Thursday, August 28, 2008
The ER
So, I spent some time yesterday morning in the ER. When I was up at 2 a.m. feeding Trevin, I had this sharp pain in my right side. I didn't think too much of it, instead took 2 tylenol, and went back to bed. Then, after I got Mackenzie up & off to the bus, I ate some breakfast and about 7 a.m. had the same pain, only worse this time. It was pretty painful, and I had a hard time catching my breath. As I was trying to figure out what was going on, I thought to call my sister to ask her about gall bladder attacks. After I got off the phone with her, I was pretty sure it was probably that. I called Tom, and told him to come home so he could take me to the ER. I wanted to make sure that it was indeed my gall bladder & not something else. As I waited for him to get home, the pain got worse, and I had trouble breathing again. But, just after he got home and got the kids in the car & ready to go, it went away almost as quickly as it had come! So, by the time we got to the ER, I was actually fine, which was probably good cuz the ER was SLOW! Anyways, after having blood drawn, x-rays taken, and an ultrasound done, the doctor said I do in fact have gall stones, but nothing that requires surgery right away. I guess that's good, but on the other hand, it also means I could have more attacks at any time?! I think I just need to watch what I eat to help make sure I don't have more of them any time soon. We'll see...but since gall bladder problems are hereditary, I'm guessing my "luck" isn't so good since both my mom & sister have had theirs out! I did find out that I have a urinary tract infection as well which I had NO IDEA I had! Interesting....
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Busy!
I forgot to mention that we finally joined a church down here a week ago Sunday. It feels like it's taken a long time, but I guess it hasn't been THAT long. The church is Cropwell Baptist Church. It's smaller than Wallen (our church in Ft. Wayne), and definitely more conservative, but I really like it. The girls have already made new friends, and Camden of course is just along for whatever :)
We've also been busy at the new house. We have been working on picking out light fixtures and plumbing stuff. Tom also took 2 vacation days this week to work on painting. Our new neighbor is a HUGE help...he paints as a hobby, so he's got some guys helping us out as well. The brick is done, and they've started on the tile floors in the bathrooms. Sorry I don't have pictures, but things are continuing to move along.
Trevin had his 2 week check-up, and he's already gained a pound! He weighed just over 8 lbs. He is continuing to do well, and is usually up 2 times each night to eat. He's starting to have "awake" time in the evenings after the other kids go to bed, so I get to sit & enjoy him by myself usually when the apartment is quiet.
It's getting late, and I must get to bed!
We've also been busy at the new house. We have been working on picking out light fixtures and plumbing stuff. Tom also took 2 vacation days this week to work on painting. Our new neighbor is a HUGE help...he paints as a hobby, so he's got some guys helping us out as well. The brick is done, and they've started on the tile floors in the bathrooms. Sorry I don't have pictures, but things are continuing to move along.
Trevin had his 2 week check-up, and he's already gained a pound! He weighed just over 8 lbs. He is continuing to do well, and is usually up 2 times each night to eat. He's starting to have "awake" time in the evenings after the other kids go to bed, so I get to sit & enjoy him by myself usually when the apartment is quiet.
It's getting late, and I must get to bed!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
What we've been up to
Boy, time flies when you have 4 kids! It's been almost a week already since I posted last. Below is a bunch of pics of stuff we've been up to...
Trevin had his first bath. He did really well, and barely cried
The drywall is done at the house, so there is dust everywhere!! Camden threw a fit at one point & laid down on the floor, so he was covered in white dust!
Most of the interior doors are installed now as well, and they're working on the trim
Tom got a package in the mail today, so he let the kids play with the popcorn packaging. What a mess!! I let him clean it all up!
Lastly, one more picture of sweet little Trevin :)
Trevin had his first bath. He did really well, and barely cried
The drywall is done at the house, so there is dust everywhere!! Camden threw a fit at one point & laid down on the floor, so he was covered in white dust!
Most of the interior doors are installed now as well, and they're working on the trim
Tom got a package in the mail today, so he let the kids play with the popcorn packaging. What a mess!! I let him clean it all up!
Lastly, one more picture of sweet little Trevin :)
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
More pics
It's been an interesting few days since we've come home from the hospital, but we're doing well.
On Monday I had to take Trevin back to the doctor to have his bilirubin level checked, and it turned out OK, so we don't see the doctor again until his 2 week check-up.
Camden woke up from his nap Monday afternoon with a fever, so we alternated tylenol & motrin through the evening & night (a rough night for Camden!!) and I ended up taking him to the doctor yesterday. His tonsils are HUGE and he was miserable yesterday. We got a prescription for antibiotics, and today he is doing MUCH better. He's smiling and back to his happier self thankfully.
Here's some more pictures of the kids:
On Monday I had to take Trevin back to the doctor to have his bilirubin level checked, and it turned out OK, so we don't see the doctor again until his 2 week check-up.
Camden woke up from his nap Monday afternoon with a fever, so we alternated tylenol & motrin through the evening & night (a rough night for Camden!!) and I ended up taking him to the doctor yesterday. His tonsils are HUGE and he was miserable yesterday. We got a prescription for antibiotics, and today he is doing MUCH better. He's smiling and back to his happier self thankfully.
Here's some more pictures of the kids:
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
The Story
So here’s the scoop on today’s adventure….
As Tom mentioned, I decided to try some castor oil last night to see if that would help get things moving with this baby :)
It all started around 3:45 this morning. I woke up to what I was pretty sure was a contraction. I was a little excited, but didn’t dare get my hopes up. I then proceeded to use the bathroom and a little bit later had another contraction. After a couple contractions, I decided to try timing them. They were about 6-8 minutes apart – no big deal I thought. I sat around for a while until Tom got up for work. When he got up, I told him I’d been having contractions for about an hour & of course he panicked a little. He was ready to leave ASAP, but with my previous experience of my labors being kinda slow, I told him we could wait until we dropped Mackenzie off at school & then head to the hospital. So, he got ready, I packed my bag, and we waited till it was time to get Mackenzie up & ready for school. (It was now around 6:20 a.m. & we didn’t need to get Kenzie up till 7:00)
Anyways, as I was sitting on the couch, Tom said he thought we should see how far apart the contractions were now. So, I said OK, and at the next contraction, Tom panicked when it was only 4 minutes from the last one. He said “we’re leaving right now, we don’t have time to wait on Mackenzie” So I agreed & told him to take the suitcase out to the car then come & get his parents up so they could get Mackenzie off to school. Well, when Tom went out to the car, I had another contraction & my water broke! Here’s where I had my first inkling of panic. You see, it’s a 40 min. drive to the hospital. So, I headed down to the Mustang & off we went.
We got on I-20 & after about 10 minutes, the contractions were coming much closer together & getting REALLY painful. I was getting to a point where I couldn’t breathe through them very well. I tried to call my doctor’s office to let them know we were on the way, but was in so much pain that I just hung up because I couldn’t write down the number to call for the on-call doctor. I handed the phone to Tom and told him to call 911 because I wasn’t sure we were gonna make it to the hospital. Especially since we were heading into Birmingham right in time for rush hour traffic. So, he spent the rest of the trip to the hospital on the phone with a 911 dispatcher who was prepared to have someone meet us on the interstate if we got caught in traffic since it felt like things were moving really fast.
In the meantime, Tom was driving ridiculously fast! I had no idea till later that he actually got up to 110 on the interstate! Good thing I didn’t know at the time. Anyways, we made it to the hospital (I think around 7:20 – 7:25a.m.) & pulled up to the ER, Tom ran inside, & got a doctor who came out to help. When he found out this was our 4th, he was like “CRAP, get a gurney out here NOW!!” So they ran me in, checked me & the doctor said I wasn’t completely dilated, so I asked if I could get an epidural. He said no, I was way beyond that, but he was just glad I wasn’t going to deliver right that second. He said labor & delivery was on their way down to get me. He proceeded to tell me his name along with all the nurses, to which I responded “don’t bother to tell me your names, I’m not gonna remember & I don’t care.” Kinda funny I suppose….I was just in a ton of pain!!
Labor & Delivery showed up about 20 seconds later, the nurse checked me, said I was about 9 ½ cm, but she thought they could get me up to the 3rd floor to deliver. SO, 3 nurses all took off with my bed, literally running through the hallways. The tricky part is that the ER is actually in what they call the south tower of the hospital. They needed to get me to the women & children’s bldg. of the hospital. So, it was not a quick trip up the elevator to the 3rd floor. They had to run the entire length of the hospital to the next bldg, then up the elevator & down to labor & delivery. Meanwhile, as they were running, I started feeling that urge to push, so I was screaming my head off! I’ve never been in so much pain in my life, and I kept thinking I was gonna deliver this baby in some hallway somewhere. The nurses kept telling me to breathe, don’t push, we’re almost there. I was bawling, screaming, and stressing!! They called ahead & said to make sure a room was ready for me to deliver as soon as we got there. They wheeled me into a room, moved me to the bed, and the next contraction I started pushing. Some OB doctor who happened to be in the hallway as we came running through came in to help until the dr. who was on call from my office could get there. After about 3 pushes, my on-call dr. came in & took over. It was so painful to push that I just kept crying & saying I couldn’t do it. The nurses were still all rushing around getting everything ready to deliver & a couple of them were on either side of me talking me through each contraction & telling me I had to push. I kept saying I couldn’t cuz it hurt too much (I even asked if they couldn’t just reach in & get the baby out!) but I did my best to keep pushing through the immense pain. Finally after what seemed forever, but I guess was really only about 10 minutes, I felt the head crown & the next push, out little boy was out! (7:42 a.m.) I thought the pain would immediately stop, but it didn’t. They cleaned him up & put him on my chest, but I was in so much pain, I told them just to take him away. I couldn’t even hardly focus to look at him or enjoy him. I felt so bad, but after they delivered the placenta, the pain finally came down to a bearable level.
When it was all said & done, he came out face up, which the doctor explained was actually a good thing in this case. It’s harder to deliver that way (takes longer for the baby to come out), and if he had been face down, she said I never would have made it to the hospital & I definitely would have delivered out along the interstate somewhere. And that also explains why it was so painful. Evidently it’s not as painful to deliver when they’re face down like normal. Who knew….but I would NEVER sign up for natural childbirth again after this experience!! I feel like I “survived” the experience. I feel just fine now, and we’re both doing great. He’s been nursing great every 3 hours, and is very content.
And as for his stats: he weighed 7 lbs 5 oz, 20 ½ in. long. We’re still working on a name. We’ll let you know as soon as we decide!
Grandma & Grandpa Palmer brought the kids up to the hospital this afternoon for a while, and the girls were excited about their brother. Camden did really well, too. He didn’t seem bothered at all about the baby…went right up to him, pointed & tried to say “baby”. He smiled, stared, and touched his head really sweetly! We’ll see what he thinks when baby comes home!
As Tom mentioned, I decided to try some castor oil last night to see if that would help get things moving with this baby :)
It all started around 3:45 this morning. I woke up to what I was pretty sure was a contraction. I was a little excited, but didn’t dare get my hopes up. I then proceeded to use the bathroom and a little bit later had another contraction. After a couple contractions, I decided to try timing them. They were about 6-8 minutes apart – no big deal I thought. I sat around for a while until Tom got up for work. When he got up, I told him I’d been having contractions for about an hour & of course he panicked a little. He was ready to leave ASAP, but with my previous experience of my labors being kinda slow, I told him we could wait until we dropped Mackenzie off at school & then head to the hospital. So, he got ready, I packed my bag, and we waited till it was time to get Mackenzie up & ready for school. (It was now around 6:20 a.m. & we didn’t need to get Kenzie up till 7:00)
Anyways, as I was sitting on the couch, Tom said he thought we should see how far apart the contractions were now. So, I said OK, and at the next contraction, Tom panicked when it was only 4 minutes from the last one. He said “we’re leaving right now, we don’t have time to wait on Mackenzie” So I agreed & told him to take the suitcase out to the car then come & get his parents up so they could get Mackenzie off to school. Well, when Tom went out to the car, I had another contraction & my water broke! Here’s where I had my first inkling of panic. You see, it’s a 40 min. drive to the hospital. So, I headed down to the Mustang & off we went.
We got on I-20 & after about 10 minutes, the contractions were coming much closer together & getting REALLY painful. I was getting to a point where I couldn’t breathe through them very well. I tried to call my doctor’s office to let them know we were on the way, but was in so much pain that I just hung up because I couldn’t write down the number to call for the on-call doctor. I handed the phone to Tom and told him to call 911 because I wasn’t sure we were gonna make it to the hospital. Especially since we were heading into Birmingham right in time for rush hour traffic. So, he spent the rest of the trip to the hospital on the phone with a 911 dispatcher who was prepared to have someone meet us on the interstate if we got caught in traffic since it felt like things were moving really fast.
In the meantime, Tom was driving ridiculously fast! I had no idea till later that he actually got up to 110 on the interstate! Good thing I didn’t know at the time. Anyways, we made it to the hospital (I think around 7:20 – 7:25a.m.) & pulled up to the ER, Tom ran inside, & got a doctor who came out to help. When he found out this was our 4th, he was like “CRAP, get a gurney out here NOW!!” So they ran me in, checked me & the doctor said I wasn’t completely dilated, so I asked if I could get an epidural. He said no, I was way beyond that, but he was just glad I wasn’t going to deliver right that second. He said labor & delivery was on their way down to get me. He proceeded to tell me his name along with all the nurses, to which I responded “don’t bother to tell me your names, I’m not gonna remember & I don’t care.” Kinda funny I suppose….I was just in a ton of pain!!
Labor & Delivery showed up about 20 seconds later, the nurse checked me, said I was about 9 ½ cm, but she thought they could get me up to the 3rd floor to deliver. SO, 3 nurses all took off with my bed, literally running through the hallways. The tricky part is that the ER is actually in what they call the south tower of the hospital. They needed to get me to the women & children’s bldg. of the hospital. So, it was not a quick trip up the elevator to the 3rd floor. They had to run the entire length of the hospital to the next bldg, then up the elevator & down to labor & delivery. Meanwhile, as they were running, I started feeling that urge to push, so I was screaming my head off! I’ve never been in so much pain in my life, and I kept thinking I was gonna deliver this baby in some hallway somewhere. The nurses kept telling me to breathe, don’t push, we’re almost there. I was bawling, screaming, and stressing!! They called ahead & said to make sure a room was ready for me to deliver as soon as we got there. They wheeled me into a room, moved me to the bed, and the next contraction I started pushing. Some OB doctor who happened to be in the hallway as we came running through came in to help until the dr. who was on call from my office could get there. After about 3 pushes, my on-call dr. came in & took over. It was so painful to push that I just kept crying & saying I couldn’t do it. The nurses were still all rushing around getting everything ready to deliver & a couple of them were on either side of me talking me through each contraction & telling me I had to push. I kept saying I couldn’t cuz it hurt too much (I even asked if they couldn’t just reach in & get the baby out!) but I did my best to keep pushing through the immense pain. Finally after what seemed forever, but I guess was really only about 10 minutes, I felt the head crown & the next push, out little boy was out! (7:42 a.m.) I thought the pain would immediately stop, but it didn’t. They cleaned him up & put him on my chest, but I was in so much pain, I told them just to take him away. I couldn’t even hardly focus to look at him or enjoy him. I felt so bad, but after they delivered the placenta, the pain finally came down to a bearable level.
When it was all said & done, he came out face up, which the doctor explained was actually a good thing in this case. It’s harder to deliver that way (takes longer for the baby to come out), and if he had been face down, she said I never would have made it to the hospital & I definitely would have delivered out along the interstate somewhere. And that also explains why it was so painful. Evidently it’s not as painful to deliver when they’re face down like normal. Who knew….but I would NEVER sign up for natural childbirth again after this experience!! I feel like I “survived” the experience. I feel just fine now, and we’re both doing great. He’s been nursing great every 3 hours, and is very content.
And as for his stats: he weighed 7 lbs 5 oz, 20 ½ in. long. We’re still working on a name. We’ll let you know as soon as we decide!
Grandma & Grandpa Palmer brought the kids up to the hospital this afternoon for a while, and the girls were excited about their brother. Camden did really well, too. He didn’t seem bothered at all about the baby…went right up to him, pointed & tried to say “baby”. He smiled, stared, and touched his head really sweetly! We’ll see what he thinks when baby comes home!
110 mph Mad Dash
Ruth will give you the scoop here in a little bit, in the meantime, take a look at some more pictures..
Thursday, August 7, 2008
1st day of school! (& baby update)
Mackenzie is off to school today! She got on the bus bright & early at 6:30 this morning all excited. Here's a picture:
On Tuesday, we got to go see her classroom & meet her teacher. Here's a picture of her with her teacher, Mrs. Abbott:
Now, on to baby news....well, unfortunately, no news really. I had a doctor's visit yesterday, and still nothing is happening! :(
They did an ultrasound to make sure all my fluid levels were OK, and everything looks fine, so we sit & wait....
Now that Tom's parents are here to help, I'm extremely anxious to have this baby, BUT I'd love to start labor on my own this time, so we've decided to try to hold off being induced. However, if nothing happens, I am scheduled to be induced next Wednesday (the 13th). So, I'd love for everyone to PRAY that I go sooner!!! Keep in mind that while we wait (patiently??) there are 4 adults & 3 kids in this 2 bedroom apartment!!! Along with the 98 degree weather outside that our air conditioner can NOT keep up with. Life is fun :)
Thanks for checking in, and we'll let you know how Mackenzie's first day of school was!
On Tuesday, we got to go see her classroom & meet her teacher. Here's a picture of her with her teacher, Mrs. Abbott:
Now, on to baby news....well, unfortunately, no news really. I had a doctor's visit yesterday, and still nothing is happening! :(
They did an ultrasound to make sure all my fluid levels were OK, and everything looks fine, so we sit & wait....
Now that Tom's parents are here to help, I'm extremely anxious to have this baby, BUT I'd love to start labor on my own this time, so we've decided to try to hold off being induced. However, if nothing happens, I am scheduled to be induced next Wednesday (the 13th). So, I'd love for everyone to PRAY that I go sooner!!! Keep in mind that while we wait (patiently??) there are 4 adults & 3 kids in this 2 bedroom apartment!!! Along with the 98 degree weather outside that our air conditioner can NOT keep up with. Life is fun :)
Thanks for checking in, and we'll let you know how Mackenzie's first day of school was!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
More Photos of new house
Here are some more pics of the house if interested. The vapor barrier is on, roof completed, front door installed, plumbing, HVAC, & electrical rough-in completed, & the windows are waiting to be installed in on Monday. The dinning room window was dropped & destroyed by the vendor but this shouldn't delay progress since this is the area that will have vinyl siding.
Kitchen pantry:
Bonus room above garage:
View of laundry room & garage from kitchen:
Front bedroom:
Hall to master bedroom:
Basement:
Camden loves just dinking around the house.
Great room facing foyer:
Talking Boy & BIG Red
Camden is finally making an effort to talk now. One of the first word he said, besides "daddy" is "flower", which seems like a strange word to learn. Mackenzie encouraged him to say "flower". He also trys to say "doggy" and "ball".
We have seen some new insects. The ants are ridiculous and are everywhere. Check out this mammoth ant. It's about 1 inch long with red fuzzy hair. A few of these boogers were running all over our new house. They are very fast and hard to smash. Has anyone ever seen an ant like this?
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Updates
I don't have pictures right this minute, but I wanted to give some updates of what's going on around here.
The girls have been at grandma & grandpa Palmer's this week. Tom met them last Saturday at Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. They enjoyed the park, then stayed overnight & then Tom headed back home with Camden while the girls headed north. They are even enjoying (I'm sure) a vacation with others from Tom's family at Pokagon state park in Indiana. We sure miss being able to be there, too!!
They should be heading all the way down here to Alabama either Mon. or Tues. & Tom's parents will stay until baby comes :)
Meanwhile, Camden has been enjoying "mommy time" all week. I think he misses the girls, but I also think he really enjoys having me all to himself. I think he's in for a rude awakening when baby comes!
So, on to the house....
we've been waiting all week for the windows to come in. They were a week late, which means that put us another week behind schedule. They did finally get to Home Depot yesterday, BUT not w/o a mishap. Evidently as they were loading them onto carts for delivery, one of them got dropped & the window broke! Figures....luckily it's one that won't hold up getting the brick done this week.
With that said, the roof is all done now, the front door is in, and the elecrical, plumbing & HVAC are all roughed in. This week they are going to put the windows in, do the brick work, and start insulation & drywall. Should be fun to see the progress.
I guess that's about it. Unfortunately I have no news as far as baby is concerned, but I still feel really good!
The girls have been at grandma & grandpa Palmer's this week. Tom met them last Saturday at Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. They enjoyed the park, then stayed overnight & then Tom headed back home with Camden while the girls headed north. They are even enjoying (I'm sure) a vacation with others from Tom's family at Pokagon state park in Indiana. We sure miss being able to be there, too!!
They should be heading all the way down here to Alabama either Mon. or Tues. & Tom's parents will stay until baby comes :)
Meanwhile, Camden has been enjoying "mommy time" all week. I think he misses the girls, but I also think he really enjoys having me all to himself. I think he's in for a rude awakening when baby comes!
So, on to the house....
we've been waiting all week for the windows to come in. They were a week late, which means that put us another week behind schedule. They did finally get to Home Depot yesterday, BUT not w/o a mishap. Evidently as they were loading them onto carts for delivery, one of them got dropped & the window broke! Figures....luckily it's one that won't hold up getting the brick done this week.
With that said, the roof is all done now, the front door is in, and the elecrical, plumbing & HVAC are all roughed in. This week they are going to put the windows in, do the brick work, and start insulation & drywall. Should be fun to see the progress.
I guess that's about it. Unfortunately I have no news as far as baby is concerned, but I still feel really good!
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