Brettley Update

Just thought I'd let you all know that Brettley is doing well off of his caffeine so far. It will be out of his system tomorrow and then he will be ready to do his car seat test. He has to sit in his car seat for an hour and a half without having any heart rate or breathing problems or anything before he's allowed to come home. So it could be as early as Sunday, but the nurse told us within the week for sure that he'll be coming home. YAHOO!!!

UPDATE:
Car seat test is on Monday and if he passes he will come home on Tuesday.

Attitude of Gratitude Day

Wow, it's Thursday already! Actually, to be honest, I kept thinking that yesterday was Thursday. It was confusing me all day. Here we go with our weekly routine.

1) I am grateful that my little B man is doing so well. His feeding tube is out, he's over 4 lbs 12 oz (2160 g) now and is doing demand feeding. It sounds like he's just about ready to come home, so we're hoping for next weekend. He has been doing so well and we are so grateful that he stayed in as long as he did, that he was as ready as he was and that he had a wonderful place to be to work on the things that he had left to work on. We have been so blessed through this.

2) I am grateful that I've started exercising and I'm continuing to lose weight. Let's be real, I wasn't exactly small when I got pregnant with Brettley. I had gained a lot of weight the previous fall when I was on medication and never really lost the weight after that. But I'm sure doing great now. We are using Lose It again (calorie counter). It works really well for us, so why give up a good thing. I'm also doing steps on my Wii Fit board right now. It feels great to feel healthier.

3) I am grateful for my parents who have been so wonderful through the past couple of weeks. They have dropped things in an instant without any hesitation to be with me when I needed them. They have bought things for Brett that we didn't expect we'd need without really batting an eyelash at it. It is such a blessing to have such a supportive family.

So there you go. Maybe some day my Attitude of Gratitudes won't be totally centered around Brettley, but right now it's kind of my life.

Last night we did an infant's First Aid and CPR course at the hospital. It was mostly review for me as I'd taken it 6 years ago when I worked in day care, but it was great to be reminded of what is to be done. I don't feel scared after taking it this time, I feel more ready for Brett to come home.

Also, because a couple of people have asked about it, being able to write their own name is not a prereq for kindergarten. It's just something that I personally would like him to have accomplished, if possible. Well, that's about all for now. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Caleb and Brettley

I just registered Caleb for Kindergarten this morning. Is he really that old? Am I? I was talking to John about this the other day. Most of the time, when I'm not feeling like a sickly 80 year old, I feel like I'm only 19 or 20 still instead of 26 (which still isn't old but is in the late 20s, regardless). I don't feel like I'm in a ma'am instead of miss stage yet, but I guess I am. Anyway, Caleb is VERY excited to go to school this fall. He has been asking to go since he was 2 and figured out there was such a thing as school. As much as I will miss him for the first while, I'm looking forward to it as well. It will be nice to have a slight breather for a few hours every morning and I'm excited for him to be able to focus more on learning. He does well at home, but I just don't have the drive and what not to keep him focused on it for more than 20 or 30 minutes a day. The only thing I want to finish working on with him before he goes in September is to be able to write his name. He can spell it and knows what the letters look like, he's just having issues with his coordination and making it work on paper. Also, his red/green colour deficiency seems to be only mild, so I'm hoping it won't be a big deal for him in school.

As for Brettley, he is eating more from the bottle now. I guess he took all of his feeds during the night from the bottle. The nurse told us last night that as soon as he feeds from the bottle for all of his meals well that he can come home. YAHOO! It's so nice to kind of have an end in sight now. He was about 4 lbs 11 oz last night, so he just has 5 oz to go before he can go in his car seat that I got for him yesterday.

Well, that's about all for today. Have a good one!

Brett Update and a Tiny Bit About Me

My update is pretty much about Brettley, since that seems to be my life right now. He is doing very well. He has only spit up once in the last 24 hours (we'd been having some issues with that) and is starting to take more from a bottle again. He had went several days being too tired to wake up to eat so he was being strictly tube fed. I miss him lots and am really looking forward to when he is ready to come home. I'm struggling right now with being torn between 2 places. Whenever I am at home I feel like I should be at the hospital with him and whenever I'm at the hospital with him I feel like I should be at home with the other boys. Later this afternoon my dad is taking me to get a good thermometer for him as well as a new infant's car seat. Our's is still usable, but not very easy to use and we wanted a system that would be a lot more comfortable for Brett. The one we have has to be adjusted in the back which ends up being REALLY uncomfortable for the baby so my dad said he'd buy Brett a new one. My mum also bought a bassinet for upstairs. We're borrowing one from my sister-in-law, but we figured it would be a lot easier to have one downstairs during the day and one upstairs for night time rather than me trying to lug one up and down all of the time. She also got us a better baby monitor. My parents have been so great about helping out with the unexpected things with Brettley. I am so blessed.

Anyway, other than that, I am just an assistant in Activity Days now, apparently. I'm pretty happy about that though because it's less stress for me while we're trying to deal with the trial of having Brett in the hospital and then having to keep him out of public for a while even after he comes home. I got my hair cut and thinned on Saturday and my eyebrows done. It's nice to be able to do something with my hair again other than just throwing it up in a ponytail.

Well, that's about it for now. I hope you all had a great weekend:)

Brettley Eoin Bly

Personalize an announcement

Attitude of Gratitude

I think the better question this week might be "What in my life am I not grateful for?" However, I'll stick with the original plan.

1) I am SO grateful for the fact that my beautiful little preemie is doing as well as he is and for the staff and technology that are helping him to do so well. His IV came out during the night and his only problem is a little bit of spitting up, which happens in babies born at any age. This last week has strengthened my testimony of Heavenly Father and miracles so much. I don't think you could go through something like this and not believe.

2) I am grateful that my mum has been here to help take me to see Brett when John was sick and to help with my kids and chores around the house. Also, just to be there for emotional support. She is such a giving person and I'm so lucky to have her as my mommy.

3) I am grateful for my brother and future sister-in-law. When they got the phone call saying that I'd had the baby they dropped everything (school, work, etc) and were on the road within the hour to drive 3 1/2 hours and spend the weekend up here to be with me. I have family who still haven't congratulated me or called me to even see how Brett's doing, but to have a brother who just dropped everything like that to be with me meant the world to me. He's definitely the best brother.

So I guess I gave our update in #1. Brett's doing well and really working hard on his 'jobs' as his nurse, Alison, called them. The boys are enjoying having Grandma here. I feel good most of the time, although I still have my moments where I feel like I'm hanging on by a thread, but I'm sure that's normal. Anyway, unless something really big happens over the weekend, I'll post the next update on Monday, like normal. Have a great weekend.

Monday Update

Brettley took all of his feedings from a bottle yesterday. He was given caffeine because he was having some apnea spells but is doing great since he was given the caffeine (only one spell since then). I went and saw him in the afternoon. He was quite alert and as soon as I was holding him and talking to him he looked at me:) My heart melted, he already knows me.

Other than all of the Brettley stuff, not too much is new here. I'm still recovering and trying to learn how to deal with the stress of having a preemie in the NICU. John had a cold but is fine now so he'll be able to go and see Brettley tonight. The boys are doing well and up to their usual antics. My mum is here with us for the week, which will help me out a lot. Yeah, that's about it. I'm trying to find ways to keep busy when I can't be with Brettley since that seems to be the biggest problem is that my mind is too active and that's when I become stressed out is when I have nothing to focus on.

Hope you all had a wonderful (and less stressful) weekend.

Brettley's Story

If you don't want to read the fun stories of labor and delivery, the rest of this post is not for you. If you're curious about the last few days, have a read.

I woke up at 4:45 on Friday morning to John's alarm so I decided to use the washroom before he got in there. When I turned back to flush the toilet I noticed some bright red blood in there, so we quickly threw on some day clothes and John called my dad to come and watch the boys. I got a blessing while we waited and started having contractions. They were about 5 minutes apart the whole way to the hospital. The triage at emergency sat me in a wheelchair and I was brought to assessment & induction in maternity. They put me on a monitor and my contractions kept coming harder & faster. After about 40 minutes on the monitor my back pain was so bad during contractions that I couldn't keep quiet during them anymore (which is a first for me, really). After about 15 more minutes I felt his head right in place and kind of screamed for someone to check me (no one had yet at that point). John says the nurse looked like she didn't believe things were at all that bad, but checked anyway. The next thing I knew I was being rushed into a delivery room with people yelling for a full staff and my hands and arms were tingling like mad. It was near impossible not to push at that point. There were about 8 staff members in the room with me trying to get me onto the delivery bed with me crying and trying to explain that I couldn't move. Somehow I managed to roll onto it anyway. Someone jammed an IV into my arm (I have the bruises to back up the word jammed, by the way) and about 30 seconds later my water broke (a first for me, it's always been broken for me before). About 1 minute later the baby was out (AHH!!! sweet relief @ 7:18). They let John cut his cord and took him for the typical tests. His APGARs were 9 and 9, and he was 4lbs14oz. I couldn't believe that he was that heavy already at only 33 weeks. They put Brett on my chest and let him stay there for about 10 or 15 minutes so he would get to know me before they had to take him away. I remember kissing his tiny little head and thinking that he had a lot of hair. John went with him when he went for more tests while I answered questions for paperwork and got cleaned up. John came back and stayed with me except to go up with Brett to NICU so he'd know where to find him. They put Brett on a CPAP machine because his breathing was a little hard (at about 9am).

By the time we went up to see him at 4pm he was off of the CPAP and doing very well. I was too scared to touch him again, so I just stared at him a lot and talked to the nurse who explained to us what Brett needs to be able to do before he can leave NICU and different ways that we would be helped out while he's there. I went back up there after 7pm with my mum. This time I was up to putting my hand in the incubator and rubbing his back. Mum agreed with me that Brett looks a lot like Ty. The nurse said he was still doing very well and gave me a Preemie Parent Handbook. She wanted me to hold him, but I still wasn't quite ready. It had been a VERY emotional day.

I've seen him twice so far today and am hoping to make it there once more before I go to bed. The second time I went (after I was discharged from the hospital) I held him in my arms for a while. I was so nervous before, but it went really smoothly and wasn't nearly as freaky as I thought it would be. He has had food a few times (once was with a bottle) and has only spit up once, the last I heard. He is doing very well and we are very proud of him for being so strong and fighting so hard.

So there you have the story from a mommy who is still in a half-daze and running on next to no sleep. I will keep posting about Brettley's progress as I learn more. Take care!

Brett

Sorry I don't have photos on our computer yet and I'm not up to writing the story quite yet as I'm very tired, but Brettley Eoin Bly was born on Friday, February 11th @ 7:18am. He was 4 lbs 14 oz and 33 weeks to the day. He is at NICU and doing well. I got to hold him again this afternoon. He is so precious.

What Do You Think?

So I just realized that it's 3 weeks and 1 day until I'm allowed to go to my preferred hospital if I go into labour. That being said, I'm going to start opening up the polls for when I will have the baby and how big he'll be. So make sure to put your guess in on the polls on the side and also leave a comment with your more specific guess. To give you a bit of help with your guess, here's some background info.

I hit 37 weeks on Mar 11th and am 40 weeks on Apr 1st. My weight gain with the pregnancy has been normal, according to my OB.

L was born at 39 weeks (not induced) and was 6lbs 10.75oz.
Caleb was born at 37 weeks (not induced) and was 6lbs 7oz.
Ty was born at 38 weeks (induced, but would have come in a matter of days on his own) and was 6lbs 1oz.

So go ahead and have a guess. Maybe there will be something special for whoever is closest on the date as well as the weight.

PS
I will post my guesses after the polls close on Feb 20th.

Attitude of Gratitude Day and the Mouse

It's been a fun few days. We found a mouse in the house during the night on Monday, so the boys and I spent all of Tuesday, that night and all of yesterday until after supper at my dads house. I did discover that the sensitivity I have developed to cigarette smoke apparently bothers me more than mice though, since we're back home even though we still might have the mouse (I hate townhouses for that). Now I am semi-sick and Ty's cough is really bad again.

Anyway, moving on, it's Attitude of Gratitude Day, so here she goes...

1) I am grateful that John has tried really hard to support me through my irrational fears. He doesn't feed in to them or agree with them, but he realizes how much they bother me and tried to help me to feel better. I love having such a wonderful husband.

2) I am grateful that my contractions that I was having earlier last week are down to a minimum again and I don't have to worry quite as much anymore. I can't believe that there are only 50 days until my due date (which no one expects me to make it to anyway). It still is kind of feeling surreal.

3) I am grateful that my kids slept in until 7 this morning. Caleb has been waking up at 5:30 or 6:00 lately, and usually waking Ty up with him, so it was really nice to be able to rest a little longer this morning, especially because I didn't sleep very well last night. They may drive me bonkers some day, but I love my kids so much.

Well, that's about all for now, I suppose. Hope you have a wonderful weekend:)

Outback and Sick Kids

This weekend I have found something that helps me keep my stress level down and something that does the opposite. Yesterday John and I decided to go out for supper since it`s probably the last time that we`ll get to go out by ourselves for several months. So I called up my dad and he came and watched the boys for us. We went to the Outback and had smoothies and a Bloomin`Onion. John had steak fajitas and I had a mushroom swiss burger. Well, I had half of one, I couldn`t finish the other half. It was quite yummy, though. So that helped keep my stress level down. Anytime I get to relax away from the house and the kids for a couple of hours does wonders for me.

However, today Caleb`s cough that he`s had for a few days got worse, his fevers kept getting hotter and wouldn`t stay away for long. Ty started coughing bad again as well. So John took them to the medicentre where a doctor prescribed them both antibiotics without actually telling John what was wrong with them. Sometimes doctors just amaze me with some of the dumb things they do. Anyway, so they both started their antibiotics and Ty also has an inhaler for now. They are sleeping well and I haven`t heard any coughing, so I`m very glad that they seem to be feeling better. But anyway, having sick kids and waiting by the phone for a few hours to hear what`s wrong with them is a bit stressful. Luckily, my body didn`t react too badly to the stress.

Not too much else is really new here. I had the sacrament brought to me at home today. They will continue to do this until after Brett`s born since I can`t sit through church anymore without ending up in a LOT of pain. Well, I was actually going to try and make it through this Sunday, but that all changed when the kids got sick. I guess we`re playing it week by week right now. I`ll be glad to feel more like a normal person again.

So I guess that`s about it. An early update again, but oh well. I have a prenatal on Tuesday, so maybe I`ll have something to say after that. Have a good one:)

Attitude of Gratitude Day

Ah, it's 3 am and I'm wide awake. Heartburn is so much fun, not! At any rate, I figure I'll do this now, so here is this week's Attitude of Gratitude:

1) I am grateful for the healing that can come when we receive a priesthood blessing. It has made a huge difference to me in the last few days. (This also made me grateful for a home teacher that we can rely on to come and help give the blessing when it's needed)

2) I am grateful that the big project John's department has been doing so much overtime for is due today. That being said, I'm also grateful that he was able to do so much overtime so that we could have enough saved up for him to take a week off when the baby is born.

3) I am grateful for a wonderful husband who bought me another Booster Juice last night when he was out dropping off stuff at the library and getting milk. It seems like Booster Juice is my major craving in this new year, I can't seem to get it out of my head. I love it:)

So that's about it. Tomorrow I'll be 32 weeks along, which means I officially will have 8 weeks until my due date and that we will probably have the baby in about 6 weeks. ACK!

I'm still taking things easy here and trying not to get stressed out (HA!) so my house is kind of suffering. Caleb did help clean up a bit yesterday, though.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Fun Few Days

Here's just a quick update of what my last couple days have been like. I think I already mentioned the wicked nasty painful Braxton Hicks that I got at the church. Well, every time I would do any amount of moving around or get stressed out at all in the last couple of days they came back. So I've been doing a fat load of nothing other than occasionally getting the boys food and changing Ty. It's been very frustrating. However, I got a priesthood blessing for it last night and I'm feeling loads better. The biggest difference is that I'm able to control my stress level a lot better since then. I love the priesthood and the gospel in general. I'm still taking things super easy though.