Saturday, June 25, 2016

Sooo Surgery

Last week we took the babies (Rory and Anastasia) in for a well child check. Rory was the perfect picture of health. A little underweight but nothing Pedisure won't fix. Anastasia had a hernia that concerned the doctor. The doctor set her up with an appointment with a surgeon at Primary Children's Hospital for the following week. Their doctor is U of U affiliated but still she recommended Primary Children's since it's one of the best in the nation. (Or so I'm told).

Anastasia's appointment at Primary Children's was set up for early in the morning and it would have been difficult to bring all 3 children to the appointment. We we're able to spend the night at Char's folks' house the night before. Then they would watch Heidi and Rory while I took Anastasia to the hospital. 
We had a fun evening with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma got to buckets of water for Rory to splash in since it was so warm. (And it was fun to watch him splash around outside).He even tried to say "bubbles", it came out as "bobeels" which was cute. Grandpa and Heidi Anne went on a search for a plastic pool to play in. They were sadly unsuccessful. But Heidi had fun playing in the water, too. 
 We had a fun little barbecue. Grilled chicken sandwiches for Grandpa and me, hamburgers for Heidi and Grandma. After it cooled down a little Heidi and I went picking strawberries. We used them on our ice cream for dessert. 
Grandma worked on my genealogy with me and taught me indexing. Which is where you go through old records (like obituaries, school records,or old census reports) and note down the different people listed. That way if someone searches for their ancestors they will find these links showing evidence of their family. It's pretty cool that people take their time to track down and mark others family history, never knowing if it helps or not. But to just have someone noticed and not forgotten is pretty special. 
The next morning I left for Primary Children's and the car wouldn't start. I prayed and asked Grandpa to come help me out. I was stressed, worried, and running late. Fortunately, he got the car started. We we're barely on time so I used valet parking for the very first time. Bless valet parking. 

We knew about the belly button (umbilical hernia) and Charlie suspected the left inguinal hernia. We just didn't know how bad it was. We figured that it was causing her pain and discomfort.What we didn't know about was her right inguinal hernia. These inguinal hernias are bad because it's the lower intestine that's protruding out of the abdominal wall. Which can cause fecal matter to become trapped, causing the intestine to rupture. Translation, bad hernias to have.
According to the doctor the younger the preemie the higher the likelihood of them having hernias. Apparently, the body doesn't get to close all the holes nor get a chance to develop properly. Just like how her heart had 2 murmurs due to prematurity, she has 3 hernias due to how early she was born. 

She'll have surgery on all three hernias on August 2nd at Primary Children's. (Keep her in your prayers, thoughts, or good vibes that day). Since she is so small and a preemie she'll have to stay for observation overnight at the hospital. Because we live in Wyoming, I'll be allowed to room in with her, I'll sleep and stay with her so she isn't all alone. I know the nurses are wonderful but I've already spent too many nights away from her due to hospitalization. 

Saturday, June 18, 2016

What an Average Summer Day Looks Like...CHAOS

Here's what a normal summer day looks like this year. The last time I did this it was called What A Typical Visit Looks Like. Let's see the differences, shall we? My posts are a little shorter currently because the following happens nearly every day. But I think it's important to have down, so you know what I mean when I say "re-runs" (a typical day / activities) versus "highlights" (something new or different). 

12:30 AM - Wake up, and sigh because I stayed up "late" (10:30 pm). Tend to Anastasia, feed, change, and cuddle her a little. 

1:05  AM- Play on my phone, check Facebook. (Bad sleeping habits but I am WIDE awake  for some reason). Fall back asleep.
3:00  AM- Wake up, feed and change Anastasia. Check her 02 saturation. 
3:34  AM - Attempt to go back to sleep.
6:00 AM - Wake up, feed and change Anastasia. 
6:15 AM - Heidi is wide awake for the day. (Think of Anna in Frozen, "The sky's awake, so I'M awake!)
6:20 AM - Try to go back to sleep
6:30 AM - Char gets home from work. I give up on sleep and sneak in some reading. 
7:00 AM - Rory awakens. Reading didn't last long. 
7:15 AM - Change Rory and make breakfast for everyone. English muffins for Heidi Anne and me, we split an orange. Dry Fruit Loops and applesauce for Rory. 
7:55 AM - Go play / watch Rory. Listen to the news. Ahhh, adult human contact has been somewhat made. 
9:00 AM - Anastasia is up, (apparently, she is on a 3 hour schedule today). Feed and change her. Switch out her SP02 monitor for a new one. She's at 93% without oxygen, that works for me. Read and play with Rory while tending to Baby Girl. 
10:10 AM - Second Breakfast / morning snack. Carrots and a granola bar for Heidi Anne (she's trying to eat more healthy since the doctor told her to eat more fruits and vegetables. Somehow, coming from a doctor is more serious then when I tell her the exact same thing. Shaking head right now.)
10:33 AM - Back to play time. Try to fold laundry. Rory grabs it and throws the laundry on the floor. I keep trying for 10 more minutes and then give up and put the clothes back in the basket. Sigh, I'll try to get to it tonight or tomorrow when Char is home. 
11:00 AM - Nap time for Rory & quite time for Heidi Anne. I hurry and start a crock pot for dinner. I pick up the kitchen while I'm at it since the little people are sleeping. 
12:06 AM - Type up on my post what I have jotted down on a piece of paper about what's been going on. 
12:30 PM - Guess who's up and hungry again?? Feed, change, cuddle Stacy (One of her new nick-names. I like it, one of my best friends is name Stacy and she's a sweet, smart, strong, and kind young lady.) 
12:58 PM - Wake up Char for his day. Talk a little and get caught up on each other's days.
 1:33 PM - Rory's up from his nap.
 1:38 PM - Snack Time.
 1:45 PM - Char watches Rory while I attend to the laundry (again). This time it gets put away. Amazing!!
2:37 PM - Late Lunch for us, breakfast for Char. 
2:54 PM - Clean up from lunch, save leftovers (guess what's for dinner?)
3:00 PM - Char gets ready for work.
3:06 PM - And she's up, I could set a watch to her today. I balance stopping Rory from trying to pull at her SP02 monitor and the oxygen line while feeding the baby.
3:15 PM - Char kisses us each good-bye, then leaves for work in Ogden.
3:16 PM - Have Heidi keep an eye on Rory while I finish taking care of Anastasia. 
3:22 PM - Play with Rory while holding Stacy. Debate about putting him down for a late afternoon nap, after all he's acting sleeping. Heidi starts to read a book on the Kindle (we're letting her use it to read for summer break). 
4:00 PM - Heidi goes out to play with friends. She's been wanting to go out all day. 
4:20 PM - I surrender!! He is going down for a nap. He falls asleep right away. Sweet, I made the right choice. Cuddle the baby.  
4:30 PM - Call Char to see how his drive was, it also gives me more time to talk to him.
4:45 PM - Get off the phone with Char, while I was talking Ladybug has fallen asleep. A little reprieve from children. What to do, what to do? 
4:46 PM - Stare down the laundry. I can tackle it tomorrow when I have help again. Sneak in some rare reading time for myself. 
5:10 PM - Heidi comes to check in. 
5:14 PM - Type up what I've been up to. Back to my book.
5:21 PM - Anastasia's monitor goes off meanwhile she cries out. Yep, she's projectile vomited, again. Take care of her. 
5:43 PM - Rory wakes up while I'm feeding the baby. 
5:45 PM - Put Anastasia down, make Rory a sippy cup. Get Rory, change him, give him his drink. Pick Anastasia back up and finish feeding her. 
5:59 PM - Heidi comes home (I told her be home by 6:00 pm-technically she was). Get asked "What's for dinner?" Rory perks up at the word "dinner".
6:05 PM - Leftovers, leftovers are for dinner. 
6:22 PM - Pure chaos. Anastasia seems to get very fussy between 4 pm - 9 pm. This evening it started at  6:22 pm. At the same time Heidi can't handle the noise so she goes to play in her room. Then Rory knows neither I nor Heidi can't watch him like a hawk and that we can't play with him, which makes Rory more adventurous. Set Rory up with some toys while I care for Anastasia (feeding, changing clothes and diapers, soothing).
6:23 PM - Keep in mind, until Anastasia goes to sleep there is a screaming baby in the background, believe me I'm trying everything to calm her down. I think it's her hernia causing pain or discomfort personally. I remind myself that we have an appointment with Primary Children'd pediatric surgeon next week. Once she finally finishes pooing she'll be better (she's not constipated, believe me).
6:36 PM - It's quite, too quite. Look for Rory, he's not where I left him. Go check the halls and have Heidi check the rooms. He can only go so far. I start back down the hallway when I hear giggles. We follow the sounds of the giggles. The kid has crawled into a laundry basket, hiding the whole time! Silly boy, what is with him and laundry today? Seriously! He has all these toys to play with and he wants the laundry basket. 
7:06 PM - Ladybug is still fussy. We turn on the Simpson's. Heidi is entertained. Time to put Rory in nightclothes and brush his teeth for the night. I have to out him in his highchair while I brush his teeth, he has nowhere to go. (Insert evil laugh). 
7:11 PM - Rory is freed and ready for the night. Back to toddling he goes, just walking around because he can. Tugs on Anastasia's O2 line, along with any other cords or wires he can try to find. This would be so much easier if he understood the meaning of the word NO. But he's barely 15 months old, I remind myself. He doesn't understand it yet. 
7:36 PM - Simpsons are over, now Heidi is "bored". I turn on a show for me to listen to while taking care of the babies. Wouldn't you know it, Heidi likes it as well. Have Heidi start picking up baby toys in the living room. I try to involve Rory with the cleaning, normally we can get him to toss some toys in a box, but not today. Tonight he just pulls out whatever she tries to put away. We give up.
8:00 PM - Put Rory down for bed. Talk with Heidi a little while rocking Anastasia. Focusing on Anastasia so I let Heidi have another show to watch. 
9:00 PM - Turn on the news and tuck Heidi into bed. Since Anastasia has been on a 3 hour schedule I prep everything I'll need. It appears she isn't hungry and hasn't finished popping. But I do put her in nightclothes. The grand total of outfits worn by her today? Drum roll please? 4 outfits. 
9:21 PM - Anastasia is finally ready for a bottle and new diaper. She's calmed down quite a bit. 
9:45 PM - I think I nodded off there. But I put Anastasia to bed and finish watching the news. 
10:00 PM - Oh sweet comfort, my bed! Ah rest! Enjoy it while it lasts because I'll be up in 2 hours or so. 

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Early Father's Day - Lots of Pictures

Char's Day is going to be out of town for Father's Day (they're going to drive the coast highway in Washington & Oregon) the family decided to celebrate it early.  We debated about wither or not it was safe to bring Anastasia out of isolation for a day. In the end we choose to go. It turned out to be Tiny Stacy's first adventure that didn't involve the medical field in any way, shape, or form! 
Heidi knew this was a rare and special occasion; Anastasia going somewhere besides the doctors. Furthermore, this would be the first time some family members had even meet Anastasia, and this was a special dinner for Grandpa. She wanted to dress up complete with a matching bow. Well, that made me want to put Rory in his church romper which matched her dress. Luckily, Anastasia has a dress. (We really need to get that girl more 0-3 month clothes for that baby girl). Anyways, we dressed her up and found a matching bow for her, too. I had aspirations of getting a  lovely picture with the three of them together, but that didn't happen. I didn't even get two of them in the same photo. However, I did get solo pictures of the kiddos. One day I'll capture the 3 of them together. 



I discovered that packing for a visit is like packing for an army now. I also packed the kids nightclothes to put on for the trip back home, it's a tip I learned from my friend Valerie. (Which worked out great!) It was a long car ride down, however, Char has been listening to a book on tape and we got so wrapped up in it we missed our exit. Which was fine, it gave us more time to listen to the book.
Despite the minor set back we were the first ones to Grandma's house. We got to help prep the dinner. We worked on the rolls, the salad,watermelon, and the cheesy potatoes. I try to make the cheesy potatoes at home but they never seem to come out quite right. Char worked on the stakes and my piece of chicken. Heidi Anne helped by picking the strawberries from Grandma's garden. 
Then we played outside until the rest of the family came. Almost all the cousins played outside, either on the trampoline, on the swing, with a hula hoop, running around the yard, or playing with the bubble machine. 
 Sometimes they came inside to see what trouble they could get into. Here are the boys emptying the diaper bag while they think no one is watching. 
Here are the girls getting a selfie with Aunt Sarah.
Everyone got a chance to hold Anastasia, for some people it was their very first time meeting her. Here she is with Aunt Sarah. 


Here is Aunt Millie with Max cuddling our little Lady for the first time. 

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Swimming Lessons, Grandmas, and An Escape Artist

Grandma and Grandpa took Heidi Anne and Rory for a few days this weekend, giving me a little reprieve. It was so nice to have to worry and tend to only 1 child. I got more sleep then I have since before Rory was born.  I'm blessed to have in-laws willing to take the older 2 just so I can get some rest. 
Back in May we had Heidi Anne's swimming skills assessed. It was determined that while she has some skills she lacked confidence. They placed her in level 1, which is beginner's swimming. Thus far she is loving it. She goes every morning for 30 minutes. Her class was so big it was split into 3 groups. Since swimming is a good, general skill to have we went ahead and signed her up for the next session. 

Rory is getting more adventurous by the day. We had an improvised guard gate since we have a large opening from the living room to the kitchen. He has found several ways to get around this gate. Making us buy an new (expensive) custom guard gate. He shouldn't (shouldn't is the key word) be able to get around or climb over this one. 
Tiny Anastasia has fallen in love with the swing. She has to be rocked back and forth to settle down, especially between the witching hours of 4 pm-9 pm. I think she may have colic. She gets all fussy and can't be calmed. Or it could be that her acid reflex is getting even worse. Side note - that girl can projectile vomit. NONE of the other children did that. I guess this little Lady likes to be different.  

Monday, June 6, 2016

Memorial Day

Memorial Day was fun this year, despite Anastasia still being in quarantine.  I think it was because Char was off work that day. It seems like he works every holiday. We barbecued hot dogs for the kids, some chicken for me, and a special stake for Char.  Later in the afternoon, we watched a movie and had popcorn.

Once it got dark Char had a surprise for Heidi Anne. They were going to camp outside in the backyard. He had put up a tent and gathered all the warm blankets from the house. I joked who would cave in first and come inside due to the cold (it got down to 40 degrees that night). They headed outside and he started reading Harry Potter to her. Shortly afterwards, her breathing got more rhythmic and slowed down, he turned out the flash light. As soon as the light went out Heidi Anne's eyes popped wide open and she declared frantically "I want to go inside!". As they came back into the house Char said to me "That's why we don't go camping." We later determined that home was such a close option but if we were really camping she might have done better.