3 weeks

I cannot post pictures from this week because Isaac thought it would be funny to bury the digital camera in the sandbox. The lens makes a crackling, gritty sound when it tries to focus and adjust, so no pictures.

So, I'll just post an update of funny things said and done.

I was reading an animal book to Isaac and he said stuff like this:
That's a fish. Fish love water. And ducks love water, too.
Horses and cows love hay.
Birds love birdseed.
Except that when he talks, he pauses after each word, so he actually said:
Birds. Wuv. Bird, teed.

We were looking at a book that shows common kitchen items used to make facial features on snowmen, like raisins for eyes, strawberry nose, etc. One of the items was a walnut. Every day we look at this book, and he points out the peanut, says "peanut," and then points to the walnut, and says, "what dat, mommy?" Today, he thought he remembered the name, so he pointed at it, and said, "foot nut."

Evan is doing good. Every day after preschool, I ask if he had fun, and he says, "Yes, I loved it!" Jerry and I have noticed that if we directly ask him what he learned in school, he says, "nothing." But if he initiates the conversation, then we'll get some details. They are learning about oceans, the kelp forest (I had to ask him what that meant, and he gave me a thorough explanation), sharks, sea creatures. He learned that if you count to five four different times, it equals twenty. Two kids held up their two hands for everyone to count their fingers. So I guess they are learning early math. Next they are going to learn about all the continents.

Keira is doing great. She's still a pretty easy baby. She just started having some fussy moments about 3 or 4 days ago. She'll suddenly start screaming, which sometimes subsides a little when she's held, but sometimes not. It seems to be a gas issue because sometimes she'll, um, toot, and then seem to feel better. The doctor said her digestive system is just immature (like every baby's). She also said, "You could try reducing milk, chocolate, coffee, and raw vegetables and see if that helps." Great, all my favorite foods (ok, not the vegetables, but definitely the other three).

The daycare is going well. My mom is here helping, and my house is very clean for five minute increments until the kids mess it up again. Keira is still oblivious to the daycare kids or the noise. She sleeps through everything. When she got really fussy yesterday, I put her in a baby carrier and she immediately calmed down. I'm hoping that will be a huge help when my mom goes home and I need an extra set of hands.

The daycare kids are really gentle with her. They pet her. They haven't attempted to poke her eyes out yet, which really (pleasantly) surprises me. And the group that I have right now is pretty good. Life is good.

First smile!

11 days old
Well, first smile captured on film.


Other pictures of Miss Pink








With daddy


Evan is going to start taking Taekwondo, and we just bought his first uniform. He sat in and watched other kids take a lesson, and was imitating a punch here.


Isaac copies whatever Evan does. He has Cheetos on his mouth.

Keira... still sweet & cute

She is doing great. The last few days have been wonderful. Evan and Isaac have each other, so there haven’t been any signs of jealousy (yet). If anything, they seem happier because we have time off work, so they have lots of attention. Plus, they just keep each other busy.

I think Keira has her nights and days mixed up. Yesterday I was thinking that she is a great sleeper because it had been a couple hours since she had eaten, and then we went out to eat as a family. I thought for sure she’d wake up during mealtime, and I was trying to eat fast, but she slept through dinner, then dessert, then during our outing to Blockbuster. When we got home, I had to wake her up to feed her. However, last night she made up for that by waking up often. At one point she woke up every hour or two, though she did go a 5 hour stretch of sleeping. Still, she was eating more often at night than during the day. We are going to fix that by waking her every 2 hours during the day today, so that she gets most of her calories during the day. Keeping her awake long enough to eat a full feeding is also a challenge. Like every newborn, she falls asleep during her feedings.

She kinda looks jaundiced to me. I asked her pediatrician about this, and she said she’s fine. They checked her bilirubin while she was in the hospital, and it was in the normal range. Still, she is yellow. Her doctor said all newborns are a little jaundiced. My nurse friend suggested I expose her to some sunlight. I’ll do that soon.

She poops a lot! It’s driving me crazy. At night when she wakes up, I’ll change her, then feed her. While she’s eating, I can hear her filling her diaper, so I’ll change her again. When I’m done, she’ll act like she’s not done eating, so I’ll feed her some more. Of course, while I’m feeding her, she is filling her diaper again. This happens at each feeding. I guess I could just wait and change her at the very end, but her lil’ bottom is already red. So, I’ll just have to get used to it. Although she only takes 15-20 minutes to eat at night, I’m up for at least 30 minutes to complete this whole process.

She hardly ever opens her eyes. Yesterday she opened them more than usual, though. And Jerry says she smiled at him this morning, and that it was a non-gas induced smile. I can’t wait until I get to see one!

Isaac quotes
Isaac has been talking a lot lately, so I’ll update there.
Jerry bought the boys some play balls that have long strings attached everywhere. Isaac stretched some of the strings out across his chest, and said, “Look, a violin.”

At lunch, his potato chip was arched, and he said, “Look, a bridge.”

Another time, he said, “Look, a wainbow.”

He loves to watch me load the washer. When the water comes on, he says, “Look, a water pall.” He says the same thing after flushing the toilet.

Jerry was talking sweet talk to Keira and I guess Isaac wanted attention, so he went and got some plastic packaging, put it on his head, and said, “Look, daddy, at my punny hat.”

This morning, Isaac crawled into bed with me. I cuddled with him and he said, “I wuv you, mommy.” I said, “I love you too.” And he said, “Yes… I wuv you too.” I love how he says “yes…” after I tell him I love him. That’s an Isaac thing.

Evan is being sweet too. Today he said to me, “Mommy, I want to take my money and buy you an adult toy and wrap it in paper for you to open. Well, maybe on your Birthday.”



4 days old
Sleeping




5 days
Leaving the hospital




Home, sleeping


Isaac


Her new bed






6 days




1 week old!

We're home!

We made it back home. Keira has been opening her eyes a bit more now that we're away from the hospital's fluorescent lighting. But, she still eats and sleeps about 99% of the time.

On the way home, Keira had her car seat facing backwards in between Evan's and Isaac's seats. She was sleeping while making little squeaking noises. I heard Isaac talking back to her: "Yes Keira, I know. I know..." She would squeak again, and he'd say, "Yes Keira, yes..." I about died of cuteness.

More pictures

Keira's 3rd day

Keira is doing great. Not much to report, except that she only sleeps and eats. She'll eat like 3 times in 3 hours, but then she'll pass out for the next 3 hours. Here are some pictures.



Evan was at preschool for this family minus Evan shot.










Baby's first actual outfit!




I am feeling much better today (compared to yesterday), but don't want to admit it to the nurses. I love staying here... I'm getting so much rest, and it's really nice to be bored. They'll send me home either tomorrow or Wednesday. I vote Wednesday.

Keira's Birth Story

We were all set to pre-induce on Sunday, 9/7, probably delivering the next morning, on 9/8. I went in for one final doctor appointment on Friday, and learned that the baby is breech. The doctor recommended a C-section, and we agreed. We left the boys with Samantha and Jack, their across-the-street buddies.

The next morning, we woke up at 5:30 and went to the hospital. It all did not feel real. With a natural (non-surgical) birth, there are hours of contractions and a million labor-related things that build the anticipation of meeting the baby. This seemed so different. I could not believe we were about ot meet our baby. It felt like we were just going into the hospital... for some other reason.

At 6:20, they gave me an IV, asked a million questions, and the anesthesiologist talked to me about the spinal and how it works. All the nurses were very nice. At around 8:15, we made the walk from our room to the operating room, on the same floor. Jerry put scrubs on and waited outside the door as I went into the OR by myself, just long enough to get my spinal. At about that time I totally lost it and was a bundle of tears. One of the nurses said, "What's wrong? Are you just nervous?" I said yeah, but thought that was a really strange question of her to ask. Does anyone go into have a huge needle put into their spine, in a strange room with people you don't know, about to have your life completely change and meet your new baby without first shedding few tears? No, I wasn't nervous about the surgery, but I was emotional about the huge event that lay ahead.

So I got the spinal, and that really hurt. At least I didn't get it done while having a bad contraction, like I did with Isaac. Still, I'm pretty sure the helpful nurse has 4 nice scratch marks on her arms, and I probably have her skin cells under my finger nails.

Immediately afterwards, I started to get numb and tingly in my legs. The doctor did the "can you feel this" test (where I can only assume she stabbed different areas of my abdomen). And when I said No a few times, they proceeded to start. There was a huge curtain between my head and my abdomen, so that I couldn't see, and potentially freak out.

While they were poking me and sterilizing my tummy, I was still teary (but really not a total basket case... to be clear), and same nurse said, "Let's get her husband now. She's a little... you know... she needs him." Do people really go into C-sections all calm and collected? Anyway, Jerry came in to stand by my head and his eyes were very comforting. I asked the nurse when they were going to start, and she said they already did.

I felt lots of pulling and weird sensations, but no pain. It took about 30 minutes. Then I heard them say they saw her head, and they didn't think she felt like 9 lbs like my boys. Then I heard the word "adorable" a few times, and "dark hair," and "oohs" and "aahs". They took her over to the warmer a few feet away after holding her up and letting me have a quick peek. What a relief! There was an actual baby inside, and she did look like she was ours and she had the correct numbers of limbs, fingers, and toes, and she was a girl. She was really here.

Jerry went over to the warmer to cut the cord and watch as they cleaned her up. I couldn't really see her then, but was so distracted by the surgery anyway. I started to get really naeseous and sweaty and felt like I was floating over the room. I didn't like that feeling at all.

They brought Keira over to me and laid her on my chest, and she looked pretty sweet. My first thought was that she looked exactly like Evan, with her round face and little nose. Not sure how else, but she just looked like Evan and a little like Isaac too. Definitely a Price-Stogsdill.

They took her away to the nursery and Jerry stayed with her while they sewed me back up. I felt sicker and, er, got sick a few times. Right about the time I started to realize that they needed to be done now, they were done. I even made a joke that I hoped they could do a tummy tuck while they were down there, and they laughed. But I couldn't wait to be done. It smelled all clinical and weird.

The nurse wheeled me to a recovery room and I finally got to hold her. This was only 20 minutes or so after she was delivered (it took that long for them to sew me back up). I held her and went to breasfeed and it took 1 second for her to figure that out. It was like she had taken lessons in utero. Since then, she has been nursing every 2 hours. Evan and Isaac were different. They nursed a couple times the first day or two, but didn't seem to be actually hungry. The doctor said that babies who are delivered naturally have a bit more trauma, and sleeping is more important to them. This baby had no trauma (that we know of!), so she was ready to move onto the next step of survival.

When I first found out I was going ot have a C-section, I was so disappointed. That was not how i pictured my birth experience. I kind of looked forward to the contractions gradually getting stronger and all that normally follows. The unknown aspect seems more exciting. But now I feel so relieved. I think this was my hardest pregnancy, and I'm glad it's over. No more false alarms, and no more feeling beat up after delivering. Well, my abdomen is beat up, but that doesn't seem as bad. My mood is seriously improved from the last month. :)

Keira is perfect. She looks so little to me. Even though her face is round (chubby cheeks), her head looks really small and petite. She has a tiny mouth but still with full lips. Little nose, but not too small. We have no idea what her eyes look like, because she will not open them. I think they are dark blue/grey. Her hair looks dark brown in some lighting, other times it looks strawberry blond. I love her little head!

She has a passionate cry like Evan did. Jerry said that when they took her back to the nursery to check her out, she got mad about something and started to cry [scream]. The baby in the warmer next to hers had his heart rate go up everytime she cried. She is little, but mighty.
















"I hate to be swaddled!" (She now likes it.)

Cute things Evan has said

The day before I had Keira...

Evan: Mommy, I think you should wear these shoes (black patton leather, with a peep toe and wedge heel) today, because they look pretty on you.
Me: Oh, um, I don't know if I can wear those 9 months pregnant.
Evan: But they look so pretty on you.
Me: Thank you, but I might fall over.
Evan: Oh. And pregnant mommies probably also shouldn't stand on a really tall ladder. If they fall over, the baby will cry.

A few days before that...
Evan: Mommy, does your tummy feel all wet inside?
Me: No. Why?
Evan: Because I think if the baby was crying inside, it would feel pretty wet.

Hello World

Keira Simone Price Stogsdill
9/6/08 at 8:29 am
20 inches
7lb 10oz
All 9s on apgar
Happy, healthy and napping on mommas chest.

At the Hospital

Checked in at 6am. this should go pretty quickly.

False Alarm

Well, thought it was time, but it wasn't. Soon. We're back home.

Going to the Hospital

Well, it looks like this may be it. Andrea had some pretty good contractions this morning. After breakfast at the Original Pancake House we went for a walk, dropped the kid's off at Sarah's and now are on our way to Littleton Adventist Hospital. Fingers crossed that little girl will be here today. Stay tuned.

I'll be posting little Twitter type posts on my Facebook page throughout the whole thing so check there as well.