True love...
All dressed up for church...
A lazy Sunday afternoon...
A lazy Sunday afternoon...
Monday, March 30, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
We've been a little busy...
Between 3 pediatrician appointments for ZuZu, two orders for blood work for ZuZu, and a bout of mastitis myself-- we've been a little too busy to be online! But I did take the opportunity to get a few pics today while Moses was sleeping, and get them on my computer...
All seems to be well with ZuZu. No more concerns about blood sugar, jaundice is gone, and she is gaining about an ounce a day. She did just spit up EVERYWHERE, and her "poo" is fairly projectile (breastmilk creates "explosive" diapers, and if you are in the process of changing a diaper, you better watch out!), and we have had more laundry with her than we ever did with Moses. I am just chalking this up to girls being much more high maintenance than boys-- already. :)
And oh my goodness-- I just heard K ask her if she wants a car. We are in trouble....
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Evolution of Sibling Love
We weren't really sure how Moses would react to ZuZu-- in the weeks following the ultrasound showing she was a girl, he refused to say her name and instead insisted that he was having a "brudder." But after the 3D/4D ultrasound, he was excited to carry around her "picture," and suddenly every ultrasound he saw was automatically of ZuZu.
I was prepared with presents and chocolate for the hospital-- and his MaMa was as well. Little did we know that we had nothing to worry about! He was there about 45 minutes each day we were in the hospital, and he warmed up a little each time.
The next day, his MaMa and PaPa gave him a Fisher-Price digital camera of his own. He LOVED taking pictures, and he finally acknolwedged ZuZu and wanted to take pictures of her:
That day, he had walked down the hallway to our room saying "Going to see Mommy! Going to see Mommy!" Which of course, warmed my heart and broke my heart at the same time, since by then we had no idea when we would get to come home. (But as a sidenote-- if I had been discharged and ZuZu had not, the hospital would have let me stay in my room for free. How cool is that?!).
That day K took him down to the hospital gift shop to pick out a stuffed animal for ZuZu-- he picked out a little lamb and so proudly gave it to her, saying, "Here ZuZu. Here ZuZu."
He also acknowledged to one of the nurses that ZuZu was his sister-- while eyeing her suspiciously as she touched his new sister. We knew a breakthrough was on the way!
When we got home on Sunday, he was at the window, and I could see him proclaiming, "It's Mommy! It's Mommy!" Poor Daddy. He was apparently not missed as much. :)
It was then that he finally wanted to hold ZuZu:
Since then, the love has just started overflowing. He loves to help change her diapers-- his self-proclaimed job is to throw them out, and he does so with importance.
When we got home from taking ZuZu to the doctor Monday, he was SO excited to see ZuZu again. For some reason, he thought she wasn't coming back. I walked into the house to cries of "It's ZuZu! It's ZuZu! She's back!" Poor Mommy AND Daddy. Apparently we've been slightly replaced. :)
These were from Tuesday:
Moses picked out her onesie that day. In this pic, he was patting her head. :)
Here he was signing "I love you" to his new sister.
I was prepared with presents and chocolate for the hospital-- and his MaMa was as well. Little did we know that we had nothing to worry about! He was there about 45 minutes each day we were in the hospital, and he warmed up a little each time.
The first day, though, he did have a little "deer in the headlights" look about him:
But anything can be overcome with "cowboys and horses." :)
The next day, his MaMa and PaPa gave him a Fisher-Price digital camera of his own. He LOVED taking pictures, and he finally acknolwedged ZuZu and wanted to take pictures of her:
That day, he had walked down the hallway to our room saying "Going to see Mommy! Going to see Mommy!" Which of course, warmed my heart and broke my heart at the same time, since by then we had no idea when we would get to come home. (But as a sidenote-- if I had been discharged and ZuZu had not, the hospital would have let me stay in my room for free. How cool is that?!).
That day K took him down to the hospital gift shop to pick out a stuffed animal for ZuZu-- he picked out a little lamb and so proudly gave it to her, saying, "Here ZuZu. Here ZuZu."
He also acknowledged to one of the nurses that ZuZu was his sister-- while eyeing her suspiciously as she touched his new sister. We knew a breakthrough was on the way!
When we got home on Sunday, he was at the window, and I could see him proclaiming, "It's Mommy! It's Mommy!" Poor Daddy. He was apparently not missed as much. :)
It was then that he finally wanted to hold ZuZu:
Since then, the love has just started overflowing. He loves to help change her diapers-- his self-proclaimed job is to throw them out, and he does so with importance.
When we got home from taking ZuZu to the doctor Monday, he was SO excited to see ZuZu again. For some reason, he thought she wasn't coming back. I walked into the house to cries of "It's ZuZu! It's ZuZu! She's back!" Poor Mommy AND Daddy. Apparently we've been slightly replaced. :)
These were from Tuesday:
Moses picked out her onesie that day. In this pic, he was patting her head. :)
Here he was signing "I love you" to his new sister.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Introducing our Beautiful Baby Girl
I'm finally feeling a little "caught up"-- although not on sleep. :) ZuZu is the most content little baby during the day. She eats and sleeps, and that's about it. But at night... well, that's another story. :)
So I finally had some time to load the pics on my computer. And oh, is she beautiful! :)
The labor & delivery was-- dare I even say it, it sounds so weird?-- WONDERFUL. I can't praise my doctor enough. He was totally responsible for getting ZuZu to come early and healthy, and I am so thankful that God put him in our path.
Here's our little girl shortly after birth:
First bath:
And then there was the whole feeding tube ordeal:
I won't post too many details, but suffice it to say it was a VERY trying experience. One of the hardest in my life. And poor ZuZu has been poked with needles so many times that I can't stand it anymore. And it was terribly painful when they pulled the tape off-- she cried and cried, and it left a horrible red mark on her face for about 24 hours. But fotunately this helped to bring her blood sugar back up.
We were released on Sunday afternoon, after much prayer and God's help. Just hours before it appeared that we weren't going to get to leave after all. It is SO GOOD to be home. Here was her first bath at home. I love this picture, because she is so awake. We don't get to see her eyes very much during the day. :)
I'll post more later about her big brother-- his reaction has been so precious that he deserves a blog post of his very own. :)
So I finally had some time to load the pics on my computer. And oh, is she beautiful! :)
The labor & delivery was-- dare I even say it, it sounds so weird?-- WONDERFUL. I can't praise my doctor enough. He was totally responsible for getting ZuZu to come early and healthy, and I am so thankful that God put him in our path.
Here's our little girl shortly after birth:
First bath:
And then there was the whole feeding tube ordeal:
I won't post too many details, but suffice it to say it was a VERY trying experience. One of the hardest in my life. And poor ZuZu has been poked with needles so many times that I can't stand it anymore. And it was terribly painful when they pulled the tape off-- she cried and cried, and it left a horrible red mark on her face for about 24 hours. But fotunately this helped to bring her blood sugar back up.
We were released on Sunday afternoon, after much prayer and God's help. Just hours before it appeared that we weren't going to get to leave after all. It is SO GOOD to be home. Here was her first bath at home. I love this picture, because she is so awake. We don't get to see her eyes very much during the day. :)
I'll post more later about her big brother-- his reaction has been so precious that he deserves a blog post of his very own. :)
Saturday, March 7, 2009
ZuZu is here!
Sorry to keep everyone waiting! ZuZu was born at 12:39 AM Friday, March 6. The whole thing took less than 6 hours, and only 22 minutes of pushing! Much better than the 3 hours of pushing with Moses!
Her stats: 8 pounds, 7 ounces; 19.5 inches long-- she's a little butterball! And she looks just like her big brother.We've had some issues getting her blood sugar in the normal range-- it was "critically low" yesterday, and she was tube-fed for 24 hours.
We are exhausted, but she is such a trooper! She has been poked so many times it breaks my heart. We have another blood sugar screening tonight between 10:00 and 10:30-- please pray for a hightened level! Otherwise, she will be here indefinitely until she can sustain it on her own!
We'll post more pics when life is a litte more "normal"!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
I hope ZuZu is ready for him...
And as heard today in our living room:
Me: Moses, did you know that you are adorable?
Moses: YA!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Mission Accomplished!
No, ZuZu isn't here yet-- that's the second mission of the week. :) The first mission was the completion of the attic spaces. I haven't been up there yet (they finished yesterday morning, a crew from church came in and helped clean in the afternoon, and the carpet cleaner is coming today to steamclean the carpets in the bedrooms upstairs), but K went up and took pics for me.
Remember what our bat-infested attics looked like before?
(You can also see a couple of the previous posts here and here).
Here they are after:
Astounding. Truly, the guys who did this (including my husband) are my heroes.
They removed the false ceilings, removed the guano-saturated insulation, put up dry-wall, blew in insulation that will repel animals, put down a new floor, added/moved the lighting around, and added some outlets. We will paint at a later date. Right now, I am just ecstatic that these spaces are finished, clean, and BAT-FREE!!!
And we can use the bedrooms upstairs now! It's like our house just doubled in size! And, oh man, how I LOVE that I now have 4 walk-in closets (although we think one will be designated "club house" for the kids).
NOW ZuZu can come. :)
Remember what our bat-infested attics looked like before?
(You can also see a couple of the previous posts here and here).
Here they are after:
Astounding. Truly, the guys who did this (including my husband) are my heroes.
They removed the false ceilings, removed the guano-saturated insulation, put up dry-wall, blew in insulation that will repel animals, put down a new floor, added/moved the lighting around, and added some outlets. We will paint at a later date. Right now, I am just ecstatic that these spaces are finished, clean, and BAT-FREE!!!
And we can use the bedrooms upstairs now! It's like our house just doubled in size! And, oh man, how I LOVE that I now have 4 walk-in closets (although we think one will be designated "club house" for the kids).
NOW ZuZu can come. :)
Monday, March 2, 2009
Some good news today
We had an ultrasound and appointment today, and contrary to the way ZuZu (I) measured and appeared last week, the ultrasound indicated she is somewhere around 7 pounds, 12 ounces-- with a one pound margin of error. So technically she could be anywhere from 6-12 to 8-12, but no one is really thinking she is on the small end. In fact, she is already so low that the doctor said she would appear smaller in the ultrasound than she really is.
Bottom line: She is NOT 9 pounds yet (*sigh of relief*).
But the doctor still wants her to come early to make sure that I can handle her size. We go back Thursday and he is going to try to get my labor going naturally-- and in the meantime, I am supposed to walk, walk, walk. Although, I think I am going to wait until AFTER the attic is cleaned for that...
He's so sure she will come this weekend that he had me cancel my Monday appointment!
She'll be here soon!!! And as long as she is 9.5 pounds or under, I am feeling pretty calm.
Her head was so far down that the technician couldn't get a great pic, but here is her nose and mouth. She had her hand at her face the entire time we were watching, and even did a little sucking.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
About 37 weeks
Looks like we've made it full term! When we were at 21 weeks and I was having contractions, it seemed like this point was forever away. I really did think she was going to come today-- I woke up at 4:00 this morning with very heavy contractions-- waited about 10 minutes and then woke Kurt up. And then nothing...
I felt fine all day-- went to church and had more energy than normal, despite the early morning (I never went back to sleep). Here we were before church:
We have an ultrasound and an appointment tomorrow, and I think some decisions may be made. Personally, I am hoping for a c-section at this point. I know recovery is supposed to take longer, but compared to what? Sure, recovery might be faster if you deliver a 7.5 pound baby naturally-- but a 10 pound baby? I know what "recovery" was like after delivering Moses-- and to be quite honest, I've never really felt the same.
We have a lot going on this week, so I'm pretty nervous about the timing of her arrival. First, the attic should be done Tuesday by noon-- then comes the massive clean-up. So part of me doesn't want her to arrive until next weekend. But on the other hand, she will be even bigger by then (did you notice that the widget at the right says she should be about 6.5 pounds now? HA!).... Then throw into the mix business travel of some of my family members who really want to be around for her birth, and that makes me again hope she doesn't arrive until next weekend.
But I guess she will arrive when SHE wants to, right?
I felt fine all day-- went to church and had more energy than normal, despite the early morning (I never went back to sleep). Here we were before church:
We have an ultrasound and an appointment tomorrow, and I think some decisions may be made. Personally, I am hoping for a c-section at this point. I know recovery is supposed to take longer, but compared to what? Sure, recovery might be faster if you deliver a 7.5 pound baby naturally-- but a 10 pound baby? I know what "recovery" was like after delivering Moses-- and to be quite honest, I've never really felt the same.
We have a lot going on this week, so I'm pretty nervous about the timing of her arrival. First, the attic should be done Tuesday by noon-- then comes the massive clean-up. So part of me doesn't want her to arrive until next weekend. But on the other hand, she will be even bigger by then (did you notice that the widget at the right says she should be about 6.5 pounds now? HA!).... Then throw into the mix business travel of some of my family members who really want to be around for her birth, and that makes me again hope she doesn't arrive until next weekend.
But I guess she will arrive when SHE wants to, right?
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