Archive for the '35.The Poppy Years' Category

Snuggling

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Eleven days in, and Zoe is still excited about Baby Sister. We had our camera out when she decided to snuggle with Avery the other afternoon; here are our favorite shots.

-M

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30K alert!

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Just FIVE months ago we were writing a 25,000 hit post and now we are approaching 30,000 hits! In honor of this feat, we are going to give another prize to our 30,000th visitor. If you come to the site and see the 30,000 marker at the bottom of the page, you win! Just send us a screen shot of the moment so we can post it and you will receive a surprise.

Also, you can now get to the site by going to either avery.browdy.net or zoeandavery.browdy.net. Thanks for making Zoe and Avery’s site such a hit!

Jon Q

Early update

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Now that Avery’s been home for a few days, I thought I’d post some (early) thoughts about life with a newborn. As mentioned below, I totally forgot how sleep-deprived one can get from having a baby at home! Though Avery has been pretty mellow thus far (she actually cries less than Zoe did, and I thought she was an easy baby!), she still likes to eat a lot – which means I need to be on call at all hours. Complicating matters, of course, is that Zoe usually gets up around 6 AM, so we don’t have the luxury of sleeping in like we did when she was a baby.

Avery’s first few nights at home were somewhat difficult – she was mostly up, wanting to snack, between 10 PM and 3 AM, and she didn’t seem to like sleeping in her bassinet. (She had no problem, though, napping in it during the day.) Two nights ago, we decided to let her sleep in her little swing – and she had a great night. I guess this will be her bed for a little while!

In terms of temperament and likes/dislikes, I find it somewhat fascinating how she differs from her big sister. (As just mentioned, Avery doesn’t cry as much as Zoe and she tends to fall asleep a few minutes after having milk – something Zoe never did. On the other hand, she’s more of a feed-on-demand baby than Zoe was, and she hasn’t taken to her bed.) Q and I vowed not to constantly compare the baby to Zoe, but it’s kind of hard not to – considering Zoe is the only newborn we’ve become super familiar with! And I think it’s sort of fun to figure out what works with this baby – versus the last one.

All in all, we’re doing well. We’re adjusting to life with Avery and life with little sleep (though I admit to being a bit grumpy at times), and Zoe has been (so far) taking things amazingly well. And during those moments where I do feel a bit overwhelmed or cranky, I try to remind myself: things will get easier! They always do…

-M

Grandparents to the rescue

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

So I admit it: I forgot (perhaps conveniently so) how exhausting life with a newborn can be. Lucky for us, we’ve got some help – in the form of grandparents. Q’s parents will be here all next week, and my mom took the first shift by arriving yesterday. Grandma and Avery appeared to bond right away; here are some early pics.

(Yawn.)

-M

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A new ride

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

Yesterday was a big day for Avery: she went to her first doctor’s appointment (where she weighed in at 8 lbs, 6 oz) and then to her first restaurant. Later, the four of us ventured out for our first family walk – and the girls got to try out their new double-stroller. Avery slept comfortably, and Zoe said she was having fun sitting alongside her sister – so I think the new ride is a winner!

-M

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Last Friday

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Before too much time passes (and my memory starts to fade or change), I wanted to share my labor/delivery story. It isn’t the experience I necessarily would have chosen for myself, but at least the outcome was good!

Last Friday at least began in a fairly pleasant fashion. As previously discussed, we had scheduled an induction – so Q and I came to the hospital a little after 8 AM. (The picture below was taken just before we left the house.) Most of the morning was spent getting things in order – signing paperwork, getting blood work done, talking with various doctors and nurses, etc. – and Q and I spent the time in between chatting, blogging and watching golf. (I will never again watch the US Open without thinking of giving birth!) I was in fairly good spirits – a little nervous, but also excited – and I was feeling ready to get started. (And apparently, so was my body. I had been having fairly regular contractions all morning, and an exam showed that I was already 4 cm dilated. Q and I are convinced that the 19th would have been the delivery day even if I hadn’t been induced.)

Once things were finally set, around 2 PM, my nurse started the first, very low dose of Pitocin to further things along. The first hour was okay – some of the contractions were a bit uncomfortable, but nothing I couldn’t handle – but things started to shift around 3 PM. I became increasingly uncomfortable and was itching to get the epidural I so craved, but one of the nurses commented that I wasn’t yet in active labor. She was implying that it might be too early to ask for the epidural, so I decided to wait. Which proved to be a very bad call.

It was around 3:30, I think, that we actually paged the anesthesiologist – and from there things happened very quickly. I started having major contractions and, just as the doctor was finishing the epidural-placement process, my water broke and I could feel the baby, well, slide. From that moment on, it was like a movie: oodles of doctors and nurses rushed in the room to take their places, and the midwife in charge told me, “Michelle, the baby is coming NOW. We need you to push.” The whole thing was so surreal, and I kept thinking that I couldn’t believe this was really happening. Of course, I expected to deliver a baby that day – but not like this! One issue was that I had always planned for an epidural but now realized that it might not kick in in time. (I had never even entertained the thought of having a baby without pain management, and here I was being told that I would have to do this naturally.) And the other thing was that it all just happened so fast – it felt like one moment I was lying there, fairly comfortable and relaxed, and the next I was in severe pain and being told the baby’s arrival was imminent. The timing and intensity of things took me off-guard for sure.

We started the pushing process (which also went very quick) and the epidural actually did kick in – but only for the last 10 minutes. Once I was a bit more comfortable and could actually think straight, I apologized to Q and the team of doctors and nurses around me for freaking out – and I commented, “I don’t know how women do this without an epidural.” The midwife in charge looked at me and said, “Um, Michelle, you just did.”

Avery made her debut at 5:12 PM, just three hours after the induction began and only two hours after the first set of painful contractions. My initial focus was on her arrival, of course, but when I had a chance later to digest what had happened during labor, I definitely felt a sense of sadness/unhappiness. I had figured that because this was a scheduled labor, things would be quite smooth (or, at least, similar to last time) – but the experience was actually pretty scary. I was emotionally unprepared, I guess, for both the pain and intensity of a very fast, “natural” childbirth. And I felt a bit cheated out of the pleasant (or relatively pleasant) delivery I was planning/hoping for – especially considering this is likely our last child and my last labor experience.

One week later, now that some time has passed, I have a bit of a different perspective on the event. I’m still not happy that it happened the way it did – but the important thing is that I got through it and brought home a healthy baby. Plus, it makes a pretty good story!

-M

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We made it, part II

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Before Zoe had a chance to play with her sister (see below), we had to actually get Avery home from the hospital. As Q mentioned below, we were finally discharged on Wed. around 2 PM – and we couldn’t have been more excited about it. After spending time in the ICN, there’s just no better feeling than being told you can take your baby home!

Here are some pics.

-M

Last snooze at the hospital:

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“Let’s get you out of here!”

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Heading out, finally:

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A new backseat playmate for Zoe:

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First day at home with Big Sister

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

Avery was welcomed home from the hospital yesterday with open arms. Check out Avery and Zoe’s first home interaction…I know this is longer than the usual videos we post, hope you don’t get too bored.

Jon Q

We made it!

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

As of about 3pm PT today, baby Avery is home! More details and pics to come after we settle in.

We also wanted to take this opportunity to give a big THANK YOU to Uncle Dan and Jenny, who ended up spending five nights with Zoe while only signing up for two. We really couldn’t have done it without you!!!

Jon Q

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More sister time

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

One of the toughest things about being in the hospital for longer than expected is missing out on Zoe-time. Before this, the longest I had ever been away from her was one night – and it feels really strange/wrong not to be able to put her to bed each night and greet her each morning. Still, she has been able to visit the hospital every day, and it’s been great fun seeing her interact with Avery. Here are some pics from her latest visit.

-M

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Sisters

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

We’re still in the hospital, working on platelet issues. (The latest is that Avery didn’t immediately respond to the IVIG treatment, so she’s getting a platelet transfusion this afternoon.) We’ll have more, hopefully positive, news to report later – but for now I thought I’d share some of Zoe’s first moments with her little sister. Some of you requested a video of Avery “talking” – we don’t have that yet, but at least you can see Zoe chatting about her new family member!

-M

Girlie girl

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

Though my head is swimming with thoughts of platelets, I wanted to take a break from bloodwork and counts and make some other, more fun observations on Avery’s first few days. Like Zoe, she is proving to be an extremely mellow newborn; I joked to Q that I’ve never seen a baby who likes to sleep so much. It’s only been three days, I know, but 95% of her time is spent snoozing or snacking – and she often falls asleep while eating, something Zoe never really did. She’s also been pretty easy to soothe when upset (so far), and she very obviously likes to cuddle. (Zoe, on the other hand, was pretty independent right from the start. She liked being held but was just as content hanging out in her bassinet at the hospital.) Avery also makes lots of little noises (coos, squeals and other girlie-sounding cries); based on this and her overall temperament thusfar, I’m going to venture a guess that she’s going to be quite the cuddly girlie-girl. I could be wrong, of course, but it’s just the early vibe I’m getting…

Q has had to run home several times these past few days, and I’ve got to spend numerous one-on-one hours with Avery. It’s been so nice just holding, watching and getting to know her – and at this point, any concerns of not bonding with her, or not loving her as much as Zoe, are long gone!

-M

Platelet update

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

As mentioned before the plan is to wait on Avery’s platelets before going home. The Doctor let us know that if the counts are over 50K two draws in a row, we’d be good to go. However, if they ever get 25K or under we’d do the same procedure that Zoe had. Avery, since her second draw, has been consistently between 34K and 40K, so we are in a waiting game at this point. They are still waiting every 8 hours for the next draw to see what direction they naturally will take and we are waiting anxiously to find out. The good news is that Avery is in otherwise perfect health and she is eating well. Mom and Dad are a bit tired, but are optimistic we’ll be taking her home soon.

While we wait, we thought we’d post some more pictures…

Jon Q

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The Platelet Dilemma

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

As most of you know, Michelle has ITP which is a platelet disorder. When Zoe was born she had extremely low platelets and had to stay in the ICN (intensive care nursery) for several extra days to help get them back up. We knew that this certainly could have been an issue with Avery as well.

At first Avery’s platelets were low, but not low enough to put her in the ICN. We kept her by our side and waited every 8 hours for them to take another blood draw and see how she was doing. As of last night she was still low, but not in the danger zone. This morning we found out that the Dr would like to keep her for at least another night for observation before deciding what to do. The Dr thinks that they will end up going up on their own and as long as they don’t get too low before then.

The good news is that her platelets were slightly up at her last two draws! We still need a couple more readings with the platelets going up for them to feel good about letting her go home, but it seems we are heading in the right direction. So, we didn’t quite make it home for Father’s Day, but things are looking up for tomorrow…

Jon Q

Some (early) thoughts from a two-time mom

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

Avery’s only been with us for 48 hours, but I already have so much to write about. While I need a bit more energy to recount my labor/delivery experience (let’s just say it was very, very different than what I had expected), I will share that I didn’t feel terribly bonded to Avery right from the start. I was happy to see her, of course, and I marveled over her pink cheeks, sweet baby noises, and intact nose (Zoe’s, as you might remember, was quite squashed) – but I didn’t feel that rush of mad-love like I did when I first met Zoe. “I just don’t feel that connected to her,” I’ve said to Q several times since Fri. night. “I like her, but I don’t really feel like she’s mine.” I wondered if it was because she seemed so different than newborn-Zoe or because I was still trying to process/recover from a very emotional labor.

Whatever it was, there was a definite shift early this morning, when the nurse brought her to me for a feeding. Curled up beside me on the bed, Avery had her snack and then fell asleep; when I woke up a few hours later and felt her little body pressed against mine and heard her little baby coos, I was hooked. A little snuggling was all it took for it to hit me: she is mine, and I’m one lucky mama!

-M