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!

Two Growing Girls

I had an ultrasound yesterday because I'm still measuring a little small, and baby girl is still measuring a little big. Actually, she's measuring a lot big, if you ask me. She was 6 lb., 8 oz. yesterday! Seriously? That means that she gained an estimated 2 lb., 2 oz. in 3 weeks. Yikes! The perinatologist assured me that she'd be under 8 pounds when I delivered, but he also said she should gain between 1/4 and 1/2 pound per week from now on. Either he's really bad at math or he knows something I don't.......Any bets on how big she'll be?!

I'm getting big too - or at least my (c)ankles are. Tonight I propped my feet up to show David that my ankles were swollen from working all day. David said, "Daniel, look at Mommy's ankles!" Daniel looked and said, "Mommy, where are your ankles?!" Lovely.....

Brown Sugar Bandit

Late this afternoon Daniel told me that he was feeling really tired and that he was going to go rest. He even put his pajamas on over his clothes, then went to his bedroom and shut the door. He does this sometimes, especially on days like today, when he didn't take a nap. No big deal. I stayed in the living room, folding laundry, and then started making dinner. Fifteen to twenty minutes later I still hadn't heard from him. Usually he only rests for 5-10 minutes, so I went to check on him, fully expecting to find him asleep in his bed.

What I actually found was him sitting in the middle of his bed with an open bag.....and fingers, face, and blankets covered in brown sugar. I wasn't even sure what to say at first! I managed, "What on earth are you doing?!" to which he replied, "I was hungry!" Yeah, right.....

I do think he actually intended to go rest in his room. What I had forgotten was that earlier today he had been playing "groceries," a game in which he loads up his truck with actual groceries, and he had left his grocery-filled truck in his room. Obviously he knows that he's not supposed to open the groceries, but I guess the temptation was too much behind closed doors.

New rule in the house - no opening the pantry for any purpose without a parent's permission. Ugh!

A Boy's Nativity

We decorated for Christmas last week, including our nativity scene (sans Jesus and the wise men). We have one of those Fontanini sets that are made of plastic - perfect for Daniel to play with. He asked if he could play with the "barn" the other day, so I took it down for him, thinking it was a good opportunity to talk more about the Christmas story. We went over the cast of characters - he's pretty good with Mary, but is confused about Joseph's role. He keeps asking if Joseph was Mary's father.

Anyway, I walked away to do some laundry yesterday, and this is what I came back to:

Joseph, Mary, and all the animals going for a ride on an 18-wheeler. Not in the photo is the fact that Mater the Tow Truck and another monster truck had taken residence in the manger, and Jesus' bed was now on top of the roof.