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| Frankster, 5/29/2010 |
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Francesca is 1 week old today!
Wow, it's hard to believe that our little angel is already a week old. I'm sure every parent feels the same way. Everyone says to cherish the time, and we are, but at the same time, I want to cherish it so much more... please let the time slow down a little bit!
Molly is doing pretty well. She is officially off of her pain meds, except the Advil. Her bowels are nearly back to normal. She has a case of the Baby Blues, so if anybody has some suggestions on how minimize the effects, please chime in!
Yesterday was a busy day... we'll, I should start at the beginning!
While we were in the hospital, we quickly discovered a couple of bumps in Frankie's road. The first one is that she has hip dysplasia in both legs. What does this mean? Well, it means that our little girl's legs don't fit quite correctly in her hip sockets. This is extremely common in breech births. It is also very correctable, but unfortunately, she has to wear a harness/brace on her body for the first 2 months of her life. She is a damn trooper, and doesn't mind at all. I think the brace looks like a gladiator suit, but molly thinks it looks like snow-white leiderhosen with built in socks. Frankie doesn't seem to mind, but it really saddens Molly. Instead of the cute clothes that people have given us, she has to wear sleepy sacks... but she is darn cute in those too!
The second little health issue for Frankie is that she has a Ventricular septal defect or VSD. https://health.google.com/health/ref/Ventricular+septal+defect What does this mean? This means that she has a hole in her heart between the bottom two chambers. MOST of the time this corrects itself in the first few months of a baby's life. In some cases where the hole is large, surgery is required to fix it. Frankie has no symptoms, but the hole is on the small side of moderately sized... so we have a good shot of it closing by itself. There have been people that have gone their whole lives without ever having it repaired and had no symptoms. We know very little about this right now, and won't know much for about 5 weeks when she sees the cardiologist for a second ultrasound. I like to think that our little girl has too much love to fit inside a normal baby's heart... so there needs to be a little hole to let some of that love out. Of course we were devastated when we first heard the news... but we've talked to several nurses, pediatricians and read many resources on the subject now. They all indicate that this is not a huge deal, and that in the worst case scenario, if surgery is required, that it is by far the easiest heart surgery that anyone could have, and has a huge success rate. It gives us a lot of hope, but is still very hard for us.
With these two health problems, Molly sees little Frankie has having some good connections to "Iron Man". So we sing that to her sometimes.
Breast feeding is hard! We're getting the hang of it... it doesn't help that we had to provide supplemental bottle feedings at first. Apparently bottles are the lazy baby's way to feed (so we've read) and breast feeding requires work for Mom and baby. So therefore it is unfortunate that we had to introduce Frankie to the bottle so early. We would like to thank Lindsey who provided our little girl with some good fresh breast milk to supplement Molly early on. We're past that hurdle now... but Lindsey is excited to be known as Frankie's wet nurse. We just like to think of Lindsey as being family. We're still experimenting with various positions and routines (and lack of routines) to find what works best. It is just that much harder with the brace that she is wearing now to get the position right. But like I said: It's working, it just takes time to get her latched and sucking, which decreases our over all sleep.
Lastly, Norma left for home yesterday in a very teary and heartfelt exit. We already miss her, and the support that she provided to us while she was here. I don't know how anybody can do this alone, and have a lot of respect for those who do.
I'll keep trying to post pictures. Perhaps I'll get one of her in her little brace today. We're having a hard time keeping it warm enough in the house, so keeping her out of her clothes long enough to get a picture of her not screaming will be tough. Maybe she'll pass out at the boob and I can pick her up and snap a picture before she awakens...
Anyway, thanks for all the support and well-wishing that we've received though facebook and emails and phone calls. Thinks are really beginning to level out some, so hopefully when Cherie arrives (today) for three weeks, we can start really responding to some of them!
With love, Molly and Josh
Molly is doing pretty well. She is officially off of her pain meds, except the Advil. Her bowels are nearly back to normal. She has a case of the Baby Blues, so if anybody has some suggestions on how minimize the effects, please chime in!
Yesterday was a busy day... we'll, I should start at the beginning!
While we were in the hospital, we quickly discovered a couple of bumps in Frankie's road. The first one is that she has hip dysplasia in both legs. What does this mean? Well, it means that our little girl's legs don't fit quite correctly in her hip sockets. This is extremely common in breech births. It is also very correctable, but unfortunately, she has to wear a harness/brace on her body for the first 2 months of her life. She is a damn trooper, and doesn't mind at all. I think the brace looks like a gladiator suit, but molly thinks it looks like snow-white leiderhosen with built in socks. Frankie doesn't seem to mind, but it really saddens Molly. Instead of the cute clothes that people have given us, she has to wear sleepy sacks... but she is darn cute in those too!
The second little health issue for Frankie is that she has a Ventricular septal defect or VSD. https://health.google.com/health/ref/Ventricular+septal+defect What does this mean? This means that she has a hole in her heart between the bottom two chambers. MOST of the time this corrects itself in the first few months of a baby's life. In some cases where the hole is large, surgery is required to fix it. Frankie has no symptoms, but the hole is on the small side of moderately sized... so we have a good shot of it closing by itself. There have been people that have gone their whole lives without ever having it repaired and had no symptoms. We know very little about this right now, and won't know much for about 5 weeks when she sees the cardiologist for a second ultrasound. I like to think that our little girl has too much love to fit inside a normal baby's heart... so there needs to be a little hole to let some of that love out. Of course we were devastated when we first heard the news... but we've talked to several nurses, pediatricians and read many resources on the subject now. They all indicate that this is not a huge deal, and that in the worst case scenario, if surgery is required, that it is by far the easiest heart surgery that anyone could have, and has a huge success rate. It gives us a lot of hope, but is still very hard for us.
With these two health problems, Molly sees little Frankie has having some good connections to "Iron Man". So we sing that to her sometimes.
Breast feeding is hard! We're getting the hang of it... it doesn't help that we had to provide supplemental bottle feedings at first. Apparently bottles are the lazy baby's way to feed (so we've read) and breast feeding requires work for Mom and baby. So therefore it is unfortunate that we had to introduce Frankie to the bottle so early. We would like to thank Lindsey who provided our little girl with some good fresh breast milk to supplement Molly early on. We're past that hurdle now... but Lindsey is excited to be known as Frankie's wet nurse. We just like to think of Lindsey as being family. We're still experimenting with various positions and routines (and lack of routines) to find what works best. It is just that much harder with the brace that she is wearing now to get the position right. But like I said: It's working, it just takes time to get her latched and sucking, which decreases our over all sleep.
Lastly, Norma left for home yesterday in a very teary and heartfelt exit. We already miss her, and the support that she provided to us while she was here. I don't know how anybody can do this alone, and have a lot of respect for those who do.
I'll keep trying to post pictures. Perhaps I'll get one of her in her little brace today. We're having a hard time keeping it warm enough in the house, so keeping her out of her clothes long enough to get a picture of her not screaming will be tough. Maybe she'll pass out at the boob and I can pick her up and snap a picture before she awakens...
Anyway, thanks for all the support and well-wishing that we've received though facebook and emails and phone calls. Thinks are really beginning to level out some, so hopefully when Cherie arrives (today) for three weeks, we can start really responding to some of them!
With love, Molly and Josh
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Fancesca - At home
We finally made it home! Yea!
Yesterday (Saturday) was a pretty good day, all-in-all. After sitting around and plumping up our little girl most of the morning, we asked to have her weighed, because the anticipation was killing us. We found out that she was 11.4% lower than her initial body weight, which was disheartening, but not overly concerning. We just wanted to get home, which requires a weight loss of 10% or less.
Our great nurse was on our side, and after coming to terms with another night in the hospital, we found out that we were going to be discharged after all! We got out of the hospital last evening at 6:45pm.
On the Kaiser Permanente system (our HMO), we have a pretty strict limitation on which pharmacies that we can go to. There are only 2 in this area that are open on Saturday, and both close at 8:30pm. We made it there in time to pick up her pain meds, and then we all headed home for the first time.
The evening was pretty good. We managed to get a good 4 hour stretch of sleep in the middle of the evening. Little Bonkers didn't make a peep at all in her magical bassinet, with the sweet soothing sounds of "Mama" bear to keep her company.
We got up at 7 AM, feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world!
Cherie, we'll open the package soon!
We will try to post some at home pictures soon!
Yesterday (Saturday) was a pretty good day, all-in-all. After sitting around and plumping up our little girl most of the morning, we asked to have her weighed, because the anticipation was killing us. We found out that she was 11.4% lower than her initial body weight, which was disheartening, but not overly concerning. We just wanted to get home, which requires a weight loss of 10% or less.
Our great nurse was on our side, and after coming to terms with another night in the hospital, we found out that we were going to be discharged after all! We got out of the hospital last evening at 6:45pm.
On the Kaiser Permanente system (our HMO), we have a pretty strict limitation on which pharmacies that we can go to. There are only 2 in this area that are open on Saturday, and both close at 8:30pm. We made it there in time to pick up her pain meds, and then we all headed home for the first time.
The evening was pretty good. We managed to get a good 4 hour stretch of sleep in the middle of the evening. Little Bonkers didn't make a peep at all in her magical bassinet, with the sweet soothing sounds of "Mama" bear to keep her company.
We got up at 7 AM, feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world!
Cherie, we'll open the package soon!
We will try to post some at home pictures soon!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Frankie, the second evening
All three of us have survived a second evening together. She did much better than the previous evening. Molly had pretty much resigned to having her sleep in the crook of her arm (which the hospital staff discourages). She just likes to be with her Mama, and just sleeps so much better that way. Molly can only sleep on her back, and can't move without being in severe pain, so there is no fear of her rolling over on top of little Frankie.
We did get some sleep. We went to bed much earlier last night which helped immensely. We still had nurses in on and off all night, but all things considered, I would say we got a "good" night's sleep.
There were a couple of moments where we tried to feed Frankie (she is acting more like she wants to feed now) and she would just get so upset trying that we had to stop and get her calmed down and try again. It's going pretty well, I would say.
So, lastly, I've been putting up plenty of pictures and movies. The last movie is her with the hiccups. So cute!
We did get some sleep. We went to bed much earlier last night which helped immensely. We still had nurses in on and off all night, but all things considered, I would say we got a "good" night's sleep.
There were a couple of moments where we tried to feed Frankie (she is acting more like she wants to feed now) and she would just get so upset trying that we had to stop and get her calmed down and try again. It's going pretty well, I would say.
So, lastly, I've been putting up plenty of pictures and movies. The last movie is her with the hiccups. So cute!
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| Baby Pics - 5/20/2010 |
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Frankie, More pictures
We've got more pictures!!!! (some are duplicates from facebook, some are brand-sticking new).
Check them out!
Check them out!
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| Baby Pics - 5/20/2010 |
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Fancesca "Frankie" Elyvianne Norris
Francesca is pronounced: fran-CHESS-kah
Elyvianne is pronounced: ee-LEE-vee-en
Molly and Frankie are still doing great!
Elyvianne is pronounced: ee-LEE-vee-en
Molly and Frankie are still doing great!
Team Norris's newest member!
WOOOOW!
Baby Norris came into the world on May 19th, 2010 at 2:36pm (Pactific) at Providence St. Vincent's hospital in Portland, OR. It was a typical Portland day: Sunny and rainy off and on all day.
She was born 8lbs 9oz and 20.5" long. Her little legs were in breech position so long that they don't want to go "down" and spring back towards her head.
Molly and Baby had no complications or anything interesting that happened during the c-section, except that they had a difficult time pulling her out, and it took several good tugs to free her from the uterus.
She had a nice head of dark brown hair, and her skin was a lovely lavender color.
She got a bath, and did not cry a whole lot, and slept nicely.
We'll have the name to everyone by the end of the evening!
Enjoy the pictures!
Baby Norris came into the world on May 19th, 2010 at 2:36pm (Pactific) at Providence St. Vincent's hospital in Portland, OR. It was a typical Portland day: Sunny and rainy off and on all day.
She was born 8lbs 9oz and 20.5" long. Her little legs were in breech position so long that they don't want to go "down" and spring back towards her head.
Molly and Baby had no complications or anything interesting that happened during the c-section, except that they had a difficult time pulling her out, and it took several good tugs to free her from the uterus.
She had a nice head of dark brown hair, and her skin was a lovely lavender color.
She got a bath, and did not cry a whole lot, and slept nicely.
We'll have the name to everyone by the end of the evening!
Enjoy the pictures!
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| Baby and pre-baby pics! |
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Max May Memorial Garden 2010
In my dad's honor, we got up and went to the farmer's market for fresh fruit and veggies. We bought sweet peas and strawberries (the later being dad's favorite and the first of the season!). We also saw a pumpkin plant for sale and decided to buy it simply based on the name: Big Max. It promises "enormous fruit." Sounds like dad. In addition to that, we bought another pumpkin, 2 tomatoes, a watermelon and cantaloupe. I think we must be turning into farmers at this point.
We got home and started working on the garden, which has now expanded to most of the back yard. A few of these pictures are from the work we did on it last weekend while Ellie and Linze supervised. :) We have really enjoyed the yard this year, especially me, since I won't be able to work in it for a while after this weekend.
Enjoy the photos and make sure to give a big "Woa!" when you are finished! :)
Molly
We got home and started working on the garden, which has now expanded to most of the back yard. A few of these pictures are from the work we did on it last weekend while Ellie and Linze supervised. :) We have really enjoyed the yard this year, especially me, since I won't be able to work in it for a while after this weekend.
Enjoy the photos and make sure to give a big "Woa!" when you are finished! :)
Molly
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| Max May Memorial Garden 2010 |
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Day????
Ok, so we were trying to be ambitious and write what we did each night, but as I (Molly)become more and more uncomfortable, the less excited I am to try and do all 40 things on our list. I keep sleeping in every chance I get, so I feel like that is just as good as 40 different things. We are going to the symphony tonight (from our list) and have tickets to see an opera next weekend. We are talking about going to see a sports game, but we are running out of time (10 days left!). I know the night before the c-section Josh and I will go out for our last long romantic dinner. I hope to find something with several courses and wine too! I go to the doctor one more time this Friday to see if she has turned, see her measurements, and last minute details for the c-section. I have had quite a hard time coming to terms with the c-section. Every time I read something or hear something it makes me more and more upset. You all know me, it's not like me to be so dependent on other people. Six weeks of dependence???? Pain! Catheters!!! Breast pumps to start milk?????? I'm just trying to stay positive and sane until May 19th...
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Cherie and Norma's March Visit
These are pictures of Cherie and Norma's visit to see us in March. Included in there is a real gem of a picture from our New Year's eve party. See if you can figure out which one it is!
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| Cherie and Norma's Visit in March |
Baby Shower pics
We scanned these in from some pictures that Cherie sent. One of these days I'll actually unload the pictures off of my cameras. Until then, enjoy Cherie's pictures!
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| Baby Shower |
Friday, May 7, 2010
The LATEST Bonk Ultrasounds
Molly told me where they were located. So now they're scanned and ready for you to take a look. I may be a tad bit biased... but these are the cutest ultrasounds I've ever seen. They are the last 3 ones in this album. Enjoy.
Bonk Sonograms
So here are some of the latest bonky ultrasound pics. I'm looking for the absolute latest ones now... I've got a call into Molly to so she can tell me where in the world they are!! The last 5 pics in the album are from March.
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