What a crazy week its been for our new little family! We've done everything from having electrical work done, doctors appointments, to appliance installation. All along with Adam going back to work.
Wednesday started my first few days back to work. It was tough to go back to work and leave Lauren and Eleanor at home. I was very excited to see all of my students and get back to see my colleagues, but I sure was ready to get home and be with the family at the end of that first day. It was also a bit tough this week because there was a home football game on Friday, and that makes for a long day of getting to work at 6am and not getting home till 11pm. I think that's going to be one of the hardest things as a parent is to be able to balance my band obligations with my family time. We we have been very busy taking care of different odds and ends around the house. We had some electrical work done and some fans installed and had some new appliances put in. So between the feedings, diaper changes, doctors appointments, and getting Lauren better it's been a busy week! When we do things at our house like have a baby we try to go big or go home!! This weekend will hopefully be more relaxing, and we will get to just spend some time together. Nora was visited by the home care nurse and we are super excited that she is now up to 5lb 4oz!! This is a small victory, as she continues to eat and grow everyday. It is becoming more apparent she has the heart defect as her respiratory rates are higher and the docs can now hear a definite heart murmur. One of the hardest things I think I will ever have to do is watch Eleanor go through heart failure. When you look at her she's so sweet and peaceful and you want to do everything you can to just take all that away from her. I know she IS a fighter, and our family will never give up. Through all this we will grow and become a strong, close family. As always, thank you to everyone who has taken the time out to call, write, send cards, food, and baby gifts. We are also so grateful for all our parents continue to do for us!! Without them we wouldn't be able to get to appointments, or even eat sometimes. I think the best thing we learned is to let people help us. This difficult time would be much worse if not for the caring people around us. Much love to all ☮️ & ❤️!!!
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The good... I LOVE NAKED NORA! She was officially two weeks old as of yesterday and has surpassed her birth weight and hit five pounds and three ounces. She's eaten like a champ the last two days and has met her goal of 10 ounces a day. When we met with her pediatrician this afternoon we decided that we will also be fortifying her breast milk with a drop of coconut oil, in addition to the added formula, to increase her caloric intake. Our goal is to have her hit 15 pounds by 4 months to be big and strong for surgery. Ive been dairy free for a week now, and you'll be happy to know it didn't kill me. I'm getting used to almond milk in my cereal and today I am to begin new adventures with dairy free cheese. Oh boy! Lol. But wait- just have to throw this in there... what a love bug! Thank you Diane for the new outfits! So cute! Now moving on to the bad... Mommin' ain't easy. Why didn't anyone say it would be so hard? I've been struggling with my incision that didn't heal and filled a pocket of fluid. The tissue inside had to be debrieded and cleaned out twice. Now I've got to have someone pack it 2-3x a day with antiseptic gauze?! It will be a few more weeks until it's healed and this will need to be repeated daily. Seriously... eww. The ugly...
Also, I've got mastitis. So there's that. Things for me are not as sunny as of late. But at least Nora is doing well? I guess if I had to choose I'd much rather me be on the suffering end than her. As always, we learn to take the good with the bad. I'm lucky to have discovered the mastitis quickly enough to treat before symptoms were too serious, and I have a huge support system to help me along the way. Plus, Nora is doing awesome! I'm grateful for her continued strength and perseverance. She's such a tough cookie! And lastly, thank you for the continued thoughts and prayers. We would be totally lost without them. After a long busy day of doctors offices on Thursday, Lauren, Eleanor, and I are getting so much need family quiet time!! We have been so overwhelmed by support, help, and kind words over the past few days. Without that support, our experiences on Thursday would have been much harder to swallow. Friday was was a great day!!! We had a great visit/lunch with Nannu and Amma. Nannu is quite the baby whisperer. He just has a way with babies, and boy do we enjoy Amma's cooking. Lauren's first day without dairy was a success. We have found some great substitutes for a few of her favorite foods. I can even tell you that the Ben and Jerry's non-dairy ice cream is actually really good. We've also been getting lots of other tips for supplementing different things for dairy. We will post some of the things we try in case there is anyone else out there that needs some ideas. Lauren was extremely excited, because she got three hours of sleep in a row Friday night/Saturday Morning. We had quite the day today. The morning started out with a surprise call from some family from across the pond. Eleanor was super excited to meet David, Edward, Clarie, and Nerissa. Nora was quite the character with them on the phone. She sure knows how to ham things up. She doesn't know it, but those four folks really kept Daddy and Mommy sane through the ups and downs of getting pregnant, to the cardiac experiences. Eleanor is so luck to have some amazing family who care about her so much in the UK and Malta! This afternoon I had my little MSU football watching buddy. I sure am glad she is around or else this season would be a lot more tough to get through with all of these losses. Those of you that know me know I get pretty passionate about the Spartans. Although ever since Nora has come along, just sharing my love for MSU and the Spartan Marching Band has been so awesome... win or lose!!! I can't wait to take her up to MSU some day to see Sparty and experience the band in person. I guess she is learning Mr. Madden's mantra at an early age, "It's better to lose as a Spartan then win as anything else" Nora also had some wonderful visitors today. Nana and Poppi came for a visit. She really enjoyed their visit and is so thanks for for all the hard work Nana puts in when she is here. Amma and Nannu continue to run errands for us non stop. They have done everything from grocery shop, return items, and even take back our over flowing returnables. Not only has Eleanor been visited by all of the grandparents this weekend, but she got a visit from her godmother and Uncle John. She had such a good time with them. We are pretty sure she's going to be so spoiled by her Godmother! She already is, actually! Nora is so lucky to have them in her life. Nora is pretty lucky to have two godparents in Anton and Alana!! She has some smart and amazing role models to look up to.
We are very excited to have Nora's care plan in place. We will be having a home care nurse visit once a week, along with a weekly pediatrician appointment to see how her heart is progressing and visits to the cardiologist every two weeks. It seems very daunting with Adam going back to work, but with family help and perseverance, we will make it though this. Thanks to those who have written, cooked a meal, or sent a motivational message. We appreciate all of it and could not get through this with the support of family and friends! Today was just one of those days. From the moment we woke up (which was late, due to copious amounts of milk and pooping throughout the night) we scrambled from appointment to appointment, trying to be everywhere at once. We started off with the cardiologist this morning and had a weight check and echo done. Eleanor has regained her birth weight loss, but still is behind where she needs to be size wise. We will be supplementing her breast milk with formula to help give her some high octane calories. During her echo, the cardiologist negated the findings of last week’s doc and said she will definitely be needing surgery sometime between 3-6 months. She will slowly be exiting the honeymoon period and will begin to display more symptoms (shortness of breath, difficulty feeding, difficulty with weight gain). To help us monitor her symptoms, we will also have a visiting nurse in addition to her weekly pediatrician and cardiology appointments. Lots of traveling, but we are happy that we will be reassured by weekly visits. Nora will also be put on lasix (diuretics) to eliminate fluids and a medication called Synagis that is administered monthly to prevent RSV. Babies with her CHD have to be very careful about coming into contact with germs and viruses, as it can be really dangerous. For these reasons, we were told that we will have to be very diligent about visitors. Only immediate family is allowed to hold her and children should not be within 3 feet of her car seat. Going out in public also should be avoided during peak times. These rules and restrictions are VERY difficult for us to enforce because in an IDEAL world we would not have to be the “helicopter parents” we are forced into being. We need YOUR HELP and UNDERSTANDING during this time. Please don’t take it personally. It’s just as hard for us to say no as it is for you to hear it. And finally.... Good bye cheese. Goodbye beloved milk. I am officially off dairy. I wish it weren’t so!!!! Eleanor has developed a mild case of what seems to be colitis because of the dairy I’ve been eating transferring to breastmilk. GAH! This is going to be hard. She’s worth it. She’s worth it. I have to keep repeating this mantra to myself as 9:00pm is usually my “ice cream hour” and I’m staring down the clock that’s taunting me about it right now... DAMN YOU CLOCK! DAMN YOU DAIRY! Why must you be so delicious.
Anyway, some days are like that. Tomorrow will be a better day, I can feel it. Until then. It’s snuggle time. I will breathe in her sweet smell and enjoy these fleeting moments. I promise to pray hard and not take her for granted. If you wouldn’t mind, send a prayer up for us today to give us all the strength we need for the next time we have “one of those days." XO Also: MAJOR props to Barb and Bill, and everyone else who has helped feed us and keep us sane over the last week. You know who you are. We are forever grateful. What an eventful day!! Eleanor worked extremely hard the past couple days!! Yesterday, Nora had her first pediatrician visit to Eastside Pediatrics to see Dr. Earles. Of course, mom and dad were late with the baby on their first-ever outing. I guess we mismanaged the time it takes to get ready and get out of the house. This was not easy on Lauren, and if you know Lauren you know how planned out and punctual she likes to be. Thank God we were only 10 minutes behind and the doctors were backed up. Eleanor was weighed in and she has gained back almost all of the weight she lost since birth. She is close to her birth size of 4 pounds 11 ounces!! Dr. Earles was so great with Nora, she took so much time and care with our family. Of course on top of all of the normal first time parent freak out "what-if" questions we had, we came armed with our feeding log!! Because Nora is a cardiac baby, Dr. Earles goal (along with our cardiologist, Dr. Cutler) is to fatten Eleanor up to 15 pounds before the surgery. We are extremely happy and blessed to have found great doctors and nurses that continue to help us. We will be going back to the pediatrician sometime next week after we visit our cardiologist on Thursday. Today, Eleanor has been the celebrity treatment and is getting her photos taken. We are so excited to see the finished product. Our photographer Laila (www.thestudio1111.com) has such a way with newborns, and is super artistic and creative. She has Nora so peaceful, calm, and happy! She is so great that she even lulled Lauren to sleep. If you get a moment check out her work. I am certain that in the near future you will be seeing some of the great photos Laila took!! We are so grateful for all of the blog comments, facebook support, phone calls and visits!! It truly lifts our spirits and has kept Nora, Lauren, and I fighting harder every day!! We couldn't do what we do with out our amazing family. From my parents, to Lauren's parents, my brother Anton, sister in law Gosia, their girls Livy and Abby. We even were super excited to get a phone call checking in on us from our favorite LC nurse Pam. She has been so good to us and has really helped us through all of our specialist visits to feeding. Much of Nora's progress would not have been possible with out her. Thank you for your continued support and we are excited to share more with you in our next update. Peace and Love!!!!
Thank God for friends and family. Otherwise I'm not sure I would survive. My wonderful in-laws went grocery shopping for us yesterday (subsisting on crackers, almonds and American cheese was not working for me anymore), my sister-in-law and brother-in-law brought over huge containers of the cutest hand me down clothes and gifts, and my mom spent the day with us helping to do laundry, clean, sleep, and cook. My aunt Sue even stopped by for a few hours with my cousin Shane to hang out and bring by some delicious food and gifts. I don't need to remind myself myself of all of the help I am surrounded by and how lucky I am. Mornings like this morning that make me grateful for days like yesterday... It was a beautiful and sunny 6 AM when I woke up to pump and feed Nora. Just as I got situated with her elaborate feeding system in place, (which is not easy to do these days) Nora had a massive diaper explosion! Poop was everywhere! All. Over. My. Pillow. And of course covering my blanket, me, and her. How does so much poop come out of something that only weighs 4 pounds? At any rate, I probably still have poop in my hair. Don't judge me. Well we are finally cleaned up and getting ready for our first trip to the pediatrician. I am hoping that her weight loss stays within the acceptable range and that her vitals continue to be good. Daddy is at the store for what i'm sure is the first of many 5682 trips to buy-buy baby. Can I say? We need stuff! Nora is getting ready for her first bath as we speak. Here's to hoping there's no poop involved! Here's to hoping your day is as fun as mine. All kidding aside, we are so blessed ❤️ 👼 looking innocent post volcanic eruption... enjoying her cousin Shane ❤️
On Saturday October 8th, our little nugget was released from the hospital! Lauren and Nora both needed the extra day (Lauren to continue monitoring the preeclampsia and Nora to continue to work on feeding issues). You can't imagine how excited we were to leave the hospital- but the feeling was both scary and exhilarating at the same time! Like really, you can't even check out a library book without a lengthy process and they just let you LEAVE and bring a human home!?! So weird... With a little help from Nana, daddy tucked mama and Nora into the car with our 1,297 boxes of stuff we left (stole) from the hospital... JK (kinda). Adam did a great job avoiding bumps as Lauren hollered at unaware drivers about breaking too fast and obstructing our path home. Finally- we made it after what seemed like forever later but was most likely our fastest trip ever... we made it in an hour fifteen (Adam wasn't even speeding!) Ciocia Gosia came over and saved us with some great tips about new parenting and general love and support. She's now seen more of me than she officially ever wanted (not that I gave her a choice) but she gracefully accepted the challenge. I'm so lucky to have her and all her words of wisdom as a new mom. MAN I have a lot to learn.
Amma and Nannu also stopped over after their busy week arranging furniture for Great Grandma (and us!) and getting her moved- but as always made time for us even if they were falling down exhausted. Adam bought me beautiful flowers 🌺 to welcome us home. Baby And mama had some great skin to skin time and she snuggled up to daddy for new end of night ritual. Sigh.... Life is So. Damn. Good. Lauren and baby continue to do great today!! Lauren is finally getting that much needed rest so we can be ready for our sleepless nights at home! Our plan is to be home tomorrow, maybe before the MSU game so she can wear her new MSU outfit and cheer them on with me!! We are continuing to receive great care here!! The lactation consultant continues to do wonders for us and our cardiac baby!! The nursing staff is amazing and continue to advocate and move the world for us!! Every time we have to say goodbye to a nurse it gets very emotional as they have done so much for us and our Little Rock Star! All of the Docs have been top notch and continue to get us where we need to be. We couldn't be happier with our care! We look forward to meeting with out cardiologist near home, and our new pediatrician. We know they will pick up right where the folks here left off.
We are so appreciative and can't thank you enough for all of the support, thoughts, and prayers over the past few days!! We didn't think that when we created this blog that in less than a week it would be visited over 2,300 times! It is definitly been amazing how many people we have reached. The support and love we feel from all of you does make a huge difference. Although this is going to be a bumpy road, we are sure that all of the medical care, love, prayers, and help we will be fine and Eleanor will grow up to be a strong individual!! Thank you from the bottom of our heart!!! Its hard to believe all at once it's only been two days?/it's already been two days?! So much has happened since we arrived. I started the induction Monday night and labored up until Wednesday morning when I stopped progressing. At that point, the docs decided on a C-section and I delivered her at 12:19pm. They closely watched her body temperature after birth, and took her for an echocardiogram and screens pretty quickly. Daddy fed her and stayed with her while while I got patched up. We met back up for what was a deliriously happy and rewarding first day. If I thought day one was great, day two was unbelievable. The morning was the most chaotic and crazy room full of the smartest minds around. Doctors, nurses, cardiologists, MFM, lactation consultants, and ear nose and throat specialsists came to help our little peanut. She had/has been struggling to feed so finding and clipping her tongue tie was a big improvement for her. She just finished 15 cc from a bottle in five minutes, which took her close to 45 before. Making mama and daddy proud! Another shining light today- the cardiologist said it's possible the bottom portion of the defect, the VSD, has closed up a little and MAYBE surgery will be delayed for almost a year! We will see, but the possibility is awesome to even consider. We have so much love for her it's hard to imagine we never knew this furious happiness before. We look forward to sharing many more milestones and moments in days to come. Thank you for the continued prayers and all the support! |
AuthorHere we are! Adam, Lauren, Nora, and of course our fur baby Baxter. This is our story. Archives
June 2018
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