1 Month!

Wow, the month that Cameron has been here has flown by!  We love you Cam and are so happy you are finally here!  You have the most beautiful blue eyes and such a sweet disposition! 

 We love his baby blues!

Our Future Hockey Player

 Last Saturday Tim and I took Caden to the Stars Practice facility so he could watch some youth play hockey.  We want to start Caden in January with the little kids hockey leagues and thought it would be fun to show Caden some kiddos playing!

Shortly after we arrived, Caden was watching from the glass, and a puck hit the netting above his head and fell right at his feet!  In the picture below you can see him holding it in his right hand!

Here he is with the puck which was still wet with ice!  He thought it was so cool that he got to keep it!

Here he is watching the Zamboni after the game.  This child loves watching hockey with Daddy!  It doesn't matter who is playing, given the choice of cartoons or hockey, he picks hockey!  We can't wait to get him started in January!

Oh Christmas Trees, Oh Christmas Trees!

We were so excited to decorate for Christmas this year, we just had to spread it out a bit.  Usually I'm the crazy lady getting it all done in a day and a half!  Kind of busy with the newborn this year!

Here is our new media room tree.  We got rid of our white tree with white lights and bought a silver slim tree with white lights!  Got a great deal at Garden Ridge!  Just ask Tim!  We bought new ornaments this year for it too.  I think it turned out great!

Here is our living room tree.  My favorite!  Tim said it looks like a tree from Macy's!
 

The playroom tree has all our family ornaments on it and is more traditional.  I love this one as well!

Here is my Dicken's Village that Pat gave me last year.  I wasn't sure if this set would make it out of the attic this year, but Tim did the majority of it and Caden helped with the fake snow!

Here is Cameron's tree.  Pat got this one for Caden and then gave us a larger one for Cameron the other day so we gave the little brother the little tree and gave Caden the bigger one!

 Here is Caden's tree.  I got him a new tree topper, garland and some new ornaments for it!

I love my mantle and enjoy putting it together each year.  We still need to get Cameron a stocking, but it is all finished otherwise!

Such A Big Helper

Mom and Dad came up to visit and to bring us the annual truck load of firewood!  This was Caden's first year to help unload the firewood.  He did such a great job!

He wore Mommy's gloves and had a blast!

Here he is getting some help from Poppa stacking it.

 Another arm full!

 He was so strong!

He spotted the camera!

 

My Mom and I were in the sunroom watching Tim, Dad and Caden doing all the heavy lifting. Caden came to the door and said, 'Whew, I'm tired, but I'm really strong!'  I said, 'I know, you are doing such a good job!'  He said, 'Mommy, only boys and Daddies can unload firewood, not girls or Mommies.'  I said, 'Oh okay well we will stay in here while you all unload the wood.'  Then he said, 'Okay Mommy, I'm sorry God didn't make you a boy!'

Out of the mouths of babes!

Here's my Cade Man!

 

 While in the sun room, Mommy got some Cam love!

Caden's Thanksgiving Party

Tim and I were able to attend Caden's Thanksgiving Party at school.  My parents were in town and stayed home with Cameron so we could go (baby free)!

They started off the program singing songs they had learned.  Here is Caden singing one of the songs!

I love that he is Mr. Personality here with all the hand motions!

After the singing, it was time to make our snack.  The snack was a Turkey made from cookies, candy corn, icing and more icing!  I love my Cade Man's smile here!

The finished product, which Caden said tasted delicious!

He loves Candy Corn!

My 2 handsome big guys!

Mommy and her Cade Man!

Auntie Kay

I will be creating a slideshow at some point but I wanted to just upload some random shots so I would not forget the story behind them.

Here is Cam and Auntie Kay meeting for the first time.  If you will remember, she did not come up for the birth, but saw it on Skype.  Her first time to hold him and meet him in person was the day I was released from the hospital after the Spinal Head Ache/Blood Pressure fiasco!

The day she left was so sad for her!  She was playing Wipe Out with Caden here right before she left.  Caden kept saying, 'Okay, one more time'.  And she 'one more timed' about 100 times before leaving.  We had such a great time visiting with her! 

Here is Caden holding Baby Cam with Auntie Kay's arm making sure he doesn't slide out!  Caden usually holds him about 2 minutes and says, 'Mommy, you can have him.  He's squishing me.'

My 2nd Trip to Baylor Dallas

After we returned home on Sunday, October 30th, little did I know that I would be again visiting Baylor to stay in just a week!

My blood pressure has throughout my life always been extremely low (in a good way), 110/55ish.  During labor my blood pressure spiked and the bottom numbers were in the high 90's.  They would comment that it was high during labor and shortly after, but no one really seemed too alarmed.

After having Cameron but while still in the hospital, the tech's would come in and check the b/p throughout the day and night and the bottom number was still in the high 90's.  They would ask me to lay down and then re-check it and it would then be in the 70's.  After coming home from the hospital, I used my blood pressure cuff to periodically check my b/p just for my own information.  I developed a headache that would not go away in the back of my head after coming home as well.  As any mom knows, we are always sent home with pain medication, etc and I was no exception.  I had Hydrocodone as well as 800 mg Ibuprofen.  I tried taking both to get rid of the headache but nothing even took the edge off.  I was not linking the high b/p with the headache at all.  

We had to take Cameron to my OB for his circumcision the week after coming home with him and while there I mentioned to her about my blood pressure being high.  She prescribed some low mg b/p meds for me to take 1 a day.  I still had the persistent headache along with the high numbers on the bottom of my b/p however.  I called a couple of days after being told to take the b/p medication and told them that I still had a horrible headache and larger than normal numbers on the bottom of my b/p readings.  The nurse told me to get to the Dr's office for a b/p check with a nurse.  I headed to my OB's office and met with just the medical tech and she took my b/p and the number was 165/98.  She asked that I wait in the exam room while she told my Dr.  I mentioned to her that the headache still was not going away and she just shook her head.  She came back and said that my Dr wanted me to increase the meds to 2/day.  So I left and took the 2nd pill when I got home.

On Saturday, my Mom was packed and ready to head back to Conroe, having stayed the week with us.  She asked how my headache was and I said, 'No better'.  She said, 'Amber I think you should call your Dr again and just tell her how bad the headache is and that nothing is helping it.  Just see what she says.'  Mom was concerned that the headache and b/p were related.  I called and had my Dr paged and she called and asked what was going on.  I told her and she stopped me and said, 'They didn't tell me you had a headache.  This changes everything.  I need you to pack a bag and head to Baylor so they can observe your b/p.  We may end up admitting you for preclampsia and putting you on Magnesium Sulfate.  It is not a fun drug, but hopefully that will help.'  So Mom didn't leave and instead watched both boys while Tim and I headed once again to Baylor.

They put me in a L&D room and monitored my b/p which was still super high.  They asked where my headache was and I told them the back of my head.  The nurse mentioned that was odd because with preclampsia the headaches are usually in the front.  After a few hours they said they were going to admit me and put me on the Mag (Magnesium Sulfate).  They started an IV and told me that the first bag of Mag they planned to push through in 20 minutes.  It was a small bag and then the larger bag would be infused slower over a 24 hour period.  The nurse immediately turned down the temperature in the room and told me that I would get 'a little warm' with the Mag.  WHAT AN UNDERSTATEMENT!  I felt as though the veins in my body had fire in them!  I was flushed and so HOT!  They put a catheter in as they wanted me to be in bed throughout the Mag infusion.  

I have never seen Tim so cold!  The temperature in the room was 55 and I was burning up and his lips were purple!

They finally moved me to a room for the over night stay and told me that after the larger bag was pushed through that my Dr would decide where to go from there.  I was under the impression until told otherwise by another nurse that the Mag would help keep my b/p low.  I was wrong, the Mag was to PREVENT SEIZURES!  They said with the headache and b/p so high the risk for seizures was high as well.  WHO KNEW!

I told Tim to just leave and go on home since I was going to be in bed just 'monitored' on the Mag and to head back to the hospital the next a.m.  He left and my sister was already headed up to visit that weekend and she surprised me and showed up at Baylor and wanted to stay.  Sort of a slumber party if you will.

They started giving me Hydrocodone for the headache (2 pills) and the nurse would come in and say, 'how's the headache?'  I felt like some drugged out person wanting more when I would tell her, 'It is no better, at all.  It is as if I'm taking sugar pills.'  So she got an order for Ultram and was alternating the 2.  That did not help at all.  I have never had a headache like this in my life.  Nor have I had one that I could not get at least some relief from!

Poor Kari was being frozen out as well in the room.  She had multiple blankets, sheets, clothing and my hoodie over her head and cinched up!  I was hot, and she was an ice cube!  I was unable to sleep much because they would come in and monitor my b/p every hour.  The Mag must be a big deal because every time there was a shift change or a kink in the line of the Mag, there would have to be 2 nurses come in as a sort of 'audit' to make sure the correct amount was flowing.

The next a.m. they told me that I was able to eat!  I was ecstatic!  I did not think I was inhaling my food, but apparently I was!  Kari was standing between the side of my bed and the window ledge and I finished eating and said 'I'm going to throw up', and as if we were in some sort of orchestrated movie, she turned, grabbed the bed pan throw up tub (technical name) and swiveled in time for me to sit up and throw up.  A second later and I would have been wearing it!

Anyone who knows me, knows I DO NOT DO WELL WITH THROWING UP.  I get mad...I hate not being in control.  She was well aware of this and did beautifully!  She wiped my forehead and kept saying 'You're okay...'  I was so glad she was there! 

My Dr. came in later that morning to see how I was doing and I told her that I was no better, I still had the headache and the high b/p.  She said she was going to talk to the Anesthesiologist and have them come in because she was suspecting that I had a spinal headache.  The Anesthesiologist came in, who just happened to be the one that did my epidural.  We talked to him and he said that sometimes the needle can be slightly bent and puncture the area and cause the spinal fluid to leak which would in turn cause the major headache.  He said he could do a 'blood patch' where they take 'large vials' of blood from my arm and reinsert it into the epidural space filling in the hole.  Within an hour to 2 hours if my headache was gone, well the procedure worked.  We decided to give that a try.

He cleaned off my back and the procedure was much like having an epidural except that I did not have labor pains to distract me from the HORRIBLE PAIN OF HAVING A NEEDLE THE SIZE OF A COAT HANGER (METAL ONE) PLACED IN MY BACK!

Kari was standing on the left side of the bed along side a nurse.  Kari was holding my hand as I laid on my left side while he did the needle in my back.  He then came around the left side of the bed to get the blood from my arm.  He got all the vials while I was squeezing the life out of Kari's hand.  She and I both are terrified of needles and as I laid there I remember thinking, 'wow Kari has grown up!  She's standing here being so brave!'  He finished and put the gauze on the needle hole, and told Kari to 'apply pressure'.  I didn't open my eyes, but I only felt Kari 'applying pressure' for approximately 2 seconds then I felt NO pressure.  I opened my eyes in time to see her race around the foot of my bed and lay down on the fold out bed/chair.  She then began rolling up her pant legs.  Remember the room was a chilly 55 degrees.  The nurse applied pressure on my arm while Kari kept apologizing to me for leaving my side.  

It was actually quite comical!  This distracted me from the Dr putting MY OWN BLOOD BACK INTO MY SPINE!

After he finished and left, my nurse tended to both Kari and me!  She asked Kari if she needed some juice!  It was so funny!

Anyway!  I was exhausted and lapsed into a nice little coma/nap.  The nurse came in 2 hours after the procedure to see how my headache was.  I sat up and nodded my head and turned it left to right and realized that it was GONE!  I did not know how bad it was, until it had left me!  It was a glorious feeling!  My Dr. released me around 2 and I was able to go home.  What a scary ordeal and sad one for me, being a Mom and having my new baby at home and me in the hospital!

So, that's the 'rest of the story'!

Cameron's First Dr's Appt.

As I mentioned in a previous post Cameron had jaundice issues so we had to take him in to see Dr. Berry so she could check him out.  Here is a picture of us in the exam room before seeing the Dr.  The jaundice was cleared up so we were done with that fiasco.  They had to cauterize his navel because it had not healed properly so they put on some silver nitrate which didn't hurt him at all.  I'm telling you, me and this kiddo had some issues!

At another follow up appointment, Dr. Berry took a q-tip and told me to spin it in his navel to clean it out rather than submerge him in a tub, just until it is all healed.  Well I nearly fainted-not really-when she was instructing me to do that with the Q-tip.  I was thinking, 'Yep, no way am I wired to do that, I'll pass out on the floor.'  So I just let it heal up on its own and then cleaned it when it was all healed up and pretty! LOL