The cure is worse than the disease

When Anna was 8 itty bitty days old, it was time to take her in to visit the doctor. She was feeling under the weather and had not been herself for about 36 hours. She had been crying alot more that usual and it seemed she might have some painful gas cramps. She started to run a fever the night before and I was very glad to have an appointment already scheduled.

When we walked in, we did the usual weighing and measuring thing, but it was obvious she wasn't feeling right. She had started just closing her eyes and moaning. When they took her temperature it was at 102 and they told me to put her in the car and take her to Mercy Children's Hospital in Overland Park.

Now, I've never had a baby in the winter, so by the time any of them have anything, they are fat little 7 month olds. This was different. I've never had anyone tell me to drive straight to the hospital. And I admit it scared me. So I started crying. What else was there to do?

I drove her up to the hospital and had her admitted. The nurses took over and started to check her out. They took all her vitals and talked to me about what/who she had been exposed to in the 8 short days of her life. I cried. Then the doctor came in and explained to me that they were going to run all the tests they needed in order to figure out what was causing the fever. I cried.

She was just so little.

She was going to have to have a blood test, a urine test (catheter. ouch), RSV mucus test (fluid up the nose and then sucked out. blech.), and a spinal tap to test for meningitis (!! Spinal? tap? As in...tapping the spine? with a needle?).

I cried.

It was awful, but we know it was for the best and it was better to know and deal with the results than to risk it. She is just too little.

So they did the tests and she got through it, but she was exhausted. She slept forever when they brought her back to me. And then we had to wait. Two whole days in that room waiting for the results to come back and getting IV antibiotics just in case. She was so tired, I just held her and let her sleep while I watched hour after hour of the Food Network.


I think the board that was strapped to her arm where they put her IV in was the worst part of the whole thing. She was miserable and I couldn't wait for them to take that thing off of her.


In the end, she was fine. All the tests came back negative and they took her off the preventative antibiotics. I was a very painful, frightening, and expensive cold.

On the bright side, the hospital food was awesome and I had two whole days of quiet, which is a hot commodity when you have 5 little kids. We were also thrilled that one of the nurses was able to take off the bow that was permanently attached to Anna's head with some industrial strength solvent.

My mom was in town to help me with the baby, so that alone can be considered the best timing ever. She was able to get kids back and forth to school and generally save the day.

Unfortunately the only photo I have of her from this visit is this one Mark took of us. He calls it "Dualing Laptops".

She was probably researching bird-watching tours for her trip to Hawaii in the spring and I was probably avoiding writing on my blog.

The gingerbread train

This year we opted for the GingerTrain! Mark took over, as I was indisposed with the newest pup.


The most essential element to building a successful Gingerbread structure of any kind is dividing up the candy into 4 equal parts beforehand. You may even go so far as to make sure each has the same number of each color of candy. Don't underestimate their "fairness radar". Take preemptive measures!

Then...just go for it. Warning: Do not invest emotionally in the finished product. It's totally beside the point. The point is to have fun and sneak as much candy as possible without detection.





The new pup.


The final product with all the contributors. Mathew is trying out his "disgruntled" look lately.


The best part is taking it apart and eating it just moments after finishing it!

Miss Anna Jane

She's here. And she is so very little.

I was scheduled to be induced on Monday morning (Nov. 29th) at 6:30 am. In an effort to hold off labor until then and give my sweet parents-in-law a chance to drive up here from Arkansas, I had been parked on the couch for a full 4 days, watching an entire season of Australian Masterchef on my laptop (Those Aussies don't mess around. There are 86 episodes per season). It was great....for a while, but soon it was miserable and boring and made me feel unproductive and gross. The highlight was when I asked Megan to put something away and she took one good look at me and said (unashamedly) "Mom...you are very lazy". It hurt my feelings and I tried to defend myself, but I had to admit I could see where she was coming from. I WAS very lazy.

Joe and Jean arrived Sunday evening and we had a nice time visiting and having dinner with the kids. I have to admit I was feeling a bit achy, although nervous about being induced, ready to get on with the show.

We all went to bed and I commenced dreaming that I was being bitten by snakes and enduring other painful situations...all centered around my humongous belly. About 2 am I finally woke up enough to realize that the pain was not merely a dream. After watching the clock for 5 minutes and clocking two solid contractions, I knew it had happened again. For the third time, I had managed to go into labor approximately 4 hours before I was scheduled for my induction. The other two pregnancies were natural, so those are pretty consistent stats, no?

Feeling very motivated to get an epidural, we alerted Grandma Jean that we were on our way and we headed to the hospital. It was only 5 minutes away and we were blessed with a nurse that believed me when I told her I go FAST. She busted through the paperwork, started the IV, did the labwork and paged the anesthesiologist. Here's a picture:

It looks like I'm saying something, don't know what, but I do know that that look in my eyes is fear. FEAR! I was convinced that I was destined for some major pain.



He took his sweet time and possibly went on a donut run between being paged and showing up to give me sweet relief, but I will forever honor his name because HE MADE IT! And it was awesome.

I took a little nap and poor Mark (very sick with a head cold) fell asleep in the rocking chair. The labor slowed way down and the nurse gave me a "whiff" of pitocin. Then out of the blue, I felt something change and it was time! The doctor came in, told me to push, then immediately said, "Nevermind!" In fact, his exact words were,..."keep not pushing, keep not pushing....and she's here!"

And there she was. All wiggly and warm on my chest. With her beautiful black Hufford-baby hair and perfectly pink skin. I really didn't realize that I was getting a baby out of this whole affair. A real baby.

The nurses cleaned her up and Mark cut the cord. Then I watched as they weighed her and gave her the once over and my sweet husband started to get teary because he can't bear for his little baby to be cold and crying and there's nothing he can do. I love that...he does it every time. I'm crying because he's crying because she's crying.

6 lbs. 11 oz.

She was born at 9:09 am and by lunchtime, she was already reigning supreme over her loyal subjects.

Megan and Laney came with Grandma and Grandpa after Kindergarten was over. I love this photo because of the look Meg is giving her dad. She isn't quite sure what to do with this little baby, but she knows where she can find reassurance.


Laney wasn't sure about it, but once Megan had taken a turn, she was ready to go.


Grandpa kept a distance because he was fighting a cold too. Grandma took a turn, and I couldn't resist picking this photo because it captures one of Mark's scary coughing fits. Poor guy. Nothing like welcoming a brand new baby and feeling like walking death. Although, now that I look at it, I can't help but be impressed with the steadiness in which he maintains his iphone usage during a wracking cough. Those are mad skilz.


Later on, Mark brought the boys and they were instantly in love.



They each held her at least 5 or 6 times before it was time to go. Barely giving the other a chance to get her settled in his arms before saying, "Ok. My turn!"

After that we settled in for the night from he_ _. I will never understand why there is always that one nurse that seems angry at the world and dead set on taking it out on the unsuspecting new moms in the maternity ward. She would bust into my room every couple of hours insisting on waking us both up and taking our "vitals". She would quiz me about when the baby had last eaten or pooped, eying me suspiciously and making me feel like a liar. It was a long night and although I was supposed to be there for another 24 hours, I wasn't about to go through that again. We headed home the next day and were greeted by hot chicken enchiladas and a beautiful green salad (a rarity around here).

And for dessert...a birthday cake! Joe and Jean were ready to celebrate Anna's birthday. Can you get any more thoughtful? I think not!

Thanks, Sarah, for the beautiful flowers! It was so fun to have someone come to my room with flowers for me. It really made me feel special. And they are perfect. Just what I would have chosen.

So there she is! We love her and we can't get enough of her sweet little face.

Progress of the belly

Since we're on the verge of saying good-bye to the belly and hello to a new baby. Here's a look back at a few belly shots.

At about 4 months:


Around 6 months:

Up close! Thanks to my cameraman, Ethan....he thinks of these things.


At seven months:


After that, I don't have a photo that doesn't also feature my double chin. Aaand it's my blog so I don't have to show those. HA!

A Low-Key Thanksgiving

I do believe it would be fair to say that this was one of those Thanksgivings that would be labeled as "eh". We are new to the area, all our family lives in Utah or Arkansas and I'm only 3 days from delivering our as of yet un-named baby girl. This translates into no crazy cooking for me and no traveling farther that 10 minutes from our hospital.

Thankfully we were invited over to eat with the Gammon Family. That means that I only had to make mashed potatoes and a chocolate pie. Also, the Gammons have six kids ranging from 10 yrs to 7 months and our kids had a blast. The Gammons were very very nice and we had a good time, but still...it felt a little weird. Where is all the work and the laboring over the turkey and the rolls and the overabundance of pies? It was all a little...ummm....anticlimactic.

So I guess it's no surprise that this is the only photo we have to document the day.



It's a manatee shaped potato that was destined for the cooking pot. R I P manatee potato. Thou hath served us well.

Roadtrip

Last weekend Mark and I took a little trip down to Arkansas. We were missing our friends, family, neighborhood, street, church, grocery store, etc. etc. etc.

So we decided to camp out at the house and take advantage of our "vacation home". Aren't we extremely fabulous?

A few things I learned on the trip:

1. Shower curtains are pretty important.

2. A family of six cannot share 2 towels. It's unrealistic.

3. I still think the Thai Crunch salad at Marketplace Express is the best thing I've ever eaten.

4. Making PB&J sandwiches on my lap with a plastic knife and passing them back to my kiddos made me feel like a "real mom". I have good memories of my own mom passing me a sandwich on our various roadtrips.

5. Eight months pregnant + airmattress = ridiculous.

6. I miss my friends.

7. 4 kids think a notebook and a box of crayons are AWESOME when there is quite literally nothing else to do.

8. Having 1 o'clock church, Daylight Savings Time, and spending the morning in an empty house makes for a very long morning.

9. Oven mitts are very important.

10. You can do alot of cleaning with a roll of paper towels and a bottle of windex.

11. Don't try to clean until the kids are in the car and ready to go back to the new house. You guarantee yourself another round of cleaning and you'll be angry. Not worth it.

12. I miss knowing where everything is at my local Walmart. Still can't find the dang q-tips.

13. It's impossible to find your son's missing tooth in the "insanity van".

14. The tooth fairy does not require the actual teeth (oh yes, Mat lost 2 in 2 days). She will accept a mother's note.

15. At the end of the weekend, you have to face the music and go back to the new life. Suck it up.

Toothless

We decided to take a little trip down to Arkansas to visit our friends and family. We miss them so! With a new baby on the way, we know it's our last chance to see everyone for a while.

The trip was especially eventful for Mathew. He lost a tooth!

And then during a wrestling match outside of Einsteins Bagels with his dad, he lost another!


Whoah! Cover that up, dude!


He's "in the money".