2 week check up

Evelyn had a good 2 week checkup today. She weighed 10 lb 10 oz and was 22" long. That is two pounds in two weeks! She is trying to keep up with Joshua and is so far being successful :-) She had a pku test and a general 'looking over' and everything looks good.

Joshua and Mira enjoyed Memaw and Grandad's company these past three days. They were out to help and they did a great job of it! Memaw even took Joshua ice skating today and I think both of them had a great time. The kids got lots of outside play time and went to the park a couple of times, too. Jason and I went to Joshua's back to school night on Tuesday and he will start back at pre-school on Wednesday of next week. He is very excited.

Mira has decided she can get out of bed whenever she wants to on her own now. So, last night at 4am she came into our room, that was a bit of a surprise. The kids were all terrible sleepers last night and it seemed like we had a full moon or something! But, we are hoping for a better night tonight.

Teeth and Bath

Evelyn enjoyed her first bath at home yesterday. She lost her umbilical cord the night before. She was calm through most of it but started getting fussy towards the end. Afterwards, she took a nice long nap :-)

Mira has two new molars on top and two more on the bottom. She has been working on cutting these teeth for a while so I am glad they are finally mostly in and the hard part that has made her uncomfortable for weeks is passed. She again pooped in the potty today so that is going great. We just have her run around naked on the bottom at home. We'll try panties again soon.

Joshua continues to be lovey, dovey with EJ. He has his moments with Mira. Sometimes they get along, other times they take their frustrations out on each other. He is looking forward to a hair cut (soon) and school starting on Sept 2. He'll be going three days a week this year with the same teacher as last year.

Good Thing!

Evelyn's official due date is still 2 days away. I can't imagine if she had stayed in that long. I still believe that her due date was incorrect.

She is doing great. No more choking incidents and she is sleeping well. I have been waking her in the middle of the night to nurse. Maybe tonight I will just see when she wakes on her own. The kids played in their room until 7 am this morning giving Jason and I a little time to 'sleep in' It was nice. I am just not ready to wake at 5:15 most days.

The house has not fallen down around us yet but Jason is still home helping out. One more week and then I am 'on my own.' I think my parents are planning to come out for a week to help then so that will be good. We'll postpone the inevitable one more week :-)

Mira is getting back on track with potty. She took herself to the potty to poop yesterday and today. Huge milestones for her! Good job, baby girl!

Visitors are welcome whenever you would like to come meet Eva.

Sleep

Miss Evelyn is a pretty good sleeper and a very good eater. She was VERY happy that the milk has arrived! Last night was our first attempt at not watching her constantly. She had been about 24 hours without incident and the spit ups that did happen did not choke her. I set an alarm and checked her every hour, I even had to wake her up to eat!! But it went well and Jason and I were both able to sleep about 6 hours at the same time in the same bed. Ah the little things.

Joshua has taken to calling our littlest bundle 'Baby Joy'. It is a cute nickname. She has lots already! He said we can't call her Baby Girl since that is Mira's nickname so we'll have to avoid that one (according to Josh anyway!)

Time to get things going!

How things are going

We are getting settled in at home. Evelyn came home on Wednesday around lunch time. Joshua and Mira were excited to have Mommy and Daddy home and to see their new little sister again. Mira has been responding better than I expected. She has not ignored me and she is starting to be helpful with Eva already. She throws diapers in the trash, gives baby wipes and I even saw her put a blanket from her new baby doll on Eva. Joshua can't get enough of 'his baby sister, she is so cute.' He likes to touch her and give her kisses. He has been asking lots of questions and letting us know her needs. My favorite so far was, 'Mommy I think she needs to be breast fed.'

The past two days have been mostly taking care of the most basic needs: eating, sleeping, dressing, play and exercise. The kids are managing well even with the disruption in routines and visitors. We are trying to keep on top of hugs and snuggles. Eva has been keeping us on our toes. She has been having a bit of a difficult time clearing the fluid and mucus from birth and we have discussed this with her pediatrician and it should resolve itself. Unfortunately, until she does clear this we do not feel comfortable taking our eyes off of her. So, Jason and I are taking turns sleeping and watching Eva. I will breath a sigh of relief (and yawn a bit less) as soon as this part is behind us.

Evelyn's first pediatric visit went well and she is scheduled to go back in two weeks. She is a happy camper now that the milk is in. She sleeps for about two hours at a time, this evening was longer. She has long periods of alertness where she looks around and takes in all the sounds of the house. Her weight is down to 8 lb 10 oz but now that she has more to eat, I am sure that is going to go up quickly.

Mira's weight is up to 22 lbs as of this morning. I think her dr. is pleased with her recent gain so we should not have to followup in any other ways. We have felt that her growth and development is on track but she is just small. She keeps us smiling and jumping up with all her antics.

It's A Girl!

Evelyn Joy arrived on Monday night at 10:43pm. She weighed 9 lbs 2 oz at delivery and was 21.25" long, surprising EVERYONE! My last belly measurement put her at 36 weeks, they estimated she was 38 weeks 5 days based on my 'due date' so she was hiding in there very well! Eva is doing well now but a little mucousy from the quick delivery.

My water broke at 7:15 pm Sunday evening while putting Mira to bed after a big storm. Since Josh & Mira both came quickly after my water broke we rushed off to the hospital. But, since nothing started happening (no contractions) we didn't actually go in the hospital but opted to stay nearby at a hotel, just in case. The hospital is 40 min from our home. Monday morning we saw our OB and he determined since the amniotic fluid levels were low it was time to deliver, he met us at the hospital at noon. At 1ish he applied a cream to help start labor, it worked only it was slow at by 8pm I was still only 3 cm and 75% effaced. At 9:30 he broke my water, AGAIN, and things really picked up. I labored for another hour with contractions that intensified with each subsequent one. By 10:30 I thought I couldn't do it anymore the pain was out of this world but only 3 more contractions and I was able to push. It took about 3 pushes to get her out and then at 10:43pm she was here!

We are so thrilled that she has arrived to complete our family. Joshua and Mira met her yesterday and are doing great so far. Memaw and Grandad and Aunt Jill were at our home watching over them.

The Sickness

Mira has picked up the fever, sore throat and cough that is going around our area and at one point had a fever of 103.5 last night. That was fun. I learned that the cut off for going to the ER for fever at her age is 105. It came down to 101.5 by the time I put her to bed and then was in the 99's again this morning. We are keeping her full of tylonal and watching her symptoms carefully but she is acting a bit better today and her fever is definitely down today.

Unfortunately, Jason and I missed our date night last night. Guess we'll have to reschedule? Not sure when that will happen. We ordered carryout and started a movie with our dinner at 9 last night. Guess that's the way the cookie crumbles.

I hope that the little bit of sick I am feeling goes away quickly so that it won't be a problem if the baby comes soon. Looks like we'll be making it to the next appt on Tuesday. Maybe Dr. Thompson will actually deliver this baby.

OB Appt

So, pretty much nothing has changed since the last appointment. I am not effaced and still only 1 cm and posterior. Looks like it won't be anytime soon. My next appt is Tues. I also lost 2 pounds but I did the same with Joshua so I am not worried.

Next: walks and naps with the kids.

13 days and counting

I actually didn't think I would make it this far. I have an ob appointment this morning and we'll see how things are progressing along there. Tuesday was very uncomfortable with lots of contractions but then since then everything has been VERY quiet. Baby Tres still seems to be a mover and shaker and likes to do gymnastics in the evening. Makes it look like I have Alien in my belly and not a human baby.

Josh, Mira and I are getting lots of time to play and read since I am not really getting out much, the weather has been hot and I've been told not to do the work in the basement that I would like to. The to do lists are mostly done and now I am looking for fun ways for us to occupy ourselves. We've been trying to make it to the pool every day. They both love to swim. In fact, Jason and I were pushing Mira between us the other day and she was kind of going under water a bit on the way and she just kept asking for more. Joshua loves to jump in off the side now and swims either on his own or with the tube floaty.

I think a walk may be out for us this morning since it is rainy but maybe we'll replace it with a walk around the mall near the OB.

Copy Cat

In preparation for Baby Tres' arrival we got out our large exercise ball and it was in the living room this morning when the kids came downstairs. Before I could stop him Joshua jumped on, bounced a couple of times and bounced off into a pokey toy hurting himself. Upon falling off he cried out and cried in pain. He was snuggling with me on the couch when Mira walked up to the ball, started bouncing her hands and body on it and the dramatically fell over with 'Owie, Owie, Ow.' What a drama queen.

Stuff and Nonsense

Joshua, Mira and I ran errands this morning and lo and behold I am sure my blood pressure is normal! They both did great and we are finishing up with lunch now. Then on to stories and naps. They are both probably loving mommy pregnant time right now since they are enjoying ice cream with lunch :-)

Joshua is recovering from a bout of asthma induced coughing. He was really bad last week to the point where I was amazed he had time to eat food between coughs. We started him on the nebulizer, took him to the dr and then treated him twice a day with his albuterol. He is doing a lot better and the coughing is only sporadic at this point. Joshua's behavior has improved with our parenting regroup from a couple of weeks ago now. We spend time playing one on one with him for 15 min intervals throughout the day (we try for 4) and also get him outside to exercise at least 2 30 min at a time. It seems to be working. The play time seems to be like an investment and the outside time is just necessary so that we don't pull our hair out when he starts getting hyper.

Mira is a bit of a terror right now with climbing EVERYWHERE and hanging off of things. It is hard to make even our safe places safe for her. She has added 'snack' to her list of words. It is African sounding: A nasally 'na' followed by her clicking her tongue.

I have only 16 more days left. I would be surprised to make it two more weeks but weirder things have happened. The baby is moving like crazy and has dropped pretty low. A lot of people are guessing boy so I guess we need to think about a boy name again. I got a couple of books from the library. Before Joshua & Mira I had contractions that built up and tapered off in the days before delivery. So, I guess I will look for that sign again. Everything for the baby is pretty much done. The basement playroom is starting to finally take shape and I am feeling a lot more comfortable with the prospect of bringing baby home. Labor, of course, still is not a pleasant thought.

Baby Guessing Game

Back by popular demand! Guess the due date, size and gender of Baby Tres