Visiting with Family

Life with a 2 year old and a new born keeps us very busy so I have not had much time to blog. Over the last few weeks we have had lots of visitors which has been great. Here are some of the pictures we took.

Nana came over the first week after Carter came home. She got Aubrey her very own baby and Aubrey loves her.

Carter's first doctor appointment. He gained a whole 1lb!!!!

Grandma and Grandpa came over later that week and stayed with us for the weekend.

Titi came out the next weekend.

Nana, G'pa, Uncle Scott, and Aunt Pat came out on Sunday that weekend.

Carter found a napping buddy.

Nana and Carter

Aubrey got a fun ride from Uncle Scott

Enjoying cake with Titi

We love all our family. Thanks for all coming out and for all your help getting us settled into our "new" life.

Carter Atkin's Delivery

Carter Atkin

May 2, 2010

5lbs. 4oz. 19 1/4 inches

As most of you know this pregnancy was not very easy and the delivery was the icing on the cake. While I had all the best intentions of staying on bed-rest all weekend, by Sunday May 2nd Carter Atkin was born at our new hospital in Merced 7 hours after it opened. At around noon Sunday, Spencer rushed me to the Emergency room because I was having trouble breathing. From there I was sent straight to the OR for delivery. It was such an emergency that poor Spencer had to wait in the waiting room. While on the table I experienced heart failure and nearly coded. Baby Carter was born blue with a score of 3. Luckily he progressed soon thereafter to a score of 8. I didn't do so well and was placed on a ventilator. Carter went to the NICU and I was shipped off to the ICU. I was on the ventilator for two days and in the ICU for four days. Carter did great in the NICU. He only needed oxygen for a small amount of time. While he didn't gain much weight he worked hard and got his sucking and swallowing down pretty fast. I was finally transferred to the L&D Floor on the 4th day. I was so happy to be near Carter. I was able to come home on day six (Friday). Spencer, Aubrey and Deuce were so excited. Spencer and I went back and forth to the NICU every three hours all weekend. On Monday we brought our bundle of joy home and have just been so happy to have our whole family together. This last week has been very hard but we made it through and are so grateful for all the thoughts and prayers that have been coming our way. I have a bit of a long road ahead of me. All the swelling that I had during the pregnancy was from the pre-elampsia and they think I may have even had pneumonia. With all the water that I was retaining (I have already lost 44lbs.) my heart could not pump properly and so my heart has enlarged and I was diagnosed with Cardiomyopathy. With cardio rehab and a diet change I hope to be back to normal in a year or so. For now, I'm feeling great and enjoying my two little children.

Daddy and Carter in the NICU

Me in the ICU

The first time I met Carter.

They brought him up to the ICU to meet me-it was very special.

When I was transferred to the L&D floor I was able to see Aubrey.

1st Family Picture

Aubrey loves her little brother.

1st Bath

We can't wait for all the fun times we have ahead of us. I have been given a second chance at life and I'm so grateful. I'm so thankful for all the wonderful doctors and nurses. I'm also so thankful for all my family and friends. They have just been so wonderful and we could never have done it without our wonderful support team. All our prayers and thoughts have been answered and for that I'm grateful.

Pregnancy Update.....

Well as said in my last pregnancy post we have a month to go but I guess it actually looks like a weekend or maybe a week to go if we are lucky. I went in for my OB check on Wednesday and had high blood pressure and with my swelling being so bad and a few head aches to complain about my doctor sent us over to Labor & Delivery. I was hooked up to monitors and they ran tons of test and the results came back with early stages of pre-eclamsia. I was in the hospital all Wednesday and then got to come home and re-admitted on Thursday for some more monitoring my blood pressure was still a little high but baby was perfect as can be and happy to still be cozy and warm inside. My doctor let me go home but with some rules, my doctor put me on strike bed rest all day and the goal for us now is to keep baby Carter in until at least Monday. My mom was able to come out and help me with Aubrey and Spencer's parents are coming out this weekend to help so we feel so blessed to have all the support not to mention all of our friends and family that have just been wonderful calling and checking on us. While in the hospital I had 2 steroid shots for Carter's lungs and our pediatrician thinks that he will do well being born so early but of course we don't 100% know and are very nervous. I just wanted to keep everyone up to date on what we know as of now.

What we have been up to......

A couple of weekends ago it was the kick off to The Week of the Young Child. The city of Merced put on a huge hands on festival for preschool aged children. Aubrey had a blast!!!! It was so much fun seeing her playing with all the fun stuff, socializing with other kids, and just really enjoying herself. The weather was perfect and it was a great family activity day.

Aubrey hanging out with one of her best friends Emily.

Aubrey loves to help in the kitchen. We made yummy chocolate mousse a couple of Sunday's ago.

Working on her ATV in the backyard.

Taking a bath with her "pink eyes" as she calls them.

When we had Nana out last week we had lots of fun. One day we went to How to Train Your Dragon. It was a very cute movie and we had so much fun being together doing girl stuff for a couple of days.

Aubrey loves Toy Story so she is getting all ready for Number 3

The new hospital had an open house last Saturday and we got to go on an awesome tour. The hospital is BEAUTIFUL!!!!! We can't wait to have Carter there in a few weeks.

They have a helicopter landing and it was so much fun seeing the helicopters taking off and landing.