Westyn Reese: Month 1

Westyn Reese

3/22/15 (pic taken 3/24/15)

Weight: 8lbs 3oz (23%)

Length: 20 1/4 in (15%)

Outings this month: newborn pictures in Miami (3days), lunch at Coffee Ranch (x2), playdate at the Tucker's, Dr's office (x5), hospital (4 nights at GPCH)

Firsts: met all her aunts and uncles, met her great grandmommy and great mimi, met her great aunt Tanya and cousin Shea, bath at home, walk in the stroller, ER visit (3/12), hospital stay (3/19-23)

Likes: cuddling, baths, white noise, paci, tummy time, eating and of course her big sister

Dislikes: getting her diaper changed, getting buckled in the carseat, getting hiccups

Sleeping: 1 5hour stretch at night with another 3-4 hour stretch, sleeps on/off throughout the day with a good 2-3hour stretch early afternoon

Eating: Exclusively breastfed, eats every 3 hours during the day usually every 2hours from 5-10 in the evening, 4-5hours at night

Looking forward to: watching this sweet girl become more interactive with us, hopefully getting a little better at sleeping at night, everyone staying healthy this next month, going to Bennett's 2nd birthday (how is this even possible), welcoming Westyn's first friend Sloane 

This last month has been full of love, craziness, prayers, and blessings! I never imagined being able to love another baby the way I do Blakelee, but on February 22 my heart doubled in size! It's so incredible how it just happens! This month has been a bit of a struggle for us to stay healthy. Blakelee has been fighting congestion for about a month, they're thinking it's allergies. Westyn started having congestion at about 2 weeks old. We made a trip to the ER because her fever spiked to 100.5, all the tests came back negative so we left without answers of what caused the fever. Our dr ran some urine cultures and came back that she had a bladder infection. We started treating that with some antibiotics and 2 days later we ended up back at the Dr because she was having difficulty breathing. We ended up being admitted to the hospital Thursday evening. She was put on IV fluids and antibiotics, steroids, and breathing treatments. Friday morning was pretty scary for us. She became very lethargic and wasn't wanting to wake up to eat, her eyes looked so so sad and tired. Luckily things turned around that evening and by Sunday morning they took her off the oxygen. She did great without it and we were able to come home yesterday! They are still unsure of exactly what she had, all her tests for RSV, flu, strep came back negative and her chest X-rays were clear. The dr decided she likely had a form of croup and it was all upper respiratory, luckily it never made it down into her chest or lungs. Since it's something viral they said it will just take some time to fight it. She's been doing great since we've been home, her eyes look bright and happy again! This was definitely one of the scariest, most difficult times for Brock and me. My heart goes out to anyone that has had to put their child in the hospital, NICU, or just see them in pain. You feel absolutely so helpless. We feel so blessed that we caught it soon and we know things could be so much worse, but man it was hard on us, our hearts just broke for her. We are so thankful for our parents for keeping Blakelee and allowed both of us to be with Westyn in the hospital. She's staying one more evening away and then she'll come back home. So ready to have my family together again and praying that we can all stay healthy! Thank you to those of you that have prayed and thought about us, it was truly appreciated. 

Needless to say our hands our full but so are our hearts....just enjoying this journey!!

40 Week Baby "bump"

Miss Westyn Reese is here!!!!

Westyn arrived 5:48am Sunday 2/22 at 39weeks 4days

Weight: 6lbs 4oz (18%)

Length: 19in (31%)

This whole pregnancy I was sure that she was going to come late and be a March baby but she surprised us all and came early Sunday morning!

The nights leading up to her arrival were quite exciting! Thursday afternoon I started having contractions, not painful but definitely uncomfortable. I was still monitoring my blood pressure since it was high at my last appointment. I took it a couple times before we went to dinner and it was pretty high. We went to dinner for my mom's birthday and I continued to have contractions and just didn't feel right. So Brock and I decided we would go to the hospital to get everything checked, just to be on the safe side. We dropped Blakelee off at a friend's house, just in case we ended up staying at the hospital. We got to the hospital and they monitored me for an hour. Of course my BP was fine the whole time I was there and although I was still having contractions they weren't enough to progress labor at all so we came home. Brock and I got home around midnight Thursday night.

Friday I didn't have any contractions that I noticed, it was kind of disappointing. Our sweet friend came over to take some last minute maternity pictures that afternoon. Around 6 I headed up to church to help serve dinner for a youth event, I left Blakelee snuggling with Brock watching Frozen. When I got home around 7:30 Brock told me he thought something was wrong with B. Her temp was 100.5. She wanted me to hold her. Once I had her in my arms she just collapsed over my shoulder and she was burning hot. Brock ran to a friend's house to borrow a thermometer as we thought ours may be reading wrong since we let B play with it. While he was gone she was struggling to stay awake and keep her eyes open. Once he got back we took her temp, it was 104.4, she couldn't even hold herself up for us to take it...super scary! Anyway, we ended up taking her to the ER. She was tested for flu, strep and RSV. All the tests came back negative, which is great, but we still have no idea what caused the fever. Luckily while we were there she started acting like herself again which was such a relief. She was sent home with amoxacillin and instructed to alternate tylenol and Motrin. We got home around 10:30 but we had to wake her up at 1 to give her meds so we stayed up until then!

Saturday we had a great day! B was acting like she felt great, no fever!  All day Brock and I had been teasing each other about not going to the hospital 3 nights in a row and that we needed to go to bed early and catch up on sleep!  We cleaned out our fridge and pantry and made plans to go grocery shopping Sunday to make a few meals to put in the freezer for when Westyn decided to come. I went back to church again that evening to help serve dinner...still hadn't felt contractions really. I came home and put Blakelee to bed. Around 9 I came downstairs and was heading to the laundry room to put things in the dryer when I sneezed...and felt like I peed myself at the same time! I laughed and told Brock how hard it was getting to keep from peeing my pants a little every time I sneezed or coughed! I went to the bathroom and I was walking out I realized I was still "peeing" and thought "crap, I'm going to have to change underwear", haha! Headed to the bedroom and it dawned on me that maybe it was my water breaking!! They broke my water while at the hospital with B so I had no idea what it was "supposed" to feel like! I told Brock, "either I'm peeing myself or my water broke!" Haha, he was like "seriously?!" I told him we better head to the hospital, 3x a charm?! So while he showered I got my bathroom stuff together and called my parents to come sit at the house with Blakelee until we found out if my water did break and if they'll keep me. 

We headed to the hospital and arrived about 10:40. I still hadn't really felt any contractions so I thought maybe it was all just in my head. We had to go in through the ER since it was after hours. Since my "water breaking" was the reason I came in I had to ride on a hospital bed up to labor and delivery, per hospital policy...haha, that was fun! We got into the room and the nurse confirmed that my water did break and that I was staying! So, we called my parents and our sweet friend went to our house to spend the night and be there when B woke up. The nurse checked me around 11:00 and I was 2cm and 60% effaced and baby was at a -1 station. They wanted to monitor me for an hour to watch to see if my contractions were regular and see if I progressed. After a little over an hour they said my contractions were about 4-5 min apart and I had progressed to a 2, I was definitely starting to feel them more. Since I was making progress on my own they decided not to start any pitocin or anything else to help induce labor. I asked if I could get up and walk or sit on a labor ball, they said since my water had broken that I couldn't get up and walk and because I was a VBAC they needed to monitor everything closely and didn't think they would be able to do that as well if I was on a labor ball. So...I just had to lie there and wait. Around 2:30 the contractions were getting intense enough that I was unable to talk through them, I decided it was time to get an epidural. By 3:00am the epidural was in place and they started the lowest dose of pitocin that they could so my contraction wouldn't stall out with the epidural. They inserted an internal monitor to be able to monitor the strength of my contractions. They brought a cot in for Brock and told us to try to get some rest....haha, that's a funny one! So Brock slept and I tried but didn't have much luck! A little before 5:00 I called my nurse and told her I was having a lot of pressure and felt like I needed to go to the bathroom. My nurse came in and said she wanted to check me before she let me use the bathroom. Much to everyone's surprise I was complete and ready to start pushing!! As they were getting everything set up the nurse said she wanted me to try a couple practice pushes and then they would call the dr. So I started pushing and they immediately told me to stop because the baby was coming! They called the dr. and we waited about 40min for him to get to the hospital. Waiting for 40min when I felt like I needed to push with each contraction was not fun! The dr came in and 2 pushes later she was here! It was absolutely amazing...I couldn't have planned it any more perfectly! Brock and I were both in tears and I just couldn't believe what we had just experienced! She was tiny and beautiful and so so perfect! They handed her to me and I never imagined anything more perfect...she was beautiful! We are so blessed that God entrusted us with another one of his daughters, how did we get so lucky?! This day is definitely one I will never forget!