More Christmas pictures

Here are some more pictures from Christmas and our first FLIP video (thank you Dan and Venus!)

The view of our condo from Jen's back deck

Sometimes eating is very tiring...

The girls

Lindsey and Kaitlyn

Grandpa and Reese

Nana and her grandchildren

Nana and Asher

Here is our first FLIP video of Reese opening one of her gifts:

Christmas 2009

We had a great Christmas in Helena with Craig, Jan, Mom, Jen and her kids and Val and Steve and their kids. Reese and Asher have completely new wardrobes :) Thanks to everyone for the gifts, tasty food and great company. Here are some pictures from the last few days.
Andrew, Tanner, Jen, Kaitlyn and Lindsey in front of the tree
CK and Val playing the new DS game we got Andrew; still not sure if Andrew has had a chance to play it :)

Reese with the unicorn from Sarah, Fred and Coco

Reese and Grandma cruising

Reese in her new chair

Working up an appetite

Asher and Nana

Reese checking out her pony from Val and family

Grandma and Grandpa reading Twas the Night before Xmas

Reese opening her presents with Nana; this one is a handmade quilt from Great Nana

Visit from Nana

Mom ended up making her connection (barely) in MSP so she arrived iate Sunday night. We spent yesterday and some of today unpacking more bins and slowly moving in. This afternoon Val, Steve, Mom and CK took the kids sledding up on the property. I stayed in the warm pickup with Reese (sleeping) and Asher (eating).

I'm feeling pretty good. Sleep deprived but otherwise ok. I am off the painkillers and am now just using ibuprofen to control pain, and not even much of that. The hematoma has gone down in size and I saw my OB today and he said everything looks good.

Our new digs

We have been unloading most of the day today; "we" really means CK unloads and I watch the kids and unpack a few bins but we are making some progress. This place was definitely worth waiting for as it is a perfect layout for us. It's mostly carpet (good for little knees) and all one level (good for Mom's blood pressure). Above is a picture of the outside that shows two of the four condos. We are the one to the left.

As most of you know we have spent the last 6 weeks living with CK's sister, Jennifer, and her family. Jen has not only provided us with a great place to stay but also many meals and even babysitting services. Reese is really going to miss seeing her Auntie and cousins every day. But...the good news is that we can see our new condo from Jen's window; we are literally across the alley from her. So hopefully we will still see Jen, Tanner & Lindsey often. Jen, thank you so much for putting us up (and putting up with us) for so long. Hotel Jennifer gets 5 stars from me.

My mom was supposed to arrive here last night but because of the huge snowstorm on the East coast her flight was cancelled. She got rebooked tonight but her flight to MSP is delayed so she is going to miss her connection to Helena. Unfortunately that means she'll be spending the night in MSP and trying to get on a flight here tomorrow which could be tough given how many flight cancellations there have been and how overbooked all the flights were to begin with. We hope to see her as soon as possible!

Bulking up

We took the kids into the pediatrician on Friday. Reese received her 2nd H1N1 vaccine and Asher had his 1 week check up. At 10 days old, he has gained almost a full pound from birth and is now 9 lbs. 11 ounces. Not bad! I'm not sure he can keep up this rate of growth but he is doing everything he can to make his sister look like a lightweight. Asher is also 21.75 inches tall and before you think he might have actually grown a full inch in 10 days, CK is pretty sure they mismeasured him in the hospital and he was actually 21.75 upon arrival.

I put together the comparison collage below to see just how much the two kids look alike (or not) at this age. The top two are Reese and the bottom two are Asher. I think they look pretty similar, at least in the nose and mouth. Only time will tell if they end up looking alike.

Some more pictures of our two favorite little people

Nose kisses for Dad

All bundled up

Val, CK and I spent Friday night cleaning our new condo. We begin the move in process tomorrow and hopefully will be settled soon. Mom arrives Saturday night and will be a big help.

Finally, I've uploaded the video Jen took of Reese's first steps. Check it out:

Home from the hospital (again)

Asher and I are home from the hospital for the second (and hopefully last) time. I was able to switch from the IV meds to the oral ones without any problem so I was sent home with a full prescription and instructions of not to do much at all. I'm feeling pretty good. The meds definitely control the pain but also make me pretty drowsy (as if I needed anything to make me more drowsy) so I won't be operating any heavy machinery anytime soon. I return to the doctor on Tuesday to check in and decide what to do about my Lovenox. All in all, the situation could've been much worse and I consider myself lucky to have avoided another trip to the operating room.

Below are some pictures from our time at home (after Asher's birth) and our second stint in the hospital. Enjoy.


Reese was trying to help organize the newborn supplies.
Reese crawling around and under my hospital bed

A big smile for mom...ok, fine, probably just gas
The volunteers at the hospital make these huge stockings for all babies born in December. As you can see, I could probably put both Reese and Asher in his.



Who me? About to pull all these pretty decorations off the tree? Never.

This stocking sure is a soft place to lay my head...
Ahhhh....


I love my borrowed train from Tyler...come catch me if you can

Maybe heading home?

My bloodwork this morning looks good so they have removed my tethers to the hospital bed (catheter and IV). I'm switching from IV pain meds to oral ones in the hopes that they will control the pain enough to let me go home later today. I took my first dose about an hour ago so now it's just watch and wait and see if I can manage the pain with the current dosage. It feels good to be out of bed and Asher and I are taking advantage of it and going on "walks" around the OB unit (not exactly romantic walks on the beach but better than nothing). One positive of being in here has been the quality time with my son. I'd still be feeding him nonstop at home but might have a few more distractions/interruptions :) That being said, I have gotten used to seeing Reese's (and CK's) adorable little face every day and am missing both of them a lot. If all goes well, though, we'll all be together this evening.

Now that I'm feeling better it's time to rededicate myself to that event that is now only 9 days away. I have a lot of shopping to do in the next few days.

Update

I'm still here in the hospital but my bloodwork looks good (no sign of bleeding nor infection) so Dr. M is going to check again tomorrow morning. Assuming my red and white blood cells continue to look normal and we can determine a way to manage my pain without the IV then I may be able to go home tomorrow afternoon/early evening. I was allowed to start eating and drinking again this afternoon which was great. CK's coming back to spend the night here with Asher and me but hopefully this will be our last night in the hospital for a long time. Also, Dr. M has consulted the hematologist here and I will definitely be staying off the Lovenox for at least a week. They are actually considering whether I should even go back on at all so we'll see. Not fun but it could've been a lot worse.

In other good news, CK met with our future landlords this evening to draw up the lease for the condo we are going to rent. We hope to be able to move in later this week or this weekend.

Back in the hospital

Well, it's been a bit more eventful here in the past 24 hours than I was hoping. Around 11am Monday I started having severe abdominal pain that was unlike any soreness I had been feeling post c-section. I called the doctor and he said to come in and get checked out in an hour or so. I was home alone at the time with the kids as CK was playing lunchtime basketball and, after feeling nauseas and lightheaded from the pain, decided to call Val and Steve to come over until CK got home. I decided that passing out with both of my kids alone in the house was probably not a good idea. Thanks again to Val and Steve for coming over on such short notice. I also took some oxycodone (the strong pain meds that my doctor had given me "just in case" that I hadn't used yet as ibuprofen has been enough to that point). Within 20 minutes the drugs kicked in and I felt 10x better. CK got home in time to take me to the doctor's office where Dr. M said it didn't seem like I had an infection (no fever, no redness on my abdomen) so the likely cause was a small hematoma (pooling of blood/internal bruise) beneath the skin just above my incision. He said this was likely due to the Lovenox but, although painful, was nothing really to worry about. He said it could take a few weeks to go away so he gave me a refill of the oxycodone and I left feeling that, with the stronger pain mediciation, I could deal with the situation. He also took me off of the Lovenox for a few days noting that the bleeding I was experiencing was more of a risk than clotting at this point, which I agreed with.

A few hours later the oxycodone wears off and the pain returns. I take another pill and wait for it to kick in but it never does. The pain doesn't lessen. In fact, it got worse. I decided to lay down for awhile to try and see if that helped, but the pain just got worse until I couldn't find any position that provided relief. I called the doctor's office and spoke with the on call physician (not my regular OB) who advised I go to the ER. So off to the ER CK, Asher and I went, me writhing in pain in the front seat. We were able to leave Reese with Jen (thank you Jen!)

We arrived at the ER in about 5 minutes (very convenient that Jen lives just down the street from the hospital when you're in that much pain) and CK registered me as it was all I could do to not throw up from the pain. Of course, they still had to take vitals, ask me a bunch of questions and have the doctor come in and see me. I guess I understand why they can't just let you walk into an ER and hand out pain meds like they're candy but man, I was practically begging for it by that point. They started by giving me a single dose which didn't have any effect at all (other than making me nauseas). By the second injection, however, it finally took effect and I was able to unclench every muscle in my body that I'd been tightening against the pain for hours. That moment of relief was one of the most wonderful things I have ever felt.

Once the pain was controlled they took me for a CT scan to determine the size and location of the hematoma. The ER doctor said it was a good size but that I didn't have a fever so likely it wasn't infected. His diagnosis was the same as Dr. M's. However, he said they wanted to admit me overnight to monitor me for a developing infection, give me pain medication and see how things looked in the morning. They started me on antibiotics to stave off any possible infection as my white blood cells were slightly elevated. So off CK, Asher and I went to the OB floor where we all spent the night. I actually slept pretty well as my pain was controlled and the medicine made both Asher and I drowsy.

This morning both the on call physician from last night and Dr. M (my OB) spoke with me and agreed that it made sense to continue to monitor me here in the hospital while we attemted to control the pain and prevent an infection. The infection is definitely the worst case scenario as that would require surgery to drain/remove the hematoma/abcess. Best case scenario is that no infection develops and the hematoma reabsorbs into the tissue on its own and all I need are pain meds (really strong, good ones :)

However, because the chance of infection is still high and surgery is a potential, I haven't been allowed to eat or drink since I came in last night. I'm actually not all that hungry but I am really thirsty. We're doing a repeat CT scan and some additional bloodwork at 2pm to see how things are going and I'm hoping if that all looks good, they will let me eat/drink this afternoon. It's funny how wonderful a plain, tall glass of ice water sounds when you can't have one.

So that's the long, detailed story. Probably more than anyone wanted to know. Definitely more than I would like to be happening but it is what it is. Asher's been a champ through the whole thing and is keeping me company in the hospital while CK is home with Reese this afternoon. I will defintely be staying here again tonight and possibly for a few more days regardless of the test results this afternoon to keep getting the IV pain meds and antibiotics. I'm getting to experience post partum bed rest and realizing how much I never want to experience pregnancy bed rest.

On a much more positive note, Casey and Lionel welcomed their little girl, Barrett Elizabeth, into the world yesterday. Congratulations to the new parents! Maybe a future girlfriend for Asher?