Sunday, March 25, 2012

Baby Elsie is my COUSIN

Jace and Joe are looking at pictures of Elsie, since Jace has not been able to meet her yet. Here is how the conversation went:

Joe: "Jace, who's this?"
Jace: "Mommy"
Joe: "and who else"
Jace: "Daddy and Jaceman"
Joe: "No, that's the baby"
Jace: "Oh, the baby"
Joe: "Baby Elsie"
Jace: "Baby Elsie"
Joe: "Baby Elsie is your little sister"
Jace: "Baby Elsie is my little COUSIN"

hehe

Saturday, March 24, 2012

When there are too many people to take care of ....

Today has been a rough day for everyone. Here's a brief recap:


Yesterday Jace came down with a fever -- we believe it has finally broken. At one point today his temp was 103! Joe called our pediatrician and made a game plan ... but so far, Jace has not met Baby Elsie ... and Joe has had the burden of caring for Jace, Elsie, and myself. Poor guy was caught in the middle of Jace needing him at home, and an emotional wife needing him at the hospital. Luckily both Grannie and Grandad are at our house, so we have had the freedom to take shifts on the Jaceman and the Wifey.

Today I started off great, getting my catheter out at 8 am and my IV out by 9. At 10 or so I was up walking the halls and was able to kick the compression boots. By the afternoon -- my gas had started to build up in my abdomen and I started to feel mighty uncomfortable. I've walked the halls several times and am hoping that the exercise will make me feel better.

Elsie passed her hearing test and was checked by our ped. Everyone thinks she is beautiful and is talking about the 10 lb baby with a full head of long brown hair.

By about 2:00 in the afternoon, Elsie was becoming more and more fussy. She wasn't satisfied with the feedings she was getting and was making sure we knew about it. I tried to feed her off and on for about 4 hours straight! She'd eat for 5 min or so and then fall asleep. She'd wake up minutes later cranky so I'd feed her again. There was a shift change for the nurse -- and I got a nice high strung one ... I don't do well with high strung!

She kept asking how/when she was eating and I couldn't' tell her. At this point, Deja Vu was setting in with Jace's non-eating experience. So I started to stress (again high strung nurse not helping!) Nurse told me to start feeding her every hour on the hour to help increase my supply and to get her fed!

Luckily there was another shift change and I spoke with this to my new nurse. Instead of focusing on the eating -- she decided to focus on the fact that Els was breathing too fast. She talked to Dr. Esham and at about 9:40 tonight they decided to put her on an IV and run some labs. It is possible that by breathing so fast -- she could inhale while swallowing, causing more problems. It is possible that Els could have (or be developing) Pneumonia. Or, Els could be dehydrated and just need fluids.

We got the lab results back almost an hour ago and everything looks good -- but she is borderline with infection. They are going to run more blood work at 5am in the morning and see if her number goes down. If it does -- we are in the clear and no problem. If it goes up, they'll start her with some anti-biotics and continue testing. So right now, we get some sleep and see what happens in the morning.

*update*

Her numbers lowered over night, which is good good news! I'm not sure what numbers they were testing -- but i don't care!! i'm just grateful it is down. She had 2 very small diapers over night, suggesting a bit of dehydration. I guess it's close to time that Joe and i decide if formula is the way to go!! Luckily the IV will help her flush her newborn poop out and we can just get home asap.

Elsie Alice Boucher

Introducing
Elsie Alice Boucher

March 23rd, 2012
12:48 p.m.
10 lbs 10 oz
21 in long

And we love every bit of her!!!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Birthday Week Day 4

It's been A LONG time since our family has gone swimming. Joe LOVES it -- I'm ok with it -- but I do enjoy taking Jace -- and Jace has a good time too. We do feel that it is extremely important that he is comfortable in the water -- I never learned how to swim, and it still makes me a little nervous ... but not too bad anymore. ANYWAY ... For day 4 of our birthday week we wanted to take Jace swimming. In the future, it won't cost anything, but we did need to buy him a new set of swim trunks and we invested in a reusable swim diaper. (Those Swim Huggies are PRICEY!!) Here's a photo recap of our night:






(Allow me to have a mom moment and get a bit sad at how BIG my little boy is getting!! Look at those pictures -- he is NOT a baby anymore!!) At least he's still a sweet heart!!

Birthday Week Day 2 & 3



For day 2 of his birthday week, Jace got a collection of Mickey Mouse books -- 12 total. We had bought them for Christmas and forgot to give them to him -- easy Birthday Week Present!! It's probably a good thing -- since there are VERY few pictures for the amount text that is on each page. They are perfect for right now. He was UBER excited to read them and have been enjoying a new one every night since -- and several during the day!


Jace's Dinosaur Train cake -- not quite the masterpiece that I had last year -- but let's face it -- I don't have 8 hours to devote to his cake. And it didn't even matter ... because he LOVED it!!!
Jace "BLOWING" out his candles.

The dinner party! Growing up, birthdays were a big deal. We always invited Grandma and Grandpa over -- and the day was special -- ours. I want the same for my kiddos! It isn't as easy as driving across the valley for both sets of grandparents though -- and we are very very grateful that Grannie and Grandad are willing to make the trek up for Jaceman's birthday dinner!! (Especially since they will be coming up again for our little family SO SOON!!)
Present time!! The "fishy game" from Grannie and Grandad
More Dinosaur Train from Uncle Greg and Aunt Jade (sent all the way from Oklahoma!! What troopers!!)
Yes, this kid LOVES trains!!
Big squooshy blanket from Grandpa and Grandma

We had an awesome birthday dinner -- thanks for all who came!

Friday, March 9, 2012

Birthday Week Day 1:

Part of me is VERY excited that Jace's birthday week falls so close to when my little baby will be born. I'm looking forward to being able to spend one whole week making Jace feel like the special rock star that he is! Today, Grandma and Grandpa kick off his birthday week by taking him to Toy Story 3 on ice!! I must admit that I'm a little jealous -- not to sit in the hard plastic fold down chairs ... but I'm jealous that I will miss the look in Jace's eyes as he watches the show. He was SOOOO cute when he saw Beauty and the Beast at BHS, and he didn't have a "personal relationship" with those characters! He is going to have a BLAST at the show tonight -- I hope my parents take lots and lots of pictures and enjoy their evening!!


(P.S. Might I add that I'm looking forward to my last real date night with Joe before we become a family of four!?! We are going to Texas Roadhouse and getting pedicures after. I don't know how much Joe is looking forward to a pedicure ... but he is playing nice and my little fred flinstone feet are greatly looking forward to the experience!!!)