With Mike's Mom

 
 
Mike's mom and everyone came up today and we had a nice visit out in the backyard. The weather was perfect today!

Two Weeks

 
Last night, with Mike. Still sleepy. Still my favorite. :)

Ooh this is Hard

 
 
 
I am NOT loving this thing where I appear in pictures with these kids. But I am doing it. Reluctantly. This way, I suppose, if they drive me to an early death, at least they'll have pictures. :)

Holy Moly

What is wrong with me, that I would ever complain about being pregnant or having a rough time in the hospital? Sometimes I think I am the Devil. There are people that have it much, much worse.

Sleepy Baby

 
 
Lord, she is the sleepiest baby ever! I am starting to worry but then I remember that Maria was sleepy too. Veronica will be two weeks old on Thursday and maybe she will start to perk up then.

One Week

 
Back from the doctor and what a hot mess THAT was. We have never waited to get in to see this doctor, not in almost four years, but today? The day that Mike needs to get in and out in 30 minutes? For what is like FIVE minutes of doctor time? Today, everyone was late, including Mike to go get Anthony. It is annoying, not being able to drive or help in any way. BUT back to the BABY - she is fine, her weight is up to 7 pounds 14 ounces, so not quite back to her birth weight but up seven ounces since Sunday, so that's good. It seems like she nurses a lot but she is pretty sleepy too, so maybe we'll try and force feed her a little! We keep straightening out her head and she keeps squooshing back down.

Chuck

 
 
 
This outfit is from Chuck, to Maria and now Veronica. She slept badly last night - that is, she slept fine but only if she was being held. But she took a long nap today and has been up for ... minutes! :)

Ha!

 
This picture cracks me up. I never see her eyes open, it seems. She is the sleepiest baby ever. She does not like to sit or lie down on her own, which is a drag, but as I type this she has been napping in her bassinet for over an hour which is FREAKING me out. But here she is yesterday, in a hand me down from Maria that Kathryn gave her. Adored, indeed.

Sweet

 

Ugh

 
I am REALLY not loving pictures of my fat ass these days, BUT I am determined to have pictures of me with these kids so here it is. She looks gorgeous enough for both of us right?

She is doing just fine, although she has had maybe 10 minutes of awake time in her whole life so far. She wakes in the night and nurses and goes right back to sleep. She wakes in the day and nurses and goes right back to sleep. She can sleep through anything if we are holding her but wakes up more if she is lying down on her own. Anthony and Maria are SO noisy, though, I am not surprised. She is so much swarthier than the other two - I'll be nursing her and I look down and think 'who is this Arab?' Ha!

Sleepy

 

Saturday

 
 
Mike with Veronica, and my Mom with Veronica. She wasn't allowed out of the nursery until Saturday, so my parents were the only ones that came and visited. She is doing very well today, on her first day home, just sleeping and sleeping and sleeping and nursing a little bit. I am confident she will be up all night but we'll manage it.

Day Two

Mike took some pictures of Veronica (who has a name that everyone just loves, I'm very happy about it!) today. She is off her oxygen and they have dialed down her IV fluids from 12 ... some kind of units to 6 and then 4, and I am hopeful that she can spend the night in here with me. I love getting to hold her and nurse her but it's hard to do in the nursery - I am kind of sore, still, and it's hard to get her positioned well in the rocking chair, with my IV crashing into her IV, etc. SO. Hopefully tonight and if not, tomorrow. I am feeling good but not great - I may have overdone it this morning because I was eager to get off the IV so I could get to the nursery but I have been resting this afternoon and am about to go try to nurse V again. My mom and dad have been staying with Anthony and Maria and Anthony went to school today, so I'm sure he was glad to get back on schedule. I miss them but I think it's the right choice to not have them come to the hospital, especially because of the fact that Veronica is in the nursery - I wouldn't want them to come there anyway, some of those kids in there are teensy and I'd hate to get anyone sick. Anyways, here's some shots that Mike took this morning.

In the Nursery

These pictures look a little alarming but she's fine.

So her name is Veronica Lucy and she was born this morning at around 10:00 (we don't have the exact time yet. She is 21" long. It was an incredibly easy and almost pleasant birth, which is just great. She had some fluid in her lungs and has some attendant respiratory problems so she's been in the nursery since she was born. I went to see her before and held her and she was so, so sweet. She has an IV with fluids but hasn't had a bottle and I am hoping she can nurse tomorrow. She works the HECK out of her Nuk so I am hopeful she'll be a good nurser. Keep your fingers crossed that we get her tomorrow!

The Last Week!

Tomorrow, I'm going for my last doctor's appointment and I'll get all my information about what time to be there Thursday, etc. Also they are doing a non-stress test, which I am hoping goes better than my last few. I stupidly mentioned that I didn't feel the baby move too much, or as often, as it seems like other people did. I really was just sort of talking to talk - but my doctor was concerned and wanted to do a non-stress test. This was last Monday. The baby was moving fine and I have a lot of amniotic fluid (which is no big deal, I had it with the other two as well) so I can't feel it as much. BUT the baby was moving so much that he kept moving away from the monitor so they couldn't get a regular testing heartbeat. That's why we had to do the ultrasound test, which got us that cute picture that I posted last week.

Then I was supposed to go back on Thursday for another bio-physical profile, instead of a non-stress test, because it can 'take so long to do the non-stress test'. HA! Of course, my appointment for the u/s was for 9:40 and by 10:15 I hadn't been seen, nor did it seem like I was going to. Since I figured it could take like 45 minutes for the test, I was going to be late to get Anthony, so I just told them I'd come back on Monday. I really had no intention, nor do I, of going back to this stupid Maternal/Fetal Medicine place EVER, but I was trying to be nice. I called the nurse and told her that I'd just come in on Monday for my non-stress test since I CLEARLY wasn't going to save time getting the u/s. The nurse said "unfortunately", I'd have to come back up there Thursday afternoon, so she could 'monitor' the baby'. Ha ha ho ho, I laughed, I can't come back up there - (I mean really!) - I had to take Anthony to therapy, I had already arranged babysitting for the morning and also - NO! Who the hell are these people that they think they can just jerk you around like this, all in the name of the BABY? The health of the BABY! THINK OF THE BABY!

Ugh. So I said no, I'd be up on Monday and then she told me that if I had any problems, I'd have to call this weekend. Um. Really? Really if I have problems with my pregnancy, I should call the OB? Okay, if you say so. Sheesh.

So anyways. I am going tomorrow and hopefully all will be well. I am GIGANTIC and having some trouble sleeping (as is Maria) so I am, as always, hoping that my doctor will just admit me and I can have the baby tomorrow. :)

38 Weeks

 
I had to have a Bio Physical Profile done today because my non stress test was taking forever, but the baby passed 'with flying colors', she said. Cute, right?