Monday, August 23, 2010
May 29, 2008-Pooping
This night when when we went to visit Joshua one of us started to change his diaper and he started to poop. So while we were waiting for him to fill his pants we noticed that he was making hilarious faces. We only got pictures at the end, so they are toned down a little bit, but we still thought it was funny.
May 28, 2008
When Brian and I went to visit Joshua this day we were surprised to see his face without obstruction. He had yanked everything out of his face. It was fun to be able to see his face; it was the first time we had seen him without tubing. He was doing okay without the oxygen because he hadn't yanked the tubing out that long ago, so we were able to take a picture before everything got put back in. 
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Superstitions
I went in for my 6-week post baby check up after Minna was born. I asked if there was a reason I haven't been able to carry a baby to term. The doctor said there was no real way to tell with me. So since the doctor is unable to tell me why I have my babies when I do, I will have to rely on my own superstitions. These are the things I think make me go into labor.
1-Complaining about the uncomfortableness of being pregnant. A couple of weeks before Joshua was born I decided that I had been a good uncomplaining pregnant lady long enough and I was starting to get uncomfortable. So I started to whine a little bit, then Joshua was born. When I was pregnant with Minna I waited quite a while to complain. I felt like I should just be grateful I was pregnant, then around 32-33 weeks I decided I was starting to get big and it was hard to sleep. Well then Minna came shortly after. Brian says the kids don't want to make me uncomfortable so when I say that I am uncomfortable they come. So if I have another baby and I am not complaining, its not because I am comfortable or loving being pregnant, I am just trying to cook the baby long enough. But once I hit 36 weeks I will whine away.
2-Ordering maternity clothes online. I can buy maternity clothes from the store just fine, but when I ordered maternity clothes when I was pregnant he was born before they were even delivered. Then I ordered some maternity clothes when I was pregnant with Minna, I got to wear each shirt one time and then she was born.
3-I will have babies around the same time my friend Bree has her babies. Joshua was born 4 days after her first, and Minna was born 3 days before her second.
So since the doctor has no idea why I have my babies when I do, I have my own superstitions, that I may worry about if we have another one.
1-Complaining about the uncomfortableness of being pregnant. A couple of weeks before Joshua was born I decided that I had been a good uncomplaining pregnant lady long enough and I was starting to get uncomfortable. So I started to whine a little bit, then Joshua was born. When I was pregnant with Minna I waited quite a while to complain. I felt like I should just be grateful I was pregnant, then around 32-33 weeks I decided I was starting to get big and it was hard to sleep. Well then Minna came shortly after. Brian says the kids don't want to make me uncomfortable so when I say that I am uncomfortable they come. So if I have another baby and I am not complaining, its not because I am comfortable or loving being pregnant, I am just trying to cook the baby long enough. But once I hit 36 weeks I will whine away.
2-Ordering maternity clothes online. I can buy maternity clothes from the store just fine, but when I ordered maternity clothes when I was pregnant he was born before they were even delivered. Then I ordered some maternity clothes when I was pregnant with Minna, I got to wear each shirt one time and then she was born.
3-I will have babies around the same time my friend Bree has her babies. Joshua was born 4 days after her first, and Minna was born 3 days before her second.
So since the doctor has no idea why I have my babies when I do, I have my own superstitions, that I may worry about if we have another one.
Feelings from the last few months about the NICU
I debated in my mind whether to put this post in the current stuff blog, or this blog. I decided that while these feelings happened recently, it made more sense to put it with the other NICU stuff.
These last few months I have been suprisingly sensitive about Joshua being in the NICU. I know part of it is just that time of year, where I can look back and go two years ago my life revolved around pumping and going to the NICU. But I don't remember being this upset about it last year. Little things set me off like shortly after Minna was born I was in the store and a new baby always brings comments especially from pregnant women. Well I was talking to this pregnant woman and I asked her when she was due. She said she was 28 weeks along and she was due in September. She then said that she wished that she didn't have to go through the whole summer being pregnant and wished that her baby was here now. Now I know she didn't mean that she wanted to have a preemie just to not be pregnant, but something about her being exactly how far along I was with Joshua and then saying she wished the baby was here, set me off. I had to leave quickly to keep from saying something which probably would have been not nice.
I think part of it has to do with the birth of Minna. I thought that having a baby, especially a more normal baby would make everything easier on me. Part of it is just comparing what life with Minna is like compared to what life with Joshua being a baby was like. I didn't realize how difficult it was to take care of Joshua as a baby, I just did it. I knew it was more difficult than having a term baby, and I secretly envied the life of people with term babies, but I just did it and thought it was a little harder than normal.
Then I had Minna and I realized the difference. I really noticed it when I realized how easy it was to take Minna somewhere. To go somewhere with Minna I just need a diaper bag with diapers and wipes, a carseat, water for me, and a nursing cover. When Joshua was a baby I needed the diapers and wipes, the binky (not really a big deal, except I forgot it one time, and then it was a big deal), the carseat, and a stroller to haul around the apnea monitor, and the oxygen tank, and either a nipple shield, or a bottle of pumped milk to feed him with.
Then to get Minna to nurse I just need somewhere to sit to get her hooked up, and some water and I am good to go. (Sometimes I am literaly going chasing Joshua around while nursing). With Joshua I had to put on the nipple shield, which was sometimes harder than attaching the baby, weave the oxygen tubing through my clothes so it blew around his face, and then try to get him to nurse. Nursing was a project, but a large part of that came from his enlarged andoids and I also realize that nursing Minna is easier because I have nursed before.
I think that Minna's birth gave me the chance to fully recognize the feelings of stress and worry I had about Joshua. I am grateful that Joshua's preemie experience went realitively well. And this rant has made me feel better. I am glad I finally got around to it.
These last few months I have been suprisingly sensitive about Joshua being in the NICU. I know part of it is just that time of year, where I can look back and go two years ago my life revolved around pumping and going to the NICU. But I don't remember being this upset about it last year. Little things set me off like shortly after Minna was born I was in the store and a new baby always brings comments especially from pregnant women. Well I was talking to this pregnant woman and I asked her when she was due. She said she was 28 weeks along and she was due in September. She then said that she wished that she didn't have to go through the whole summer being pregnant and wished that her baby was here now. Now I know she didn't mean that she wanted to have a preemie just to not be pregnant, but something about her being exactly how far along I was with Joshua and then saying she wished the baby was here, set me off. I had to leave quickly to keep from saying something which probably would have been not nice.
I think part of it has to do with the birth of Minna. I thought that having a baby, especially a more normal baby would make everything easier on me. Part of it is just comparing what life with Minna is like compared to what life with Joshua being a baby was like. I didn't realize how difficult it was to take care of Joshua as a baby, I just did it. I knew it was more difficult than having a term baby, and I secretly envied the life of people with term babies, but I just did it and thought it was a little harder than normal.
Then I had Minna and I realized the difference. I really noticed it when I realized how easy it was to take Minna somewhere. To go somewhere with Minna I just need a diaper bag with diapers and wipes, a carseat, water for me, and a nursing cover. When Joshua was a baby I needed the diapers and wipes, the binky (not really a big deal, except I forgot it one time, and then it was a big deal), the carseat, and a stroller to haul around the apnea monitor, and the oxygen tank, and either a nipple shield, or a bottle of pumped milk to feed him with.
Then to get Minna to nurse I just need somewhere to sit to get her hooked up, and some water and I am good to go. (Sometimes I am literaly going chasing Joshua around while nursing). With Joshua I had to put on the nipple shield, which was sometimes harder than attaching the baby, weave the oxygen tubing through my clothes so it blew around his face, and then try to get him to nurse. Nursing was a project, but a large part of that came from his enlarged andoids and I also realize that nursing Minna is easier because I have nursed before.
I think that Minna's birth gave me the chance to fully recognize the feelings of stress and worry I had about Joshua. I am grateful that Joshua's preemie experience went realitively well. And this rant has made me feel better. I am glad I finally got around to it.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Blog break, because of birth of #2
I will probably be taking a break from this blog for a little while. I was hoping to finish it before Minna was born, but she came 5 weeks early, so I wasn't prepared. You can read all about Minna on my main blog, http://brianandkaraleenixfamily.blogspot.com/, but I learned a few things from her birth, that pertain to Joshua's infancy.
1-Developing in the womb, really is best for the baby. While this may seem like a duh, I was so amazed at how much more advanced Minna was at 35 weeks than Joshua was at 37 1/2 weeks when he went home. She could breath without any oxygen, and after the first day ate really well. So much easier so far I can only imagine what it would be like to have a term baby.
2- The reason the nurses at Joshua's birth thought I wasn't in labor is because during an abruption the uterus clamps up and doesn't release. The monitor looks for changes in the uterus, but since there isn't any change, it looks like there are no contractions. Minna's labor was a lot easier on me, I loved the breaks in between the contractions during her birth. So much easier.
3- I was talking to my dad and later Brian about how in our hospital room there were two Code Blue buttons. Both of them mentioned that there was a Code Blue alert for Joshua when he was born. I wondered how they were able to assemble all those nurses so quickly. Anyway I think that is pretty cool that he had the Code Blue Alert going throughout the whole hospital since everything turned out okay. Not everyone can say that happened to them.
That is all for now, I hope to keep working on this, but it will probably be a little while, since I have lots of other blogging to do, let alone trying to keep up with two kids and maybe sleep occasionally.
1-Developing in the womb, really is best for the baby. While this may seem like a duh, I was so amazed at how much more advanced Minna was at 35 weeks than Joshua was at 37 1/2 weeks when he went home. She could breath without any oxygen, and after the first day ate really well. So much easier so far I can only imagine what it would be like to have a term baby.
2- The reason the nurses at Joshua's birth thought I wasn't in labor is because during an abruption the uterus clamps up and doesn't release. The monitor looks for changes in the uterus, but since there isn't any change, it looks like there are no contractions. Minna's labor was a lot easier on me, I loved the breaks in between the contractions during her birth. So much easier.
3- I was talking to my dad and later Brian about how in our hospital room there were two Code Blue buttons. Both of them mentioned that there was a Code Blue alert for Joshua when he was born. I wondered how they were able to assemble all those nurses so quickly. Anyway I think that is pretty cool that he had the Code Blue Alert going throughout the whole hospital since everything turned out okay. Not everyone can say that happened to them.
That is all for now, I hope to keep working on this, but it will probably be a little while, since I have lots of other blogging to do, let alone trying to keep up with two kids and maybe sleep occasionally.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
May 23, 2008 First Clothes
Two years ago today Joshua got to wear clothes for the first time. I didn't know that he was going to be able to wear clothes in the NICU until like two days before his picc line came out. One nurse mentioned that Joshua could wear clothes as soon as his IVs were out, so I made a mad dash to Wal-Mart because they carry a preemie line.
Here Joshua is sporting his first outfit.
The nurses loved the snaps because it was so easy to dress him over the oxygen tubing and monitors. 
It was really fun to be able to start getting clothes for him.
May 22, 2008 No More IVs
When they started Joshua on feedings he was still on IVs for most of his nutrition. As they gradually added volume to his feedings they would reduce the amount of IV nutrition. As they gave him more milk he would gain weight faster, the babies hardly gain any weight on IVs as compared to milk.
The amount of milk he got was based on his weight and how well he has done with his previous feedings. Once he got to the point he was able to get all of his nutrition from milk they were able to take his IVs out! It made it easier to hold him because we didn't have to watch out for the IV/Picc line and worry about dislodging it. It was also wonderful to achieve this milestone and to know he can handle and do well on just milk. He still was taking all of his feedings through the feeding tube at this point. He was not quite old enough to begin trying to nurse.
We took some really cute pictures of Joshua this day, here are some of them.
Eyeing the world
Checking out whats going on 
Just happy to be here 
Just plain cute 
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