Marshall At Five

Mr. Marshall Man celebrated his fifth birthday on September 5th.  He had been looking forward to this day for weeks and having Grandpa Bob and Grandma Becky here made it all the more special.  

A couple of days before his birthday we had a family outing of miniature golfing.  He loved it.

A few things about Marshall at age five:

*He is 36 pounds and 43 inches tall.

*He is currently loving Legos, playing football, playing soccer, and running.  

*He has refused milk for the last 11 months.  

*He LOVES cereal.

*He loves and hates sausage, pork, steak, hamburger, and chicken.  Just depends on the day.  :)

*Although he is still shy, I feel like he really blossomed this summer (if you can say that about a boy).  He has become so much more confident and excelled in the classes he did this summer.  I am so proud of him.

*He is a fantastic big brother to Rachel.  He won her very first smile.  He is so sweet and gentle with her.  He calls her cutie and pumpkin.  It is a true joy to watch these two together.

*Marshall is also doing better with Bridget.  :)  They have multiple good moments together each day, mixed in with some bad, but what can you expect?!  :)  

We sure love Marshall Cougar.  I'm so glad he made me a mom five years ago.

Visit From The In-Laws

I really have just about the greatest in-laws around.  Months ago Richard and I were talking to them about when they were going to come out for the baby.  They had a couple of different dates in mind, but they asked me what I wanted.  I was completely selfish and told them exactly what dates I wanted them here.  They said yes and bought their plane tickets the very next day.  Pretty great I must say.

I wanted them here the week of Richard's birthday, Marshall's birthday, and Marshall's first week of school.  I knew those big events just might throw me over the edge trying to do all of that on my own with a three week old baby.  It also happened to coincide with Labor Day weekend so it was great that Richard had those three days off and was able to spend so much time with his parents.  

We sure enjoyed their visit.  Their help was invaluable.  Besides taking care of our kids Bob did yard work and Becky made sure I got a nap every single day.  They did dishes (I really don't think I washed anything that week), made food, wrapped presents, ran errands, and baby-sat so I could get a hair cut.  It was great.  

When I dropped them off at the airport I cried.  I told my mom later that day that I broke down at the airport when I dropped them off and told her I felt like an idiot.  They were probably pretty nervous to leave their three grandchildren with their sobbing daughter-in-law.  My mom told me it would make her day to have a daughter-in-law cry when she left and they probably took it as a complement.  Hope she was right.  :)

Becky bought these pajamas for Marshall and Bridget.  They pretty much lived in them for three days.  They were all over the place fighting the bad guys.  It was pretty fun to watch.

Rachel's Newborn Pictures

On to happier things...

When Rachel was just one week old a friend came over and took some picture of sweet little Rachel.  Rachel pooped, peed, and threw up all during this little photo session.  Obviously just being seven days old is rough when you are naked and being fussed over and posed.  You will also notice she loves to keep her mouth open.  :)  Oh well, we still got some good ones.  Love this perfect little baby.

What A Week

Its been over five weeks since I have visited this blog.  Clearly having three little kids has caused me to let some things go.  I have a running list of things I want to blog about and every day I think I am going to find those 20 or so minutes to write, but obviously that hasn't happened!  But, I begin tonight, and although I am weeks behind, I'll start with our most recent week.  

It has been a doozy.  

These two pictures sum things up...

infant tylenol, children's ibuprofen, Delsym cough syrup, children's tylenol, pedialyte, and Zantac

My second call to 911.  Thank you Bridget.

 Ah...let me explain.

Rachel:  Last Friday she became a horrible eater.  By Sunday morning she was eating for five minutes or less, screaming, and then falling asleep until I would wake her up to eat again.  After a call to the on-call pediatrician on Sunday afternoon I took her to urgent care at Children's Hospital.  I spent the next four hours there.  It was grand.  We left with a possible diagnosis of acid reflux and a prescription for Zantac, or just a stomach bug.  We had an appointment with our pediatrician on Tuesday afternoon who had the same thoughts as the urgent care doctor.  We tried cutting back her Zantac dosage, but that didn't go well, so that answered our question.  This little girl now gets 1 ml of Zantac three times a day for acid refulx.

Bridget:  On Tuesday morning at 8:00 am I was at the breakfast table with Marshall and Bridget.  (Marshall was sick so he was home from school, which in the end, proved to be a great blessing on this particular day.)  A few minutes in to breakfast, Bridget started to whimper, and I looked at her just in time to see her face plant into her bowl of oatmeal and slump off her chair.  I caught her limp body in my arms before she hit the floor.  Her breathing was shallow, her skin was pale, hot, and sweaty, and her legs were stiff.  I carried her to the couch and called 911 and then paged Richard.  She was probably only like this for 60 to 90 seconds and the ambulance and fire truck pulled up five minutes later.  Our living room quickly filled up with five paramedics (one of which remembered coming a year and a half ago for her).  They did their best to take her vitals, but she was extremely uncooperative.  They wanted to take her to the ER, but I couldn't take Marshall and Rachel.  I tried and tried to get a hold of my close neighbors who I would feel comfortable leaving my kids with, but I had no luck.  By this time, about 30 minutes later, Bridget was answering my questions, she had eaten a bowl of cereal, and was walking around, so we were feeling a little more comfortable.  The paramedics stayed with me while I called our pediatrician and got her an appointment for 10:00 am.  They left after about 45 minutes and Richard got home five minutes later.  The pediatrician's diagnosis is one of two things.  Either she just fainted or she had a seizure.  Yikes.  That second one terrifies me, but that is the first thing that popped into my head while it was happening.  My mom and I have both fainted a couple of times and so maybe that family history combined with it being first thing in the morning, she had been sick, and she was kneeling on her chair just made the perfect scenario for passing out.  A seizure would explain her leg stiffness and the time it took her to perk up.  She didn't show any signs of infection that would warrant further tests, and just having one unexplained seizure doesn't require further testing.  One in three kids who have a seizure will have a second and out of those, one in three will have a third.  The risk is highest for the first 24 hours and we made it through that without further incident.  I watched her for the next two days like a hawk and I've been checking on her about three times during the night.  I am praying it doesn't happen again, so far, so good.

Marshall:  Started in with a cough on Monday, but I wasn't worried about it because Bridget and I had had a cold over the weekend with some coughing.  He woke up in the middle of the night on Monday with a fever so I kept him home from school.  As I mentioned earlier, this was a huge blessing because usually at 8:00 am we are on the school playground.  I'm so glad Bridget had her little episode at home rather than on the playground surrounded by a hundred other kids.  Anyway, back to Marshall.  Marshall has been on a steady stream of tylenol and ibuprofen, and cough syrup.  We are now on his fourth day of a fever so we went to the doctor.  Diagnosis is perfectly healthy with the exception of cough and fever.  We'll just keep waiting it out and if he still has a fever on Monday he'll get a chest x-ray. 

What a week.  In six days all three kids have had a visit with the pediatrician, we've been to urgent care, and placed one call to 911.  I've basically been a worried mom since last Friday morning.  This has definitely made my last week of 29 a memorable one.  May my first week of being 30 bring happier memories. 

Befuddled Thoughts From A Three Week Post-partum Mom

Rachel is three weeks old today.  The last three weeks have been some of the longest of my life, but I am also left wondering how the time has gone so quickly.  Here are some thoughts that have been floating through my head in the last 48 hours...

*I have done a poor job at taking pictures of our newest addition.  Chalk it up to the third kid and being totally exhausted.  I have really tried to remedy that recently.  Just in these pictures you can tell how much she has grown; time is going too fast.

*August 28, 2008 was Marshall's due date.  I remember that day so clearly, I was SO disheartened when it came and went without a baby.  This is probably why that date is engrained in my memory and when I looked at the calendar today that is the first thing that popped into my head.  And now here we are, just five years later, and we have three kids!  Holy smokes.  Speaking of three kids, last Thursday I got these three out of the house all by myself for the first time ever.  It was a miracle, so I had to document it.  Great picture, I know, bright sun.

*In some ways I am surprised at how well I have handled three kids.  It has made me relax (ironically) as I have had to give up some control, which, let's be honest, I like to have control.  :)  This has resulted in my kids running around the yard like this around 8:00 am most mornings as I sit inside feeding Rachel.  Most mornings this goes well, like today.  Some mornings though they just torment each other and Bridget just sits outside crying.  Our neighbors probably wonder why we had a third baby.  

*On Friday I took the kids to the park.  I loaded up Marshall's bike, the double stroller, and all three kids and then proceeded to push the girls around a lake at the park twice while Marshall rode his bike.  This was the most physical activity I've had since having Rachel.  Afterward I sat slumped on a park bench while Rachel slept in the stroller.  I was watching Marshall and Bridget on the playground and watching ALL of the other moms at the park actively playing with their children.  I felt bad about just sitting on the bench, but at the same time, I didn't have the energy to get up.  I could barely keep my eyes open.  A few minutes later I watched as Bridget climbed onto a swing and Marshall began pushing her.  They laughed and giggled for minutes before Bridget got out of the swing, Marshall hopped on, and Bridget attempted to push Marshall.  It made my day and I decided that slumping on that park bench was not a bad thing after all.

*Yesterday afternoon I informed Richard that we aren't having any more kids due to the sole reason that I HATE recovering from child birth.  After I had Bridget my OB told me, "For having such smooth pregnancies, you sure don't have easy recoveries."  That's for sure.  Well, last night I was squeezing Rachel into some newborn pajamas when Richard commented that I should probably just pack up her newborn stuff as she has outgrown just about all of it.  I told him we had to have one more girl because I was not ready to part with these things yet.  He then reminded me what I had told him about being done with babies just five hours earlier.  Obviously a lot of mixed emotions running through me right now.  :)

Her last time wearing these pajamas  :(

*I am so glad I have two daughters.  

*I really cannot get enough of these cheeks.  And, despite the exhaustion, I love middle of the night feedings and the quiet times I get with this little girl.   

Ode To Grandma Laura

Oh how I love my dear mother.  She came and spent a whopping 13 days with us when Rachel was born.  The blessed woman even spent the extra money to change her plane ticket just days before Rachel was born so she could stay with our kids while I was in the hospital.  I love her and so does Marshall!  Bridget is still way too attached to me to love her like Marshall does, but she'll win her over eventually.  :)

My mom flew in the day before I was induced.  Marshall was beside himself with excitement.  That morning he and I had a little tiff over who would get to sit by Grandma Laura on the way home from the airport.  Deciding to be the adult, I caved to him and let my mom sit in the back of the van with Marshall.  :)  

My mom took such great care of us for those 13 days.  She made meals, washed dishes, took my kids to parks, soccer classes, a petting farm, the library, the children's museum, bike rides, playgroups, played an endless amount of duck-duck-goose, bathed the baby, did a lot of laundry, ran my errands, did the grocery shopping, cleaned my house before she left, did yard work, took me out to dinner, baby-sat Max so Anna and I could go out, and hugged me when I cried.  She is just great.  

She also took way more pictures than I did in those 13 days, so thanks to Grandma Laura those 13 days are documented.  Here they are...

We've been without her for a week now and we're still alive...barely.

Rachel's Birth Story

I figured I better get this written down quick before I completely loose my mind to lack of sleep.  In the last week I have forgotten Rachel's name when I got to her doctor appointment and I forgot my phone number yesterday.  :)  I'm going crazy!!!  Anyway...

When I was 32 weeks pregnant with Rachel my good friend Anna found out at 41 weeks that her baby was breech and she had a c-section the next morning.  This quickly became my biggest fear, and Richard's as well, and I immediately asked my doctor what position she thought the baby was in.  From 32-39 weeks I had three nurses and two doctors say head down.  

At my 39 week check-up the nurse came in, felt my stomach, confirmed that the baby was head down and found the heart beat.  A few minutes later my doctor came in and checked me only to find that I was still only dilated to .5 cm. She thought this was odd seeing as this was my third baby and even with Marshall I was at a 1 by 39 weeks.  She also wasn't entirely certain that the baby was head down so she sent me for an ultrasound.  

The ultrasound revealed that this little stinker, as they called her, was transverse.  Her head was on my right, her bum on my left, and her feet were down.  I almost burst into tears right there.  The nurse I had seen just 10 minutes earlier came into the room declaring that this baby was not transverse, but after feeling my stomach, said that little Rachel had just turned herself.  Talk about a roller coaster of emotion.  My doctor then came in and took her own look at the ultrasound and then asked me how flexible I could be.  :)

She knows me well.  :)  She has been my OB our entire time out here and has delivered all three of our kids.  We had the August 9th induction scheduled for weeks and weeks.  She knew we had everything arranged perfectly with Richard's call schedule, his days off, and my mom's arrival.  I told her that in a situation like this I could be flexible!  We talked through a lot of options and eventually decided to just move the induction up by two days, from Friday to Wednesday.  I would have an ultrasound at the hospital to determine the position of the baby.  If needed, my doctor would attempt an external cephalic version.  If this was successful I would be induced.  If it wasn't successful I would have a c-section.  

My doctor was very optimistic that she would be head down all on her own by Wednesday morning.  And if she wasn't, it would be an easy turn, and I could avoid a c-section.  She said that with this being my third baby my uterus was more stretchy, so Rachel had more room to move and was just "floating" around in there with plenty of freedom.  :)

I left the doctor that day in complete shock.  I spent the rest of the day on the phone with my mom and Richard trying to rearrange things and also coming up with plans for our kids and just trying to figure out the logistics of moving everything up by two days.

By Saturday morning I was in quite the emotional state; I did a lot of crying that day!  By Sunday I felt much more at peace with things, but also felt certain of a c-section.  On Tuesday afternoon we picked my mom up from the airport (she was so wonderful to change her flight plans!) and my mom, Richard, and I spent our evening feeling my stomach to try and figure out where this baby was.  

Richard and I checked into the hospital at 6:30 am on Wednesday morning.  I had slept great the night before and woke up feeling very peaceful about the entire thing.  As soon as I got to my room they started an IV explaining that they would use this in case of a c-section.  Just hearing that word made me nervous!  Soon after that two nurses came in and we talked through the plan and my options to control the pain.  :)  They offered an epidural just so that I would be numb and comfortable should I need a version and of course I jumped at that recommendation.  The nurse also checked me and said I was dilated to a 2.  I was thrilled and I took this as a positive sign that Rachel had finally moved head down.  

I also had to get blood work done that morning and they gave me the explanation that this was just part of prepping me for a c-section should I need one.  Really, all of this talk of a c-section kept escalating my nerves.  By this point I had the consent form for a c-section on the table next to me.  Ahh!!!  

At 8:00 am the anesthesiologists arrived and placed the epidural.  Can I tell you how wonderful it is to get an epidural when you aren't even in labor?!  I wasn't having to breathe through painful contractions or try to sit still while in intense pain.  I just sat on the side of the bed casually chatting with the nurse.  It was grand!

By 8:30 I was numb and very comfortable.  :)  Shortly after that my doctor came in and the moment of truth arrived!  They reclined my bed and I was surrounded by an ultrasound machine, my OB, Richard, two anesthesiologists, a family practice resident, and two nurses.  The ultrasound revealed that Rachel was indeed head down!  I was elated!  I raised my arms in triumph; I was so happy!  She was still very high, but she was at least in the right position.  The nurses ripped up the c-section consent form (hooray!) and immediately started the pitocin.  Because I already had the epidural they started the pitocin at a fairly high level to get the baby moving down and "locked in" to the right position.

At 10:00 my doctor came and broke my water and said I was dilated to a 4.  Excellent progress!  At noon I was at a 7 and by 2:00 I was at a 10.  Through all of this Richard played on his ipad while getting me everything I asked for and I just read magazines and slept.  This is how all labors should be!!!

My doctor arrived shortly after 2:30, changed her clothes, I pushed for ten minutes through three contractions, and little Rachel made her debut at 2:58.

I was so relieved when they put her on my chest.  I even cried, which I've never done before.  A couple of weeks before she was born I had told Richard that I thought I might cry after she was born just because of the joy of this pregnancy being over!  By the end I was just so uncomfortable and tired and it was hard keeping up with Marshall and Bridget.  Then, throw in all of this transverse business and the potential for a c-section into the mix, and it made me quite emotional!  The whole thing was a very memorable experience with the best possible outcome, for which we are so very thankful!