The Week In Review

February 11, 2012

My Valentine's day actually started on Saturday, 2/11.  Jeremiah left the hospital to get himself some lunch at La Madeleine.  When he came back, he surprised me with this strawberry, heart shaped, cheesecake!  It caught me completely off guard and I thought it was the sweetest thing ever.  He said that he bought it just to see my reaction.  He was quite pleased that I was smiling ear to ear.  He's a keeper!

J went down to visit Diva and took this picture.  BTW, I have decided to nickname her Diva.  Why?  Because she IS a Diva!  She arrived when SHE wanted to and not when she was suppose to.  She's got people jumping through hoops for her.  She has a staff waiting on her 24/7.  She already has Jeremiah and I wrapped around her teeny tiny pinky finger.  She's got us visiting her at the hospital EVERYDAY!  See what I mean?  She is SO demanding.  Did I mention that she was breech?  Yeah.  So, Jeremiah has a theory.  She started stomping on my uterus to get my attention because SHE was ready to enter the world.  She just stomped away because she wanted to see what all of the excited was about on the outside.  Really?  She couldn't wait until showtime?  DIVA!!!  For our own sanity, we're trying to keep a sense of humor about the situation.  

February 12, 2012

The nurses allowed me to hold Diva for the very first time!  I was nervous, too.  She was so tiny and had all of those tubes connected to her.  I didn't care one bit.  I got to hold my precious baby and it was glorious!

February 14, 2012

When we went to see Diva on Valentine's Day, one of the nurses had made this sign and stuck it to her incubator.  I thought that was so sweet and so thoughtful.  I even looked to see if any of the other babies had a sign and I couldn't find anymore signs.  See?  Diva!  She's a mess already!  

We had a great visit with Diva and my spirits were so high when we left the hospital.  I asked Jeremiah if we could stop at QT for slushy and he said "Why?  You didn't even finish the last one that I brought you?!"  What had happen was...the day that Diva was born, I asked Jeremiah to smuggle a slushy into my room for me.  I was craving one BAD!  While I was being taken to get my sonogram, Jeremiah arrived just in time to walk with me.  In his possession was my HUGE slushy.  Man, it was good, too!  I got a quarter of the way through it when the doctor told me to stop drinking it because I would be going into surgery.

It felt good to laugh this hard.  Jeremiah is always doing or saying something to make me laugh and to keep my spirits high.  I was crying my eyes out six hours after this photo because I started to miss my baby girl again.  Good and bad, this is definitely a v-day to remember.

February 17, 2012

 Jeremiah and I arrived to the NICU and Diva had a blanket on her incubator.  Apparently, one of the overnight nurses placed it on the incubator.  I wonder if the nurse was channeling my spirit because I am all about a splash of color!  The blanket was made by a local Lutheran church.  Look at all of the tubes, wires, and bottles that she's hooked up to.   

Still crying over the thought that someone took enough interest in Lynette to decorate her incubator.  A couple of friends of mine gave me the pink and white bunny "luvy" in the corner.  I don't want Lynette to think this incubator is home.  However, I might as well make it cute and comfortable for her.   

 

Everyday I have to love Lynette through these holes in her incubator.  I talk through the left hole and stick my arm through the right hole to touch her.  I don't know if it was the same nurse but someone placed the pink blanket on the bottom of the incubator.  I'm telling you, this girl has the ability to make anyone do anything for her!  See?  Diva!

 The proud parents of Sophia Lynette.

At the end of the day, Lynette was born prematurely and needs medical support to finish developing.  The doctors are concerned about two things.  #1, her swollen feet.  Her chromosomes are being tested for any genetic disorders.  The results should be here by the end of the week.  Hopefully, she doesn't have Turners Syndrome.  #2, her PDA (a heart valve) isn't closing.  If it doesn't start closing soon, Lynette may start to have complications.  The doctors are monitoring it closely and will make a plan of action if it doesn't close in the next couple of weeks.  Other than that, she's doing well.  Her appetite is increasing.  Her weight is up and down but that is expected with a "newborn".  Most importantly, she's breathing on her own. 

As for me, I'm healing...slowly but surely.  I started pushing myself a little bit harder yesterday.  I have to gain some independence since Jeremiah goes back to work on Tuesday.  That's a little scary to think about.  This first week was hard and I've been exhausted.  If I wasn't sleeping I was crying.  If I wasn't crying we were traveling to and from the hospital.  If I wasn't doing that, I was worried about Jeremiah and the girls.  Yesterday, was a good day and I didn't cry once!  After talking with my mom and Jeremiah, I decided to suck it up and be strong for my family.  While Lynette needs me, the rest of my family needs me, too.  My priority today is to figure out how to see Lynette everyday AND balance life at home until my baby comes home.  I feel really good today and most of that is because so many people has helped us out this week so that I can focus on getting well.  The more rest I get early on, the sooner I can heal.

Anyway, I'm off to see Diva.  The nurses told me that I can bathe her today and I am SO looking forward to that!  Y'all take care and I'll keep you posted on our status.  Thank you for all of your prayers and support.  Love ya!

Sophia Lynette Prickett Has Arrived!

First things first.  I gave Jeremiah free reign to name our last baby and he came up with Sophia Lynette all by himself.  Sophia is a name that he just liked.  Plus, it's Oprah Winfrey's character in one of my favorite movies, the Color Purple.  In case you live under a rock, my first name is Gwendolynette.  So he chopped it in half and named her after me.  Since we will never have a boy, Lynette was his way of giving me a junior by naming her after me.  He is so sentimental like that.  So, that's the story of how the name Sophia Lynette came to be.  The traditionalist in me like Sophia with a "ph" and not a "f".  Anyway, here is the story of how Lynette was born.  

I started having contractions Saturday evening that went through Sunday afternoon.  At 4PM on Sunday, I finally called the after hours nurse and she told me to take some Tylenol and to get some rest.  By Monday evening I was a little better and weened myself off of the Tylenol.  My regularly scheduled ob appt was Tuesday morning and I explained to my doctor what happened over the weekend.  She examined me on the spot and told me to take it easy.  If the pain kept up or if I started spotting, bleeding, or leaking, I was to give her a call.  After I left the doctor, I went to my parents and CRASHED.  At least I felt better when I woke up.  Later that night after I got home, the contractions were unbearable and I started bleeding.  We called the doctor and thy said to come on in.      

The doctors decided to admit me for observation because of the bleeding.  Eventually, I was put on magnesium to slow the contractions and ease my discomfort.  While it worked great, it tripped my body out and I felt weird the entire time I was on it.  Then they gave me 2 steroid shots in my backside for the baby.  Apparently, the steroid was to help develop the baby lungs in the event that she came early.  When I woke up Wednesday, my personal doctor told me that she ordered a sonogram and didn't want to release me until we had that sono done.  I was fine with that.  

Well, the sonogram didn't happen until 5PM Thursday evening.  While the tech was performing my sonogram, he asked "how many c-sections have you had?"  I said "two and this baby will be number three".  He said "I'll go get the doctor and he'll be be right in."  The tech leaves and comes back with two doctors.  I knew this wasn't good.  Both doctors told Jeremiah and I that my uterus ruptured and that we needed to have an emergency c-section immediately.  That was at 5:08PM.  At 5:57PM Sophia Lynette was born at only 29 weeks.

Unfortunately, Jeremiah didn't document this birth with great pictures like he always does.  Considering how fast everything happened, I think we're lucky to have gotten these few.  

Here's my infamous sonogram.  My uterus ruptured between the cursors.  A portion of the baby's sac and the umbilical cord had worked their way out of my uterus.  

Here I am in the middle of surgery with my barf bag.  I kept feeling like I was going to vomit but I never did.  I saved that for when I got back to my room.  My doctor knows that Jeremiah is studying to be a nurse so she let him peek over the curtain for a little while.  He was stoked at that opportunity!  At one point during the surgery, my doctor told me that it is a good thing that this is our last baby.  Because my uterus ruptured so severely, I'll never be able to carry another baby full term. 

EVERYONE was pulling for me and saying things like "she has a friend upstairs", "the Lord is definitely on her side", " I can't believe she or the baby didn't bleed out", "I can't believe she's coherent", "she's one lucky lady because this could've ended very differently", "this is one of the most amazing cases that I've seen in my career".  

Lynette arrived on 2/9/12 at 5:57PM!  Here she is getting all cleaned up.  I was so relieved when I heard her cry immediately.  Everyone was so nice and worked so diligently!

Right before the nurse whisked Lynette off to NICU, she allowed me to give her a kiss and I immediately felt at peace about her condition.  Lynette looked really good!  Her color was good.  Her features were good.  My favorite part was seeing that she had blonde eyebrows and light brown/blonde hair!  We'll have to wait and see if the color changes.  

Weighing in at 3lbs and 1oz.  She's underweight but the doctors believe that she just needs to put on some weight.  They are slightly concerned about her puffy feet, excess skin on her neck, and the size of her hands.  Blood will be drawn tomorrow to test for Turners Syndrome.

She looks worse than she actually is.  The mask on her face is a CPAP to keep her lungs from collapsing.  While she's breathing on her own, the CPAP is a plan b in the event Lynette forgets to breathe.  If she forgets to breathe, the CPAP takes over.  Jeremiah and I have had many discussions on what Lynette would like.  After having a brown baby and a white baby, we now have a pink baby!  

Prince Charming getting some much deserved rest.

The NICU doctors said that she looks more like she's at 32 weeks rather than 29 weeks.  I think so, too.  In fact, I've always felt that I was three weeks ahead of every sonogram that I had.  The NICU doctors also said that we may be able to take Lynette home in about 5 weeks, yay!  I'm told that when babies are premature they are kept in NICU until their due date.  However, if missy continues to progress so well, she may not have to stay until April.

Thank you all for your prayers, well wishes, and positive thoughts!  All of us are feeling your love and we are so lucky to have supportive family and friends in our lives.  Please continue to keep our baby girl in your prayers :o)

Thelma & Louise

I nicknamed the girls Thelma and Louise because they are always into something!  Life has been moving pretty slow since Christmas and there haven't been many moments worth blogging about.  So, I decided to go through some pictures to see what I had and I found these.  Thelma and Louise up to no good, again!  These were taken sometime between late September and December.  As much as I love my munchkins, and as cute as they are, my hands are constantly full and I wouldn't have it any other way!

 Potty training...defiantly.

Instead of trying to figure out why or how she is sleeping upside down, I ran for the camera.

Scarlett mastered the ability to climb into Savannah's crib and she was quite proud of herself.  Savannah was less than pleased.  Scarlett wakes Savannah all the time just to play.  Now that Savannah is big enough, she gets even.  Now, Savannah has no problem waking up Scarlett just to play.  Gotta love it!  

One day these two weren't felling well.  I thought it was cute that they fell asleep in the same position.

This is the day Savannah got stuck between the toilet and the wall.  Scarlett kept screaming "stuck, stuck, stuck".  Naturally, I thought Scarlett was stuck.  As it turned out, Savannah was the one that got stuck. 

I want to know who told them that they could eat red blow pops outside the kitchen?!  They're lucky that they are so darn cute together.

One day we sat down to have lunch and I told the girls "let's say our prayers."  Out of nowhere, Savannah folded her arms so reverently!  I believe she was eleven months.  In the midst of the girls shenanigans, they do provide me with some tender moments :o) 

Missy got stuck playing between the wall and the end table.  I think she was trying to climb her way out because her legs were wrapped around the leg of the table.

Fully loaded diaper accompanied with the "my diaper is too full to walk in" walk. 

 Another tender moment.  I was taking too long to get to Savannah so Scarlett jumped in my chair and finished feeding her.  How sweet is that?!

One day they got into my sock drawer.  At least Scarlett had enough sense to stop after they got busted.  Why are the pj's halfway on?  Your guess is as good as mine.

Christmas isn't Christmas if my hearth isn't destroyed by one of these bandits.

I had to include this one because everyone loves a naked baby bum, right?  My parents got these foam letters for SAVANNAH for her first birthday.  When they are wet, they stick to the tile and the tub.  They really are cool because they are not messy or fussy.  Anyway, Scarlett loved them so much that she didn't want to share with Savannah.  Please notice how Scarlett is tiptoeing her hardest to put them out of Savannah's reach!

When they get bored with their toys, they move on to playing with the blinds. 

This is what I'm talking about!  In his efforts to help mommy out, Jeremiah taught Scarlett how to put away the silverware. 

 Scarlett vs. Savannah vs. the baby doll stroller.  I guess Scarlett won because she's the only one still standing.  You should have heard her trying to explain herself out of this one.