Blessing

A few weeks ago we blessed Bean, it was a very nice day and we enjoyed family that were able to come and support us.  These past few month have not been the easiest but we are so grateful for all the prayers and fast that have been in our behave.  I know that we have been watched over and given special help.

 LE was giving a 'special' dress along with Beans 'special' outfit.  It is pink since she wanted to name Bean Pink before he was born.  She dosen't like to smile and look at the camera these days.

 Proud Grandparents

Great Grandpa, what a guy.  He is 96 and still drives, remolds homes, and goes fishing.  It was special to have him come down to see Bean.  

 

 LE getting better at holding Bean.  We must say, she is such a good helper, and when I say that I mean a real helper.  She will run and get his pacifier if he is crying.  If he spits up she will get a brup cloth, and is always willing to help give him a bath. We are very happy she loves Bean and wants to help him so much.

  Look at those two handsome guys :) So glad to have them both in my life.

 We were very excited it was such a nice day, so that family could eat outside. 

Baby and House Update

It was brought to our attention that we have not posted for some time, and quite a few things have happened.  Bean is almost 2 months old, and he has a great big sister.  Maybe next post will have some fun videos of the two interacting.  I'm sure if LE was writting this post it would go something like this... "I like baby brother most of the time, but he takes my mom away several times a day." When she first saw him she smiled and started playing around.  The first time we gave Bean a bath, LE went wild, and was litteraly bouncing off the walls.  It sure is nice that we aren't going to the NICU any more.  Bean is not crazy fragile anymore, but he is still a newborn so we are being cautious about exposing him to the world.

Lets get to what you really care about, pictures.

The first day at our new house we said LE could run through the sprinklers.  She stripped down and streaked around the house.  I guess we are a classic example of "weird-neighbors-moved-in" phenomenon.

The people before us gave up on yard work, and we didn't start for a bit so our grass in the back got up to a foot and a half long.  This is LE holding up a flower.  You can barely see her.

We had the actual birthday, and a month later, the day we felt that we had a baby.  This is us leaving the hospital about three weeks ago.

We had to get a special car seat to handle babies under 5lbs for the drive home.  To answer your question, no the car seat is the same size as a regular one, the contents are just a bit smaller.

We have pictures of him scrunched in Ry's benie, but he wasn't too happy, so we went with this one.  Ry also has a huge head, so that may throw off the picture.

LE likes being a big sister.  Most of the time she is very soft.

We have learned that the catch position is much better than the hug position (as seen above) for when LE wants to hold Shane.  Don't you like the white shirt and tie?  Ba is opposed to white socks but does that apply if you don't wear pants?

As you can see LE likes to help feed Bean.

Ry has found this new hobbie to hidding Bean in random places like on top of the fridge.

The first time we used the phrase "Go outside and play" LE fell off the monkey bars and sprained her foot.  We happy that she isn't scared to try new things, but that could be bad.

"That boy is a rock star"

Barb, the head nurse that is in charge of all 50+ babies in the NICU, told us that Bean was a rock star.  We didn't realize this until we went to a discharge class, and everyone was expressing how things were not going very well.  Bean has been doing great.  So good as a matter of fact, that he is now living at our apartment.  That will change in a week when we move to our house, but that is just a technicality.  One senior nurse said she can only think of a few babies out of several hundred that were able to go home at 35 weeks.  We are happy that the driving has ended, but a little sad the sleepless nights are beginning.

There are several things to consider when dealing with a premature baby that are  little different than full term babies...

1. They have no immune system.  This means that if Bean gets sick, a visit to the hospital is certain (and that is best case scenario).  This is why we are discouraging visitors right now.

2. They don't have very much energy.  Just eating gets Bean exhausted.  Most babies eat until they are full, but Bean gets too tired to eat until he is tired.  Just holding him tires him out, and we want all those extra calories to go to weight gain (wouldn't that be nice if we all had that problem).  This is why we are discouraging visitors right now.

3. They like to have their hands by their faces.  No burrito wrap for Bean.

4. They can't be bounced or stroked.  They get soothed by just holding.

5. They have a hard time breathing.  Bean has to have his chin up and head straight, otherwise, he starts to have a hard time breathing and it takes a lot of effort (See note 2).

Even though you may not see us for two months, we can answer our phones, and we still like you.  We just need to be paranoid parents and make sure Bean has a good start to life.  Bring out the soap and disinfectant.

Fragile

Quick update for those who are interested...

We have other things to post about like our anniversary, Ry surfing, and our house purchase, but those will have to wait until we aren't so tired...

Bean is doing well, but he is still very slender.  It is quite the task just to get him out of his incubator for mom or dad to hold him once a day.  It is tough, but we are happy that we get to hold him instead of just poking our hands through his incubator.

He is weighing in at around 4 lbs which is slightly above his birth weight.  We are excited, but it is still crazy to think that Ry has eaten burritos that are bigger than Bean.  He is in coasting mode until he is able to maintain his body temperature, eat every three hours from mom, and have a constant weight growth.  Not a whole ton to update really.  

The snuggle fest is the best!

Bean

Our child has really made it big in life and has become a real person because he now has a blog name.  The only thing left is a Facebook account, and then a few smaller things like a social security number and birth certificate.  We were going to call him Little Ricky (what we called him before he was born), but Ry keeps slipping and calls him that anyway.  Bean really does suit him well for now because that is what he looks like.  I guess you can be the judge of that one.

This also helps to show how big he is compared to Ry's hand.  Ry does have big hands, but that is still a little guy.  He doesn't even fit into his own skin on his thighs.

The biggest obstacle to breaking free of his "plastic egg" (incubator) is getting his eating figured out.  He has a feed tube that goes into his stomach.  We are happy to announce that he no longer receives any other supplements except for momma's milk.  I really don't think he will have a problem gaining weight, especially when I looked back at others who have had that very same diet.

LE had rolls on her rolls, and could really compete for baby sumo.  Her thighs were so big, she got stuck in her bumbo.

Pumping is not very fun, but we do all sorts of unpleasant things for those we love.  We have to give Bean a binky when we let the milk drain into him so he starts to learn that sucking means happy tummy.  As you can see, when we keep him fed, he sure is happy.

"Milk Coma"

The closest thing to a smile that we have documented

It is common for babies to lose weight after they are born.  Bean dropped to 3 lb 4 oz, but is starting to climb on the charts.  Since these photos were taken, he has also had all but two of his chords, and pipes detached.

Getting some sun

The nurses were not sure at first, but we found out we don't have a pneumonia issue, so that is good.  He does have jaundice so he needs to catch his rays.  It happens to a lot of new people, so that is not too crazy.  He will probably have to bring a "light suit" home with him when he comes.  They rotate him every half hour in the "sun" to make sure he is taken care of.  

This is a picture of him with his fancy super suit on.  It is mostly a birthday suit, but he does have a nice mask.  Most super heros leave their eye slots open, but I guess he is not really into that.  Hopefully his eyes will mature properly, but it is way too far out to tell that for sure.  If you look closely, you can see that he is pretty furry.

 I do have large fingers, but my ring could definitely work as a bracelet.  The tube by his neck goes into his mouth and into his stomach.  They give him mom's milk when they can, but otherwise they have this sugar/protein/carbo drink for him.  I want to see if I can get some for race days.

Since he is not around, we made a little corner of the house for the little tyke.  With LE we just put her in the corner of the living room, so it is not too odd that he gets a corner of the kitchen (or is it the dinning room?).

Two new events

The title could also be written "too new", but we will get to that later.  The first item of great interest is that we will most likely be signing on a house in Kaysville at the end of July.  We are pretty excited, and I am sure we are going to be asking many of you for help (shameless plug).

The second item is that we have a new member of our family.  We are just as surprised as you are to hear this news.  Early Friday morning Ba noticed some leaking, so she went to the doctor when the office opened up.  At LDS hospital, the doctors verified that her water was broken.  LDS does not have the facilities to take newborns under 32 weeks and we are at 31.  Our insurance is not accepted at the University hospital, so we were sent down to Murray.  The doctors gave the baby some steroids to help develop his lungs and that helped greatly down the road.  Ba also received a priesthood blessing that we are certain was helpful in this whole process.  We got to Murray around 3:00 pm and nothing was happening which is what the doctors wanted. Until about 10:00pm… 

Ry’s perspective:  I took LE home and put her to bed in the evening and felt I should head back to the hospital.  About 2min before the sitter arrived in Bountiful for LE, a nurse called me and said Ba was having some very severe contractions and was going to receive a C-section to get the baby out.  I drove very fast to the hospital (and if I say very fast, you know that is cookin’) and I may have not obeyed several traffic signals.  Once I arrived I put on some fancy gowns, and watched from a distance as the doctors worked on Ba.  They finally let me go into the room, and I realized that she wasn’t cut wide open, and actually delivered naturally.  This is quite a relieve as far as recovery time goes for Ba.  After being with Ba for about 2min they kicked me out of the room and made me wait for 45min until she was all done.

Ba’s perspective: The doctors checked me at 10:12pm and I was dilated to 1 cm which is technically not in labor.  Shortly after being checked my contractions became very heavy and uncomfortable.  I called the nurse to tell her things were getting rough.  Once they arrived at 10:40 they found I had progressed to a 6 cm.  This is when you are in active labor, and they said I needed to have a C-section because the baby was breached.  I heard an announcement over the intercom for “all hands on deck”.  As they were prepping for the C-section, I thought I needed to push, and the nurses told me to hold back.  I was wheeled into the ER and the babies bottom was poking out.  I heard the doctor say “No C-section today, the baby is on its way.”  The baby was born at 10:50 and I was at a 10 cm.  There were shrapnel pieces of the placenta left so I needed a DC done, and they gave me a spinal tap to do it, but the baby was born natural without any anesthetics.

Bean was born on July 20 (9 weeks early), and weighs in at a husky 3 lbs 13 oz, and 17.5” long.  He has “old man hair” that is brown, and he seems to like hanging out in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU).  He first received oxygen and had this soapy foam stuff to inflate his lungs, but he took that off and decided he didn’t need it anymore.  He can breathe on his own which is nice.  Some other major concerns right now are that his immune and digestive systems develop properly.  He might also have some vision issues, but glasses are a great invention.  It is a slow process and we have been told to expect him in the NICU until his mid September due date.  We will have to change our budget for gas money for a little while.

 Baby with oxygen hook up.

 Baby body size compared to Ry's ring.  It could work as a bracelet.

We like to do this with LE where she holds both our fingers and we swing her around.  We will forgo the swinging for a while.

This will be his substitute for the womb for the next two months?

April

LE likes to sort thing. Ba asked if she would put her diapers away. When Ba come to check on the task, LE had lined the Diapers up on one side and pull-ups on the other.

Easter Egg hunt with some friends in our ward.

Our local food story had a little Easter Fun.  See the Bunny in the back ground... that is as close as LE would get to him.

Dying eggs

She LOVES to dance.  I don't think we go through out a day with out dancing.

Local Easter Egg Hunt.  All I have to say is; Parents are Crazy.  It doesn't matter how much low class candy your kid gets, it all about the fun. The End

Playing with Cousin H

We took 2 year pictures with  a I touch, when you make them big it doesn't turn out as well.  But some sure look cute of LE in her Tutu.

Brought to you by the letter "E" and the number "2"

Two years ago we were blessed with this cute face, and we are so grateful she came to us. She has grown so much and taught us along the way.

This doesn't even look like our LE now.


This is LE last year, don't you just love those four front teeth.

This year for LE birthday she wanted a "Abby" and "Elmo" cake from Sesame Street. Ba had fun making the cakes, which turned out better then she thought.

We had a hard time deciding what would be our families birthday party tradition for the kids. The end result was on even years the kids can have a friends party and they can invite as many friends as their new age.

This year LE invited her good friends from Bountiful. We had a Sesame Street party. We played games that had to do with the letter "E" and the number "2".

The two cute girls LE has so much fun playing with them. It is fun to watch the girls play together, if one does something the other thinks they should do it too, for good or bad.


LE loves to cook, this is why she received a play kitchen for her birthday. She played with it until it was time to go to church, and had a hard time letting go.

Why does this 100 piece box of play food have so much junk food?

She even played while it was time to eat breakfast. She was having so much fun she didn't eat very much.

On Ba side of the family we get together each month for FHE. This is all the grand kids that were able to come in March.

LE got a lot of great gifts for her birthday. The book is the one that we are most excited about, and I'm sure she will to come the third week in September!!!!