| Nola |
[19 Oct 2009|05:52pm] |
She's been home for about 3 weeks now and has reached 7 pounds. She's showing off her buff guns and her new custom onesie from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) monkeyjenn while lounging on the changing pad cover that vaquera gave her.
Babies rule.
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| Nola's Hungryface |
[17 Sep 2009|06:56pm] |
Nola is 5lbs, 4 oz. today and is getting bigger every day. She's starting to figure out this whole eating thing as you might be able to deduce from this lovely photo.
We're hoping that she'll be ready to come home in the next week or so. I can't wait!
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| The cutest |
[02 Sep 2009|11:22pm] |
I love this face.
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| Nola |
[31 Aug 2009|11:10pm] |
Taken on 8/31 - she's 26 days old here and 3lbs,15 oz. Today, she's passed the 4lb. mark. She already looks so different!
She has her Dad's cheeks!
More here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marmoseti/
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| Squirrel! |
[20 Aug 2009|05:07pm] |
Nola and friend.
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| Sleepy Nola |
[18 Aug 2009|12:57pm] |
She likes to snuggle.
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| What the hell was that |
[16 Aug 2009|10:54pm] |
It has been one hell of a week. After being home for two days, I was readmitted to the hospital for more pre-eclampsia complications. My blood pressure was out of control, I couldn't breathe (due to fluid in my lungs) and I had developed a pressure headache/migraine related to all of the above. After two nights observation, a powerful diuretic and tweaked medication, I'm back home and feeling much better. I've lost 45 pounds in the past 10 days, most of which was fluid, related to the blood pressure issues. It's nice to see my ankles and cheekbones again.
Nola is doing very well. She's not on any medication, is getting just a tiny bit of oxygen and she's rapidly gaining weight. As of tomorrow, she'll weigh 3 pounds. She won't be going home until she can gain enough weight to regulate her own body temperature and eat on her own via bottle or breast. Most preemies typically go home around their due date. So we're hoping to welcome her home in the next 6 weeks or so.
I can't recall if I mentioned it here or not, but my father passed away suddenly the day before I was admitted to the hospital and two days before Nola was born. I am certain that the stress from the first event hastened the second. I'm thankful that my extended family (and to a large extent in the beginning, Phil) was able to step in and handle arrangements as I'm typically the person that would do this as I did with my Mom a few years ago. I haven't really done any grieving yet and have instead pushed it as far away as I could. I need to focus on Nola and my health first and grieve later. Not looking forward to how that is going to affect me whenever it floats to the surface. I missed his funeral. I have no idea if everything is settled with his estate The control freak in me is feeling conflicted.
The best thing I can do for Nola right now is to get well and provide milk for her. The latter requires an every 3-hours pumping schedule which gets pretty old pretty fast. I will be happy when she's home and I'll be able to bond with her during that time rather than deal with this contraption. It's annoying, but absolutely worth it. I'm committed to making sure she's getting everything she needs. She's so beautiful - I can't wait till shes home and Ill get to snuggle her constantly and smooch her chubby cheeks whenever I want.
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| Nola Pearl McJunkins |
[06 Aug 2009|04:04pm] |
Yep, that's quite the name for this little one. She's tiny and sweet. Only 2lbs, 10 oz.. Complications from my pre-eclampsia brought about a super fast c-section under general aneasthesia. Wish things could've been different, but I'm so happy that she's here and seems to be okay that I'm already starting to forget the insane trauma of Wednesday evening/morning. Maybe someday I'll get that story written down.
Folks in the NICU are impressed that she's breathing unassisted already and that she seems to be in such great health. She is oh so veyr tiny though and seems sooo fragile. My health issues due to this business has kept me from being able to truly bond with her and that breaks my heart. Good news is that I'm already producing milk for her, so that's at least one thing I can focus on doing that will help her grow and develop. I'm totally in love with her.
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| Bed rest = necessary evil |
[28 Jul 2009|06:30pm] |
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Had my regular baby-check-up Thursday morning. While they were doing their normal tests, my blood pressure came back as 150 over 100. Along with the sudden swelling in my face/hands overnight and the all-over itching, they decided to run more tests and admit me to the hospital for suspected pre-eclampsia or pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH). I was in the hospital for a little over a day. Test results came back fine, but my blood pressure is still abnormally high. This puts myself at risk for stroke and kidney problems, and the baby at risk for growth restrictions and much worse.
They've decided to put me on bed rest until there's some sort of change or until the baby is delivered. I'm only at 29-ish weeks - obviously delivering this early is a very bad idea. This all makes me nervous - I haven't even started my childbirth classes yet. I have so much more to do in order to get ready - now all of it is limited by what I can accomplish from the couch or the bed. It's frustrating. Hey - I'm all game for spending a day on the couch chilling out by choice, but now that I have no choice and we're talking a few months - I can already feel the stir-crazy setting in.Phil's been great through all of this. He was already a saint, and now that he's basically got to wait on me hand and foot he's an angel.
I've had to tell all my bands that practices and shows are not an option until after the baby is born, and that sucks. It's also up in the air if my job will let me telecommute. This was not a part of my plan. Bleh. Keeping everything in perspective, this is pretty minor stuff. It's just yucky. I'm completely focused and committed to having a healthy baby and being here to take of her - I will do my best to make sure she stays in my belly as long as possible. Other than this stuff, things are good. The baby is moving a lot everyday. The baby room is nearly ready. We have a baby shower coming up which I've been given permission to attend - as long as I stay reclined. Things could be a whole lot worse.
And how are you?
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| Baby Room Painting Complete! |
[19 Jul 2009|05:53pm] |
We finished painting today and putting up the trim. We'll be assembling furniture and hanging curtains here in a bit. I know it's an odd color scheme and a crappy photo, but the finished product is gonna be awesome. It'll look more girlie once everything is in place.
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| I am safety driver! |
[14 Jul 2009|08:07pm] |
Nina and Brandon bought this for me from a Japanese dollar store in Houston. MATERNITY IN THE CAR - I AM SAFETY DRIVER. Take a look at that profile, wow.
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| Birthday Rooster |
[07 Jul 2009|10:34am] |
Phil showed up last night with this in tow. It's a 3-foot tall metal yard-art Rooster. He knows me well. It's perfect.
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| Garage studio |
[25 Jun 2009|01:30pm] |
This is the new rock cave we've been working on for the past year. Previously, this was a unusable detached stone garage with busted up concrete and framing. After a ton of replacement and soundproofing work, it's *this close* to being complete. Once we're fully moved in and set up here, we'll be able to start working on the baby room.
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| Desi |
[25 Jun 2009|01:25pm] |
My sweet fat cat.
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| The latest |
[11 Jun 2009|04:50pm] |
Were heading to the airport in a few hours to catch a flight to Phoenix to see some of wonderful folks get hitched. It's going to be a good weekend.
I checked the weather this morning for both Austin and Phoenix.
Austin: Low of 82, High of 104
Phoenix: Low of 72, High of 96
I was pretty sure AZ was a hotter clime than Austin - maybe it's just behaving for our visit.
We went to the doctor today. While she was checking the baby's heartbeat, my little girl kicked the monitor and the dr's hand. I was pretty proud of that. At 22 weeks, she's strong and healthy and we're awfully happy. Doc says things start speeding up quite a bit from here on out. It already feels like this crazy train is moving pretty fast. We still have so much to do this summer to get ready for her - I'm already nesting, yep.
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| Skeletal but cute baby girl |
[31 May 2009|01:07pm] |
This picture was taken at our 20 week ultrasound last week. She's laying on her side with her arm propped under her head and is taking a nap. It's hard to believe this little gal is inside my belly.
Look at that huge noggin and gigantic brain!
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| Yep, more baby stuff |
[20 May 2009|12:09am] |
Well, the wait is finally over. The amniocentesis results came in today and everything is normal (absolutely no chromosomal abnormalities-Downs or otherwise) and the baby is definitely a girl. I can't even express how happy I am to have this behind us. My stress level fell immediately and my headaches have already subsided.
We're nearing the completion of the garage studio. The sound-proofing is complete and the drywall is up on half of the building. We're expecting to be done by early next week, which means that the next couple of weeks will involve painting, moving the music room to the garage and the beginning of the nesting phase. It's nearly time to start shopping for nursery furniture, car seats, strollers and the whole caboodle. While I'm looking forward to this, it's also a bit daunting. We'll see how it goes.
Phil and I got to spend the evening babysitting the sweetest little 6-month old baby boy by the name of Baron. I can say with certainty that my sweet <lj user=alarmo> is going to be the greatest Dad. He's a natural and has a voice that will soothe even the fussiest of beebs. CUTE!
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