Long overdue....

It is very difficult to find the time to update my blog with two boys under 2 and a teenager that just started high school. So much to update on and so little time. Lets break down here. First off SD: Started High School - has been struggling a little with her Latin class but she is really trying. Had a rough start in the friends department, but everyone there wants to be there and is very friendly so she made friends in no time. She is now way taller than me. Spent the summer with her mom, had her ups & downs just like she does at out home but it's to be expected. Baby Boy #1 He is such a handful and such a mama's boy and almost 2 years old already. Dad can not come near me because here he comes. He is learning how to talk and almost everyday he learns a new word. I love how he says "Oh no" and has learned certain body parts and he will say I love you when he feels like it. He is starting to recognize certain letters in the alphabet and numbers. Still co-sleeping with us, not what we planned but we are making the best of it. A couple of weeks ago he got his first bump on his forehead; ran smack into the corner of a wall. I freaked out a little bit but he recovered just fine from it. He adores his baby brother and gets so excited when he sees him becoming more mobile. The first I propped him up on the sofa to sit he was beside himself. I can't wait for them to actually get to run around and play together. My sister came over with her kids and my nephew who is 4 just ran around the house chasing #1 and they were just giggling. It just melted my heart. We are amazed everyday at how big he is now compared to when he was born and was in an incubator. Those were the hardest times of our lives but I wouldn't change it for a minute because he was one amazing little guy that we all just adore (even when he will not stop whining). His favorite movie right now is Cars 1 & 2. Loves to say, Speed, I am Speed & do his fake sneeze like one of the cars in the movie. He knows when the parts are coming up too that little stinker. Baby Boy #2 I can't believe he is already going to be 7 months old. He is progressing so fast that I just want him to slow down and be a baby for just a little bit, but alas, he can not wait to play with his older brother who seems to have so much fun running around the house. Which is why he started "crawling" (pulling himself forward with just his arms and dragging his legs). He quickly progressed to full on crawling. Before that he would attempt to put himself in a sitting position, he would hold himself up with one arm and do a half sit. I can say that he is fully sitting up, he'll topple over, but for the most part can hold himself up. And the past week and a half he gone from pulling himself up to his knees, to pulling himself up to a full standing position. This is pretty dangerous for him because he still is not that strong and can not support his weight for very long (18 lbs. 3 oz) so he lands up letting go and falling straight back. I just hear a thud, then a wail and I have to run and pick him up because of course he does all this while I am trying to cook dinner or take a quick restroom break (because that's all I get now a days). I know this is bad, but oh how this kid loves to watch television, but only the cartoons. They both watch PBS all day and CARS 1 & 2. I have my good days and my bad days. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed but I always feel blessed with my babies. I love them so much and wouldn't trade them for anything. Is it hard having them close together, you betcha, but it's not the end of the world and they are going to be best buds growing up. I thank God everyday for blessing me with not one but two amazing little miracles.

Once again M.I.A.

but with good reason. Life has been moving fast as lightening. I can't believe that little E is already 10 months old and so happy and full of energy. Who would of thought our tiny little baby would grow so quickly and so well. He did have a little minor procedure due to mommy and daddy not cleaning his boy parts properly. Let's just say, we will never, ever make that mistake again. Little E has been full on crawling for over a month now and as soon he mastered that, a few days later he was pulling himself to a standing position. He walks along the sofa and tries to walk along the walls but that proves to be a bit trickier. He loves to get into the cords and chew on them and push the buttons on the cable box but for some reason hasn't touched the speaker box, which is weird, but also very good that he does not do that.
Dear bonus daughter has been doing very well considering she had some trouble in school last month with another girl. She handled herself well and came through the situation proving she is not to be bullied. She had her first concert last night and due to Little E's not feeling well after his doctor's visit I had to miss it, what a bummer. She has been doing well this quarter in school, I'm very proud of how much she has improved, she will have 4 A's and 2 B's and she has earned some credits for when she gets to high school. We are looking at possibly enrolling her at a charter school rather than a public high school. They are just not the greatest here in our area.
I have finally have an official due date for the newest addition to our family, 4-10-12, making 14w3d today. This pregnancy looks like it will be even difficult than the last. I already have to take the 3 hr GTT as I failed the 1 hr and it's pretty early in the pregnancy still. I have a complete previa that we hope moves it's way up as the weeks progress. I have the possibility of having a second PPROM (Preterm Premature Rupture of the Membranes) due to the bi-corneate ute and don't forget that I have PCOS as well. The fact that we even conceived this child is a miracle in itself, having it born healthy is going to be a job.
I'll try to keep everyone posted, but I'm not really sure that anyone reads this blog, it's at least for my records.

Progressing

Baby E has been progressing at his own pace, no problem with me, he is doing great. He has been rocking on knees and holding himself with his right arm, hand down, left arm, forearm down. He lunges himself forward this way and he knows how to turn himself around. Well, the other night (Wednesday), I noticed that he was completely on all fours and doing the rocking motion. He didn't move, but he held himself up for quite a while. He is so silly sometimes. I love that he cries until he is with me at night to go to bed. He doesn't want to have anything to do with daddy once momma is home. I'm not sure how long that will last, but for now, I will take it. It's all about the momma when she's home. Other than that, nothing new.
DSD will be 13 in just 8 days, holy moly, we will have us a teenager in the house. She will also be home in those 8 days after spending the entire summer at her momma's house getting to know her new baby sister Z.oie, she was born on June 19th or somewhere near there. I can't wait until she is home with us and gets to be a kid again. She has been a babysitter while she's been at the moms house. They even left the baby with her when she was only 3-4 weeks old, who is exclusively BF along with her 4 yr old autistic brother and friends 2 children, who I believe are in the 3-8 year old range. I'm glad her mom decided to come home "early", not sure how early that is but she had a bad feeling. I don't mind her holding, feeding and loving on the baby, but not being responsible for them. If something were to happen, it would tear her world apart. To me, that is just too much responsibility for a 12 year old.

Growth Spurts

I think Baby E had a little growth spurt yesterday, 8/1/11. He tends to not really want to eat and is just overall moody and sleepy. I don't mind, I'm sure they hurt, his big sister gets them all the time, her legs are almost as long as my body, me, I never felt them, but I'm a shorty and I'm sure I didn't grow very much, ha. Even over the weekend, he wasn't really feeling his food. Maybe it was because it was hot out, over a 100 degrees or maybe the growing was already starting.
I took our little guy to get his pictures taken, we missed the whole 3/6/9/12 thing, so I am opting for the 4/8/12 thing. He came out absolutely adorable (I know, maybe I'm biased because I'm his mother, but he really did). He has this huge wide open, gummy smile. It makes my heart melt everytime I see them. He is just a week and a half shy of turning 8 months old. Time sure is flying by.
Baby E is currenlty rocking himself on all fours and he can get around by lunging his body forward. He does the occassional backwards thing, but not too often. And he is a great navigator, turning himself to face another direction to get to where he wants to go. He is not yet sitting up but he'll stay in the seated position for a few seconds. He usually just throws his body back so he can be laying down and rolling around. He's been eating his Stage 2 foods, we try to do the organic, but there isn't much variety so we throw in the regular baby foods as well. I wish I had more time to make him his own baby food, but I'm kind of glad that I haven't, I just read an article about the nitrates in fresh vegetables is not too good for babies.
SD has been at her mom's for the majority of her summer, babysitting her newborn sister and 4 year old brother. We got to see her for a short weekend a couple of weeks ago, we didn't get to do much but enjoyed just having her around. She comes home for good on the 13th, her birthday, she will be 13, a TEENAGER!!! She's having an okay time at her mom's, just did get to go on a few camping trips, but that's about it. It's not like we would have done very much with her here though, we really didn't/don't have the money to spending on trips and such. Having a baby is expensive, but so well worth it.
School will be starting on the 22nd and SD will be an 8th grader. I can not believe that next year, at this time, we will be preparing for her to enter High School. It's insane how fast time flies.
We are currently trying to find a bigger abode for our growing family. It seems we always have someone staying with us since Baby E was born. First it was my sister who stayed for at least 2 months. Then a friend (who is no longer really a friend) stayed for about 2-4 weeks and left abruptly due to a disagreement between him and DBF, oh well, we really our not losing out on that great of friend. And a few days after he left, DBF's brother broke up with his girlfriend and needed a place to stay. Except he has so much crap plus a dog, it is a little much for me. None of these people compensated us for anything. My sister did buy about $100 worth of groceries, the friend would eat out or at another friends home, and the last does not have a job, but is going to school, so he really can't help out right now.
I just wish we could have our little family, but doesn't look like that will be happening anytime soon.
I need to keep writing about the happenings of my little guy and the relationship that he is building with his big sister.

Getting to really see him & bringing him home....

I finally get to see my baby, it's long into the afternoon already. I can barely move, c-sections are tough, but I must say, I have no idea what it feels like to be in labor. (In a way, I feel kind of cheated, but I'll get over it.) When I get to see Lil E, he no longer has the air vent and is breathing on his own. He is so tiny sitting in the incubator with wires and tubes around him. I hold him later in the evening when Daddy comes by to visit with us. We really shouldn't be taking him in and out as the temperatures in the incu are regulated for him because he is still unable to regulate his own temps.
Lil E stays in this room for only few days before he is moved to a less severe room. He remains there for about 2 weeks for a total of 3 weeks in the NICU.
We receive the call in December 31st (the day we call our anniversary, 7 years) about 10 AM that Baby is being discharged. Needless to say we were quite surprised as the previous day Lil E had not passed the car seat screening (he needed to sit in a carseat for 1 hour, and the last few minutes he destated) and when daddy was there feeding him he had stopped breathing, his lips were turning blue. I was unable to visit him for a few days because I had caught some kind of bug and did not want to pass it on to him. After receiving the call we had to go on a hunt for a car seat, we still didn't have one (he was 9 weeks early). It took us longer than we thought because we did not get to the hospital until about 4-4:30. I really wish we could have just showered and showed up, but I was really not anticipating him coming home until after the weekend.
He was so tiny in his car seat and I was so nervous for him to be in the car. He weighted 4.8 lbs when we brought him home, he was just so tiny. We really didn't sleep at all the first night, we were so worried how he would sleep. He was used to sleeping on his tummy and would not sleep on his back nor did he really liked to be swaddled (they don't swaddle in the NICU cause they have this little headrest & pillow around his head and all the wires are in the way). We couldn't stop staring at him.
My parents came by to visit on Sunday, my mom wasn't feeling well and neither was my dad, but my dad hadn't seen him (he didn't want to go into the NICU). My dad just adores Lil E as all do.

Lots going on since my last post....

I was going to do a post, but thought I should see where I left off. I left off 4 days before all the madness in our life began (it has since calmed down). Sheesh, my last post was about my excitement for my baby shower, which, I ended up not getting to attend :(. I'll just start from the beginning of when the madness began:

Dec. 7, 2010 - I woke up like I usually do at about 3 AM to do my usual pee business, the norm when you are 30 weeks pregnant. I went back to sleep (luckily). I keep feeling like I had to go again, but was so tired I didn't want to get up, so I was keeping my legs crossed like a little kid does. It was finally 6 AM, so I decided to just get up and start getting ready for work. As soon as I got up, a gush of water went running down my legs. To say I was in shock would be an understatement. We had been sleeping on the couch since it was more comfortable for me, I wake up the DBF and tell him, "I think my water just broke". His response, "Are you sure you didn't just pee yourself." I look down, I don't think so!!! I go to the bathroom to see if I'm bleeding, I'm not, awesome. DBF gets on the net to see if he can find any symptoms of unusual leaking. I tell him I don't think he is going to find anything. I get in the shower, tell him to get ready cause we will be heading to the hospital to get checked out. I try calling my dr's office after my shower but it's some stupid recording and then I'm put on hold for what seems like forever, I hang up. I call my parents to ask them to let my other two sisters know DBF can't watch the kids today. My mom asks why, so I have to tell her, I am not good at lieing. My mom calls me back about 2-3 more times. First to ask what hospital, then to ask about DSD, I tell her we will be dropping her off at school at about 7:45 and then head over to the hospital. She wants to know why I'm not rushing over there, I'm not really having any contractions. I tell them I'll call them to let them know what is happening, they don't have to rush to the hospital. We get to the hospital around 8-8:15 AM, there is no one in the lobby/waiting area. I do have to sign in and wait to be called. I had not yet registered with hospital as I had not done the Birthing Classes (those were to start in 2 weeks). So I had to register, they put me in a wheelchair (all the while, I keep feeling little gushes of water coming out). My BF rolls me up to triage, I tell them I think my water broke, I'm 30 weeks. At first the nurses are skeptical, but when I get up from the wheelchair, it's wet. I get undressed, go lay down in a bed and they do the litmus test, sure enough, my water broke. I immediately get a steroid shot to help the babies lungs develop quicker in the event he is born soon. When they get done, I tell DBF, I bet my parents are downstairs already, he doesn't believe me. The on call dr comes in to check me, I am barely dilated to a 1, not really having any contractions, which is a good thing, baby needs to stay in there as long as we can keep him in there. The dr tells us our options at this time, we can stay at the current hospital, but if baby is born, he will have to be rushed to the Children's Hospital (and I won't be able to see him until I am released from the hospital) or I can get transferred to the other local hospital that does have a NICU. We say we will think about it. As soon as the dr is done checking me, who walks in, my mom. I looked at DBF and tell him, I told you so. My mom had walked in earlier but they were checking me so she stepped out. I get my IV put in, then I get to go to my own room. My dad & DBF go to get something to eat, it's about 11:30 AM now and no one has had breakfast (including me). I order something from the hospital menu. The dr comes in and lets us know that they have made room for me at the other hospital and that the ambulance will be picking me up soon. At this point we had not decided, but thought it be best for me to be seen by the high risk pregnancy dr and have the Neonatal team on site for the baby. I get transferred about 2 PM and get settled into my room. Nothing is happening labor wise and all is calm with the baby, good signs. I eat an amazingly disgusting dinner and try to sleep. It's pretty hard with blood pressure readings, IV drips, antibiotics drip, bathroom trips (which include unhooking the baby monitor and hooking it back up, traveling with the IV's).

Dec. 8 - I get my next steroid shot (ideally 2 within a 48 hour period is awesome). It's quite an uneventful day, we try not to have the baby today (it's my nephews 9th birthday today). I spend most the day alone, my parents come by in the evening and DBF comes by after putting DSD to bed. Not too much goes on. I'm not getting checked to see if I'm dilated as to not make it happen.

Dec. 9 - Another quiet day. One of my sisters comes by in the morning before she goes to work for about 1/2 hour - 1 hour. DBF goes home so he can shower during the day and watches my nephew and picks up my niece & DSD from school. They have dinner, then he comes back to spend the nights with me. He is a real trooper sleeping in the awful pull out beds they have. They do end up having to remove my IV, it's not working right anymore. While it's off, I take a shower, yeah!!!! Then they have to put another one, ughhh! Then come & check me cause they notice the babies heartrate drop. The nurse is moving around the monitor, she hears it, and it's good.

Dec. 10 - Morning starts out normal, just laying around, watching TV. DBF does his routine, so I stay by myself all morning & afternoon. I had just had lunch and I feel myself get really tired, as I'm dozing off, the nurses rush in. Telling me turn this way, turn that way, turn again. Put the oxygen mask on. I have no idea what is happening. They explain to me, the babies heartrate dropped and they are trying to find it. They roll in the U/S machine, but by then, luckily they had found it. I have to stay in the position I'm in for a while. Talk about scary, I call DBF and let him know what happens. I ask him to pick the kids up from school as early as he can and come stay with me. At about 4-4:30 the come rushing in again, babies heartrate dropped again. This time there is about 4-6 people. I have one person looking for the heartbeat, the RN is calling the dr. to update him. He was at another hospital delivering a baby and is on his way back. He says they are just going to do a c-section to start prepping me. I freak out, I call DBF and tell him to hurry up they are prepping me. I call my mom, no answer it's just about 5 PM and she is just getting off work. I call my dad, I tell him, I'm crying, I'm nervous & scared, he doesn't really understand why. As soon as my mom gets home they will head up to the hospital. DBF leaves the kids with his friend, my other sister was on her way, she has no idea what is going on. I text my other sister, she's worried and I can no longer respond. DBF arrives, packs up all our stuff. I get wheeled into the surgery room, get my epidural (I really didn't want one, but at this point, I had no choice). I lay down, I start feel my legs go numb. They check to make sure the NICU team is ready for when baby is delivered (at this point, I'm 31w1d). They bring DBF in. I didn't even know the dr had started doing anything, he tells me I'm going to feel some pressure as they are pulling baby out(I didn't feel anything). DBF tells me he's out, he is precious. I see the baby out the corner of my eye as they are whisking him across the hall. He does not cry, I am worried. I tell DBF to go with him. Dr. cleans me out, as DBF returns he gets to see my insides, asks the dr how things look for another baby, pulls out my ovaries and does bunny ears and states, they look great. He stitches me up, DBF goes back to check on baby. I get moved to the recovery room. They bring baby in for a few minutes, he has the oxygen tubes in, he is so tiny. Emrys John was born December 10, 2010 at 5:45 PM weighin in at 3 lbs 8 oz, 16 in long. I get sent to my room. I don't get to see the baby anymore until the next day in the afternoon (the day of my baby shower).

This is a lot to read at once, but I will update on the rest of the story very soon.

Counting Down

I am counting down the weeks until we get to meet our baby boy. I am getting really anxious and these brax-hicks contractions are no joke. I can just imagine what the real labor is going to be like. It is so exciting that there are so many women getting pregnant. Lots of them are like us with step-kids or they have older children (10-15 year old range). I'm sure with X-mas around the corner the time is going to fly by.
I'll be having my baby shower next weekend. I can not wait to see all my friends and family and eat yummy food (like I can eat alot). I feel very blessed as everyone is so excited for us to be having a baby. They all know how much I adore children and I have always wanted to have at least one baby. Sometimes I still can't believe it. Even though I have a little person inside of me kicking, punching, moving around, it still doesn't seem real to me. I know once I see his cute, chubby cheeked face it will be so real, but until then, I'm just enjoying the moment of being pregnant. Who knows if this will ever happen again for me.
We are in the home stretch, appointments are every other week until the first week in January, then every week thereafter. I get to have another U/S due to there being some extra fluid detected around the babies right kidney. The dr didn't seem to concerned with it, and said it should fix itself by the time I go in for my U/S in 2 weeks.
Anxious, Nervous and Excited is how I am feeling about all this.