Friday, August 17, 2012

How Time Flies..

Can you believe it? Within the course of one week Rose turned a year old and Dorian turned 6 months old. Time really sure does fly when they're little.

Dorian is getting bigger by the minute. He's over 20 pounds now, super long, and wearing 9-12 month clothing because he so enormous. His eyes stayed light, making him the only one out of us to have hazel eyes. He's going to be one heck of a heartbreaker with those looks. J is having a field day dressing up his little boy just like daddy. Fedora's and plaid everywhere!

Rose, while still having her gibberish moments, is talking up a storm. She's one heck of a smart-alec, and a bit bossy, now, too. (HONEY, be NICE!) She's so cute, you can't stay mad at her long. She's catching up to her sisters, and fast. She'll be starting pre-K in just a few short weeks and is almost as big as Iris now.

Poor Iris. She inherited her mama's short gene, and is the shortest and roundest (minus Dorian of course) of the bunch. She's still totally random. The stuff that comes out of her mouth...all you can do is smile and nod. She's an incredibly weird little kid and starting 1st grade soon.

As for Lily, not muched has changed with her. She'll be starting 3rd grade, and is one smart cookie. Unfortunately, she uses her cleverness and manipulation skills for evil. She's usually in trouble for doing something she knows she wasn't supposed to do, but managed to do so anyway, under the radar, until someone noticed something was amiss.

The kiddos are fine, healthy, and incredibly brilliant. We have a lot going on, but we're handling it. The only thing I'm having a hard time with is how fast they are all growing. We send everyone our love. <3 p="p">

Monday, April 9, 2012

Two Months Old and Other Things

Dorian: Today was my little man's 2 months well-baby visit. He is 22.5 inches long and weighs 12lbs 8oz. As of Saturday, his two-month birthday, I am no longer breastfeeding. His lactose intolerance is confirmed and he has now been switched to Soy formula. I'm still bummed, but I hope this stops his constant painful gas, and keeps his stools from being frothy or watery. He seems to be content with the new formula, even though I'm not. I just have to remind myself that as long as he is healthy and happy, that is all that matters.

Rose: Justin started work almost two weeks ago and Rosie is having a hard time not having him home. There have been plenty of tantrums, fights, and just outright craziness from this little girl, I don't know how to handle her sometimes. I have a headache and I'm quite sure I cracked a tooth from clenching my teeth when she yells, but she tries to be a good kid. She just really misses her daddy.

Iris: What can I say about Iris? She's been lying a lot, so most of the time she speaks, she's usually ignored. She refuses to do any of her bookwork, and has been breaking every rule she can think of withing minutes of each other. I assume it's to get attention because she feels like she has nothing else to do. I'd say it was middle child syndrome, but technically, she's not the middle child anymore.

Lily: My eldest has been a handful sometimes, but I do love this kid. Without her, I think I would have lost my sanity somewhere. She has been a tremendous help with her little brother and youngest sister that I've mentioned to her what a blessing she is. I have my hands full with so many kids so close in ager and if it weren't for Lily, I think I would have broken down a lot. She's no longer in therapy. Her last session was two weeks ago and I've taken what her therapist has said and put it into action. A lot of her behavior has changed due to this, which is much progress indeed. Her nightmares have subsided, and she seems a lot more content. We've had our ups and downs, but through it all, this kid has done an amazing job with how she handles herself. It's amazing that she is only 6.

In general, the kids are adjusting to their father being gone and us hopping from one place to another. Within the next three months we should have a place of our own. I hope by then, things will get back to normal. Their healthy, and for the most part, happy little pains in my butt. :) Truthfully, what kid shouldn't be a pain in the butt? Without their nuances, life would be pretty boring.

Friday, March 9, 2012

One Month and Other Things

Wednesday, Dorian celebrated (read: slept-through) his first month birthday. He is currently 8lbs 12 oz and jumped to 21.25 inches long. We've had a really tough month, the two of us. His first two weeks, he wasn't gaining weight well, he had frothy stools, suffered dehydration, his allrgies were all over the place... Finally, we found that he is allergic to cedar and that he is lactose intolerant. He wasn't digesting the breastmilk well, so we have been supplementing with lactose-free formula for him and have put him on probiotics. So far so good.

While I was still at the hospital after having the baby, Lily had her second appointment with the psychologist. It didn't go well since her father went with her. Lily's going to therapy to deal with her nightmares. Her nightmares have one reoccuring theme: her grandmother, her father's mother, causing harm to the family. So while her dad sat next to her in the room, she refused to say anything that could possibly help deal with her dreams for fear of insulting her father. She was afraid of saying anything negative about her grandmother since J was sitting in the room, so the entire session was a complete waste of time for everyone. We've been dealing with her issues by ourselves since, but plan to return  if what we are doing doesn't help. It's been frustrating to say the least.

Iris and Rose are doing well. Iris more than Rose. Rose has been waking up in the middle of the night crying; she's still trying to adjust to all of the changes. I wish I could do more for the kids, but we work with what we have.

All in all the kids are generally happy and very healthy. They are growing like weeds both physically and intellectually; Rose's vocabulary has exploded in this past month. Dorian is hungry...always. As a matter of fact, I need to go feed him again.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Baby Delivery

It's been almost two weeks and I have yet to write anything about my hospital stay or the fmaily. Sorry about that. I've been recovering these past two weeks, and have gotten much needed rest. (As much as is possible when you have a newborn, anyway.)
First off, the delivery went, for the most part, smoothly. J and I arrived at the hospital at around 5:16 to sign in and let them know we were ready. I was prepped, getting hooked up to IVs, poked and prodded, and had to answer a bajillion questions for paperwork that was filled out for me while I'm in the process of being poked and prodded. J was easily distracted by his Nook. :) Annoyingly enough, this actually took a good hour or so to do.

At around 6:30, everyone who was supposed to be in the OR comes in, gives me the run down, which I shamelessly nod off through due to barely sleeping, and having done this three times already, and am wheeled out to the OR. We make it in at exactly 7am and I am poked and prodded some more. Apparently, I was retaining too much water, or was just too fat, that the anesthesiologists were having a hard time finding a spot between my vertabrae to insert the needle. This sucked. Majorly. The female was using her fingernail to make an indention. I had to be poked about 4 or 5 different times just to numb the area they needed, and even then, we were all having a hard time. Finally, the nurse who was holding me, gave me a stool to rest my feet so that I could lean over and curl properly. Once that happened, everything seemed to fall perfectly into place and the doctors were able to finally insert the needle in spine without any issues.

After that, the scene went according to plan. Screen up, arms tied down, OB and surgical tech hovering over my abdomen with scapels, nurses on standby, anesthetic team hovering overhead, med students watching along the walls...

Dorian arrived at 7:40 am on the 7th, much to the delight of the entire medical staff in the room. You hear my doctor and his tech, who is also male, being as serious as possible as they make their incisions, when suddenly, you hear the tech say "Oh, look at his tiny little ears!" and both men are just melting at the adorableness that is my son. According to Justin, the nurses throughout the room were also squealing and pointing at my gorgeous baby. :)

What can I say? I make pretty babies.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Please Welcome...

Our newest bundle of joy, Dorian Vaughn Ames; born 7 February, 2012 at 07:40 am in Metroplex Adventist; height: 19.5 inches; weight: 8lbs.

More to come...

Today's the Day

So, we head out to the hospital in a matter of a few hours. I have to be checked in no later than 530am. My hospital bags are packed (have been for the past two weeks now), I'm showered, the girls are cleaned and have clothes set for the day... and I can't sleep. I *want* to sleep, but I am so anxious for this that I keep waking up every hour.

Soon.

I'll be posting a picture with all the stats as soon as I can. :)

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

First Session

Lily had her first psychological therapy session today. Because of all the stress we have been under, I have been worried about her mental health and how she is dealing with everything. I try and sit down and talk to her regularly, but there are times when I can't get through to her and she shuts down.

The session this afternoon was pretty simple. Ken just wanted to know what has happened in the past six months, which I explained, as well as how she has handled all of it. He understood my concerns and explained to me that the way she is coping is through her nightmares. We are going to try and help her come out of her shell in the next few sessions to try and get her to verbalize her fears so that we can stop the nightmares and she can deal with her stress in a more healthy way, not all bottled up.

She has another appointment next week. I'm actually excited about this. While sitting there watching her talk to the therapist, playing with random toys, and petting his large retriever, Princess, she was able to express herself without censoring herself. I'm hoping this helps her. I hate knowing that she's under this much stress and has so many fears.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

T-Minus One Week

So, last night/this morning was interesting...

Yesterday afternoon was my 38-week check up with the OBGYN. Everything is as it should be. I'm still closed and long (no dilation, baby still not dropped) and still in a lot of pain. Seeing that I haven't slept in what feels like weeks, my doctor prescribed me vicodin for the pain. The day progresses, I still feel like the plague, so I take my pill and wait.

And wait...
and wait...

The pain gets worse. I had taken a good pain killer and I was still in a crap load of pain. I was horribly uncomfortable and in tears. I couldn't handle it anymore. So, we get to labor and delivery around 11pm and are admitted in to see how things will go. My contractions are mild, but 2 to 3 minutes apart. My scar burns like fire, and I'm super exhausted.

After a couple of hours of monitoring, the nurse hooks me up to an IV, sticks me with a hardcore antihistamine, and leaves me there to see what happens. My contractions get further apart, and I doze off. I still have enough pain to where I holler every ten minutes, but instead of every two, it's every ten, which is nice. A good half gallon of water is pumped into my system by then and I just want to sleep.

After 6 hours of being in L&D, I'm finally released home, told to take another vicodin, and told that my problem was the fact that I was dehydrated. How I became dehydrated, nobody even knows. My husband, even my stepmom-in-law were surprised to find that the problem I have is keeping enough fluids in my system.

I drink my weight in water, but apparently 64 oz of water every day isn't enough. Because of the scar tissue and the constant pull, I have to have *more* fluids in me to deal with my uterus. The husband bought me a large 44 oz cup from the gas station and I'm meant to drink that twice a day. The nurse also suggested I eat foods rich in fluids, like jello, soup, and watermelon for an extra boost.

This pregnancy has not been kind to me. Seriously. I'm very glad that in seven days I'll finally be able to hold my son.

Seven more days.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

It Feels Neverending

Well, I've been putting Lily's insurance card to work this past month. First, her yearly check up, which gave us referrals to two more doctors. The first referral, her eyes, which proved that she did indeed needed glass (which she wears regularly and looks adorable in.) The second referral, her ears, which showed that while she hears well, she shuts down emotioanlly when stressed and tunes out. That leads me to now.

I got in contact with an old clinic I used to go to when she was a baby. I have an appointment set up with my old psychologist to deal with the stress we are currently going through, and set one up for Lily with one of the child therapists so she can learn to deal with her stress as well.

The past six months have been hard on Lily, and she's been coping to the best of her ability, but she's only 6 and can only understand so much. I'm hoping this will help calm any fears she has, deal with her nightmares, and give her a healthier mental state. She's a smart kid and all of this stress is not good for her; it's not even good for an adult. I hope after a while, she'll be feeling a lot better.

T-Minus 2 Weeks

I had my 37 week appointment yesterday and all seems as well as it should be. Though I still considered high risk due to my 3 prior c-sections, they ran a sonnagram of my uterus yesterday to find that it is still very much intact. The burning sensation will continue, but as long as I am not bleeding or bruising I am in the clear.
Dorian is still very much a boy. I asked the ultrsound guy, named Guy, if he could check this far along even though everything is pretty much squished. "Is he still a boy." "Well, it will be a bit of a push this lare in the prgnancy...wait, yep. There it is. I saw his scrotum." :) Have to love my little exhibitionists.

I have my c-section scheduled two weeks from today. I'm so ready to hold my little man.

Monday, January 16, 2012

C-Section Scheduled

It's official. Dorian's arrival has been scheduled for February 7, 2012. So far, I have to be in surgery by 7am, however, due to another OBGYN dog-earing that time, it could change to 12pm if she takes it. I'll know for certain the evening of the 6th. Truthfully, I think this is poor OR management. It should be first-come-first-served and based on procedure, not based on "maybe" the doctor might need it.
Other than that, all is good in the pregnancy. I have nothing coming up with him until he is here, getting seen every week until then, just for them to tell me that I'm larger, heavier, and "it's almost time."

Three more weeks!

Friday, January 13, 2012

Appointments part Two

Lily went to the audiologist today to make sure her hearing is ok. I wasn't too worried about it. I figured that if she wasn't hard of hearing, she was being a smart ass and tuning people out. Come to find out, the latter was true, sort of. She isn't tuning people out on purpose; it's a stress mechanism. When Lily is scared, upset, or stressed, her mind's response is to completely shut down. The doctor and I had to get her attention in the *middle* of her hearing exam, startling the crap out of her. She didn't even noticed she had stopped paying attention. She felt anxious about the test, but once we calmed her down, she passed the test just fine, no problem.

I hate that she is feeling stressed. I know at this time, with her parents being unemployed and our family being homless, and the new baby on the way in just a matter of weeks, there's a lot to take in. I know *why* she's apprehensive about everything. I just wish I could teach her how to handle her stress in a healthy way. I, unfortunately, don't know how. I react the same way when I become upset. I completely shut down, tune out, and sometimes even block creating new memories when met with an extremely stressful situation I couldn't even begin to handle, or become severely upset with someone/something.

I'm thinking, perhaps, trying a child psychologist, if even just for a little while until things don't look so grim, to help her cope with her insecurities and her fears. At least I know that, overall, she's a healthy child, just has a lot to go through for such a young age.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Appointments Part One

Had my 35 week check-up yesterday. Dorian is good, I am good, and we are bored and waiting. :)

As for Lily, her optical appointment was today. It's official, she's her mother's daughter. Poor kid has astigmatism in the same eye I do, but it didn't phase her. She is SUPER excited for her new pink glasses to come in in the next two weeks. She didn't stop talking about it as soon as it was confirmed that she was getting glasses. The entire ride home she was trying to do the math. To calm her down, I had to tell her between what dates her glasses would come in. I'm quite sure the days between the 20th and the 25th are going to be brutal. ;)

doesn't she look adorable?

Saturday, January 7, 2012

See No Evil, Hear No Evil...

Lily had her 6th year well-child visit to the doctor yesterday. All was fine and dandy. (90/50 bp, 47.6 lbs, about 4 ft or so tall--yes, that is a whole foot shorter than I am, so she's almost as big as me.) All was fine until we had to do the eye exam. Her left eye was having some serious issues focusing. Her left eye was about 20/40, while her right eye was at 20/25. I wouldn't even be slightly alarmed if it weren't for the fact that last year both eyes were at 20/20 and also that astigmatism is hereditary. (I have it and so does my father--I have his eyes, and so does she.) We had this problem before, during one of her eye tests, where the light was a bight askew bouncing off of her retina, so they had to do the test twice every year. It seems to have worsen over time, which is the problem I had (and ended up getting glasses for.) I have set an appointment with the optometrist on Wednesday. Hopefully they can either confirm or deny my fears.

Shortly following her eye exam the doctor checked the rest of her. Her reflexes, and the rest of her body are ok. Her pigeon-toes are caused by tightness of the internal rotator muscles of the legs, located at the hips. We have to continue our stretches and increase the intensity a bit at a time, doing it about ten times a day. Lily hates it, but we've done it for the past two years. It's prevented her legs from getting any worse, so I know we were doing something right. The doctor said to just keep doing what we were doing and that, as soon as the external muscles were tightened and in the internal were loosened, she would have no problems with her legs at all.

As for her ears...she failed the hearing test miserably. There were 5 sounds that she needed to hear. She heard the first, and loudest one, but all others were lost to her. Her ears are fine in the sense that waves are passing through the canal normally, but she's not hearing the softer, and most times lower, tones of the exam. She didn't have a problem with this last year either, but if she truly does have a hearing problem, it would explain why she feels the need to yell upon starting a conversation. Her appointment with the audiologist is on Friday.

Other than that, no other problems. She's healthy, smart, and a large pain in my ass, which is what every 6 year old should be. I'll keep you posted when she has her next appointments and what those doctors tell me.