Busy Mama

“The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.” - Rajneesh

The title mom should be allowed to be placed on a resume.  I am in the process of job searching. People ask me why I have not worked since November of last year and I simply say I had a baby.  The truth is that isn't enough of an explanation.  It is all I choose to elaborate on unless asked but I think it is a job that is over looked.  I have a special story but to a stranger it's just another cute baby.  I realize this because before Caroline other peoples babies were just cute and something I was positive I wanted.

Being a mother is a rewarding yet demanding joy.  I don't like to call it a "job" because no amout of money in the world could equal what this sweet little girl does for me.  Tom has asked me how it is I can be going on four hours of sleep and be so darn happy and awake.  The answer is because I have to.  She consumes me.  She pushes me like no job will ever do.  She is an amazing joy!

So much has happened since I last blogged.  I've been very busy.  I took care of an extra baby for almost two months.  Kaydence and Caroline would have been only about a week apart had Caroline not been born early.  Jennifer, Kaydences mom and I are determined they will be best friends!!

Tom started a new job.  He is an extradition agent.  Basically he transports prisoners from prison to prison all over the US.  Unfortunately he travels 90% of the time now but it's a great job that supports our family.  He is also staying in the law enforcement field so if need be he can utilize that experience later on.  We miss him like crazy but it's a great opportunity and he loves to travel so it's pretty perfect.

As I said I have made the decision to go back to work.  We have found a great nanny for Caroline.  It wasn't easy to pick someone but Rachel is a great addition to our village raising our sweet girl!  I hope to find something that will let me be a mom and have a job too.

Caroline got her 4 month shots and her ears pierced.  She did well with the ears but the shots weren't much fun for her.  At the appointment last week she weighed 10.2 lbs!!  Growing again this week.  I'm sure she's up over 11 now.  She has also started slowly eating bites of cereal!!  She laughs on occasion... It's typically in her daddies direction!  She talks frequently.  We are working on animal sounds so far all she seems to make is an owl sound.  :)

I have downloaded the app for my phone I hope to now have a bit more time for blogging.  I hope this finds all of you doing well.  Thanks for checking in on our baby girl.

xoxo,
Casey, Tom and Our Sweet Caroline

The land of Caroline

Back by popular demand...

We are rocking along here in the land of Caroline.  Every time I look at her she seems to be growing bigger and doing more than she did the last time I looked at her.  She smiles randomly... of course I haven't caught it on camera yet but there seems to be a theme of smiles and poop coinciding.  We were having major spit up/reflux issues but I took her to her peditrician and we have changed formula.  The issue has all but gone away but unfortunately having a thicker formula creates other issues... I'll let you guess what those are.

Tom is working and the girls are back in school starting their 4th and 6th grade years.  OH how I don't envy Mikayla and the mighty middle school experience.  They will be here this weekend.

I decided to take advantage of the WIC program... after all of this time not utilizing it.  It is amazing!  We will recieve 10 cans of formula a month which will save us so much money.  The can's of formula are around $17 each and after having to pay for her special preemie formula since she came home we needed help!  The program helps support breast feeding and making sure that our little ones are getting what they need.  I am somewhat prideful and don't want to take advantage of the system so to speak but this really is an amazing benefit for moms.

On September 22nd we have our first NICU reunion.  I can't wait to see other preemie moms and babies!  I love connecting with them to share stories and experiences.  There really is no journey quite like this.  I have come to terms with Caroline being called tiny.  LOL she is kinda little but she's getting so big now!  She was 8.5lbs at her Dr. appointment last week... and almost 9 at her WIC appointment!

Aunt Hailey did a photo shoot with my itty bitty... We had a ton of fun!  Here are two preview shots!

I just wanted everyone to know that I did in fact delete my facebook... not for any particular reason or person but I want to focus on some other things for now but mainly needed a break from it.  It can consume you and sometimes makes it a little too easy for people to have a glance into your life with out actually taking the time to really know or care what is going on and only see what facebook tells you.  I just wanted to be a little more private with things and will eventually start it back up but I felt it was the best move for me for now.

I will do better to blog more often.  I know that Caroline has a huge support group out there.  She's an amazing blessing and continues to touch the lives of so many people.  God gave us such an amazing gift.  More soon.

xoxo,
Casey, Tom and Our Sweet Caroline

Let me introduce you to your two beautiful sisters!

Caroline got to meet Mikayla and Kirstin for the first time!  They are mesmerized by her!  Mikayla is 12 and Kirstin is 9.  They live in San Antonio and were here for the first half of the summer... actually came into town the day I delivered but the NICU has strict policy about siblings so they were not able to meet her until now.

Life at home has been good.  Caroline is a sweet baby and grabs every ones attention.  We could be very rich if we had a quarter for every time we heard she's so tiny, she's so beautiful or look at all of that hair!  I love showing her off finally!  Watching her grow and learn daily is an amazing path.  She is learning that she has arms... they are crazy arms right now.  I am still unable to breast feed though I am still pumping.  I wish it was easier for the both of us and that she could actually latch but I have read that preemies typically have a tough time with it.  I plan to pump for as long as I can... it's very tedious but I know the benefits.  Any suggestions or help any of you can offer I am very open to suggestions!

My shower was wonderful.  Thank you to those of you who were able to come.  I know it is summer time so many of you were not able to come but we are very happy to let you visit and meet our sweet girl here at home!!  Visitors are welcome!  Come and love on our girl as often as you can!

That is all for now we are just enjoying our time with our girls.  Poor Tom is so out numbered!

xoxo,
Casey, Tom and Our Sweet Caroline

It's been a while...

Well as most of you know Caroline came home on Friday, July 27th!  I didn't post about her sleep study in fear that I would jinx her again!  Life has been a whirlwind since then but an amazing experience!  We are enjoying having her home and love all of the little things that we missed while she was in the hospital.  The simple things excite us over and over!  We have ventured out a few times with her and the common theme is comments on how tiny she is... I just laugh and say she was born at 2.12 lbs ;) that was 4 lbs ago... Then they tell me how beautiful she is.  It boosts my ego ; I think it's because she has good looking parents but I might be partial!  :) 

Get these wires off me mom!

Happy mama!

Pretty baby!

Daddy getting baby all tucked in for the ride home!

2 months old and 6.11 lbs at her first doctors appointment.  She got her first shots and a had a great check up!

I want to say thank you to my second cousin Teddye Sells.  She sent me a wonderful gift that I am super excited about.  She sent me a copy of a book that Tom read to Caroline while we were in NICU 1 and some money.  I used the money for developmental items.  Her pediatrician recommended starting now so we get a head start.  So I bought a tummy time mat and she loves it!  (Her cute outfit is care of her Aunt Elizabeth)

Well the rule is sleep when the baby sleeps so bedtime for us.  Night night to all.

xoxo,

Casey, Tom and Our Sweet Caroline

Don't count your chickens before they hatch.

Well after a long sleep study and a car seat study our sweet girl isn't coming home just yet.  Sigh.  She had what's called periodic breathing which is where she holds her breath then breathes fast to catch up.  After she does this her oxygen saturation drops.  :(  A breathing baby is necessary for her to come home.  We like breathing baby... right now the doctors have said that we will re-test in 3-5 days.  If she fails again then they will consider sending her home on caffeine and or an apnea machine.  We really hope for that not to happen. 

Good news however because she is growing they took the tube out of her nose so the only wires/tubes she has are monitors!  Check out our beautiful sleepy chunk!  She weighs 5.8 lbs!

We will update more in a few days when we repeat the test.  Tomorrow we take our discharge class and meet our pediatrician Thursday.  Busy week for us we just need to give our sweet girl a little more time!  Keep the prayers coming.

PS we have had 10,140 views at this point.  Please feel free to share our story.  If Caroline's story can help one family fighting a similar fight or do something positive for just one person we are happy to share! 
xoxo,
Casey, Tom and Our Sweet Caroline

The road goes on forever but this party is coming to an end!

It looks like Wednesday will be our big day!  Caroline is in the process of doing a sleep study to make sure she is breathing correctly.  The study goes for 10 hours and then she does a 1.5 hour car seat study also looking for the same thing.  She has already gone up to 8 bottles a day (Fast I know, she decided she was done with the NICU).  We are planning to do what the NICU calls rooming in on Tuesday night.  Basically we stay the night and do all of her care but we have a nurse there for any questions we have.  Then Wednesday is our big day provided she passes all of her tests and keeps up the hard work of taking all of her bottles.  Just a reminder of how hard all of this is for her babies don't develop the suck, swallow, breathe technique until 36-37 weeks gestation.  She is 36.3 currently so she's not even supposed to be able to do all of this yet.  It's like exercising 8 times a day.  She's pooped!  Then again so are we.  We are READY to have her home!  Below is something that we got from an organization called Hand to Hold.  They are a support program for NICU parents and have offered some great suggestions for now that she's coming home.  Please take the time to read it... I know it's a little long but it really is exactly what we need.  Thank you all for the support and I will keep our blog going as our road is just really getting to start!  Now we get to be full time parents!  I can't wait!  The girls went home today too so we are going to get to have her all to ourselves.

For the other fun news.  Laura will be doing my shower do over on August 4th.  We will be sending out the invites this week.  So keep your calendars free as there will be a short guest appearance by our sweet girl!

We may need some time alone at first.

Any NICU stay is rough. Ours may have been harder than others. Now that our baby is home with us we need time to adjust to our new roles as parents of a medically fragile child. Please understand that while we want to spend as much time with you as possible we also need a few days to settle into our routine and get some much needed rest.

We’re on a schedule.

While our baby is now home with us, we are still following the routine they got used to at the hospital. We are on a round-the-clock schedule of breastfeeding, pumping, fortifying feeds and administering medicine. Our baby is still adjusting to life outside of the womb. We’re trying to give our baby a safe, quiet environment to rest, grow and develop while still trying to manage multiple specialist and therapist visits. We encourage you to call, text or email us before coming over. And don’t be surprised if we ask you to pick something up from the store or pharmacy when you come!

Please respect our need to be “germaphobes”!

While some newborns may seem to acclimate to the world of germs and colds quite easily, that is not the case for our child. They are especially vulnerable and are susceptible to severe complications and even re-hospitalizations from what might be a minor cold or slight sniffle to you or me. Our baby’s immune system needs time to develop. The most important thing you can do to protect our baby is to WASH YOUR HANDS! We need you to do this every time you come to visit and especially before holding or touching the baby.

Understand that cold, flu and RSV seasons are serious threats.

We need to do everything we can to prevent our baby from contracting any of these illnesses. If you aren’t feeling well or are even slightly worried you might be coming down with something, please wait and visit another time. One thing you can do to show you care is to get your vaccinations, especially for influenza and whooping cough. And please don’t smoke. If you do, please don’t be offended if we ask you to bathe and change your clothes before visiting.

Know that while we may be quarantined, we’re still craving interaction.

After an isolating NICU stay and an extended quarantine upon arriving home, we feel alone. Even though we might not be able to see you as much as we’d like, we want to stay connected to you. Please call, email and write. Send us photos or videos of your family and we will, too. We can share our love without sharing our germs!

We still need help taking care of our most basic needs.

It’s true, but it may still be hard for us to say. We need your help now more than ever, but we’re still uncomfortable asking. Please continue to bring us meals and run errands.

When you offer to help please be specific.

We all appreciate hearing, “Let me know if you need anything,” but the reality is we are often unprepared to really know and ask for what we need. You may have to be very direct. Go ahead and bring by that casserole. Do a load of laundry when you visit. Pick up a bag of diapers on your trip to the store. Offer to drive the car pool. Mow our lawn or wash our car. We will appreciate it, and we’ll return the favor when we can.

Thank you as always for your help, prayers, shoulders and love during all of this.  It has truly been life changing.  I can speak for all of our family when I say that we could not have made it through this with out all of you.

xoxo,
Casey, Tom and Our Sweet Caroline

Please meet my very two best friends Laura and Tasha.  This is the frist time each of them got to hold our sweet girl.