2wk checkup

Kiley is doing great. She is up to 6lbs 11oz. Her head is 13.5". She is 19.75" long. She does have thrush and passed it to me so she got her mouth painted a very nice purple color.

Kiley Sarah Grace

Our baby girl was born on June 15, 2009 at 5:46am. She was 6lbs 3.7oz and 19.25" long. She looks like her big sister and brother except she has dark hair instead of the platinum blonde. :) She came out screaming!!! It was a joyous sound. She was born at exactly 36wks...guess she does listen after all! :)

Here's the long version:

About 9:30p on Sunday (14th) I started getting contractions (again) but they felt a little different and started out at 5min apart. They weren't too bad at first and weren't too long but by midnite they were about 3-5 min apart, about 50-70sec long and fairly intense. Called up to L&D and was told to go in. We got to the hospital about 12:45am. I was about 4-5cm dilated. It seemed to take forever but I was able to get an epidural and it was a fantastic one. Got the funny "numb butt" again...could feel my legs and move them but couldn't really feel the contractions. Think it was about 2:30a or so when I got that. About 4am, the nurse checked and I was 7cm dilated so she checked with the dr and my water was broken. I wasn't really feeling anything except that baby girl was definitely lower than when we got to the hospital. The nurse came in about 5am and I was fully dilated and she could see the baby's head. She had me do a test push and immediately told me to stop so she could go call my regular dr and get the other people necessary for the birth. With each contraction I could feel the baby being pushed out. We were all ready to go about 5:20am and just had to wait for my dr. The nurses, the resident dr, the OB tech, Nathan and I just sat and chatted and joked, which wasn't nice b/c I couldn't laugh otherwise the baby would have been born. Finally the dr got there at 5:45am, said to go ahead and push, and Kiley was born one minute later. I don't think the dr realized how ready she was to be born. Lol!

I didn't think we could beat Rylan's easy birth but we did. Yay! And I only had to had 4 stitches this time. Yipee! Nathan likes to brag how awesome I am at giving birth. Lol!!

She was grunting for the first few hours and had a little trouble keeping her temp up so she was put into the warmer but no NICU time for her at all. By the evening on the 15th she was doing great and was in the room with me with no extra nurses attention.

We got to leave the afternoon of the 16th. Everyone seemed to think it was too soon or we were nuts but I has having no issues and Kiley was doing just fine so we wanted to get home.

Rylan is completely smitten with her. He smiles at her all the time. He loves to give her kisses and touch her hands and feet. He brings her her hat or blanket. He doesn't like getting his diaper changed but if Kiley is getting hers changed at the same time, he thinks it's the coolest thing in the world. He has held her a couple times and just loves it. He likes to point to her body parts too.

He did hit her in the head with a duck magnet a couple days ago but hasn't done anything else to hurt her or show any jealousy at all. We are very blessed to have such a great big brother in him. He is definitely going to be her protector.

I will try to update the photo link asap with pics of Kiley and new ones of Rylan.

35wk Update

Had a dr's appt yesterday. Baby girl passed the NST but had to have a little help from the dr. She was being stubborn again. :)
I am 2 almost 3cm dilated, thinned, and baby girl is super low. The terb. really isn't working at all but will stay on it til next Monday just to see if it will help. Dr said he really wouldn't do much to stop labor at this point if the girly decides to come.
So we are just waiting to see when she decides she wants her birthday to be. :)

34 wk update

I cannot believe I'm 34 wks already. Time really has flown (well not the last couple weeks...). The dr is keeping me on the terbutaline until baby girl comes or I hit 36 weeks. He did tell me the effects of the terb will lessen so it's not surprising I've been getting more contractions and painful ones than I was two weeks ago when I started it.
Dr isn't too worried about the contractions at this point b/c they aren't regular. If they do get to be regular, gotta call or go in.
I will go in twice a week from now on. Dr wants to keep a close eye on baby and me. :) Baby girl did pass her nst today but she was being a stinker!!! The nurse had trouble getting the pad thing to stay with the baby b/c everytime the baby moved, she would kick the pad and it wouldn't pick up her heartbeat. The dr came in and had to hold the pad in place to get what he needed to see. Well baby girl decided that it would be a great time to practice gymnastics! lol! Even the dr said she's gonna be a handful. :)
I'm glad the end is almost here. I love being pregnant and the other two pregnancies were super easy but this one has been super tough, physically and emotionally. I'm beyond ready to just have baby girl here alive.

Quick Update

Went to the dr on Friday. Did another NST and baby girl was not cooperating...had to be on it for 45 min in order for the dr to sign off on it. I did have a couple contractions during the test so dr decided to keep me on the terbutaline until I see him on June 1 (he is gone next week so I will see a different dr).
We decided to not do the FFN test b/c it would cause more worry and stress if it did come back positive and if baby girl decides to come, she will regardless of the result of the test. So I'm just taking it as easy as I can. The meds haven't completely stopped the contractions but they aren't regular at all. Just a few and then a few hours off and then a few more and so on.
33wks tomorrow so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for another 3 weeks at least before she comes. I'm guessing that once I stop the meds, she will be here within a day or two. Good thing she's measuring on the big side.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend everyone! Give your loved ones a big hug and remeber those no longer with us. Missing sweet Maren!

Baby Girl update

Went in on Monday for my 32 wk checkup. Crazy how fast time has gone! Anyhoo, things were looking good, baby was nice and active, passed the NST with flying colors, and even gave doc a few good kicks. :)
Tuesday nite around midnite I started having contractions, which isn't unusual as I have them every day and more when I lay down for the nite. But this time they didn't stop. They were 5-10 min apart for a few hours, then 10-15 for a few, then back to 5-10, etc. They were painful and in my back mostly. Couldn't do anything to get them to stop or reduce the pain level. There were also other things going on but I'll spare you the details. :)
Went in to see my dr in the morning. No dilation but about 50% effaced. Baby girl is about as low as she can be without being born. He thought I could possibly have a stomach bug but put me on a low dose of Terbutaline just in case. It has helped for the most part. I still have a couple contractions throughout the day but nothing timable. I do have to go back in tomorrow morning for an FFN test. It tests for some hormone or something that can tell if labor will occur sooner rather than later. If if comes back negative, the chances of labor within the next two weeks is highly unlikely. If if comes back positive, there is a great chance of going into labor within the next two weeks but not guaranteed, just a greater chance.
We also had an ultrasound yesterday afternoon. Baby girl is looking good. She is measuring at 33w5d so about a week and a half ahead and is about 4lbs 5oz. Great size! She is going to be a long one. Her head is super low but her butt is almost to my ribs and her legs are stretched across to the other side of my stomach. She has been like this for quite a few weeks, must be comfy! :)
Dr is hoping we make it to 35 wks. I'm hoping for 36-37. While I'd love for her to be here right now, she needs time to grow and get her lungs nice and mature. I guess we'll know a little more tomorrow. And hopefully, if the test comes back negative, I can stop taking the terbutaline. It's not the best drug in the world. :)

Mr. Destructo now

So last nite Rylan was in the kitchen. He was pushing on one of the chairs and pushed it over and it BROKE! He looked at me with utter shock and was ready to cry. I was laughing so thankfully he did too. Crazy kiddo!
Nathan thinks he'll be able to fix it with some sanding down of parts and some glue. We'll see. If not, it's the kids' future craft table so they'll have to deal with only having three chairs for it. Hahaha!
Rylan loves to push things over. Guess it starts early with boys having to show off their strength. Lol! Just hope his little sister doesn't get that from him.

Rylan - Still the big man on campus

Rylan had his 18mth checkup today. He is doing great and there are no concerns at all. His lungs were clear...yipee!!! He does have head stuff and has for a couple weeks but dr said to just keep giving him zyrtec until he clears up. He has seasonal stuff just like his momma.

He is 32.8lbs - 97% and 34.75" tall - 97%. His head is 19cm but I don't know that %. He has lost weight but gotten really tall. Big boy!

Update on baby girl

Had a checkup today and all is looking well. Baby girl is nice and active. Dr. Greek did check her heart on the u/s and said it looked perfect. There are no holes, all septums and there and just fine. We could even see the valves working away. What a relief. She was also swallowing and filled her little tummy up with fluid. Her eyelid was fluttering too. And she is still a girl!!! :)

I've been having bh contractions every day for the last few weeks but the dr checked and they have done nothing at all. Baby girl is locked away, tight. Yay!

We have a named picked out but Nathan won't let me make it offical yet. He still thinks it's too early. Hoping he'll let me make it official soon. Afterall, she does have a dresser full of clothes so she should have an official name too. :)

Rylan and his sister

Here's Rylan giving his little sister kisses. He gives her kisses everyday. Sometimes he bites me so I've had to learn to make it a super short kiss. LOL!
He is very sweet and even tries to share his sippy cup with her sometimes. It cracks me up. He completely doesn't get it at all and thinks daddy has a baby too. Sometimes if you ask him where the baby is, he will pat his tummy.
He does have a cabbage patch doll with a bottle and he will feed the baby and rock her. It's adorable!
He is in for a big surprise.

I cannot believe he is 18 months old now. He is so big and so smart. He is interested in everything and just loves to look at it all and soak it in. He loves to read and can go through 10-20 books before bedtime. He is a daredevil and loves to go off furniture head first. He loves to stand on the recliner and hit it hard enough so the chair is almost flat. Mom does not like that.

He felt rain for the first time the other day and just smiled. He wasn't sure what was going on but really liked it. He still isn't too sure about the wind. :) He loves outside and we took him to the park yesterday for the first time this year. The swing made him laugh, just like it did last summer. He did try to eat a rock. He is def. his dad b/c when we got home he found a rock outside and brought it in with him. :)

He is still a talker. He is getting more words that others can understand. He tries to repeat almost all words but he doesn't quite get it yet. His first understandable word was baby. :) He also says mama, dada, elmo, duck, georgie (for curious george and george bush), apple, purple, shoes, book, go sioux, touchdown and i'm sure i'm forgetting a few others. It won't be long and I'll be wondering why I wanted him talking already. Haha!

He has his 18mth checkup tomorrow. He has gotten taller and thinned out quite a bit. I'm hoping his weight will be back on the charts, or close to it anyway. :)

Mr. Tornado

So on Wed. nite Rylan was playing with the couch cushions, which I do NOT like him doing but it's hard to stop a tornado. So around 6pm he decided to fling himself backwards and nailed his head on the coffee table. Right away he had a bump and a bruise. We sat quietly on the couch reading books and at about 6:45pm he puked all over himself and I.
I called the dr. immediately and he said to keep a close eye on him and if he puked again to go in immediately. So my mom came over and gave him a bath. He cried when getting in and he usually loves the bath. I put him to bed about 8:30. He has seemed fairly normal. He was super tired from being up at 6am and only taking a 15 min nap so it was hard to know what was from tiredness and what was from his head hurting.
I posted on facebook and Christy (nathan's stepmom) called and we chatted and thought it would be good to go in but it was atough decision. So I talked to my mom and she wasn't sure but said to try calling the ER and see what they said. So I called and was told to bring him in right away since he did puke.
So about 10pm we get there. It was looney bin nite!!! We finally talked to a dr a little bit before 1am. She checked him out and he was looking good. We talked about concussions and what to look for. We talked about doing a CT scan but I opted to not have one done at that time. They dr said he most likely has a concussion, as it's much easier for a kiddo to get one than an adult.
He seems to be doing just fine. He has had no more puking and is back to being a tornado and a daredevil.

Looney bin nite at the ER: a lady comes in and I swear she was coming down off a drug high...shaking terribly, puking, moaning, swearing like a sailor. Then a man comes in with no visible injury or illness and was pacing in the lobby saying the same phrase over and over that consisted of 2 swear words and "the".
When we get back to the room to wait for the dr., we were in a room with 3 other people. One of the people was the "drug" lady and it turns out she was having a migraine. She was AWFUL! She moaned loud with every single breath and was swearing loudly. I understand how much pain she was in but it was ridiculous and was scaring Rylan. Then another lady in there was moaning every 30 seconds or so and about once a minute she would yell "sh*t, nurse". It was just awful. Poor Rylan didn't have a clue what was going on. He was by far the best behaved person in that room.
Then right before we were leaving some guy was in the halls, yelling "I want Sophie. Where is Sophie?" When we left there were 3 cop cars outside so I'm guessing the Sophie guy was drunk and was escorted to the ER.
I have never been soooo glad in my life to be home.

Flood March 2009

I have been able to take some pics of the Red River in Grand Forks. There are pictures in the link at the right. Not sure if I will be able to get any more taken since 2 of the bridges are closed and I'm not sure if I will be able to walk up any dikes or not.

3-26-09: Updated with more pics I took today.

Rylan's 1st Haircut

Rylan finally had his first haircut on Tuesday, St Patty's Day, at age 17.5 months. It wasn't super long but was getting wild. He has curls in the back that are so cute and I didn't want to cut them off but he still has curls after his cut.
He did really well. He didn't scream or cry. The only thing that really bugged him was the water squirts but after a few he didn't even care about those anymore. Carol, the hair dresser, gave him a few hairclip things to play with and he loved that...something new. He was kind of squirmy at first but calmed after just a little while.
He loved all the mirrors and gave himself many big smiles. :) He is such a ham.
There are pics in the link on the right.

Updated Pics

I have finally uploaded new pics. Follow the link on the right!

The big u/s

We are having a girl! I cried when the tech told us. I was hoping boy and all the old wives tales pointed to boy. It's going to be very hard to have another girl. I just hope she is ok and is born alive.
Everything looked good on the u/s. The radiologist and the dr still have to look over it all so I will get the "official" results on Monday morning. She was stubborn and wouldn't let the tech get a good pic of her brain so we may have to go back to get another pic of that. She was super low and they couldn't do anything to get her to move. Stubborn already, uh oh!
She measured 19w5d overall so 1 day ahead which is good. They put her weight at 11oz. All within normal limits. She had her hands by her head almost the whole time, just like the last u/s, so I'm thinking we may have a drama queen on our hands. Haha!
We got some pics but I'm not sure how well they will look once they are scanned in so I'll try to post them but if they aren't great, I won't be.
Now we just have to pick out a name. Thankfully Nathan and I agree on some names. :)

Funny kiddo

Just sharing the youtube link to a video of Rylan laughing his butt off one nite.
Have more funny videos and will share the links as I get the videos on youtube.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zItWe5yhBq0

Oddity

Nathan and I went to Maren's grave today to put some valentine's decorations there and pink flowers. There was a dead bird frozen right next to her vase. It was a small black bird with a very pointy beak. The same kind of bird that is living right near Ricky's place. It's too cold for birds but yet these one and some pigeons live near our place and one happened to get to the cemetary and pick Maren's grave for a place to rest and subsequently die.
In an odd way, it gave me comfort. I know it sounds bizarre and it is but... She is buried right next to a bush and there are trees nearby so the bird should have naturally gone to the bush or tree but for whatever reason it choose Maren. It was like it was a place of comfort for him to be. I'm sure she looked after him and comforted him til he died.

Pictures

I was going to upload new photos to Rylan's photo album but found out that the site I was using either costs annually to hold more pics or they start to delete. So, the site had deleted all the photos of maren, my cards, wedding pics, and others I had on there.
I did some checking and found another site to use that lets you store unlimited photos and share them with family and friends. I am switching all the pictures to shutterfly. I am going to make photo albums for the kiddos and other various things. I have set up a website that will hold the photos and there is now a link to that on the right of this blog. I'm not sure exactly how it works but I will get it figured out. One nice thing about shutterfly is that if you want to print a pic or two (instead of waiting for me to take 10 years to mail you some), you can order prints and have them sent to target.
So, bear with me while I'm working on getting photos back online to share with everyone.

Poor Kiddo

So Rylan all of a sudden got sick this weekend with coughing, wheezing, hard time breathing, and runny nose. Took him to the dr today and he is treating Rylan as if he has pneumonia again. So the little guy is on amox for 10 days and nebs for 2 days but if the nebs are helping, then he will be on them for longer. Rylan has wheezing in his chest and upper airway and the dr couldn't distinguish it from one another. The dr didn't do an xray since Rylan has a history of pneumonia, rsv, and lots of wheezing and coughin.
If we have to take him in again for wheezing, he will be put on a med like pulmecort. The poor kiddo can't get a break from being sick. Hope the summer gets here soon!!!
And he was still 30lbs 4oz and his height was just a little over 33" (so those are pretty much the same as at his 15 month checkup).

I have an appt next wed (28th). I'll be 16w2d and hopefully we'll be able to tell on the u/s what we are having. I'm excited. Nathan and I both put the same girls name on our list last week but cannot agree on a boys name at all so I'm thinking we'll be having another boy! :)

15 month update

so rylan had his 15 month checkup on monday. he weighed 30lbs 4oz (still off the charts...hahaha!) and his height was in the 90% and head in 75%. i forgot to ask what both measurements were. but he's doing great overall (and still a big, big boy!).
the dr seemed a little worried that he isn't talking yet. rylan says mamamama and dadadada but he doesn't look at us and say those words so we don't know if he knows what they are or not. but he babbles ALL the time and uses many different consonants so i'm not worried that he hasn't said his first word yet.
and since he's so big and practically running, he gets to move up to the toddler room at daycare on monday. yikes!!! he's not supposed to get so big so fast. but i know it'll be great for him and he'll be picking up new habits and will be talking in no time.
other than that he is a typical boy and 150% energy from sunup to sundown. he loves to climb on anything and everything. he tries to squeeze on the side of the fridge (not sure what he finds fascinating back there). he eats like he's starving and will eat anything he is given. (hopefully that sticks for a long, long while!).
he loves the movie everyone's hero (highly recommended movie!) and tv shows backyardigans, dora, diego, and blue's clues. he loves animals. he loves little people. he loves to read. he is so curious and loves to see what everyone else is doing. we are working on coloring but after a minute or so, he thinks he needs to try to eat it. lol!
he has turned into a mama's boy big time. he will even cry if i leave to go to the bathroom or put laundry in. cute yet annoying. it's nice when nathan is home b/c he can help distract him and give me a break.