Eat Up!

Today Daniel was playing with his farm animals. He lined up the baby donkey, foal, and calf so that they could each drink milk from their respective mamas. They all ate, and then he had them "switch sides." Finally, they were each burped by having their mamas pound on their backs.

Can you tell what we've been doing at our house?!

Despite all the feedings, Catherine failed her weigh-in today. She tipped the scales at 7 lbs. So she's back to her birth weight, but she only gained 2 oz in 9 days. The pediatrician asked us to start supplementing with expressed milk in a bottle, and we go back for another weight check next week.

Big Brother

Daniel is a phenomenal big brother so far. I was really worried about how jealous he would be of my time, but he's actually done quite well. He does ask "Are you done feeding her yet?" several times during each feeding, but he's usually okay with waiting until I'm done.

He got to hold Catherine for the first time the other day, and he thought it was really neat. He just smiled and smiled the whole time. He even held her while she fell asleep once, and he thought that was pretty cool. He gives her stickers and flowers that he's picked from the yard. He brings her toys and likes to make silly faces at her. He also likes to play "doctor" with her. He has been really helpful, and I'm so thankful that it's been a smooth transition so far.

The Lesser of Two Evils

I bathed Catherine tonight. Her umbilical cord hasn't fallen off yet, so I'm still doing a sponge bath of sorts. I had her wrapped in a towel and was holding her while washing her hair when I got peed on. That warm sensation against my shirt was not exactly what I wanted to feel, and I was thinking that I drew the short end of the stick when I chose to bathe Catherine instead of Daniel.

But I was wrong......

David bathed Daniel tonight, and it finally happened. You hear of it happening from most families, but it hadn't ever happened to us. Daniel pooped in the tub. Not a little poop, but a great big one. I was so thankful that David cleaned everything up and so thankful that all I got was a little pee on my shirt. The joys of parenthood!

Before going to bed, Daniel asked David, "Daddy, do you still love me even though I pooped in the tub?"

Is Anybody Home?

The first night that I was home from the hospital, Daniel came to crawl up on my lap. He hasn't been able to sit on my lap in awhile because my stomach was so big. As he climbed up, he pressed on my stomach, looked up at me, and asked, "Is there somebody in there?" I think he was relieved to find out it was empty!

First Week Home

Our first week home with Catherine has had its ups and downs, probably like most first weeks with newborns.


Daniel got sick on Monday night. My mom called me while we were still at the hospital on Tuesday to tell me that Daniel had awoken with a high fever and congestion. He had a fever off and on for about 3 days, so he was fairly miserable. Now the fever is gone, but he still has a stuffy nose and a cough. This wouldn't be so bad except that my child is the world's worst at being able to blow his nose. So he wakes up screaming and crying when his nose is stuffed up. He's also just been super grumpy in general. We've been trying to teach him to leave the "grumpies" in his room before he comes out. We don't have this down yet!

Catherine has been really easy in some ways and difficult in others. She sleeps a lot, especially during the day. She likes to wake up from about 11:00 pm to 2:00 am.....we're working on this! She's been so sleepy that we're having a hard time feeding her. I know that you're supposed to feed newborns every 2-4 hours, but the first few days, we could really only get her to eat every 5-6 hours. We would try at 2, 3, 4 hours, but she was virtually impossible to wake up. Now we're closer to every three hours, but we have to strip her down to her diaper every time and then rub her with a torture device (a cold wash rag) every few seconds. This makes me feel terrible because she just shivers and cries then, and I've made David be the bad guy several times.


We took her to the pediatrician on Friday. She had lost 1/2 pound and because she was having some feeding issues, we'll go back on Monday just for a weigh-in. Hopefully she'll be trending the right way! The pediatrician gave us more info about her heart, and we made a follow-up appointment with Cooks for February 14th. We'll see how it goes!


Thankfully we've had a lot of help from both sets of grandparents. My parents stayed from Sunday through Friday. They cooked an obscene amount of food, and our freezer is full. They even made a turkey - it was like Thanksgiving! David's parents were here Sunday through Tuesday and then came back Saturday through Monday. They've also been a big help! Daniel is definitely enjoying all the attention he's received this week. It will probably be a big reality check when they leave and David returns to work tomorrow. I'm a little nervous about handling both kids by myself, especially since I either caught Daniel's cold or the one I was still getting over came back with a vengeance!

Catherine's Birth Story

I was scheduled to be induced on Monday morning. Dr. Mascorro felt like an induction would be best because my last delivery was not exactly easy, and they were expecting baby girl to be not exactly small. So my parents and David's parents came to Abilene Sunday evening, ready to babysit for us.

David and I got to the hospital on Monday morning at 5 am. We checked in, and they started me on Pitocin at about 6:30 am. Labor went relatively slow for quite awhile. My doctor came and broke my water around 8:30 am. They kept increasing my Pitocin dosage until my contractions were pretty close together. I asked for an epidural around 11:30 am. The pain wasn't unbearable yet, but knowing that I was going to get an epidural at some point, I decided that it was silly to go through much of any pain! I got my epidural around 12:15 or so. My doctor came to check me at that point, and I was at 5 cm, and the baby was still at a -1 station (pretty high up). So she said she'd come back in a couple hours.

She came back at 12:30, saying that my baby didn't like the epidural as much as I did and that her heart rate was dropping too much with each contraction. So they put me on oxygen, had me change positions, and stopped the Pitocin temporarily. That seemed to relieve baby girl, and my doctor left. Within minutes - literally - I started feeling crazy pressure. The nurse checked me, and I had moved to 9 cm, and the baby was on its way out. She quickly called my doctor back in, and I pushed baby girl out in two contractions (a total of probably 3 minutes' worth!) at 1:01 pm. It was insane! With Daniel, my epidural knocked out all sensations - feelings and pressure. With this one, I could still feel quite a bit, and it was a crazy experience.

So Catherine Siena Sanchez was born at 1:01 pm. She weighed 7 lbs and measured 19 inches long.

Daniel and both sets of grandparents came right away to meet Catherine. Daniel wasn't entirely impressed and was more interested in watching cartoons, but that was to be expected. Catherine gave him a present - new sunglasses - and we're hoping that will help! He's actually been really good with the baby so far. He likes to go check on her periodically and brings her toys or other gifts. He even covered her clothes with his new stickers.

Anyway.....back to the hospital.....Tuesday morning our pediatrician came to assess Catherine. She found a heart murmur and suspected a VSD (ventricular septal defect), which is apparently a hole between two chambers of the heart. Because Abilene doesn't have a pediatric cardiologist, our pediatrician ordered an echocardiogram and sent it to Cooks Children's Hospital in Fort Worth. She said that if it was a small hole, it would most likely repair itself within the year, but that if it was a big hole, we would be on our way to Fort Worth that afternoon. She was confident that it was only a small hole because the noise was very loud, indicating that the blood was pumping through a small space. She told us that we would most likely get to go home that afternoon and that she would call us with Cooks' results at home. So we were all set to go, just waiting on orders, when our nurse called and said that the pediatrician changed her mind and we would need to wait at the hospital until we heard back from Cooks. This worried us because we didn't understand what made our doctor change her mind. Anyway, we just waited.....and waited....and waited. We found out that the pediatric cardiologist at Cooks who normally reads the echocardiograms had been killed in an accident earlier in the week and that everyone was at his funeral that day. It's hard to complain about waiting after hearing that, so we just waited some more. At 6:30 that evening, we got the call saying that it was, in fact, a small hole in Catherine's heart, and she would just have to follow-up with Cooks in the future. We could take her home that evening! Thank heavens! We brought baby girl home around 8:15 pm on Tuesday. We will follow-up with the cardiologist in Fort Worth next month to see if the hole is closing on its own.

I'll update you on our first week home soon! For now, it's nap time!

Cousins

My sister and her family stayed the night here last week, and I had to post a few pics of the boys looking cute in their pj's. Daniel had so much fun playing with them! Bryson has learned how to give "sugar," and there's one pic of him movin' in for a kiss with Daniel! I'm sure they'll both love that one when they're older.....

Christmas

OK - I've got to get this Christmas post done before baby sister decides to arrive!

We spent Christmas at our home in Abilene this year (no traveling for Mama this late in the game!). David's parents and siblings came to stay with us, and we had a really nice time! It was nice to have so much help from my mother- and sister-in-law as I wasn't up to doing as much as usual.

Daniel got spoiled rotten - as usual. Here's a run-down of the gifts:
Abuela & Abuelo: Hot Wheels garage
Grandpa & Grandma: play cooking set and magazine subscription
Uncle Luis: train track extension set & Cars lunch box
Uncle Brian & Aunt Cristi: Old Navy sweatshirt & pretend doctor set
Uncle Josh & Aunt Pam: pretend doctor set
Uncle Brian & Aunt Heather: Cars puzzles and Thomas the Train memory game
Mr. & Mrs. Gonzalez: Thomas the Train book and train set
Grandma Fox: money
Santa Claus: train set

Can you tell this child likes trains?

He was pretty excited about the whole Christmas thing this year. We've been counting down with a sticker Advent calendar, and he always knew exactly how many days it was until Christmas. On Christmas Eve, he was pretty concerned because we had a fire lit in our fireplace. I think he asked every single adult to make sure the fire was out before we went to bed so that Santa could come down the chimney! In the morning, he was super excited to come out and see his presents, but when he finally came out, he was really shy/nervous about even approaching the train set. He did the same thing last year with his tricycle. He just still doesn't really know how to act with surprises! He stood there, looking at everyone, just kind of smiling and mumbling silly things. Once he got comfortable though, he really loved playing with the train set and spent a long time "de-railing" or crashing into things. He and Uncle Luis added the extension tracks until it stretched all the way from the living room to his bedroom. He loved it!

A wonderful Christmas for everyone! I know I enjoyed having family here and watching Daniel in his joy! I promise to add pictures in the days to come.....I realize that's the best part!

Do You See What I See?

David (for reasons only known to him) started pretending to be blind today. He told Daniel, "I can't see! My eyes don't work anymore. I'm blind!" Daniel offered to fix him. David asked how he could fix him, and without hesitating, Daniel plucked at his own eyes and gave them to David, saying, "Here - you can have my see." Thinking that our son was incredibly selfless, David said, "Daniel, what are you going to do now that you can't see?!" Daniel said, "I'm going to take Mommy's see" and he ran over and plucked at my eyes.

David said, "Daniel! Now Mommy can't see! How will she make us dinner?!" (Do you like how that's his first concern?) Daniel said, "Well, I don't know. I can see though, and you can see. Mommy's the only one that can't see." David said, "Well, maybe I'll give Mommy my see." Daniel said, "No! Just you and me can see. Mommy just can't see anymore." And he was content to leave it at that.

So much for being selfless!