Funny

Too funny not to share. To see the whole video check out http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/bCqpOTteURJK4HIN8h5o

Our Christmas- pictures!!

We all had a great Christmas despite a bit of a stomach bug that the kids shared. My mom and Tom came up Monday afternoon and stayed with us until early Saturday morning. They braved white out conditions and snow packed roads to come see the kids. But I think being there to see the kids reactions when they woke up Christmas morning made it worth it. Ryan was so excited to see his "big Buzz Lightyear" that he ran down the stairs saying "I'm so excited!" It was great!
Shaylee was also pretty happy when she saw her pink pony that she has asked for two years in a row. Claire was quietly taking it all in and excited to play with everything.
I think Shaylee was most excited about the letter Santa left her and the small mess he left on the fireplace. We woke up and there was ashes on the fireplace with a big boot print stepping out of the fireplace. We taped the letter on the fridge and she has made me read it over and over. Shaylee's letter to Santa. She even knew how to spell most of the words on her own. Maybe next year she will use lowercase letters and spaces. :)
Later Ryan pulled one of the sleds that the kids got into the kitchen and convinced Shaylee to pull him around. Then he put Claire and every toy they could find in it and pulled them around for a while. (My Dad said he was doing some training for his days of professional rugby in Russia.) This is Ryan trying to open his presents with his new pirate sword that my Uncle Tim got for him. Long story but funny picture.
We had Christopher's family (minus Sean,Rebecca, and Anne who were in ABQ visiting her family) and Tanya over for Christmas dinner. Tom and Mom spent the morning preparing us a wonderful prime rib dinner. Mom made some twice baked potatoes and brought a lot of fudge and cookies and Marie made some pie and homemade candy. I think I gained five pounds Christmas day alone.
But with the new Wii that Tanya (so very, very generously) gave the entire O family for Christmas, I have been working a little of it off. I have always been against video games and rolled my eyes when Christopher has gotten addicted to a game but I admit that the Wii is awesome. I love playing the Wii Fit and all the balance games. The kids enjoy it too and I have convinced them that they have to do the running game (where you run in place) at least once a day.
Now if I can keep my hands away from all the fudge, peanut butter balls, and cookies that were left at our house I might be able to keep from gaining 30 pounds of holiday weight.The girls showing off their new matching pjs. Claire was trying to smile.

Luke's appointment

Luke had his two month check up on the 16th and everything looks great.
He weighted in at 9 lbs 12 oz!! He was born at 6 lbs. 3 oz., left the hospital at 6lbs. 5 oz. (I think) and in the 42 days since he left the hospital, he gained 3 lbs 7 oz. or 48 oz. So he is gaining over an ounce a day. Very impressive!
Everything else looks great. The doctor says he may only be a week behind developmentally- going off his birth date. Not bad considering he was 5 weeks early.

Luke is 2 months old!

I know it's not really a big milestone but after everything that he went through; we are celebrating. He is doing great. He is now almost consistently holding up his head and has now started smiling. Small things but the fact that he is doing them on schedule with his birth date and not his due date means a lot.
The little stinker kept smiling at everyone except for me. He would stop smiling when I would walk over and when I would try to get him to smile, he would refuse. At one point, he refused to even make eye contact with me. Sunday was the first day I finally got a smile and it melted my heart.
He has an appointment this aftertnoon and we will find out his weight. I will update afterwards.Here's a picture of Luke smiling. Now he will smile at me, but only if he can stick out his tongue at the same time. :)

Snow Cave Pictures

Here's the pictures of the snow cave and snowman that Christopher made with the kids.

Shaylee was the only one who wasn't afraid to be inside of it.
The kids together.

Shaylee, Mad Snowman, and Ryan. Shaylee said the snowman was frowning because he was cold. Love the face!

Snow!

We finally got the first good snow of the year. Over 8 inches!!

Of course, we could not just watch the snow fall from inside; we just had to go out and play! It was Claire's first time playing in the snow but she took to it like a true Coloradoan. She was walking around and falling down in the snow that was up to her waist.

Shaylee, Ryan, and I tried to make a snowman but the snow was so light and fluffy that it would not pack down. Great for skiing but bad for building a snowman. We were forced to get creative and made a snow turtle instead. Luke was not impressed with the snow, especially when we tried to teach him how to make a snow angel. I'm just kidding, of course, he was inside enjoying the snow from the warmth of the house.

This afternoon, Christopher started making a snow cave in the backyard. It was too dark by the time the kids woke up from their naps to play in it today but hopefully by tomorrow the snow will harden so they can all have fun. We knew there was a reason he took those avalanche and backcountry travel classes, but we never would have guess that the next time he would use those skills would be in his backyard with his children.

Watch the slideshow!

I added lots of pictures to the slideshow, so sit back and enjoy. To see any larger, just click on it and it will take you to the album.
There are several of the kids making funny faces. We are keeping these to show at their graduation parties. :)

Getting ready for Christmas

I put the kids in their Christmas clothes to take a few pictures.

Not Christmas card worthy, but they will do for now. I will try again later when I have Christopher there to help me get them to smile. At the same time.

Today

I signed Ryan up for a little class called Dora's Explorers. It's a preschool type class that reads books about Dora and learns a tiny bit of Spanish, too. He had been sad because he wanted to go to Shaylee's class and now that he is (mostly) pottytrained, he was ready for his own class. I thought, " Hey, it will be two full hours with only two kids. I will be able to get lots of stuff done!" Hahaha! We got everyone ready this morning, loaded into the car and all four carseats. Then we drove to Shaylee's class and unloaded four kids. Back to car and load three kids. Now drive all the way across town to Ryan's class. Unload three kids and walk Ryan into class. Back to car and load two kids. Drive home. Awh! Nice and quiet for an hour. Then pick up Ryan at 11:25, drive all the way across town to pick up Shaylee at 11:40. Home in time to make lunch!
Well, at least they enjoyed class. I know, this is just foreshadowing to when Shaylee has dance, Ryan has football, Claire has choir and gymnastics, and Luke has soccer. Won't it be fun!

Last night the kids were all in pretty good moods so we took avantage of the rare opportunity and snapped some pictures of all the kids together.

Here are some pictures we took a few days ago of Luke.

Halloween and Fall Pictures

The kids with the pumpkins they picked out at the Pumpkin Picking Party at the Loveland O's Pumpkin Patch. This is the wonderful Aunt Jenni having fun with my kids for me.

Theresa took these great pictures of the kids at their house.



Okay, so it's been over two weeks and I am just now adding Halloween pictures. Well, at least it happened before Christmas. :) Shaylee was a police officer, Ryan was a firefighter and Claire was a doctor.

Aunt Jenni was here and helped or completed the kids costumes. Christopher joked that if it wasn't for her the kids would have all been dressed like ghosts.

So long story short...

Luke finally started consistently gaining weight and was finally able to go home on Tuesday the 4th. We were very excited to finally be able to make the now familiar walk out of the hospital carrying our little one.

To quickly catch up, Luke is home and doing great. He now weighs about 7 pounds and is adjusting to life without the monitors and nurses. Now instead of beeping monitors, he is surrounded by his loud brother and sisters.
The older children are doing great. Shaylee is a little mama, or a little Stacey as Christopher says. She always wants to sit and talk to or just look at Luke. Ryan wants Luke to join him playing football and cars. Claire is being pretty clingy and moody, but she's always like that. We'll see how they do when they adjust a little more and their schedules are more regulated.

Our time in the NICU

I will try to zoom through the next few weeks just so I can catch up with what is happening now.
Luke was intibated ( had a breathing tube down his throat) for about a week. After some blood tests it was apparent that he was fighting an infection, most likely pneumonia, and was given seven days of antibiotics. While he was intibated, he was heavily drugged so he would not be uncomfortable or pull at the tube and was almost completely unresponsive. We were told that it is better and less overwhelming for preemies to just feel pressure instead of stroking them so Christopher and I spent a lot of time sitting next to Luke's bed with our hand gently on his head or chest. He did like to hold your finger, and for me this was the best way to bond with him.
On Saturday the 18th, Luke seemed to be doing better and his oxygen sats were stable enough that they felt they could remove the breathing tube and place him on CPAP again. This was great because this was happening the day I was to be released from the hospital and I knew it was going to be a very hard day. Unfortunately, he did not respond very well and had to be re-intibated.
Apparently, it took almost twice the pain drugs to make Luke cooperate with them putting the tube back in. He was throwing his arms, legs, and head around and he was even flipping off the doctors and nurses. They were able to take a pretty funny picture of this and I will have to figure out how to scan it and load it on here. It was a huge set back to have to be back on the machine but it was nice to see his fighting spirit.
So then I was released from the hospital and had to really leave him for the first time. I had always said that if I had a kid in the hospital, they would not be able to get rid of me, but with three kids at home I knew that I had to be home and try to help them with all the changes and emotions.
We spent the next few week taking turns at the hospital. I would get the kids ready in the morning, take them to class, wake up Christopher and head up to the hospital. In the evening, I could come home for dinner and then Christopher would take his turn after the kids all went to bed. He would sit next to Luke, his "Little Chief", and talk or do crossword puzzles until 1 am or so. Then he would come home and we would start it all over again.
After the sixth day in the hospital, Luke finally starting improving. The large mucus plug that had clogged a large part of one of his lungs was finally starting to break up and he was finally able to keep his numbers stable. They took him off of the blood pressure medication which meant that they could take the lines going through his umbilical cord off, which was very good because they were causing him to loose circulation in his toes and they had been turning a grey/ brown color.
One of the nurses went out of her way to arrange for me to hold Luke for the first time. It was really difficult because of all the tubes but completely worth it to finally have him in my arms.
After seven full days of the antibiotic, the infection seemed to be gone and he was able to just have room air through his tube. They decided he was stable and strong enough to take him off of the vent and he was put just on low flow oxygen tubes through his nose. He also started showing signs of being ready to nurse his feedings. We would try feeding him through a bottle or nursing and what he did not get there was given to him through his feeding tube. Then they were able to take him off the oxygen completely and we were just trying to get him strong enough to be able to receive all of his feeding through bottle or nursing.
Christopher went back to work on the 25th and my wonderful Aunt Jenni came up from Albuquerque to stay with us and help out. I really do not know what we would have done without her. I still stayed at the hospital almost all day so I could continue nursing Luke and Aunt Jenni stayed with the kids at home. Being away from the other kids all day was hard but I knew that not only did Aunt Jenni have everything covered, but they were having fun too. She helped me finalize all the touches on the kids Halloween costumes, pick up Shaylee from school and make sure that their routine was as normal as possible.
Luke was continuing to do better with his feeding and Christopher and I tried to be at every feeding that was given by bottle or nursing and I soon noticed that he was do much better if it was us doing the feeding, so I decided to stay at the hospital during the night as well to see if we could get him off the feeding tube. I stayed Saturday night and Sunday night and he was doing much better. We would weigh him before and after each nursing to see how much he took and how close we were to our goal of 53 mL. He once nursed 70! The other kids stayed the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa and I knew we were getting closer to bringing Luke home.
Everyday the doctor and nurses would say, "just a few more days" and it seemed like those days just kept stretching longer and longer.
Finally on Monday Luke started putting on weight and was consistently nibbling all of his feeding so they were able to remove the feeding tube completely and plan for a Tuesday homecoming.

NICU

I was moved to Women's Care and the pediatrician came in to update us on Luke. He was first put under an oxygen hood and when his oxygen sats were still too low, he was then put on a CPAP machine. That's when I got to see him for the first time. Our poor little boy (who at this point did not have a name other than Little Chief) was laying on this very cold looking bed, wearing only a diaper, and struggling to breathe. His chest was still retracting and he just looked so bad that I couldn't help but cry. It was so hard to see him and feel like I couldn't do anything to help him. Christopher was awesome though. He didn't seem too overwhelmed by the machines as I was and he just was able to keep it together. I was the strong one when I was in labor but he was the rock now.
Then I went back to my room since I was feeling very useless and overwhelmed. The pediatrician came in to tell us that he was not improving and had to be intibated and put on blood pressure medication because it was too low. They transferred care to the Neonatologist at the hospital because it was too much for them to handle and keep coming back.

"You amazing woman"

We walked into the hospital through the ER entrance and left my suitcase in the car thinking we would have time to get it later. The nurses at the desk were busy talking to some other people so we patiently waited. By this time the contractions were more labor-like. The nurses didn't seem to worry too much about the quiet pregnant lady who was calmly standing there waiting in line with her quiet, patient, and calm husband. Little did she know I was standing there clinching my jaw because I was having another contraction. Finally she asked us what we needed and after Christopher told her that I was in labor she hurried a bit more. The security guard was motioned to bring a wheelchair. I was wearing my winter coat that was buttoned up all the way and apparently I didn't look very pregnant because the security guard asked if I was going incognito. More contractions. Wheeled me up to the L& D level and handed me off to the nurse. More contractions. They got me ready in a gown and got all my admission information and got me attached to monitors. Somehow I was still really calm and collected.
They finally checked me and I was 6 cm dilated. Finally realized that this was really it. Since my Group Strep B test came back positive they wanted to get a bag and a half of antibiotics through my IV before he was born. Then they walked me to the delivery room and transferred me to this sweet little nurse who had moved from China nine years ago.
More contractions. Waiting. Then they started moving in the things that they would need for a preemie and a doctor came in to talk to me about what to expect after the delivery. More contractions. More waiting.
Finally right after the second bag of antibiotics was through, my doctor came in and broke my water. More contractions. More waiting. They were really intense now but I didn't feel the urge to push. I felt bad because poor Christopher looked so worried but he was doing a great job of handing me my menu to fan myself with during a contraction.
The nurse kept saying "How you do this? You amazing woman. You should have movie teaching women or something."
More contractions. More fanning and praying. Then I told the nurse that I had to use the restroom and she agreed that it might help move things along. Since I didn't feel the urge to push she took the monitors off and I was finally allowed to go to the restroom where there was peace, quiet and no pressure, but before I knew it there was a baby.
Yep, Luke followed in his brother's footsteps and made his grand entrance in the bathroom. I called out that the baby was here and Christopher (who had been pacing outside the door) and the nurse ran in and helped catch Luke. I had his head, the nurse had his bottom and Christopher grabbed his legs. Just for the record, he never touched the toilet. And more importantly, he cried right away.
The rest of the team rushed in and Christopher got to cut the cord.
Luke looked healthy and much bigger than I had expected for 35 weeks; we were feeling pretty lucky. They put him on my chest for maybe 10 seconds before they walked him down to the NICU to examine him when Christopher noticed that he was sucking in his chest and working really hard at breathing.

Next post-NICU

late pregnancy

Since the other kids were all early, we had been expecting Luke to make his big entrance sometime during the last week of October. We had been joking about him coming on Halloween and about him being a little pumpkin.
The entire pregnancy I had been feeling more Braxton Hicks contractions and after about 32 weeks, they were getting more intense and I just had this feeling that I was getting closer but I still didn't think I would deliver until 37 weeks.
Then at my 34 week appointment, I was already starting to thin, I stopped gaining weight, and I was 2-3 cm dilated. The doctor didn't seem too worried about it because he said that women can start dilating weeks before labor and this was my fourth pregnancy. But he did tell me that if I was any more dilated that he would have to tell me to "hire a babysitter and rest." Well, since I was only 34 weeks and still wanted to go 3 more weeks before I delivered, Christopher decided that I needed to start trying to rest so I could postpone the delivery. Rest started on Monday. I would take care of the kids as restfully as possible: movies, basement and Daddy-made dinners. Tuesday I had to get the kids ready and take Shaylee to class but I was still trying to sit and rest while the kids played. That day I just felt different. About 5:00 I started noticing that my contractions were getting more regular but were not very intense, but just to make sure I started tracking them. They were about five minutes apart but I figured that that had to just be my mind leading things because it was still so early (35 weeks) and they were not very intense.
Kept tracking them through dinner and rested afterwards when they started getting more and more intense and I started to realize that this really may be it. I think I was in denial a bit. Finally, they were consistently four minutes apart and I told the kids and Christopher that we needed to get our things packed.
I guess I was acting too calm because Christopher was not rushing as fast as I thought he would. Finally we dropped the kids off and the contractions were now 3 minutes apart.
Next post- arrival at hospital

Here we go

I thought this would be a better way to update family and friends and share all of our new pictures. Now, I just need to figure out how this blog stuff works!