ER

We had our first trip to the Emergency Room Friday night. Bea was unhappy all day and it got worse during the evening. By late evening she appeared reactive to pushes on her stomach and after speaking to our on-call pediatrician, we went to the ER at childrens hospital.

It was weird in that it was the first time Bea was in Children's hospital because we thought she would be there before she came home from the hospital after delivery. They hooked Bea up to a monitor to take her blood pressure and I swear I don't ever need to see Bea or Melissa hooked up to medical equipment ever again. I used to enjoy going to the hospital and doctor, but it looks like I'm still burnt out and have way to many uncomfortable recent feelings there.

In summary the doctor didn't find anything other then possibly a scratched eye, so we got a prescription and left the hospital around 12:30 am. Melissa and I both think it must have been some abdominal pain that passed through.

Melissa's parents took possession of their new house nearby in Bloomington on Friday and the movers come with their stuff tomorrow. I finished my summer school final last weekend and I have about three weeks before the fall semester starts over. Unfortunately with my participation on one of the 35W bridge design build teams above other workload, there won't be much of a break. Not that it's been all bad as I've only got 100 pages left to finish Harry Potter. It's about time for my turn to play and take care of Bea and knock off a few more pages of Harry while I burp her and get her to fall asleep.

Four Months Flown By...

Hello All! There's been lots going on around here to tell you about. Bea is already FOUR MONTHS OLD! As my friend Deanna told me... with a newborn, the days sometimes seem long, but the months fly by!

First, Bea is officially 18 weeks old. She went in yesterday for her four-month check up, and she seems to be doing great. Dad and Bea did better with her shots then Mom (I had to turn away). Bea now weighs 12 pounds 6 ounces and is 23 inches long. Although Bea is now more than four months old, she is still only two months old "corrected" - that means she still looks and acts two months younger then she is, because she was two months premature. So, according to the measurements for two-month-olds, she is 75 percentile for weight, but only 45th percentile for height. Guess we're going to have to stretch her!

Bea is also doing lots of fun things now like - smiling a lot, playing with toys, and starting to make really cute baby cooing noises. She is sleeping in her big girl crib, and sleeps for 5-6 hours a night most of the time. So, Mom and Dad are starting to act a bit human again. She is still struggling with the acid reflux enough that she had to have an increase in her medicine last week and Mom is still on a highly restricted diet. In addition, we joke that Bea only poops on Tuesdays. So, she's had to add prune juice to her diet.

In other news, Grandma and Grandpa Rach sold their house in Appleton and are now living with us for a short time. They close on their new house here in Bloomington, MN on August 17. Until then, Matt and I are enjoying having some live-in help. It's good timing because Matt is very busy. He is finishing up his MBA summer class and work is crazy. His firm was already fairly busy and is now part of several teams that are bidding on the reconstruction of the 35W bridge. So, it's been nice to have some extra hands around to help with Bea and Bullet.

As for me, I am getting out a lot more. Bea and I try to plan at least one outing a day. I'm starting to think about going back to work at some point, but still a bit unsure what turn I want my career to take. If you have any suggestions, let me know!

All the best,
Melissa

35W Bridge Collapse: We're OK

We are safe. I feel a bit like a person who missed a plane that eventually crashed, though.

Bea and I were at a friend's house right near the bridge. We left for home a few minutes before the bridge came down. Going on 35W would have been the obvious way to go home (since we live off of 35W), but Bea starts to cry when the car stops and I knew there was construction traffic -- so I decided to go a longer way where we wouldn't sit still on the road as much. We literally would have gotten on the onramp that came down at about 6:00 p.m., the bridge came down at 6:05. It's horrifying, really. I keep thinking how would I have got Bea out of the car if we had been in the water or on one of those slopey sections of the road.

Matt was safely far out of the area. He and his engineering friends are not sure how a bridge could come down like that... the construction they were doing on it was minimal, etc.

Bea and I certainly have angels looking out for us this year. Thanks to everyone who is calling to check if we're ok.

- Melissa

Quick Update

Wow... only two blogs in all of July so far... we are slackers! Bea is definitely not slacking, though. She will be 16 weeks old tomorrow and is really doing well. She is sleeping 5-6 hours regularly now (hope typing it doesn't jinx it!). For the last few days, she has even been sleeping in her crib, not her bassinet. What a big girl! She has a doctor appointment next week, and we can't wait to see how much she weighs, because she is h-e-a-v-y!

The big news around here is that my parents (Liz and Dick) sold their house and are moving to Minneapolis. My dad started his job at the Eden Prairie Center mall in the Twin Cities in April and the Appleton house has been on the market since then. We are happy the house sold, but they have to be out on August 3 and they don't have a new house yet! They had an offer on a house, but the inspection didn't go well. So, we've been busy scouring the city for something they like in a hurry. Bea has been house hunting, too, and she actually does pretty well.

Bea is now getting out fairly often. We go to the grocery store, to see friends, to restaurants, to Matt's parents' cabin, and this weekend we are making the big trek to Appleton! Although five hours in the car with Bea does not sound particularly fun, we thought we would go back while Mom and Dad still have a house so Bea could meet her Great-Grandma Marcella and maybe some other relatives if she's not too crabby from the car ride. Should be interesting with Bea, Bullet and all the gear that goes with them.

Which leads us to other news... we got a minivan to carry all that gear. We are so suburban it's ridiculous. We sold the Super Subaru, to make room for it. It was a sad day, but the baby seat didn't fit well in the "Superu", so it had to go. I hate to say it, but the minivan is pretty cool. They really thought of a lot of good features for the family.

What else... I am taking tennis lessons again, which is the most physical thing I've done in almost a year. I love it. I also take the dog for walks, etc. So, I'm getting there!

Ok, I really need to get going and get to bed. Have a great weekend.
Melissa

Thanks, Bea! You're So Thoughtful!

Hi Everyone, it's Melissa here with an update. Things are starting to get a lot better around here. We think Bea is around 12 pounds by now -- which is more than 3x her birthweight. She is starting to smile a lot and she is sleeping a lot more. So, everyone around here is happy, happy, happy. Except between 7:30-8:30 p.m. which we call "the witching hour" during that hour she screams bloody murder. But, we'll take smiley, sleepy 23 hours and one bad one. We're definitely moving in the right direction.

Friday (the 13th) was my birthday - and was it ever a good one. Bea started off the day in grand style, by giving me her gift: sleeping for SIX HOURS in a row Thursday night. And, she did it again Friday night. Amazing! I felt so refreshed!

In addition, for more birthday festivities, I did a "status check" with my pre-pregnancy jeans (how much further do I have to go to fit into them...) and guess what... I got them on! Whoo-hoo! I was totally not expecting that. They are a bit tight, but that's the way it goes. I actually weigh 40 lbs less then I did right before Bea was born, but I still have a bit to go before I get to my pre-pregnancy weight. The non-dairy diet is probably at least helping me out in the weight loss area.

I got nice gifts from Matt and my parents, too. Then Matt and I went out for a little adult time (dinner and a movie). We went to Cafe Brenda downtown (very grown up) - however, then I chose Harry Potter for the movie. I know I probably should have chosen something at least rated R for my big night on the town, but I really enjoy the Harry movies in the theater. Let me tell you, this Harry Potter movie is scary. Seriously, not for small kids at all. I left the theater thinking I just saw this generation's "Empire Strikes Back" moment. For those of you who didn't see the Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back when you were about 10 years old -- it gave you nightmares for weeks. And, I'm pretty sure there will be a lot of nightmares from this movie.

In other news, Bea is getting out and about a lot more lately herself. She has now been to the grocery store, target, and last week we went to a baby party at my friend Kristina's house. Kristina who was due at the same time as me, happens to know 12 other people who were due at the same time -- so she invited all the moms and babies over to her house! It was hillarious all the mommies, their tiny 4-week babies, and their stylish diaper bags. We had a great time.

Hope all is well for you!
Melissa

84 days = 1 month

We're all settling into routine, including the daily grind of parenthood. Bea is doing fantastic. She's gaining exactly an ounce a day and is up to 10 lb 10 oz. Saturday was June 30th - which is exactly one month after her original expected due date or 84 days from when she was actually born. Thus her abilities should be compared to a one-month old.

She's doing a pretty good job of holding her held up for short instances. In that last two weeks her eyes are able to focus on many more things that are much farther away. We're trying to stimulate her eyes and brain with black and white print outs of shapes/objects and recently with red colored objects. She's recently had a a couple of giggles, but no cooing. She passes gas with the best of the adults.

Her acid reflux medicine is helping out a lot. She never slept before, she just moaned and squirmed. Now she actually sleeps peacefully and appears to be actually resting and rejuvenating. I'm really happy we did it for her, and I'm not going to complain about us getting a little more rest. She now can sleep for 2 to 3 hours at a time at night if we don't let her sleep too much in the evening.

We've retired a good 30 outfits and have moved from newborn to level 1 diapers. The Huggies brand kept leaking so we're proponents of Pampers. I feel very guilty about the poor land fills we're filling up. Below is one of my favorite outifts that was recently retired. We call it the "Flying Elvis" outfit.

Melissa and I certainly have our moments like any other parents. Right now Melissa's body is sore in every conceivable area partially due to the physical needs of holding, carrying, and feeding a 10 1/2 lb weight that's changing shape and form constantly and being on bedrest and in the hospital for so long. My surgically repaired back has been in better shape. Bea is currently yelling out loud for attention, but not crying. The tone is changing. All very interesting (some times).

While we're extremely happy about our new baby girl and love her so much, Melissa and I are probably in the parent category that is looking a little forward past the infant stage to where there is bigger blocks of sleeping, they can be stimulated and entertained more easily (you can figure out what's going on), and you can transport them much more readily.

It's been a really long six months since Cincinnati. Melissa and I are pretty mentally and physically wore down, but we know we've got it a lot easier than many people. The adrenaline was wore off before Bea was even born, and that was three months ago and we've got a ways to go before things starting getting much easier. I've resumed attending school for an MBA at night. I'm only taking one class at a time, and that's the current long-term plan. I don't think Melissa is able to carry all the slack if I had two classes and with my new appreciation for life, family, and baby girls; I'm trying to balance being a good father, employee, and still contribute substantially at school. Two classes would upset that balance for quite a while. I currently read my text while burping her on my nighttime feeting which usually occurs between 11 and 12:30. Let's just say the retention rate isn't phenomenal. Last week was the first week in a long time I've average more than 6 hours of sleep at night, so I feel like a million bucks compared to the rest of June, May, and April. I should mention that Melissa probably hasn't hit the 6 hour average barrier yet.

I hope this fourth of July finds everyone out there enjoying time with their friends and family and giving thanks for our freedom to vote and speak. While there appears to be more outspoken people recently, I think we should have a holiday for true listening to others and critical thinking with emotions removed. I'm included in that category.

Take care everyone.

Matt

The good, the bad, and the soy

Well, this week has been an eventful one.

THE GOOD
The week started off with a fantastic shower thrown for us by some of Matt's college friends. In addition to great food, lovely atmosphere, and tons of great stuff for Bea, the group also gave us a tree in memory of Elsa. It was really nice to celebrate both girls.

Also in good news:
-Bea weighed in this week at the doctor's office at 9 lbs 5 ozs!!!!
-Bea slept three hours in a row for the first time in weeks!!!!
-Bea has been able to get outside and take a walk around the neighborhood (Well, she isn't exactly walking herself, but you know what I mean.)
-The doctor cleared Bea to go out and about to Target and such places - so we went to Panera to see a family friend - whoo-hoo... Thankfully Grandma Liz was with us, because we had to experience our first diaper change in a restaurant and it was a doozie.

THE BAD

Bea and I both had a stomach bug, which gave us both belly aches and made me very tired and dizzy. We're still getting over it and still a little groggy.

Miss Bea was diagnosed with acid reflux. Bea has only been sleeping 20 minutes at a time during the day and never peacefully. Her record at night was 2.5-3 hour, but most of the time she wanted to eat every hour. We thought this was normal or maybe normal for a preemie at least. She seemed fussy a lot and she drooled a lot. After a particularly bad couple days last week I looked up the symptoms online and figured out that she might have reflux. The doctor confirmed our suspicions and now Bea is on reflux medicine. We hope this will make her feel better.

THE SOY
Because of Bea's reflux, I can't eat any dairy. Now, if you know me at all, you know the four food groups for me are: milk, cheese, ice cream, and butter... and I like yogurt, too. I drink a half gallon of milk on a slow day. So, this no dairy diet is nearly killing me. I'm trying all the soy substitutes and I am not sure how those vegans do it. Yucko.

***If you have any good non-dairy/non-apple (I'm allergic) recipes please send them my way, I need all the help I can get.***

To illustrate my sense of loss for my dear dairy products, here is a funny story (at least it's funny in retrospect). After the doctor appointment the other day, I was heading home with Bea in the car, had only slept an hour or two, and was getting the flu, but didn't know it yet. I knew I was too tired to find something to eat at home, so I went to the McDonald's drivethru. I went to McDonalds particularly because I thought they had frozen yogurt (and I thought frozen yogurt was dairy-free, but that's another story). I get to the intercom and I say, "Your cones are frozen yogurt, right?" to the teenage kid in the window. And, he says, "No we've changed to real ice cream." Suddenly, it was all too much and I started to cry right there in the drivethru. So, the snotty McDonald's kid says to me, "Pull yourself together." I ordered and headed home. When I got home, I went to take Bea in her car seat out of the car and my back went out. Luckily my Dad was at the house to help me get her in. Eventually opened my McDonald's bag. I had ordered a fish sandwich - with no cheese - and the twerp had given it to me with cheese anyway. I started to cry again.

So, next time you have a bad day, just remember at least you didn't get told to "pull yourself together" by a 16-year-old in a McD's uniform.

Yours in dairy withdrawl,
Melissa