My grandma is sick. You wouldn't know it if you just looked at her. Physically she's perfect. She's living on her own and doing everything for herself. The scary part is that she has dementia. I don't talk to her as often as I should, but every time I do talk to her I realize how bad it's getting.
I went to visit her last Wednesday with my mom and Gretchen. We wanted Grandma to get to meet her. Here's the conversation we had the first few minutes I was there:
me: "Hi Grandma! How are you?"
Grandma: "Hi. Is this the baby? What's her name?"
me: "Yup. This is Gretchen."
G: "Oh hi Gretchen!"
silence for a few seconds
G: "So what's his name? Is it a boy?"
me: "No, it's a girl. Her name is Gretchen."
G: "Oh I thought it was a girl, but then you just said he."
I got the baby out and gave the baby to Grandma.
G: "How old is she?"
me: "She's 1 month old."
G: "Oh she's tiny."
me: "Yeah, she's pretty small for our family."
G: "Yeah, she's small. How old is she?"
me: "She's 1 month old."
G: "One month? Oh wow, she's tiny"
It went on like that for every conversation we had. We were there for 2 hours and we probably had 30 minutes worth of conversation. It makes me sad. Sad because I know that must be frustrating for Grandma to think that no one tells her things or that she can't remember anything. Frustrating for the family when Grandma can't remember things. It's sad because she'll never really know these great grandchildren.
The only thing to really do is keep visiting, keep calling and make sure she knows we love her. So I'll keep doing it. And keep taking pictures. Even if the kids don't remember Great Grammie, I want to be able to show them pictures when they are older and tell them stories about her.
I have a great picture of me, Grammie and Gretchen, but of course it's on the camera and not on the computer. I'll upload it soon.
I'm going to try and remember to bring my camera more places and take more pictures. I've been lazy recently.
Anyway, we love you Grammie and I'm so happy you got to meet Gretchen the other day! We'll come back soon and visit.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Saturday, October 13, 2012
1 month old
I need to bring my camera downstairs and update all my pictures, but I wanted to post Gretchen's 1 month stats.
She turned one month old on Thursday and we had her appointment with the pediatrician. She's doing great! She's up to 9 lbs. 4 oz. and 21" long. So she's back on track with her weight and doing fabulous. She got 1 shot and only cried for a few minutes.
She's tracking with her eyes and starting to hold her head up. She's already getting to be so big!
She just got out of newborn clothes. Literally yesterday. As of Thursday she was wearing newborn and then yesterday she was just too long. Now I'm sure that has more to do with the brand and the actual onesie I put her in, than the idea that she grew overnight, but still. I'm moving her to 0-3 month clothes. It's crazy. Dominick and Annabelle NEVER were able to fit in newborn clothes and Gretchen wore then for a full month!
One thing that the doctor said at the visit was that Gretchen was going to start giving me longer stretches at night on sleep. She said within the next month I should start getting 4 and 5 hour stretches as well as more awake time during the day. Well the last two nights have been AmAzInG. Last night she ate at 10, and then slept until 3 and then again until 6:30. It was great. GREAT I tell you!
I can't believe she's getting so big!! I'll update with pictures soon!
She turned one month old on Thursday and we had her appointment with the pediatrician. She's doing great! She's up to 9 lbs. 4 oz. and 21" long. So she's back on track with her weight and doing fabulous. She got 1 shot and only cried for a few minutes.
She's tracking with her eyes and starting to hold her head up. She's already getting to be so big!
She just got out of newborn clothes. Literally yesterday. As of Thursday she was wearing newborn and then yesterday she was just too long. Now I'm sure that has more to do with the brand and the actual onesie I put her in, than the idea that she grew overnight, but still. I'm moving her to 0-3 month clothes. It's crazy. Dominick and Annabelle NEVER were able to fit in newborn clothes and Gretchen wore then for a full month!
One thing that the doctor said at the visit was that Gretchen was going to start giving me longer stretches at night on sleep. She said within the next month I should start getting 4 and 5 hour stretches as well as more awake time during the day. Well the last two nights have been AmAzInG. Last night she ate at 10, and then slept until 3 and then again until 6:30. It was great. GREAT I tell you!
I can't believe she's getting so big!! I'll update with pictures soon!
Cardinal FeVeR!!!!
Man I love baseball season!!!
Last October, we were the miracle team. We barely made it into the post season. We were the underdogs. We were the long shot.
And yes, we were the WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!!
Here we are again. We were the 2nd Wild Card team. We went on the road to beat Atlanta, the first wildcard team. Then we played the Washington Nationals. The BEST record in baseball. ON the ROAD. We were down to our last strike twice. TWICE. JUST LIKE LAST YEAR!!!!
AND WE WON!!!
I'm so excited!! What a game! What a season!!
GO CARDS!!!!
Last October, we were the miracle team. We barely made it into the post season. We were the underdogs. We were the long shot.
And yes, we were the WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!!
Here we are again. We were the 2nd Wild Card team. We went on the road to beat Atlanta, the first wildcard team. Then we played the Washington Nationals. The BEST record in baseball. ON the ROAD. We were down to our last strike twice. TWICE. JUST LIKE LAST YEAR!!!!
AND WE WON!!!
I'm so excited!! What a game! What a season!!
GO CARDS!!!!
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
The night before...
So tomorrow is when my scheduled c-section was supposed to be. it's kind of crazy to think about what I would have been doing.
I would have been double checking my hospital bag to make sure I have everything. I would have been charging my camera. I would have been making sure we had arrangements for people to pick up Dom and Annabelle from school and daycare. I would have been enjoying one last meal (complete with ice cream) before having to stop eating and drinking before the surgery. I would have been soaking up the last few minutes of being a family of 4 before turning into a family of 5.
Instead, I'm chasing around an almost 4 year old and 1 1/2 year old. I'm cleaning up after making dinner. I'm folding laundry. I'm watching the baseball game and getting ready to watch the debate.
But best of all, I'm looking at a beautiful 3 week old sleeping in her pack n play.
Today isn't what I was planning on it to be. But sometimes messed up plans turn out to be amazing.
I'm so happy that Gretchen is already here and so happy to be our family of 5.
What an amazing night.
Oh and GO BIRDS! :)
I would have been double checking my hospital bag to make sure I have everything. I would have been charging my camera. I would have been making sure we had arrangements for people to pick up Dom and Annabelle from school and daycare. I would have been enjoying one last meal (complete with ice cream) before having to stop eating and drinking before the surgery. I would have been soaking up the last few minutes of being a family of 4 before turning into a family of 5.
Instead, I'm chasing around an almost 4 year old and 1 1/2 year old. I'm cleaning up after making dinner. I'm folding laundry. I'm watching the baseball game and getting ready to watch the debate.
But best of all, I'm looking at a beautiful 3 week old sleeping in her pack n play.
Today isn't what I was planning on it to be. But sometimes messed up plans turn out to be amazing.
I'm so happy that Gretchen is already here and so happy to be our family of 5.
What an amazing night.
Oh and GO BIRDS! :)
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Hospital Pictures!
I'm such a sucker. I always buy the hospital pictures. Even when Dom was born and Bella Baby wasn't doing the pictures yet and the pictures were awful! I bought them all... But I got the CD in the mail yesterday with Gretchen's pictures so I thought I'd post a few of my favorites!
Enjoy!
Isn't my baby beautiful???
Happy 3 weeks Gretchen!!
Enjoy!
Isn't my baby beautiful???
Happy 3 weeks Gretchen!!
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Myfitnesspal.com
Now that I'm not pregnant anymore, I have no excuses. I have to get back into shape and work towards my goal of reaching my goal weight! I don't plan on getting pregnant again for AWHILE so now is the perfect time to get my booty into gear and start eating better and working out again. My doctor said I can start walking but no running yet. But I can work my way up to running. So I'm going to do just that. I'm going to start off by walking just a bit each day. And I'll walk while carrying Gretchen in the Baby Bjourn so I'll be carrying a little extra weight. :)
I'm also using myfitnesspal.com to record everything I eat and everything I do. I was using it before I realized I was pregnant and I like the site. I really love weight watchers but I can't afford that right now so I'll try this for a bit and if I can't get it to work, then I might need to cut something else out of my life so I can rejoin!
I'm at a decent weight right now for me so I just need to keep going with it.
So many goals to reach before I'm 30! I WILL reach this one. :)
I'm also using myfitnesspal.com to record everything I eat and everything I do. I was using it before I realized I was pregnant and I like the site. I really love weight watchers but I can't afford that right now so I'll try this for a bit and if I can't get it to work, then I might need to cut something else out of my life so I can rejoin!
I'm at a decent weight right now for me so I just need to keep going with it.
So many goals to reach before I'm 30! I WILL reach this one. :)
Gretchen's Stay in the NICU
While we were in the hospital, we had a bad day where Gretchen had to go to the NICU. It was my first postpartum night and I went to bed thinking they would bring Gretchen in about 2:30 am to eat. I woke up on my own at 2:45 and was wondering where she was. I called my nurse who came in to give me meds and she told me that she'd call the nursery. She came back in to tell me that the baby's nurse was on her way in. I assumed this meant she was on her way in to give me Gretchen to eat.
I was wrong.
She came in and told me that she thought Gretchen looked a little "dusky" and hooked her up to an O2 monitor. You want your oxygen saturation levels to be in the high 90's. Anything about 94 is really good though. Gretchen was in the mid 80s. Not so good. She also told me that while checking her vitals, she thought she detected a heart murmur. So she called the NICU nurse practitioner. She came in and told me that they were going to try feeding her a little formula and keeping her on the O2 monitor and see what her oxygen levels did while eating. If they were high, she'd stay in the full term nursery. If they dipped, she'd go to the NICU. They'd come back in an hour.
So I waited. I drifted in and out of sleep while waiting, sure that they'd come back and say she was fine and be back with me.
Wrong again.
They came back at 3:30 am and told me that her oxygen levels dropped too low and she was indeed going to the NICU. They brought her in for me to say goodbye and I cried. They told me it was mainly precautionary and she should be back with me by mid morning. They also said I should come down around 6 am to feed her if I wanted to continue nursing. They also recommended that I pump since I didn't feed her at 2:30.
Then they took her.
I pumped and went to bed for about an hour. My alarm went off at 5:30. I called my nurse to get my pain meds and anything else I might need and asked for a ride down to the NICU. They brought me down, got me an ID badge, and taught me the ropes. They taught me how and where to scrub in. They showed me which POD Gretchen was in (the elephant POD). And they showed me my baby.
The nurse was very nice. She told me that she'd be back upstairs by 10 am. I felt better but not great. It's not fun to have your baby taken away the day after she's born to go to an intensive care unit. Even if it is precautionary and mainly for observation. It's scary and sad to not get to hold her whenever you want.
One thing that is interesting is every baby is hooked up to a monitor. Now each baby is being monitored for different things. Gretchen was being monitored for O2 saturation, heart rate and respiratory rate. If another baby had something drop below a certain level (HR below a certain number or respiratory rate lower than normal) an alarm will go off in every room so that the nurses will know where to go and how quickly they need to respond. There were a few rooms that always went off. Since I'm in nursing school I've learned a lot about "normals" for vital signs and reading heart monitor EKG's, etc. Some of those babies are fighting really hard for their lives and I'm so thankful that Gretchen isn't one of those babies and I'm saying many prayers for those babies that are fighting.
Even though Gretchen wasn't having to fight like those other babies, I still didn't like her being in the NICU.
I especially didn't like all the wires attached to her. But the NICU team was great.
I spent the next full day coming down for one hour every three hours. It killed me to leave her but I was exhausted and needed to go up to eat. My Dad came and visited us. So did my Mom. Later that night, Nick was finally able to come up. We all just kept waiting for them to tell me she could come back upstairs.
Around 7 pm, the nurse and on call doctor told me she could come back upstairs but it would be awhile because a baby was just admitted who wasn't doing well and they needed as many people as possible to help with him. I completely understood that. Just the knowledge that my baby was doing better and could come back up was good enough for me.
Nick brought me dinner and we ate and I went back down to the NICU to wait for Gretchen to be able to come up. Well at 10, then told me I should go upstairs and they would bring her up when the full term nursery was ready. I listened.
Around 11 pm, I called the NICU and asked why she still wasn't up. They said the full term nursery hadn't accepted her yet. So I called the nursery. They said the NICU hadn't called yet. I asked them to call the NICU and straighten this out because I wanted my baby!
By 11:45 pm, Gretchen was back upstairs with me. Right where she belonged!
It was a long day. I'm glad they were cautious and checked her out. I didn't want her to be left upstairs and something really bad happen, but I hated having her gone. You only get 2 days in the hospital when you delivery vaginally and one of those days was her in the NICU. It made me sad, but she's happy and healthy now and that's all that matters!
We are so in love with our baby girl!
I was wrong.
She came in and told me that she thought Gretchen looked a little "dusky" and hooked her up to an O2 monitor. You want your oxygen saturation levels to be in the high 90's. Anything about 94 is really good though. Gretchen was in the mid 80s. Not so good. She also told me that while checking her vitals, she thought she detected a heart murmur. So she called the NICU nurse practitioner. She came in and told me that they were going to try feeding her a little formula and keeping her on the O2 monitor and see what her oxygen levels did while eating. If they were high, she'd stay in the full term nursery. If they dipped, she'd go to the NICU. They'd come back in an hour.
So I waited. I drifted in and out of sleep while waiting, sure that they'd come back and say she was fine and be back with me.
Wrong again.
They came back at 3:30 am and told me that her oxygen levels dropped too low and she was indeed going to the NICU. They brought her in for me to say goodbye and I cried. They told me it was mainly precautionary and she should be back with me by mid morning. They also said I should come down around 6 am to feed her if I wanted to continue nursing. They also recommended that I pump since I didn't feed her at 2:30.
Then they took her.
I pumped and went to bed for about an hour. My alarm went off at 5:30. I called my nurse to get my pain meds and anything else I might need and asked for a ride down to the NICU. They brought me down, got me an ID badge, and taught me the ropes. They taught me how and where to scrub in. They showed me which POD Gretchen was in (the elephant POD). And they showed me my baby.
The nurse was very nice. She told me that she'd be back upstairs by 10 am. I felt better but not great. It's not fun to have your baby taken away the day after she's born to go to an intensive care unit. Even if it is precautionary and mainly for observation. It's scary and sad to not get to hold her whenever you want.
One thing that is interesting is every baby is hooked up to a monitor. Now each baby is being monitored for different things. Gretchen was being monitored for O2 saturation, heart rate and respiratory rate. If another baby had something drop below a certain level (HR below a certain number or respiratory rate lower than normal) an alarm will go off in every room so that the nurses will know where to go and how quickly they need to respond. There were a few rooms that always went off. Since I'm in nursing school I've learned a lot about "normals" for vital signs and reading heart monitor EKG's, etc. Some of those babies are fighting really hard for their lives and I'm so thankful that Gretchen isn't one of those babies and I'm saying many prayers for those babies that are fighting.
Even though Gretchen wasn't having to fight like those other babies, I still didn't like her being in the NICU.
I especially didn't like all the wires attached to her. But the NICU team was great.
I spent the next full day coming down for one hour every three hours. It killed me to leave her but I was exhausted and needed to go up to eat. My Dad came and visited us. So did my Mom. Later that night, Nick was finally able to come up. We all just kept waiting for them to tell me she could come back upstairs.
Around 7 pm, the nurse and on call doctor told me she could come back upstairs but it would be awhile because a baby was just admitted who wasn't doing well and they needed as many people as possible to help with him. I completely understood that. Just the knowledge that my baby was doing better and could come back up was good enough for me.
Nick brought me dinner and we ate and I went back down to the NICU to wait for Gretchen to be able to come up. Well at 10, then told me I should go upstairs and they would bring her up when the full term nursery was ready. I listened.
Around 11 pm, I called the NICU and asked why she still wasn't up. They said the full term nursery hadn't accepted her yet. So I called the nursery. They said the NICU hadn't called yet. I asked them to call the NICU and straighten this out because I wanted my baby!
By 11:45 pm, Gretchen was back upstairs with me. Right where she belonged!
It was a long day. I'm glad they were cautious and checked her out. I didn't want her to be left upstairs and something really bad happen, but I hated having her gone. You only get 2 days in the hospital when you delivery vaginally and one of those days was her in the NICU. It made me sad, but she's happy and healthy now and that's all that matters!
We are so in love with our baby girl!
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