Another Friday Visit

**update**
Very little change. Dr. says that doesn't mean much after your first baby. You could go into labor anytime. So, here's hoping. :) Have a great Memorial Day weekend!


Well, not much to comment on now except that I have my Dr.'s appointment later today and so we'll see how things are going. I look and feel bigger so I hope this kid isn't getting huge on me! :) I'll post an update later.

Time is running out!

Ok - I want to remind everyone to leave a comment on when you think this baby will make an appearance and how much he will weigh. I will award (mail) a lovely pampering prize to the winner. See HERE for details. You only have until the baby is born and that should be within the next 19 days! This contest is open to ANYONE even if I don't know you! I have had over 300 visitors in the last 2 weeks so I know you are out there. Leave a comment! Become a friend! Win a gift!

All about Baby - again.

Another Monday already? Wow! Time seems to go so fast and yet so slow! As today is Monday, it is time for Not Me! I don't know that I have very many interesting things to say but I'll give it a shot.

I have only 20 days left till my baby's due date. I certainly did not pray last night that I would go into labor like now! He has the right to be in there until eviction day 6/7. At my Dr.'s appointment last Friday I did not stash both kids in one chair and give them snacks to distract them while I got a pelvic exam! Who takes their kids to a pelvic exam? Not Me! In my defense, I did truly not know I was getting one. No, really I didn't. oh - you know what I mean. Drat this Not Me! You can't use negatives when you really mean them! LOL

I did not feel like a freak and feel the need to comment to perfect strangers about oh you know, the weather, the groceries that you end up with, the pretty flowers, etc. when they stare blantly at how huge my ever growing mid region is with horrified eyes when I went to run errands a couple of days ago by myself. What is with people anyway? Haven't they seen a 9 month pregnant lady before? Sheesh! At least I don't have them touching my stomach so I am thankful for that!

If you have a desire to read more Not Me! Monday comment go to MckMama's blog HERE.

P.S. I am dialated to a 1 and 30% effaced. Baby is not floating any longer but is engaged! YEAH! That is progress so I can't be anything but happy about that!

Have a happy Monday!

Hospital memories

There are many of you who don't know much about my little girl Hannah. I haven't given many updates lately - which is a good sign. But I would like to backtrack a little and start from the beginning.

Hannah was born 5 weeks premature and weighed 4lbs. 13oz. I will have to post a picture of her that little on another post as I don't have that computer file on this computer. Anyhow, we brought her home weighing 4lbs 6oz. and she was so sweet! She never really ate well because she was so tired. At about 6 months old she slowly stopped growing. She weighed 12lbs. And 10 months later she weighed 16lbs. At 2 years she weighed 18lbs.

We saw the Dr. often and he monitored her weight but one day he said take her to the hospital downtown and check her in. She'll need to be hospitilized. I was in shock. It seemed so drastic. Here I was trying to get her to eat food and she just would eat a few cheese crackers for the day and all the Dr. ever did was weigh her and tell me to keep trying. I guess I was expecting the same. He never mentioned that I might have to take her to the hospital. So I went home and called my husband and off we went. My 3 1/2 month old son, Hannah, and myself.



We stayed for 1 week and they did a biopsy on her small intestine and put a nose tube in and ran many tests to see what might be causing the problem. She went through so much that week. All the while being fed 4 bottles of pediasure a day. She tolerated well at first which was surprising since she wasn't used to eating. One test came back and said that she digested food 4 times slower than a normal person and never felt hungry so she just wouldn't eat. They wanted to "teach" her what it meant to feel full and empty. Well, she didn't digest to quickly and being fed through the tube 4 times a day - you can see where that is going.

We went home for her 2nd birthday and went back again for another week stay. While we were home she lost the 1 1/2 lbs or so that she had gained at the hospital. The second round in the hospital was terrible. Hannah threw up constantly. She couldn't tolerate the feeds anymore and she was throwing up the nose tube which had to be put back in. She is a fighter and it was more than traumatic to watch let alone accept that it had to be done at all. She was so brave. And I was so tired taking care of my infant and her in a tiny room.


This is grandma, Maizer, and Hannah.

I am fighting back the tears as I write this. It was terrible. When we went home we tried to feed her through her nose tube and we finally decided after 3 trips to the ER to have it replaced after her vomitting the tube out that we were done with it. One time the nurse inserted the tube down into her lungs. I was terrified and very much done with it all. It was torture on my beautiful little girl. If anyone ever knows someone with a nose tube or sees someone with a nose tube just remember this - they go through A LOT to have that placed and then think of not gagging on a tube you can feel in your throat all the time. Good luck is all I can say about that.

The Dr.'s told us that Hannah was malnourished and that her feeding disorder was unexplainable. Even the small reflux she had didn't figure in as to why she wanted food, got excited about food, and then wouldn't eat anything. She didn't have any developmental disabilities. It was a medical problem and they just didn't know enough about certain feeding issues to say why. What to do now? She needed surgery to have a "G" Tube placed directly into her stomach and to be fed through it all night long while she slept. Well, if we thought hospitilization was extreme this was too much. How can this be? Is this right? We haven't tried everything, surely there must be something else to do besides pumping food directly into her stomach?

Their reply??? If Hannah catches the flu later this year or any serious illness it will kill her. She just doesn't have the fat supply to fight an illness.

Ok - WOW! My husband and I tried to come together but it was very stressful and difficult. We had different opinions of what to do and we fought often. I felt like my whole world was turned inside out and we didn't have long to make the right choices. What those were who knows because the Dr.'s didn't even know why Hannah wasn't eating and growing. After trying medical lipids and calorie enhancing food boosters that are used by many AIDS patients and cancer patients that we had to pay for on our own and supplements adminstered in a juice...we came together and decided to do the surgery. Hannah wasn't gaining any weight and nothing was working. In 2007 a few months before flu season started she was again hospitilized and stayed for 3 days.

In the beginning it was so hard to feed her through it because it was so raw and sore. We had to wait to connect her pump until after she fell asleep. Then we started a very long journey of gain and loss. If she were sick we couldn't feed her because she would throw it up and she also could aspirate or choke on it. So it was 2 steps forward 1 step back.




Below is Hannah last September. She was still very tiny and I was nervous to let her go to preschool but I also wanted her to experience things so after speaking with the teachers, the director, the kids, I was comfortable that Hannah would be well looked after.



Today, Hannah has not been fed through her tube since the middle of January or so. She lost 1 lb right away from an illness but we kept her off the tube and are trying our best to have her eat food and grow all on her own. She still has her tube and we will put her back on it if we need to. So after 2 years and now being 4 years old, she weighes 28lbs 6oz. Every 2 weeks she is monitord at home and this last weight check and nutritional discussion and plan she had lost 6oz. She is still not at the weight she was when we stopped her tube feedings in January but we continue on because she is growing. Slowly but surely! She weighed just under 29 lbs when we stopped her feedings so she is close to being back at square 1. Once she can grow past that mark we can start a 6 month trial. If she does well, grows normally, and illness doesn't have her weight plummet again, then she will have her tube removed and we can live our lives medical equipment free!!! Oh how I dream of the day my daughter will be free of a life evolving around food and eating and weighing and the team of people that help her. Not that I don't love them! LOL

We are on a new path. My beautiful daughter will continue to get well. I have faith that the Lord blesses her and loves her. As I love her so very, very much.




If you find the time, please pray for Hannah. Pray that she can do better and gain the weight she needs to. Our children are so precious! I pray for all families that their children are healthy and happy!

I've Been Ambushed!!

My husband has been doing EVERYTHING to persuade me into naming our baby Ender Rilen Kirby. I do not want Ender. I want Asher!!! I can't believe the lengths he is going to. It's a new wallpaper on the computer everyday begging for Ender and a photo of himself pleading and praying, it's my daughter's photo pleading, it's false impersonations on MY BLOG!!! I can't believe he posted as if he were me! What should I do to "punish" him??? This just may be an all out war!! LOL

Let's dissect his previous post, shall we?

Yes, my husband is loving, wonderful, and handsome....would I say "Hubba, hubba"? Probably not. Not because he isn't but because that's not my lingo. Moving on!

If the name "doesn't matter much to me" then how can this sentence make sense?

"I just wanted to point out that I came to this conclusion of my own free will because it is a good strong name and it just feels like it is meant to be."

Yes, my husband does many wonderful things for me but PULEASE!!! The baby couldn't have been conceived without me either buddy! AND I am the one suffering for 10 months (40 weeks) with this kid and this baby is as much a part of ME as it is him.

So.... Feel free to comment on what crazy husband I have and what sort of tortures I can deliver until the baby is born and named ASHER!!!

It's Official!!

Okay, so after who knows how long of incessant attempts from my wonderful and loving and very, very handsome husband(hubba hubba!!) at trying to get me to agree on a certain baby name, I have come to a decision. I also have decided to make it official by posting it on my Blog for all the world to see. Kind of like carving it in stone. Once it's posted internationally there is no going back. What will be, will be.
I just wanted to point out that I came to this conclusion of my own free will because it is a good strong name and it just feels like it is meant to be. I did not however base this decision on all the wonderful things Josh does for me or on the fact that our baby is as much a part of him as he is a part of me and would never even have been conceived without him. Nor was it a concern that, even though the name doesn't matter much to me, it matters a lot to Josh.
The name of which my beautiful new baby boy will henceforth be known is.....

Ender Rilen Kirby.

Comments on what a wonderful name it is, are welcome.

Oh, if only we were psychic!!

Alrighty then - Labor Contest is closed. I am now taking your most intuitive guesses on when this babe will make an appearance and how much he will weigh. The winner will receive a mystery pampering prize full of great things!!

My guess is May 29th 7lbs. 5oz.

If I win what do I get? hee,hee

Leave your comments and the contest closes in a few days. If you win one but not the other, you get a mini pampering prize of Mary Kay makeup.

Clue: We have had 2 false alarms in the last week. Of the two babies we have now, One babe 5 weeks early...the other 5 days before due date.

Good Luck!!!

This contest is open to ALL who visit my blog!

Owiee!!

Ok, so here's the bad news... I can't see my feet so I keep stubbing my toes. And here is the even worse news.... my feet, ankles, and calves are so swollen, especially on the left side, that I can barely walk and it feels terrible. Like my skin is stretched too far. If that is TMI (too much information) consider yourselves forewarned...I plan on dishing about the birth too. Hee,hee.

Any advice on how to deal with swollen everything?

I call these tree trunks for legs.
If you look closely you can see apart of my big toe is missing it's beautiful paint job that I had done for Mother's Day. Yes, I stubbed it off some how! Ouch!!

Please pray for this family..

I have followed sweet Kayleigh Freeman for a long time now and I am so sad to hear that she passed away last night. She isn't quite a year old. Her mom and dad, Aimee and Adam, have two older children. They are so sad and have been through so much with their precious little girl. Please keep them in your prayers that they can get through these next days, weeks, and months. If you would like to see their blog click HERE . It is an amazing testiment of their love for her.

Baby Blues??

Another Not Me! Monday has arrived and I know there are PLENTY of things I could not admit to doing this week but when it comes to Monday how come I can't remember any of them? I do not check my blog for reminders on my silliest moments to post on Not Me! Mondays. I'm not that clueless! That being said, here we go...

I did not actually back out of our driveway on the way to Safeway to pick up some delicious sticky buns and hit my husband's work car with our family car and damage both. NOT ME! Who would do that? That's what rearview mirrors are for! I did not sit on the couch for 5 accumulative hours yesterday while crocheting my baby blanket that should already be done and waiting for him especially since I've been having steady contractions the last couple of days. I wouldn't be so unprepared for a baby I knew was coming the last 9 months. Not me! And I certainly wouldn't go around underwearless because my last 3 pairs that actually fit were dirty and I am too upset to think about buying more when I don't plan on being this mammoth of a size for much longer. Not Me! So - when all is said and done - I did not actually blame any of this on my sweet innocent boy child who is about to grace us with his beautiful presence. That's just not right! Not Me!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.