Feet

Nora has the cutest little feet.

I am told (often) that she has big hands or long fingers so I prefer to dwell on the cute LITTLE feet she has.

Here are a few pictures of her sweet feet (and their adventures)...

In the NICU she had an "ET" foot.

The O2 SAT monitor had a little red light on it and when it

was "lights down time" you could see it glow.

She LOVES to cross her feet.

She LOVES her feet to be held so

she's squished up.

She has some pretty cute socks...LOVE them!

She LOVES her feet squished up inside her blanket as

she's swaddled tightly.

She had to have her newborn screening re-done.

(Stay posted for the results in a few weeks...something was irregular with her thyroid test.) They first warmed her foot with this fancy heating pad.

Then, they pricked her and gave her a leg massage as they squeezed out the blood to fill the little circles on the screening sheet. Finally, she got a new band-aid!

I love Nora. I love her cute little feet.

Meet Nora.

Meet Nora.

We LOVE her. We ADORE her. We think she is THE cutest, sweetest little girl and she has some tough competition in our families. =) This precious girl FINALLY joined our family April 2, 2010 at 12:16pm. She weighed 7 lbs 15 oz (THANKGOODNESS no more!) and was 19 inches long. (For the record, Aaron thinks she was really 19.5 but that the nurse didn't really pay attention.)

We think she is really good because she was born on GOOD FRIDAY.

Now for how it all went down...

Labor. It seemed like it was never going to come. I'd get some contractions and they'd seem pretty consistent then they'd stop. We had several days that we just knew we were going to be heading to the hospital and never did. Every time we went to the doctor's appointments I'd be a little further along but not much. 2 cm. 3 cm. The doctor assured us we'd be having her real soon. Nothing.

Maternity Leave. I had been on maternity leave for 2 weeks before anything happened! Didn't this girl know I was wasting precious mommy/daughter time while she continued cooking?? =) Now that she's here, I see why she didn't come. She's always relaxed, laid back, and sleeping!! I don't think this girl will have a hurry bone in her body! Well, maybe...ask me again in a few months.

Contractions. Eventually contractions came all night long Thursday (April 1st)/Friday morning (April 2nd). I didn't know if they were real or not (how am I supposed to know?!?!). All I knew was that it was starting to hurt and they were staying pretty consistently apart. I got up, shower, got ready, and waited until 8am to call the doctor's office. Turns out it was Good Friday and the doctor's office was closed so I had to call the nurses "hotline" anyways. I called and talked to the nurse for a while. I told her all my ailments and symptoms. She basically told me just to stay home and wait and see until I finally got her to understand how much it was starting to hurt. Then she told me to head on into the hospital to get checked out just in case. We finished packing up our hospital bag and then went.

Triage. We checked in at the hospital and the nurse had already called to tell them we were on our way. They put us in one of the triage rooms where we met our nurse, Ashley. They gave me a beautiful pink gown to change into and hooked me up to a couple of monitors. One for her heart rate and one for my contractions. Don't ask me what they showed other than a bunch of lines. =) The doctor that was on call was not my normal OB/GYN doctor. It was Dr. Goldman. He wasn't the friendliest doctor. In fact, at one point I was in tears when he frankly asked me how did I know/not know if I was having contractions. I tried to answer but just started crying because I didn't know...that's why I was there!! All I knew was that the pain was starting to get worse the longer they made me lay still and uncomfortably! Every time the doctor came in he'd just stare at the monitors. He didn't tell us what he was thinking or really talk to us much...eventually we found out why. Nora's heart rate was high--around 178 and holding. A typical baby's heart rate is between 130 and 160 so he was concerned. He gave me some fluids to see if that helped. It didn't. (Oh and don't get me started on the IV attempts that failed miserably to get that bag of fluids in me.) The doctor knew something wasn't right. There was also speculation that my water may be leaking, so he decided to break it--that's when he saw all the meconium and we were moved into a room.

Room 10. Lucky us, the rooms were all full (it was only 11 something by now and people hadn't been all discharged yet). They had to put us in Room 10 which was a definitely last resort. It was right by the front door. We got in there and all hooked up. More of the same except now I was in extreme pain. I even pinched Aaron because I was hurting, most of the time he was too far away though. We all just waited and watched the monitor waiting for her heart rate to come down. The doctor came in and out in and out. The nurse decided to order me and epidural. The doctor came back in and said no epidural and told us he felt we needed to have a c-section because Nora was in distress with such a high heart rate. They ordered Aaron some scrubs and then we watched her heart rate start going down, down, down. It was VERY scary. I was in pain and not really coherent but did see that number go down to 40 and heard the nurse calling out for help. I watched help come from all areas and things get unplugged and me pushed down the hall (with my sheet only half covering me) to the OR.

The OR. I remember getting up and laying on a different bed. I remember the lady telling me to squeeze her hand as I was asking for Aaron. They wouldn't let him come in. I was scared! I remember another lady holding an oxygen mask over my face, telling me to breathe. I thought there might be some kind of pain relief in there so I started breathing deeply...there wasn't any medicine. I remember the anesthesiologist telling me they were going to put me under as soon as the doctor had the scalpal in his hand so they could try to get Nora out before the drugs made it to her. I remember (not so nicely) telling the lady to please just knock me out because it was hurting so much. =)

14 minutes. That's the amount of time from Nora's heart rate plumetted until the time she was out and born. The hospital thinks they might have beat their record. I think we are extremely blessed. Heavenly Father definitely looked out for us and protected us. He gave us a doctor that was dry and conscientious. He gave us a hospital

that could move quick. Did I mention that we were the absolute farthest room from the OR we could have been in??

Recovery. About 45 minutes later I was into Recovery (still totally out of it) and about an hour and half later I was waking up and finally got to see Aaron. Turns out Aaron got to hear Nora cry from outside the door and even hold her for a minute after she was born. Then, they did some checking her out and realized her glucose was extremely low. It was 11. That meant something was wrong. She had been fighting for her life and used up even her stored energy. That's when her trip to the NICU began.

The NICU. Nora was put into a giraffe incubator in the NICU for the rest of the day. No one could touch her until that night. She was doing so well they said if I could make it into the NICU, I could hold her. It was a STRUGGLE. It took Aaron and a nurse to help me slowly move out of the bed into a wheelchair but we made it. It was almost midnight. Luckily the NICU was just across the hall from our new room. (Yes, a better room was finally free after the surgery and we got to move into Room 19.) Within the next day, Nora was moved into a regular bassinet but they discovered she had some kind of infection in her lungs. It was either meconium or pneumonia. It didn't matter because the treatment was the same...7 days of antibiotics. So, we left her in the NICU when we went home Monday afternoon.

Visits. We visited her everyday, several times a day, to feed and hold her. FINALLY Friday (exactly one week from her birth) we got to pick her up and bring her home.

Now we're happily home!! It was an adventure, that's for sure. Things definitely got scary, but we're very blessed that they worked out wonderfully! Thanks to our fabulous family and friends we've been well taken care of and everyone seems to enjoy Nora almost as much as we do. =)

And...SHE'S HERE!!

Daddy and Nora!!!

Friday, April 2, 2010

Patience...

So, yesterday was my due date.

Sunday, March 28th.

No baby. Still.

I think we are learning a lesson in patience. I was thinking it was Aaron needing to learn a lesson. (See a few posts down where he is taught lessons he needs.) But, now I'm not sure. I think it's a lesson for the WHOLE FAMILY. Both of our families! Man, everyone's getting impatient. I'm okay. I think she's ready. I think my body's not ready. haha. I don't know.

Saturday night I woke up constantly with contractions. They seemed to be getting stronger and closer together. I did look at the clock when I thought about it, but I didn't time them. I thought it was more important to sleep...just incase it got worse later. By the time I woke up Sunday morning...they had stopped. We tried walking and everything. By the afternoon the contractions started back up and started getting closer together. Aaron timed them this time. They were consistently about 7 minutes apart. Then, when we sat down to eat with my family...they stopped. Since then, it's just been one or two every so often. So much for false labor.

Tomorrow we have another doctors appointment. If things are coming along, he'll probably set a date to induce. We'll see how far dialated I am.

Mr. Dad

Excited. That is what Aaron is.

He can hardly stand the waiting some days. He loves to watch my belly move at night when I'm conked out on the couch and he's watching tv. He's even been known to pull out his cell phone and shine the light on my belly to watch it move. Yeah, there's an alien or something in there.=) She moves crazily sometimes!!

We recently went to a weekend childbirth class. It was long...Aaron was MUCH better at sitting still than I was. (Surprise, suprise! I mean I can't sit still normally, especially not in an uncomfortable chair 8 months pregnant!) He also listenend, and probably learned, a lot more than I did! So, each couple got a baby. Aaron picked ours out. I think it may be Asian. He did all the work. He washed her, changed her diaper, and got her dressed. He was the BEST in the class at putting the diaper on! Seriously, those other Dads must have no clue. They were folding the top flap in, letting it sag, all kinds of crazy stuff! Aaron even folded down the front for her umbilical cordage. =)

He tried to tell people that he thought she'd be born in February. He's always saying he doesn't think I'll make it and she'll come early. Finally I asked him why he thought that and the truth finally came out...he just wants her here so he can hold her! Haha. How sweet! =)

Here's a few pics of him taking care of our baby doll...enjoy!

Listening, intently, on his baby care instructions...

Cleaning out the crevices...our plumper will SURELY have a lot of these!

He knows exactly how to get the corner of the washcloth and wipe the baby gently! Hah!

He LOVED it!!

What Goes Around, Comes Around

It's true. What goes around, comes around. Just ask Aaron.

He teased a youth at church about cutting his forehead/eye area with his scope while hunting. A few weeks later, Aaron does the SAME thing.

He teased another youth about wobbling and walking funny on a hurt foot. A few weeks later, Aaron twists his ankle BAD and can't walk right for a while.

He teases his wife, FOR AS LONG AS HE'S KNOWN ME, about having glasses and such horrible vision. Whatd'ya know...he needs glasses! Ha!

He is handsome in them though. And looks very smart...

CRAZY Daisies

Aaron was on his way home tonight and I was getting dinner ready. Then, the doorbell rang. That's really uncommon so I tip-toed over to the door (it might be nosey neighbor!) and saw Aaron. So I opened the door and he was standing there with FLOWERS! Hooray! Love it!!

Crazy Daisies...hmmm...is he trying to tell me something?? =)

Good thing I love him so much!!!