an update on everything

Lillian had cereal for the first time on Tuesday night. It is supposed to help with the gassiness and her gaining weight. It is really early, but they said it will really help the weight. She was a complete and total mess, not knowing at all what to do with it, but she really liked it and cried for more.

She loves sleeping on her tummy and I'm wishing she could sleep that way at night, because I think we would get a full night's sleep. However, I'm not going to complain because 5 out of the last 6 nights she has slept from 12-7. But from 7 on its up every half hour or so.

I have been trying to attack the chaos Lillian left behind. We bought a treadmill. Yes, its right in the middle of everything in our house, but it's been worth it. Since last Tuesday I have walked 69,000 steps or 28 miles and lost 7+ pounds. Slowwwwwwwwwwwly, but we're making progress at least.

We're in the process of looking for a used Jumperoo, in other words a cheap Jumperoo, for Lilly. She isn't ready quite yet, still has a bit of the bobble head going on, but it won't be but a week or two and she'll be roarin to go. Yet another thing to move every time you want to walk through the house. Yay!

We actually had to put her first two outfits away because they don't fit. One was the preemie sleeper she came home from the hospital in and the other were a pack of Gerber onesies for newborns 5-8 pounds. But, we got a whole bag of stuff from Lilly's (younger) friend Kylie, who outgrew all her newborn stuff already so we're stylin now. She has more than a complete dresser full of newborn and 0-3 month clothes that she is wearing or will wear soon.

Her hair is not growing back in on the top yet but the back hasn't fallen out yet either. It's lookin like when that top hair does start to grow in we'll have the makings of a perfect mullet. Whee!

Richard's Grandma and Grandpa Abrams and his Aunt Penny and Uncle Mike are coming down for a short visit this weekend. It will be their first time meeting Lilly.

Richard earned his CDI Stamp which he's been trying for a while now. It means that he is signing off on the gear that it is safe to fly. You have to have one of these on each shift and before he had his there was only one guy on nights who was qualified. Now that they both have them, they're trying to work out getting short days every other day. We'll see if it really works or not.

We just looked at the calendar and realized Monday is our year and a half anniversary. It sure doesn't seem like that long, but it also seems longer. But it SURE doesn't seem like we should have a 3 month old!

We (Lillian and Stacey) just got back from Florida and we had a great trip seeing everyone.

Lillian had her "2 month" checkup this morning and she now weighs 8 pounds!!!! She is 21 inches long also. What a great grower she is. She has been a little piggy this last week and now its paying off.

Ashley's too short visit

A summary of quotes from our time together:

I should call the cops.

That's hot!

The tattoos I get take hours.

What did you do? Sleep with the boss?

That's time out of my life I'll never get back.

I will not let you take the baby in there.

Are you punking me man?

I have stuff I haven't even told you.

Wow, a full subscription to BET!

Another free subscription to BET.

Nothing like calling attention to ourselves.

Wow, I don't fit in and its a grocery store.

She looks hot doesn't she?

Parking garages scare me.

Firemen...hi! Ooh, there's a copper too!

Now that's gonna shoot right out of her butt.

I will if you pull over... NOT HERE!!!

Exotic boutique - we should go there.

I'm gonna do the butt out the front window thing.

That was the worst night of her entire life.

Key word: lopping!

When a girl my size gets hungry, its not pretty.

It's only cuz it doesn't have a dirty connotation.

All the people at work think I'm doing drugs.

You know I'm mad when I say flippin' and freakin' that many times.

Oh, we're gonna die!

I've been thru more tunnels today than in the whole past year.

Low fuel...WHAT?!?!

Stacey tried to kill me in the tunnel.

I want a cookie...and some more pie. Only one cookie?!?!

Effingham

Do you have spiders in your bathroom?

And after that he was no longer living as far as I was concerned.

He was just like "I have to rescue my Cinderella".

My stomach just went WHOP.

I just about peed my pants.

I just want to get on my suitcase and ride it.

It was a pleasure serving you.

I wouldn't want to be strapped in like I'm going to space either.

I wonder how many people heard you say you wanted to date your cousin?

ONONDAGA

He was really mad at you!

Pretty sure it was a shehe.

He was adjusting his tummy.

AND NUMERO UNO....

AAUUGGGHHH!! I thought you were a rat!!!!!

PS-Full details provided upon request.

We read Lillian her first book and she was completely unfazed.

We have continued to take her in the shower and she continues to love it. Water streaming down her face doesn't even make her cry. We're doing our best to create a waterbaby out of her. So far so good. We'll see how she does in a pool.

She got her first manicure and pedicure, much to her father's ridicule, but it looks so adorable.

Tomorrow night is her first sunday school party and Sunday night brings another dinner with Landon and Lena. Monday brings.....

ASHLEYYYYYYYYYYY

We're just a little excited.

I'm going to update her accomplishment list tonight, I promise. I wonder how long they'll let me get the list before they start cutting it off?

We took Lilly to the pedi again yesterday. He's quickly becoming her most frequent visitor :-(

She has just been overly fussy all weekend and that's not her at all. Turns out she has a reflux problem and so we're trying Zantac to see how that will help with the gas from both ends.

However, she has only gained 5 ounces in two weeks and is now only up to 6 lbs 11 ozs, which sounded good to me at first, until I realized that she still, at 7 weeks, has not gained a full pound form her birth weight. Hmmm.... So, we're back to the every two hour force feedings. Not fun. For me or her. She always looks at us like, "you're not seriously going to shove that thing in my face again ALREADY are you?!?"

I'm still having serious supply issues and we're working with the lactation consultants to try all our options to increase it. Nothing we've tried has worked so far.

Lillian Rolled Over!!!

March Mayhem

I can't even believe it's March already. Time has FLOWN by. We've just been hanging out in wonderment of Little Miss Lillian and somehow its March. This month not only will bring her 2 month marker, my 26th birthday (OH MY WORD!), and a vacation to Florida for Grandma Harris' 75th birthday, but it brings the arrival of ASHLEY!!!!!!! Other than the wedding and the birth, this ranks right up there with top most awaited moments of my life. I cannot wait. It will be three days PACKED full of fabulous fun.

Lilly is doing magnificently although she has perfected her banshee scream and I'm sure the neighbors debate calling child protective services daily, thinking we must be neglecting her. She has been eating up a storm, which is great for her weight issues, which we are hoping are a thing of the past. She has a bit of a cold still and she absolutely hates the saline spray we've been told to use. She has been sleeping in the swing to be upright and seems to be doing better.

The other most exciting thing ever...we actually found some pants that fit her-kind of. They are "skinny leggings" from Gap, meant to be skin tight like tights but at least they mostly fit her. They only had two colors, but we bought both of them. She finally has something to cover her little legs! And we got her a swimsuit and a sun hat too, both are big, but will work for vacation in Florida.

PS-Birthday lists available upon request :-P

At her pedi appt today, Lillian weighed 6lbs and 6ozs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seven ounces in seven days.

The pedi said "that's almost a record!"

Unless she gets sick we don't have to go back until March 31st for her two month well baby checkup and her first immunizations.

Edited to add: And finally, "Failure to thrive" was not written on her billing record.

I called the pedi's office to ask what I should do for her congestion being that the two nose bulb suckers I have don't fit in her nose because she's so tiny. The nurse actually said to me "No ma'am, you put the SMALL end in her nose."

Gee thanks honey, I'm glad to let you care for my daughter.

At the follow up appointment on Monday, Lillian measured at 5lbs 15ozs, which isn't tons better, but is a gain and she is now above her birthweight!!!!!!!!!!!!

Doc said just continue what we're doing (Feeding fortified breastmilk and formula every other time every two hours) and come back next Monday for another check up. If she is still gaining, we don't have to go back until her regularly scheduled well baby two month checkup.

"Failure to thrive"

Little Miss Lillian was admitted to the Children's Hospital for three days because of "failure to thrive". In other words, she was not gaining weight like the pedi wanted her to. Actually, she was not gaining weight at all for over a week. So not only did they tell us we had to take her straight to the hospital to admit her, they tell us that she has "failure to thrive". Then we get to the hospital and they ask "Reason for admittance?" and I have to say "failure to thrive". One would think they could come up with better phrasing for parents already in a stressful situation.

Anywho, Lillian had to have an IV put in, and had three veins blown in the process. She had to have a catheter put in, it actually worked on the 7th try. She had to have cheast ex rays done and have a heart monitor on continuously. Every half hour they took her blood pressure and temperature. It was awful. But every test they did for really bad things came back negative. The only thing they found was slightly elevated liver enzymes, but could not find a reason for that.

She had previously had some jaundice and thrush. We believe the thrush is what was causing her not to want to eat, although she still should have gained some weight. She gained 5 ounces while she was in the hospital, although their scales are different than the doctors office. According to the doctors office, she was 5 lbs 9 ozs when he had her admitted and according to the hospital she was 5 lbs 2 ozs when she was admitted and 5 lbs 7 ozs when she was discharged.

We have changed her feeding to every two hours during the day but only when she wakes up during the night. We have also started fortifying her breast milk bottles with extra calories to help fatten her up. And it looks like we are going to have to start doing some formula soon, as she is eating more than I can give her.

We have a follow up appointment on Monday at the doctor's office. Pray everything goes well. I never want to have to go through having her in the hospital again, it was horrible.

First photos

Richard

Stacey

Lillian

Its time for a poll. These are the first photos of all three of us. What attributes of Lillian do you think look like either of us. So far both of us just think she looks like Lilly. Thoughts?

Friday excitement

The excitement started VERY early when I discovered that Miss Lil cannot wear one of those dress thingys to bed. She needs a onesie on to help hold the diaper on. Because if she does wear a dress, like she tried last night, she wakes up with the diaper completely off, poop and pee on her dress, the blanket wrapped around her, the blanket wrapped around that, the sheet saver and the sheet. Its a nice surprise at 2am let me tell you.

The excitement continued when after I cleaned her up she slept for 5 hours straight!!!!!! That almost made up for the middle of the night laundry and bath session. We hope this continues but don't expect it to.

It further continued when I had to go to the dr and get my staples out. Thankfully, that was rather uneventful and didn't hurt as bad as it could have (although it did hurt more than they promised it would). They said everything looks good and I don't go back for a month. And I lost 21 pounds since last Wednesday. Let me know if anyone else can beat my record for 1 week weight loss :-). It just tells you how nasty puffy I was with water last week.

Then, poor Lilly had to go BACK to the pedi because we thought she looked a little yellow. The pedi said he didn't think it was bad but he did send us to the hospital for lab work. That hurt more than the staples even, poor thing, it took FOREVER. But she was excellent, and really didn't even cry that much. The doc called later to say that her level was 17, worse than he thought but not horrible. He said just to see if its worse tomorrow and if so to bring her back in, if not, we're okay. Here's hopin'.....

Lillian Ashleigh

Lillian joined us on 1-23-08 at 8:56 p.m. via c-section. She weighed 5 pounds, 13 ounces and was 19 inches long. She was perfectly healthy and had an apgar score of 8 at birth. We both left the hospital on Saturday. Lilly weighed 5 pounds, 4 ounces when we left the hospital.

She had her first pedi visit on Monday and she was up to 5 pounds, 6 ounces and he said everything looked great. She has to go back in two weeks.

Lilly loves to sleep.........if someone is holding her. She is getting used to a pacifier and is starting to get the hint that when she puts her thumb in her mouth someone takes it out. She loves to be curled all up but is stretching more and more and starting to gain some strength to push people away or pull them closer. She loves to wear hats and hates to be nekkid.

She is so much fun and we're all enjoying her immensly. I will put some pictures on here, but more are on our picasa web site. I am updating the picasa site regularly but this blog will probably be pretty sparce for awhile---we're kinda busy with other stuff :-)

A state of emergency

The half hour show I was watching on tv has had a constant icon in the upper left corner of the screen, a constant ticker at the bottom of the screen and the show has been interrupted twice now (22 minutes in) with warnings of this breaking news.....

We are in a state of "winter storm warning".

Even if one thought this was overkill, one might think the message was justified, IF....

It were not followed by the words "1-2 inches of snow are expected within the next 48 hours, no accumulation is expected."

Yes, I would definintly call that a winter storm warning worthy of constant announcement....

only in Virginia.


UPDATE AS OF SUNDAY MORNING: We received MAYBE 5 flakes of snow total yesterday, mixed in with the constant rain. This morning is bright and sunshiney, no sign of the "state of emergency" this state was expecting. Big surprise! I wonder what everyone will do with all those extra gallons of water and logs they stocked up on on Friday??

It's looking very much like Lillian will be a January baby.

The doc released me from the hospital this afternoon with strict orders for complete bedrest and going either to his office or the hospital every other day for testing. He said he wishes me to hold out to 36 weeks (next Friday, the 25th) and then he will induce. However he said if I gain any weight or my swelling increases at all between now and then we will deliver immediately.

This is all almost over, and our Lilly will be here. THANK GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the hospital...

I saw the doc this morning. As of Friday I had gained 11 pounds in two weeks and he was freaked out about my swelling (as I have been for awhile). As of this morning, I have gained three additional pounds of water since Friday.

Lillian's heartbeat is fine, I'm only having the same minor contractions, I'm only dialated to one (same for a month now), my bloodpressure, blood and urine are all fine. The only issue is the huge water retention/weight gain.

So he's decided to admit me to the hospital, not to induce labor, just to poke me incessently for a while. He said he's thinking three days right now and we'll see after that.

He does not want to take her until 36 weeks now, although he told me 34 before. I'm 34 weeks and 4 days now.

I'm fine, just very very annoyed to have to go in just to be poked rather than have a baby. R is working his normal schedule 2pm-11pm so he can take time when she actually arrives. I will have my cell phone with me-no email access though.

Thats all for now.Stace

We Made It!

We had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad trip. Not due to any pregnancy or health concerns though thankfully. We were supposed to leave Norfolk at 5:40pm and arrive in Chicago at 7:00pm. Instead we left Norfolk at 4:00pm and arrived in Chicago (via Dulles in DC, two cancelled flights and three airplanes) at 4:00am. Needless to say, we WILL NOT EVER AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON be flying United again. And United will be hearing from me.

However, we did eventually arrive in Chicago, and amazingly, so did all three pieces of our luggage. Mom and Dad Shipp were there to pick us up and drive us to the hotel we were staying at (over 2 hours away from the airport) and we were able to get two or three hours of sleep before spending a fantastic day and a half with Dad Shipp's side of the family.

On Sunday, we drove back from Chicago and had Christmas at Mom and Dad Shipp's house with them and Kyle and Kristen. We got lots of baby stuff and an AMAZING rug from my Aunt Bettie that my Great Aunt Mae made.

On New Years Eve we had lunch at Rugerro's (YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY) and ran some quick errands. Richard went with his parents to see I am Ledgend and I went with mom to see PS I Love You (not nearly as good as the book). Then we all met up at Richard's grandparents house for a New Year's Eve party.

This morning, we started out 2008 with a good 9 inches of snow outside and Richard is estatic. I'm just wondering how that's going to work out with the flip flops I have that are the only shoes that fit my feet.....we'll see.

I saw the doctor yesterday and he said everything looked good, no change from the last good report he gave me two weeks ago. He gave me final clearance to go home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We leave this afternoon for Chicago and then Michigan after that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No new posting for two weeks......not that that will surprise you, not much posting at all these days -- oops.