Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Love,

Emma!

Christmas and Boxing Day

We had a wonderful white Christmas. Brian and I took it easy and hung around in our jammies most of the morning. By the afternoon we decided to get motivated and decorated the tree, went to the grocery store, and picked up the house. His parents arrived around 3, and we devoured our Ribeye roast and fixings.

For boxing day we spent the afternoon down at South Center trying to replace all of our stolen equipment for the store. We also went to REI and purchased the stroller of all strollers, the Bob Ironman. I think Brian is more excited about the stroller than the baby. . . . .just joking.

Today, we spent the morning at the store and fought with Vista and tried to get all of our POS hardware up and running. That was NOT fun. . . damn patches and non-existent drivers. The new door window was installed yesterday and our store is mostly up and running again. The good news was the crooks didn't take my flash drive, the bad news was my last back-up was Dec 8th. We have to re-enter our purchases for the month and inventory the store to help recreate our sales for the month. I guess it could be worse.

Grandma Schroeder, Emma, and Truman

Not so Merry Christmas Eve

Wednesday morning, I got to work to find our store had been broken into. The perp anhilated our front glass door to get in. He got merchandise, my computer, destroyed my point of sale hardware and cash drawer, and made a huge mess. Thankfully we have insurance, but it doesn't take away the feeling of being violated. What a horrible experience. I'm glad no one was there and nobody got hurt. We'll be spending today shopping for a new store computer and getting my system reestablished.

I am very appreciative of our good friends who dropped everything and left work to help us clean up. We couldn't have done it without you, and you helped me keep it together. You guys are the best and we couldn't ask for better friends! Next time beer and Smarty Pants is on us!

A valuable lesson learned

We learned a valuable lesson yesterday:

A baby that sleeps all day, is up all night.

We had a glorious snow day. Another 6 inches fell and Brian and I proceeded to do absolutely nothing. Emma decided to join us in our laziness and slept most of the day. We enjoyed the down time by laying around watching movies, but we paid for it dearly!

Last night was probably the hardest night we've had yet . .. She screamed, cried, and wanted to hang out . . .when all we wanted to do is sleep. Brian and I took turns trying to soothe her, but the wild beast was inconsolable. She finally slept for about 2 hours this morning around 3:00 a.m., but was up again at 5. Needless to say we are tired today!

Mom hopped a plane back to CT yesterday morning, and it seems that her plane was one of very few that made it out. We had a good visit and it was sad to see her go. Its hard to have family so far away.

Saturday we had a failed attempt at getting Emma's picture taken with Santa. We dressed her up in the outfit her grandparents sent, packed her up, drove to South Center Mall in the snow, got in line, only to find out that Santa was on his way to lunch. Great! So we went to lunch, and by the time we got out the line was wrapped all the way around Santa's photo station. . . and it wasn't moving. I didn't want to stand around for hours, so we left. I think I'm going to try again tomorrow. We'll see!

Another week and getting bigger

This past week has been busy. We've had several Dr.'s visits, I'm back at work for a few hours a day, and mom and Pam are here visiting.

The aspiration study went well. Emma took a bottle . . . laced with Barium. . . .and it showed that she's not aspirating her meals. This is good news. We still don't know what the cause of the rapid respiration but we've systematically knocked out all of the big guns. Maybe she just breathes fast! We were supposed to go back to the Dr. today for a follow-up, but they called and cancelled due to the snow. Yes I said snow. . . a whopping 6 inches in the city. Funny, it doesn't snow in Seattle!

Mom, Emma, and Truman

Emma and Tooey

Emma getting her first bottle with pop!

Emma's new hat, thanks to mom and Tooey

Hi guys!!

Good news and bad news

Emma and I got to go on yet another adventure today. . to the cardiologist.

Good news is

Her heart is not causing her breathing problems.

Bad news is

She has a small hole in her heart which may or may not need surgery in the future.

Emma was diagnosed with an Atrial Septal Defect, or ASD. Here's a website that tells you all about it.

http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/heart/asd.html

This is the passage that I'm holding onto for my sanity:

"A child with a small defect that causes no symptoms may simply need to visit a pediatric cardiologist regularly to ensure that there are no problems; often, small defects will close spontaneously without any treatment during the first years of life. In general, a child with a small ASD won't require restrictions on his or her physical activity."

The cardiologist informed me that Emma's hole is small and since she isn't showing any signs or symptoms of ASD that her hole will most likely close on its own. He said that a lot of children are born with this condition but never know it. Its only because she has breathing issues that an EKG was ordered and her heart issue was detected. The cardiologist recommends a recheck at 6 months and at a year to see if the hole has closed itself or if surgery is needed. He assured me that this is not something to worry about and that she will be fine. Fingers crossed that it closes on its own.

We have an appointment for a digestive study on Monday. This will let us know if she really has reflux, or if we're dealing with something else.

What a week!

Its been a rough couple of days

Tuesday morning we had our 10 day follow-up with the midwives and the midwife noticed that Emma had a severely increased respiration rate. She recommended that we call our pediatrician and have Emma seen. I called the pediatrician and they told us to come right in. The pediatrician stated that Emma appeared healthy, but was concerned about her respiration rate. . which was 70-80 breathes per minute when it have been 30-40. She suggested that we go to Children's Hospital Seattle and have her looked at.

We (Brian, mom, and I) sat at Childrens while Emma was poked, prodded, x-rayed, and stuck. It was an absolutely one of the most grueling experiences of my life. After many many hours of waiting, the Dr. informed us that her lungs were clear and her blood pH was normal. He stated that he didn't know what was going on . . . but it was "something". He told us to follow up with our pediatrician, and sent us on our way.

I don't think there is anything worse than being sent away not having any resolution. . .

We all spent the next day and 1/2 watching Emma's every breath and hoping it wasn't the last one. I was an emotional wreck and couldn't look at her without tearing up.

We saw another pediatrician (at the same practice) this afternoon, and I was impressed with the new pediatrician's thoroughness. She sat with us for over an hour and said that the hospital had ruled out the "super serious issues." She said that if she were to guess what was going on based on the hospital's results and Emma's history, that Emma is suffering from reflux. Wow, what a relief. She thinks that Emma is aspirating the reflux into her lungs which is causing the gasping, shortness of breath and high respiration rate. The best part about it. . .reflux can be treated!

We have an appointment with a cardiologist tomorrow, and the Dr. is trying to set up an appointment for a digestive study either tomorrow or Monday.

Finger's crossed that reflux is all that it is!!

Another good night

It seems that Emma has settled into a wonderful night time ritual. For two nights in a row she's slept most of the night. . .allowing Brian and I to get some rest. She feeds like mad starting at 7:00 p.m. and I either snooze or watch primetime TV while she gorges herself. She usually falls asleep during this time and I've been waking her up around 11:00 for another feeding session. After feeding her she's out like a light. I've been trying to wake her up around 2:30 or 3 to feed her and I have a 50/50 chance of actually waking her. Either way, she'll sleep until until 6:30 or 7. Feed again, and sleep until 10:00. We are very lucky. . and I'm very thankful for her sleeping!

We packed up the family and went on an adventure yesterday. We swung by the store, the post office, and then headed to South Center to buy a few essentials. We hit the mall and Target and ended up buying Emma a few girly outfits. We successfully avoided buying all pink too!! We had to search, but we did it!

What we learned: 2 hours out and walking is my limit. B said I was a trooper, but I have to admit I was hurting. Thankfully I'm not doing so bad today. Emma slept the entire outing and I don't think she even knew we were out.

Today Emma has her first date: we're meeting Erin and her 2 week old Sam out for pizza!

I'm going to try to stay in the house and relax for the rest of the day. I may even try to take a nap!

The grandmothers have requested pics of me and Emma. . .. so here we are!

Here you go Uncle Jeff. . . she does have eyes!

Sleep! Just what the Dr. ordered

Good milk and full belly = one sleepy baby!

My milk came in yesterday making Emma one doped up, milk coma, sleepy baby. She fed most of the day yesterday and slept most of the night. Yes, you read that correctly. . .we got sleep! and lots of it! I'm scared that now that we've had a small taste of what its like, we're going to be sadly disappointed when we don't get it regularly. I guess you can't look a gift horse in the mouth and we should appreciate any sleep we can get.


The midwives came by for the second time yesterday and said Emma was doing great. She's still a little yellow, but that's to be expected. She's feeding well and eliminating often (B would say too often) so her color should continue to lose it's yellow tinge within the next couple days/weeks. My little cameleon has gone from purple to red to yellow. What color's next??



The dog's are starting to come around and I believe they realize that Emma isn't going away. Truman actually acknowledged me yesterday (I was getting the cold shoulder) and he slept with us last night. Mazie no longer leaves the room that Emma is in, and actually gave her a sniff. Tucker, well he's still enamored by Emma's beauty :)

A nap in the sun

I don't care what you say, I'm not sharing my toy with her!

Are you sure you're doing that correctly?

Umm. . can she go back now? Puleeze!

A girl and her boys

Day 3

I can't believe today is Day 3. It feels like Emma has been here for a week at least. Maybe its just my lack of sleep that makes it feel like forever . .. .

Its amazing how good I feel considering what my body has been through. Yesterday, I spent about an hour up at the store doing paperwork and payroll while Brian took Emma on her trip to walk the dogs. I think we both enjoyed our little outings and it was really nice to do something out of our normal routine.

Last night the Blanks, the Browns, and Nate came over to meet Emma. I had a really good time and it was great to socialize and see friendly faces. Kim made an awesome lasange and Nate brought over some adult libations and grub.

Emma was up all night and has developed her own voice. Emma has taken to emulating our lovebird Suah and lets out a high pitched, ear pearcing squeak. I've nicknamed her "Screech" but Brian is protesting the new name. He says it makes him think of the nerdy kid from Saved by the Bell, and we can't have that. . now can we?

The midwife came by this morning and says Emma is doing Fabulous! Except for being a little bit jaundice, she's perfect! With a little sun light and more feedings her yelllow tinge should go away in the next few days. This girl is a cameleon . . .from purple to red to yellow. .. what color is next?

For those of you wondering about whether or not we're registered anywhere. . .here's the link to our Amazon.com registry.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html?ie=UTF8&type=baby

I will try to take more pictures this evening. . . . I'm off to catch up on some sleep while Emma is snoozing!

Emma's guardian Tucker making sure Kim is holding Emma just right!

Emma hanging out in her new chair!