Chubby Baby!

Cole is eating well. He was 6lb 4oz at Doctor today! His bili today was down to 12.7. He still looks yellow, but at least it is going down now. They will not check it again! One more weight check on Thursday to make sure he is gaining well. He should gain 1 oz per day... he is gaining more than that! He is even getting cheeks! I will try to post more pics later. Right now it is bath time :)

Getting a Tan!

Here is Cole hanging in the sun, trying to lower his bilirubin! Recheck tomorrow AM.

Bath Time

Cole did not like his first bath too much.... Maybe when his cord falls off and we can put him all the way in the water he might like it better!

Bili

Cole's bili went up a little, 13.9. The dr is not concerned. They will recheck it on monday. He has been hanging out in the sun today to try and get his bili down. I will try to post some more pics this weekend. He also had his first bath at home... didn't really like it too much!

First Doctors Apt

Cole went to the doctors today. He was up 4 oz (might be error in scales from hospital to clinic but either way it looks like he gained weight!) His bili was up today 13.3. We will go back to the doctors in the AM to draw more blood and recheck his bilirubin. He may have to lay on a bili blanket for a few days, we will see tomorrow. Otherwise he is doing good and eating well. He even woke mom and dad up for all of his feedings last night. We did not even need an alarm! Yeah Cole! Now we just need to get rid of that yellow face :)

Hanging out in the Pack and Play

Mommy and Daddy are so happy to have me home. So far I am very quiet. I had one slow feeding at 5PM and my mom got nervous... but I ate better at 8pm and I am crying now at 1020 to eat early for my 11pm! Yeah Cole! My best friend Beretta will not stop crying, she stays by my bed and tries to lick me all the time.

Smile

Home At Last

We made it! We are home. It feels so good and so weird. We have this little baby to take care of all by ourselves, how fun! I will try to post some pics later! I know lots of people want to visit, but because Cole was 7 weeks early he is not suppose to be around children for a little while (RSV season, and he did not get a shot). If you plan to come visit please make sure no one in your house is sick and also that you are not sick. We will have you scrub your hands good and then you can see him. Of course no kissing him... that is for mommy and daddy only :) Can't wait until he is a big boy so I don't have to worry so much about him.

Cole has a doctors apt tomorrow. He is still jaundice. They were going to send him home on a bili blanket if his bili was 12 or higher. His bili was 11.8... so he is just sneaking by. They will recheck it tomorrow with his weight. He passed his car seat test... obviously :)

We are so happy to have him home and get back to a more normal life as a new family! We will be around so call if you are planning to visit!

OUCH!

Cole had his circumcision today... he cried so hard when I changed his diaper! I felt so bad for him. They said he did not cry at all during the circ, that is good. He is IV free. His lights were turned off yesterday and he became a little more jaundice today so they are going to check his bilirubin level again in the AM. He might need a bili blanket back, my fingers are crossed that it is still low and he can squeak by without it. He still doesn't have a neotube and they are letting him take as much food as he wants since he has been so hungry. Of course after his circ he is really sleepy so I am praying he wakes up and keeps eating well so we can avoid the tube feedings and hopefully take him home sometime soon! He has an appointment at children's for his car seat study tomorrow AM. We are getting closer although it still seems like so far away. I will try to keep you posted, I finally walked over to children's to use the Internet. Keep eating Cole! Mom and Dad want you home with us and Beretta can't wait to meet you!

Update!

Thanks Aunt Melanie for posting pictures and updating Blog!

Cole has been under phototheraphy for 4 days now. They expect him to come out this AM! He should be able to wean to a crib today also (he has been in an isolette for the photheraphy). He also got his IV out at 0200. He continues to be neotube free (no feeding tube, yet). He is not up to his full volume amounts yet but should be there by tomorrow and continues to take his bottle in 5-10 minutes and is able to still nurse afterwards sometimes... he is a hungry boy. They increase his feedings very slowly because he is a 33 week preemie and they don't want them to develop an intestinal infection. Most babies hit a wall at some point so I am trying not to get too excited, but he is doing really well. Thanks for all of your prayers and support, I will try to keep you updated as much as possible!

Tuesday March 18th

Forgive me if there are errors... I am so sleep deprived and I am up pumping in the middle of the nights. I will try to provide a recap of Cole's adventure into the world for those of you who want the details. It all started back in Feb when I was 27 weeks pregnant and had some mild cramping. I was checked out in triage at Mercy Hospital and found to be 1 cm dilated with my cervix 50% effaced and was contracting. Despite the medications they gave me (terbuterline and magnesium sulfate) I was still contracting so they sent me by ambulance to Abbot Northwester so I would be in a hospital facility which had a NICU in case I delivered. I stayed 5 days at Abbot and went home on a pretty strict bed rest. I was on bed rest for 5 1/2 weeks. My cervix had changed slightly but things were going good otherwise.

On March 18th at about 4 AM I woke up thinking I had wet the bed (no I had never done this before :)) When I went into the bathroom I discovered it was blood I was soaked in. This gets a little gory for you weak stomached people. Upon sitting on the toilet I passed 4-5 gulf ball to tennis ball size clots (yes I was very scared!). I screamed for Jason to get the phone... and called Mercy Hospital. In the mean time my husband passed out from the blood. Yes he is a State Trooper and sees blood a lot, but he doesn't do well with my blood. After getting off the phone with the hospital we were out the door in minutes... (as I was yelling at my husband telling him now is not the time to not feel good). The great husband he is he put his weak stomach aside and we got in the car to go. It had snowed that night and the roads were very slick. I was feeling slightly faintish and had not felt the baby move so we drove to the Elk River Fire Stations where they loaded me in the Ambulance (Ambulance # 2 for the pregnancy, # 1 for the night). They took me to Mercy lights and sirens. Upon arriving my wonderful co-workers were ready to go, they got the baby on the monitor right away and we had a great heartbeat (YEAH!) I was contracting and 3cm dilated with a bulging bag of water. After an ultrasound some terbuterline and some magnesium sulfate I was out the door in Ambulance # 3 for the pregnancy # 2 for the night and on my way to Abbot Northwestern Hospital. I was 33 1/7 weeks (7 weeks early) so I needed to be where there was a NICU for the baby. Side note: When the doctor did the ultra sound at Mercy he said your little girl looks really good, we said we don't know what we are having and he said " Oh, I thought I heard someone say it was a girl." We thought for sure he saw it was a girl and ruined the surprise! (little did we know).

Upon arriving at Abbot the perinatologist (dr who deal with high risk pregnancies and deliveries) checked my cervix and found more clotting. He decided the baby needed to be born and took me off the drugs that were stopping my labor. By noon they broke my water, this stopped the contractions. At 1 they started me on pitocin (a drug to induce labor). By 4 I was ready for my epidural (my Mom, Dad, and Jason had rubbed my back enough). I was 6cm dilated at that point. By 5:15 I was 8-9 and by 5:40 I was complete (10cm dilated). They took me back to the OR (routine for preemie deliveries in case there are any problems. After 30 minutes of pushing Cole was born! He did really well and never needed oxygen. He was a little pale and was given some IV fluid right away in the delivery room. Jason and my mom were able to be present for the birth... Jason did really well and didn't even pass out :) Because he was doing so well he did not even need to go to the NICU, he was taken upstairs to the Special Care Nursery at Abbott. I was happy to have him out and be such a healthy BIG baby boy. I was also still recovering from the shock of him being a boy... as most of you know I was sure he was a girl! We were so excited to have a little boy! After delivering they found out that my placenta had abrupted 20% (that is what had caused the bleeding and blood clots). When your placenta abrupts it tears away from the wall of the uterus. Because this is the baby's source of food and oxygen it can be very bad results for the baby. Cole also had the cord around his neck x 2. Despite all of this his heart rate always looked really good! We are so happy and blessed that he was born when he was and everything is okay! So that's Cole's exciting story! Stay tuned for Cole updates, I will try to post them as often as possible. Thanks again for all of your prayers and support!

Tanning Salon

Now that Cole is out (of the womb) the pampering can begin. He chose to start with a few tanning sessions to work on getting rid of his winter white. He's also chosen some fly baby shades for himself...

I took some more photos during my visit today, check them out below:

~Auntie Melanie

:)

Cole Update

Hi Everyone! Sorry I am soooo busy with my new bundle of joy. I will try to update and give more story later but here is the latest on Cole. He is getting IV TPN and lipids (food in his vein) and he is also jaundice so he is under phototheraphy lights. Otherwise he is doing good! He is eating small amounts by breast and bottle. He finally pooped (yeah) and has been peeing up a storm. Even peed on mom (can't wait for dad's turn). He was supose to transfer to Mercy Hospital this morning but the nurery at Mercy filled up last night so now he has to stay at Abbott. I was really emotional yesterday, but I am doing better today so I am okay with him staying at abbott. They may try to transfer him on Monday if Mercy gets room, we will wait to see. They expect him to be in the hospital 2-3 weeks (if not longer). I am hoping to bring him home as soon as possible. Thanks for all your prayers and support... this has really been a roller coaster, but is so worth it for our beautiful healthy baby boy! (Okay the hormones are still getting me I am crying again!) I will try to post more later!

- Proud Mom!

Melanie's Cole Photos

I took a couple photos during my visit on Wednesday.

Cute, cute, cute!!

~Melanie

Cole!

It's a BOY!!!!!!!!

It's Auntie Melanie again...

The wait is over; the baby is here!!! And it's a boy!

Cole William Curtis

5 pounds
13 ounces

Breathing on his own
Crying & Looking Around

Mommy & Cole are doing Great!!!! Jason is just trying to recover. Just teasing! :)

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Baby Today?

Hi, "Auntie Melanie" here.... I'm posting with excitement in Erin's place. She and Jason took another ride (two actually) in an ambulance last night 1st to Mercy Hospital and next on to Abbott. Erin woke up with some bleeding last night and it seems that Baby Curtis is not going to wait any longer to make its appearance. I'm sure all of you will have a chance to hear Erin & Jason's version of what happened but all is well...

Status of Baby Curtis: 33 weeks and 1 day. Abbott has a NICU and can better take care of a baby that premature.

As of 5:30 tonight Erin is 8-9 cm dilated and is at +1 station. They didn't try to stop the contractions when they arrived at Abbott and her doctor broke her water at noon. They also gave her pitocin and an epidural.... Latest report is that her doctor will be moving her to the OR around 7 pm to prepare.

The good news is that there WILL be a baby making its appearance tonight! They will let her deliver vaginally if it all works out well, otherwise they will be ready for a c-section.

It's game time!!

What... twins?

So like I said I have crazy dreams almost every night... actually I have usually more than one a night. A few nights ago I dreamt that I had twins! After a long labor I finally had a boy and a girl! (That is the first time I have ever dreamt about a boy baby!) Anyways I named them Anastasia and William (coincidence?... same as my grandparents names aka "Bill and Stacy"). Anyways when they were 12 hours old and everyone had already come to visit I realized we never called my mom! I was crying b/c I knew she was going to be so mad at us... I told Jason he had to call her :) Fun dreams, at least I dreamt about a boy for once! Don't worry I spared you from the maternity swim suit garbage bag dream I had the other night! And no, we are not having twins... just one jumbo baby :)

Fun Animal Fact

The Asiatic elephant carries its babies for 20-23 months! On the flip side opossums and eastern native cats carry their young for only 8-13 days!

FFN Test

Sorry I forgot to post... my FFN test was negative! Yeah! Dr apt next Friday will determine if I get to go back to work or not. That is about all I know!

Parenting Tips

So at my shower the other day we played this really cool game. Whenever I got to a present before I opened it the person giving it to me had to give parenting tip/advice. They were all really great tips. Thanks to Erin B for writing them down! With my pregnancy brain I would have forgot the tip by the time I finished opening the present! Haha. (Actually not funny my brain is going fast, I really hope it gets better after I deliver! Darn pregnancy brain!)

- Let your child paint their room
- If you let them sleep in bed with you they will never leave
- Let Jason find his own parenting way
- When the baby is crabby/wont sleep, drive around in the car
- Read to your baby 20 minutes a day
- Start an outdoor tradition and spend lots of time playing outdoors
- You can never rock or hold your baby too much
- Leave the lights out or on low when feeding the baby at night
- Always follow through on threats
- Eat dinner every night together as a family and talk to each other
- Sleep when the baby sleeps
- Find a good babysitter, take lots of trips to the park
- Treasure childhood, it goes fast!
- Take time for you and Jason
- Take lots of pictures
- Don't trust the sizes on infant clothes
- When all else fails, call Grandma

32 weeks!

I am 32 weeks today! Dr appointment today. Ultrasound showed infant was 4lb 14oz! Dated to be 34 weeks... the baby is not going to be small! The doctor said the ultrasound can be off by as much as a pound either way... I hope if my ultrasound is off the baby is smaller and not bigger! It is going to be a big baby! They checked my cervical length by ultrasound... 2 weeks ago it was 2.7-2.8 today it was 2.5 so it shortened a little more. 2.5 is kind of the cut off so I am not aloud to do the "light activities" I was hoping to do:( Same bed rest as before for a couple more weeks! They did not check my cervix today but did check another FFN test... I will have results from that tomorrow. I guess I get to go back on the brownie diet... I lost 2 lb this week. I will post test results tomorrow. Dr apt next week, probably Friday, that will decided if and when I get to go back to work. Check out picture of baby's big head!

Baby Shower!

Thanks so much to my girl friends for throwing me/baby Curtis such a wonderful shower. Baby Curtis sure has a lot of nice items now! It was very nice of my friends to move my shower up to give me something to look forward to on bed rest... and just in case baby Curtis came early. Good thing as baby Curtis's parents did not have much for him/her! Dr Apt tomorrow afternoon and stay tuned for parenting advise/words of wisdom given by people at the shower!

I posted a few web sites on the side, in case you ever wonder what I am talking about. Also their is a nurse tips blog... you might find interesting talks about all kids of health care updated and research. Jason was taking tamiflu for his influenza A... I just read it has been know recently to cause psychotic behaviors. Glad he is all done taking it!

Baby curtis is really enjoying the Greek salad from Panera that my co-workers brought me today! Yummy!

Dr Apt

So I am 31 2/7 weeks today! My doctors apt went well. HR was 147 (my mom always wants to know:) I love my dr. (Dr. Ayika) she is so funny, always making me laugh. Last week she was giving me a hard time for not gaining weight... this week I gained 4 lbs! She said Erin I think you can lay off the brownies now... I said I moved on from brownies now I am eating cookie dough! Thanks everyone for the great brownies and cookie dough... baby curtis says thanks too! Yeah I told you last week that baby curtis is not small... we chatted briefly about this. My Dr doesn't think I will make it over due, but she predicts it will be a large baby if I do... like 10lb! I guess I will not be too sad if I go a little early :) My cervix was a little more dilated, 2 1/2 cm... baby was a little lower in pelvis. But my Dr was okay with all of this.. of course I am still on strict bed rest. We talked about a little more modified bed rest next week when I am 32 weeks. The doctor said "modified" is too much... she will let me drive to my apts, and do some light activities around the house... like cook a quick meal and such. She said she doesn't want to turn me loose as she is afraid she will not get me back... does she know me to well? The benefits of seeing a co-worker :) Next week US of cervix and repeat FFN test... until then I will keep hanging!

Typical Day

Here is where I have been spending most of my time in the last 3 weeks. I have the computer with lovely dial up internet and the TV infront of me with 10 channels! Beretta thinks she is going to learn to use the computer... she is pretty attached to mom and baby these days! She spends a lot of time trying to be on my lap. I keep telling her the baby is getting to big for her to be up here too, she doesn't like that! So we hold hands a lot. Such an exciting life!

The Belly!

Here it is... 31 weeks pregnant. I swear it is growing by the minute! Can't wait to see what it looks like at the end! Yes I still have my belly ring in... but the good news is when I can't wear that one anymore I have a special plastic pregnancy one to put in ;)

Ah the dreams!

Well like usual the dreams keep coming. Here is my latest dream... not sure where I was but my abdomen got a hole... yes split open just below my ribs. I could see the baby so I pulled it out through the top of my abdomen. It was still attached to the umbilical cord... but it was breathing on it's own. I was so happy it's lungs were developed. Also it was a girl... a really cute girl with dark hair and dark eyes. I held it for a little and everyone kept yelling at me to put it back. So I dumped it upside down back in my abdomen. Then guess what I did? I duck taped the hole shut! YES I said duck tape... do I get that from my dad!? So that was the fun dream, at least it did not scare me, and it actually made me excited to meet the baby!