Itsy Bitsy Girl

I knew Addyson was tiny, but diapers are a little bit of a challenge. I had purchased several different types before she arrived to see what would fit her best once she arrived. I had heard different diapers fit different ways, but I never thought there would be such a difference. We'd had her in Pampers Swaddlers as that was what the hospital had used, but we ran out last night. I tried three or four different types on her last night to see what would work and they all just swallowed her. The Huggies were large on her, but not too terribly bad so we used those overnight with no problems. This morning when I changed her clothes she rolled over to the side and before I knew it the changing pad & Addy were soaked with barely a drop on the diaper. I guess Pampers it is for now. I'm hoping that in a couple of weeks the others fit. If not hopefully some of the other little ones can use what we can't.
Also ladies if anyone needs any powdered Enfamil I have tons of samples. Addy is on Similac so we won't be using it and there is no sense in holding on to it if someone else can put it to use. Call me and I can either bring it to church or bring it to you.
Here is a cute little random picture. I think Josh must have had the TV up too loud.

We had a little bit of a scare last night. Great Grandma is here helping out and just before dinner she noticed a kidney bean sized knot on the right side of Addy's neck. It was in the same area of the lymph gland, so of course I became concerned and called everyone under the sun to determine what to do. Long story short we took her into the pediatrician today and the ligament in the right side of her neck was torn most likely during delivery & its calcifying and shrinking as it heals. This is quite common among infants & the Dr. said that it was good that we caught it as this typically not caught until much later. Thankfully the treatment is just neck massages about 5-6 times a day. The funny thing is I had just read about this a couple of days ago, and it crossed my mind but of course I think its the worst possible scenario. Either way I'm so thankfull that Great Grandma was here to find it and to help out the last couple of weeks. She is heading out tomorrow, and I know Addy & I will really miss her. Hopefully we can make our way over to her place before going back to work.

Giving Up

Well last night I finally gave up on breastfeeding. All three of us were miserable so Josh and I talked it over and decided that with my supply issues the best thing for our family was to go with formula. Things have been so much better since making that decision. Josh can now help out more, Addyson isn't going hungry, and I'm not going crazy with guilt. I really think this was the best thing we could have done.

The one week old & the crazy daddy!

We've made it through the first week give or take 12 hours. Its strange to think this time last week I was just starting to feel contractions and the thought of Addyson coming into this world was still just slightly hard to grasp. Now its hard to think of a time without her. Its been a week of ups & downs, but we're slowly getting the hang of things.
Last night was definently interesting. Addyson did great! She slept all four hours in between feedings and didn't even raise too much of a fuss when I changed her. Daddy on the otherhand was a handful.
(Warning: Long story ahead. I'm having way too much fun reliving this!)
About 3:40 this morning I noticed Josh getting out of bed. Addyson wasn't fussy so I figured he was going to the bathroom, but I became concerned when he started patting around on the bed. When I asked what he was up to he said he needed to put Addyson back in bed. I explained to him that she was still in there he insisted that he had taken her out and proceeded to try to swaddle my foot. It was then I realized that he must be sleepwalking. I convinced him to turn on the light while I checked on our daughter. He then accused me of not trusting him and proceeded to open up our bedroom door to welcome in any visitors that were waiting to see Addy. Finally after trying to reason with him for some time he came back to bed. This morning he remembers portions of it, but I had to fill him in between bouts of uncontrollable giggling. Thankfully he seems to find it almost as funny as I do.

Good News

So we've been home for a few days now and everything is going fairly well. On Saturday Addy finally started to nurse very well and she has continued since. She is consistantly getting 20 - 40 min feedings every 2 hours during the day and every 4 hours over night. She is also sleeping very well, we've only really had to get up to feed her at 1 and 5 AM.

Also, we went to the Dr's office this morning and found out her jaundice levels have started to come down so we won't have to use a light or anything to treat it. *YAY!* Looks like sunlight really does help.

The food everyone has brought so far has been AWESOME! We really appreciate not have to worry about what to do for dinner each night.

We Made it!

Well, we finally made it home around 11:00. Mom, Dad, and Addy are all doing well and the family has all headed out. See the new home coming pictures I added to the slide show. We are all tried and are going down for a nap.

Almost Home

Dr . Jewell came by on her morning rounds. Addy's jaundice level was a little elevated, but not enough to put her under the lamps. We'll be going into Mercy's after hours clinic tomorrow for another jaundice & weight check, but that is a welcome inconvenience. The only thing we are waiting on now is one more white blood count, and as long as it is good we are home free!!! Hopefully the next thing we post is from the convenience of our own couch snuggling with our little one.

Waiting for the Doc

Last night went really well. We were able to sleep until about 4 this morning and then again until 6:30. Addyson is currently in the nursery getting her morning assessment. Dr. Jewell should be by soon to let us know about her jaundice levels. I was hoping that Addy and I could get a little window time to help speed things up, but as luck would have it the clouds have rolled in. Oh well thankfully we can always put her under the lights(hopefully at home). I'll post more once we have an update.

Waiting to come home

We had a fairly good night last night. Only really had to get up from about 1 - 2 am and again at about 5 am. Other than that Tracie and I got some well needed sleep. Also, Addyson finished up her IV at about 8 am this morning so now we don't have to follow her around with the pole or worry about getting the IV line tangled up. *YAY!*

Dr. Jewel, the pediatrician, came and gave us an update on Addyson's progress. The white blood cell count is all good now, I don't think I mentioned earlier she had some earlier tests that showed them a little low. The Zantec seems to be taking care of the reflux very well as she hasn't had any spit up since. The only thing we are really waiting on is the jaundice and sodium test results to see how we need to proceed with that. Visibily, she doesn't have any jaundice that we can tell. As far as the sodium is concerned, they think this is a little low because of being on the IV. Because of all this Addyson won't be released until later tonight or possibly tomorrow. Fortunately, the hospital has room available to offer us as a courtesy so we can stay, without charge, while Addyson is still here! The other good thing about this setup is that Tracie can leave if she needs to but she still get's the other benefits of the room other than meds.

Also, I wanted to mention that the staff here has been AWESOME! Everyone we've had treat us been great! To top it all off, the nurse that was treating us on Tuesday came in this morning to apologize about the false alarm on Tuesday night. She felt bad because she was the one supervising the nurse that was training that made the incorrect call. We told her it was no problem at all and we fully understood. Her and Tracie had a good hug and some tears.

One Day Old!

Just wanted to drop a quick picture of Addyson at one day old.

Doing good

Well Addy just had about an hour long feeding and she's doing great. We're praying that she continues to do well.

Addy News

According to the Dr. the x-rays show that the problems are just coming from reflux. They are going to give Addy some Zantec and have us try to nurse again. Hopefully that will take care of the spit up problems.

Visitors and Addy update.

Well we've had a lot a visitors so far this morning. Between all the grand parents, great grand parents, friends and co-workers we've probably had close to 20 visitors. Addyson, Tracie, and I all appreciate everyone coming by.

As far as Addyson is going, the grunting is all cleared up as Tracie mentioned but she started to have a little bit of bloody spit-up. They think it's just left from the delivery but they are running an upper gi track test just to make sure. They are doing another x-ray 2:40 so hopefully we will have some information around then.

FYI

I forgot my phone at the house when I went by this morning. If you want to get a hold of us you can call Tracie's cell at 531-0652.

Good news!!!

Addy was all cleared up by about 4 am, so she joined us in our room for a couple of hours. We were able to feed her for the first time and I got the joy of changing the first diaper, but it wasn't as bad as I figured it would be. Josh and I are now in room 517 on the pediatric ward so if any one would like to visit please feel free to do so.

Also while I'm thinking about it here are a couple of tips for my girls with pending arrivals.
1. Go ahead and ask for your epidural when your water is broken. (Trust me I asked when I started just to barely feel things and the anesthesiologist was running behind. It was not for the best.)
2. During labor feel free to clear the room to get you and your husband some naptime. (Yesterday afternoon my grandmother kicked everyone out for that purpose and I'm so thankful she did. I don't know if I would've fared as well if not for her.)
3. Read up on what to expect during recovery. There were times last night that were rather interesting and I feel that it would not have been nearly as frightening/unnerving had I better researched this topic.

Thank you all for the comments and support! They have been a real encouragement to Josh and I.

Tracie

First Small Scare

So when she first came out she wasn't quite breathing completely right and she was making these small grunting noises. First they tried laying her on Tracie's chest and this helped some but not fully. Then they took her back to the ICN just to make sure everything was ok. They took a x-ray and the nurse in the ICN told us it appears to be clearing up normally. Currently they have her on a small amount of oxygen, mainly just for the pressure to help loosen the stuff out of her lungs. The nurse was very encouraged by her progress and expected it to be clear up with in the night.

Also, I added a few more pictures on the arrival slide show of her all cleaned up.

Welcome Addyson Grace Grall!

She's here! She was delivered at 9:24 PM and she weighed 6 lbs 10 oz. Still getting the official length, but they think she's about 18 1/2 inches. Mom and baby are doing are doing well. We should be available for visitation tomorrow. As soon as we know the new room we will post it here.

Showtime!

Ok, we are fully dilated for sure now! We are getting ready to push! Next post should be with Addy!

False Alarm

We're not quite as far along as we thought. They had a new nurse in training do the last check and she was a little off. She's been great all day though! Just a small mistake. All good! (c:

The night shift nurse checked and she thinks we are still at an 8 but it should still be very soon.

The nurse just talked to Dr. Smith and he requested to have the pitosion cranked up to really get the delivery started.

Almost....

It could happen any moment now. She's fully dilated and we are getting ready to have a baby. Next post should be with pics of Addy!

Getting there!

We're up to 8 cm and station 0! Also, they can tell Addy definitely has some hair. We're getting ready to have a baby!

Naps are good....

Just a little after 3:00 Tracie and I kicked everyone else out of the room an laid down for a good hour long nap.

Nurses just came in and did another check. They are saying she is at 7 cm by now and almost to station 0.

One of the nurses guessed the arrival would be about 6:30 or 7:00.

They had her sit up for a few minutes and apparently there were some good signs so they will be checking again in 15 minutes.

BTW, Adding a few more photo's soon.

More Progress...

Tracie is reseting now. They came in a little while ago and said she was up to 5 cm and station -1.

The pictures finally updated on the slide show. Notice that the last two pics are before and after epidural shots.

It's amazing how well the epidural works because on the machine that tracks the strength of the contractions she was peaking up to 78 and she could barely stand it. After the epidural we saw some contractions as high as 105 and she said she didn't even feel a twitch!

Yay!

Epidural has finally been applied and Tracie says it is AWESOME!!!! It's really good because the contractions were starting to get pretty bad.

I've added a few pics on the side and will likely add some more to show how she's feeling better after the epi.

Waiting....

The contractions are getting stronger and we are waiting on the epidural guy to show up. Other than that, no more news.

BTW, watch the slides show on the right, I'll be updating pictures through out the day.

Progress...

Well the water has been broken and everything seems to be progressing well. She's having a lot of small contractions but nothing bad so far. Since they have broken the water, the heart montiors that go on the belly are gone and they have replaced them with new a internal heart monitor. So now instead of the heart beat sounding like a washing machine, it sounds like an Atari era video game.

We're Here!

Hi! This is Josh. We are current checked in the room at Mercy. They have Tracie all situated and the pitocin started. Just sitting around waiting on Dr. Smith to show up to get the water broke. I'll make another post later if I get a chance!

39-week appt

Its official! Our induction is scheduled for Tuesday the 10th at 6AM. Today we were 2cm dialated, so I don't anticipate any surprises this weekend. We'll be spending the next few days getting the last few things done & trying not to go stir crazy. We were given the option to induce tonight, but we want the family to be there, so we're waiting. Any way the next time I post will be pics of Addy!

7 days to go!!!

Well it looks like our little girl will be here soon! The Dr. is going out of town next Tuesday the 11th, so we'll most likely have an induction before then. I'm still holding out a small shred of hope that I'll go into labor on my own, but I know its doubtful. As long as Addyson is healthy thats the only thing that matters. Its a little hard to believe that I'll be a mother in a little over a week, but I'm excited!!! Hopefully my next post will be pictures of Addy!