Lacee's Ultrasound

Today was Lacee's ultrasound at Brenner's Children's Hospital and I am happy to report that her sacral dimple is harmless. I had this feeling that everything was going to be alright but still as a mom if there is any chance that something could be wrong then you can't help but worry at least a little.  It was so great to hear the ultrasound tech and the doctor tell us that the dimple was harmless.  They did say that her spinal cord was a little lower than they normally see.  Normally it ends at the L2 but hers goes to the L3 and the doctor said that the only concern that poses is that if she has to have a spinal tap or something like that then they need to know so they won't get too close to the spinal cord.  He said she could grow out of it as she gets older.  The main thing is that all is well and she isn't going to have to have anything done because of it! 

Lacee's Dr. Visit Friday October 14th

Lacee went in for her weight check today and we are happy to report that she has gained 1 ounce.  She now weighs 4lbs 5.5ounces.  She has finally starting going back in the right direction!  Dr. B said she felt that she was going to keep gaining.  She does want her to be back to her birth weight by her 2 week check up.  She also looked at Lacee's jaundice again and she was very happy that it was now just confined to her face and she said that was the last area to clear up.  Her 2 week check up is scheduled for October 20th and that is also Nisee's 2 year check up.  We got off schedule with her check ups and so we are playing catch up.  My mom is going with me to help because this will be pretty tough with both girls and shots and me still recovering from my c-section.  Lacee's ultrasound is scheduled for Monday October 17th and I will update after we find out the results. 

Lacee's Dr. Visit Monday October 10th

Lacee had to go to the doctor Monday October 10th to have her jaundice checked and they weighed her.  She weighed 4lbs 4.5 ounces.  So she had lost a little more weight but was still within 3 ounces of her birth weight. The doctor said her jaundice looked good and that it was going away.  She got her nurse to work on scheduling Lacee's ultrasound on her sacral dimple which we found out can only be done at Brenner's Children's Hospital because of her age and size.  Dr. B also wanted her back for a weight check on Friday. 

LACEE is HERE!!!

Lacee arrived a week ahead of schedule on October 6, 2011!  As you all know I have weekly ultrasounds because of her IGUR.  So on Thursday October 6th I went into work and worked all morning and then I went for my ultrasound at Baptist Maternal Fetal.  As my previous post explained they were going to be doing BPP, dopplers, and growth (comparing it to 35 weeks).  The ultrasound did not go well.  Lacee did great on her breathing, motion, and tone but that was where the good news stopped.  April (the sonographer) was not able to get any measurable fluid in 1 quadrant and it was very low in the other 3 quadrants.  Not sure where the fluid went because it was there last week and my water hadn't broken but either way it was gone.  Then was the growth issue.  Lacee was measuring the same as she had the week before so that meant that comparing her numbers to my 35 week growth scan she had fallen off her curve.  So April went to talk to the doctor but I knew what was coming.  Dr. Nietche (I have no idea how to spell it)  said that I needed to have my baby today.  He wanted me to go to Forsyth to have her heart monitored and then they would possibly let me go to Thomasville to deliver. 

So I got in my car and drove to Forsyth and headed up to the 4th floor and I was hooked up to the machines.  Her heart rate was good but my BP was very high and they were concerned that I had developed preeclampsia so they did blood and urine tests to determine if I had it.  It was at this point that they told me I would  not be leaving to deliver in Thomasville and I would be staying there to have my baby.  Now I was still reeling from the fact that I would be delivering that night (no matter where it was) and I was a little upset that my delivery plan was not going well as planned.  I had packed my bags at home and I was prepared that it might happen but I had expected that they would send me home and then I would get up the next morning and just go to the hospital and deliver. Boy was I wrong!  So I didn't have anything with me.  I had called Chad as I was walking out of Baptist MFM and luckily he decided to drive to work that day so he was headed to Forsyth to meet me from Greensboro.  I called my Mom who was in Morganton for work and she was like WHAT?!  We were all pretty surprised about what was happening!  We had to get Chad's mom to get Nisee from daycare.  I also of course called my job to let them know because I was supposed to work an open house for our new hires that night.  My old manager was very happy because October 6th is her birthday!

The results came back that I did not have preeclampsia but I did have gestational hypertension.  I had eaten at work around 12:30 so the anesthesiologist wanted to wait until at least 6 hours after I had eaten to do the c-section.  So they penciled me in for 6:30 that night.  Later it would be moved to 7:00 and then it would actually be around 7:30 before I made it back.   Lacee was born at 7:55pm that night weighing 4 pounds 7.25 ounces and was 17 inches long.  They had 1 pediatrician specialist as well as 1 NICU doctor in there to check her out when she was born.  They said she did not present any obvious down syndrome markers and looked really good just small!  Then came the kicker her weight.  Any baby under 2000 grams has to automatically go into NICU and well Lacee came out on top again weighing 2020 grams!  She avoided the NICU by only 20 grams!  Both pediatricians said she looked really good and that unless something happened later there was no need for immediate genetic testing!  We were so relieved and just so thankful! 

When Nisee was born while they closed me up Chad went to nursery with her and everyone got to see her have her bath and all that good stuff but here Chad and Lacee stayed with me while they closed me up.  Then when they rolled me out I got to hold Lacee as we walked to recovery and my family was there in the hallway along with Brittany, Chessney and Stephanie.   They all got to see me and Lacee for a few minutes.  Once I got recovery Chad took Lacee to nursery to get her bath and all that good stuff.  Chad was allowed to stay with Nisee when she got her bath but they wouldn't let him stay with Lacee so we didn't get any pictures of that.  Yes I am still upset about that!  I was in recovery for a lot longer than planned because we couldn't get my pain under control.  They kept giving me pain meds but it wasn't getting the job done and they wouldn't let me go to my room until I had my pain at a certain level. Finally shortly before midnight they got it to an acceptable level and they moved me to my room.  The only person left was Chad at that time and no one had gotten to hold the baby because they still hadn't give her a bath at 11pm.    When I got to my room I demanded to see her and it still took them an hour to get her to me so it was the next day when I got to see her and hold her when I wasn't in the OR or recovery.

I sent Chad home that night so he could get some sleep because I knew they were going to be coming in and out a lot.  Little did I know how much.  They continued to give me lots of pain meds because there was still an issue with getting it under control.  I didn't have a problem like this during my 1st c-section.  My blood pressure kept bottoming out and then there was the issue with my output.  I was drinking a lot of water because the pain meds were drying me out but I wasn't putting out what I was taking in.  Now that did happen with Nisee.  They were in and out of my room every 30 minutes checking my BP and my output levels.  When I say I got NO sleep I am very close.  I ended up with maybe 1 hour.  Things with me finally got better the next day after lunch but this c-section was much more rough that my 1st. 

As things with me got better things with Lacee didn't really get worse we just got the news that she was jaundiced and would have to be under the light all day and night Saturday.  Her numbers came down so she was able to go home.  She also has what is called a sacral dimple and has to have an ultrasound to make sure that it does not go all the way to the spine.  The dimples are very common but the instances of them being major problems are very rare so we aren't going to worry about it until we need to. Other than being small the doctors were very happy with her and her progress!

AND that is the story of Lacee Rayne's birth!  We are so blessed to have her here with us healthy and we thank GOD for answered prayers!

waiting to deliver

Lacee just born

Mommy, Daddy and Lacee in the OR .. our 1st picture together

Mommy holding Lacee in Recovery

I love these

Big Sister Nisee checking out Little Sister Lacee with Grammy Sandy

Lacee in her hat I got her and her cupcake out fit! She looks thrilled!

Daddy, Mommy and Lacee about to leave to go home.  Big sister was at a pumpkin patch with Grandma Mary.

Lacee 1st night at home chilling with Mommy!

 

Early Christmas Shopping and Hair Accesories

So yesterday after being up sick most of Friday night and Saturday morning I started feeling a little better.  I needed to take Lacee's diaper bag to get embroidered at the mall so off to Winston we went when Nisee got up from her nap and might I add even though  she had been sleeping for 2 and a half hours she was very ill that we woke her up!  She hates going down for a nap but once there you better let her be but she had been asleep long enough.  We decided to look around the mall for a little while.  We got Nisee a few Christmas gifts.  Translated we found some good sales and couldn't pass on the sales even though she really didn't have to have the items at this time.  Still I like buying a few things along the way and then its not like you have to drop a ton of money all at one time.  NOT that we have a ton of money but you get my point.  My favorite thing about yesterday were the hair-bows we found for Lacee.  We stopped by a store called DazzleUp and they have some cool things and they are all 4 for $10.  I got Lacee 2 I guess you call them hat-bows, a headband, and got Nisee 1 hair-bow!  They are so cute I had to share a picture off them!  I know you can make these and I might just have to see if I can find a tutorial on what all it takes.  The 2 hat-bows are almost the same and I wanted a purple one but the only purple ones they had did not have really cute bows on them they had these UGLY purple flowers so I went with the same bow but different color hat!   Any who I am not going to spend too long on this post but I just wanted to share!

Goal 4 Reached

Well my 4th goal with this pregnancy was to make it to 37 weeks because I thought that was full term but per Dr. Grandis (see 37 week scan post)  I am not full term until 37 completed weeks which is 38 weeks 0 days.  I am still glad I made it this far and my next goal is just to have our Little Lacee be born on October 13th and have her to be healthy! 

37 Week Growth Scan - Mixed Results

Today was my 37 week growth scan and the results were mixed.  Lacee's dopplers were good and she did a great job passing her BPP.  She was actually breathing right away.  She was not really feeling like moving too much so we had to do a little prodding to get her to move but that is just because she was still sleepy. She is est. to weight 4lbs 11oz now which means she gained 10oz in the last 2 weeks.  Overall her growth has a fallen off the curve a little.  Dr. Grandis said it wasn't too much off the curve so there wasn't a need to deliver now.  He asked about her movements and their frequency. Her movements have decreased a little but nothing extensive.  He said as long as she hasn't decreased too much then that was still ok.  He asked about NST's and I told him that Dr. Dorton was doing them once a week and he said that was fine since I was having the weekly BPP's with them.  He scheduled me for another ultrasound at 38 weeks to check BPP, doppler, and growth.  Normally they don't do growth weekly but what he wants to do is compare it to my 35 week scan to get a better view of how she has grown over the 3 week time frame and he said if for some reason that doesn't go well then he would recommend earlier delivery.

He also cleared up a common misconception about pregnancy that I as well as most other people have.  He said that 37 weeks 0 days is not full term.  Full term is considered 37 completed weeks which is 38 weeks 0 days and that babies who are not forced to mature sooner due to some issue can have some issues breathing being born anytime before that time.  So he said if there isn't a major reason to deliver then they will wait as long as they can.  He seemed pretty ok with my c-section being scheduled at 39 weeks and he again discussed that since she has always been small that he again thinks this is just who she is. I got 4 more ultrasound pictures bring our grand total to 87 now.  She was laying in a funny position today so we didn't too many great shots but here are 2 of them.

Her foot

Her face looking at us! :)

Fall Cake Balls

So I haven't made cake balls or cake pops in a long time.  Actually the last time I made them was for Brittany's baby shower for Westen in March.  I didn't just want to make Fall Cake Balls or Pops I wanted to try my hand at shapes!  I have seen many cake pops in shapes and I decided that I wanted to try it out.  To make cake ball shapes you use cookie cutters to cut out the shapes and then you dip them in the chocolate.  It didn't sound all that hard so I thought so I will try it out!  Well it didn't turn out quite as I had pictured in my mind in the end.

Pre-Dip cake balls cut out

Things were going well as you can see with the cutting out of the cake ball shapes.  I have leaves, acorns, apples, pumpkins, and even a few balls in there.  I thought they looked really good. Then came the chocolate work and normally I am really good at working with chocolate but tonight it just wasn't working  like I wanted it too.  They turned out OK but just not what I was seeing in my mind.  BUT this is my 1st time so maybe next time I will get better.  I also think that instead of cake balls I am going to do cake pops for easier dipping.

Fall Cake Balls

Pumpkins

Leaves

Apples

They don't look terrible but definitely not my best. They are spice cake with cream cheese icing.  Chad says they taste great so I guess that is really what matters but I still want them to look just as good as they taste!   I still have the apples, acorns, maple leaves, and regular leaves chilling in the fridge waiting to be dipped.  Since things weren't going so well I decided to wait and try again later in the week to finish. 

Premie Dresses and Tutu's!

Do you know how hard it is to find premature size dresses?!  It is impossible! I have checked multiple carters stores and multiple department stores and NOTHING!  I have found somethings online but even those aren't what I am really looking for.  Carters had a really cute dress and I thought well I can get a newborn in that color and just pull it to the back for her pictures and maybe it won't look too big but then I remembered Nisee's newborn dress.  The size says 5 to 8 pounds for newborn sizes but Nisee was 7 pounds 5 ounces and her newborn dress swallowed her whole so Lacee who is tracking to be at least 2 pounds smaller than that is going to need something a lot smaller.  We are of course praying she ends up surprising us all and comes out weighing over 6 pounds but we are also planning for all things.

Lacee got a lot of really great Premie clothes at her shower so I do have some options for her to wear to have per pictures made in but of course there were no dresses and I really wanted her to have a dress or at least something extra girlie!  So as most of you know I have been feeling very creative and crafty here lately.  I made a few signs and we won't even include the baking and cooking projects!  I have often seen these tutu's that all these little girls are wearing and I love them.  I have seen tutorials on how to make them and they seemed really easy to make.  So as you can guess I decided to make Lacee a tutu to go with 3 of her onesies that my friend Beth got her.  They are premie size onesies (of course) and are white, gray, and brown with pale pink stitching  and a pink rose.  Using tutorials that can be found at the following sites:  Treasures for Tots  and Happy Together I created Lacee a little tutu!  I am very proud of it!

Now there are multiple tutorials for this all over the web and each one does things a little differently but like me you will find that you will end up adjusting to what works best for you.  The first time I bake or make anything I learn lessons and this was no exception.  I will make some changes for the next one and there will most certainly be a next one.  I am already excited to make one for Nisee as well as experiment with more colors and ribbons!    This tutu took me about 30 minutes to make and cost me less than $5!  I think that a larger one would probably require more tulle and that would make it cost more but it is still much less than the cost of the paying for one retail!  I saw one at TJ Maxx today for Halloween and it was priced at $16!    So I highly recommend them for anyone who wants to make a cute outfit for their little girl!  I took some pictures to show everyone!

tutu with white onesie

Looking down on tutu

Another shot with white onesie

Looking at tutu straight on

Just the tutu

36 Week Scan

Most of the time the non growth scans aren't too eventful!  Lacee is awesome at scoring 8 out of 8 on her BPP's and the dopplers continue to look good so they usually go by pretty quickly.  This week was no exception.  Lacee got perfect BPP scores and dopplers were good as well.  However, this week I did get 6 more pictures of our little cupcake which brings us to 83 ultrasound pictures!  I got 2 good 3D pics and one of them is really good!  That is the big news for this weeks scan!  Normally the cord is crossing her face or she has her hands in the way and we can't get a good clear shot!  I am going to share the 2 3D pics and 2 of the profile shots!  Enjoy! 

Our Little Lacee!!! The best one so far!  I think she looks like me but most people say she looks like Nisee! Knowing my luck she will be another copy of Chad! 

The other 3D picture which is also pretty good.  She was moving in this one so it got a little distorted.

Her Profile close up

Her Profile a little farther back!

My next scan is at 37 weeks on 9/29 and they will check growth then and maybe we can get another good look at her face.  They check each time!  Mostly I hope she has grown well!  Although I have had different goals all throughout this pregnancy I have always wanted to get her to 39 weeks.  I am so happy that it looks like we are going to get there but there are times here lately that I am questioning that logic!  I am really swelling and my back is killing me and I am so tired and I feel HUGE so there are times when I am like "What was I thinking? I should have had them deliver me 37 weeks!"  BUT I know it is best for Lacee to be in there to 39 weeks so that always wins out but these last 3 weeks are going to be rough!  I delivered Nisee at 38 weeks and 6 days (almost right on the mark) but they wrote me out of work due to contractions and massive back pain at 37 weeks and 2 days and I was home in the recliner for almost 2 whole week, going NUTS I might add!!!  My goal is to work up noon on October 12th before I have to go for pre-op!  When I am working the days go by much faster and I remember when I was at home those last 2 weeks pregnant with Nisee that the days just crept by and I don't think I can handle that again!   Let's just hope the good news about Lacee keeps coming and I can find a way to deal with whatever else comes my way!