Our local library has had a great summer with the reading program this year. We haven’t gotten to do too much but Mark was able to take them to the kick off and they later sent us these pictures.
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More of Emmie
Our dear friend, Tracy, came up to the hospital and got a few pictures and a lot of snuggles with the little princess.
“I got my Aunt Tracy wrapped around my finger. Oh yeah!”
Just saying hello!
What to do when you’re overdue
Herein lies my photojournal of what we did to keep busy while waiting on Emmie.
Park Day
Watching “Da Builders” as Malachi calls them. They have cleared land behind our section of the subdivision to build another section. I knew Malachi just had to see them working. He was so excited and didn’t want to leave. Neither did his two partners in crime.
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| Note construction hat in hand. |
Our last appointment with Dr. J had a longer wait time due to babies being born. Like a two plus hour wait time. Once we realized that he had not one but two deliveries, Mark offered to make a mocha frappe run. Only one other person in the waiting room went for it besides us. It was truly yummy though.
Our homeschool care group end of year party was at the local Kroc Center which just so happens to have an indoor water park. Yes, it was a bit o’ fun!
And two days before Emmie arrived we attended our annual Pops Under the Stars concert by the local symphony. This is a family tradition now. We were expecting rain. And we got it. It rained a bit before the concert and right before the fireworks were supposed to go at the 1812 Overture. No fireworks and no overture but the rest of concert was a hit.
Another Awana Year…Done
We weren’t sure that we would be able to have Awana this year. Our church property is being renovated to work for our church so we have been meeting on Sunday mornings in homes and just were not sure how it would work out. Finally, by October, Mark and I couldn’t stand it and offered up our home as a solution to Awana meetings. Our pastor agreed and Wednesday night activities have taken over our home every week. We, again, are very grateful that we have a home large enough to accommodate meetings and neighbors who have yet to complain about the Wednesday night traffic.
Even though we had a late start and two “weather” days, the kids all worked super hard and so did the leaders.
Our kids were able to finish their books this year with a big push at the end!
One of our illustrious leaders brought her camera and got these awesome pictures.
That’s not a boogie (just need to clarify). He banged his lip on something or other.
This was before he realized he was having his picture taken.
And this was after. Still handsome!
He was hamming it up. Don’t let that expression fool you.
Ace finished his second book for T&T.
Zoe finished her third T&T book.
Josiah, although shy as all get out, finished his second Sparks book.
Liam finished his third Sparks book and next year I will have THREE T&Ters (or Boom Bangers as Mark calls them). I feel old.
Malachi was pretty much just a Cubbie mascot this year. We considered him a fourth of a cubbie. But he did everything the Cubbies did and by the end of the year was able to quote verses with a bit of help.
Bryant finished his first year in Cubbies.
Miss J had some fun goody bags!
Ceili Rain finished her second Cubbie year and is going to be a Sparkie next year. She reminds us of this fact every week if not daily.
Enjoying Miss J’s goodie bags!
So, this is our ninth year of Awana and our ninth year volunteering. We have truly been blessed and have learned right along with our kids. I love seeing our kids hide God’s Word in their hearts and we know that these words will be with them for the rest of their lives. We’re looking forward to many more years of Awana to come.
Emmie Update
Miss Emmie is now pushing 4 weeks and growing very well. Late last week I started getting breathing counts in the 40s to 50s. I was super excited. She has had a couple in the lower 60s but nothing in the 90s or 100s since Thursday. I contacted Dr. B and she agreed that if her numbers were staying most consistently in normal range, then there was no need to do the modified barium swallow. They are cancelling the test for us. It’s been so nice to see her breathing long slow breaths. Thank you to every one who has been praying for her. We have all felt your prayers.
Now for some adorably cute baby pics:
Our neighbor came over to gift Emmie with some fun things. One was a spoon. Not sure who’s little hand that is trying to feed her!
Oh, you know, just chilling…waiting for some Bama football! You can’t see it but her cutsie socks are Bama too. This was one of three onesies given to Emmie by a die-hard Auburn fan. The sacrifices we make for cute babies.
We had another neighbor decorate our mailbox for us! Too sweet and cute.
Josiah takes his big buddy role very seriously.
I’m very grateful that I breast feed, otherwise Emmie would be held by seven siblings all. the. time. This bunch loves their baby sister. Malachi is usually requesting to see her or tries to show her things. He’s very gentle with her and is really looking forward to the day when she’ll actually look at his trucks (but I’m sure he’ll change his mind when she grabs them and shoves them in to her mouth).
Our friend, L, getting some sweet Emmie cuddles.
Adorableness…we had to get quick snapshots of some outfits because her neck and chest are outgrowing them rapidly.
Twice this week, I have been told that Emmie looks like me. One day soon I’ll put up a picture of me as a babe. Either way, she does bare a striking resemblance to Granddaddy. He was a high school football coach for over 40 years. Some of his players may remember this face.
Yes. Another. Because she is cute. And is learning how to say, “Roll Tide” early.
The first crochet dress I’ve made. It barely fit and the bow may be over the top but it helps to show she’s a girly girl.
A New Addition
Our new niece, A! Isn’t she a cutie?! Every time Malachi looks at her picture he says, “Emmie?” We’re working on learning to say her name and he’s almost there.
We are so excited the Lord has blessed Uncle B & Aunt B with a beautiful new gift. We can’t wait to meet her in person!
Emmie’s Birth Story, Part 3
I know this is long but this was way different than Malachi’s birth and I wanted to share. So, bear with me or just ignore.
We decided on a c-section again since Emmie was not coming down and I was not progressing. Since I knew there was a possibility of this happening, I had decided ahead of time to write up a birth plan for a c-section. There weren’t many requests and Dr. J thought I was tad insane that one of them included no strong narcotics. Narcotics do not sit well with me. I get nauseous, feel light headed and weak and just can’t focus in general. I hate it. And with Malachi, I was unable to even hold him. I was so weak, I just knew I would drop him. This was just something I did not want.
Dr. J and the anesthesiologist agreed to my plan and the anesthesiologist even mentioned that morphine, which is commonly given, could make people throw up. So, he agreed to give me something a little lighter and they all agreed to treat me with toradol for pain after. The only thing that I was concerned about after talking to them was whether Emmie would be able to stay with me after she was born. That all depended on the pediatric nurse. I was so nervous when she came in to talk to us about it. She sat down while getting suited up and said she had no problem with that as long as Emmie was doing fine. Relief washed over me. I knew I could endure the surgery and finishing up if I could just see my sweet baby.
I did get nauseous during surgery but every time I did the good doctor with the drugs gave me something and it took it away instantly. That made the poking and prodding go a lot smoother. It was a bit more uncomfortable but I attribute that to Emmie’s size and how high up she was. I could tell that the attending doctor was having to push pretty hard to get her out. When Dr. J was delivering her he kept saying, “Oh yeah, there was no way she was coming out the other way.” She was just too high up and too big.
Once he got her out, he held her up and everyone laughed. “That’s their baby alright!” He exclaimed. “Big and pink!”
She had to be suctioned out a bit but only once and she just screamed to get the rest out. After the nurse watched her for a bit Mark brought her around to meet me. That was the cutest set of cheeks attached to one of the cutest babies I’ve ever seen. Mark got her hand lose so I could hold it and we were able to enjoy a bit of time while waiting on them to finish. Every one was very curious how much she weighed. The anesthesiologist kept saying she had to be taken to the loading docks because she was so big.
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| Obviously, she was super thrilled to be out. |
Once in the room, the pediatric nurse weighed her and squeezed her in to a newborn diaper (apparently, we all forgot to communicate to the nurse that she was going to be big). And asked if I wanted to do skin to skin to breast feed. I have never held any of our babies skin to skin. It just was never offered and I never thought about it. So, I agreed and the nurse handed Emmie to me and she latched right on. That was the coolest thing of the whole labor. Snuggling up to my sweet baby skin to skin and getting to know her one on one. It was a very special time. Our nurse pretty much just left us alone. Because I wasn’t loaded up on drugs, I felt like I could really enjoy this time. I was tired, of course, but this was just the sweetest time for us.
After a couple of hours, the nurse came in and finished up getting her vitals and vitamin k shot and then Mark got to give her a bath. Since, I was stuck in bed trying to feel my legs, the nurse grabbed my camera and took a ton of pictures for me.
I have to say this nurse was the best pediatric nurse we have ever had. She was so mom and baby friendly and so willing to make sure we had a good time bonding with each other.
Unfortunately, it was several hours before we got to go to our postpartum room. With the more babies you have there is more concern for postpartum hemorrhage, so the nurses had to make sure I was stable before letting us go to a room. Emmie had a very hard time settling down and by 2 am I had enough. Being awake for virtually 24 hours did not bode well for my emotional status but eventually they were able to finally clear us to move to a room to try and rest. Shortly thereafter, Emmie settled down and we got what little sleep we could.
Emmie’s Birth Story, Part 2
If you missed it, check out part one here.
I settled in as the pitocin was slowly cranked up. I’m guessing it wasn’t done too quickly because I was vbacing. I kept waiting for contractions to come closer, and they did. I also began to throw up. Twice. I hate throwing up and doing so while in labor is not fun at all. We all took that to be good signs things were progressing.
Around 6 or so, contractions were coming very strong and but I was not feeling any pressure. I asked to be checked and the nurse said I was still at 4 cm. She was still high. At that point, I decided I needed an epidural. I had to relax and Kristina, Mark and I thought it would help get things moving. Before the epidural came, Kristina noted that Emmie’s heart rate would decel with contractions so we all thought that surely she was moving down lower. After getting a very aggressive epidural (the anesthesiologist was a big guy and pretty strong), I settled in to get relaxed. Despite the pain of it going in, it actually worked really well and I could feel the tightening of contractions but not the utter pain.
Around 8, Dr. J came in. He checked me and had a frustrated look on his face. Still 4 cm. Still high. He talked to us and recommended that a c-section would probably be best and said he would give us a few minutes to talk about it to make the decision. We had talked previously about waiting until the morning to give me more time to labor. But by this time, and after getting sick and feeling nauseous again, I was exhausted. Talking with Kristina and Mark we all three realized that getting baby here healthy was the most important. I knew that if we waited and something happened to Emmie that that would result in an emergency c-section. And realistically, knowing my history of childbirth, Mark and I both felt there was a reason she wasn’t coming down and we didn’t want to put her at risk with the stress of contractions. Kristina agreed too. It was a blessing, yet again, to have a doctor give us the facts and then let us make the decision.
More of Emmie
This must be Emmie week. I’ll put more of our other crew up next week.
The hospital we have delivered at for all of the kids has gone through an amazing makeover. It is absolutely gorgeous! Because of our family size we always try and get a mother-baby suite. It costs a bit more but it gives us the space we need when kids are visiting. We got one of the new suites (they added two more bringing their total to five suites). And ya’ll, it was huge!!! The picture is looking from my bed towards the entrance. Plenty of space for our crew!
Ceili Rain was in heaven having both sets of grandparents with her!
Josiah’s got his buddy. Not only that, it appears Emmie has a guardian for life. I think this boy is going to make sure no one messes with his little sister.
Sheer cuteness in giant cheeks and a double chin.
My girls. My heart!
Instant sleeping pills…just place sleeping baby on your chest and you will be out in 2.5 seconds.
See what I mean.
Dr. J got some cuddles too. He said that it is really dangerous holding babies because it gives you baby fever! We are blessed with a pretty awesome doctor who loves our babies and takes such good care of us.
Something New…
Tachypnea…that’s a fancy word for rapid, shallow breathing
So, when Emmie was a day or so old, Mark and I commented about how fast it seemed she was breathing. We knew that breathing rates varied and we just chalked it up to being newborn and that it would streamline at some point and get slower. Also, doctors did not seem to notice it during all her checks.
A week and half went by and I continued to notice her breathing was rather rapid still. I never observed it being slow either. And so I finally decided to time it. The first time was 60 breaths in 1 minute. A bit high but still within normal range. The next day, I checked it and it was between 80-90 breaths per minute. Not normal, and I know I missed some breaths because it was so fast. Later that morning, I counted again. 112. Definitely out of range. And then later back down in the 80s.
Finally, by late afternoon, I called our pediatrician. Let me just say, Dr. B is awesome. She is not only our kids doctor, but I consider her a friend. She has always told us to call if we ever need anything. So, I did the next best thing, I texted to make sure she wasn’t busy. Then I called. She was not happy with what I was telling her and she wanted to have her checked out (Dr. B is usually pretty laid back so when she gets concerned so do we). It was Sunday and everything was closed. That meant we had to head to the emergency room. Our first trip ever to the ER with a kid. I have no clue how that happened.
We scrambled for childcare and grabbed what we thought we might need and headed out. This is where amazing friends come in. I called our pastor’s wife who was hosting care group that evening and asked her to come over. She dropped everything and came. Then I got in touch with Kristina and told her to relieve our pastor’s wife as soon as possible. I didn’t ask. Just told. And she did. We also had Tracy lined up should it get too late. I kept thanking God over and over for putting people in our life who were just like family.
The ER didn’t provide much answers but they did confirm she was breathing fast. They were not too concerned about infection because her pulse/ox level was 100%. Her heart sounded good. She had great color. The only conerns were that her cap refills (capillary refills…press on a leg or arm firmly and then count to see how long the color takes to return) was slow by a couple of seconds and her breathing was fast. That proved not to be too much of a concern because it wasn’t staying consistently fast. It was 100 breaths per minute one time and then down to 75 at another or even 60 and then back up. They chose not to draw blood because she did not present enough reasons to indicate an infection. They did a chest x-ray to make sure her heart and lungs were normal size and those came back fine. They discharged us that evening with advice to follow up with Dr. B.
All the while, we were texting Dr. B and the supervising ER doctor was talking to her as well. She was happy with all their results but still wanted to lay eyes on her. So, the next day, Memorial Day, Dr. B met us at her office (which was closed due to the holiday). She was super glad to have checked her out and Emmie was doing great. The only red flag warning was the rapid breathing. Her cap refills even improved (she said they could have been slow due to a cold room etc). Because the breathing was now the only concern, she opted to just follow her closely and not do any more tests.
We do have much more peace of mind and are prayerful that it’s just taking her autonomic system a bit longer to get in to the swing of things.
We have a lot of reasons to praise God for his protection and provision through all of this:
1. We were a little lost going through the ER process and figuring out what to do etc. We thank God that this was our first ER-kid trip when some parents have to walk this road regularly for various reasons.
2. While waiting in our room, we heard a little boy screaming in agony over a broken bone. My heart broke for all the pain he was in and I whispered a prayer of thanks that we have yet to have one of those.
3. We are blessed to live in a town with a children’s hospital attached to a large hospital. We didn’t realize that there was a specialized pediatric ER. The staff were amazingly patient and very knowledgeable and very mindful of having a 2 week old in a germy place.
4. Again, the Lord has put amazing people in our lives who don’t ask questions and just do and pray when we need it.
5. The Lord has also blessed us with wonderful doctors who work on off days or after hours to help make sure our family is well taken care of.
After our ordeal, we informed Emmie that if she wanted us to go on a date, she just had to say so and not plan it for the ER. Mark and I were able to breathe easier and relax a bit after we realized it wasn’t as much an emergency as we thought. So a bit of uninterrupted conversation was a nice respite and we quickly went through our mental lists of everything we’ve been needing to talk about while waiting for doctors and tests and such.
Thursday 5/29 Update:
Dr. B checked out Emmie again. While we did catch her breathing rate down in the 50s at one point between Monday and now, I only caught it down there once. Every other time it was ranging from mid 60s to 70s and then this morning I clocked it at 90 breaths per minute. Dr. B examined Emmie and informed us that after some more research she did find a diagnosis of idiopathic tachypnea which is basically just an unexplained rapid breathing that resolves on it’s own.
Being ever cautious, though, she said she would consult with a pulmonologist to ensure she wasn’t missing something and get back with me.
And the result from that is:
So, the pulmonologist said that two things she looks for in rapid breathing infants.
1. A kidney dysfunction. I can’t remember the name of it but it can be detected by a blood test. Dr. B said that she wasn’t too concerned that it was that because babies don’t grow and it’s pretty obvious Emmie is growing (weighed 10 lbs 15 oz on Monday and today was 11 lbs 4 oz.). However, it’s a simple blood test to rule it out and since we are doing that, Dr B also wants to do a CBC to rule out infection.
2. Silent aspiration. The pulmonologist said that she sees this a lot in infants who just present with rapid breathing. To rule this out, we have to do a modified barium swallow. Which means somehow we’ll have to introduce a bottle to her. Our first and last child to take a bottle was Zoe when she was four weeks old because I had gallbladder surgery and we had to wait a tad before she could nurse. It was one bottle. I, honestly, am more nervous about trying to give her a bottle, especially when we are just now getting a good nursing routine and because I haven’t a clue how to do it.