Jackson's Heart

Yesterday Jackson and I headed into the Twin Cities for an appointment at Children's Hospital.  From birth he has had a heart murmur that has been pretty consistent.  It's not getting any worse but it's also not fading away so we were sent to the Children's Heart Clinic to get it checked out.

We met with our cardiologist, Dr. Sutton, and he did his best to explain heart stuff to me.  I learned that they rate murmurs on a scale of loudness, 1-6.  Jackson's murmur was rated at a 3 and was heard primarily above the heart and out over the lungs.  After an EKG we were sent for an ultrasound to take pictures of his heart to make sure nothing was missed.

The ultrasound confirmed what Dr. Sutton suspected.  Jackson has Peripheral Pulmonary Stenosis.  Sounds scary, right?  It's not :)  As he grows this condition should correct itself and the murmur should be gone by his first birthday!  

Jackson seemed happy about his diagnosis...

...he was all smiles at his appointment :)  

We are very thankful for a great diagnosis and a healthy little boy!

VIP Lunch

Yesterday was the first VIP lunch at Amelia's school.  All I knew was that the children would perform a few songs for their families and then everyone was invited to stay and eat lunch in the community room.  I figured I'd go, listen to their songs and taker her home for lunch vs. eating there.  

On my way to her room I ran into her speech pathologist and teacher from last year*.  After chatting for a few minutes they let me know that Amelia was so, so excited for the lunch at school.  Mommy fail.  I got on the phone quick and called Jason who whipped together a few sandwiches and brought them to school for us.  Whew!  

*Her teacher from last year has been stopping in off and on to make sure that Amelia is adjusting well to being in a regular classroom etc.

This week and last week they have been focusing a lot on fire safety.  A fire truck even came to school last week and they not only met the firemen but got to tour the truck as well.  Amelia loved that.  For this lunch they made a special, fire truck themed treat:

How cute is that?!  She ate the entire thing because the plate only said "Amelia" and not "Amelia and mommy."  LOL!  

It sounds like they will do this a couple more times throughout the year and next time I (or more likely Jason and the boys) will be more prepared and bring a lunch from the get-go! 

Ghosts, a Fort and Smiles

Two spoooooky ghosts!

Saturday night movie (Robin Hood) in a fort!

Amelia and Joe both get worried when Jackson is upset and crying.  Usually they try and shove a pacifier in his mouth or give him toys.  Amelia got really creative last night...

She drew him a picture of our family, complete with the two cats, smiling at him.  So, so sweet!

Life Lately

Picture heavy, lacking text.  Enjoy.

Bili-blanket, round one

Story time :)

Brothers

Fall walk

Proud big sister!

My three sweeties

Jackson's first bath

*yawn*

Bili-blanket, round two

Cozy at the doctor :)

Nana and Papa meet Jackson - finally!

Napping

Silly boy!

Amelia and the "birthday cake" she made Ludo out of blocks :)

Joe got his first haircut.  He looks even more like his daddy now...

Jackson Ardelle

Thursday, September 19, we welcomed our second son, Jackson, into the world!

We went in early Thursday morning for an induction.  I was not dilated so I was put on a pitocin drip about 7:30 a.m. and about an hour later my doctor came in and was able to break my water.  Since I had still not received an epidural I was able to move around, use the bathroom and sit on a birthing ball!

The ability to move around for the first hours of labor was very different for me.  With Amelia the pitocin drip left me in so much pain I could barely breathe, let alone walk and I eventually received an epidural, and with Joe I received an epidural prior to pitocin being given. 

By 3cm dilated I started to realize that my back was tensed up pretty bad and I worried if I didn't get an epidural I would miss out on my chance to get some rest before delivery. 

Shortly after lunch I got my epidural, Jason and I settled in to watch Star Trek: Into Darkness and by the time the movie ended I was feeling slight urges to push.  I was checked and was 8-9cm dilated and the room was being prepped for delivery.  Funny thing - as the stirrups were going up my children walked in to say hi.  It was all I could do plaster a smile on my face and continuously tell Amelia I was great but she had to leave - NOW.  The nurses had to turn around to hide their laughter from Amelia.  Looking back it really was quite humorous but in the moment?  Not so much!

Once it was time to push it took about a half hour for little Jackson to arrive!

I got in some snuggles before they took him to be weighed and measured.  Weighing in at ten pounds, one ounce he almost broke the family record but his big sister still holds it (10 lbs, 2 oz.) 

 
Once he was weighed he was given a glucose test which was initially of no concern to me because I am well aware that larger babies receive one (Amelia had one as well) and in the past everything came back just fine.  This time, however, it came back low.  A re-check was given a bit later and the numbers were even lower so he was brought straight to the nursery and given an IV to get sugars into him.

While on the IV he had to remain in the nursery for monitoring so we went to our recovery room and dropped our stuff off and left right away to go to the nursery to see our little guy.

Dad's first time holding him. 

*Jason insisted on the face mask because he felt a little sick/congested and there was another baby in the nursery he didn't want to infect :)

We finally called it a night when he was too sleepy to nurse and went to our room.  The nurses came and got me every few hours to nurse him.  He wasn't too interested in nursing but the nurses assured me it was normal for "glucose babies" to not get hungry because of all the sugars they receive from the IV.

Why the low blood sugar?  It turns out I likely had undiagnosed gestational diabetes - like I suspected.  I had incredible weight gain towards the end which freaked me out but my doctor kept assuring me it was ok and my blood pressure and everything else looked great.  I told almost everyone I know that I thought the glucose test was wrong but everyone just kept trying to assure me everything was ok.  Turns out "mother's intuition" can be spot on!  At the time of my glucose test my numbers were well below the "danger" range so I probably developed it later in the pregnancy.

Late Friday afternoon they allowed Jackson to come to our room because he was doing well and they were short-staffed to have someone in the nursery full-time.  Jason's sister, mom and grandma came to see us.

Great-Grandma

Friday night Jason took the kids home to return to normalcy.  They Amelia was struggling with me being in the hospital and constantly wanted to call to check on me because I was "dying."  Once back at home with dad she seemed to snap out of it and returned to her normal self.  *I think having my grandpa in the hospital the week before, her seeing him on Facetime in the hospital and then us telling her of his death all contributed to her anxiety over Jackson and I being in the hospital.

Saturday afternoon I was discharged but little man was not :(  His blood sugar still had not leveled out so he needed to stay on his IV.  Jason brought me a few things from home since I pack almost nothing to go have babies and my sister brought me Arby's for dinner later that night.  Other than that it was just Jackson and I!

Overnight Saturday into Sunday the nurses called our doctor and the decision was made to disconnect his IV and see what happened since his levels were maintaining well, just a little low.

  By the next morning he was brought to me, IV free!

We were discharged by lunch and on our way home!

It felt good to get home to my own bed and the rest of my family.  Jackson is a sweet little baby and we are all so happy to have him :)  I am excited for my parents to return from Indiana so they can finally meet him!

39 Weeks

Today I am 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant!  

I have apparently gained 60 pounds at this point but who is counting, right?  This week my (pregnancy-induced) carpal tunnel has really gotten crazy and I am having trouble sleeping and doing daily tasks.  Basically, my fingertips are completely numb and the rest of my hand up through my elbow feels like it is burning with throbbing pain.  Super fun ;)  It usually takes about six weeks after giving birth for my hands and arms to go back to normal!

Speaking of giving birth...tomorrow is the day!  I am going in for induction early tomorrow and hope to have a baby by evening!  I'm not dilated (at all) which is completely normal for me.  Because of my history of never dilating (at all) on my own my doctor decided Tuesday that we'd just "go for it" tomorrow.  My blood pressure has been rising slowly, I'm uncomfortable and I have a history of infant macrosomia (large babies - Amelia was over ten pounds!) so all of those things were factors in her just saying, "let's do this." 

I still have to pack for myself and baby, change the crib sheets and, of course, rest somehow!  I dropped the kids off with my sister (who drove home from Indiana this morning!) a bit ago so once I publish this I will get to it - goodnight!

Last photo with only two kids in my arms!

Life Lately

Things have been stressful for us the past couple of weeks.  I think whenever you are about to have a baby things get hectic but on top of it we have so many "wildcards" thrown into the mix right now that we are just wiped out.

Two Saturdays ago my grandpa had a stroke and then last Wednesday he passed away.  

Since I am nine months pregnant I was not able to travel to say goodbye nor attend his funeral.  My entire family is down in Indiana trying to sort through my grandparents' affairs while also trying to arrange care for my grandma who has Alzheimer's.  They have been down there over a week now and there really is no "light at the end of the tunnel" for them, sadly.  

Last Friday I found out I have a sinus infection on top of double ear infections.  I am on antibiotics for that and my ears really need to clear up before we can even talk about induction at this point the doctor said.  If they are not healed I risk rupturing my ear drums during delivery. 

Friday was, coincidentally, the day that Joe decided to protest naps.  He picked such a great day ;)  Today was his fourth day refusing to nap, crawling out of the crib and banging at the door so I just let him come out and join Amelia and I.  

Within an hour Amelia called for me to show me this:

See, buddy, you do still need your naps!

Jason and I gave the kids a glow-in-the-dark bath over the weekend to make sure that even though he and I are stressed the kids still had some fun!

This was Joe's first glow-in-the-dark bath (I think) and he had a blast!  We started them with Amelia years ago and it's just been a nice way for us to break up the monotony of bath-time!

Lastly, a photo of two goofy kids to leave you with!