Lazy Days and Mama's Mini-Mi

Well things have been going well since we've been home. I only take the poor girl's temperature about 10 times a day! I can't help but freak out a little. If she develops another fever, we would have to go back in, as she is too little still for tylenol, etc. They told us we have to really watch it up until about 2 months. So far though, so good. We've just been hanging out. She seems to be a really happy, sweet-natured baby. She is still sleeping pretty good, and eating great, so that's awesome. Avery is still loving up on her as much as ever!

Found this photo of me as a newborn...I guess we know who she looks like..right down to the dark baby hair!

Playing with Avery..she loves to watch her!

Sister Playtime

We're Home...Again!!!

Thank Heavens...NEGATIVE!!! We're home again. We got the news this morning that the cultures were negative. This means it was not meningitis and just some sort of bug. Likely it was the same bug or virus that I had. We got home and Harper was sleeping and Avery was on her field trip for school. Cullen was supposed to chaperone, as it was her first field trip, but Nana stepped in and they had a blast! They got to go to the Lowry Nature Center. So while Harper was sleeping and they were gone, Cullen and I went into mad, clean and disinfect mode. We scrubbed and cleaned this place. GERMS.BE.GONE! I think we got 'em!

The next few days are MEA break for Cullen, so he's home with us. We're going to lay low, rest, ENJOY our time together, home as a family. It's funny how just a couple days away make you SO appreciate your time home together. Man this was so hard. I know it was only 3 days, but it felt like forever. Just so glad to be home with both of my girls again.

Still Negative

So we made it safely though yesterday and today...and still nothing. Every time the phone rings outside at the nurses station my heart stops for a second and I HOPE they don't come in to tell us they found something. But for now, we are good. My parents have brought Avery over here both nights to see us, so that has been nice, but it's SO hard to say good-bye to her. Poor girl has had her world rocked the past few weeks. Thank goodness my parents are close by, and the best, and Avery adores them. She just gets excited that she gets all these sleepovers at Nana and Papa's! Cullen ran to Target and bought us new books, so we're trying to read to pass the time. It helps a little, but not too much. I just want to make it to the 48 hour mark tomorrow morning with negative results so we can take our girl home. It's been a long few days.

Of course I didn't bring my camera with me to the NICU, and it surely isn't a moment I want to capture and remember forever, but thought someday Harper might like to see them, so here are two quick cell phone snaps Cullen took of our time here. Harper and I pretty much have spent most waking (and sleeping) moments for that matter, snuggling in this horribly uncomfortable rocking chair. :( Poor girl.

Bad News :( :(

Oh Children's hospital, how we hoped we wouldn't have to see you again :( Well my fear came true last night. We were SO hoping to avoid Children's hospital this time around, and really thought we had. We were just getting settled and into a routine, so this has kind of come as a big blow. Not to mention, how much harder it is to be in the hospital when you have another little one at home.

So Harper woke up in the night last night and felt really warm. I didn't think too much of it. We took her temp, and it was a low grade fever. So we put her in some cooler jammies, fed her, and she went back to sleep. She woke again at about 4:00 and was on fire. We took her temp and it was 101. We called the nurse line, and they said we needed to bring her in to Children's right away. :) NOT the news we wanted to hear. They did say we could go ahead and bring her to Wacnoia, as they do have a NICU there now. That didn't seem quite as scary as going downtown, so hear we are. We got to the ER, and her temp was still 101. For a 10 day old, this isn't good. They have no way to know really what is going on, since she can't tell us. So this morning they ran all sorts of tests. They had to put in an iv, do a catheter to check her urine, and do a spinal tap to check her spinal fluid. NOT GOOD for this mama. I'm pretty much a wreck again. Thank goodness my mom came over to be with Avery. Poor thing, she wakes up and we're all just gone :( There was good and bad news from those tests. The good news is her blood work looked good. The sucky news is that there were some white blood cells in her spinal fluid, which means there is some sort of infection. It could be nothing, or it could be some form of meningitis. We won't know for sure until 48 hours, as it takes that long for the cultures to develop.

So, they moved us up to the NICU. Here we are again. This time though, we are in our own little room, as she is technically kind of quarantined, just in case it would come back positive for meningitis. So all the nurses/doctors have to gown up before they can come in. This just sucks. We're right back in this place. My sweet girl is all hooked up to wires, ivs, cords, etc. She is still eating okay and has lots of wet diapers, so that is good. I'm snuggling her up all I can. She's exhausted from our night, as are we. She has to be on antibiotics as if the cultures come back positive, so that if they are, the treatment has already started. If they do come back, she has to have IV antibiotics for 10 days, so we'd be here for awhile. So for now...we just hurry up and wait, and cross our fingers and hope that nothing develops in those cultures. We're hear for sure until Wed. :(

Fave photo ever!

Well the past few days have been a bit busy. I hadn't been feeling well and have been fighting some fevers the past few days. I went in to the doctor, but all was good, so we just have to keep an eye on it. I'm feeling better now though. They were very reassuring that Harper shouldn't have to worry about it, as I'm nursing, and that should really help her. Other than that, we're just hanging out, getting used to new routines. So far, she has been doing great. She's eating really well, and actually sleeping pretty well too. She wakes up every 3-4 hours at night. She seems to be a little gassy, just like her sister was, but we can deal with that. She goes down at night great, so that is nice. I took a few more photos today, and then Cullen and Avery went to our neighbors wedding. I wasn't quite ready to bring Harper out just yet, so her and I stayed home and aunt Jess stopped in for some snuggles! I was anxious to try to get a good photo of both girls. I didn't have expectations, just hopes! Finally, we got one though. I LOVE it!!

Daddy and Avery off to the wedding

My girls :)

Smooshy cheeks

Sweet smile

Avery holding her sister again

Growing Girl!

Harper is doing so great! We were in for her 5 day checkin this morning. Our little chubba love is already back to her birth weight at 7 lbs! Her doctor said that was so great. That is one thing I am so thankful is that my girls have both been great nursers, and my body has no trouble producing enough for them either! Thank you babies and body! Otherwise, everything else looked great too! Grow baby grow! I also took a little bit of time today while Cullen is still home to take a few newborn photos. It's been killing me to not have taken any yet, but honestly, the recovery from a c-section is a bit harder than I thought, and it's not that easy to move around. Luckily, Cullen helped me get everything set up, and I only spent about half hour, one set-up, just taking a few. I was so hoping to get some brown and pink images for her nursery. I got a couple good ones in our little mini shoot! It's killing me not to be able to do a full on session! I bought so many fun things just for this, but it's just not happening yet. I love these though!! Cullen heads back to work tomorrow, but my mom is coming over to hang out and get some snuggles in. Avery has been back at Lori's this week. I felt a little bit guilty, since I'm home, but it's definitely for the best. She sticks with her routine, gets to play with her friends, I get some rest, and then when she comes home we're all ready to play! :)

Gah! Look at that little smile!!!

One of my favorite newborn poses..love that little tushie and those back rolls!

Phone Pics from the Hospital

I had some more photos from my phone at the hospital that I wanted to get up here too. They aren't in any particular order, and the quality is terrible, but here they are, in no particular order.

Cousin Conner holding Harper for the first time!

Avery holding her baby sister again

Nana holding Harper for the very first time!

Mama and Harper back in my hospital room after the c-section

Sisters meeting for the first time..way past Avery's bedtime, but she stayed up. Couldn't miss this!

Harper's first hair accessory

A little quiet time with Daddy

Snuggles with mama - all that dark hair!!

A tired out Daddy sleeping on the pull-out couch