10 Months

I cannot believe it has been so long since I have posted here!  More than that, I cannot believe that our baby is 10 months old already!!

June was a busy month and we did quite a bit of weekend traveling.  We went to Washington D.C. to visit my cousin and his wife.  Their daughter was due about 3 weeks before Jenna, and was born just 17 short hours after Jenna was born.  It was our first visit since the girls were born, and it was pretty awesome.  It was so fun to see the girls interact with each other.  Jenna, being every bit her father’s daughter, immediately tried to tackle her cousin.  Our big outing was a trip to the zoo.  The girls looked at a few things, but for the most part, it was pretty much still beyond them.  It was pretty hot, so we didn’t stay more than a couple hours.  We’re hoping to try again next fall for their second birthdays, at which point they should be completely wrapped up in everything going on there, and it should be much cooler than it was in June. 

 

tackling Lila

getting the hang of sharing

The following weekend we went to Queens (and spend more time on waiting to cross the G.W. Bridge than I have ever spent waiting to cross the bridge) for a first birthday party.  Jenna got to meet a few new friends and was re-introduced to a couple friends that she had already met.

meeting the birthday girl

trying to figure out her balloon flower

Outside of these two trips, life is life.  Things are busy, and Jenna makes herself even busier.  We started solid food about 4 months ago and she loves to eat!  She has been pulling to stand at the couch for about a month and at all of her floor toys for a couple weeks longer than that, and she finally started crawling about 3 weeks ago.  Now she crawls everywhere and chases the dogs and cats, and she is starting to stand in front of her tall floor toys without support for 5-10 seconds while she manipulates a toy in her hand.  With her new mobility, we had to set up super fun baby jail in the living room.  We leave it open when we can directly supervise her and she moves in and out of it at will.  She cruises along the edge and stands at the gate when she’s had enough time in lock-down.  I’m sure it will only be another week or two before she manages to open the gate (that it took me about 20 minutes to figure out and manage to open).

We still only have 2 teeth, and there doesn’t seem to be any sign of more coming any time soon.  We finally put her baby tub away and are doing baths in the regular tub, which she loves.  We go swimming a couple times a week, and she loves it!  She’s even put her face in the water (by herself) a few times and didn’t seem to mind it (nor did she seem to inhale any water!)  We’ve added a few more foods, and have started to add a few ounces of regular whole milk (mixed with breast milk) each day.  I had a pump issue, as well as a clogged duct, that led to a decrease in my supply a few weeks ago.  I am keeping up a little better now, but I’m still not producing enough on a daily basis to keep up with her.  Our freezer stash is dwindling fast, and she won’t take formula at all, so going with a little bit of whole milk mixed into the breast milk was pretty much our last option without finding a milk donor.  Luckily, we haven’t had any issues doing this. She's making the cutest noises these days; she has a specific noise that indicates that she sees an animal, and she has started cooing when she sees the birth announcements hanging on the fridge. 

All in all, things are great, and it’s so hard to believe that she will be a year old in just two months.  Some days it feels like she has been here forever, and some days it feels like she was just born yesterday.  Hoping that all is well with all of you.  As always, here are a few more pictures of my happy girl and a few video clips for Aunt Nikki..

after Easter dinner at Gram's house

March for Babies - her onesie says 'My big sister lives in Heaven.'

Loving bath time

Sleeping with her arm wrapped around her seahorse

10 months!

Showing off her rainbow tutu

Tormenting Morgan and practicing her giggles

Update on the Bean

Every once in a while, it smacks me in the face.  Jenna is real.  She is here and she is real.  Most of the time it feels like she has been with us forever, but some days it feels like she just got here.  Sometimes it's just so surreal...I went through 39 weeks of pregnancy and brought a baby home this time.  A real, living, breathing, smiling baby.   And she is mine. 

Overall, everything is going so well!!  The only problem we have had was bedtime.  For several weeks, Jenna was in the habit/routine of staying up until between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.  She was sleeping 6-10 hours at a time, but staying up until the wee hours of the morning, then getting up at 6 a.m. was getting old.  But the problem seems to have been solved.  I am a mean mom...about two weeks ago I enforced two days of limited daytime sleeping, especially deep (coma-like) sleeping, so she would be tired at bedtime.  We have started a bedtime routine at a set time every night for the last 10 nights; every night but one she has been asleep within 1 hour of start time, sometimes as quick as 15 minutes.  We have had 3 or 4 nights of sleeping straight through for a minimum of 6 hours, and the rest of the nights (except one) she has been up only once to eat during a period of 8-10 hours...and then right back to sleep!  As a result, mama and daddy are much happier campers!!  Jenna seems to be a much happier camper, too.  Instead of waking up screaming in the morning, she babbles to herself for about 20 minutes and saves the screaming for when she feels like we are ignoring her.  But seriously, there is nothing better than being greeted, even in the wee hours of the morning, but a smiling baby. 

Jenna had her 4 month check-up on Monday January 17th.  She weighed 15 lbs, 3 oz, which puts her in the 80th percentile for weight.  She was 24" long, which puts her in the 39th percentile for length/height. I think they shorted her a little bit on height, though, because she was pretty wiggly on the scale.  She got a few vaccinations, and we were on our way.  No visible sign of teeth yet, but she is definitely chewing on stuff.  Her favorites are toy links and Take-A-Long Taggies toy.  And I love listening as she develops her voice.  It's amazing.  :-)

During the week between Christmas and New Year she started reaching and grasping with purpose and intent, especially at things placed in front of her on the swing tray.  New Year's Eve day was a busy, busy day for her.  She rolled over from her belly to her back without any help...and the worst part is that no one saw her do it.  Later that day she moved a soft toy from the tray of her swing to her mouth.  We had to put the crib bumper on this week, because we kept finding her with her feet and legs sticking through the slats on the side of the crib.  A couple weeks ago I put her to bed, in her crib, on her back...and this is what I found when I went in to get her up the next morning... 

 This is how we find her almost every morning now, regardless of how we position her when we put her to bed.   She’s rolling both directions independently, but we rarely actually see it.  She is working on building her sitting muscles, and can use her hands to support herself for a few seconds before toppling over.  :-)

A few days before Christmas, Jenna, Aunt Nikki and I ventured to the mall to do a little last minute shopping and to meet Santa.  Jenna did so well with Santa!  She didn't smile for the camera, but she didn't cry, either.

 

Of course, she received lots of wonderful gifts from family and friends.  One of the best gifts this year was her I Spy quilt that my sister made before she went to Namibia, expecting that there would be another baby before she came home from her assignment.  I can't wait until Jenna gets a little bigger so we can spread the quilt out on the bed and play baby I Spy (minus the cats, of course - they're like vultures!)!!

Last, but not least, we took a few Christmas pics of Miss Jenna....

 

Two Months Old Already!

It's hard to believe that I haven't posted here in over a month.  Things have been super busy, and blogging takes a back burner these days. 

We have passed the two month mark!  All is going well so far.  Jenna had her days and nights mixed up for a couple weeks, and she made a habit of being wide awake from midnight until 4 a.m.  Not fussy (as long as we occupy her)...just awake.  This seems to be resolving slowly.  I was sick a couple weeks ago, and unfortunately passed my cold on to her, but it seems to be clearing up, too.  She had a hearing screening on November 8th, and passed that with no problems.  All things considered, she is still pretty low maintenance for an infant.  


She had her two month doctor appointment on Wednesday.  She now weighs 12 pounds on the nose and is 23" long.  The doctor asked us how much milk she is taking in on a daily basis, and we told her that Jenna averages 40-45 ounces every 24 hour period.  She gave us a really funny look and then told us that average is about 26 ounces daily.  I guess we have solved the mystery of the chubby cheeks!  She got her first round of vaccinations, and that was actually a relatively uneventful process.

We had some professional pictures taken when she was 5 weeks.  We got the disk with all of the pictures this week.  For those who have not already seen them on a certain social networking site, you can see them here. 

A Day to Remember

Now that Jenna has arrived, I am not sure how many people will continue to check the blog...  (I will update periodically with pictures, and probably some short video clips for my sister's benefit....basically anything that I don't want to post on FB.)  but I wanted to post here about this evening's Wave of Light in honor and memory of all babies lost too soon.  As thrilled as we are to have Jenna here with us, we will always love and remember Gracie - and we will always remember that without Gracie, Jenna (exactly as we know her) would not be here with us now.

If you happen to read here today (and haven't already seen it on FB), please consider lighting a candle tonight at 7:00 for Gracie and all of her tiny angel friends...

Our First Two Weeks at Home

Jenna was released from the hospital the morning after I posted the news of her arrival...Sunday, September 19th.  The first two weeks at home have gone pretty well.  Of course, there have been a few exceptions, but for the most part Jenna sleeps for 3-5 hour increments, and is generally only up once during the night and then again in the early morning hours.  If we could get her to go to bed before 1:30 a.m., things would be even better!!  She hates having her diaper changes...or even opened...and has learned to use her bladder as a weapon every time the diaper is opened.  :-)


She is eating well, and weighed 7 lbs, 2 oz at her 2 week check-up.  Her bilirubin levels are now back down in a normal range and her color is now pink instead of orange.  Initially, we had to go for daily heel sticks, and we had a light blanket to use with her at home to continue to bring her bilirubin down.  We were able to stop heel sticks within a week of coming home and we are no longer using the light blanket. 

The dogs and cats have adjusted very well, and she doesn't seem to mind them, either.  She has had lots of visitors and been out to meet lots of people.  She went with us yesterday to the memorial service for Jeff's sister-in-law, and she was snatched away from us at the first opportunity and basically not returned until it was time to leave. 

Aside from all of this, the last two weeks have been relatively unremarkable.  Below are a few pictures and a video clip.  I wasn't planning to post videos, but they are too big to email to my sister, so I figured that putting them here was the next best option....

Notice the orange raccoon eyes from the mask that she had to wear under the bili-lights.

Still sporting the raccoon look after we got home.

Getting ready for the Share and Remembrance Walk for Gracie on September 25th.  Raccoon look pretty much gone at this point. 

From a Jelly Bean to a Jenna Bean

Although this post is delayed thanks to our hospital's blocking of Fa.cebook, Blogg.er and various other websites critical to my daily survival, I am happy to announce that our rainbow has arrived!!  Instead of a Jelly Bean, we now have a Jenna Bean.  :-D

Jenna Nicole was born on Wednesday, September 15th at 10:20 p.m.  She weighed 6 lbs, 11 ounces and was 19 inches long.  She even has hair, which I was doubting, since my sister and I didn't have hair and Jeff and his brothers didn't have much either. 

So far, all is well with one exception.  She developed quite a case of jaundice on Thursday, and since yesterday morning has been on a structured feeding schedule and under lights to help bring her bilirubin levels down and resolve her pumpkin coloring.  I was officially discharged last night, and we were hoping that we would be able to take Jenna home today some time, but we just got the word that she will have one more night under the lights.  Fingers crossed that tomorrow's 0600 labs look better and we can have her home bright and early.  And for those who have been following a while and might be afraid to ask, there are no obvious indications of Down Syndrome at this point.

I apologize those of you who have been waiting for additional communication - the browser on my phone has been getting quite a work out over the last few days (again, thanks to the hospital) and it's been slow going.  I still haven't sent out my text message announcements, which were planned as being the first 'wave of announcement.'  I guess at this point, I can abandon that plan.  :-/

Hoping to post more when we get Jenna home and get her settled...

37 Weeks

I had an ultrasound, NST and midwife appointment on Tuesday afternoon. 

Everything with the ultrasound was good; Bean scored 8/8 on that portion.  She was moving all over the place, which was great!  She apparently wore herself out during the ultrasound, because she decided to take a nap during the NST.  The NST was eventually declared non-reactive, and the midwife in the office sent me over to L&D for another NST on a 'better machine.'  It was appropriately reactive within 30-40 minutes, so no concerns.  The midwife appointment was otherwise uneventful.  No physical signs yet that Bean is contemplating making her appearance in the immediate future.

I had a NST this afternoon that was appropriately reactive, so we were in and out pretty quickly.  We are all set to head to L&D, as I did all of my pre-admission paperwork this afternoon, too. 

Ultimately, things continue to be pretty uneventful.  True to Andrews and Houseknecht family style, she is not following the 'rules' of being a fetus.  Generally movement is expected to slow down a bit as babies bet closer to birth, since they have less room to wind up and fire their arms and legs at the uterine wall.  Bean, on the other hand, has started to pound the heck out of my insides over the last two days.  The amount and intensity of her movement has been substantially more in the last two days than it has been during the last 4-6 weeks.  It's wonderful, except between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m. 

Bean will make her first trip to Baltimore this weekend for cousin Julia's wedding.  It will be good to get away for a day or two and see family.  Over the next couple of weeks we are also anxiously awaiting the arrival of baby girl Crane (daughter of cousin Dave and his wife Jen).  She is due 13 days before Bean, so they may end up with birthdays that are very close together.  I am excited for Bean to have a cousin so close in age!! 

Nothing else exciting to report.  We have another NST, ultrasound and midwife appointment scheduled for Tuesday, and a NST next Friday afternoon.  In the meantime, we are just keeping our fingers crossed that she stays put until the new therapist secures his P.T. license!!! 

Registry Update

It has come to my attention that Wal-Mart finally deleted our registry, since I never changed my due date from 2009 to 2010.  I know that a few people are working from this list, so I redid the registry, but now there is a new link to follow.  The Babies-R-Us registry is now also closed, but we have what we need.

Here is the new link to the updated Wal-Mart registry.

  

36 weeks

The last two weeks have been super busy, and consequently I have been a bit of a cyber-slacker.  I have been busy getting ready for back to school (which means trying to get 86  kiddos arranged in a one therapist schedule for the first two months of school) and getting the new physical therapist oriented.  And...then there is the nesting and the list of projects to finish before Bean arrives.  During all of this over the last two weeks I have spent minimal time on Facebook, returned very few emails and phone calls (unless they pertain any of the 86 kids) and not done any blog updates.  So, here is an update for the last two weeks......

Tuesday, August 17th was a three-appointment day....non-stress test, ultrasound and midwife appointment.  The NST was again reactive within 20 minutes.  The biophysical profile ultrasound was good, scoring 8/8.  The ultrasound tech gave the very distinct impression that he was in quite a hurry to get us in and out; I was only on the table for about 3 minutes.  I have confidence in his scoring/evaluation of everything except the amount of amniotic fluid, which he rated as normal (it had been high during the two preceding ultrasounds).  After the ultrasound done yesterday (8/26) I am pretty sure that my assessment was correct in not trusting his 'normal' rating on the 17th.  The midwife appointment on the 17th was uneventful.  She reviewed the rest of my labs that were not back by the last time I was in to see her.  There was very little protein (which is normal) in my 24  hour urine sample, which is what anyone with chronic hypertension wants to hear.  The 1-hour glucose test that I did on Wednesday the 11th was also well within the normal range, so it means that the extra amniotic fluid that was seen was not the result of new onset gestational diabetes. 


35 WEEKS
Friday, August 20th was another NST...again reactive within 20 minutes.

Monday, August 23rd was another NST...again reactive within 20 minutes.  I am starting to love the quick reactivity that Jellybean is showing at this point, as Gracie was never this reactive.


36 WEEKS
Thursday, August 26th was a NST, a Maternal Fetal Medicine appointment (which included a level II ultrasound) and a midwife appointment.   Bean was quite active during the NST, so I was again done within the 20 minute window.

The level II ultrasound was good.  We didn't get any good pictures because she continued to be quite active right through the ultrasound.  She was estimated to be 6 lbs, 4 oz, which puts her in the 50th percentile for size.  Keep in mind that this is an estimate, and can be +/- one pound of the baby's actual weight, but it is encouraging.  At 35 weeks Gracie was estimated to be 5 lbs on the nose, which put her in the 19th percentile; a week later she was born at 4 lbs, 3 oz, which put her in the 7th percentile...which is way to small for a fetus.  So...at this point, Bean's estimated weight is about 50% more than Gracie's actual birth weight at 36 weeks.  The ultrasound technician seems to think that Bean is going to have quite a bit of hair.  She pointed out white spots around Bean's head on the ultrasound and said that it was hair (from her head) floating in the amniotic fluid.  Given the hair history of Bean's parents, aunt and uncles, I won't really put too much faith into that prediction until she is born with a full head of hair!!  :-)  

I met with a MFM doc that has not been to my OB's office before...the assumption is that she usually doesn't travel and was just filling in for one of the regulars.  Too bad if that is the case, because I liked her quite a bit more than the regulars.  She had no concerns other than my amniotic fluid level, which is, in fact, still pretty high.  Right now, there are two realistic explanations for the high fluid levels (there are many other things that can cause high fluid levels, but most of those have already been ruled out).  It could be absolutely nothing - completely benign and insidious.  It could also be the result of a chromosomal abnormality (i.e. Down Syndrome).  If it is benign without substantial cause, it may go down between now and the end of the pregnancy, or it may not.  If it is due to Down Syndrome, it will likely persist for the remainder of pregnancy with the possibility of increasing further.

The MFM doc offered me induction any time after 37 weeks (this coming Thursday).  She offered this for two reasons, first and foremost being our emotional well-being in light of our history.  The other reason was the fluid and the potential impact that it might have on my breathing.  Luckily Bean has been very low during the entire pregnancy, and she's not yet dancing around under my ribs, so I am not having any breathing issues yet.  At this point, we are not considering early induction, however she left the option open and on the table in the event that we change our minds.  If I start having a hard time breathing, we will probably consider it, otherwise we are just going to wait things out and let her come on her own terms.

Thursday's midwife appointment was relatively uneventful.  We did and discussed some end-of-pregnancy stuff.  We discussed the fluid issue a little more and that was it.

Next appointments are Tuesday the 31st (NST, BPP and midwife) and Friday, September 3rd (NST and hospital pre-admission visit).  Bean and I have a busy weekend ahead.  We need to finish packing the hospital bag (Yep...really....it's not packed yet; it was packed at 30 weeks with Gracie).  We are going to put the car seat in the car.  We are going to coerce Jeff into helping with our belly cast, and we are going to try to cross lots of other household projects off of the list.

On a different note, Bean had a busy night last Friday/Saturday morning.  She went to two fires in a period of about 5 hours.  The first fire was relatively uneventful, but the early morning fire was pretty substantial.  Here is a picture of Jeff and one of our other members (Jeff is on the left) during the initial hit.  Jeff has a funny story to tell about how they ended up in the middle of the highway with the hose line. 

Nothing else to report at this point.  Check back next week for additional updates. 

34 weeks

On Tuesday this week we had our weekly appointment marathon - non-stress test, biophysical profile ultrasound and midwife appointment. 

For those who are not overly familiar, the biophysical profile (BPP) is comprised of an ultrasound and a non-stress test (NST).  Overall it is rated on a scale of 10.  The ultrasound portion is worth 8 points - up to 2 points each for baby's practice breathing, movement, muscle tone and amniotic fluid levels.  The NST is worth 2 points, and it looks for elevations in heart rate of at least 15 beats per minute that are sustained for at least 15 seconds.  Generally, if a baby is cooperative, a NST should be done in 20-30 minutes. 

We scored 10/10 on Tuesday, so all was well.  We were done with the NST in 20 minutes, which is something that never happened with Gracie.  Beana's size was not measured, as it was too soon following the last measurements, but she will be measured on Tuesday the 17th.  My amniotic fluid measurements were actually a little high, which can be indicative of many things - including new onset of Gestational Diabetes, so they ordered another 1 hour glucose test.

I did the glucose test and a smattering of other blood work on Wednesday morning.  Since it is also time for my third trimester pre-eclampsia screen, I did a third (and hopefully final) 24 hour urine collection yesterday into today and dropped that off this afternoon when I went for my second NST of the week.

Today's NST was the third in a row to be appropriately reactive within 20 minutes!  The midwife went over all of the labs from Wednesday, and everything looks 'wonderful' and 'fantstic'.  As I was expecting, no new onset of Gestational Diabetes, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that the extra amniotic fluid is just a fluke.  We have another BPP ultrasound on Tuesday, so we will see what everything looks like then. 

Here is a 4-D picture from Tuesday's ultrasound.  Hopefully we get to meet this little face with open eyes some time within the next six weeks!!