NICU memories

The thoughts and memories of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Huntsville Hospital for Women and Children never seem too far from my mind these days. I can still vividly remember where his small bed was on both the critical and progressive sides of the unit. The procedures that we went through just to be able to go to his bedside every time we went to see him are still vivid memories. I in great detail remember the care routine that became second nature every time we went to see him. I remember the shock and almost laughter when they told us we had to complete a checklist of baby care items and even do a car seat test. Then there was the shock of the neonatologist asking us the morning he was discharged if we were ready to take him home. The memories are pictures in my mind as well as from W’s camera that I will never forget.

I’m not saying all these things to be nostalgic about how Butters once looked so frail and now is the 35lb toddler that bulldozes everything and everyone in his path. I talk about this because in some ways I am mentally preparing for it become a reality again.

Since my doctor is already talking about this baby following in his/her brother’s footsteps in being big and possibly coming as early as 35 weeks or so hence the reason I feel that it’s best to not forget those things that happened with Butters. Sure I hope for the best. Of course I hope that we will have an uncomplicated birth and this one will be able to room in with us at the hospital then be discharged with me. But, there is a part of me that after Butter’s birth and sudden onset of breathing difficulties knows the routine and doesn’t want to forget it all just in case we see it all again. I don't want the surprise, shock and fear that all went along with his sudden admission to the NICU. I want to be prepared and remember what happened last time just incase it happens again. I am almost half way through my pregnancy and I have had these thoughts on and off since I found out. I guess I just want to be prepared for what I know could happen.

I don’t know what it is about me, but having been through the experience once before the more I know about the situation the more it bothers me. I know that what happens is out of my control and I try to keep that in mind, but it’s really hard. I’m just one of those people that want to be prepared for everything and this is no exception. I guess its an engineer thing. :0)

A change in diapers for us

As some of you know that follow my twitter feed the last few weeks have been talks about what to do as far as diapering for the next little one. After doing a good bit of research and number crunching I came to the conclusion that the BumGenius 3.0 diapers would be best due to how much they resemble disposables. The diapers say that they will fit babies to toddlers from 8 to 35 lbs and being that Butters is at the high range of that weight limit I decided that since I had a 4 day weekend I would try the four of the diapers I had out on Butters and see how they worked.

I got one of the diapers from A Nurturing Moment (shown above while Butters was napping) here in town and the other 3 (pictured) from diapers.com with a $10 off coupon. I knew I would be washing them a lot but I wanted to give it a good shot.

My goal was to go from Friday to Monday night with only using the new diapers. As of tonight I can now say that I accomplished my goal. I wanted to do this with just the diapers and liners I had to be sure that I liked them and that they would work.

So in the process I learned a few things:
1. Changing them while out isn't bad at all. I just kept a balled out Walmart or Publix bag with me and the dirty diaper went in there and was tied up. Once I got home it went in the bag with the other dirty ones or straight in the laundry for washing.

2. I got some Bummi's flushable liners but so far they are just ok. They tend to stick to his bottom along with the poop and I just take a wipe and wipe the whole mess off. No big deal but I was just hoping to be able to flush all of it. If anyone knows of any better liners or a better way to use them please let me know.

3. Butter's diaper rash all went away with no cream. I just kept the diapers on him and the red baboon butt that he gets all went away with no treatment. That was great to see!

4. Blowouts happen no madder what. I learned this Sunday night when Butter's stomach wasn't feeling to good and his diaper got nasty. While luckily most of it was contained in the liner and diaper we still had a blowout situation but I think that happens with any diaper at some point.

5. At night Butters requires at least 2 doublers. He tends to be a heavy night wetter so having the diaper stuffed a little more than during the day seems to help.

6. I really need to increase my supply of these diapers. 4 diapers is just not enough for him to get through a day. I say this but the laundry part really wasn't a problem. It took a pre-wash cycle in cold, full wash cycle in hot, then one extra rinse followed by the dryer on medium. This is what the website recommended and so far worked well.

Overall it was a great weekend experience. I would like to do laundry a little less but that is just going to require us to obtain more of them. Right now I have some on our Target registry and I am passing the word around that as far as new baby gear that would be helpful. Last is a picture of him being as active as always. The fit was still good even though he is at the top of the weight limit. At this point we haven't gone to not using disposables at all but I am starting to work these into rotation with the Huggies that we have and hopefully start saving a little money.


Just as a side note. I estimated that he uses about 5 to 6 diapers a day. So to have a good toddler supply where I only have to wash every other night we would need about 12 to 15. But I estimated this weekend that I saved 24 disposable diapers (average) which amounts to the price of one of the Bum Genius 3.0 diapers. Not too bad for a 4 day weekend!

15 weeks

So this week marked 15 weeks and another doctor’s visit. The basic stats were blood pressure 118/80 (which I was told was good), +2lbs and we did get a good heart beat that was right at 156bpm. The nurse was skeptical about getting a heart beat so early on but luckily since I’m so small it wasn’t a problem. The 2lb weight gain was kind of a shock considering how sick I’ve been in the evening and at night. I asked my doctor about size concerns. He looked at my chart from last time and after everything that happened said that he wouldn’t be surprised if I went early. He said that since Butters was big my chances of having another big baby are pretty good. He did say that he would be happy if I went into labor at 37 weeks (which would put this one being born right around W's birthday) with no intervention depending on how big this one is. I wanted to ask a lot of what if questions but I know it’s far too early for that and there’s no need to at the moment. Also we found out that we won’t find out the gender of this little one until around the first week of July. Hopefully we will still have Mac for the big day.

So far my main food cravings are tuna salad (made with low fat mayo and plenty of sweet relish), decaf iced coffee, instant oatmeal, sweet breakfast cereal, Tommy’s Pizza and anything with a strong citrus flavor (orange juice, chunked pineapple ect). The citrus seems to be linked to my nightly battles with getting to sleep. It seems as if I don’t have enough acid on my stomach so eating a few bites of citrus gives me enough acid to digest food and not get so sick. Ironically I don’t want soft drinks at all right now. I’ll normally have a couple of sips then they just don’t taste good anymore. I am much more preferring crystal light iced tea, lemonade or Capri suns to drink rather than soft drinks.

I’m still with out an appetite most of the time though. I eat last at night around 8pm and normally can’t manage to even think about eating until after 8am the next day. I know this isn’t entirely healthy but I’m doing to best I can. After around 9 I tend to snack on stuff that I’ve got at my desk to keep me out of the vending machine. Oddly enough I haven’t really wanted sweets that much. A random sweet craving can normally be tamed with a chocolate chip granola bar. I honestly do find myself snacking more at the office I think due to only having this type of food around and not as home as much. I have snack stuff at home but the stuff I really crave is at work. I don’t consider what I snack on that unhealthy. I’ve been really working to not look at a clock so much when I eat but rather eat when I feel like I need to. I’m mainly doing this so that I can not worry so much about when I’m eating but rather focus on just eating when and what I need to (with in reason).

Respect or lack there of (vent)

One of the things that I deal with in my job and throughout my career as an engineer or in school is respect. During my undergraduate days it wasn’t a big deal. Around the time that I got to my upper level classes the guys I was in class with generally got the idea that the women left could cut it and basically gave us the respect we deserved. The same stands true for graduate school. I receive the amount of respect that I should and am very rarely talked down to in a class setting or talking to a professor

When I got my first engineering job I expected for there to be a lot of problems with the guys in the office and hanger but I was surprised at what I found. I was respected and seen as someone who knew what they were talking about. I got a little bit of resistance from guys when I went on trips but a few hours into it that faded and the problems were no longer an issue. In part I have to say that this was easier for me since the manager that I had was a woman and had in a way cleared the path. Granted we were complete opposite personalities but I think she did make it so that when I was starting out in the field it wasn’t as hard as it could have been.

At my current job it’s all different. Apparently I scare the guys I work with to a degree. When I initially got here things were fine. The boss I had at the time was great and I had no problems except for another woman in my group (but she has since left and that’s a whole other story). When this boss decided to leave the guys up north appointed one of the other guys in my group supervisor until someone else could be found. This is when things started getting bad. The comments about my eating started, the guys in my group started talking much worse. Things just snowballed very quickly. With in a few months of him leaving I found myself in a bad situation. The lack of respect that I got and continue to get when it comes to school and my knowledge of things would amaze you. I sit next to a guy who mainly complains about his older daughter. Calling her all kinds of names and even cussing her out on the phone right beside me is a little much. I also at least once a week get treated to a rather heated argument with his wife. The other guy that sits right on the other side of the cube wall from me has basically proclaimed that he has very little to do with his three kids and considers himself a sperm donor and the kids are his wife’s problem. This is the same guy that had the bravado to say that W must give Butters Benadryl sometimes so he will sleep and W can play video games!

I used to be able to overlook all this stuff, but after having Butters I could never imagine talking like his. Yes W and I have our disagreements but I try not to have them in the office and not bring it into the work place at all. I’m also not saying that Butters is always an angel and does no wrong. What I am saying is no madder how bad of a night I have with him or how much his 2 year old antics frustrate me I don’t talk bad about him at the office. Same goes for Mac when she’s around. I would never talk to others about how bad they are or what all they did wrong. That kind of stuff to me is meant to stay at home and not air out your “dirty laundry” at the office.

Also I want to make a distinction here. Talking to friends that have kids the same age about the interesting behaviors and quirks that are going on is completely different than talking about your kind in an entirely negative manner.

I’m not trying to sound feminist or anything about the respect issue but I get a little irritated when I hear the same things every week at work. I do my best to show these guys respect but at times it’s very hard when they show basically none to me in return. I guess I feel that inappropriate comments and complaining about your wife, kids, dogs ect should be kept out of the workplace to an extent and not voiced so loudly that everyone around can hear it. Also I really wish these guys would show a certain amount of respect in the work place towards myself and their own families in the way they talk about them.

12 weeks End of the first Trimester

So here I am 12 weeks pregnant. One of the big ultrasounds was this week and everything went great. W and Butters didn’t go to this one due to the really long weekend we had just completed. The wait was much longer than normal but when I was brought back I went through the normal round of 100 questions with the nurse about my medical history and various things. After that was the moment of truth. I was brought into the ultra sound room ready to see our little boy/girl. Thankfully he/she is doing great! I saw all 5 fingers and toes on each hand and foot. My OB took a look at the spine and profile and saw no gaps so everything looked great. The heartbeat was good and strong and the flow circulation of blood looked good. There was one tiny thing he noticed though. Just like Butters this one is already measuring big. As in about a week ahead! It’s not a big deal right now but its something to keep an eye on. He is going to monitor me more closely as far as the baby’s growth so that hopefully we can avoid what happened last time. But then again W just makes big kids so we will have to see. He just wants to try and avoid us all having to go through the NICU experience for the second time and we appreciate that! Once again he got a laugh out of my continued activity and we agreed that this week would be my last week playing hockey.

The only major symptoms I’ve had are nausea and exhaustion. I get pretty sick in the afternoon no madder what I do or eat so I’ve just come to accept that for now. I also have to eat a small snack about every 2 hours or so or the nausea gets much worse and I end up getting full blown sick. The lack of energy has been tough too. With 6 hours of grad classes and finals approaching I need some form of energy. Luckily I have found a way to make iced half caffeine coffee in the morning and that has helped tremendously in getting me up and moving in the morning (and afternoon some days).

This past week also marked my last week of being able to play hockey. I played my final scrimmage on Wednesday night. The women were split up with the men which made it really interesting. At the end of the game while the coach was making some announcements someone made the statement that I would be leaving the team until around December. Afterwards a lot of the guys were asking me why I was leaving and when I told them I was 11 weeks pregnant they were a little shocked. It was apparently quite surprising that I would play hockey all the way through my first trimester. I was really surprised that the guys were sad to see me go. I really enjoy skating with most of them and working the clock will be ok, but I am still really going to miss the physical activity of it all.

Now I just need to find something else to do to keep in shape besides running after Butters outside in the afternoon and on weekends.

This will also more than likely be my last post until after finals are over at the end of the month. Luckily in Uncertanty analysis there isn’t a final but my compressible aero exam is not going to be easy. In fact I expect it to easily be the hardest of the semester and want to be completely prepared.

One last thing I need thank Stephanie over at Adventures in Babywearing. Below are a couple of pictures I managed to get while out shopping last weekend. A question I get a lot is why I still wear Butters even at 2 years old. Last weekend was a perfect example. We were in a place he wasn't sure of at all and needed the reassurace. So wearing him in a place like that made him feel more comfortable. Also he didn't want to go to either my mom or sister that were with us. I tried to encourage him to walk but when I saw it wasn't working and he was about to have a tantrum I just put him back in the sling and wore him where we were going. We have a stroller but really don't use it too much just because the sling is so much easier to get on and off and keep him close. I plan on wearing him as much as I can until I just get too pregnant to continue.

Hockey tournament, birthday party and big changes coming!

So as I say to start off every post, things have been busy as of late. I’ve been trying to keep up with intensifying assignments in school while still trying to find time to spend with the family. Plus we had the Rocket City Rumble Women’s hockey tournament last weekend and then this weekend was Butter’s birthday party and the NICU reunion/birthday party. The party was a lot of fun for Alvin. He mainly enjoyed terrorizing the Easter Bunny. All he really wanted to do was go and play with him. There were kid friendly snacks and games to be played. We also ran into a couple of doctors and nurses we remembered. The main thing that I noticed was that 2 years later and he is still the biggest. I didn't see any other of the kids that were his size.



All in all things have been well but busy as you could expect. The women’s tournament went really well. We actually had 2 teams participate. The “white” team (due to white jerseys) did well but unfortunately didn’t make it to the championship game. The “black” (due to black jerseys) made it to the championship game and lost a hard fought game to the Nashville Athena’s. It was a great and actually somewhat laid back tournament and I think most people had a lot of fun.

Then there was Butter's birthday on Wednesday. We kept things pretty low key since he was having two different birthday parties this weekend. One for our family on Sunday and then the NICU Look at me Now party for all 2007 NICU graduates. He did of course have his favorite dinner of spaghetti and garlic bread. He made a huge mess but loved every bit of it.



But there is one small change that has kept me busy.

Really small.


You know like being pregnant!

Yes you read that right. I am pregnant with #2 due October 25th. I honestly don’t know what to think still. I think we are both still in shock. I mean I know our lives are going to change drastically yet again and I can’t imagine it all. W’s life is about to get even more crazy. Butters will be about 2.5 when this one arrives and I think the age spacing will work well. He is still a little too young to really understand what is going on but I think if we talk about it enough before my due date and let him feel the baby move he might get the picture a little better.

As far as me I’m ok. This one has been much different than when I was pregnant with Butters. I actually needed to go on anti nausea meds (Zofran) just to be able to eat some days. Other than that I’ve just been facing the normal first trimester exhaustion.

And before anyone looks at this and asks about hockey, yes I am still playing under my doctor’s permission. When I asked him at the first appointment he laughed a little because he wasn’t prepared for the question. He then told me that it was fine to play up until the end of my first trimester. Now I say this and I have realized that playing hockey is getting much harder as my waist expands. My pants really don’t fit very well and make it harder to bend over due to my expanding belly.

This weekend we told our parents at Butter’s birthday party. Originally we wanted to get a shirt for Butters and just let him wear it around and see if anyone figured it out. We couldn’t get the shirt so I decided to write a letter that sounded like it was from him and gave it to everyone. Well all the parents were completely shocked. We had already told our sisters and step sisters but the grandparents had no idea. Overall besides the weather turning cold all of a sudden on us. Alvin though was a little clingy he had a pretty good time but afterwards with no nap he crashed hard!



So overall it was a good last couple of weeks have been really good but really exhausting. I also have a ton of homework and stuff with school to catch up on.



Oh and one last thing. I have to say thank you to Stephanie over at Adventures in Babywearing for sending me a ring sling. Butters and I have been using it on and off for a couple of weeks and we love it! I'll try and post a picture here soon. I was going to get to it today but we just got too busy this weekend.

Spring Break week... not a break for me at all!

So once again yes I am still alive. Things with school have been really busy. We have averaged 10 problems a week in compressible aerodynamics and they aren’t easy. Most of them take about 2 pages minimum to complete. Uncertainty analysis is well uncertain. The class isn’t very hard at all. Its basically poking holes in everything and trying to find out what will cause the biggest sources of error.

This week however is spring break. What does that mean for me; well not much. I procrastinated a little last week due to feeling so incredibly sick from the stomach bug that I got. So this week I am actually working on homework for both classes and attempting to get slightly ahead in uncertainty analysis.

Then at the end of the week comes the best part. It’s the first annual Rocket City Rumble sponsored by our women’s hockey team. We are actually fielding 2 teams for the tournament and we are very excited. Butters will be spending the weekend with my dad and step mom so that Will can shoot the games as much as possible. Right now assuming we don’t make the finals we will play 4 games in 24 hours. It sounds like a lot, but its actually about the normal schedule for a weekend tournament.

The next few weekends are just going to be so busy for us. First we have this weekend for the tournament. Then the next weekend we have the NICU reunion party and Butter’s birthday party. Then after that the weekend of the 4th and 5th is the Tuscaloosa air show. W is going to be going by himself while Butters and I spend the day with my mom and sister.

I have some other topics to go into soon but right now I just don’t have the time to dig too deep into them so I’ll get to those later.