Welcome Baby Vera!

Last Wednesday(5/23/2012) I had Vera Francis Dorssom at 12:08pm.  Her stats were 7 lbs and 19 3/4" long.  I had a quick delivery-water broke at 9am, epidural at 11ish and baby at noon.  The hospital where I delivered has a "miracle hour" policy, meaning that only the mom, dad and baby are allowed in the room for at least the first hour after delivery and all other care is deferred until later.  It was wonderful!  Then after this time they do all the baby care/assessment at my bedside-no taking the baby away to the nursery.  This was a great experience.  One of the doctor's that I work for delivered Vera and my nurse was a lady I knew from the office-she is completing her Nurse Practitioner Degree and is in our office working several days a week.  She also works as a charge nurse at L&D.

During the assessment they found Vera's breathing to be rapid at times-transient tachypnea.  They ended up admitting her to the NICU by that afternoon. She was quickly started on O2, IV fluids and antibiotics, and an NG tube placed.  They did blood work which all came back negative for infection but her chest x-ray revealed some fluid on the lungs.  The neonatologist said that this was not uncommon for a quick delivery.  She was in the NICU until Friday late afternoon.  As a mother, this time was agonizing.  Vera was only there for 2 days, I can't imagine having a little one that had to stay for weeks to months.  Vera got to room in with me on Friday night and then was discharged Saturday midday.

My friend Emily, with her son Paul, came down to stay with Stella for a couple nights.  Stella had a blast getting to spend time with them again.  It was great to know Stella was in such good hands!

Erin (Charlie's sister) and Henry (our nephew) are here now visiting from KS.  Stella has been well entertained playing with her cousin and aunt.

I will keep updating with more photos...but here is a glimpse of our last week.


The night before I had Vera, I was sitting on the couch reading to Stella after dinner and she fell asleep before we could even finish Peter Rabbit.  This never happens, she rarely will fall asleep outside her carseat, crib or stroller.  I loved every moment of it!

 Dr. Curtis and I

 Andrea my nurse and I

 Meeting Vera for the first time

 Finally out of the NICU

 Coming to see Vera

 Home!

Patio/Garden/Stella has Wheels

 One of our Spring projects has been this side of the house.  I wish I had some before pictures to show, but it has received a major overhaul.  We had the fence put in when we moved in, then we had the patio poured, Charlie moved the garden then sodded around it, put in the bushes and mulch, put in the paver path and finished it by putting in outdoor speakers.  We love this space!  This is where we spend our weekends.....

 The garden is doing well.  I am afraid it is going to turn into a jungle really fast.  This year we have lettuce, onions, herbs, cucumbers, zucchini, corn, tomatoes and peppers.

 Stella spends lots of time hopping from rock to rock...

 All three girls watching out the gate as Charlie leaves for a run.  And yes, those are brown spots from Moxy already!

 Stella on her new wheels. It is a work in progress.

 I wish I was also sharing some new baby news about now, but we are still waiting on baby #2 to make his/her arrival.  We will keep you posted!

I have now been working full-time for a little over a month now.  The job is not that interesting to me, but I really enjoy the people in the office.  Having daily adult interaction is good thing for me:)  It has definitely been an adjustment working full-time and being a mom.  One part that has made the transition easy is Stella's childcare situation.  Stella LOVES her "school".  She talks about going to school when she isn't there, and the kids that she is there with too.  Charlie picks her up from school everyday.  He either rides his bike down the street to get her or swings by in the truck to pick her up.  She may love her time in the truck or in the wagon behind the bike about as much as she loves school.  One day I went to get her from school because I was off work early and she pitched a fit saying "dada truck, dada truck".  I don't think I will be picking her up from school anytime soon-clearly it is not a good thing to interfere with her dad and truck time.