Ketsup

Can you believe that Casey is already 4 weeks old?! Where has the time gone? I swear it goes by faster with each child - here we are, 4 days past Ty's first heavenly birthday! But that's a whole other post, so I won't go any further on that subject now...

Hm... well, where do I even begin? I don't think I even had a very significant Thanksgiving or Christmas post. I really need to get back into posting every week, hopefully that'll be easier now that I'm at home full time until the 2010-2011 school year - yes, if I haven't already mentioned it, I am taking the remainder of the school year off to spend with Casey and Tegan (T is still in daycare 3 days a week, but with me the other 2 - gives me good time to bond with C but also get special time with T).

OK - back to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Both of those holidays were spent in Rochester with Brendan's family, though we also had a Christmas with the 3 of us (+Casey in belly) and another with my family. Thanksgiving went well - MN weather was still pretty mild for that time of year so Tegan and his cousin Aubrey got to spend some fun time together outside in Gramma and Papa's big yard driving the pink Barbie Jeep, riding on the big wheel, and pushing around, filling and dumping all of the various dump truck toys.

At Thanksgiving, we also celebrated Aubrey's 3rd birthday. One of her gifts was a toy kitchen mixer - well, Tegan thought that was the COOLEST thing in the world, so there were definitely some tears shed when we explained to him that it was Aubrey's toy and not his and that she got to play with it first. Thankfully, though, Aubrey also got a new refrigerator (built by Papa himself) so she was completely content with playing with that and her pretend cupcakes while Tegan fulfilled his need to play with the mixer.

Well, I'm sure you can guess what one of the gifts was that Gramma and Papa Moore got for Mr. T for Christmas. Yes, a mixer! BUT it wasn't just a mixer, it was a whole set of a [toy] mixer, blender and coffee maker (all that "really" work - specifically, they have moving parts and the coffee maker even pumps water from the tank to the pot!)

Daddy and Tegan playing with T's new submarine (from Santa)

Speaking of Christmas, we were really glad that we were actually able to travel to Rochester as the entire week leading up to Christmas I was having some pretty regular contractions and had already dilated to 2-3 cm AND the weather people were predicting a pretty significant winter storm to begin on Christmas eve (or Christmas day, I can't remember which now). But, as I said, we did end up going as my contractions stopped and the storm wasn't quite as bad as had been predicted.

My big regret with regard to Christmas this year is that we didn't take many pictures - almost none, actually. We instead got down on our hands and knees and bottoms and played and engaged with T while he opened his presents... so even though we got some good, fun time with him, I wish we had more pictures to look back on and share our fun with others...

On the 27th Brendan and I (along with Tegan) went to Chili's to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary - yes we've been married for 6 years (together almost 11 1/2 total)! Even though it wasn't the most romantic meal, we enjoyed our last dinner out as a family before Casey's arrival and, best of all, Tegan behaved SO well (not been the case lately as far as when we go out to eat) so we were truly able to enjoy each others' company.

OK... will stop there because the next post will be all about Miss C and her arrival :)
Thank you for your patience with the long pause between posts. BTW - did you get the title of the post? Say it out loud... now think of what the post is doing... Now you get it? Ketsup = Catch-up :)

Love to all!
~j

Remembering (part 1)

http://wallofangels.blogspot.com/2010/01/today-tuesday-january-26th-2010-we.html

Proud Big Brother

No words are needed for this post - just pictures of Tegan's excitement when Casey first came home from the hospital (haven't downloaded the ones from the 2nd time we came home).

Teaching Casey how to pick her nose... nice T, real nice :)

Love to all!
~j

Cuddles part 2

Yes, all tests are in and Casey is clean. No growth on the cultures, her IV has been taken out (well, it had clotted and the doc said to just take it out and there was no need for a new one) and she is maintaining a great temp anywhere between 97.8 and 98.5. If I had more energy I'd do a happy dance :)

What does this all really mean then you ask? It means we will soon be, as our doc said, OTD - out the door!  Yes, we all think this has just been due to Casey's slight prematurity - that she got a bit chilled and wasn't able to bring her temp back up on her own. To help prevent this from happening again I have reprogrammed our thermostat at home to keep the house at a balmy 72 degrees. We'd much rather have a high heating/gas bill than have Casey back in the hospital.

Thank you, again, for all of your prayers during this difficult time. God is good and we are so thankful that our hopes and wishes were the same as His!

Take care and love to all,
~Jenn

P. S. The pic below this post is one that I took of Casey and Brendan the night before she was readmitted. Daddy and daughter cuddling before bedtime. I'm pretty sure Brendan is smitten ;).

Cuddles Comin'

So Far So Good

The 24 hour read of the cultures shows no sign of bacterial growth, so
that's great. I think the next look at them will be at the 48 hour
mark, but I'm not certain. There might be a 36 hour read as they did
do a 12 hour read this morning.

Casey also continues to do well. Her warmer had been turned off and
we're hoping she's able to self-regulate her temp now. So far so good.
Last temp was 98.0 which is good/acceptable. She had also been
uncovered for a while before that one because I had changed her diaper
3 times (in about 15 min... Little stinker kept poopin') and I also
had her uncovered while I burped her after feeding. So hopefully she
warms back up a bit now that she's covered again. The room is drafty
and even I get chilled with only one layer on.

I leave you with my new favorite pic of Miss C. She was sleeping when
I took it, bit she was smiling so big and even laughing! Wonder what
she was dreaming......

Praying and Hoping part 2

Well... Yesterday afternoon was a whirlwind and we're still in the midst of it a bit. I had a sense that Casey's temp was a bit low as she felt really cool, but when our thermometer said 95.8 I got really worried. So, in to the Pediatritian's office we went. From there it's a bit of a blur. Basically she was admitted to the adjoining hospital immediately with the fears that C had developed an infection. She has since had blood, urine and spinal fluid (!) drawn as well as 3 rounds of broad spectrum antibotics and iv fluids. Cultures of all 3 above mentioned fluids are "cooking" as the doc said and so far all looks good. The only blood test that was out of normal ranges was the white blood cell count which was slightly low, but not significantly so. The test that indicates inflammation came back normal, so that was a big relief (as inflammation is a symptom of infection in the brain or spine, including meningitis). We will be in the hospital until tomorrow evening at the earliest (lab cultures take 48 hours for final readings) and until Casey can maintain/self-regulate her temperature within normal ranges
without outside support (ie assistence from the warming bed).

Please pray that all is normal and that this is "simply" due to Casey being a bit of a premie and just is having trouble self-regulating her temp. Thx!!!
Love to all...
~Jenn

BTW - that's a nuk in C's mouth not an oxygen mask... Some people
weren't sure :)

Praying & Hoping

A Little More of Miss Moore

Casey Devin
Born 12/31/09 @ 6:40 pm
5 pounds 12 ounces
18.5 inches long