Welcome Baby Brother!!!

Despite the anticipated excitement of our son's birthday...I was an emotional mess the night before and morning of the big day. The whole pregnancy was (to say the least) very stressful and it took a whole crew of family and friends to get me through it.  Starting with IVF, dreaded hyperemesis,  pre-term labor scare, and bed rest.  Not to mention the unresolved breech presentation which made me concerned that something was wrong. 

...But we did it, and what ever it took - it was worth it for Retta to have a sibling!

...And for this baby to experience the joy of having Retta as a sister!

A very nervous, forced smile before heading out to the hospital for the repeat C-section.

(Szymon later informed me on the car ride to the hospital that he wore blue on purpose).

Buzi wanted to be in the picture too. 

(Retta had already left with Grandma for physical therapy at 9:00. Grandpa took the picture for us).

And at 1327....Mr. Henry Edward entered the world!!!

(Dr. Kuhl my OB in the background)

This was my first glimpse of Henry over the surgical curtain! One of Szymon's friend's from high school happened to be the assisting nurse in the OR for our delivery. She took my phone and captured this pic...along with many graphic pictures I'll spare from the blog!

All of the nurses immediately said, "He looks just like his Daddy!"

Henry came out rump first with his legs up over his head...in true breech style...just like his sister.

They had a difficult time weighing and measuring Henry as he wanted to fold his legs up over his head!

He practically flipped himself off of the scale!

I watched from the OR table...trying to focus on Henry and not what was happening on the other side of the curtain. Szymon kept saying, "Hi sweetie, hi sweet heart!" to Henry. I kept thinking...Henry's is a boy Szymon, not a girl! (We'll have to work on some more masculine phrases around the house).

...Even though he is a sweetie!

And finally...

I got to hold him!

Grandma and Retta joined us in the recovery room! 

First family of four pic!

***

Grandma and Grandpa stayed at our house while I was at the hospital to care for Retta. They brought her back up to the hospital to visit during the day.

Here, Retta is taking a more up close look at her new little brother!

"Can we keep him?"

Retta was SO EXCITED! She continuously signed "Baby!"

Mr. Henry!

Retta thought it was fun to lay in my hospital bed. 

...Well, it did have her quilt from Aunt Kathy on it!

Proud sister!

Henry, Grandpa, Grandma and Retta admiring Henry!

***

On day two we were asked by our nurse if we would be interested in going home a day early! I did not think this was possible following a C-section, but my OB and our pedi agreed...we were good to go!

So we jumped at the opportunity and took off that evening around 6:00!

 And much to our surprise...Jaja and Bapcia were waiting at our house with Retta, Grandma and Grandpa for a "Welcome Home Henry" celebration! Complete with balloons, flowers and a crock-pot creation by Jaja! 

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. 

Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

~ Lamentations 3:22-23

Christmas Fun 2013!

COKER NURSERY SCHOOL'S 

ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PERFORMANCE

Retta practiced in the car before her first school Christmas performance!

"One little, two little, three little angels"

"rocking baby Jesus!"

Here she comes!

Retta sitting front row in the classroom buggy with her jingle bells!

She did great signing her way through most of the songs...it took her a while to warm up to such a large audience, but she didn't cry!  She even spotted us sitting on the 5th row and started blowing us kisses! 

COKER CLASSROOM CHRISTMAS PARTY

On party day, I made sure to arrive towards the end of the party - to make sure NOT to upset Retta again.  When I got there she had just polished off her entire plate of snacks. Her chubby face looked extremely full and happy.

CHRISTMAS EVE

"What has my Mama making me wear in my hair!?!" 

Christmas Eve finger painting...

...and a few steps to Mom...

..before tackling her.

To carry on the tradition I grew up with of always having Shirley Temple style curly hair on the evening of Christmas Eve...I rolled Retta's hair in Velcro rollers that morning. She sported them around the house just fine - so I thought she would be able to nap in them as well. Unfortunately, 30 minutes into her nap she woke up screaming...Szymon and I proceeded to try and pry the rollers out of her hair, which only made matters worse. So much for nap time. Mommy lesson learned....but she had beautiful curls none-the-less!

Singing and signing Christmas songs while waiting for her pierogi at Bapja and Jaja's house. 

CHRISTMAS DAY

Retta woke up for her nap when Grandma and Grandpa arrived on Christmas day, but was still a little sleepy so after saying "Hi!" She decided to go back to bed to make sure she would have lots of energy for opening presents after dinner...or maybe it was because she was sleep deprived from no nap the day before?

"OK, I'm ready!"

"Are you guys coming?"

And once again, signing along to "Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer," one of Retta's favorite Christmas songs as she could sign her entire way through it!

"Merry Christmas!"

Hospital Turkey

Monday after Retta was discharged, I woke up feeling a bit nauseated myself...but I tried to convince myself that it was nothing. That afternoon I called Szymon to come home FAST....the stomach bug had hit! As soon as Szymon stepped in the door...he too went down. Not fun for both adults to be out of commission while caring for a two year old. I wasted little time and had Jaja drive me to triage at the hospital. Szymon weathered the storm at home while caring for Retta.

Just a few hours in I was already dehydrated and much to my surprise, started having contractions. It was all a blur, but I was admitted on L&D and started on IV fluids and medications to stop the vomiting and contractions. Grandma and Grandpa left work and drove in right away all the way from Houston for much needed support and help with Retta.

I continued on mag-sulfate for several days to reduce the contractions and to provide neuro protection to the little turkey inside of me...should he decide to come sooner than later.  So much for going to Houston for Thanksgiving. I was finally tapered off the medication on Thursday (Thanksgiving) and transferred to the antepartum unit. By that evening (a good 12 hours off the mag-sulfate) my appetite returned and I finally could eat! Szymon, Retta, my mom and I had a make-shift Turkey dinner in my hospital room.

Grandma dressed Retta up to come see me at the hospital!

She was a little "Pocahontas Turkey" and about the only thing that could bring a smile to my face!

(A few pics from my phone)

I was discharged on Friday with instructions for strict bed rest in hopes of keeping Baby W in for a few more weeks. ....which was all the doctors were hopeful for.

However, after two weeks of tearful bed rest at home my perinatologist gave me permission to resume moderate activity! (She could tell that the bed rest was causing me a great deal of distress). Her thought was if Baby W was to come early...laying around wasn't going to stop him. 

 (I am back-dating this post) so it is safe to say, despite all the worry and tears...at this point, it looks like we might just make it to term. Repeat C-section scheduled for Wednesday, January 8th!

But, we'll keep taking it day by day!

Stomach Bug = Hospitalization

Poor Retta came down with a nasty stomach bug early Saturday morning. Despite all attempts to keep in fluid at home...we ended up going to Methodist Children's ER.  We had consulted with our pediatrician by phone earlier in the day and were told that if it was a virus it may take up to 12 hours to run it's course. 

However, new mommy lesson learned - I will never let a baby go longer than 4 hours vomiting. There is absolutely no point for a baby to have to suffer for that long. 

By the time we made it to the ER that afternoon, Retta was moderately dehydrated and I felt absolutely horrible for not bringing her in earlier. After reviewing Retta's GI history, the ER doctor wanted to admit Retta to rule out a stomach blockage. So Dad stayed the night while I went home to sleep for 3 hours...it was a long day.

By Sunday morning, Retta was ready to party...Dad was ready to sleep! 

I returned to the hospital at 6:00AM to catch the physicians rounding early...however, being Sunday, we didn't see the doctor until that afternoon.  X-rays and sonograms ruled out a blockage. Chronic constipation was the culprit (my guess). 

And by then, Retta was ready to EAT!  Here she is so happy to eat a cracker!  She was so hungry, she shoved an entire piece of toast into her mouth before we could stop her...and proceeded to choke on it. I practically pulled out her IV trying to get her to cough it up. 

She was feeling much better.

They wanted to keep her for another night to make sure she continued to tolerate her B.R.A.T. diet, but I rebelled.  Instead, I asked if the hospitalist could consult with Dr. Brigmann (the pediatric GI doctor we have been waiting to get in with for quite some time) to see if Retta could be seen earlier.  And it worked! We were in the following week!

Complications were ruled out..

Retta was back to acting like herself...

we were going home!

.......

...or so we thought.