Update on Aven

And we're back in Sitka!

That was a whirlwind trip. We're kind of disappointed to be back here and not know anything more than we did when we left.

I'm going to start by running through the events of the trip, then I'll add more of my personal reactions to everything at the end.

Sunday: We flew out of Sitka at 6 am, arrived in Seattle, picked up the rental car, checked into the hotel, attempted to take a nap (failed), walked to the grocery store to get food, ate dinner, and went to bed. Really all very boring stuff. We had wanted to go do something but were all too tired from the trip.

Monday: Walked to Children's Hospital, which was directly across the street from our hotel. Very convenient. That place is huge! It's also built on a hill, which makes it very confusing to get around. We had to take specific elevators to get to the right floor. Finally we found the GI department, checked in, and waited for our first appointment with Dr. Fahl. 

We didn't wait long, then they called us back. I filled out paperwork while Daryl and one of the nurses took Aven to get weighed, measured, etc. Then we waited for the doctor. He and his two nurses came in and talked to us. He asked us all sorts of questions about our family, the pregnancy, and Aven and her eating patterns. Then he examined her (which was really a quick look-over) and attempted to get a stool sample, which didn't happen. I asked about the metabolic issue that our doctor in Sitka had mentioned, but Dr. Fahl said he hadn't seen anything on her paperwork they sent down that indicated that. I said it was in her urine, and they even called Sitka to confirm they had the right reports, which they did, but he said he still didn't see anything that indicated that. I wanted to tell him the specific name of what they'd found, but couldn't remember it at the time. If I had been able to, things might have been different.

He told us that from what we said and from examining her, he didn't think it was a GI problem and wanted us to see and endocrinologist. So he ran down the hall to their department and was able to get us an appointment for that afternoon. That was a huge relief, because when he was gone his nurse told us that what the endocrine department usually liked to do was prove that the child wasn't gaining weight before they saw them, which would mean admitting her to the hospital, inserting a feeding tube through her nose and teaching us how to use it, then sending us home to come back in a few weeks. So we were happy to have an appointment that afternoon!

Still Monday: After lunch and a nap, we were back at the hospital to see the endocrine doctor, Dr. Motaghedi. She asked us many of the same questions about our family history, Aven's growth and eating patterns/issues, and our health. She then showed us her weight and height charts, and how Aven's weight had dropped off first, and now her height was dropping (not that she was getting shorter, but on the chart for her age, it had dropped on the percentile curves - hopefully that makes sense). She said that the labs they did here in Sitka showed an elevated level of ___ (something I can't remember - medical people, any ideas?) which could indicate a vitamin D deficiency, which could explain her height not changing, but not her weight. Dr. Motaghedi said she wasn't sure what was causing her weight loss/poor weight gain. She sent us to the lab to get blood drawn, and said we should have the results of that by next week some time.

Don't worry, this is still Monday: We went to the lab where they had us wait until the orders came through from the doctor (then forgot to check for the orders until I went up and asked about it, keeping us there for an extra half hour). In the lab room there was a TV which kept Aven quite distracted until the first poke. I don't know how anyone gets blood out of tiny baby veins anyway, but maybe at a children's hospital I figured they would be better at it. Nope, not really. The lab tech stuck her left arm first and dug around for awhile, even managing to poke the needle back out through the skin, then gave up and moved to her right arm. She kept the needle under her skin this time but still couldn't get anything. She went to get another lab tech, who came in and tried a vein in her foot, finally getting what they needed. All this time, of course, Aven was screaming and looking at us like we'd lost our minds - why wouldn't we just pick her up? Why were we letting this happen to her? Daryl and I both felt sick to our stomachs.  As soon as it was over she was happy, though. Sweet baby girl.

Oh hey Monday, you're still here: Back at the hotel that night, Daryl and I talked about everything that had happened. We both agreed that we were disappointed that we didn't get any answers yet about what was going on. We were both frustrated that neither of the doctors seemed to have any idea as to what could be causing her weight issues. I continued to be bothered by the fact that Dr. Fahl didn't mention anything about it being a metabolic issue, as our doctor in Sitka had indicated. (After we left the hospital I had called Kat, our nurse in Sitka, and asked her what they had found in her urine. She said it was reducing substances.) We decided that it wouldn't hurt to call Dr. Fahl again the next morning and ask what he thought about the reducing substances.

Tuesday: We enjoyed breakfast that morning and I called the GI clinic and left a message for Dr. Fahl's nurse. We started packing and Aven took a nap. A little while later, I still hadn't heard back, so I called again. This time I actually got the nurse on the phone. I told her how I was concerned about the reducing substances, and wanted to make sure Dr. Fahl was aware of them. She said she would check Aven's lab info that had been sent and ask the doctor, then call us back. When she called back, she said that somehow Aven's information from Sitka hadn't been entered into their computer, and since it was just the paper copy, it had been shredded after our appointment yesterday (as was their policy). She had called Sitka and they were sending it again. Meanwhile, she said, Dr. Fahl wanted her to come back before we left to get a urine sample and full-body X-ray of her bones. We packed up quickly, checked out of the hotel, made it to the hospital and had those things done, then hurried to the airport. Aven handled both much better than the blood draws the day before, but wasn't a huge fan of the X-rays. They did X-rays of her head (front and side), chest, hands, knees, and back.

We made it in plenty of time, had some lunch, and got on the plane.

I'm sure after the last couple months Aven thinks all we do is fly!

I had prepared myself for not getting many answers while we were there, so I'm not really surprised at the outcome of our trip so far. It did annoy me a little that neither of the doctors had ideas as to her weight loss. I am glad that I called back in the morning and asked about the reducing substances. It would have bothered me if I hadn't. I also think it's interesting that Dr. Fahl didn't mention having those things done yesterday, but thought they were necessary after I had called in the morning. 

Now we're just waiting. Thank you so much to everyone who has been thinking about us. We really appreciate the prayers, and want to say keep them coming! We don't want anything to be wrong with Aven, of course, but if there is we want to find out so we can know what to do. We'll keep everyone informed of results as we know them.

Hey, at least this is making me keep up with my blog!

Baby Aven

Remember how we always said we didn't want Aven to grow up so fast? Maybe we shouldn't have wished that, because now it's coming true. Although I'm not superstitious, so I don't really think wishing it made it happen. Let me back up....

 Aven has always been a kid who loves to eat. And we always joke that she must have such a great metabolism because she never seems to gain weight. Who wouldn't love that, right? Our families seemed kind of concerned about it but we weren't, because she seemed happy and she was always eating so everything must be fine.

 Then we went to her 9 month check-up. And where she had been growing previously, she wasn't anymore. Her height hadn't changed from 6 months, and she had lost almost a pound and a half. This was concerning to everyone. Our doctor sent us to the lab have blood and urine taken to check on things and see if there was a problem. Meanwhile, he said to feed her more and scheduled us to come back in a month for a weight check.

 When her labs came back we got the call that something was wrong. They didn't know exactly what, but it was something metabolic. They were going to call a specialist at Seattle Children's Hospital and send us down. In the interest of time, I've left out a few unimportant details so far, and reading back over what I've written it seems sudden. That's how it felt in real life, too. All of a sudden we knew something was wrong with our baby but we didn't know what. Oh, and they also said that they were concerned that she's not trying to crawl yet and are sending her to physical therapy for that.

 Now we're just waiting for our appointment at Children's on Monday. I don't feel as scared as I did, having time to let it sink in now. I just want to find out what's going on and help her gain weight again.

 We'd appreciate prayers for her and her doctors, that we can figure out what's going on and help her get better.

Welcome to the New Year

Apparently time keeps on going whether or not I remember to blog! Here we are in February. Now, I don't want to point fingers, but it seems to me that I did a much better job of blogging regularly before a certain someone showed up. Like I said though, not pointing any fingers....

 Baby Aven continues to grow up. We haven't figured out yet how to stop that bad habit. She'll be 7 months (eek!!!) at the end of this month. She just got over a cold a couple of weeks ago, and her first tooth just popped through (on the bottom gum). These two things contributed to an increase of cuddle time, which has led to a cuddle-obsessed baby who must be held all the time, or she punishes me with an angry red face and the magic of crying with dry eyes. Still not quite sure how that works. She does manage to produce some snot out of her nose, though, so that helps convince me to feel more sorry for her.

One of her favorite things to do right now, other than being held, is to read books. Sometimes she tries to grab at the pictures and pages, and other times she just sits back and enjoys the story. She would be happy to read the same book over and over, but for our sake we try to read a few different ones. She's experimenting with lots of different sounds, dada being one of them, so Daryl is thrilled! Ever since she turned 6 months, she's been trying many new foods. So far the list includes avocado, pears, bananas, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, peaches, blueberries, peas, green beans, grapes, and as of tonight, prunes. This child hasn't met a food she doesn't like. She was born ready to eat and hasn't stopped since! It makes me happy. I'm not sure where she puts the food, though - she appears to only grow up and not out. Within the last couple of weeks she has also started sleeping through the night! This girl is amazed and happy about that! She loves animals, people, and being out and about. The only thing she seems to have no interest in is being mobile. That's okay for now, though.

Prunes. Not chocolate. I promise.

This is her tough guy face. Don't mess with her!

I finally took the leap and started things for a small photography business. I'm really excited to be able to do something I love, and maybe make a little bit of money in the process. So, if you know anyone in Sitka needing photos, send them my way!

 That's it for life around here. We can't wait for warmer weather! And yeah, I need to get better at keeping up with this thing.... I'll set a goal or something. Promise.

It's my birthday!

And I'm all alone...except for this sweet girl:

I would love to be with both of these two today, but that simply isn't happening. :(

And this is the reason why:

There are days when I love the Coast Guard and days when I hate it.

Anyway, life is otherwise pretty good. The darling baby keeps me pretty busy, hence the lack of updates on this blog!

She is working on sitting up:

And loves the cat! He's fond of the petting, but doesn't understand why she grabs his fur!

Anyway, here are some other adorable pics as of late.

Halloween

Not a big fan of the snow.

And also, if you're interested, here's a sweet giveaway: http://www.thenatos.com/2012/12/boom-this-is-big.html?showComment=1354910676523#c6824740030674760972
Just in time for Christmas, so hurry! :)

Holy cow we have a real-life baby in our home

Look - there she is! Wow, this is crazy. Just so you know in advance, this post might be a little all over the place, because that's how my brain is working right now. Some thoughts on the baby, some random confessions...you know, all the good stuff.

I've had 2 1/2 weeks with our new daughter now. After the craziness of her birth, it was kind of nice to get out of the hospital and come home. But then we got home and I realized that we had to be responsible for her. There weren't any nurses that would come make everything better when we pushed a button. If she cried all night WE got to sit up and rock her. Seriously, how does anybody do this?? Who knew that after looking forward to leaving the hospital, I would soon wish we could be back there?

That first night actually went pretty well. Once we figured out where everyone was going to sleep, that is. We swaddled her and put her in her little sleeper that came with the pack 'n play. She looked happy, lying there and staring at the light. (This is what babies have in common with bugs. They like to stare at lights. That, and if you put them on their backs they get stuck and just lie there waving their arms and legs. When Aven does this, we just call it "Baby Tai Chi", because that's what it looks like she's doing.)  So she was lying there peacefully, which I should have taken advantage of, but I suddenly got really scared. What if she spit up and choked? I didn't know if Daryl would hear her and wake up, and with the c-section I couldn't just bound out of bed. Odds are, she would have been fine, but for me it was too much to handle. There were a lot of tears that night. Daryl was awesome. He just comforted me, and suggested that she sleep in bed with us. That turned out to be a great solution. She slept great that night, and so did we.

And that's the only time it's happened so far.

Ha, I'm serious. Kind of.

Oh, and then my husband had to go back to work Monday and went underway for 10 days. (Yay for the Coast Guard.) And my parents left yesterday, after being here for 3 weeks. It's just me and the baby, very suddenly it seems like.

I know all new moms probably feel this way and they all say "No one told me _____ (insert shocking realization of parenthood)". But seriously, no one told me so many of the things I feel like I should know! Or maybe they did, and I just didn't listen? Like, what are you supposed to do with the baby when you need to shower? Or more importantly, when you need to poop? Why do I feel guilty if I'm not constantly holding her? I know she's sleeping peacefully in her swing, but I feel like I should just be sitting and holding her. Why does she spit up so much? Do I not burp her enough?

There are some things that are kind of easy about having a baby. Changing diapers is easy. Except for when she shoots poop all over the couch. Breastfeeding is really pretty easy (even though I know this isn't true for everyone). Taking pictures of her and plastering them all over facebook is easy.

Then there's the realization I had this morning that I don't really want to deal with. I was sitting on the couch, missing Daryl. Okay, to be honest, crying a little bit. We could blame hormones, but I really do miss him. I was realizing how much I depend on him. I can't even reach the dishes on the top shelf of my kitchen cabinets without him. He always loads and empties the dishwasher when he's here. He's outgoing so I don't have to be. He pays the bills and keeps up with our bank statements. He takes out the trash and gets the mail. Wow, I really sound like I contribute so much to this relationship, don't I? At least I cook and feed the baby. But he changes all the diapers during the day when he's here. I change them at night.

Okay, moving on with what I realized. Or what God showed me, which is probably a more accurate description. I depend on my husband too much. Not necessarily for physical things, like help around the house, but for my emotional needs. If I'm sad, I know he will make me happy. I feel protected by him. He encourages me. Of course, I try to do all these things for him, too. But these things aren't his responsibility. I don't spend time with God often enough, but I always make time for my husband. I come very close to idolizing him. Yikes, that was really hard to type. I know that for our marriage to be solid, we both need to have God as our first priority. Some people won't understand this, I know. But if God's first, everything else will fall into place. By following His commandments we'll be in the right mindset to take care of each other. It will be easier to love each other.

I knew that moving up here would be a challenge, and I would have to depend on God more than I did in Kansas. Which is probably one of the reasons we did get stationed here. God is sneaky like that - He likes to teach us lessons and help us grow. That's not always super fun. Actually, it usually sucks, to be honest. But the result of growing in Him is that I am stronger, and hopefully a little bit wiser, and closer to Him. So even though I'm missing Daryl every day, I'm going to work on growing closer to God and depending on Him to comfort me. And then I'm going to be super happy to see Daryl when he gets back!

I told you this post was going to be a little bit of everything. And yes, I did have the sleeping baby on my lap the whole time. But she just had a poop explosion in her diaper, so I have to go take care of that now.

Birth Story

Finally, here is our darling girl's birth story! It's long, just like the labor.... But don't worry - it's not gross or gory or anything. :) Oh yeah, and pictures - you can't get enough of those! Scroll down to the bottom to see some of the latest ones.

Aven Faith’s due date was July 20^th. She decided she was nice and comfy inside Mommy, and didn’t want to come out that day. On Thursday, July 26^th at 1:00 pm we went to the doctor for our normal twice-weekly appointment. I had been being watched closely for some signs of mild pre-eclampsia, and had been told to rest while at home. At the doctor appointment, they did another non-stress test on the baby (which had been standard ever since the pre-eclampsia started), and checked my blood pressure. Baby Aven still looked good on the NST, but my blood pressure was very high. Our doctor, Dr. Roesel, decided to send me over to the hospital for the night so they could watch my blood pressure, then start an induction in the morning.

A bit overwhelmed that things were starting to happen so quickly, Daryl and I went home to get our hospital bags, and tell my parents, who had just flown in the night before. We rounded up our things and headed back to the hospital, feeling nervous, but excited about seeing our daughter the next day.

We checked into Sitka Community Hospital at 3:00 pm and got settled. They took blood from me and started an IV (just a saline lock), then inserted a Foley Bulb catheter into my uterus to help my cervix begin to dilate. That was not fun. Daryl went back home to pick up my parents, and they came back at 5:30. We ordered Chinese and ate it there in the hospital room. I could feel my contractions start to pick up a bit, which was exciting!

My parents took our car and went back to sleep at our house that night. Daryl and I stayed at the hospital. My contractions grew weaker and slowed down as the night went on, which was disappointing. We talked about how excited and nervous we were for the induction to start tomorrow. I remember asking Daryl what if I couldn’t do it without pain medication? (It had been my plan to have a natural, unmedicated birth – which was changing some already with the induction measures.) He reminded me that I was the strongest woman he knew, and he was sure I could do it. I appreciated his support, but was still a little nervous. I think my main concern was that the induction wouldn’t progress, and I would have to have a c-section, which I was really scared of.

I should mention that even though Daryl expressed his faith in me and how strong I was, there was no way I could have done this without him. He held my hand and let me squeeze his during contractions, rubbed my back and legs, let me lean against him, and did absolutely anything I asked immediately. He was an amazing support for me.

Friday morning came, and at 8:00 am I was checked to see how the Foley Bulb was working. It had done its job and I was dilated to 3 cm! At 9:00 am they started the Pitocin to induce labor. I was excited and nervous!

I labored all day on the Pitocin. At first, the contractions weren’t too strong or regular, but they slowly started to pick up in strength and frequency. I used my Hypnobirthing breathing techniques I had practiced, and was able to manage the pain fairly well. Since my blood pressure was up and I was on the Pitocin, I had to be constantly monitored, which meant staying in bed for the most part, lying on my left side.

At 6:30 that evening, Dr. Roesel came to check me again. My contractions, though building in strength, hadn’t developed a regular pattern, I hadn’t dilated any further, and the baby’s head hadn’t dropped. He talked about the possibility of stopping the Pitocin overnight so we could rest, and moving me to another room in the hospital so an incoming laboring woman could have the room we were in. (Did I mention that at the hospital we delivered at there was 1 labor and delivery room, 2 recovery rooms, and that weekend there happened to be 4 women delivering babies there?)

I was very frustrated and upset at the thought of having “wasted” a whole day. I felt like it wasn’t fair that I, who had been there over 24 hours already, got pushed to the side so someone else could come take my room and have their baby. There were a lot of tears at this point. The contractions also continued to get stronger, which didn’t help anything. The only good part of this time was that they let me get out of bed and sit and roll around on the birthing ball to try and help the baby drop.

At 9:00 pm, after delivering the first of 3 other babies, our doctor came back to check my progress. He was surprised to see that my contractions had developed into a nice pattern of coming 2-3 minutes apart, and I had dilated another centimeter and was now up to 4 cm! Since I was now in active labor, I wasn’t going to be moved anywhere (ha – take that, other preggo!). He broke my water to continue to help keep things moving along, which also made the contractions more intense, but they were now easier to manage since I knew I was working toward a baby that night! (I thought….)

At 10:30 the nurse came to turn off the Pitocin to see how my body would progress and handle labor on its own, as the doctor had ordered. (We found out the next morning that our doctor had cancelled his order to stop the Pitocin after seeing the progress I was making, but no one saw that order.) The contractions kept up in frequency for a bit, but then began to slowly spread apart, keeping up in intensity. At this point, I was thrilled to see Sharon, a woman we had talked to about being our doula and who was also a nurse, had been called in to help with the rush of babies. Since she knew us, she stayed in our room the better part of the night, encouraging us to rest and rubbing my feet. Daryl fell asleep around 1:00 am and I slept/rested in between contractions, which settled into a rhythm of 8 – 10 minutes apart.

8:00 Saturday morning came and Dr. Roesel showed up at the hospital, surprised he hadn’t received a call overnight. He checked me and found no change, so the Pitocin was started up again at 9:00 am. I was tired and dreading going through another day on Pitocin. I hoped things would progress faster this time.

I continued laboring through the contractions, which were again building in intensity (really – how much stronger could they get?) and slowly picking up in frequency. My blood pressure was high unless I did anything but lay on my left side, so that’s where I was confined all morning. I tried to find as many excuses as I could to use the bathroom, just so I could get out of bed and give my hip a rest. I noticed that when I happened to be up moving and had a contraction, it was much easier to manage. Lying still in bed did nothing to help the pain.

At 1:00 that afternoon, they began to talk about an epidural. I had reached 6 cm. By this point, exhausted and not sure how much longer I could continue lying on my left side, I was more than ready to accept the pain medication (which also wasn’t on my birth plan). By 1:30 the epidural, which I had been afraid of, was done. It hadn’t been as scary as I thought, and the pain from the contractions was slowly drifting away. It felt great!

My parents came into the room to see how things were going and were glad for the update after spending the night at the hospital not knowing anything. Shortly after, at 2:30 pm, Dr. Roesel came back to check me and found I was at 7 cm. However, Baby Aven’s heart rate began to drop during contractions – from the 140’s down to the 50’s – 80’s. This was incredible scary, as we could hear it on the monitors. She still had yet to drop any further down into my pelvis, and he decided it was time to get her out.

There was a rush of activity as everyone began prepping for the c-section. I was a little scared, but more scared of how she was doing inside me, so I wanted to get it over as quickly as possible. They discovered that my IV had gotten blocked up somehow, and had to start another one, which required 3 tries before they could find a vein they could stick. Finally everything was ready – I was wheeled into the operating room and Daryl followed shortly after. The sheet went up, the nurse anesthetist started the meds, and Daryl took his place by my head.

At 3:28 pm, Aven Faith was born! I heard them exclaim over how much hair she had, then I heard her beautiful first cries! I began crying myself, and couldn’t wait to see what she looked like. Daryl went over and took pictures as they cleaned her off, then brought her over to see me.

The rest of that day is a bit of a blur, as I was out of it from the surgery, but they finished fixing me up and sent me to recovery where I finally got to see and hold Aven at 5:00 pm. She nursed right away and was a pro at it, which was good considering I couldn’t do much to help her at that point. After a bit we got to go back to our room and my parents came in to hold her. She was a very quiet baby, and only cried that first night if she was transferred from person to person. She loved being held and snuggled by everyone.

We are so blessed to have a healthy daughter to hold and love. I can’t believe she’s finally here! Sometimes it felt like this day would never come… so I’m trying to enjoy every minute, even the sleepless ones! Thank you, God, for Aven!

Okay, so my apologies - this is the most recent picture I had on the computer. I'll upload more and post them soon!

38 weeks (tomorrow)

Just a quick photo before we run off to our doctor appointment. It'll be 38 weeks tomorrow! Technically she could come at any time now, but we're hoping she waits just a little bit longer so we can get more of the house unpacked and organized!!

38 weeks - think she's dropped?

Oh, and I just realized I didn't put up the previous belly pic that I took. So here ya go, just for comparison:

This was somewhere around 36 weeks.