When It Rains It Pours

Pop came down Tuesday when he found out about Mom being in the hospital here.

Post surgery snuggles for MawMaw

 

My apologies for the gap between posts.  It has been a very, very eventful, dramatic, crazy week.  And no- I'm not talking about the crazy birth experience.  This week.  This week has been crazy.  Gwen turned two weeks old on Monday.  How exciting!  The time FLEW by.  Emma grew up too fast, Gwen is growing up too fast.  Sheesh.  MawMaw and I went to the library and enjoyed our day.  Monday was a good day.

 

Tuesday the drama begins.  MawMaw comes to talk to me when I'm nursing Gwen in the wee early hours of the morning.  She told me she had bad throbbing pain but didn't want to go to the ER because she didn't think it would help.  By the time Zack was ready to go to work she decided enough was enough and she had Zack take her to the ER.  It took about triple the time to get to the hospital as normal because of the morning work traffic.  Once they got there it took Zack a long time to find a parking spot as they were already all filled with the UK employees.  In the meantime, mom is in the ER (pukes on the floor, which coincidentally gets you a room quickly, apparently!) and no one has seen her yet (typical).  Zack is able to go in and jumpstart things for her and get her some good medication to get her out of pain.  Emma, Gwen, and I are at home trying to figure out what's going on and failing to be a good help anywhere.  Poor MawMaw ends up getting surgery to put in a stint to drain a failed kidney (which needs removed in the near future) and has to stay in the hospital overnight.  To make matters worse, on her way home (she had to go home, obviously, as she couldn't stay here to help because she needed to go back to heal herself), she had tightness in her chest and had to go back to the ER at home to check for blood clots, etc.  She had to stay overnight in the hospital there as well.  The poor lady just can't catch a break.  As of now, she's still in the hospital and has never made it home.  What a mess!  At the same time all of this is going on (Tuesday morning), I find out that my nephew Xander was ALSO in the hospital because he had chest pain and passed out.  It ended up that he is ok (thank goodness!) and they suspect the pain was from heartburn and the fainting from dizziness due to fluid behind his ears.  As for me, my 30 days of "healing" time came to an end after 14 days.  But hey- at least I had 14 days to heal and what doesn't kill you just makes you stronger, right?  It's nice to lift and hold my sweet Emma again- even if it's against the rules.  :)

 

Suffice it to say, when it rains it pours, right?



It Takes A Village

Here, sister, let me take that headband off for you...

OK.  Now it's my turn to take off the headband!

Yes... Emma was trying to lick her sister.

Hello, gorgeous!

This is what the photoshoot really looked like without zooming in...

There's my beautiful girl!

 



The old saying "It takes a village to raise a child" isn't entirely accurate.  I mean, one is manageable.  One you can lasso in and chase down when needed.  Now add a second one into the mix and that village is looking not only really, really nice but is more of a necessity!  I don't know how I would have made it the last week without the help I've had from MawMaw and Zack.  They're such a blessing to me. 

 

My girls are thriving and gorgeous and tolerated my very amateur, very poorly done photo shoot with grace.  The hope was to get one good photo out of the event and I think I got it.  If I knew how to use even an iota of photoshop I'm sure I could make quite a few of these turn out well.  Sigh... I need a photoshop crash course!  My photography skills are poor enough that maybe if I learn to edit I can get a good photo now and then.  It's a lucky thing for me that I have such wonderful subjects to take photos of! 

Frankenmama

 

 

Another wonderful few days have flown by.  We have been able to make it to the library for story time both Monday and Tuesday as well as other errands as we're able.  Today I had a doctor's appointment to have my incision checked and everything is healing well so far.  For a week and a half into recovery things are looking good to heal early (and to be able to pick up my sweet Emma early!).  It still creeps me out to see the giant cut across my belly, but I don't mind it being there at all, knowing that the reason it's there is so I can hold a healthy little Gwen.  I don't mind looking like Frankenstein- I just don't like FEELING like Frankenstein.  Frankenmama... yeesh.  At least the stitches are internal.  I still feel like a poochy plump pickle but at least things are healing the way they should.  Summer is just around the corner (which means lots of walks to the park).  I feel so blessed to have two beautiful little girls to call my own. 

 

I almost shouldn't say anything for fear of jinxing it- but Gwen has been essentially sleeping through the night the past two nights.  I'll feed her and then she'll sleep for about 6 hours in her crib.  WHAAAAAAAAT?!  I know- what a lucky mama!  She's gaining weight beautifully.  She was already back to birthweight at 3 days old and at seven days old she had gained an additional 5.5 ounces.  As of Monday she was 7 lbs 10.5 oz.  What a good girl!  Emma is now 27lbs.  Wasn't it yesterday that I was just monitoring her weight gain too?  Time flies by...

Rub-a-dub-dub

Wash my arm pitties, mama!

Watching little sister get her first at home bath.

We had a wonderful morning with a mini photo shoot for Gwen and dance class for Emma.  She has the best Papa in the entire world- he came with us to dance class so that she could have someone there to dance with since Mama is still out of commission for a while.  They had a ton of fun and I had a great time cheering them on!

 

Last night was Gwen's first at home bath.  It went well but I am looking forward to the umbilical cord falling off so that I can put her in the tub instead of sponge-ing her by the sink.  Rub-a-dub-dub!

 

Gwen continues to be a dream- eating and sleeping well.  Emma is still the sweetest with her and loves to give her pats.  I'm a lucky mama!