disgusting...how do I get the smell out??!!

I'm SUPER tired today.  He still doesn't cry at night, but he is so loud with his congested barnyard animal sounds.  We only had to wake up once to feed him, but I didn't sleep most of the rest of the night either because I was either checking on him or listening to him.

Need sleepy! :)

Homecoming

Baby Everett is home!  I forgot how stressful the drive home is...4 pounds is waaaaaay to small for those big car seats!  I kept checking to make sure he was breathing.  Here is the same photo of Ella the day she came home (she looks a lot smaller, but he actually weighs less- weird)...

We had the nurse take a family photo (minus Ella) before we left the hospital...

Apparently, they had A LOT of milk left over that I had brought in over the last few days!

Good thing because I'm getting WAY less milk this time than I did with Ella.  I think it's partially because my itchy nasty psoriasis rash is making me miserable and partially because my home pump is slowly losing suction (it may not make it through 4 kids Katie!!).

Cookies and Coming Home?

Apparently Everett is coming home tomorrow, which makes me extremely anxious.  We will know for sure tomorrow.  I'm about to have a breakdown!

Oh, and I talked to the pediatrician, who did perform the circumcision today, and he said Everett did great, and everything went really well.  I guess too well since clearly he didn't regress at all given that the nurse said he's coming home tomorrow!

Ella and I decided that we better make some Christmas cookies today since we may not have much time after tomorrow!  My little helper...

Everett is in an open crib now! He has also nippled all his feeds since yesterday at 5 p.m., which means he will be ready to come at 5 p.m. Wednesday if he doesn't have to be gavaged before then. I think this means the earliest he will come home is Thursday morning. However, he will be circumcised tomorrow morning so it is possible he will regress after that.

Isn't he so cute when he sleeps?! I could watch him all day...well I actually did do that today because I was at the nicu all day.

I'm considering making my blog private so only "invited" people can read it. Someone anonymous left an ignorant comment about how nice my priorities are for saying I want to attend a Christmas party while E stays in the nicu. Two things I can't stand are ignorance and stupidity. I sometimes forget that not only can my wonderful friends and family read this blog but so can any random crazy person. Heck yes I want him in the nicu so we can go to a party (which we deserve after all we've been through)...I'd actually be happy if he spent the entire winter in the nicu because I'm terrified of having him at home with my little germ monster. Until you've had TWO babies in the nicu, TWO preemies during winter and a preemie at the same time as a toddler, don't you DARE question my priorities. You have no idea how terrifying and stressful it is to have such a tiny baby with little immunities at home with no monitoring and no doctor nearby. I just don't like the thought of such ridiculous people having access to the blog so I will email everyone with the access information when (if?) I make it private. Plus, with my sarcastic mouth (which I do try to tone down in the blog!) It's probably better that only people that know me and my sense of humor read the blog! ;)

It was actually funny today because EC's nurse was joking with me and another nicu mama that we should leave our boys in until after new years so we can go out! Hee hee! I love the nurses there. I'm also meeting a lot of the other moms, and it's nice to commiserate!

Santa Disaster

Visiting Santa was not meant to be this year. Since Everett may likely be home this week, and Ella is gone Tuesday through Thursday, today was the last day we had to visit Santa.

First of all, my mom was supposed to go with us, but she got sick and canceled, and Gary couldn't leave work so I had to take her myself even though I'm not supposed to be lifting her.

Second, of course it has to be POURING RAIN today.

Nevertheless and despite the fact that I'm still kind of sick, I get Ella all dressed up in her Christmas dress and shoes, run to the car and put her in the carseat as rain is soaking me. I get all the way to the mall, and I realize I forget my freaking camera! There is no way I'm paying the ridiculous package price and not even getting my own digital photos since their photos are always such bad quality. Sooo, we turn around and go back home. We don't have time to get back and visit Santa before I have to pump again so I promise Ella we will go see Santa after her nap.

The second I walk into her room after her nap, she says, "SANTA TAUS!" I figure that's a good sign even though I'm pretty sure she's still going to cry when she's sitting on his lap.

I AGAIN get her all dressed up in her dress and shoes, put her in the car in the pouring rain and head off to the mall. It's still pouring when we get there so I have to carry her into the mall from a far away parking spot all the while thinking, "I'm so going to pop my stitches."

We get in line for Santa, and there are only about 2 people in front of us- SCORE! I mean, what other nutjob is going to take their kid out in the pouring rain in their good clothes on a Monday afternoon?? Ella starts to act really clingy in line, and I know this is not going to end well.

As we approach Santa, he legs get tighter and tighter against my body...you all know this feeling. When I try to detach her from my side to put her on Santa's lap, she starts crying and clings on so tightly to my body that I think it would have taken a chisel to separate her from the side of me. I have no one with me to try and distract her or take photos for me so I just give up. Santa said, "this has been happening to me all day!" I was so sad because he was the cutest Santa too!

Alas, this is the the closest I could get her to Santa for a photo...

What The...?

So what was it, like 2 or 3 posts ago that the nurse was telling me not to expect Everett to come home when Ella did and even called an OT to help him eat?  Well, Gary went to the NICU today, and a different nurse said that they think he will go home soon?  She said we may need to bring in the carseat tomorrow (they require a "carseat challenge" for nicu baby parents), and he my be circumcised tomorrow or Tuesday!

You'd think I'd be happy about this except that (a) I have come down with a cold, and I feel craptastic today; (b) I secretly like him in the NICU where I know he is safe, and a doctor is present...at least while he's still so little; and (c) since they told us he probably won't come home until after Ella (even Ella didn't come home until the equivalent of this upcoming Saturday), we made plans to attend our good friends' Christmas party, and we really want to go, which won't be possible if EC is home!  I would much rather him come home the following week, which is still before Christmas, but he'll be bigger and stronger.

I'm hoping this nurse was just jumping the gun a bit because I have noticed that the nurses all tell you different things.  She did say that sometimes the boys will regress after they are circumcised.

Oh, and I guess he is now nippling all but one feed per shift.  He weighs 4lbs. 9oz.  He weighed that much yesterday too- he only gained 10 grams since yesterday.

We took Ella and Rylee to the dog park today.  Ella is obsessed with the dog park and is always asking to go.

Shopping for the Tree

We finally went to get our Christmas tree this morning, which Ella picked out all by herself.  The one in the first picture is what I'd really want if we had the time and energy this year to decorate and deal with a huge tree!  Maybe next year...


Ella had to smell the tree to make sure it was a good one!


And this is how my little miss sassy pants stands all the time now. I keep thinking, "when did you turn 16?"


I went to spend some time with Everett while Ella was sleeping today, and I finally got some good face shots! I know I'm partial, but I think he's pretty handsome. :)

For comparison, here are a couple shots of Ella when she was in the NICU...do they look alike?

One Week Old

He loves skin to skin- he is always OUT when he lays on me!

Baby

Everett was one week old yesterday (well he was born late at night so it's almost like he's a week old today).  He weighed 4 lbs. 7 oz. yesterday, which means he gained another 2 ounces in a day!  This kid is going to be a linebacker!

Today he was again 4lbs.7oz.- he only gained 20 grams, but that's ok.  The nurse was saying that now that they are trying nippling more, he will probably gain less.

He is not doing well nippling his bottles so they had him meet with an OT (occupational therapist) today to help him eat.  They all keep telling me that boys are much slower than girls, and girls do much better in the NICU so I shouldn't place the same expectations on him as Ella.  I guess this means he may likely be in the NICU longer than 16 days.  I'm just hoping that he will be home by Christmas so we can all be together as a family.

Me

I'm almost pain free, and I'm trying to not take percocet so that I can drive...even though I don't think you're supposed to drive for at least 3-4 weeks regardless...not going to happen...I have errands to run and holiday things to do!

I've lost 20 pounds in a week, which seems decent except that I lost 35 pounds in about 4-5 days last time.

Ella

She is still really excited about her baby brother, and I'm so sad she hasn't met him yet.  I was planning on taking her this weekend, but one of the nurses said if they hear her cough, they will kick her out, and I know she'll cough- she has that cough that last months.  I guess she may have to wait until he comes home.

She is being such a bully with Rylee and her friends (about sharing), and I don't know what to do about it.  I don't get it because she is so sweet to Gary and I, so sweet to older kids and so gentle with babies, but when it comes to her friends, she pushes them, and she hits/kicks Rylee.  I try ignoring it/doing something about it; yelling/not yelling; time-out/no time-out.  Nothing works.  She pushed Mason down so hard today when he tried to play with the buttons on her brother's pack n play that I cringed.  Not only is it completely embarrassing, but it makes me sad and upset and I don't want her to be mean because I know that is not her nature.  Not to mention, no one is going to want to play with her if she is mean to them!  I actually cried after they left because I'm hormonal, and it upset me so much!  We need to work on sharing.

She did crack me up this morning when we were in the car.  She kept yelling, "CEE LO DADDY!".  So Gary puts on "Forget You" while he and I were talking.  I usually dance and sing the song with her, but since I wasn't paying attention, she goes, "MOMMY DANCE!!"  She funny.

More Weight

 He looks ANGRY in this photo!  That's because he hates the light that goes off on the camera when I shoot in manual. 
I guess it's better to use flash since you get the photo before the angry face from the flash! 
That tube is how he gets his food gavaged- it goes directly to his stomach.

EC weighs 4lbs. 5oz. today...back to his birth weight!  Two ounces in one day is huge!  I think we have a football player on our hands. ;)

I think we're going to take Ella to meet her brother this weekend.  She is going to be so excited.  She sleeps with her photo of him!

Still Doin Good!

EC is still doing well.  As of midnight last night, he weighed 4 lbs. 3 oz., which is great.  I think he's growing faster than Ella because I remember her only going up in grams for a long time.  He also nippled 17 of 27 ml of his bottle!  Drinking out of a bottle takes A LOT of energy for a preemie so he was very tired when we got there, and his next feeding had to be gavaged, but at least he got to lay on my chest and "eat". ;)

We're hoping he keeps up the power eating so we can take him home before Christmas!!!

Coming Home

I was finally allowed to come home yesterday!  Before we left, while we were spending time with Everett, he had two Brady episodes. :(  I HATE those.  I actually forgot about them, but it's when their little heartrate drops because the coating on the nerve from the brain to the heart isn't developed.  Of course this causes the alarms to set off and freak you out.  It reminded my why I absolutely hate being in the NICU and how stressful it is.

I have never been so happy to be home in my life!  Ella was kind of like, "who are you" for a while, but it didn't take her long to warm up.  I keep showing her my incision so she understands that mommy has a boo boo and can't lift her, and why she can't jump on my stomach/lap.  I think she was a little traumatized by the pumping...I've been trying to do it without her around, but last night, she just stood by the bed and stared with a "WTF?" look on her face!  Then she started saying, "that off!".  We're trying to explain to her that that is how we get Everett's food, but I think the whole pumping thing is a little much for her!

While I love being home, I did feel worse at home.  I just didn't feel good, had more pain, etc.  I think it's because I'm on less meds and doing a lot more.  I should just be resting, but I keep walking up and down the stairs, playing with Ella, putting things away, etc.

I keep forgetting to post that Ella still has not met her little brother.  Miss NEVER EVER gets sick started hacking up a lung on Friday.  She  has no fever and is acting normal so it may be nothing, but we're not taking any chances.  So for now, she only gets to kiss his photo. :)

We're off to spend the morning in the NICU while Ella is at school!

Everett & Mama Update

 Doesn't he look like a little old man?  I love it!

Everett is still doing really well.  He weighs 4lbs. 1 oz. today.  I think I forgot to mention in his birth story that they did initially see something that they thought may be a pneumothorax so they did two chest x-rays on him, but it seems like we were all clear there.

He is under the Bili lights today because his jaundice number was 12.1.  Ella was also under the lights for several days because her numbers would go up and down.

This morning when I went to visit him, his nurse was giving him a bottle!  Already!  That was exciting, and I got to feed him some of his bottle.  He did really well for his very first bottle.  I believe he is now getting all breastmilk.

I think one of the biggest differences I've noticed between him and Ella is that Ella had *constant* apnea episodes where she would stop breathing and her machines would start beeping.  It was so traumatic.  I don't think Everett has had one episode any time I've been in the NICU with him- it's so refreshing and less stressful!

I'm doing well too- still very little or no pain.  I do have some random blistery rash on various parts of my body that is super itchy so I'm not sure what that is about.  I also started getting nose bleeds yesterday!  I've never had a bloody nose so who knows what started that.

I'm still pumping every 3 hours, and sometimes even more often because I have nothing else to do!  I may as well get as much milk as possible while E is in the hospital because once he comes home, all bets are off.  I'm finally starting to get a good amount of milk so hopefully I can stock up.

My BP readings are STILL high so they wouldn't let me go home today even though they told me yesterday that I was going home.  I cannot WAIT to go home tomorrow!

I talked to Everett's nurse today, and although she said, yes, they always say to expect them home at their due date, she would estimate E will be home between 36 and 38 weeks.  He is 34w2d today so we have a quite a ways to go.  We need that boy to maintain his temperatures and nipple all his feeds for 48 hours as soon as possible!

Introducing...

Everett Cole

born 12.1.11 at 10:03 p.m.

4 pounds 5 ounces; 18 inches

Birth Story

I hope I can remember everything!  It started on Thursday (33w6d) when after I was told that I was not sick enough to deliver but too sick to go home (and probably wouldn't be having him until the following week earliest), my BP readings started to spike in the afternoon and evening.  The bottom number was consistently in the 100s so my nurse said she had to call my doctor.  I didn't even think twice about it because the top number was hovering in the 140s, which it had been for weeks (and I was told we needed readings in the 160/100 range to deliver)!

Next thing I know, my nurse comes back in my room and says "call your husband, you're having this baby tonight."  Uh, WHAT?!  At this point, I'm stunned and upset.  How did it all of sudden go from you won't be having this baby any time soon to we need to deliver immediately?  No one was giving me answers, I hadn't spoken with a doctor, and I was getting really upset.  I couldn't understand why this was all so immediate- my numbers with Ella were MUCH worse, and even with her they waited until the next morning...why couldn't we wait until morning?  I wanted *my* OB to deliver me, not some random on call OB.

My dad rushed over to our house to stay with Ella, and my mom and Gary rushed to the hospital to be with me.  I finally got to meet with the on call OB, Dr. Hargrove, who I really really liked thankfully.  She explained very thoroughly why they had to section me that night, and it made sense and calmed me down (even though now I don't really remember what she said!). 

I was happy to find out that I didn't have to be on mag for the c/s (less happy that I would have to be on it immediately afterwards).  It was all very fast.  They wheeled me up, did the spinal, put up the sheet and started cutting!

The biggest differences between this time and last is that this time, I wasn't on mag so I wasn't out of it like I was last time.  The other difference is that I felt CRAZY tugging and pulling this time.  I did feel a bit of tugging last time, but this time, oh my gosh, I actually said, "is he stuck or something?"  It didn't hurt, but it was slightly uncomfortable, and I couldn't believe I could feel it as much as I did.  It turns out he WAS stuck!

At 10:03 p.m. on December 1, 2011, my adorable baby boy was born.  He weighed 4 pounds 5 ounces and was 18 inches long.  Ella (one day earlier) weighed 4 pounds 6 ounces and was 17.25 inches!

Preemies always take longer to cry so it seemed like FOREVER until I heard his cute little cry.  After that, the nurses said, "this one is FEISTY!"  I thought, "oh no, another one!"

I only got to see him for a split second as they wheeled him in the incubator to the NICU.  Gary went with him, and I was wheeled into recovery.  I was put on mag (boo), and I vomited FIVE times since I had eaten a huge dinner at 6:30 (there are very good reasons you are not allowed to eat before surgery!).  After surgery, I saw even more why they needed to section me, as my BP results were high and were not going down.

Despite my pressures, my mag experience this time was MUCH better.  I felt loopy and tired, but honestly, it wasn't that bad.  I was on half the dose I was last time, which I'm sure helped, but last time I felt like I was going to die.  This time, it was unpleasant and annoying, but I could deal with it.

Because when you are on mag, you are not allowed to get out of bed, they wheeled me into one of the 5th floor labor and delivery rooms until I was off mag.  I don't remember much except that I could barely keep my eyes open on Friday.  I just wanted to sleep.  Oh, and get continuous pain meds (while on mag, they give you intravenous pain meds instead of percocet) because I was NOT going to make the same mistake I made with Ella and refuse pain meds and be miserable.

My nurse was the greatest and was so sweet and accommodating.  The only thing I wasn't so fond of was that she made me start pumping within 6 hours of giving birth (apparently there is some rule about starting within 6 hours??).  With Ella, I didn't start pumping until at least the next day (maybe later).  However, so far it's been easy (even though I'm only getting little drops at this point) so I'll just keep up with it at the hospital...we'll see what happens at home. ;)

So all day Friday was pretty easy (besides the mag side effects), pain free (but it was the first day with Ella too), and all I was really doing was pumping and sleeping.  I wasn't allowed any fluids (can you imagine?!  After just having a baby!), and I wasn't hungry at all so that may have explained my yucky headache all day, although you'd think all the drugs would make it go away!

My Friday night nurse told me that they would be shutting off the mag at 11 p.m. (it has to be on for 24 hours), and I would be moving to the NICU floor.  Um, is there some reason why we can't do this in the morning?  Why I have to move floors in the middle of the night while exhausted, alone (Gary was at home with Ella) and scared to death of pain?

I was not happy, and I was super scared because this is where the real pain started last time- when I started moving around.  I had an awful few days recovering from Ella because the pain was so bad.  And this time I was alone!  I was terrified to be in a room all by myself, with NO catheter and no one to help me with anything.  Nonetheless, they pulled out the catheter (painless), moved me to the wheel chair (easy), wheeled me upstairs and got me situated in my new bed (no pain)!  I was shocked!  The worst part was coming off the mag because I was really loopy, extremely weak, and my arms and legs felt ridiculously heavy.

I thought that must have been a fluke, and the real pain would start once I had to go to the bathroom, but at 4 a.m., I called the nurse, she helped me to the bathroom, and it was easy peasy!  Taking your meds on time every 4 hours makes a WORLD of difference!

My only concern now is that my BP continues to be very high.  Many times higher than it was before I delivered!  The doctor said they may have to put my on BP medication.

Anyway, I finally got to meet baby boy on Saturday morning.  He is so cute!  I think he looks a lot like Ella.  The NICU nurse said he is really easy.  She said he likes the pacifier (boo).

He's Here

Sorry I haven't updated...I just got taken off mag a few minutes ago (and it's the middle of the night) so I've been pretty useless (and still am).  I'll do a birth story, but quickly, he was born at 10:03 p.m. last night, December 1, 2011.  He weighed 4lbs. 5oz. and is 18" long.  We STILL don't have a name.

I actually haven't even seen him (other than for 1 second in the OR) because they won't let you get off the bed when you are on mag.

Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow, and I can do a proper update.

OMG!!!!!

They are doing the c-section TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!  WTF?!  My BPs have been bad since afternoon, but not as bad as with Ella, but they are still doing it tonight.  I don't understand why they can't wait until morning?! 

No Baby

I'm admitted again.  Probably for awhile.  I don't know anything except it doesn't look like a baby tonight or tomorrow.  I don't even want to talk about it.