Finally here

Well, a lot has happened in the past week. Let us start with the most significant stuff. I had my my fourth child, Jaiden Nathaniel, on Saturday, August 23 at 12:04am. I was in labor about 6 hours( fast, I know). He was 7 lbs., 7 oz., 20 and 1/2 inches long. The funny thing is, I had 2 different due dates. Aug. 22, and Sept. 7. The first one was based off of my recollections, and the information I was able to give the doctor. The second was based off of an ultrasound that the doctor performed. He decided that the one from the ultrasound was the correct one( he was a bit arrogant. not my first choice of doctors, but the one I wanted was out with heart problems). Anyhow, I was determined to let myself go into labor naturally this time instead of being induced like the last three times And what do you know, a couple of hours after my doctor's appointment on the 22nd, it happened! We had brought home some pizza, a movie, and had some popcorn for family night, I was on the computer, and the munchkins were starting to say they were hungry. I was getting off the couch, and was about half way standing, when my water broke. Holy smokes, I don't think I have ever been that shocked in my life! There was a mad dash for the car, forgetting everythinng, including my insurance stuff. We call mothers to alert them to the eminent arrival of their grandchild, drop the kids off with Bomba, and hurry to the hospital.


We got there, got me admitted, and moms & kids arrived. Andrea showed up with Jada, and she was wonderful to watch all the kids so that mom and Penny could stay and offer moral support. They left pretty much only long enough to go get something to eat while I got my Epidural. AHHHH! I think it's one of the greatest medical inventions ever. Not long after the Epi, Jaiden was here.I tried to feed him before the nurse had to take him away to the nursery, but he wouldn't wake up long enough to get much.When they got him to the nursery, he was looking a little blue, so they blew some air in his face. That seemed to do the trick. He was brought back to me after getting cleaned and warmed up(around 4:00am). I finally got him to wake up enough to get him latched on, and then he wouldn't let go! He nursed for an hour before the nurse from the nursery came to take his temperature, and another half an hour before they came to take him back for blood work or something(about 5:30). When he went back, they noticed he was looking blue again. So they called in a doctor. Somewhere around 10:30 Ifinally called the nursery to ask them where my baby was.That's when they said that a neonatologist would be in to talk to me about what was going on with him.



Needless to say, I started to freak. So about an hour and a half later, a neonatologist comes to talk to me. He told me that Jaiden had a pnuemothorax(basically his lung was collapsing, due to a small hole that was letting air out of his lung into the cavity between the ribcage and his lungs, thus compressing them) and a lung infection. He needed to be put on oxygen in order to keep his oxygen saturation levels up. This woul mean that i could not breastfeed him. He would need to be fed through a tube down his throat for the next couple of days. This could not be done in the nursery. He had to be addmitted to the NICU. He would need to stay there for a week at best guess. I would have to go home without my baby. I was able to keep from crying long enough for the doctor to leave my room. He had assured me that everything sounded worse than it really was. But all I could hear was that my baby was not even half a day old and already facing a hard trial. Thank goodness that Derrick was there to comfort me. We reminded ourselve that a week in the NICU was a very short amount of time as far as NICU stays go. We were lucky. He got admitted, started antibiotics, had the feeding tube inserted, and the tube for oxygen put in his nose.
We were allowed to see him almost anytime we wanted, barring shift changes. Derrick and I had even visited him around 1-2am simply so we would be able to sleep easier! The nurses were very nice, letting us hold him whenever we could, for as long as possible. They updated us on his condition every time we walked in, even if it was just to say " he's doing the same as this morning". They even appreciated the little nickname we gave him.
Okay the nick name needs explaining. Early Monday morning(like 1 am) a nurse noticed he was looking a little yellow. Yup, jaundice was setting in, fast. They put him on a Bili-blanket, which looks like a heating pad with a tube coming out of it, and it glows a bright blue light that helps get rid of Biliruben. The first time I saw him on this thing, it was glowing through the blanket that he was wrapped up in, so he looked like the little glow-worm toys they make for little kids. Therfore, we started to call him our little glow-worm.
It was always hard to walk away, but it was hardest to walk away on Monday, my discharge day. Derrick was my rock. He reminded me that it was not going to be long before we could bring him home. And I wasn't going to be far from him. Layla and I checked into the local Ronald McDonald House that night. That gave derrick one less child to worry about. But I didn't stay there for more than two days. I didn't think it made sense for me to stay there when Derrick had to drive into Austin everyday after dropping off the kids at school to take me back up to the hospital to visit with Jaiden and drop off milk that I had pumped. Not to mention that I REALLY missed Daniel and Jacob. So I went home.
We continued to go see Jaiden every day and finally they told us that he could breathe regular air. The next day(Friday), they told us that we could take him home. We were so elated.
He is now home, healthy as a horse, eating like one, too, and sleeping well.

Now on to the rest of the brood. Daniel and jake went back to school. They are loving it. Daniel is having to get used to the idea of doing "homework". He gets to color and draw pictures for homework. Jacob is having to start using his words again, as he got lazy about it over the summer. But he was happy to see his friends from last year again. They are both getting good reports from thier teachers.
Derrick is enrolled for his last two classes and is looking forward to graduating. He is very happy to have his baby boy home.
As for me ...Well it took me a week to write this after I started, so you can imagine how tired I am. But still happy and grateful. My family is healthy and happy, and we are all together. What more could I ask?

What's going on

So, I finally got this thing going very late last night, therefore I didn't write anything that let's you know about what is up with our family. I am now going to correct that.
The school year is starting in a few days. We have "Meet the Teacher" night tonight.We will get to meet Daniel's new Kindergarten teacher. I was hoping for him to be more excited about that.
The child just confuses me at times. He is so excited to go back to school, that he gets to go all day, instead of just half a day, but he doesn't want to see his new class room or meet his teacher. Go figure!
Jacob is going back to PPCD speech therapy, with the same teacher as last year. That should make things easier for him. Jacob tends to dislike any kind of changeto his routine.We are hoping that familiar faces will help, along with the "cool" new Spider-man back packs and lunch boxes that Bomba got them. Thank you, Penelope! He is just itching to wear his new school clothes. I've had to chase him out of the drawer I was keeping them in several times in the last week. Again, thank you Penelope, and thank you Dana.
Daniel has lost two teeth this year, and is working on his third. Jake is utterly jealous that he is not losing any teeth, so he walks around trying to wiggle his teeth, only to wind up coming to me saying that his mouth hurts. What really makes me laugh is when Layla tries to do the same thing, only she turns out to be holding onto what ever teeth she has gotten her fingers on, and nodding her head rather than wiggling .
My biggest frustration this past week was that some how Jacob had gotten ahold of my scissors and not only cut his hair, but Layla's hair as well. I was very relieved to find that if I just use a head band and fluff her hair out all Afro style, or arrange it just right into a few pony tails, you couldn't tell. That is, untill last night when Layla gota pair of scissors that were not even supposed to be opened, or even out of the school pencil boxes, and lopped off a good sized spotright in front, all the way down to her scalp. Now I have no choice but to let her hair look all funkified, untill it is disguiseable again. I refuse to cut her hair down that short. She would look like a boy for a year! For some reason,(at least in my kids case) little black girl hair doesn't grow as quickly or as easily as little black boy hair. I really dont know what to do about it. I think I will ask Penelope to call her cousin that is a hair dresser and ask what I can do to help her hair grow a little better.
Derrick is still working hard. We are happy that he only has two more classes to go. YEAH! I am glad that he has a job were he can work from home a good amount of the time. It also helps that he likes what he is doing. He even wants to teach me web design, which I wouldn't mind. He says that its easy enough that I could learn it rather quickly .
As for me, I am ready to have the baby already. I am SO tired of bein pregnant. If someone asked me in 10-20 years to decribe what my 20's were like, I could wrap it all up in under ten words: pregnancy, nursing, diapers, potty training, school prep craziness. I try to remind myself that by the time I turn 30, I will have all my kids potty trained and capable of dressing themselves in the mornings, meaning that I will finally have the time to get myself ready for church on Sundays. (Far off dreamy look) That would be soooo nice. HA,HA,HA,HA! Wishful thinking. It's great, isn't it?

Okay, here we go.

Okay, I've done it. I have finally started a Blog. Maybe this means I am starting to get over my procrastinating tendencies, getting things on track, and heading in the direction I have been trying to get myself to go for so long. Mm... No, more like I got tired of feeling bad that I was the only one of my family (well, my sisters and I) that didn't write a family blog. I have been meaning to do this for quite some time, but always figured I wouldn't be any good at it. Then I realized that if I only meant this to be seen by family and friends, I don't really have to be. You guys love me anyway. As long as I keep you updated on the goings on of the family and get Derrick to show me how to get pictures on this thing, all of you will forgive me if it gets a little boring, or rambles on a bit. So, here goes the grand experiment.