Hospital Part II: Our Stay and Discharge

By the time that Matt arrived on Saturday morning, we had already seen the pediatric hospitalist. The hospitalist had a genuine spirit and great bed-side manner. I was so appreciative that he really listened (that was one of the prayers I kept repeating on the way to the ER earlier that morning--that we'd be given a doctor who could actually listen to us and help my daughter) and paid attention to all the details I was listing.

I started off by telling him how she'd been sick for over a month now, and that recent tests showed she had yeast overgrowth. I was leery of what his response would be to my mere mention of the yeast overgrowth because in my research from the past few days I learned that this topic is one of controversy among MD's. But he took what I said into account as I described everything she'd been through in the last few days as well.

Questions were raised about what could be causing this, and diflucan was certainly a suspect in the hospitalists eyes. But the main focus for Day 1 was to rehydrate our baby and get her to poop because he wanted to conduct another round of tests. Again, thank God he listened.

Our first day was quite tiring. The poor girl rested A LOT. Luckily, once we received a Zofran at 3:30 AM in the ER we hadn't seen any more vomiting. So she was able to get some sleep that she really needed. And thanks to mom and Matt, I was also able to catch up a little on sleep.

Boushka started to fill diapers continuously--I think we were changing them once an hour at the least. But we were still waiting for more than just urine. It never came that day, but all of a sudden that evening we saw a smile come across Boushka's face.

The smile turned to sitting up, and then standing up, and then she was dancing. When I saw that she had some life back in her, I turned on her favorite song "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. She began acting silly, running across her hospital crib and dancing. We were so excited to see this--but of course it offered some false hope. I thought for sure this meant we were going home the next day. Yeah, not so much...

Once things settled down for the evening, my mama went home to get some rest since she was there the entire day helping us. Matt was able to stay until 11:30, which I really appreciated because I got to sleep a little before 11:30 until he left. The nurses came to do vitals sometime around midnight, so I stayed up until that was over. Boushka HATED having her vitals taken. The blood pressure cuff made her scream as did the pulse/ox bandage looking thingy and the thermometer. And they didn't even take her temp in the baby way--so she had it easy. But I totally understood that she didn't appreciate anybody messing with her-- especially if it interrupted her sleep and considering what she had been through earlier that day with needles and such.

I don't remember how much sleep was lost or gained that night, but I do remember how wonderful it was to have her provide a sample (if you know what I mean) that next morning. She seemed a bit happier on Sunday and she had some times of silliness again. Since she hadn't vomited after 3:30 Saturday morning, we were able to move from fluids to solids. Chocolate pudding and cherry popsicles were our first meals. And they went over so well, I believe she had three puddings in the first 12 hours she was eating solids.

Once she was eating well, I could order her just about anything on their menu. So I did, because I had no idea what she'd eat at this point. Sweets and mac 'n cheese are always a hit--as are fries.

Anyway, we got the sample sent off to the labs and we were visited again by the nice hospitalist. He agreed that the yeast needed to be looked at, and he was also going to check her sample for viruses, bacterias and parasites---much like our family prac did two weeks ago. Additionally, they were going to run a celiac panel. They also cut her fluids in half so that they aren't actually overhydrating her, and instead they are just giving her enough that she'll want to drink on her own.

We pass the time again with Daddy and Grandma there and we watched several episodes of Micky Mouse Clubhouse--though apparently here we were watching The Cat in the Hat Knows a lot About That.

Mickey is by far her favorite show--so I'm very thankful we had access to a DVD player and DVD's with Mickey as the star. It saved me many hours of fussing, I'm sure. She also found some games she could play to pass the time. She loved to play peek-a-boo with Daddy. While she and grandma played a game that involved kissing Boushka's hand.

We go through the sleepy vital checks that escalate into screaming fits again on Sunday night and into Monday morning. By this time, I'm ready to get off of my chair-bed and into my real bed at home, but there is just no way I can leave that hospital. So I don't! We spend what feels like our third night in the hospital and wait for Daddy to arrive in the morning. Our 4 am check was not fun at all, and it took a good hour and a half to calm the poor girl down. When I woke up with her at 7 am, there was a disturbing surprise in store.

Boushka ripped out her IV sometime between the time I laid her down around 5:30 and 7. I promptly call the nurse in and it's decided that we will watch her fluid intake today to see if she'll drink enough to go home. Since she was already taking in half the amount of IV fluids, they thought she'd pick up with where they left her. While she was not tethered to the IV, she enjoyed looking out the hospital window.

Since the girls were at my in-laws, they were able to drive my oldest to school and daddy came to visit us again at the hospital. This time he was there when the doctor, a new doctor who we'll call Dr. P, came to visit.

In she walked and sat down in full gown and mask to tell us Boushka "got a double whammy." She then continued to explain that our little gal's sample tested positive for rotavirus and campylobacter bacteria. It was hard to understand what she said due to the mask over her face, but the mask alone was enough to worry me. It was a change from what we'd seen with other nurses and docs and it made me think that they discovered something that was terribly contagious.

We tried to ask some questions, but again it was hard to understand her. We did ask about testing for yeast and she told us that "we don't test for yeast." After Dr. P left the room, my husband got fired up. In a discussion between the two of us, he questioned how our local family doctor could test for yeast, but a regional hospital did no such thing. Here is where I start to curse the doctor for thinking yeast is some kind of controversial thing and refuses to look at it as a potential suspect in the case of our daughter.

Minutes later, in the midst of our "fired up-ness" a lovely nurse comes in to tell or ask us something that I can't remember now. Somewhere in our talk, I said "Can I just ask you a question?" She was very nice and agreed to help in any way she could.

We began by discussing our concerns about the yeast. She listened intently as we told her how we were confused. Once she understood our confusion, she related to us that they TEST for parasites, bacteria and viruses, but they do a CULTURE for yeast. Seriously, this is where the confusion was? I felt like I was trapped in some kind of semantics trivia game and I got stumped by my doctor.

Anyway, this sweet nurse talked to us for about an hour as she educated us on several issues concerning dehydration and the illnesses our little girl had. We would have to wait a week (we're still waiting) to here the results of the celiac panel and the yeast culture. We checked her cap refill and it was looking pretty good at that point. By this point in the morning, she had already slurped up two 6.8 ounce apple flavored pedialyte. So we were really hoping and praying to be able to go home.

Boushka rested that afternoon and we thought she'd drink plenty more fluids upon waking from her nap. Matt began to tidy the room and I was looking forward to a shower at home. Meanwhile, our nurse popped her head in to say that when she wakes up we should really try to get her to drink. So when she woke up, of course we offered several drinks. None of them were too appealing to our girl.

Finally, around 6 that evening we were told that she needed to drink roughly six ounces in the next 20 or so minutes or we'd have to stay again. At this point in the day, all she'd had to drink were the two pedialytes early in the morning, but she'd would take nothing the rest of the day. So we asked for white milk, chocolate milk, grape juice, pedialyte and water. We set them all in front of her and offered each of them to her, but the only response we got was "uh-uh" followed by a no head shake. She did eat though. Not much will keep this girl away from food!

At first we kept trying to push it; and then we realized even if she did all of a sudden chug these drinks, we could take her home and she'd be back to square one. We kind of bit the bullet here and acknowledged the fact that staying another night was the best option for her.

Back on the home front, my mom had taken over our other three girls earlier on Monday--two of them had ballet that night and she got them to and from class. She, like the rest of us, were under the impression we were coming home. So when we found out we weren't, Matt decided he better just get us settled and then head home to get everything ready for school the next day. So the babe and I snuggled in for our fourth night in the hospital.

They started another IV and put her back to the overhydrating dose for the night. I put her in the chair-bed with me and prayed I could get her calmed down enough to go to sleep. By the time you throw in a toddler and my pregnant belly into that tiny bed, there isn't much room left for me to sleep. So I tried unsuccessfully several times to get her back into her crib. She just cried and I felt horrible because all she wanted was me. But I was in so much pain and so exhausted that all I could do was lean over her crib and hold her hand or rub her back as I tried to coax her back to sleep.

Finally sleep came, but again it wasn't nearly enough by the time dawn peeked in our hospital window. I remember ordering her food for breakfast and counting down the minutes until Matt could get there. He had to get the girls dressed and ready for school by 8:30, drop them off and then he could come rescue us. Sometime around 9:30 we finally get our daddy. I said Thank God and drifted to sleep for about an hour while Matt took care of Boushka. Next thing I knew, Dr. P walked in and asked with a smile "Are you ready to go home?!?"

We were more than ready to go home. So we gladly accepted our discharge education and forms and packed our bags. We were getting the heck out of Dodge! Although a certain little girl was so exhausted she couldn't rejoice in the happy moment. She threw an I'm totally tired fit instead.

Of course we were thrilled she was healthy enough to head home now. And it was just in time for Matt and I to get lunch, get home, get freshened up and head to my pre-admission appointment at yet another hospital.

Today marks exactly a week since we said goodbye to the hospital and it has taken about this long to get back to normal. My husband, family and friends have all been a huge help and source of encouragement. I've appreciated every Get well message, every meal I didn't cook, and every minute my other children were cared for. I can't believe how sweet everyone has been to us as we tried to get back on our feet. And knowing that they'll all be there for us again in a few weeks when we bring home our fifth child (hopefully to a illness-free home), makes me feel incredibly blessed.

Hospital Part I: getting sick and getting admitted

We've been home from the hospital almost a week now; which really is hard to believe since our time in the hospital felt more like three weeks! But as I said in the previous post, here is part one of Boushka's story.

My little Boushka has had an interesting time (to say the least) ever since we all caught our little stomach virus back in December. Our family of 6 always gets a stomach bug in December-- I swear, it never fails! 5 of us were sick for hours or just a day with typical belly symptoms. Unfortunately for Boushka, the virus (or what we were sure was a virus at the time) hung around an entire 7 days. It seemed that she woke up a renewed little girl on day 8.

Since everyone seemed better, we went on with our holiday celebrations as usual. But the poor little gal kept having 4-6 really heavy, really smelly diapers a day--and I'm not talkin' about urine, folks!

Finally, after this condition continued longer than two weeks, I took her into our doctor. After a good scan of my baby, the doctor ordered a stool sample. SIDE BAR: If you're friends with me on FB, this was when I let the world know that collecting samples for such a test was quite the adventure with a sensitive gag reflex (thank you pregnancy).

So I collected and promptly delivered the samples--five tubes worth. We waited and waited, and a week later we learned that all they could find was some yeast overgrowth. No rotavirus, bacteria or little parasites hanging around. At the time I honestly didn't even think to ask questions. I didn't realize that yeast in the gut was abnormal; I was just happy to have an answer and an available treatment---this was in the form of diflucan. At this point all I really wanted was an answer to what she had and how we could make her better.

We started her first treatment of diflucan two weeks ago-- January 18th. She received her dose pretty late in the day. Wednesday she woke up and seemed off to me; but not having the advantage of hindsight at that point, I just figured this was some kind of typical toddler behavior.

She was clingy and more needy that day. So much so, that I never got her the medicine. So we woke up on Thursday and I got her meds to her right away. Shortly thereafter, my girl got sick to her stomach. At this point I just assume we're in for another round of the stomach bug.

I watched her and held on to her the rest of Thursday and she continued to get sick. When she woke up Friday she was groggy and lethargic. I held on to her all day offering cuddles and fluids. We ended up giving her another dose of diflucan on Friday evening, and she again started throwing up after not having been sick to her stomach all day. Matt took her to bed with him around 10 or 11 that night and I stayed up to conduct some research.

The most obvious thing to me was that she became sick shortly after taking the meds. Naturally, I looked up the medicine and it listed several side effects. In a section that discussed severe reactions they listed vomiting.

So I call our doctor's office, and of course the one doctor I consider a giant, incompetent excuse for a doctor is the one on call Friday night. We make a call to him and just like I suspected, he ignores anything we have to say and says to bring her in in the morning. No, really Mr. know-it-all---you think I can just wait until morning huh? We won't go into how badly I want to rub in his face what the condition of my poor baby was when he just spouted off whatever he thought sounded appropriate at the time.

I digress...

Not having any faith in that doctor, I call a local pharmacy since I think the medicine is a likely suspect. The pharmacist listens and tells me to take her to the ER. So I hang up and start crying like any normal pregnant mom... HA! I try discussing things with my husband and we get nowhere because neither of us knows what to do, so I call mama.

She was able to give me a number for nurses who could talk me through things--and thank goodness. After a 30 minute discussion with one of the nurses, I felt better armed with information to determine what I needed to do. I decided to go ahead and let her sleep until about 2 am when I went upstairs to bed.

When I came into the room, she woke up and asked for a drink. I gave her a teaspoon, and within 10 seconds we saw that water again. So I checked her diaper and it was totally dry. She'd only wet twice that day and the last one was 9 hours ago. And because I had promised myself that I would take her to the ER if she was dry at 2 am, off we went. I packed a few diapers and wipes, a drink for Boushka and a few crackers. I had no idea how long we'd have to wait since it was bar-closing time on a Friday night...

Luckily, once I checked her in our wait only lasted a matter of minutes before they called us back to take basic vitals and such. And even once we got an ER room, we were seen by a nurse rather quickly. She did some tests like a cap refill and checked her spit and diaper for moisture. Her cap refill was right at 3 seconds, which is when it's time to take some action. And of course her diaper was still dry.

Without waiting for doc's approval (he trusts the nurses to make calls like this when he's busy according to our nurse), our nurse started an IV and fluids. And thank God she made that call. I even told her how grateful I was that she listened to her gut to get those fluids started.

The next hour was the worst of our entire stay. She was so dehydrated that her veins were not cooperating. She was stuck several times all while I had to help hold her down--I HATED that. And if I sat here and really recalled that hour, I would start crying all over again (yes, I had tears streaming down my face just watching her in that pain)! They also needed to start a catheter on her, but apparently her anatomy is so small they couldn't advance the cath. So again, she was poked several times in that area to no avail.

Finally, an IV was started and they gave up on the cath--instead we got a pee bag. And we waited and waited for it to fill. It wasn't until we were admitted shortly after 7:30 that my girl had any urine output. She went 15 hours without so much as a dribble--and we only got the dribble after she was pumped full of fluids from 3 bags in the ER. Again, thank you nurse for being attentive and doing what you thought was best!

While still in the ER the doc did a belly Xray and blood work. Xray came back clean but the blood work showed just how dehydrated she was. In the doc's words "I'm glad you brought her in because she is really dehydrated." And with that we were sent upstairs to the PEDS floor.

It took us about an hour to get settled into our room, and then my mom and my in-laws came to visit. We're so lucky to have such loving grandparents who come through for us in any and all circumstances. We would not have survived very well those days without their support.

My in-laws were able to go to our house that morning to take care of our other three kiddos, and Matt was then able to come join me at the hospital. And my mom stayed with us there in the hospital.

And that brings us up to getting admitted. I'll post the second part of the story soon as it'll deal with her actual stay. There were even some good moments while there in the hospital as you'll soon see with some pictures.

There's more to come, but I wanted to stop in and say that I will be back to blogging soon.

Once my teaching finished up a couple weeks ago, I was totally on board with posting several times a week-- I was even writing posts to be published at a later date (yes, this was just because I could)!

Then, a week ago today my baby Boushka was admitted to the hospital. I took her in at 2 in the morning to the ER. After about 5 hours of testing and IV's, the doctors decided her blood work and other noticeable symptoms meant she needed to be admitted. My poor girl was terribly dehydrated.

I have never had to hospitalize a child, and I was totally unaware of how exhausting this is. I don't think being 35/36 weeks pregnant helped any, but suffice it to say that it's still affecting our family 3 days out. Luckily, we have awesome family and friends who have supported us throughout this ordeal. We've had the love and encouragement from kind words, meals brought to us, and our older children have been wonderfully taken care of--they hardly noticed we were missing. What would I do without all of these lovely people in our lives?

Anyway...

Currently, we are trying to get ready to go help celebrate our state's 150th birthday---so more on the hospital visit will come later. And since I use this blog as a family scrapbook of sorts, you can bet your money I won't leave a detail out.

PEACE!

FAMOUS!!

I'm famous enough to be in a book!

Yep, I've authored a book,


but I have never been featured in one like this.

Have you ever seen my color look that good?




Me neither. But I was so awfully flattered that a certain little girl decided to feature me, "Lara" for the letter 'L' in her alphabet book at school.

Yes indeedy, that is me holding two blue balloons. I may also appear to have a bloody hole in my mid-section, but that is actually my preggo belly. And the yellow beard.... well, I can't explain that one. You'll have to ask the artist!

I asked her if she was going to daddy's name for the letter 'M' next week.

She replied that she was going to do mom. Again, I am flattered to be featured once, but twice? What more could a mom ask for?

Although I did suggest that she do daddy's name for 'M' despite how appreciative I was of her thinking of me!


Ain't she sweet?

All Things Baby

It seems that many of my friends are having their first babies.

And aren't those first babies exciting--it's all about the unknown. Don't get me wrong, subsequent children are just as exciting; however, there's just something about expecting a baby for the first time. You know...,

before you've been peed, pooped, spit up and thrown up on.

Before you've ever yelled and felt like the worst mom on the planet.

Before you became accustomed to a total of 4 hours of sleep every night for a month.

Before you your body sagged.

Before your eyes looked like...well, I'll leave that one to your imagination. Go ahead, fill in the blank.

I digress..

I do have a ton of mom friends, who of course already have kiddos. But there are several other friends I had before becoming a mother myself--and it seems a little baby bug jumped up and bit many of them. YEAY! I am so happy for them--it's truly an exciting time.

Since I am about to welcome my fifth child sometime in the next month or so, I have been going through tubs and closets to see what we have for baby. What we need. What we should scrub down. And what should be tossed. I've made only a dozen lists of what we still need to purchase, and yes they all mostly list the same items. I just can't keep track of my lists.

Aside from the basic items I always buy right before the baby comes
-diapers
-wipes
-rash ointment
-lotion
-passies
-breast pads

there are things like
-play mat
-bedding
-changing pad cover
- memory box
- decor

that also made my list.

I know you must be wondering why on earth I need bedding. But trust me. Having them so close together has not really helped in passing on the bedding. Only because the baby just older than the new baby is still in her crib and still using her bedding. Suffice it to say, that we now have 5 sets of bedding.

And until this baby, we always went with a set. The set usually contains the bumper (to me this is pretty pointless), one sheet, a comforter and a bed skirt. However, with this baby I was rather stuck on the look I wanted. I could not find anything, within a reasonable price range that was acceptable.

Then this weekend, husband and I went out to the stores and picked up a few things here and some more there; and before we knew it, we had several things for the baby's bed. Slowly but surely it is starting to come together. It's not quite done, but here is a sneak peek. And by the way, this could look a little different soon because a sweet friend has offered to make the quilt I have in mind for my little girl.




We have some shelves up, but other than that the walls are pretty bare right now. There are several things I'm planning to make in the next few weeks to give this room a little lift. And I will post pictures when that all comes together.

In the meantime, I've compiled a list of items that have helped me to make it the past five years in mothering. These items are listed in no particular order (unless otherwise stated... you'll see). Please note that I said these items helped ME. They helped me and my family at that particular time, but I'm thinking they may just help a few other families as well!

1) Here's the one I'm listing first for a reason---it's because it's my all time favorite baby item EVER!

The Angelcare monitor has saved me many upon many hours of sleep. We've all heard about SIDS, and as soon as you become a mother (well, if you're like me) you always worry and assume the worst. Case in point, you have just arrived home from the hospital. You put your beautiful new baby down in her cradle right next to your bed. You are tired, but still running off of the adrenaline shot through your veins after giving birth. You soon climb into bed hoping to get a restful one and half hours of sleep when all of a sudden the thought hits you "what if she stops breathing?" So you sit up in bed so you can lay your hand on her chest to feel it rise and fall. STOP RIGHT THERE!!! While this is fun and sweet at first, the newness wears off after about the 3rd night of doing this. Why? Because you haven't slept in FOREVER and the adrenaline level in your body have drastically declined. You need your sleep--but you're still worried. Well, you can rest assured when you've placed the Angelcare monitor sensor pad under your baby's mattress. This pad picks up the slightest of motion (even the rise and fall of a baby's chest) and alarms you when it hasn't done so for 20 seconds. It works as a normal monitor that has a base in baby's room (or wherever you want to put it) and a mobile parent monitor that you can hear baby on. But it also comes with this sensor pad and sets off an alarm should the baby not breathe for 20 seconds. This alarm can be heard on the parent monitor. This wonderful little mommy helper has seriously paid for itself several times over if you agree with me that you can't put a price on getting peaceful sleep every chance you get as a new mom.

Okay, I swear the rest of my list won't read as cheesy as the Angelcare monitor paragraph. I just can't help but write like that for what I consider the best baby product ever!

Moving on...

2) My Breast friend has been a life-saver.

I breastfed my fourth baby for 13 months. While she was still a young infant and I was still passing in and out of sleep every couple of hours (this makes for a terrible nursing pair), nursing was quite difficult. She was too tired (okay she was too young) to hold her head up. I was too tired to gather all of the necessary pillows needed to assist me with nursing... you get the picture. Enter, My Breast Friend. It is built so ergonomically for everyBODY (you see, it's adjustable) and offers the exact support where you need it-- including your back. Truly a genius woman invented this!

3) If you plan on having the baby sleep next to your bedside, I suggest you invest in a pack 'n play that offers a cradled bed adjacent to a diaper changing station.


Pack 'n plays or, Play yards, come in all shapes and sizes, but now that I'm on my third one I can honestly say I've got it all figured out. We like the duo sleeping/changing area because it not only offers the very obvious place for sleeping, but it also adds that place where you change diapers in the middle of the night. Please, don't allow yourself to become one of those parents who sleep on their own child's pee because at 1, 2:30, 3 and 5 am they woke you up and peed mid-diaper change. And at one of those times they peed in your bed, but you can't remember which one because you're so tired. And yes, I've become one of those parents many times over.

4) If you plan on providing breast milk in some manner, you may find it helpful (for a number of reasons) to pump occasionally.

For my first three children, I pumped exclusively (for reasons that can be discussed in another post). Anyway, you may want to try breastfeeding first and see how you feel about doing it all the time, but it never hurts to read up on breast pumps and find one that works for you. Because trust me, when you decide you want one, it's usually a we need to get this immediately situation, and the last thing you'll want to do is spend the time researching what you want. That being said, I'm going to break it to you... spend the money. I've used several different pumps, but in all of my experiences the more expensive ones do the best. Some will die out on you. Some make awfully loud noises (picture turning this bad boy on with your sleeping partner next to you in bed or possibly at work). Some quickly lose suction. Please, just do your research and if you decide to purchase, buy one that is worth the money.

And here are some things to consider if you are going to pump/breastfeed
~ a car adapter (yes, there are times where you'll find it handy to pump in the car).
~ a more portable pump (like a hand pump or one that will run off of batteries)


~ breast milk storage bags
~ breast pads
~ cream for bleeding/cracked nipples

which brings me to the

5) Nursing cover.

There are several brands out there, but I'd make sure you get one with the boning. This is what allows the mother to peek down at her baby without having to move the cloth away from her neckline. This is sooooooo handy for anybody who plans to nurse!!!! Get at least 3-- one to wash, one to wear, and one to spare.

6) Some kind of swing/bouncy seat. You'll actually probably want both. The bouncy seat is usually portable--and trust me, there will be several instances when you start living your new life as mommy where you'll need to set your baby down and move to another room to get something done (think... cook dinner, take a shower, organize the hall closet...). This is easy to do when you set the babe in the seat and move it to the room with you.

The swing often serves as a comforter.

I've seen my fair share of babies who refuse to sleep unless properly placed in their baby papasan. This can be for a number of reasons, but many babies of GERD (a reflux issue) and sleeping at an incline really helps to soothe these babes. And please note, this is not easily mobile. That's why you have the bouncy seat!

7) Some kind of comfy quilt or a play mat.

According to all the information out there, from day one babies need to have some tummy time in order to strengthen their necks. If you lay a little blanket or play mat down on the floor and place some toys around baby, they will begin to use these muscles.

8) Moby Wrap--

this is the most perfect design for holding baby close to you. Skip the carriers you see in the stores (although, I did actually buy my Moby Wrap at Target)--they hurt your back. The Moby Wrap does not do this. Trust me, you'll thank me for sharing this. I could technically still carry all five of my children in this thing---you know... should I be so inclined.

9) Diaper Genie or something of the sort.

I know some people don't care much for these, but I like them. I don't much care for tossing smelly diapers straight into the trashcan--the room and eventually the house start to stink. At the very least, purchase some green bags that smell fresh to dump the poopy diapers into before you throw them in the trash.

And here are some things that I think can be skipped--

~wipes warmer (do you plan on warming wipes for all the years leading up to potty training?)
~really thin hooded towels (go for the thick ones. In fact, look at homemade ones on etsy.com--they're much warmer)
~shopping cart cover (really, you just never remember)
~baby shoes (seriously, their feet are so incredibly tiny for the first few months. No shoes ever fit my kids really well until they were walking. I think that happens for a reason.)
~ most baby books (sure you can buy them, but they all offer different opinions. Listen first to your gut, second to your trusted care giver and third to your mom and friends--they're last only because they may have had different experiences that what you're experiencing).
~receiving blankets (Ours are used to wrap up baby dolls only because they're too tiny to wrap up a real baby) *you'll want to swaddle your baby and I find that blankets measuring 40x40 work the best. In fact when I make my own, I just ask for a yard or a yard + 1/4 of fabric.

And that about sums it up. I hope this helps you. And please remember that these items only represent me, my life and my experiences. You may have different experiences, but these are all items that I've found helpful (or not so much) over the past five years.

Feel free to comment if you have anything to add or burning questions to ask!

Big Sisters

What are all of these children doing wandering around a hospital lobby? Geesh, isn't anybody watching them--instead of, you know, snapping their pictures?


I guess that would be my job, but I was too busy snapping their pics. Luckily daddy was there to keep a watchful eye out.


We were the first (and quite possibly the most eager) to arrive at our birthing hospital for the Big Sibling (what we call the Big Sister) class. We got to pick out name tags!


And we smooched on mama's belly... like a lot! But really that's nothing new!



Then it was time to make a visit to the nursery.



We were able to peek in the window and see two newborns. One looked about the size of my second born (9lbs) and one looked about the size of the rest of my babies (7-ish lbs). They were both incredibly cute, though!

Then we made our way into a room where the mommy has the baby. Of course my children have visited these rooms a number of times--and my eldest can actually remember being in there for our last birth (she was 3.5 yrs old at the time).

After seeing the rooms, we were able to do some listening. There was a short video and a beautiful story. Bug and I were all ears!


And we participated in several hands-on activities with the baby dolls.



And thank goodness the teacher saw our need for more than the one baby doll that typically suffices each family. We ended up with four by the time all was said and done.




Each girl left a little more proud for all of her hard work in helping to take care of her baby. And they each received a certificate to prove they can handle the duties the come with big sister territory. We have official entertainers, diaper-changing supply grabbers, and baby holders.





No, we couldn't be more proud!

Our Snow Day!

~~~~~SNOW DAY~~~~~

Today is the first snow day of the year-- well, that'd be of the school year and of the new year I suppose.



We woke up to a winter wonderland of sorts, right here in our own backyard--literally. See



And in our front yard, too, of course. Here's a few good inches of snow covering our mailbox.

We saw it starting to snow around bath time last night (say 7ish), and it hasn't stopped since. We love snow days--mainly because we (I) romanticize them. But still, we love them!

We just don't always love the preparations it takes to get ourselves outdoors.

First, I will say that I am 8 months pregnant and fighting a little chest congestion problem. So the multiple trips up the stairs to search for winter gear was nowhere near fun. I was just hoping it would be worth it.

I was most certainly picturing lots of this action!

It took us 3o minutes to get everyone dressed in snow boots, snow suits, hats, gloves and coats. It is quite the workout to get four littles dressed in all this winter wear--especially since they can't do a lick of it themselves. Again though, I was just hoping it'd be worth it.

I imagined that once we won the battle of (getting) the bulge (on), we'd run into our snowy driveway and play the morning away. I was even more excited than normal because I was taking along my new camera for the ride.

So eventually we made it outdoors and onto the drive. The kids immediately took to the snow.

All but her.

It snowed a ton last winter, but it was always so cold that we never managed to make it out in the snow--plus one of our littles wasn't walking and we all know that complicates things further! So really, this was her first snow experience.

The poor thing could hardly walk. She kept reminding me of the "tic about to pop" from Christmas Story. So I tried pulling her on the sled, but that was a no go!

But my other 3 littles enjoyed a few minutes of snow play, and I more than enjoyed watching them.

They tried to catch snowflakes on their tongues.

They sled down our little hill of a drive.

They smiled when I said look at mama!

And of course there was a (just one) snow angel made.




And then the phone rang. It was the doctor (and we were waiting on her return call) so I had to take it. Of course this is the same time that my eldest runs inside screaming that her hands are stinging they're so cold. I gently ask her to run inside and wrap them in a towel--though I was still dumbfounded on how her hands were cold since she was wearing water-proof mittens.

I continue with the doctor, explaining symptoms and what not until my second-born decides it's potty time. Like, I potty now whether it be in my clothes or in the potty.

Oh, and then my "tic," who can hardly walk has slipped on our garage floor and is now crying.

I wrapped things up as quickly as I could with the doctor; and then I was sent on a mission to conquer the chaos that ensued in the 3 minutes it took for me to speak with our physician.

Seriously! This all happened. And then it was all over.

My one, lone little Bug managed to escape the chaos. Nonetheless, she was ready to come in.

So in we came. Luckily, Brownie made it to the potty and somehow managed to get out of her winter clothes in time.

Peach reported that she had taken her mittens off and that's how her hands got stingy. She was mostly calmed down at this point.

Boushka had no serious damage---nothing a little hug and kiss couldn't fix.

We all managed to make it out of our snow suits, boots, hats, coats and gloves before my floors were too soaked. I guess it helped that they only walked on the tile and not on any carpet. Phew!

I set the wet boots out in the garage, hung our coats and snow suits, and pitched the gloves and hats back into the bins. And then I plopped on the couch and thought, Yeah, never doing that again!

I feel bad about my attitude towards the fun I pictured that turned into chaos, but I can only be hopeful and assume that

1) Had I not been pregnant,

2) Had I not been fighting some chest congestion,

3) Had the phone call not happened,

AND

4) Had there been another adult with me

things just may have gone a bit better. The pregnancy/sickness combo, in case you don't know, makes it a bit tougher to breath and just generally move around. And the phone call... pretty sure it took too much of my attention for those few minutes that in turn allowed the CHAOS to ENSUE-- especially since no other adult was around!

So, lesson learned. Or maybe not. Because I am still picturing the fun times to be had in the snow--but I think I'll wait until Daddy is home to enjoy the fun with us!