5.27.2008

weekend sleep

while finn was busy playing with his cousins, miette took in a good dose of the zzzz's. here are various sleeping photos :)

weekend play

we had a great weekend, with a visit from the kennelly family and cam/erin family. finn absolutely loves playing around with his cousins. we really enjoyed seeing everyone! here are some pictures from the weekend.


finn playing soccer, alone :)

maddie, katie and caroline marching it out

maddie got window markers for her birthday - FUN!

justin and finn playing catch - or something

finn trying to keep up with his girl cousins

5.21.2008

sick of dr. offices/health care places.

was in hospital for 3.5 days having a kid.
went to the pediatrician for miette the two days after i got out of the hospital.
went to prompt care on sunday for finn - he had pink eye.
and i feel another visit for miette tomorrow - looking like she may have picked up pink eye too.

i think this is a medical visit record for me.

5.16.2008

for those wondering...

the results from miette's bloody stool came back inconclusive... there wasn't enough 'specimen' to test properly. so the doc told me to wait for a diaper that had lots of blood in it, and to scrape it off of the diaper as soon as possible, so that the blood didn't soak into the diaper. well, i waited and waited, and she didn't have a diaper with lots of blood in it... and now her diapers have zero blood in them! yea! so this means that my new diet (no dairy) is working and she does have an allergy to cow's milk or that it was just a newborn baby thingy. we will wait a while and then i will add some dairy back into the diet and see what happens... and that is the update on miette.

finn, however, has some crazy eye crustiness. hoping that it is NOT pink eye. cause that's just gross.

5.14.2008

going home

we left the hospital on monday evening around dinnertime. it seems a lot has happened since then! miette's bilirubin level has been tested twice, both turning out with similar results, which made the dr. comfortable with the outcome and told us not to worry about it at all. we found some blood in miette's diapers. we are waiting to hear back if it is her blood or my blood (amniotic fluid still in the tummy...). if it's my blood, then it's not a big deal and it will pass (this is what we are hoping for!!) if it turns out that it is her blood, the doctor explained that it could be one of two things. first, and she suspects that it is this, is that miette could have an allergy to cow's milk, she could be lactose intolerant. which would mean i have to stop eating all dairy while breastfeeding. or secondly, it could be something worse, but she didn't want to tell me or explain it to me to keep my mind at ease. which i appreciate. so anyway, because of miette's bilirubin levels, she has been very sleepy and not very hungry. this can be frustrating as a parent, because you only want to see your child behaving normally! but the doctor said that she looks very healthy otherwise. and that she felt this would all pass in the next few days.

justin and i have not been sleeping very much! the dr. had wanted miette to be fed every 2 hours, so when you add the 30-40 minutes it takes to feed and diaper her, you are left with a little over an hour in which to sleep in - four or five times a night. we were both able to take naps today which has helped quite a bit. don't know how things would be going if we weren't staying with justin's parents... justin's mom has been enormously understanding and helpful in taking care of finn for us.

so there's your update and here are some pictures of miette's homecoming! will let you know when we find something out.





5.12.2008

miette, miette, in the little blue isolette...


this little incubator cube is also called an 'isolette,' which rhymes with our new daughter's name! fun fun.
miette's in the blue because her bilirubin levels were a bit high. she has been in there since around 10AM yesterday, only coming out to eat! she didn't like it at first, but she has decided to change her attitude.
as of around midnight last night, miette's weight was down to 7 pounds 1 ounce. so the doctor felt that with the higher bilirubin levels, that she needed a supplement to breast milk. so she has had about 3 ounces of formula since then.
this morning, her bilirubin levels were down to 9 (from 12), so the nurse thought she would be able to come out today. the doctor is in the nursery now, so we will soon here about her weight and when we get to go home (my doctor said i was fine to go home today, but can stay until miette is ready to go.) i will keep everyone posted :)

**in a few of the pictures you may see that miette's feet look like they are in casts! the bilirubin test involved taking blood from the heel, which is easier to do if the foot is nice and warm... so they put warmers on the feet and wrap them up in diapers! it was pretty funny looking....

5.11.2008

miette eloise




born on may 9, 2008 at 1:13 pm.
8 pounds 2 ounces, 19 inches long.

"miette," pronounced 'mee - et' is french for small and sweet.

"eloise" pronounced 'el-o-ees' is french for intelligent and smart.

the c-section went alright. i had some pain in my left side, and near the middleof the surgery i noticed that i was able to move my leg around (this is not supposed to happen!) the pain in my left side was bad enough to make me cry, and receive more meds on top of the spinal block. i was told that they suspected it was an air bubble. it DID go away. and i DID make it through. i am surprised that caitlyn still has her hand; i was squeezing it so hard!

miette was born with a knot in her umbilical cord. the nurse i spoke with afterwards said that we were extremely lucky, as many babies with this problem do not make it. she was crying like crazy! i didn't get to see her much in the operating room, since i was slightly bleary eyed and in lots of pain, but they brought her to my room not too long after the whole thing went down. she was so small and cute! and in my opinion, she looks just like finn did, only smaller. and more hair. this morning, miette was looking a little yellow-y orange, so they did the jaundice test, and stuck her in this litle cubicle with a blue light. she is not able to come out except to eat! poor gal. they will test her again this evening, and probably keep her in the cubicle until tomorrow morning. she is naked except for her diaper and has to wear these little eye goggle things. boo.

i am recovering much quicker than last time. this hospital has given me a lot less drugs, and i am thankful for it. last time i remember being so out of it. but this time i have been quite coherent! i have had some difficulty sleeping, but most everything else is just fine. a little abdominal soreness, which i am sure will get worse someday down the road, when i am not able to sit on my rear all day long.

finn came in to meet miette yesterday. he did really well. (for him!) he didn't want to hold her, but he did kiss her cheek a few times. i think he was so distracted by everything else, and excited to see mom and dad, that he didn't really care much about the new baby.

now we are just excited to get back home! and dress our little girl up in her own clothes, sleep in our own bed, and move on with life!!

5.08.2008

wait almost over.

went to the doc today, and because of this and that, he decided to take baby out tomorrow. so around 12:30 the incision will be made, and we will be a family of four.

andy's wisdom.





waiting is exciting.
but also frustrating.

especially when you are a 'planner.'
like me.

c'mon little baby.
i've got nothing going on.
just waiting on you.

5.06.2008

polling...


being that delivery day is just around the corner, and justin and i have managed to keep this baby's gender a secret, i am wondering what everyone else thinks we are having! so tell me what you think... what are we having? how big will it be? WHEN will it arrive?!

5.03.2008

the last spoiling.


i am 37 weeks along today. finn came just past 38 weeks. i am trying not to get anxious, but i feel like this baby might not be too far away. so, because of that, we wanted to make sure we got in one last time of spoiling finn as an only child. we have talked about the new baby with him, but being that he is only two, and hasn't been around a whole ton of babies, i don't know that he really understands --- this could be a shocker for him!
so we took him out to get his very own baseball cap. he LOVES hats. really. he loves them. and when we found the hat, we also spotted the baseball gloves... i thought for sure that he would be too little for one of those, but we tried one out, and he was actually able to catch a ball with one... and he even picked out the one he wanted... justin wanted him to get a different one, but he insisted on this blue rawlings one. we went to borders to try to find him a book about becoming a big brother, but there wasn't much... so we went to eat at culvers. which was probably more for me than anyone else! anyway, we had great fun, and finn is totally crazy about his new things. we are keeping the glove and soft baseball put away until baby actually comes.
and for those of you who don't know... baby is scheduled to arrive may 16th around noon, if it doesn't make it's appearance before then... as of this past thursday i was measuring 39 weeks... so i am hoping for sooner than the 16th, but i guess we will all just have to wait and see.