first family photos

Libby meeting Elliot for the first time

Isn't he just precious

His hat says "little buckaroo" and has cute cowboy things on it, including boots :)

Richard and Elliot

Libby giving Elliot a big kiss, the first of many

Our whole Family together at last!

Me and Elliot

Elliot came home Tuesday Nov 22 weighing 4 lbs 10 oz and measuring 18.75 inches long! He is quite the eater too. He'll down a bottle in a few minutes. He is mostly breastfed, but we are supposed to give him 2 bottles of this special preemie formula that has extra calories and nutrients. Having him home is wonderful. I could just watch him all day. Liberty loves him and wants to watch him and check on him too, which is cute, but frustrating b/c she is a bit on the loud side. She is a good helper and will fetch diapers for me and throw the dirty ones away. She has even tried to help wipe his bum and put diaper rash cream on him.... Adjusting to having 2 kids will definitely take time though. The first night I didn't get to sleep till about 5 am and Richard was only asleep half hour earlier than me. Liberty wouldn't go to bed till about 10 pm and the last part I think was screaming, then she was awake from 3 till about 4:30 and screamed herself to sleep in the crib (I'm sure our neighbors just love us). Elliot was pretty fussy and wanting to be held and then needed to eat and get changed and all the wonderful stuff newborns do. Luckily last night went much better. We are making Libby sleep in the crib now till we get a reasonable bedtime routine re-established (She kind of went haywire after my hospitalization and we have to rock her till she is completely asleep, which can take hours and is exhausting for us). wow, this ended up being very long. Hope everyone had a fun Thanksgiving. I have so many things I am thankful for this year, but that will take a long time to write and Elliot needs to eat.

Happy Birthday Richard

Happy Birthday to Richard! We got good news today. Elliot should be able to come home this week. The Dr said he should be home by Thanksgiving! He is in an open crib now instead of his little incubator and he's been maintaining his temperature just fine. He also weighs 4 lbs 7 oz now! He sure is growing just fine. Yesterday he ate 80% of his food from a bottle or breastfeeding (the rest through the feeding tube). The Dr said today to try not letting him get anything out of the tube and to just let him eat regular and see how he does today and if he does well, the feeding tube will be taken out tomorrow! He's been awake a little bit more for us and that is really fun to see. He is super cute. I feel bad that I don't have any new pictures to show you. I'm so excited for him to come home.

Liberty is getting smarter and smarter. My mom got her some little work books for preschoolers and lets her make all these sticker pictures. She will also repeat almost anything and remembers the words later. Her vocabulary is gigantic. Probably one of the funniest words she will say is "weird". She is starting to use words like "and" and "is". Today she said "Ernie, Oscar and Elmo" while she was pointing to them on her diaper. The most common sentence she says and we aren't sure why is "baby cry". Any time we talk about a baby or she sees a baby, she insists it's crying, even if it's not.

Pictures

Libby showing her crazy face to Grandma. She has had so much fun with Grandma this week and is getting so spoiled! She's going to miss Grandma a lot.

Libby made that hat at story time and wore it all day. We took her on a big sister date. She got to play at the play place, eat french fries and ice cream and got a special Elmo present (backpack, book, movie). We wanted her to feel special since life has been so crazy for her. It's finally getting back to normal. She slept through the night the last 2 nights! Wahoo!

Here's a big yawn from Elliot! He's gaining an average of an ounce a day. He's getting close to 4 lbs! Hooray.

Opening his eyes for a second to see what's going on

All snuggled up in his robot blanket from Grandma Hill. Don't you just want to kiss those little cheeks? I do.

All comfy in his bed

Liberty coloring her instruments Grandma made her. She will sit and color (with markers especially) for up to half an hour sometimes. That is a long attention span for her age.

One of Elliot's nurses made him the hat. He had another one, but it was too big so she made him one that fit. His nurses take such good care of him!

We have some cute videos of both kids, but they take about a decade to upload to the blog....maybe I will try to put them on youtube first and link them. Liberty can sing twinkle twinkle little star and we caught it on video and Elliot is sucking on a binky. Both are very adorable. Be excited

Initiation

Funny Elliot story. I guess he decided I needed to be initiated as his mom. While I was feeding him through his tube, he spit up a massive amount all over the blankets and my pants. After the feeding I was changing a really nasty diaper and he started to pee on me. I caught most of with a wipe, but some got on my hands. While I was wiping that up, he projectile pooped all over everything, including my hands and all the blankets, etc. It was pretty funny even though it was really gross. Then while I was lifting him up so the nurse could remove the poopy blankets, he sneezed a few times and a booger came out. I felt like a real mom.

Also, some more great news. He has finally started gaining weight. The last 2 days he's gained about an ounce a day, which is what they want him to do! The measure him at midnight so we don't know if he's kept it up today, but I think he has. He's so smart. Richard took some pictures on his phone, so you should all bug him to post them to facebook and here. He's so cute.

Snuggles

Right now I am snuggling with the little guy. It's wonderful. He doesn't have the Iv as of yesterday morning and he thinks he doesn't need a feeding tube and has pulled it out multiple times. He has actually drunk from a bottle a few times but it wears him out so they also have the feeding tube. Today he even tried to breast feed which was very impressive. He is kind of an overachiever according to the nurses. I guess he really wants to come home ASAP and that's fine with me. I can't wait for Libby to meet him

Elliot Nelson Bell

Elliot Nelson Bell joined our family Thursday November 3, 2011 at 1:01 pm. He was 3 lbs 12 oz and extremely adorable. Even though he sounds really tiny and he is, he really doesn't look too small. (probably just prespective) He looks a lot like Liberty did when she was born. He definitely has the Bell nose and mouth, but his eyes look like they are more shaped like mine, plus he has a my earlobes (Richards are attached). Most important though, He is doing GREAT! He is totally off oxygen and breathing on his own, and just has an IV in and is being closely monitored in the NICU. We get to go see him a few times a day (whenever we want really). We like to go see him when the nurses feed and change him and we usually get to hold him and help with those things. The doctors and nurses tell me he is a little fighter and keep telling me how well he is doing. His billirubin was up, so in some of the pictures it's bluish, which is just a special light that helps him get better. He sucks on a pacifier really well which surprised me and is really adorable too. It will help when he starts eating without help (he has a little feeding tube that goes up his nose down to his little tummy). It's interesting learning about the differences in preemie babies. Some of the things that feel natural to do with a newborn aren't recommended with preemies since they need to use all their energy to grow. Rocking them and stroking and rubbing aren't recommended and its hard not to do those things. Holding him and touching him without stroking and talking to him are good though, so it's not as if we there isn't any interaction.

I am doing really well NOW. It has certainly been an interesting and hard week in every way. I get to go home tomorrow though. It's amazing how my body seemed to get better just by getting little Elliot out of me. I was diagnosed with severe preclampisa before Elliot was born and then it changed to another severe form of preclampsia called HELLP after I delivered because my liver enzymes went really high and my blood platelets went really low combined with the high blood pressure. They did transfusions on me that came from Salt Lake. It was pretty crazy and horrible and I am soooooooooooo glad that everything is pretty much back to normal now. The doctors are pretty confused at why this happened to me since really there was no warning signs or risk factors. I guess I am just special and now I will be at higher risk for any future pregnancies (which will probably be a long way away after this ordeal, as much as I love this little guy it has been the hardest thing in the world). I also have decided that nurses are the closest thing on earth to angels. I don't know how they do it and how they can seem so happy and calm and helpful all the time when the things they are dealing with would both stress me out and gross me out. I love them and am serious about how angelic they are.

Liberty has been doing well in spite of all the craziness. I can tell she misses me and I miss her so much. A few hours a day in a weird room mostly sitting in a hospital bed is not enough time for me. I know it's been good for my body and stress level to be here recovering but it is also really hard to be away from home and to try to let her know why I am here. My mom and Richard and the Andrus/Higginsons has all been great help.

update-ish and weird dr story

So the only things I can get on to are email and blogger, so it kind of cuts out time wasters like facebook and pinterest, which is a little annoying and I get a litte bored. I did a quick update on Facebook using Julie's phone yesterday and now I'm curious to see the million responses that I'm sure have entrailed. Well, most family know the little bit of updates we've had (which aren't much today). The drs are pretty baffled by my body. My blood tests have gone back to normal levels, I don't have any more pain, I don't fit any of the normal risk factors for pre-clampsia, etc, but then the 24 hr urine tests were off the charts for severe preclampsia. (300-5000 is considered preclampsia, anything above 5000 is severe, I was in the 6000 range). Today, since I had been doing so well otherwise they cut my magnesium dosage down in 1/2 today, which was wonderful. It made me really weak and contributed to the blurred vision, which is much better now. It was really a relaxing day. Libby and my mom came for a few hours this morning which was awesome. Brittany and Evalyn stopped by for a bit and Richard came for awhile (where we were once again unsuccessful at naming this child). I watched some movies and was generally pampered all day by the wonderful nursing staff. Last night I got a blessing and all the drs and nurses have been pretty reassuring and good at explaining things to me so I feel pretty calm about the whole ordeal and I feel like everything is going to be fine. My blood pressure is still a bit higher than normal, but mostly stablizing, and I feel pretty relaxed. The day went by really fast.

So one of the drs here is really socially awkward and has horrible bedside manner. One of the times he was asking how I was doing he started asking me about heartburn. During my 1st pregnancy I had horrible heartburn everynight for more than 1/2 the pregnancy. This pregnancy, I've had a little but not every night and not as bad on the nights i've had it. I explained this to the dr when he asked and he wanted to know what I took for it (tums). Then he wanted to prescribe something a little better that would be more effective and was trying to tell me the horrible stabbing pain I had was related to my heartburn and he was going to get me medicine. I was confused and insisted this was not heartburn. Luckily no one ever brought me any heartburn meds b/c I would have probably refused. He also will just stare at me for long periods of time without saying anything, it's super awkward and I witnesses who agree to the uncomfortablness, so it's not just me being awkward. Yesterday I think it was, he came in and stared at me for awhile when I had a bunch of visitors here and finally was like "so you're feeling good now?". The nurse was standing right there and promptly replied "look at her, does she look like she's feeling good? no, she feels like crap!" it made me laugh a little and I'm glad she was there. It's not like I was dying in pain or anything, but obviously I'm not feeling great if I'm in the hospital on bedrest. I don't think he really said anything else the whole time he was here either. It was weird. Anyways, the other dr I see is much more relateable and easy to talk to, so I'm trying to request him to deliver me. I'm sure they are both competent and good doctors, just one may lack a few social skills.

the kids room

I know Libby will be a good sister. She loves her babies and is always making sure they are wrapped up and fed and their hair brushed, etc. I love seeing her snuggle them. So cute.

Somebody really liked graham crackers with frosting on them. Any guesses who?

I'm really liking how the kids room has turned out, so far. I made the curtains, crib sheet and bumper and repainted the bookcase (not pictured) and dresser. We found the rug at Ikea (which I realized is not pictured, but it's royal blue and kind of shag) and Libby's bedding is from Grandma Sue and Grandpa Coplan, which obviously is a big hit with this Elmo fan. It's a fun bright room and I like it.

Trick or Treat?

I clearly remember always choosing treat in this situation, but today has not turned out quite like that. But first we will show some fun treats and Halloween festivities b/c Libby is cute. Monday for FHE we carved a pumpkin. Richard was unfortunately gone for most of Halloween festivities b/c his Geology class had a field trip early Thursday morning till late Saturday night. They went down to Utah and dug for fossils and camped, etc. Anyways, Saturday we Libby and I got to trick or treat around a little shopping center in Rexburg with the Higginsons and Andrus's. Libby was pretty thrilled about the candy and free cookies, apple cider, and pumpkin bread (I was too, delicious). We got to see some cool pumpkins and other kids dressed up. Libby was creeped out a bit by a lady dressed up as a witch, but mostly enjoyed it. Later we had our ward Halloween party which was pretty fun, I got a few pictures of that.

Liberty LOVES pumpkins. She will talk about them all day, I'm serious. We can't go out the door without saying hi to the pumpkin.

She enjoyed playing with the pumpkin guts but was too afraid to stick her hand in the pumpkin

Ward Halloween party in her Monkey costume

All the one year olds loved the pumpkin bowling set up and carried the paper towel bowling pins around the room. Libby actually rolled the pumpkin over to them and would knock them down one at a time.

The bean bag toss was a huge hit for the toddlers as well. This is LIbby with her best friends Jace and Evalyn

Libby is "helping" me make chocolate sugar cookies for our halloween play group party to take place Halloween morning. After she punched a shape in, she immediately tried to grab some dough to eat.

Picture from the Halloween party at our house. (that I sadly had to miss)

Me and Libby yesterday Oct 30, before any tricks happened. I can't access facebook to put up a picture of me in my awesome costume, so maybe i'll add it later.

SO on to the TRICKS. (sorry if it's jumbled, I'm on drugs and it's pretty late) Halloween morning around 1:45 am I woke up, which isn't terribly unusual b/c this happens a million times a night b/c being pregnant is very uncomfortable. At first I thought I was hungry, it had been quite awhile since I'd eaten anything, so I went to eat a bagel. After walking to the kitchen I felt like someone stabbed me in the gut (not the preggo belly, but just above). It hurt so bad. I thought it was a sudden onset of the flu or something b/c I had that a couple months ago and I did feel pretty nauseus. After a couple minutes I decided this was not the flu and woke Richard up. He called the dr and gave me a blessing. The dr wanted me to come in in the morning, but said if it got worse we could go to the ER. I tried to lay down and get comfy and walked around a bunch b/c I felt like my heart was racing. After an hour I told Richard I couldn't handle it any more and we were going to the hospital. Luckily we have great friends who are willing to come sleep on our couch at 3:30 am so we didn't have to wake up sweet Libby. My blood pressure was really really high (which it's never been) when I got in and I was in a ton of pain. (way worse than labor with Libby). They didn't want to give me any meds till they did labs and waited for the dr. I think it was about 2 more hours and I was not myself. Once I got some meds though, I felt like a person again. At first they thought it had to do with my liver and was  form of pre-clampsia called HELLP, which can be really serious and dangerous. I'm not sure exactly why it was ruled out, but now they have decided it is Toxemia which basically means my body is fighting the pregnancy. The drs said this is weird since i have already had a kid, I guess it's more normal for a first pregnancy and basically all the other risk factors do not fit my situation at all, guess I'm just special. The whole time though the baby has been fine, moving around with a nice strong heartbeat. He's a little trooper. So I am probably going to have this baby sometime tomorrow. My blood pressure has been all over the place today and my kidneys are leaking too much protein in the urine. I don't really think I can explain everything b/c most of it has gone over my head. It's been quite the stressful day and definitly not what I had on my agenda for the week. It was kind of weird b/c last week i felt like I really shoudl read up about c-sections just in case. I've talked about them with people who've had them, but really never read exactly what they do when they cut you open. I know they are pretty routine and I wasn't worried about it too much, but I feel better having read what I did, especially b/c that is most likely the route we'll take this week.
The little dude still needs a name, but I'm sure it will come. He'll be 6 1/2 weeks early and probably weigh around 4 lbs and have to be in the NICU for 2-4 weeks so he can finish developing. I got a steroid shot earlier today to help his lungs develop faster and they said that should really speed up his time in the NICU.  I can't wait to see the little guy even if we aren't even close to being ready for him. Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll stay inside me for a few more weeks.
I sure miss Libby though. I only saw her for a few minutes today which is sure a change from my day. I am so thankful to have great friends to watch her and also am so happy she's such an easy going kid and was so good for everyone today. Oh and I'm very very happy my mom was able to switch her schedule around and is coming tomorrow to help out. We are pretty lucky around here.