A Whole Lotta Firsts

Holy hell, has this ever been a day.  And I still have Girlie Movie Night to go to tonight.  With the baby.

Sometimes, even when you don't think you can do something and you are sure it's going to go horribly, you have to just do it.  And, surprise!  Your kids are actually far more awesome that you thought.

A very very kind gentleman I used to work with at MHBA died this week.  His funeral was today.  At a Catholic church.  In Baltimore.  And John had to work.  And I had 2 kids with me.  And somehow we all survived.  Some firsts for us:

First time using our new Garmin GPS.  Love it, love it, love it way more than our old TomTom.

First time nursing a baby in a church.  I strolled in to the church, was busy trying to settle Dex, who was freaked out by the massive number of people milling around.  And eventually found a priest, asked him where I could nurse a baby.  I think we ended up in the Sacrament room?  I haven't the slightest idea what happens in there.  Is that where the bread and the wine is stored?  I promise I didn't leave a poopy diaper in the garbage can in there.

First Catholic mass for both kids.  First time in a church for both kids. Dex went to a memorial service at a fairly unconventional church last summer.  Hell, what's that place called?  I blogged about it, and said I wanted a service like that.  But I can't remember what the church is called...  Anyway - Dex spent the entire time watching his train video (with the sound turned off) on his IPad.  And God didn't even strike the church with lightening or anything for our irreverence.  Dude - it kept him quiet.  And the baby slept most of the time in my Ergo carrier.  I had to stand for most of mass to keep her asleep, but God didn't shoot lightening at us for that, either.  Thanks for the lenience, there, big man.  It was actually a lovely service, as far as Catholic masses go.  The singer was excellent, and the priest spoke fondly of my friend (who was 94 when he died, and had been a faithful member of that church for more than 80 years).

First time I've been in a catholic church and did NOT go for communion.  I tried.  But we were in the hallway with the baby for a few minutes and by the time I got back inside it was done.  They're fast in that church.

First time nursing a baby in a Wendy's fast food place.  Yeah.  We're high class.

First time using a cover when nursing this baby.  I usually don't give a damn who sees me nursing and who might catch a glimpse of boob.  But the clientele in the Wendy's in Baltimore seemed like they might appreciate a cover.

First time dropping a french fry on a nursing baby...  Ooops!

We all survived and made it home in one piece, with not too much crying.  We even made a Bomboy's detour, because Mama needed some chocolate after this day.

Erin, by the way, had her first bottle last night.  I think she was mildly unimpressed.  She did eventually drink some.  I was hoping that bottle feeding would go way faster than nursing her at 10PM.  But, no.  Not so much.  That child sleeps like the dead, man.  It's impossible to wake her up enough to get her to eat.  With a little luck she'll be sleeping from that feeding through til 7:30 AM in a few weeks.  She's making it to 5AM now, usually.

Here's a picture of the kids in front of the wrapping paper they painted yesterday.  Dex did all the hard work.  Erin just added some footprints.

Thanks

On this Thanksgiving Day, I give thanks to:

This guy, who, just in one day, got Dexter out of bed and fed him breakfast, got the baby out of bed and changed her diaper, watched the parade with Dexter, blew leaves in to piles, cooked a turkey, made cranberry sauce, carved a turkey, and used his magic super powers to put the crying baby down for multiple naps.  Oh, and also put Dexter to bed, and put the garbage out, and is currently Christmas shopping online.  I love you, babe.  Thank you for making life so much better and easier for me.

These kiddos, who make life a million times more challenging and a billion times more fulfilling than I ever imagined.

Dexter, who makes me laugh so many times a day.  The other day he came home from school with a picture that said "Draw what you are thankful for."  I asked Dexter what his picture was about.  He said "First I said I was thankful for Erin.  And then I said I was thankful for ME."  Ah, that's my boy.  Melt my heart, and then kill me with laughter.  Today when we were watching the parade we were talking again about who we were thankful for.  He said "I am thankful for me.......  And I am thankful for the people on TV."

Erin, who makes me slow down and just think seven or eight times a day while I am feeding her.  Who makes me remember that a fan can be a pretty entertaining thing.  Who also makes me thankful for Oxy-Clean, because, man, can she explode some poop out of some diapers.

Also, I checked about seven times today to see if her pants were on backwards.  No, the tag was in the back.  But what gives with those two random pockets on the front of her pants??

This silly dog.  As I was taking pictures today John said "Really?  You're thankful for the stupid DOG?"  Well, yes.  He's annoying, but he's so good to the kids.  And also at cleaning food off the floor.  And he's definitely better than having no dog at all.

Sunshine, warm weather, leaves, and footballs.  And also ear muffs.  All of which allowed us to spend a couple hours outside today, playing in the front yard.

VIDEO

VIDEO

Dexter's ability to, kind of sort of, get himself dressed in the morning.  It's infuriating and entertaining all at the same time.

Apple pie.  Partially because this pie I made is damn good this time.  But mostly because it's really pretty fun to make an apple pie with Dexter.  He's a kick-ass apple eater.

School.  They send home random stuff like this.  But they really are doing fantastic things with Dexter's little mind.  And holy hell, thank the lord they do crafts.  Because I really really don't.

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  It occupied its fair share of our afternoon (we recorded it for easier viewing).

The boys watching the parade this morning.

Bailey's.  And also, coffee.  Nuff said.

Thanksgiving Dinner.  And also leftovers for the next week or so.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Pardon Me, I Was Mistaken

Erin's procedure report from her second attempt at a spinal tap came over email today.  And pardon me, I was wrong.  It didn't take five times to get a sample of spinal fluid.  It took SIX.  They tried twice on Tuesday morning without ultrasound, and then once with ultrasound before they finally got a sample.  My poor baby girl.  The sedation doctor did joke that she should never ever try to have an epidural during childbirth.  Sorry, kiddo - natural childbirth all the way for you!  :-)

Here's some pictures from Saturday of last weekend.  We went to our cool Christmas tree farm to tag our tree for Christmas.  Dexter was convinced that we were going to bring home a tree that day.  And he wanted a HUGE tree - Grandpa Cowan would have been proud of the trees he picked.  He said he likes Christmas because he likes to look at the star on the tree and he likes the train under then tree.  Awww.  What a cute boy.  Not even one mention of presents or Santa.

Hey!  Look who's holding a BABY!!

Aunt Jeanne!  Who was a little bit sad that she held a baby for like three minutes, and then she went to the hospital.  No worries, Aunt Jeanne.  I don't think we can blame you for breaking the baby.

Trying to get a picture with the pretty sunset clouds

Here's how Erin rode around the Christmas tree farm

They had some cool new stuff to play with this year.

King of the straw bales

How tall are we this year?  Here's the link to last year's post with a similar picture.  Scroll way way down.  And realize that, holy crap, this child got huge in a year.

Even though he's big, he still likes riding on Daddy's back.

Checking to see how fat the tree is.

Getting ready to tag our tree

Here it is!  We'll bring it home in a couple weeks.

Dex would not look at Aunt Jeanne for a photo

That was a lot of walking around looking for a tree.  Somebody needs a ride home.

Cute elf

Plenty of time was spent playing with this cool Eddie Excavator

The baby pretty much did this all day long.

Fifth Time's the Charm (AKA, one helluva week)

Baby Erin,

Girl, you certainly know how to celebrate your one month birthday with a bang.

Where do we even start, really?  A week or so ago, I suppose, when I noticed that you'd scream any time I picked you up out of your crib, under your arms.  I wasn't sure what to make of it, but just handled you like you were very very fragile.  Which seemed to make no difference.  You were nursing for less time, and sleeping for a lot more time.  Which I thought was weird, but kind of nice - we'd gotten so used to a crying baby from 5 - 10PM that a quiet, sleeping baby was a welcome relief.

Aunt Jeanne came to visit on Friday night, and wondered if you ever were awake.  No, not so much, really.  Saturday I took your temperature in the morning - 99.6.  Not terrible, we thought.  Having, of course, no idea what a "problem" temperature is for an infant.  We went about our daily fun, and in the evening I took your temperature again just for the heck of it, and because you were just incredibly fussy when nursing.  100.6.  I had to look at your discharge papers from when you were born to see what a worrisome fever was.  100.4.  If over 100.4, call your doctor.  So call I did, thinking I was really being silly for calling.  Apparently not so much.  The on-call nurse said to take you to the ER.  Really?  The ER?  Huh.

Daddy was gone for the evening at a bachelor party, so I called him to see how sober he was.  The hospital (AI duPont Hospital for Children) was only 3 miles from where he was, so he was going to meet us there.  I zipped in to the living room, told Aunt Jeanne I was taking you to the ER and hoped she could stay and take care of your brother.  And then off we went.

Apparently a fever in a 4 week old gets you a fast-track in to the ER.  Triage happened immediately, at which point a doctor came in and told us what to expect - as soon as they had a room open up in the ER they would bring us back, do a urine, blood, and spinal fluid sample.  We waited maybe 20 minutes for a room, and then we were hustled back.  Ahead of teenagers with lips split open, other kids in various stages of pain and discomfort.  Sorry, kids.  Seems this is serious.

Daddy got to the hospital just as we went back to a room.  Your nurse needed two tries for a urine sample, two tries for a blood sample.  You didn't make things easy.  And then the doctors came in and explained why they would need to do a spinal tap.  Just in case there's meningitis, and they don't take any risks with babies.  Daddy and I chose to not sit in the room with you while they tried, THREE TIMES, to draw fluid from your spinal column.  It's good we were not in there - had I known they were having so much trouble I'd have been very upset.  The final result - they were unable to draw any fluid.  They took three times to just give you one helluva a bruise on your back.

When a room opened up upstairs, we were admitted to the hospital.  You were started on IV antibiotics to start killing whatever bad things might be hurting you until we got test results back from the blood and the urine samples.  And the lack of spinal fluid sample was a bit of an issue.  The doctors spent Sunday wavering back and forth trying to decide if another spinal tap would be needed.  For a while they thought no - you just had a cold (they decided this after a nasal swab came up positive for 2 viruses.  Which, on the plus side, got you moved to a different room.  That we didn't have to share with anyone).  But your screaming whenever you were moved, plus the fevers you spiked on Sunday night, made them want to investigate further.  Mama, I will have you know, kind of lost her shit on Sunday night.  Screamy babies with a fever will do that to you.  I, fortunately, had a very nice nurse who talked me off the ledge.

Monday the doctors decided that, yes, you needed another try for spinal fluid.  This time they would do it in a surgical suite, assisted with either x-ray or ultrasound.  You went down for an ultrasound on your back, just to make sure the hematoma from the failed attempts on Saturday night would not be an issue.  Unfortunately, they could not get you booked for another spinal tap until Tuesday morning.  So we waited.

Poor baby girl, you were not allowed to eat anything from 3AM on Monday night.  I felt like a terrible mom, popping a pacifier in your mouth every time you woke up crying and hungry.  There was nothing else I could do for you.  They ended up finally, after 2 more tries, getting spinal fluid.  They didn't have to sedate you - just gave you some pain killers and some "baby crack" as they called it in the ER.  Sugar water, on your pacifier.  Amazing stuff, this baby crack.  Totally calmed you down.

The very nice attending pediatrician came in a couple hours later and said they didn't find any evidence of bacteria in your spinal fluid, which was awesome news - bacteria would mean bacterial meningitis, which could deadly.  No bacteria meant you could be pulled off the antibiotics.  And then we would wait for the viral results to come back, to see if you had viral meningitis.  Which basically means that a virus that in a regular person would just result in a runny nose, or a fever, or a sore throat, decided to instead settle in your spinal fluid.  It seems bizarre, but we were hoping for a viral meningitis diagnosis.  Because there's no treatment - just rest and fluids.  And because it would give us a definite diagnosis, and not just a guess.

Around 2:00 the resident came in with the good news - enterovirus was in your spinal fluid.  Viral meningitis, and we could go home.  Yay!  We walked in the house around 4:00, just as Dexter was finishing up a very cool get well picture for you.  Enjoyed a nice dinner made by our nice friend Carin.  And then after I put your brother to bed I went in to feed you.  I took your temperature, just because.  101.6.  Ummmm.  Kind of high.  Your discharge instructions said to call your doctor if your fever was above 101.  So I did.  And they told us to go BACK to the ER.

Poor kid.  You'd been home for four hours.  And Daddy and I packed you back in the car.  Again, a fever of 101.6 gets you a fast track to the ER.  I never even sat down before you were triaged and sent right back to a room.  Where the doctors said, hey!  Welcome back!  Why are you here?  We explained, and they said we were not wrong to come back to the ER, but we didn't need to.  We have a sick baby.  Fevers are to be expected.  Well, we said - perhaps your discharge instructions needed to be a bit more clear.  We just did what we were told.

We didn't have to stay.  We were home and in bed sleeping by 1:15.  And everyone slept soundly until 6:30, when the alarm went off and I realized that you hadn't eaten since 1AM.  Ooops!  Sorry, Erin.

You've been getting steadily better every day this week.  Fever-free since Tuesday night.  Nursing well.  Sleeping more than usual, but hey - you're sick.  I've been a bit protective of you - we've canceled some play dates, stayed in a lot.  But we needed groceries, so we went out this morning.  And I need some sanity, so we can't be shut-ins forever.  We'll cross our fingers and hope you don't get sick again.  But we can't keep all the germs out.  Dexter goes to a good germ-infested school every day.  Everyone is going to get sick.

Thanks to Aunt Jeanne and to Grandma for coming down to help with Dexter while we focused on you.  And thanks to the nice nurses and doctors at AI who took good care of you.  We're lucky to have a great hospital so close.  I'm not psyched about having to GO there.  But I am always glad it's there.

So, Happy One Month Birthday, Baby Girl.  How about let's make your two month birthday a little less exciting, shall we?

Love,
Mama

Finally home, asleep in your crib on Wednesday morning

Hanging with Grandma (scream-free!) on Wednesday afternoon

Dexter playing in his box.  Mere seconds before he had a bizarre allergic reaction to who-knows-what and had a red itchy eye and a rash all over his face.  Shower and Benadryl took care of it.  But it was weird.

With Grandma and Dexter

Dexter, Aunt Jeanne says she will no longer call you "Turkey."  She shall now call you "Ham."

Sweet, snuggly, finally happy baby

Nice hair, baby.  It got comments from all the nurses, all weekend long.