Brady saying “boy”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugc5sg7-3n4
Brady saying “pretty”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLz-dXYaTk8
Brady motorboating
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEpgaCBVGrw
Brady and Nana clapping
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSAHbvdyeOs
Brady and her pretty balloon
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzooyJzXJFs
Here are the end of the year pics from my parents and grandma’s visit, Brady’s birthday, Christmas, and everything in between!
Til I can write a proper post recapping Brady’s party, I leave you with these random December pics.
My parents arrived into Austin on Thursday night! Their plane got delayed about half an hour so that sucked since every other plane that week had been on time or early, but was better than getting delayed even more by the storm rocking the east coast right now. We decided to stop by Chuy’s for dinner and since Casey had gone straight home after work, he drove over and met us there. Chuy’s did not disappoint!
On Friday morning, Brady had a doctor’s appointment (well actually, nurse practitioner). She’d had a runny nose for 10 days (this was Monday) when I called the doctor’s office and spoke to the nurse trying to figure out if I should bring her in. Based on her symptoms, the nurse said it sounded like allergies and suggested some Benadryl (in addition to all the other things the on-call nurse had suggested a couple of weeks ago) and to call back in a couple days if her runny nose hadn’t come away to see if she had a sinus or ear infection. It ended up being an ear infection, even though the nurse practitioner didn’t say it like that. She said one of her ears was red and the other one had fluid behind it. She told me she would chart it and would call in a prescription for amoxicillin but we could just wait it out and didn’t have to fill it if we didn’t want to. What?! Why would I not want to call in a prescription for my baby when she has an ear infection? Ear infections aren’t contagious and are usually caused by bacteria or a virus, so we’re thinking the runny nose was one thing and the ear infection was a recent development because her fussiness level has definitely increased from Thursday when I called, till today. Each day it’s gotten a little worse. I heard that it takes about 48 hours for relief, so I’m hoping tomorrow she’ll feel better. So for now, we’re just following the amoxicillin and Tylenol plan and she’ll go for a follow up at her 12 month appointment (on the 29th).
We left straight from the pediatrician’s for San Marcos to go to the outlet mall. We didn’t really eat breakfast so we went to the only eatery I could find (apparently they were all on the other side of the street – the mall is so big it’s on two sides of the street) – Johnny Rockets. Now I don’t know if the ones in California were just better or it’s always been the same, but it was pretty disappointing. But it did satiate. Now unfortunately I forgot diapers. So we had to track down a Target, buy diapers, and then head back to the mall before we could do any shopping. Now this was the second (and technically third) time I had been to the outlets and I haven’t seen even a portion of the stores. The first time I was there it was solely furniture stores (Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware) and this time it was all baby stuff (Gymboree, Carter’s, Baby Gap, and Osh Kosh). We picked up some cute stuff for Brady’s birthday and headed back home. It was a pretty low key night with Brady not feeling well, so I made jambalaya for dinner and we watched Thursday’s Survivor.
Today Casey and Dad went to Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts and brought breakfast back. Then they headed to see Avatar with James and Lana while Mom, Brady, and I stayed here and then went to the Gap. It was a bad idea on my part to try and make returns in store so close to Christmas, but I had procrastinated (what else is new) and was closing in on the 30 day mark. I ended up not finding anything I really wanted (Brady was fussy and screamed the entire time mom was holding her and I was trying on stuff) but at least I got a refund and can hopefully find something somewhere else. We met up with everyone else at Plucker’s for a late lunch and then have just relaxed at home since then. I think Brady’s feeling a little better tonight because she’s slept in her bed (thus far) for 3 hours versus the 45 minutes last night. Here’s hoping that she feels better – poor girl!
In regards to the fFN test (the swab to see if birth is imminent in the next twoe weeks), I had posted that there was a high false positive rate. I ended up having the test done twice, the one a week before which was positive and then one 14 hours before giving birth that was negative. How’s that for a reliable test?!
A year ago today, I went into preterm labor. I’ve been dreading this day coming and actually get pretty emotional when I stop and think about it. I remember what I wore that day to work (gray cable knit sweater and black pants) and that the receptionist said that I looked like I had dropped (I agreed with her on this). I was 29 weeks and 6 days and was following my usual morning routine of doing kick counts (time how long it takes to get 10 kicks – you’re supposed to get 10 in 2 hours) at my desk. On this particular day, Brady wasn’t moving around as much as she usually did so I just figured I’d try again later. At around 1, I felt her kick again but again I couldn’t do the kick counts (this is fuzzy but I think I only got four in a two hour period). Around 6 I started getting worried and started doing everything I could think of (or that was suggested by mom or online to do) including drinking a bunch of OJ and water, laying on my side and being still, putting headphones on my belly, and banging two spoons near my belly and nothing. Casey and I finally decided to just go to the hospital for peace of mind. We figured they’d think I was paranoid and find out everything was fine, that Brady was just having a lazy day and go home.
Since I got pregnant I had been wanting to attempt a natural birth. I was going to switch providers and end up going to a midwife because only Memorial Hospital North had birthing tubs and seeing how much I love the bath, I figured this would help my cause. The night I went to hospital, I was in between providers. Meaning, I had already had my records transferred from my OB to the midwife but I hadn’t been seen, my appointment wasn’t for another two days. The night we went to the hospital it was bitterly cold. There was snow on the ground that hadn’t melted and a very chilly wind. We went to the ER and as soon as they found out I was pregnant, redirected me to OB. The door was locked and I had my badge on me, so I badged my way in. After walking up to the desk I was lectured on badging myself in and how I wasn’t supposed to have access. Not exactly like I could have come and gone unnoticed with that electronic record. Anyway, I was brought to triage and after they took my stats I changed into a gown. The nurse hooked me up to the monitor and I was having contractions (that I wasn’t feeling) really closely together. They brought the doctor in who was concerned and gave me a shot to try and stop the contractions. Whatever shot they gave me (terbutaline) made me shake so badly and made me so cold. They did a fFN (fetal fibronectin) test which is a swab that tells whether or not someone is likely to go into labor in the next two weeks. The problem with the test is that it has a high false positive rate, but that when it comes back positive at all, it is cause for concern. At that point, I ended up being admitted to the hospital and was given my first dose of surfactant (drug to help Brady’s lungs develop more rapidly were she to be born prematurely). Since my contractions were not letting up and I was only 30 weeks (by this point) and Brady was having bradycardias (aptly nicknamed brady’s, which are slowing of the heartbeat) I needed to be transferred to Memorial Central where they had a higher level NICU and were more equipped to deal with this high risk turn of events. They called for an ambulance around 5 and it got there around 6. While I was waiting, I called my parents who didn’t know that I had gotten admitted or what was going on because we didn’t know how serious things were. Since my mom works at the Central hospital it really worked out that I was being transferred. I was pretty freaked out being transferred by ambulance. They had to hook monitors up to my belly to monitor Brady during the ride and then to check my stats too. And since Casey drove us to the hospital (and we couldn’t leave the car there) he had to drive back home to let the dogs out (who’d been all alone all night) before going to the hospital, so I had to ride all alone. It was so scary and I cried as I was being strapped to the stretcher and wheeled down the hall and out into the cold to the ambulance. I laid in the ambulance with my eyes closed and prayed and tried to keep calm and my heart rate measured. Both hospitals are off the same (albeit long) street so I just imagined where we were along the way. By the time we got to the other hospital Brady was still having brady’s, they had to put me in the Trendelenburg position (this is where they raise the foot of the bed over the head of the bed) to try and get more blood flow. They also put oxygen on me because my O2 sat kept dropping. The head of maternal fetal medicine came in and did an ultrasound and found the cord was wrapped around Brady’s neck several times. By putting the bed in Trendelenberg, this could loosen the pressure of the cord and maybe even have it slip over her head.
I ended up staying in the hospital from Monday night through Friday night. I was on magnesium sulfate (mag) to help control the preterm labor and hopefully delay things. It caused double-vision and was cold where it went into my arm. Oh another thing about being bed bound was I had to get a cath (ugh and ouch) before getting on the ambulance (which stayed in till right before I was discharged). I got to go home Friday night through Sunday afternoon, was in the hospital for another 2 hours, was discharged, was in labor, and was admitted again 2 hours later and the rest is history.
So til Brady’s birthday, next Tuesday the 22nd, I’m probably gonna be constantly reminded about my time spent in the hospital. Luckily, during my stay Casey was off (use or lose PTO during that time) and was able to stay overnight and keep the dogs at my parents, my dad took some time off to stay in the room with me too during the day, and since my mom worked at the hospital was able to work out of my room! Overall, if I was to have such a hard experience, that was the way to go – gotta see the good points of it all – and of course BRADY!
This is a nice change – I’m actually up before Brady. I’ve been awake for about 20 minutes now and she’s still snoozing. Not even stirring. Could it be a growth spurt too? This is the second time she’s made it past 8 and almost til 9 in the last few days. Not that I’m complaining!
Brady’s still sick. But we can’t really tell at this point if it’s a cold or allergies. Casey has come down with some congestion/runny nose but it hasn’t moved into his chest and he’s never had allergies before so we’re not sure there either. I seem to have been spared so far, but I have had several sinus headaches this week which I am attributing to allergies but that’s nothing new for me. As of this morning, at least one more of Brady’s teeth has started breaking the gum line. Poor girl never gets a break from new teeth.
The lights are on the house, but now that they’re up we’ve decided we don’t like them. We had originally bought warm white C6’s but ended up with just those on the tree (which Casey ended up falling out of – OUCH!) and cool white on the house (not C6’s but these small light balls). We definitely don’t like having cool and warm lights at the same time and then the cool white just looks funny for some reason. It gives off these purple glow and doesn’t look concentrated enough. So today I went and bought icicle lights and when Casey removed the lights we don’t like he’ll be putting up the icicles at the same time. Hopefully these work out because this is the last time he’s going to the roof (at least till he takes them down).
While we watched The Amazing Race finale yesterday (good job Megan & Cheyne – our 2nd choice overall to in after the Globetrotters didn’t make it), we put up the tree. We managed to get all the branches fluffed out and it’s pre-lit so the white light portion is done, but we always add whatever colored lights match our theme so that’s yet to be added. Hopefully Casey and I can get the added lights on before it’s time for him to go to bed and then I can do the rest solo tomorrow while he’s at work. At this rate, it’s gonna take us a week to get up the tree. And if that’s the case, it’ll be up till February again!
Our first Time Warner bill came in the mail today. I became suspicious of them from the get go with their “Price Lock Guarantee” and all the freebies they were throwing at me for agreeing to it. Well, I was right to be suspicious. This month’s bill had $1.95 they were charging for their program guide (which I get for free with TiVo) and then another $7.99 rental charge for their DVR. Now when I connected our service the CSR told me that DVR service was completely free but what she failed to mention is I had to pay for the equipment rental. Uh, yeah no thanks. We didn’t want/need a DVR in our bedroom to begin with and I only agreed since it was free. So tomorrow I’ll be making the trek to their office to return their crappy DVR and pick up a TiVo tuning adapter. Apparently something with Time Warner and TiVo is incompaitble and a tuning adapter is needed to receive all channels. Not even just the HD channels, channels like Nick Jr. too. I honestly don’t remember having this many issues with Comcast or my parents having to go through all this. I have 60 days to cancel the Price Lock Guarantee too and at this rate, I just might in case something better comes along. Although I really don’t see that happening or if it does, our TiVo becoming obsolete. Ugh. I did sign up for a free (hopefully it really is free) “turbo” boost to our internet service while I was on the phone tonight. Casey can already tell a difference in our upload speeds so we’ll give it a whirl for a month and see if it’s worth it.
Oh and the tree still isn’t up yet. It’s been in our living room still in the box for a week but still not up or decorated. I’m hoping the baby gate/corral thing I bought will be enough to keep Brady away from it. Pics to come.
