Zoey's Doctor Appointments

This has been a busy month for doctor's appointments. Last week Zoey went to her heart doctor to check the hole in her heart that she was born with. We were hoping it would have closed up, but it has not so we have another Dr. Appointment in December. The doctor says it still has a really good chance of closing on its own and that I shouldn't worry. Apparently it's quite common for this to happen. I have to keep reminding myself she was 2 weeks early... I just wish there was something I could do to help it along, but there isn't. We just have to wait it out. If the hole does not close on its own, then they will have to do surgery when she's around 3 years old to close it up. Right now it's not enough of a strain that she will notice. At that appointment Zoey weighed 9 pounds 9 ounces and was 21 inches long. That was last thursday the 17th of September.

Zoey had her 2 month appointment today. Well almost 2 month appointment, she'll be 2 months in a week. Since her doctors visit was already scheduled for today they went ahead and gave her 2 month shots! Poor baby!! I felt so bad for her. They gave her one in her right leg and 2 in her left leg. She cried so hard, I could hardly comfort her she was in so much pain. And the way she cries... it sounds more like she's saying whywhywhywhywhy.... which is really adorable on its own but not right after she's been given shots and doesn't understand the pain she is going through...

On the other hand I am proud to report that my baby is 10.5 pounds, 21 1/2 inches long putting her 50th percentile for height and 25 percentile for weight. As you can see that's almost a whole pound in a week! She eats so often I feel like she's never getting enough but as you can see from the numbers here, she is doing more than fine :)
She's growing soo fast! The doctor was also impressed about her strength. She's able to keep her head up longer now and put more
weight on her arms! Before we know it she'll be rolling over!

On another note, because of the shots Zoey was given today one of them did give her a slight fever. She is doing ok, we gave her some baby Tylenol drops and they seemed to have helped reduce the fever and also help with the pain in her legs from the shots. The doctor warned me this could happen so we were looking out for it. We Even bought one of those fancy head thermometers that you just slide across the forehead to read the temperature. Very easy, if you have not bought one I recommend that you do. They have them at Costco for a great price! LOVE Costco!

So All in all it has been a very busy day for us, no more doctors appointments for Zoey til December when she'll be about 6 months old! Crazy!

One step for man.. One Tiny Victory for Chel

I haven't been feeling the greatest lately. I struggle to get out of bed everyday to do something other than take care of Zoey. I love Zoey and I try my best to take care of her, but I've had trouble adapting to doing just that. Part of it I know is I needed time to recover. I needed time to readjust to this new role that has been brought into my life. So as I'm feeling sluggish and moping around the apartment, slowly getting things done, I try to motivate myself to get things done in small steps. Small steps as in OK today I am going to do laundry, get dishes done for the day, and whatever small things I see that might not seem too overwhelming.

Tonight... after I had got out of bed at 8AM and STAYED out of BED all day, GOT out of the apartment AND stayed out of the apartment til 5PM! I'm trying to remember the last time I was out of the apartment for that long. Anyway I walk into the kitchen for the first time today and look around to find my kitchen is not a mess :) It's not perfect, but it is no where near the disaster that it was..

I begin to find hope that I am headed in a better direction, that I can control and take charge of my life. To find peace in knowing things will get done over time. That I might find joy in these small things (other than Zoey, as she is so small still :) )

And that my friends is my tiny victory for the week... and it's only Wednesday :) Maybe there is hope after all!

Zoey!

Going along with changes this has to be the biggest one that I have experienced. The only one that is the most rewarding and challenging being a mother!
My Beautiful Baby Girl was born July 31st at 8:25 A.M.
I was so excited when I found out I was pregnant, nervous but excited too and those 9 months waiting for Zoey to get here seemed like they would take forever at times. It was amazing being able to feel her move and grow. I wanted Steve to be able to feel her every time I did. I wanted him to experience what I felt as best he could obviously it wasn't completely the same. But boy could she kick up a storm! It would make me so incredibly happy when I could feel her, that and when I finally found out she was a girl! I had them keep checking when they did ultra sounds just to make sure :)
Then it started getting close to the time, I wanted her to come early, not too early though. I wanted her to be happy, healthy and safe and she was. I was just barely into my 37th week and she was ready to come. I had gone to the doctor that morning and I was already at 2-3 cm dialated almost completley efaced. I went to work and I was feeling fine most the day and then I started feeling what I thought were contractions but I didn't know how long they were going to go on for. But they continued throughout the rest of the day, continuing to get stronger. I came home and told Steve we needed to get some more things done to get ready for her and he was thinking oh we have pleanty of time, we've got 3 more weeks. Well those 3 weeks quickly turned into we've got 3 hours! I started getting things ready and then I told him, I'm not sure when but I'm pretty sure we're going to end up at the hospital tonight. So we took it easy, listnened to some music and about 10:30 I said ok I think we need to go now, I'd been timing the contractions and they were between 2-5 minutes apart and they had been going for an hour defitnantly getting more painful! We get to the hospital and they watch me for an hour I went from a 3 to a 4 in just one hour! We were able to watch the contractions on the screen to see how how they would peak out and Steve just loved that it was like a video game to him. So they called my doctor to let her know where I was and they admitted us into our birthing suite. It seemed like they couldn't get the epidoral to me fast enough by 2 am I was ready to break something, anything! Luckily they came to give it to me by 2:30 I was a pretty happy camper, I couldn't feel them at all 15 minutes after they gave it to me. So I was finally able to relax, even got to sleep for an hour. They told me once I started to feel pressure I needed to let them know cause that meant it was time to start pushing. 5:30 am rolls around and I tell the nurse I don't think I'm going to feel what I'm supposed to be feeling right now so you need to check to see where I am. At 6 am I was there, I was at a 10!! They called my doctor and she had them do a few practice pushes with me to get me ready but, it was just a FEW she was ready to come out! The doctor finally gets there and a few more pushes and out comes my beautiful baby girl!!!
Zoey was born 6 pounds 8 ounces 18 1/2 inches long! Everyone had me pretty psyched out about how labor happens. I was thinking the worst, I would be at work or driving home and all the sudden there I would be just rushing to the hospital. But it wasn't anything like that thank goodness! She took her time getting here, there was no mad rush, no holy crap my water just broke, it was lets just wait and see how things go and we'll go when we're sure this is what we think it is. And there she was just as perfect as she could be. She didn't even cry really, she was so quiet. It was just amazing! I didn't even get to break Steve's hand... :D

Provillus

Starting from scratch

As this is my first blog, and the first time I have written anything in a long time it will be interesting to see what comes out. So please be understanding and kind as I struggle through this.

So where to start, the beginning is always a good place but really where does the beginning begin? My beginning was July 24th, 1983. For those of you who can do the math realized that I turned 25 this year last year which to me I still feel like I'm still 21. People will ask me my age and I'll have to pause and think for a minute, wait how old am I again? Maybe that's the beginning signs of alzheimers disease. Which you would see there would be another beginning. And maybe we all have many beginnings, (i.e. a new job, a new move, a new pet, a new year) Or maybe each day is a new beginning, a day to start fresh or to start over. Which in all reality as long as there is a new day the things we can do are unlimited.

So in those instantes I have had many new beginings from dealing with the death of my brother Rick, learning that I can't control everything even though I may really want to. Realzing how very important those close to us are regardless of differences we might have with one another. That we must always show our love and appreciation for eachother as we don't know when we won't be able to anymore. To being married for almost 3 years now, each day learning how to compromise and try to understand more than I did the day before. I have had four pet rats, Stormy and Lowrider whom have both passed and currently have Sadie and Remmy. We rescued Sadie and Remmy so they might be able to start a new life as the life they had was negleted and abused. I can happily report that Steve makes sure they are never neglected and they are quite happy :) They have taught me that even rats can give and show love and appreciation and they are one of the most most disliked and misunderstood animals that I know.

I have currently been at Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith for a year now which for me is a record as in the past couple years it has been hard to stay anywhere for more than 6 months. I don't know if it's my tolerence for these jobs is less or I've just found my talents are better used else where. As for how long I'll be at this job I hope at least for another year. Taking into consideration there are so many people who have been laid off and are currently looking for work, Steve and I are very thankful right now that both of us do have good stable jobs for the time being. But you know that's what's funny about this adventure we are on, anything at any moment could change and we would have to readjust to whatever that circumstance might be. I certainly didn't think I would be where I am today, maybe that's lack of planning or just dealing with things as they come.