Eternal Marriage
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
My Beautiful Christmas Angels
Friday, September 28, 2012
The life of a NICU Mom...
These past two weeks...almost three now have been rough. It all started out with me having to have a c-section at 32 weeks pregnant because of my super high blood pressure. It's crazy to think that I could have had a stroke or seizure if they didn't get our precious little girl out of me ASAP. It went from me going in to be monitored to the doctor saying, "I've scheduled your c-section for an hour from now." Scary scary moment! This all happened on September 10th. It is now September 28th and my beautiful baby Abigail Bryanne is still in the hospital. I NEVER thought something like this could happen to us. This was definitely not in our plans.
I was discharged from the hospital on Friday, September 14th which of course was nice because the beds there are horrible, but what was horrible about being discharged was the fact that I wouldn't be right down the hall from my princess. That was a horrible night...I cried all the way home. It was not in my plans to have to say goodbye to my baby for who knows how long.
We have learned so much about preemies that you would NEVER even think about. Preemies don't like to be rocked. They like to be completely snuggled up like they are still in the womb. They come out not having the knowledge of eating like newborn babies. They have to learn the technique of "Suck, breathe and swallow." Everything is different for preemies. Even their baths are different. They are given "swaddle baths." They are bathed in a little storage tote and kept swaddled through the whole bath. They normally sleep right through their baths because they feel as though they are right back in the womb and are extremely comfortable. We had to watch a video of the bath before we gave her the bath to know what to do. It was very weird, but she enjoyed it. You would think that if you are already a mother, that you would know how to take care of your 2nd child, but nope. We have been learning right along with Abigail through her whole growing process.
We absolutely LOVE Abigail and love seeing her everyday, but honestly the drive to and from the hospital and just sitting and holding and starting at Abigail has become quite tedious. We of course would not stop going to visit her because she needs us, but this month sure has been exhausting. Besides trying to heal from a c-section with an almost 3 year old at home (who loves my attention constantly)...we also have to take her to the hospital most of the time. It feels as though our visits with Abigail keep getting shorter and shorter because we are so exhausted and by 3 in the afternoon we are just ready to lay down on the couch and relax. Even though we are getting plenty of sleep most nights, we still wake up completely exhausted physically and emotionally. Who knew that life could be this hard.
I just want my little princess to come home!! She is doing great and is now up to 4 pounds, but she is still learning how to take food through her bottles. Before she can come home she has to be able to take 75% of her food through her bottle and then they can remove her feeding tube. AND then once the feeding tube is removed she will still have to have two full days of bottle feedings that will have to go perfect before she comes home. She is progressing slowly. We would love to have her home before her 1 month birthday, but it all depends on her. I think it might be easier if we had a specific date of when we could take her home because then we could at least be counting down the days, but nope, it is all unknown! The unknown is killing me!!
The life of a NICU Mommy...exhausting physically and emotionally...tedious drives to and from the hospital everyday...trying to heal from a c-section...learning new things everyday...having to deal with nurses that are not especially nurses that you would choose for your baby...trying to keep your 2 year old from touching your stomach that is still in the process of healing...pumping every three hours to make sure there is enough milk to transport to the hospital everyday for your NICU baby...trying to find time to figure out and make dinners after getting home from the hospital each day...trying to not feel guilty when your husband is doing the housework for you because you are not allowed...fighting yourself to sit still and relax because you are still healing when you feel that there is much to be done like the laundry and vacuuming...trying not to lift more than 10 pounds when your child at home is over 40 pounds...LIFE IS ROUGH, BUT WE TRULY ARE BLESSED WITH TWO BEAUTIFUL GIRLS! We just can't wait until Abigail can come home! Hopefully SOON!
I was discharged from the hospital on Friday, September 14th which of course was nice because the beds there are horrible, but what was horrible about being discharged was the fact that I wouldn't be right down the hall from my princess. That was a horrible night...I cried all the way home. It was not in my plans to have to say goodbye to my baby for who knows how long.
We have learned so much about preemies that you would NEVER even think about. Preemies don't like to be rocked. They like to be completely snuggled up like they are still in the womb. They come out not having the knowledge of eating like newborn babies. They have to learn the technique of "Suck, breathe and swallow." Everything is different for preemies. Even their baths are different. They are given "swaddle baths." They are bathed in a little storage tote and kept swaddled through the whole bath. They normally sleep right through their baths because they feel as though they are right back in the womb and are extremely comfortable. We had to watch a video of the bath before we gave her the bath to know what to do. It was very weird, but she enjoyed it. You would think that if you are already a mother, that you would know how to take care of your 2nd child, but nope. We have been learning right along with Abigail through her whole growing process.
We absolutely LOVE Abigail and love seeing her everyday, but honestly the drive to and from the hospital and just sitting and holding and starting at Abigail has become quite tedious. We of course would not stop going to visit her because she needs us, but this month sure has been exhausting. Besides trying to heal from a c-section with an almost 3 year old at home (who loves my attention constantly)...we also have to take her to the hospital most of the time. It feels as though our visits with Abigail keep getting shorter and shorter because we are so exhausted and by 3 in the afternoon we are just ready to lay down on the couch and relax. Even though we are getting plenty of sleep most nights, we still wake up completely exhausted physically and emotionally. Who knew that life could be this hard.
I just want my little princess to come home!! She is doing great and is now up to 4 pounds, but she is still learning how to take food through her bottles. Before she can come home she has to be able to take 75% of her food through her bottle and then they can remove her feeding tube. AND then once the feeding tube is removed she will still have to have two full days of bottle feedings that will have to go perfect before she comes home. She is progressing slowly. We would love to have her home before her 1 month birthday, but it all depends on her. I think it might be easier if we had a specific date of when we could take her home because then we could at least be counting down the days, but nope, it is all unknown! The unknown is killing me!!
The life of a NICU Mommy...exhausting physically and emotionally...tedious drives to and from the hospital everyday...trying to heal from a c-section...learning new things everyday...having to deal with nurses that are not especially nurses that you would choose for your baby...trying to keep your 2 year old from touching your stomach that is still in the process of healing...pumping every three hours to make sure there is enough milk to transport to the hospital everyday for your NICU baby...trying to find time to figure out and make dinners after getting home from the hospital each day...trying to not feel guilty when your husband is doing the housework for you because you are not allowed...fighting yourself to sit still and relax because you are still healing when you feel that there is much to be done like the laundry and vacuuming...trying not to lift more than 10 pounds when your child at home is over 40 pounds...LIFE IS ROUGH, BUT WE TRULY ARE BLESSED WITH TWO BEAUTIFUL GIRLS! We just can't wait until Abigail can come home! Hopefully SOON!
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Pictures of Abigail Bryanne
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| Getting prepped for surgery (9/10/12) |
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| There she is...our beautiful Abigail |
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| Daddy brought her right to me...so precious! |
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| Bethanie meeting her little sister |
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| Being so soft |
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| The 3 loves of my life! |
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| Went to visit Abigail for my first time |
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| First Bottle (September 19, 2012) |
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| First Bath (Swaddle Bath)...September 24, 2012 |
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| Daddy warming her up after her bath |
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| First Family Picture |
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Abigail Bryanne...our Miracle Baby!
Sunday, September 9th I woke up with a sore neck...figured I slept on it wrong and didn't think anything of it. Pain got worse, but me, being stubborn and not liking to complain just ignored it. Monday morning, September 10th the neck pain grew stronger. My neck was so sore...it was pounding on both sides and causing a headache...took a warm shower and just continued to deal with the pain figuring it would go away. I tried a heating pad...that did nothing...tried Tylenol (since that is all you can take while pregnant)...meds did not even touch it. SO...once Bryan got home from work I decided it was probably a good idea to check my blood pressure because I got extremely hot and the head and neck pains were just throbbing. We checked my blood pressure three or four times...all super high. (154/100). Not good! So, I called the doctor's office and they said to get to the hospital...and there the fun begins...
We dropped Bethanie off at Grandpa Glen's house not knowing what to expect...honestly I thought we would get to the hospital and they would put me on bed rest or something...no idea what was really going to happen.
We got to the hospital, got settled in and they started doing tests. Blood tests, urine tests, monitored my blood pressure (off the charts readings)...they gave me some strong meds that should have done something to help with the neck and head pains...but even their meds did NOTHING for me. This is when we knew something was really wrong. They sent in a high risk pregnancy specialist, Dr. Lynn. She talked to us and told us all of the concerns that she was having with my symptoms. Even though blood tests were coming back normal, my blood pressure was off the charts high, very scary. They put me on Magnesium to try to get my blood pressure down. This is when she diagnosed it all as Severe Pre-eclampsia. When we heard the words pre-eclampsia, we just figured they would put me on bed rest or do something to push forward with the pregnancy...nope. Being just a little over 32 weeks pregnant, we figured they would do all that they could to help my blood pressure go down and send me home. This was not the case. Blood pressure is a serious and dangerous thing. The specialist said that the best thing to do would be to deliver the baby asap so that nothing happened to me. Blood pressure issues could cause seizures or a stroke.
So, once we were told that we needed to get the baby out of course we were shocked! 32 weeks really scared us. The doctor assured us that this was the thing to do and then about an hour later we were scheduled for a c-section. Talk about a life changing event! We were scheduled to go into surgery at 9:15 pm...not much time for us to even think about things or to even realize that this was all not just a dream.
They got me into the room all prepped for the c-section and Abigail Bryanne joined our family at 9:48 pm Monday, September 10th. She weighed 3 pounds 1 ounce and was 15 1/2 inches long. She's TINY but doing great! She is a champ! She has been off and on of tiny amounts of oxygen, mostly breathing on her own and doing amazing. She has been starting to be fed through a feeding tube using some of the milk I was able to produce so far and our goals are to just get her strong so that she can go home with us sooner rather than later. She was born at 32 weeks and normally they like to keep pre-mature babies until at least 36 weeks, but we are hoping she will gain some weight and become strong much sooner than that. I cannot imagine having to leave the hospital without my beautiful teeny, tiny princess. We are in love and so happy to have such a sweet baby in our family. All of the nurses have already fallen in love with her too...she's a sweet and amazing child! :)
Pictures to come in another post :)
We dropped Bethanie off at Grandpa Glen's house not knowing what to expect...honestly I thought we would get to the hospital and they would put me on bed rest or something...no idea what was really going to happen.
We got to the hospital, got settled in and they started doing tests. Blood tests, urine tests, monitored my blood pressure (off the charts readings)...they gave me some strong meds that should have done something to help with the neck and head pains...but even their meds did NOTHING for me. This is when we knew something was really wrong. They sent in a high risk pregnancy specialist, Dr. Lynn. She talked to us and told us all of the concerns that she was having with my symptoms. Even though blood tests were coming back normal, my blood pressure was off the charts high, very scary. They put me on Magnesium to try to get my blood pressure down. This is when she diagnosed it all as Severe Pre-eclampsia. When we heard the words pre-eclampsia, we just figured they would put me on bed rest or do something to push forward with the pregnancy...nope. Being just a little over 32 weeks pregnant, we figured they would do all that they could to help my blood pressure go down and send me home. This was not the case. Blood pressure is a serious and dangerous thing. The specialist said that the best thing to do would be to deliver the baby asap so that nothing happened to me. Blood pressure issues could cause seizures or a stroke.
So, once we were told that we needed to get the baby out of course we were shocked! 32 weeks really scared us. The doctor assured us that this was the thing to do and then about an hour later we were scheduled for a c-section. Talk about a life changing event! We were scheduled to go into surgery at 9:15 pm...not much time for us to even think about things or to even realize that this was all not just a dream.
They got me into the room all prepped for the c-section and Abigail Bryanne joined our family at 9:48 pm Monday, September 10th. She weighed 3 pounds 1 ounce and was 15 1/2 inches long. She's TINY but doing great! She is a champ! She has been off and on of tiny amounts of oxygen, mostly breathing on her own and doing amazing. She has been starting to be fed through a feeding tube using some of the milk I was able to produce so far and our goals are to just get her strong so that she can go home with us sooner rather than later. She was born at 32 weeks and normally they like to keep pre-mature babies until at least 36 weeks, but we are hoping she will gain some weight and become strong much sooner than that. I cannot imagine having to leave the hospital without my beautiful teeny, tiny princess. We are in love and so happy to have such a sweet baby in our family. All of the nurses have already fallen in love with her too...she's a sweet and amazing child! :)
Pictures to come in another post :)
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Heber, AZ 4th of July Festivities
On July 7th, we drove into Heber to participate in the fun 4th of July festivities that they had to offer. We had a blast! First we went out to lunch and stuffed ourselves full of some great food at the Red Onion and then we headed over to the Tall Timbers Park. Bethanie LOVED everything that this place had to offer. She got to ride ponies, bounce in bounce houses, slide down bouncy slides, ride a train AND ride the ponies again. She had a blast. She also got to play some carnival type games...she won herself a lizard. She was given 4 ping pong balls to try and throw and get into one of the small fish bowls. She has an amazing underhand throw and made her 2nd ball in perfectly and won herself a pink lizard. She was so proud and so excited to have a toy. :) She was a champ on the slides, we wondered if she would know how to climb the ladders to the top, but of course she did that perfectly too. She had such a great time that she still talks about the park and slides and horsey rides today. :) We had such a great week camping and this was a great end to the week. It is always great fun getting to see our daughter so happy and enjoying her life.
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| Just waiting for our food at the Red Onion |
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| Horsey Ride...she's loving it |
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| Thrilled! |
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| And more :) |
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| She had so much fun |
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| Elisa |
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| Gabby |
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| Saying Thank You to Trigger for the ride |
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| Pretty sure she wanted to take this horse home ;) |
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| Train ride! |
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| So excited! |
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| When is this train going to start? |
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| Having so much fun |
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| Jumping real high in the bounce house |
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| Hilarious facial expressions...she looked terrified |
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| Scared, but could not wait to go again. |
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| The TALL slide...she kept getting turned around and would kind of come down backwards |
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| Bethanie and her lizard that she won so amazingly. |
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| Daddy taking Bethanie on her 2nd pony ride |
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| She took her hat off and said, "YEE HAW!" |
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| Giddy-up |
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| So much fun! |
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