Quick, before it snows!

Well, little Miss Courtney has been a little out of sorts recently. She just hasn’t been herself. So, before things got worse and we head into the weekend with these MASSIVE storms they are predicting, we went to the pediatrician’s office. As near as they can guess, she’s teething. I know 3 and ½ months is early, however they can also begin to show signs a month in advance. So, who knows? Her reflux could even be causing odd things to be going on.

At the same time, Buddy did something to one of his legs. He wouldn’t put any weight on his rear left leg. So, Hubby took him to the vet while I was at the pediatrician’s with Courtney. We decided that again, that wasn’t something we wanted to wait on either. They are still currently at the vet, I haven’t heard any updates yet, just that they were x-raying him.

The snow started in the 10am hour. Right now the flakes are HUGE and coming down pretty good. We probably have 2 inches all ready. I guess the weather service has changed their mind and decided that we are not going to have blizzard force winds, just a large dumping of snow. They are saying 1-2 feet for us. Which means that we will probably get a few inches and that’s all. I have a feeling they were way off the mark on this storm, but we shall see.

Just after it started to snow this morning, I went out and took pictures of the new snow falling on our old snow piles. That way tomorrow, we can compare.

Well, Hubby is pulling in and I need to get the little one up to eat!

My blogging site was down yesterday so I wasn’t able to post this. So, I will update and try again. Buddy’s limping is caused by arthritis. So, he is on glucosamine and some pain pills for a little while.

We got 12 inches of snow; I measured a little while ago when I went out to shovel. It is still snowing, and they are saying this storm might wrap back around and slam into us again, bringing much more snow. We shall see!

Big news, Courtney rolled over for the first time today! She has been trying a lot while on her changing table. But the pad she is on is curved up on the sides, so it always stops her. She didn’t roll over yesterday during her tummy time, but she did today!! 3 times! She was on her tummy and rolled to her back. Her friend Hailey just did this today as well! We were able to get one or two of Courtney’s rolls on the video camera. She is also really good at using her legs to scoot when she is on her back. She is growing up!

Here comes the snow, again

You should see the PILES of snow we still have in front of our house. There are still parts of our sidewalk that has 2 or more feet of snow on it. And guess what? Another large storm, just like the last one is heading our way! This incoming storm is setting itself up just as the last one did, so we are looking at the same thing as last week! I need to try to get to the store tomorrow to stock up on small stuff. But the news was saying that the stores haven’t recovered from the last storm. They are low on food and such because their shipments were not able to get in. So, it will be interesting. There isn’t anything that we really need, just some small items, nothing we can’t live without.

So, we had something frustrating happen to us. On Saturday Hubby got a call at home from Visa saying that someone had tried 3 times to western union $3000 + out of our account. That wasn’t us! So, they shut down our visa cards, which are our debit cards. I was at work, and the good thing is that our bank is the next building over. So, on my lunch break I walked over and got some cash since it would be a while until our new debit cards arrived. We thought that was the end of story.

However, I logged into our bank account this morning and there was a western union for over $1000 that went through! That wiped our account out (since it’s the end of the month). So, now we are dealing with the bank and trying to get our money back. So far, I called in, and they told me to fill out a form on line. I did that and I haven’t heard anything since. Kind of scary that it can happen that easy! We are now going to stop using our debit cards for any online purchase and use a credit card only. I know, we should have been doing that all along, but there are no finance charges with our debit card. Trust us, we learned that lesson! So, beware out there, don’t use your debit card to make on line purchases. I am guessing that is how someone got our account number. And I am going to guess that some criminal out there now has a free $1000+ dollars, courtesy of us. That makes me angry. I doubt they will ever catch the person, too. I will just rely on karma to take care of that individual.

Well, it’s time to take the baby up and put her to bed on her pillow! And yes, her pillow is working like magic so far! She is sooo much happier on the pillow than in her car seat. Her gas is MUCH better overnight. I know that sounds like nothing, but it was so bad in her car seat that she would keep me up most of the night with her grunting, groaning, crying out, farting and thrashing. Let’s hope the pillow keeps working like magic!!!

Christmas Past

Christmas past… I was reading a friend’s blog tonight and he was reminiscing about what Christmas used to be to him as a kid. It made me think of what Christmas used to be for me.

Christmas time memories for me are spending every Sunday evening at the church for the 4 Sunday’s before Christmas (aka Advent). One Sunday we would make gingerbread houses, another we would make ornaments and hang them on the tree upstairs while singing Christmas carols. I forget what did for the other two Sunday’s, it was always the same year after year. The gingerbread houses and the ornaments were my favorite.

It meant that every year somehow our live Christmas tree was always too tall and it took several tries to get enough cut off the base to get it into the tree stand, and upright.

Christmas Eve was always my favorite. It started with being at the church for the 5pm service. At one point we would light candles and sing carols. After that it was off to the Cole’s house for a Christmas party with lots of good food and candy. From there, we would drive around to look at Christmas lights. All the while listening to the radio, as NORAD always had updates as to where Santa was. Then we would come home, and open 1 gift.

I was always the early riser on Christmas morning, and I sure didn’t let anyone else sleep in! The morning started with the sorting of the gifts. Then the opening started. At some point mom would insist we stop for breakfast. Stockings were always last. Then the rest of the day, play with all the new exciting toys and games you just got. Ahh, the magic of Christmas.

Then you grow up, and somehow, it’s not as magical anymore. The part that made me really sad this year is realizing that the new little one won’t have any concept of Santa and the magic of Christmas until she is probably 2 or 3. And now a day’s the magic only lasts until they are 6 or 7. That is such a short amount of time! I sure wish that is something I could extend for her for many many years.

Well, our Christmas was good here. Thank you to everyone for all the wonderful gifts! Courtney was showered with love! She is a very lucky girl. I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas and know that you are all in our hearts!

Day 2 of the storm

Well, day 2 of being inside. The wind was HOWLING until about 5am. When I got up at 6:45am, it was still snowing BIG flakes. Now, at 11:05am, it’s still snowing. We did take pictures this morning that Hubby is working on posting to our website now. We opened out garage doors, and there was a drift about 4 foot plus right outside our door! It was up to Hubby’s waist. So, you should soon see pictures on the web.

The city is still shut down, as are most roads. We just saw the sun peak out, but there is no way we can move out of the neighborhood. We still have several cars stuck right outside. You will see several cars in our pictures, they don’t belong there.

I walked away from this post and it’s now 5:10pm. It has finally stopped snowing! Hubby started shoveling our driveway and our neighbor had brought in a bobcat. He was kind enough to clear our driveway and several other driveway’s with his bobcat. It made the whole process go a lot faster! Now we just have to clear our sidewalks. We took pictures of the bobcat clearing our driveway, we will post them soon.

Well, we are off to try to figure out what to make for dinner.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Well, our little snowstorm is actually a major blizzard. Practically the whole state is shut down! The interstate from Denver to New Mexico is closed, most major roads in town even are closed. And of course, they are all closed around us. So, even if we were going somewhere, it would be very difficult! But, there is no way we are going anywhere. Hubby made it to work this morning, but came home about 11am. Which was a good thing because that is about the time the town started to shut down. The local government was asking all businesses to close. And most of them did. Colorado Springs, and El Paso county and the state of Colorado have all declared a State of Emergency.

I just let the dogs out, the neighbor across the street has about a 4 foot drift at the end of his driveway. We have 4 cars stuck right by our house, they were not able to make it up the hill the rest of the way to the rest of the neighborhood.

The wind is so bad that all our deck furniture has blown to one corner of the deck. We don’t have light furniture! And the deck is clear of snow because of the wind. But we have some drifts that are at least 4 foot high. And this is supposed to continue through tomorrow morning.

Needless to say, we didn’t take Courtney to the doctor, or for her pictures. She is now supposed to go to the doctor’s office on Friday.

Bristol LOVES the snow. He loves to go out and bound through the snowdrifts. He comes in looking like a snow dog, covered nose to tail! Maggie doesn’t like the cold or snow but she will chase Bristol in the yard. And Buddy really doesn’t like it. He goes out, does his business as fast as possible and then runs back in.

The wind is just fierce! I heard it start about 3am. When I got up at 4am to make a bottle it was just starting to snow. I know when I looked out the kitchen window about 7:45am, I still saw grass and street. Then about an hour later, everything was covered! I really am not sure how much snow we got due to all the wind. Hubby says he thinks we got a foot to foot and a half! I don’t think anyone is going anywhere fast tomorrow either. We are pretty much stuck for a little bit. The news said this storm is better than the last time because the wind is blowing snow off trees and power lines so there have been no power outages this time. But it’s worse visibility due to the wind also. I certainly am loving it! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!!! It’s supposed to continue through tomorrow morning! I hope so!!!

Been really busy

Well, things have been busy here. I took Courtney for a weight check last Wednesday. She weighed in at 10lbs 10oz. We go again tomorrow to check her weight again. Hopefully she is increasing okay. She isn’t eating enough calories according to the doctor’s guideline, but we just can not get any more food in her. It’s hard too, due to her reflux; we really don’t want to force food in her.

She had a rough day today. She started screaming in pain mid-afternoon. I wish she could tell me why. I gave her her medication early. I was going to go and get her 3 month old pictures taken this morning, but she was a grumpy Gus from the get go. So we decided to put it off another day. Hopefully we can go tomorrow. We are supposed to get 4-10 inches of snow, but that is what they said about this morning too. So, we will see what it’s doing tomorrow.

Other than that, we have just been getting ready for Christmas. We went and did some Christmas shopping last night. But I am still not done! Close, but not yet. Next is wrapping. I haven’t started that yet at all for the Christmas here. At least all my packages are gone, and my Christmas cards too!

Other than that, not too much else is going on. Hubby is in the last week of his current class and then he has 1 CLASS LEFT! Of course that means in a few months the student loan payments kick in, but at least he will have his 2 master’s!

WnW has been getting busier. This weekend should be crazy. I will be glad when it’s over.

Well, I gotta go pull the kid’s laundry out of the dryer and then I am off to bed!!

CC Update

Well, tonight we ordered an AR Pillow for Courtney. It’s a large foam wedge with a ‘seatbelt’ type thing on it. It will hold Courtney at a 30 degree angle so she can sleep. And the bands hold her on it so she doesn’t just roll to the bottom of the pillow. We are really hoping this works for her so that we can get her out of her car seat all the time. Our friends who are on their second reflux baby, got one for the baby and she sleeps 10 straight hours sometimes on it! I have a feeling we won’t have that great of success, but getting her out of her car seat all the time is a start!

I finally spoke with her pediatrician today who told me to bring her in for a weight check tomorrow and then again in another week. If the pediatrician is comfortable with her weight gain in that week, then we really have no need to worry about all the stuff we are worrying about! I have a feeling it will go okay. She told me it’s okay that I held off on all of the changes that the specialist wanted me to make. The biggest concern is making sure that she is gaining weight okay. I will be anxious to see where her weight puts her on the percentile chart tomorrow. I am anxious to see if she is still following the same line she was on a month ago.

For some odd reason a few weeks ago, I started journaling her food intake. I shouldn’t have done that. Now I constantly keep track and watch how much she eats. And I worry when it’s anything less than 17 oz. In fact today she is only at 15 oz for the day right now. So, we will wake her up soon and give her hopefully another 3 oz, bringing her to 18 oz for the day. All though the specialist says that is not enough calories for her. I have a feeling she may end up on ‘solids’ soon. We may end up needing to try the rice cereal in the bottle again. It’s been at least a month; maybe she would like it better now. Who knows?

Anyway, Hubby made it home safe and sound on Friday night. I worked at WnW both Saturday and Sunday. It was busy both days, which is great. It makes the time fly by. By the end of the day I am so ready to come home and see my baby! I will work every weekend from now though the end of the year.

Well, it’s time to go wake her up and see if we can’t get her to eat a little bit more!

Update

Well, things are the same here pretty much. Courtney had an appointment yesterday with her specialist about her reflux and allergy. We decided to keep her on her same formula for now. Maybe after next visit we will try another formula that isn’t so expensive and easier to get.

He also put her on a new drug, reglan. It’s supposed to help the flap in the tummy tighten, so she doesn’t reflux, as well as empty the tummy out faster so there isn’t stuff to reflux. Today is day 1 of the meds and so far, I don’t like it at all. She is spitting up less, however, it makes her very drowsy. So, I have a call into her pediatrician to ask her what she thinks. I think no matter what, I am going to decrease the amount she is getting.

I was a little upset by Wednesday’s visit to the GI doc. I went in thinking, wow, I really feel like I have Courtney’s reflux pretty well managed. But the doctor seems very concerned about her health and well being and I left feeling miserable. So, I am anxiously awaiting my pediatrician to come back into the office tomorrow. I all ready have a message waiting for her. The GI doc not only put her on reglan but also wants her prevacid increased as well as her calories, by giving her some oil. I just don’t know about all that!

Other than that, things are the same here. Hubby was gone again this week, returning tomorrow night. My mom stayed with me last night and tonight.

Bristol had an unexpected overnight stay at the vet’s on Tuesday. He had been throwing up every night for several nights. They took him, x-rayed him, and saw that his bowels were full of gas, and irritated. So, they kept him on pepcid and IV fluids overnight. I picked him up the next morning, after they re-x-rayed him. They didn’t see any blockage and the next morning he was still all gassy and irritated. So, he has been on medication and a bland diet here at home.

Well, the little girl is going to sleep and so I want to also!

Cold Here

I think I have the cutest baby in the world. Of course, I am biased! But she sure is cute. And I only think that right now because for the first time in 3 days she is asleep in her swing! She got on this kick the last few days that she wouldn’t sleep unless she was being held. Now I know some of you are thinking, well just put her down and let her cry it out. Well, let me tell you, after all the articles I have read, it’s okay that I don’t. Between her reflux and her age, it’s perfectly okay for me to hold her to fall asleep. I have let her do the crying thing for 15 minutes and when she can’t sooth herself, then I pick her up. My house is a complete disaster and I think I only have 1 pair of clean underwear left, but the baby is happy!

Hubby has been gone for 5 days, and due to the weather my mom was only here 1 night. That was last night. I spent the time with my mom here, she held the baby, doing the baby’s laundry. She was out of clean nightgowns, 2 days ago! So her laundry was really a priority. I was hoping to get the grown up’s laundry done tomorrow, but I got called in to work! I am okay with that! And Sunday night we have our Wag N Wash Holiday party. I am looking forward to that! I really like the owners and they are always so kind at holiday time to put on this great party! Hubby is on his way home as I write this. I just checked and his airplane is still over Texas, almost to the panhandle of Oklahoma. He is flying into Denver and they have to drive down to the Springs. So, I don’t expect to see him for a few hours yet!

The cold weather sure has hit! It was only in the 30’s today and that is warmer than it’s been the last few days! I have my out of town people’s shopping done, now I just have to find a way to wrap and get it shipped! Then I have to concentrate on the in town people!

Well, I am off to watch the NASCAR banquet and awards show!

Let it snow!

Life has been pretty busy here as you probably guessed. Hubby’s parents came for a visit and we stayed pretty busy with them. I did a lot of shopping with them. We spent a whole day just at the Outlet Mall in Castle Rock. I had a great time with them and Courtney didn’t mind all the attention one bit!

My sister also flew into town and got to meet Courtney for the first time! She even babysat one night. She is a great AUNT!!! I think her and Courtney will really have fun together! At Christmas Courtney will get to meet Uncle Zak, too!

We had a good Thanksgiving as well. Hubby and I prepared it here at the house and my parents and sister joined us here. We had ham and turkey, asparagus and stuffing. All turned out yummy and I was taking leftovers to work!

And yes, I returned to work, a little bit. Wag N Wash agreed to take me back for the holiday season on weekends. So, when Hubby is home on the weekends (as long as he is in town) I will work! I have worked 2 days so far. It hard to get back into it physically. I haven’t been on my feet that much since June! And I haven’t been lifting 40 pounds of dog food since last December! So, when I come home at night, I can feel it! But I am hoping this also helps me to lose that last little bit of baby weight! So far it’s been fun to be back at work!

I am also going to be filling in at SH for a week and a half. The girl who took my place is going on vacation, and I get to fill in. And they are going to allow me to bring Courtney also! Which is good because Hubby will be out of town for half of it.

The reason we don’t put her in daycare is because of all that she has going on. First, due to her increased risk of pneumonia, she can get sick easy. And everyone knows how easy it is for kids to get sick at daycare. Also, due to the job at SH being part time now, it would be my paycheck every week just paying for daycare! I wouldn’t be bringing home any money! Our pediatrician advises that we really should wait until at least April to put her in daycare and if we can wait longer, great. So, we will re-evaluate everything in April.

She just hit 11 weeks old and I think she is either transitioning or hit a growth spurt. She used to drink 2 oz every 2 hours. Now it’s more like 3-4 oz every 3 to 3 & ½ hours! This change is dictated by her, and it’s kind of causing a flare up of her reflux. She has had several choking episodes the last 2 days. She had one today that I really thought was going to prompt a 911 call, but she finally cleared it.

I just let the dogs out and it’s snowing! We put up our tree and outside Christmas lights on Thanksgiving and I LOVE the way everything looks with snow!

Well, the little one was asleep, but not anymore. I must go tend to her!

Quick Update

I have been super busy here. And it’s late and I am tired so let me BRIEFLY update you:

Hubby’s parents were here for the last 8 days. Had fun, Christmas shopped, spent time with Courtney.

Today, I went back to work at Wag N Wash! Just weekends, probably for the holiday season, we will see how it goes.

Thanksgiving was good, Hubby and I cooked for everyone. Hope yours was great also!

Courtney’s good, being sillier everyday, loves to laugh at her fish mobile!

Off to bed, more later!

Swallow test

This took me till the next day to post due to blogger being down:

Sorry it’s been a while since I blogged. I’ve been busy! Courtney had her 2 month old appointment with her pediatrician on Tuesday. She weighed in at a hefty 9lbs 9.5oz! She is growing like crazy! That jumped her up to the 25th percentile for her weight! She had been hovering in the 10th percentile, so it’s nice to see her go up a bit. It’s very important that she continues to gain weight with her reflux.

She got 4 shots while we were there. Ugh, that’s not fun. She screamed like I have never heard her scream! But she quieted down pretty quick after it was over. But she was so crabby the next 24 hours! Especially when we hit her fussy times! And one of her fussy times is at 4am. She was really unhappy and she let us know, a lot, between 4am and 6am.

We finally got her swallow test done as well. They saw that she does indeed have some issues where the food goes when she swallows. It does tend to migrate to the wind pipe. During the test it did not go past her vocal chords. Which is good, however, it would have been better to see it not go to her windpipe at all. Unfortunately it went there almost every swallow. The speech pathologist told us to feed her as upright as possible and to try to avoid feeding her while she is very tired. We have to have her tested again when she starts on baby food to see where the baby food goes to. The speech pathologist said that most babies outgrow it around 4 months old when they get better head control and start working on sitting up. So, we just have to watch her closely. This does mean that her risk of getting pneumonia is higher than a normal baby, so should she show any signs of illness, we have to get her to the doctor right away. Pneumonia at this age would really be a bad thing.

I think we are managing her reflux pretty good now. We feed her 2 oz of formula every 2 hours during the day. This small amount often makes the spit up less. Knock on wood; her choking spells have decreased recently as well. I have noticed that she tends to go in fits and spurts. We have a period of good days and then we hit a period of bad days. Reminds me of peaks and valleys, or highs and lows. I really enjoy the highs. And somehow the low times or bad days always come when Hubby is out of town and I am by myself.

Her daytime fussy time now starts around 3pm and sometimes can last until 7pm. I hope it’s just colic and I hope she grows out of it soon!!!

Hubby’s parents arrived today for Thanksgiving. I can’t believe it’s a week away! His mom was here last month and she said she sees a huge difference in Courtney. It’s funny how when you see her every day you don’t notice any changes.

Well, it’s past 10pm and Courtney is asleep. I need to take advantage of that and sleep myself!

Soo sleepy!

Phew, what a week! Hubby left on Sunday for his next trip. It was so long ago now; I don’t remember what Courtney and I did! Nor do I remember Monday.

Tuesday Courtney had a weight check at the doctor’s office. She weighed in at 9 lbs, 3 oz! She is growing like a weed!! Later that afternoon, I went and got my flu shot. They are only giving flu shots to ‘high risk’ patients. Well, due to our 2 month old, we are considered ‘high risk’ so we get to get them. Our pediatrician is the one who recommended that we get them.

That afternoon, while I was at the doctor’s office in fact, Courtney started to fuss. That was around 3pm. She didn’t stop fussing and crying until about 8:00pm that evening. It was a LONG evening for me. And it was so uncharacteristic for her that I called the after hours pediatrician clinic. They were extremely unhelpful, other than saying that I really should try to find someone else to hold her. So, I called my friend Kelly to come over. I was feeding Courtney when she arrived. Kelly took over feeding and Courtney ended up falling asleep. She didn’t cry once while Kelly was here. But it was amazing how much better I felt after having a break.

My mom was kind enough to come up the next evening and stay with me the next two nights. She didn’t have another crying fit like that again, but the help is always much appreciated and very nice!

Thursday evening for fun and excitement (and for me to get out of the house) we went and walked around the mall. We ate dinner there too. Courtney stayed awake almost the whole time. She loves movement so much that as soon as you stop the stroller, she starts to cry. So, you pretty much have to keep her moving at all times.

We stopped putting rice cereal in her bottles. She was spitting up so much more on it. Since I stopped giving it to her, life is a little better. The last 2 days have been a little rougher, as she has had several choking episodes. Yesterday she had 4 or 5, and today she’s had at least 3 so far. Typically she maybe has 1 per day, maybe. So, hopefully things aren’t getting worse. All though from all the research that I have done, reflux tends to get increasingly worse until 4 months old, and then (hopefully) should get better. So, we may be on the path to peaking. We are still waiting to get our swallow test scheduled.

Hubby came home Friday night, and Courtney was happy to have her daddy back. She is smiling more and more now. The other day she was smiling and laughing at her mobile!

Today we went to Champps restaurant because there is a local group of Virginia Tech fans that hang out there together to watch the game. So, we went and joined them today for a while. Courtney stayed awake almost the whole time! She is getting to the point now that she is awake more and more.

Personally, I am so exhausted! Courtney tends to go to bed about 9:30pm and on a good night she will sleep until 3am or 4am. Or on a not so good night she only makes it until 1am. Then she wakes up around 4am again. And recently she has decided she likes to get up at 6:30am. It used to be she liked to sleep until at least 7:30am.

Well, we just finished dinner and I am going to rest while she is still sleeping. I need sleep!!!

Courtney's Test

Well, we have been busy here. Wednesday Courtney had an appointment to see her GI Specialist. He felt that she needed to have an Upper GI test done in order to make sure we were not missing something. So, we scheduled that for Friday.

Thursday was an interesting day. They have a program here in town called First Visitor. It’s a branch of this state wide service, Bright Beginnings. It’s a service that actually started in Denver. It’s a volunteer service of mom’s who come and visit new mom’s. They bring you a ‘gift bag’ that has a small quilt and lots and lots of information and resources. Our local library even gives you 2 books to read to your child. There is also Mozart CD. Their big philosophy is that the more information and support you have the healthy and happier your baby is going to be. It’s a nice service. They are there to talk to if you have any questions or problems. They will also come back when your baby starts crawling and help you baby proof your house. If you know of anyone who is having or has recently had a baby, I would recommend them! It’s a wonderful free service.

Shortly after the visitor left, Courtney had her worst choking spell yet. She was making some odd noises; I had stepped around the corner. By the time I got to her, her lips were blue and she was coughing. The coughing was able to clear the stuff she was choking on. But it was pretty scary. I was so thankful she was okay! These are the types of things that can happen to a baby that has reflux, so you have to watch them carefully.

The next morning, early in the morning, she had her upper GI. They tell you not to feed them at least 2 hours ahead of time so they are hungry when they get there. So, Thursday night (Friday morning) she woke up at 1am, and ate 2 oz. of formula, then I set my alarm for 4:30am, I woke her up and fed her another 2 oz of formula. By the time she was on the table ready for the test, it was 7:30am and she was hungry. So, she eagerly drank the barium. We did see on the test that she does have reflux, we watched the barium ‘splash’ up out of her stomach, half way up her esophagus. The doctor also saw that some of the liquid started go down her wind pipe instead of the esophagus. That’s not good. But the test also showed that there is no blockage at the end of her stomach and her stomach can empty fine.

The doctor at the GI test called Courtney’s GI Specialist almost right away. We spoke with the specialist’s office later and they want her to have another test, called a swallow test. It’s supposedly very similar to the test she had Friday, but we do it with a speech pathologist, who watches how she is swallowing. We are not sure yet when that test will be. I will hopefully find out on Monday.

We spent the rest of Friday running errands and getting everything accomplished that we had been putting off for a while. I got an emissions test on my car, dropped of my breast pump, and all the other small errands we had to run, like to the bank, dog food, grocery store, etc. That night we made enough dinner for 4 people and took it over to Tony and Kelly’s house and ate it there. It’s so nice to have someone to talk to who is going through the same things as us! Their baby who is 13 day’s older than Courtney has pretty bad reflux, and possibly other issues. They are trying to figure that all out now too. They go to the same specialist’s office as us.

One of the things that the doctor’s are having us do is to add a small amount of rice cereal to her formula. The hope is that it will thicken it up enough to help with her swallowing, as well as the reflux. The rice cereal should make it just heavy enough that it should sit heavy her in her stomach and not come back up. The hard part we are dealing with now is trying to make the holes in her bottle nipples a tad bit bigger so it will flow through. We are just now starting to find the right opening and tricks to get the food flowing.

Today we spent a lazy morning around and then went and ran more errands. Courtney needed more diapers and wipes, and other stuff. Then we went to my parent’s house for dinner to have an early celebration of my dad’s birthday.

We came home tonight and as I was getting Courtney dressed for bed; I started playing peek-a-boo with her. She started to smile and giggle. She has been smiling for about 2 weeks, but it was so cute to watch her really enjoy it! That is the first time I have seen her act that way towards me! The other night she was in her bouncy chair, it has lights and music. She was laughing and giggling at her lights. She loves lights. She is so cute! But hey, she is my child!

Happy Halloween

Saturday we went to the Air Force game. Last year was the first time we went as a group and had a tailgate party and it was a lot of fun. So, this year we did it again. My mom came up and watched Courtney. We had a much bigger group this year than last year, and we had such a good time we decided to do it again next year. It was a little muddy and snowy, but the temperature that day was in the 60’s so it wasn’t cold. The Falcon’s lost to BYU, but it was fun overall.

Sunday my parents’ neighbor’s, who have been friends of ours since I was 5 years old, held a meet and greet party for Courtney. So, Courtney and I spent the afternoon down there with friends. It was a fun get together, and I had some friends who still hadn’t met her, so they were excited to meet her.

Yesterday morning, we had our new refrigerator delivered. No, the old one wasn’t broken, but it was small, and we had the space for a bigger one. So, we got one.

Today is Halloween!! I am very excited! I would be more excited if Courtney would have allowed me to get more than 4 hours of sleep, but I am going to try to nap today as best I can.

Well, she is sleeping, so I am going to go and take a shower. I hope all of you have a happy and safe Halloween!

The Aftermath

I was supposed to go to my OBGYN for a 9:15am appt this morning. Yeah, we were not able to get the driveway shoveled in time. So, I am now rescheduled for Monday at 9am.

On Tuesday night when Hubby flew back from his 10 day trip, he went to his Jeep Cherokee (in Denver) and it wouldn’t start. The parking lot guy came and jumped it and he was able to make it home. However, it then would not start without being jumped. He tried to remove the battery on Wednesday but the cables were so corroded he was not able to remove it. We do also have the Wrangler, however, that hasn’t been started in so long, and it too needs to be jumped to start. So, it ended up that we had no 4 wheel drives with the blizzard! We did have my car, however there is no possible way that if we HAD to go somewhere yesterday, we would have been able to. We will have to make sure that doesn’t happen like that again!

Anyway, so this morning, after we shoveled the driveway, we jumped the Cherokee. A plow did come through our neighborhood, but it only plowed 1 street and it wasn’t our street. They plowed the one that runs along the side of our house. So, for me to get in and out of the neighborhood in my car, I have to use that road. Thankfully, I only have a short distance on our street to get to the plowed area. I have no idea whose brilliant idea it was to only plow one street!

So, we got out and once we got moving I started to notice that most other areas did not have as much snow as our neighborhood! Looks like we got hit pretty hard! We had over a foot of snow for sure at our house but I am not sure what our total snowfall would be for our house. I would guess about 16 inches, Hubby guesses 12 inches, but we have drifts that are 3 foot +.

We just came back in from throwing the ball into snow drifts for Bristol. Man that was a riot. We did video tape some of it, because it was so funny! Hubby will get that up on our website.

Anyway, today is a beautiful day! The temp is most likely in the 50’s. Which is causing the snow to melt fast, which is causing flooding. You just have to love Colorado. The forecast for tomorrow is 66 degrees. Such a change from yesterday! We are going tailgating and to watch the Air Force game. It should be interesting! We should be able to make mud pies if need be!

Speaking of tomorrow, I need to go and make potato salad!

Blizzard of '06

Hello form VERY SNOWY Colorado! Everyone has probably heard the reports that we have a blizzard. Yes indeed, we do. We went to bed last night, knowing we were under a blizzard warning. It was so odd, because it was actually very pleasant and still out last night. When I got up for the 1am feeding, there was no snow yet. But when Hubby got up for the 5am feeding, it was a whole new story! And when we got up around 7:45am, we were buried! It’s extremely hard to tell how much snow we have, because it’s blowing so much, but on our deck chairs looks like about a foot or more. We are not able to get our back door open, and this morning first thing I had to pull the dog door flap IN, to let the pups go OUT. I have since used a dustpan to shovel it enough that they can push the flap out to go out. Hey, when you are in the middle of a blizzard, you use what tools you can find.

We went to turn on our gas fireplace to enjoy a nice fire. After it was on about 30 seconds it kicked off and the pilot light went out. We haven’t been able to relight it, not sure if it is due to wind or a problem with the fireplace. I am going to guess there is just enough of a breeze coming in from the vent that it’s not going to let the pilot light fire up.

I took some pictures, all from inside the house, as venturing anywhere out a door is just not a good idea. I just heard a truck go up the street for the first time. I looked out and that is probably the second vehicle that has attempted our neighborhood.

We have been lucky to not lose power so far. We have had several times where it blipped off and then on again, but not more than a second. There are several places in town that does not have power, so we are very lucky!

According to the weathermen, we are through the worst part of the blizzard. That came between 6am and 12pm. It’s now 2:45pm. And I think they were right, it doesn’t seem as bad now. It’s still windy and snowing, but at least the power has stopped blipping off and on! I-25 is closed (the major interstate in town) from Woodmen to Monument Hill, which is quite a stretch! Woodmen Road is not far from us here. And many other main roads and streets are still closed, such as Hyw 83, 24, 94 and more. And the city has set up several shelters around town to go to incase you are stuck on the road, or without power.

The local news channels have taken over TV and have been broadcasting all day. Nice to have the up to date info, but I really wanted to watch my Good Morning America. I am going to check soon if they are still doing it, as it’s almost time for Ellen. Ah, finally, they are allowing regular programming, and running the ticker across the bottom!

So, Courtney update. Yesterday we went to the doctor for a weight check. Last time we were there, 8 days prior, she weighed in at 8lbs even. Yesterday she was 8lbs, 11oz! So, the great news is that she is gaining weight. And her Prevacid really seems to be kicking in now. The only issues we are fighting now are gas it seems. She also has bouts of fussiness but every baby does. Her bouts of fussiness tend to come in the middle of the night. The first night that Hubby was home from his trip, she really didn’t want to sleep unless she was cuddled up with him. Last night was much better. So, we are getting through all her issues!

Well, she is starting to fuss, so I better go. We are going to heat up some clam chowder for dinner, should help to keep us toasty warm on this cold snowy day!

Update

Just a short post today, since time is now always a precious thing! Courtney is, well, a fussy baby. She is a totally different baby than she was 2 weeks ago, however, not in a good way. The pediatrician called this morning and she wants to see her again tomorrow. Tomorrow marks the one week date on the super (and expensive) hypo-allergenic formula. I think the allergy part has really calmed down, now we are just dealing with reflux and general fussiness.

So, her daddy (Hubby) comes home tonight. I am curious to see how he thinks she has changed while he has been gone!

Well, like I said, this one has to be short as I have to jump through the shower and then we have to go and look at the photos we had taken 2 weeks ago!

Hope everyone is well!

Courtney Update

Life sure is full of surprises. Just when I thought I had everything under control with Courtney, something new pops up.

So, on Wednesday the specialist put her on the super hypo-allergenic formula. We knew that she has some acid reflux but thought that the allergy was causing it to flare up. Well, then on Friday, the acid reflux flared up as well. So, she now has medication to try to help with that.

I must say our pediatrician really has made all of these problems easier to swallow. She is great! She returns calls pretty fast, and she is very kind. I am so thankful we have a doctor who really cares about little Courtney.

I am so thankful that my mom agreed to come and stay with me while Hubby is out of town. Courtney is a little overwhelming at the moment. Hopefully we can get all of her symptoms under control soon.

We now use a heating pack on her belly to relieve gas. She is using Dr. Brown’s bottles to reduce air intake. And we always warm her formula now, to also help relieve tummy gas. We have also elevated one end of each of the two pack and plays that she sleeps in, and we also let her sleep in her car seat so that her head is always elevated.

So, her breastfeeding days are over. I feel kind of sad, and hard to let go of when you are the mom, but I have to do what is best for both of us. I can openly admit, things haven’t been easy this week, but we take everything one day at a time.

Well, Courtney is fussing now, so I better go and get her!

Courtney's Grammy went home

Well, we have been busy here! Friday all of us went to a restaurant here in town called the Steaksmith. They have been around forever and have GREAT steaks. It was very tasty! All of us being Hubby, Courtney, Grammy, Nana, Grandpa, and I.

Saturday we had a pretty quiet day at home. I don’t really think we did anything to exciting that day.

Sunday we took Courtney to the mall, her Grammy and I. We taught Courtney how to shop like one of the girls. And then we ate at Ruby Tuesdays to finish the night. We had fun, especially since Hubby had left early that morning for Indiana.

Monday we went out to lunch with some friends of Grammy who still live in the area. The couple we went out to lunch with has a son who is a little older than me that Grammy used to baby-sit when he was young. She really enjoyed seeing him!

Courtney’s Grammy went home to Virginia early Tuesday morning. Courtney and I took her to the airport, since Hubby was not here. We really enjoyed having her here. Courtney would always quiet down when Grammy held her. Grammy is coming back to visit next month for Thanksgiving and she is going to bring Granddad as well!

I ended up taking Courtney to the doctors again on Tuesday afternoon. She had been having some blood in her stool. They ran some tests and the doctor called early this morning. She referred us to a Pediatric GI specialist. So, Courtney went this afternoon to see a new doctor, the specialist. He is pretty convinced that she has a pretty sever allergy to some sort of food. We don’t know if it’s dairy, soy, wheat, egg, or nut. So, she is on a very hyper-allergenic formula for the next two weeks. We will go back in two weeks to see if she has improved.

Well, that’s all for now, as Courtney is wanting to be held! Hope everyone is well!

1 month old

Grammie has arrived! Courtney’s Grammie came to visit her all the way from Virginia, and they are both loving every minute of it! Courtney went with us to the airport to pick her up and I think Courtney succeeded in wrapping Grammie around her finger from the moment she saw her! Right now Grammie is holding her and feeding her a bottle.

We went to the doctor yesterday for her 1 month visit. She weighed in at 7 lbs, 9.5 oz. The doctor was happy with that weight. The doctor also put her on a new formula because Courtney is having a lot of issues with gas and spit up still. So, we are trying a new formula that is very basic.

Two nights ago we had a very rough night. Courtney didn’t want to sleep unless someone was holding her. So, Hubby took the first part of the night and I took the second part of the night. We assume it’s because her little tummy hurt. It’s hard to figure out if it’s gas or acid reflux or milk allergy. The next night we got a 6 hour stretch of sleep! We couldn’t believe it; we had to keep checking her to make sure she was okay!

Last night was pretty good; she slept from 12am-2:30am and then 3am-6am then 6:45am-7:30am. It’s not long stretches but the important thing is that she slept!

We are going to get pictures taken today. Courtney’s 1 month old pictures! I can’t believe she has been here a whole month all ready. And she has grown and changed so much all ready! Yes, she has me wrapped around her finger as well. We are all doomed; she is going to run the universe.

Well, I must go finish getting ready for pictures.

Finally time for an update

It’s been a while since I have blogged. Okay, not too long, like other people I know, but longer than usual for me. That is because I try to sleep and/or rest whenever possible.

Courtney is doing well. She is really generally a quiet baby. We are pretty sure that she is a little lactose intolerant and that was causing a lot of our gas problems. We have switched to a lactose free formula and I cut dairy out of my diet and it seems to be helping. I should say I have done my best to cut way down on dairy. I was used to having a large glass of milk at night, and I cut that out. I also try to not eat other dairy as much as possible. I did eat some cheese today, so hopefully that doesn’t affect her tonight.

She still wants to eat about every 2 hours at night, which means a real lack of sleep for me. And her appetite really seems to be increasing, so we are probably going to up the amount of formula we give her as well. When she wakes up to eat at night, we are usually up for about 45 minutes. ‘We’ being Courtney and myself. Since I breastfeed most of the time, Hubby escapes most feedings. I usually wake him up for at least 1 formula feeding a night though. It’s really going to be hard when he goes on his first trip, which is in a week. Hubby’s mom is going to be here next week, and she will be here for 2 days after Hubby leaves. Then if I need assistance, my mom will come up and help as well.

Courtney is in a phase where she wants to be held. She will only usually sleep in her crib for about an hour and then she starts to fuss. She also is very congested, so breathing is difficult when feeding now as well. The combination of being congested and lying down also don’t make for the best situation. So, in order for me to get some sleep, it works best if there is someone else in the house. The congestion is just a fact of living in Colorado. Both Hubby and I have the same issues she has except we know how to blow our nose. We are using saline solution, humidifiers and steam to help clear her nose as best we can.

Our friends in California had their baby this morning! A little girl named Gabrielle (I am not sure of the spelling yet!) I can’t WAIT to see pictures of her! We have one more friend to have a baby between now and November 4 (her actual due date) and then everyone will be non-pregnant again. At least as far as I know, who knows someone else may not have made an announcement yet.

We went out to dinner last night with some friends to celebrate a birthday. Almost every couple there had a small child! There was a 15 month old, a 12 month old, an 8 month old and then Courtney was the youngest at 3 & ½ weeks. This group of friends we went out with, I have known for about 10 years now and it’s just odd to see all of us now with bigger families and all right about the same time!

Well, we are trying to get her to sleep now. So, as soon as she is asleep, I plan on crawling into bed and sleeping for hopefully 2 hours before the next feeding, so I guess I should go and prepare for bed!

Week 3 with Baby

Please tell me that at some time these kids learn to sleep longer than 2 & ½ hours. I think I am averaging about 5 hours of sleep a night (that is on the generous end). Courtney only likes to sleep for about 2 to 2 & ½ hours and then wants to get up and eat. And when she eats at night, she breastfeeds for about 45 minutes and then usually 20 minutes later wants formula as well. Amazing, I don’t know where she puts it all. And we only go through this at night. And then the formula kicks the gas into gear, so then starting around 5am, she is in pain due to gas. So, usually from about 5am on, neither of us is sleeping because Courtney isn’t comfortable and she lets us know. And we take turns holding her as that is typically the only thing that quiets her down. Typically laying on her daddy’s tummy makes her happy.

Sunday we (Hubby and I) took our first trip away from Courtney. My mom (Nana) came up to watch her and we went on a small motorcycle ride. We rode with 2 other bikes up to Castle Rock and had lunch with friends. I don’t think my body was quite ready yet as I had stomach cramps, and have been having off and on since. I just think things are not yet put back to normal in there yet. I know I have 20 lbs yet to go to get back to pre-baby weight.

Monday we met Hubby for lunch and then we hung out at his office for a few hours visiting with everyone. She did really well! But, I knew she would, she is a pretty quiet baby. She was okay being held by several people she had really met before!

Today we had a little bit more of a lazier day. Okay, I had a lazier day. I slept while Courtney slept, until about 11am. We finally went and picked Hubby up for lunch and made one stop on the way back to the office. Courtney decided on the way back to drop Hubby off that she wanted lunch as well, and told me about it the whole way home. I am glad that it’s not a far drive from the office to home! I think every time we stopped at a light that everyone around us knew that Courtney wanted lunch!

This evening Hubby took Maggie to get her stitches out. So, she is almost back to normal. She has a slight scab where the stitches were and of course they shaved that patch where the cut was so the fur is trying to grow back in now.

Tomorrow we really need to try to get to the grocery store. It’s amazing how long it takes to get out of the house now. In order for me to go to the store, I have to wait for Courtney to eat, and then as soon as she is done, I put the dogs away, get her ready and we head out. By the time we get anywhere, we are down to about an hour until she will want to eat again, so trips out to public places like the grocery store really need to be done in a short amount of time so that we don’t have a screaming baby while walking up and down the isles!

Our friends in California have not had their baby yet. She is officially due on October 7, so we are all anxiously waiting for news of the new baby’s arrival! And I have another friend here in town that is due November 4; however, she is on the same medication that I was on when I was in the hospital, to stop contractions. She is going off the medication this Saturday, so it’s possible that she may have her little boy very soon as well! All these new little babies at the same time! Courtney is very lucky; she is going to be surrounded by lots of friends right from the start!

We did post new pictures on her website yesterday morning in case anyone hadn’t looked yet! Okay, time for bed, time for my 2 hour nap until I have to get up and feed again!

Hello due date

Well, here we are at my due date! And we have almost a 3 week old! Amazing. How my life has changed? Well, my house is a pit of a mess. And since every doctor I see tells me to rest when she rests, the house stays a pit of a mess.

Courtney rules the roost around here now. We bow to her every whim, and don’t mind doing it! She eats about every 2-3 hours round the clock. On rare occasion we get a 4 hour stretch, but it’s never when I am trying to sleep too. Last night we had a 4 hour stretch from 5am-9am, but during that time, the dogs had to be let out and fed, so I was awake and not able to sleep during that whole 4 hour stretch. But, hopefully the 4 hour stretches will start to come more and more.

She loves her swing, now that we figured out which way to swing her. The swing we got can swing side to side or front to back. We were swinging her side to side, and then I got the brilliant idea to try it the other day one way because she didn’t like the side to side motion. Well, now she likes the swing and will sit in it quietly for some time. She is in it now, awake and happy.

I can tell that she has changed a bit, she is growing for sure. To me she looks more like a baby now instead of a newborn. But strangers are always stopping us and saying, ‘oh, she is so cute and so small’ and then the most popular comment: ‘and look at all that hair!’ Yes indeed, all that hair. I have noticed it has started to thin a bit, hopefully she won’t loose all of it!

Well, I am going to spend time with her, since she is awake, and we don’t get much awake time! Hope all of you are well, and thank you to all of you who have sent cards, called, stopped by and let us know you were thinking of us! We are so grateful for all of our family’s and friend’s support since we told everyone I was pregnant! It really means the world to both of us!

Another trip to the Doctor's

We went to the doctor again on Tuesday. Courtney weighed in at 6 lbs, 10 oz! So, she is back up above her birth weight. That is good news.

Other than that, things here are the same. She is a good baby. She feeds about every 2-3 hours, including at night. I would love if we could get that to stretch out to every 3-4 hours at night, I would be in heaven. But, I nap whenever I can for now.

She is still a pretty mellow baby, I guess (that is what I think, but then again, I have never done this before). She really only cries when she is hungry. It’s going to be interesting to see how she is when she is older.

Well, I need to go and put some sod down on some dug up patches in our back yard. Hope everyone is well!

Tired

I can’t believe it’s almost been two weeks since little Courtney made her grand entrance. I can’t believe that this time 2 weeks ago I was still in the hospital! In some ways, it feels like forever ago, and in others ways, just yesterday.

We went and had dinner at our friends Tony and Kelly’s house last night. They have a daughter who is 13 days older than Courtney. They are struggling with some acid reflux issues with her, just as they did with their 2 & ½ year old. We hadn’t seen Hailey in 2 weeks roughly and I couldn’t get over how much she had changed just in those 2 weeks! They really do grow up fast!

I know that Courtney all ready has 3 outfits she is no longer able to wear, including the one we brought her home from the hospital in. She is not able to straighten her legs out in them now! I know she sure has changed since she was born! We do have more pictures to post, Hubby just has to get the card out of the camera and get them posted. I will remind him to do that.

I am feeling pretty exhausted today for some reason. I have had a couple naps all ready today. I don’t know if the week is catching up with me or what. So, we are taking it easy today and tomorrow.

Maggie still has a cone on her head, poor dog, to TRY to prevent her from licking her stitches. However, being as flexible as she is, she can get her nose to her cut and lick them anyway. So, we have to keep an eye on her and stop her when she does it. She has the little scab underneath the cut licked off and raw. Silly dog.

Well, Courtney is starting to fuss so I better go grab her. Hope everyone is well.

Still here!

I can’t believe it’s all ready been 1 week and 4 days that little Courtney has been here! We aren’t in any kind of routine yet, other than eating and sleeping. It will take us a while to get into a routine,

She is a pretty mellow baby if you ask me. She only cries when she is really hungry and I am trying to finish doing something before feeding her. If I ignore her ‘I’m hungry’ squawks, then she will start to cry. But other than that, she is a quiet little girl.

I am hanging in there okay. I am still pretty sore. Being in a hospital bed for 3 weeks prior to her coming, turned my muscles into mush. Then giving birth to her and using the mushy muscles really made for a workout. So, I am still recovering. My muscles from head to toe are still sore! I need to have a masseuse come to the house.

Well, little Miss Courtney is sound asleep right now, so I am going to use that to my advantage and take a shower. Hope all of you are well!

One whole week as parents

Well, we successfully made it through one whole week of being parents. You can’t see my kitchen counter or table, but the baby is happy and healthy. She has had a couple outings all ready. We have gone to Hubby’s work twice, lunch twice and the vet once. Oh, and the doctors office again this morning. Her weight came in at 6 lbs, 2.5 oz. So, she has gained back a little bit of weight. We have to go back in another week for another weight check.

We went to the vet this morning on an unplanned trip. Courtney and I had just come home from the doctor’s office, and Hubby had gone off to work. I let the pooches outside, and when Maggie came back in she kept stopping to lick the upper part of her back leg. So, I took a closer look to see what she was up to and saw a gash! So, off we went to the vet’s office. I ended up having to leave her there and she ended up with 4 or 5 stitches. Hubby picked her up this afternoon; she is pretty sedated right now. So, she is just lying around. We have to go back in 10 days to get the stitches out.

Last night was one of our most awake nights since little Courtney came home. She was up from about 2:30am on. She didn’t want to lie in her bed, she wanted to be held. She started doing that again this afternoon. Seems that now in the afternoon and evening, she figures being held is much better. And she also thinks that being held by Daddy is the best. So, she is currently laying on his tummy sound asleep.

Since she is sleeping, I guess I should try to take advantage of that by getting some things done, like finding at least a piece of my kitchen counter. I think it’s under all the dishes, bottles, and food….

All done!

Well, great news! Courtney is done tanning…. Meaning, we got up and took her to the hospital again this morning for another test. The doctor called around 11am and said that he was very happy with her levels and that we are DONE with the light therapy! Yea! We still put her in the sun now and again as she is still a little yellow, but she is free to roam about the house! It’s wonderful!

It’s amazing how I no longer keep track of time, except to know when 2 hours has gone by so I can feed her. And I no longer keep track of days. I haven’t really been keeping track of either for a while now, due to the fact that for the last month, I really haven’t needed to! I will have to get used to that again.

Anyway, this is just a short post to let everyone know that her levels dropped and she is now off the photo therapy! I am going to feed her and then probably crash out! I am exhausted!

What did we get ourselfs in for?

Well, life as a parent is proving to be much more difficult than we originally thought. But then again, so is Courtney. We knew she was having some jaundice issues when we came home. We went for another test on Thursday morning, and her level was way up, so in came the photo therapy. A local company that delivers medical supplies brought us what they refer to as a double bank of lights. We have to keep little Courtney on a bed of lights with a panel on her chest just about 24 hours a day for now.

We went to the pediatrician this morning and then for another blood test. Her level is beginning to drop, but it’s still not nearly low enough for her to come off the lights. Her weight is down to 6 pounds. I know, it’s common for them to lose weight after birth, but now we also have to go back for a re-check of her weight next week. Since she is so small to begin with, they really don’t want her to lose any more.

We thought for a while there yesterday, also, that we were having some feeding issues with her as well, but I think we have them all figured out. Today seems to be a much better day than yesterday.

It’s extremely hard having her under the lights all the time. We can’t pick her up and hold her any time we want. She is allowed out only for feedings and diaper changes. Then right back under she goes. But, as the doctor said, the more time she spends there now, the less time she has to do it in the long run. So, we are hoping that we need to get another test on Sunday that will show low enough levels that we can take her off the lights.

She is doing amazingly well. I can’t imagine it’s easy for her either to lie there all day. We try to spend as much time with her in the room as possible. We sleep in there in shifts so that she knows that we are still around, since she can’t get up and move around the house with us. Normally, we wouldn’t be far away for long periods of time, so we try to be with her as much as possible.

Maggie has been extremely affected by this as well. She wouldn’t leave the nursery last night. She spent all night in there with her. Bristol usually is as well, however, I was able to coax him out to sleep with me in the bedroom for Hubby’s nursery shift. Maggie wouldn’t though. Whenever we are in the nursery, so is Maggie. She is the little protector I guess. She loves the little baby.

So, now we just wait. The doctor wants us to get another test tomorrow morning and if all is well, we might just have her off the lights by the end of the weekend! Here’s to hoping!

Time to go and hold her hand and take her temperature (we have to take her temp every 2 hours while she is on the lights).

Home Sweet Home

I was trying to post this one yesterday, but was having issues, so here it is a day late:

Yes, the rumors are true; they actually let me LEAVE the hospital! Of course they made me leave with a kid, and no nurse or doctor to answer all my questions personally, and be at my beck and call! I have to get my own apple juice now…

So, 3 and a half weeks roughly in the hospital, start to finish. I can not thank everyone enough for all the emails, cards, calls, visits, and FOOD! And I can not express enough gratification to my wonderful Hubby who was with me almost every night (he got a total of 2 nights off the whole time) and my mother, who we still haven’t let leave for her own home.

They started the inducement process on Sunday night (9/10) at 8:30pm. By 2am I was asking for drugs!! I had my epidural around 8:30am, GOD BLESS the person who invented the epidural! I don’t know how I would have made it through without! It did start to wear off at one point, and I think Hubby was pretty sure I wasn’t going to make it. But the doctor came in, gave me a heavy extra dose, and things were MUCH better. I did not have a textbook delivery, there were a few complications, but they were all together pretty minor and the most important thing is that Courtney arrived safe and sound eventually, at 5:57pm Monday night! So, 21+ hours of labor, all for this little creature who is the most adorable thing!

We spent the next 2 nights in the hospital. We were put in a room that was not a private room, but thankfully, the first night Labor and Delivery was slow, and Hubby was actually able to sleep on the other bed. He liked that. However, the next night the ward was FULL and we got roommates at 10pm. That really made me want to cry, I had been there SO LONG and it was my LAST NIGHT, and we were now crammed into half a hospital room. However, we survived, somehow, without going insane and we finally came home Wednesday around 1pm.

I sat in the nursery that afternoon and rocked her in our new glider, and looked around the room. That is the most incredible nursery I have ever seen. It couldn’t be more perfect and it makes me feel so calm when I am in there. It’s just perfect for her; it will really let her know how much she is loved. I can’t thank Suzi and Zak enough for the wonderful job they did.

The dogs took to her extremely well. Buddy of course doesn’t care. Bristol and Maggie however, both protector her like there is no tomorrow. If she whines, cries or coos they jump up and run to her and make sure she is okay. You can tell that they can tell that she is ours to stay.

Our first night home with her was okay. Around 11pm it really hit me that I had only had about 5 hours of sleep since she was born. (And never mind the fact I really did sleep the night that I was in labor also). So, I pretty much just did feedings last night and had Hubby handle the rest. Around 2:30am she got in a mood where she was going to be fussy unless she was being held. We let Nana take over at that point. She stayed with Nana until 6am, and was happy as a clam.

We did have to take her back to the hospital this morning for more tests. She is pretty Jaundice, and we are trying to determine if we are going to have to do the at home treatments. We are currently waiting for the doctor to give us a call. She also has her first pediatrician’s appointment tomorrow morning!

Well, I have tons more to tell all of you, but currently Little Miss Courtney is sleeping and for me, that means I need to sleep too! Here is her link for pictures; we will keep as updated as we can:

http://www.kirouac.org/courtney/

I will blog again soon, when I can. Thank you again to all of you for all your support! I can’t tell you how much it meant to me! And let me tell you, my own shower was the best thing about coming home!!!

Almost There

I am still hanging in there! At least there is an end in sight! Hopefully by this time next week we will be proud parents, and then on our way home. We shall have to see!

My friend who just had her baby girl last week, came to see me yesterday. I got to hold her baby girl for the first time. Hubby and I had gone upstairs and saw her while they were here in the hospital, but I didn’t hold her during that time. So, yesterday I got to hold her. It was great, she is so small! And is she cute!

I have had visitors just about daily. The visitors have been great! It sure makes the time go by! And it’s great to see family and friends. It’s very hard for me, a very social person, to sit here in my room alone most of the day. But I have gotten excellent at watching TV. And most of the visitors have brought food, which I also GREATLY appreciate! So, thank you to all of you who have stopped by, and also to those of you who have brought food!

Speaking of visitors, we have appreciated all of you visiting, but we are asking that starting with Sunday, we have no more visitors until the baby arrives. We want to get plenty of rest for the events of next week.

Well, I am awaiting the arrival of my breakfast tray, and I am going to check my email. I don’t know that I will update this again for awhile, maybe Saturday, but who knows. If I don’t update this for awhile, please forgive me! And hope all of you are well!

36 & 3/7

Well, still here in the hospital, of course. Today we are 36 & 3/7ths weeks. ALMOST full term, it’s on the horizon. We are having rougher and rougher nights. Each evening I start having stronger and stronger contractions. Last night they were in my back also. So, they checked me and I am 1cm dilated. But of course, that could stay that way until they induce me. I am getting frustrated with having such strong contractions every night. They don’t hurt but they aren’t fun either. And since there is nothing coming from them, I am just not happy that they keep happening. Last night was the roughest evening yet, and we thought ‘MAYBE’, but no, they gave me a shot to help with the contractions that weren’t doing anything and then a sleeping pill and all calmed down.

I think I forgot to mention something last week. You will never believe who came to see me last Friday. Bart, the cat from Wag N Wash. Yes, a cat. Christine from the store brought him in, in a carrier. He plopped down right on my pillow and crashed out. He was so cute and it was so good to see him. He is a very well behaved cat, unlike his sister Lisa who can be a real brat. So, she didn’t come to visit.

Well, my lunch should be arriving any moment, so I am going to end this here. I will update again in a few days! If I disappear, then maybe the contractions finally caused something to happen!

36 Weeks

Well, not much has changed, I guess. We had another bio-physical test on Friday. Baby girl K got another 10 out of 10. So, she is healthy! Today is our 36 week mark! Yea! More time goes by.

The doctor has also now decided that once I hit 37 weeks, they will induce me. We do not know what day yet, but sometime in a week and a half we will be parents!

Bailey, a dog friend of ours, came back to visit this morning. She is a certified Therapy Dog, so she got more time under her belt practicing! She is such a cute little dog, and she just gets up on the bed with me gives kisses! It’s nice to think that hopefully within two weeks I will be home with my own furry kids! (And my own shower, that’s one thing I REALLY miss, it my shower).

Hubby is spending his first night at home in two weeks tonight. Its parent’s weekend at the Academy and our 2 cadets and their parent’s are coming over for dinner tonight. He is going to make ham, deviled eggs, asparagus and mashed potatoes. Sounds tasty, I am sorry I have to miss it. But my friends Sherry and Cady called to say that they are bringing me dinner! I am looking forward to that.

Our friends Tony and Kelly had their baby on Tuesday. After a rough last few days, they hopefully will soon be able to start getting into their new routine at home. Their new baby daughter is adorable and healthy!

Well, that’s all the new and exciting news I have from here.

Here I Sit

Well, as most of you know by now, I am parked in the hospital for quite some time. Here’s what happened. Monday, I was just finishing up 3 hours of work. All of a sudden I felt a gush. I thought it was my water breaking. It wasn’t. So, thankfully Hubby was there with me. So, off we rushed to the hospital. I have been here since. There is no determination what caused the hemorrhaging. But since they can’t determine what did cause the hemorrhaging, I get an extended stay here.

Being here is no fun. I have to stay IN BED and am only allowed up for potty breaks, or special occasions. Today there is a chat with other pregnant patients that I get to attend. Something different! The nurse had to twist the doctor’s arm to let me go!

I was having pretty bad contractions on Monday as well. So, they have me on medication to keep them under control. My biggest complaint? The food. It’s not great by any means. And it’s pretty boring. I have been pretty luck to have Hubby here with me most of the time. He is good company. He takes a break mid-afternoon and leaves for a while. He runs home to take care of the house, the mail, the dogs, and that kind of thing. Then he comes back for the evening. My mom is staying at my house when she isn’t working, and she takes care of the puppies. And she is working to finish things up to get ready for the baby. She has been washing all the clothes and sterilizing all the stuff that needs sterilized. So, I have a pretty good support team, for which I am very thankful.

The plan of action is to keep me on bed rest and the contraction medication for at least another week and then we will see from there. But we are expecting to enlarge our family by 2 feet sooner rather than later.

And fear not, Baby Girl K is really healthy and happy in where she is. They have run every test under the sun, including a bio-physical test on her, and she is 10 out of 10!

Well, time for me to dial-up and post this blog! Thank you all for your love and support!!!

Baby Party

I know a lot of people have been desperate for a post since the last one. Sorry it took so long, things have been busy and when they aren’t busy, I am in bed.

So, shortly after I posted the last post, I went and took a shower. My mom, sister and Zak arrived shortly after I got out of the shower. And I mean shortly, as I had to throw a robe on to say hi. My mom said that Zak was going to bring in a big gift from the car. I said, all right, I am going to get dressed. So, I retreated to my bedroom to get dressed, which, by the way is not easy for an 8 month pregnant woman to do. So, I finally opened the door and saw that my good friend Cyndi was standing there. Cyndi had flown in late the night before from Baltimore. My mom and sister picked her up, and she spent the night at my mom’s house that night. I was so excited to see her! Yes, it’s true I had an inkling that she might be coming in, but I wasn’t 100% sure. But I was so happy to see her! So, she was here Saturday through early Monday morning with us.

Saturday we got the curtains up in the baby’s room. Hubby’s mom made the curtains that are hanging in her window. They look great! That evening, Danielle made spaghetti, salad and garlic bread. Susan and Zak hung around after finishing up the last minute touches in the nursery. After a large wonderful meal, Danielle gave all the girls pedicures. She is really good at it! We were not able to talk Zak into it, as much as we tried.

Sunday of course was the big day. Hubby made it home about 12pm-1pm. I spent all morning and afternoon sitting down as much as I could so I was well rested for the party. Mom, Cyndi, and Danielle headed over about 2:30pm and decorated the place. The party was held at a local restaurant that is very close to the house. Then Susan and Zak headed over and finally about 3:30pm, Brian and I headed over. The place looked great; my mom really went all out with decorations. We had a Hawaiian theme to the party, so there were fake hibiscus, flip flops, shells, and all kinds of great decorations.

We also had several games people could play if they wanted to, which were:

Guess when the baby will be born
Guess how much the baby will weigh at birth
Guess the poopy diaper
Guess how many safety pins in the bottle
Toy trivia
Smelly diaper lottery

Guess the Poopy diaper was about 10 diapers that my mom had melted different candy bars in and you tried to guess the candy bars. The Smelly Diaper Lottery, everyone got a lottery card and scratched it. If you got a smell of baby powder, you lost, but 2 cards didn’t smell like baby powder, and if you got one of those two cards, you won!

We had it set up so that people could play the games while they came in if they wanted. There was a line to wait in, as Brian and I were on the other end of the line welcoming our guests and opening the gifts they brought. We got an amazing amount of stuff. It was so fun! It was so great to see everyone together and spend time with them, since I haven’t been able to do that much!

The owner of the restaurant really went all out on the menu. He made some chicken, some salmon and roasted some pig! The pig was incredible! And all the dishes where Hawaiian themed, so it fit right in. It was great!

After leaving there, we headed home, where some people stopped by to see the completed nursery. Then we opened more gifts!

Finally we fell into bed later that night. Talk about a long exhausting day for both of us! But we had a great time, and I think all of our friends did too, at the party!

Monday morning, early, I took Cyndi to the airport. It was hard to say goodbye, as I always enjoy when she is around. I look forward to our next get together.

Danielle, Hubby and I went to the Nook for breakfast that morning also. That is where the baby party was the night before. Marc gave us breakfast on the house! As well as all the left over pig! And some left over Mango bread and sweet potatoes. Yum, it makes for a great snack when you are hungry!

Susan and my mother came and got Danielle and I about 12:30pm. We headed off to a bridal shop where Susan actually chose her wedding dress and they put a deposit down! Just so you know, the wedding is planned for August of next year! One year to go! Now she has a beautiful dress!

Later that evening, we all met up with my mom and dad for dinner at Giuseppe’s restaurant. Of course you know that is one of our favorite local eateries as well!

Tuesday morning I took Danielle to the airport and she headed back to life in Vermont. It was great to catch up with her while she was here. I felt bad we weren’t able to do much other than sit and visit! But it was great to have her here!

I went back to work on Tuesday for a few hours also. Hubby stayed home as he had to turn in 2 papers and a final exam that day for class. Only 2 classes to go now and he will have his second master’s degree!!

Tuesday evening, Susan and Zak came up and Zak took some wonderful pictures of Brian and me! Please follow this link to see some of the best ones and the ones he touched up:

http://zakeller.googlepages.com/photographybrianandkaren

Wednesday we both headed off to work for a few hours. After a yummy lunch of Gyros, we went to another doctor’s appointment. They did another ultrasound. Now little baby girl K is in the 32nd percentile for size. So, she is slowly working her way up there. She will most likely just be a small little girl. That’s okay by me! And after that we checked out our first day care. Scary to think that we will soon need daycare!

Hubby then headed back to work and I stopped by WnW to pick up some dog food for the Beagle. That evening, we met Susan, Zak, Mom and Dad for dinner at a Moroccan restaurant to celebrate Zak’s birthday. You sit on the floor and eat with your hands. The food is really good there; Hubby and I have eaten there several times before. It was a change from the steak and potatoes places we usually tend to go, and Zak wanted something different for his birthday.

After we finished a 6 course meal, we headed to Mom and Dad’s house and let Zak open his gifts. And we finished the night with a cookies and cream ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. No complaints from me! Yum!

Well, this is a rather long post and so I will end it here for now! Please feel free to browse all new pictures on our website!

33 weeks

Well, here we are at 33 weeks. So, I am a week over 8 months. Last night I was really uncomfortable while sleeping, so I didn’t sleep well. That is starting to happen more and more. I can’t believe that in just 7 short weeks we will be parents. I think it’s finally starting to sink in to Hubby. It sunk into me a long time ago.

Well, Hubby is currently on his last business trip before the baby is born. He left on Thursday. That is the same day that this whole news story about the no liquids on planes broke. Believe it or not, he decided last month to ride the motorcycle to this class. It’s up in Omaha, NE. He figured this would be his last opportunity to ride the bike, and take a motorcycle trip this summer. So, it really worked out for the best, otherwise he would be at the airport fighting the lines and throwing away all his liquids on the morning the story broke.

Another lucky break was that my cousin, Danielle, came in from Vermont the afternoon prior to the story breaking. Of course she has to fly back on Tuesday, but at least now we know well ahead of time that she has to basically pack everything she can in her suitcase and practically carry on a ziplock bag of stuff.

I am very much enjoying having her here to visit. She came out for the Baby Party. She is a great cook, and she is keeping me company while I get to spend time taking it easy.

Hubby comes home on Sunday, the day of the Baby Party. We are both looking forward to a gathering of all our friends and family.

Well, I need to go get moving so we can go and get some breakfast! Here is what Baby K is up to now:

http://www.babycenter.com/mybabycenter/133.html

8 months

Well, I am 8 months pregnant now! Who would have thought! And if any of you know a cure for CONSTANT heartburn, I would appreciate it. I drink a glass or two of milk in the evenings, I eat Tums like they are going out of style, and I try anything I can to make it go away. I know the old wives tale says that the more heartburn you have means the kid will have hair. Well, the way this heartburn is, she should come out looking like Rupunzel!

Sue and Zak finished the nursery on Sunday, and we moved furniture in! We got it as set up as we could. They have a few details to come back and paint, but overall, the nursery is done!

Hubby came home Monday night. 10 days being gone is a very long time! He got to see the nursery and was very pleased with its outcome. I was worried, because all of the design was pretty much his idea, and he wasn’t here while it came to life. But, I think we ended up pretty much with what he was envisioning.

Monday was a tough day for me. I guess all the activity of the prior 5 days really made my body unhappy and I started having some pretty bad contractions, including ones in my back. I was at work when this started, so I headed for home, drank water, ate a snack and crawled into bed for a while. That did the trick and they stopped. So, I know I really need to work at taking it easy.

I am very happy to have Hubby home, even if it is only for 2 days. Then he is off on his last trip prior to baby’s arrival. He will come home on Sunday, the day of the baby party. My cousin is also coming into town tomorrow. I look forward to spending time with all these out of town guests! Even if it is from the comfort of my bed!

Well, Hubby and I are going to spend some quality time playing a computer game.

Here is what she is up to now at 8 months in my tummy:

http://www.babycenter.com/mybabycenter/132.html

Paint....

Well, Susan and Zak arrived Wednesday night, just in time to go with us to dinner for my mom’s birthday. The painting started the next morning, and they have been working like mad since. The nursery is coming along great. I keep taking pictures as it progresses. I can’t wait to start moving furniture in.

Speaking of which, the crib arrived on Tuesday. It’s in box in our living room right now. We will get it put together soon. And my mom refinished a ‘wardrobe’ or ‘armoire’ that was mine when I was a baby, and was an antique at that point, so, it’s a great piece of furniture. Hopefully we can get that up here from their house this weekend.

Other than that, things for me have been the same. I am not able to assist with the painting, so I have just been watching, and taking it easy. It’s hard, I want to help. But I would probably just be in the way anyway.

I went back to the doctor on Wednesday. Things are looking good, much better than the previous week. Now I go back in 2 weeks to get the baby’s size checked out.

Hubby seems to be having a great time in Vegas. He arrives home on Monday night. Hopefully by then the nursery will be done. Or as done as we can get it for now.

Well, I am going to go drink water and watch them paint!

31 weeks

Well, we have now made it to 31 weeks. Next Saturday will make me 32 weeks pregnant! 8 whole months! I am just starting to get to the point where pants/shorts are becoming an issue. They aren’t fitting, even though they are maternity.

I took Hubby on Friday morning to Greg’s house to get on the RV at 5am. It was early. They got it all packed up and hit the road by 5:30am. They rolled into Vegas about 7:00pm my time (6pm their time). He was pretty tired. He drove the last stretch including around the city.

My mom moved in Friday night. It’s been pretty mellow here. She went to Supper Solutions with her Red Hat ladies yesterday. She made 4 meals. She said it was fun and easy. They have everything pretty much ready to go for you; you just package it up and take it home. So, last night we tried their Chicken Apricot Pitas. They were pretty tasty and so was the fried zucchini we had to go with it. And the strawberry shortcake we had for dessert later wasn’t bad either.

For those of you who don’t know what Supper Solutions is, I will do my best to explain. They have a menu you choose from, and then you go to their shop and prepare the main course of a meal. So, for the apricot chicken pitas, they provided the apricots all diced up, the cooked chicken diced up, the mayo and spices to mix in, plus the pitas cut in half. You put them into freezer bags and bring it home, when you want to eat it, you defrost it and there ya go, a meal! They also do steak dishes, fish dishes, chicken dishes, not all are pre-cooked. Some, once you defrost them you need to cook them. But like for a steak dish they provided the spices to marinade. There was a chicken cordon blue that you had to wrap the ham around the cheese and then the chicken around the ham. I hope that gives you a better explanation. Pretty much, they take the prep work out of preparing a main dish to make it easy for you at home. Here is their website:

http://www.suppersolutionsinc.com/

There are several different companies that do this now. I have heard of Dream Dinners, and there is another one opening up not to far from our house. And just yesterday I got a flyer in the mail about a 4th company opening one in Rockrimmon, (another part of town). Americans are all about ease and convenience these days!

Yesterday was hot. We put out the baby pools for the dogs. Bristol was the only one to take advantage of them. He would run from one to the other. He had a blast! Especially once we put some balls in the pools. He chased them around the water. At one point he even laid down in one! He was having a blast. At some point during the afternoon, I think he finally convinced, or tricked, Maggie into getting in. Because the next thing I knew she was soaking wet also. Buddy had no interest in the water. It was a real treat for them and we will have to do it again, because Bristol LOVES water!

Well, I guess I should go sort laundry and take a shower. My mom ran home for a few hours, and when she gets back we are heading to Target.

Here is what Baby girl K is up to now:

http://www.babycenter.com/mybabycenter/131.html

She was doing the Samba in my tummy the other night. She was kicking like I have never felt her kick before! We may have a dancer on our hands!

update

Well, Hubby and I got to see baby girl K again today, and a lot of her. We had another ultrasound as they looked her over for growth. It was determined today that she is in the 20% percentile for size, currently. We have to go back in 3 weeks to get another ultrasound to make sure she is growing as she should. But, if she stays how she is now, she will just be a small baby. Okay by me!

And the doctor determined that I am still bleeding because my cervix just isn’t a happy camper so to speak. He is hitting me with a ton of antibiotics for the next 14 days. He told me that I don’t have to be on complete bed rest, but the easier I take it, the less I bleed. And really, who likes to bleed?

Hubby is leaving early Friday morning for Las Vegas, they are taking an RV. My mother has graciously agreed to move in to take care of me while he is gone. She came up tonight and helped Hubby get the guest room somewhat livable for herself. It was buried under all the stuff for the baby’s room. We moved everything in there while we paint. And since we painted the closet also, the closet is empty in the baby’s room as well. The paint is dry in there now, but the door is sealed with plastic, anxiously awaiting the arrival of Susan and Zak and their paint gun.

After today I feel a little bit better about the bleeding. Of course I knew what it was from the first trip to the hospital 4 weeks ago. But, I feel better knowing I don’t have to be on complete bed rest. And that there really isn’t anything they can do to stop the bleeding, and that the bleeding is no indication of problems with the baby. My new worry is the baby growing appropriately, but I am not overly worried about that either. I know I feel bigger and bigger, so I can only assume she is causing it. And it seems like a good excuse to just continue eating, since I am hungry all the time!