Reflux...

Elliott has been diagnosed with reflux. His spitting up was getting really bad - several outfits a day for him and us. He was also doing a lot of arching and crying during and after feedings. I had him to the doctor on Wednesday and she suggested several things that we could try - ex. keeping him upright for 45 minutes after a feeding, leaving him in his car seat or bouncy seat, etc. Dr. Ginsburg said that the reflux can trigger the apnea and since we had seen an increase in the apnea alarms she suggested medication. So we did - he started on Previcaid on Wednesday evening and WHAT A DIFFERENCE! It had gotten so bad that for 2-3 nights in a row, he cried from 11 - 4am - but the second night on the meds he slept from 11-5:45! Last night he ate at 9 and slept till 6:45! YOWZAA!!!! He is spitting up and crying less - his feedings are much smoother and don't take near as long. His apnea episodes have decreased as well.

Thursday, Neighborcare - the monitor company, came out to download Elliott's monitor. Karl (our rep) said that the pulminologist would have the information by Tuesday and that we could call to speed up the process. He said that it could take 2-3 weeks for our pediatrician to get the results but that by calling we could speed things up. He also said that with preemies the apnea alarms can be false because they can breath really shallow. As you can imagine we are very eager to hear the results.

Deep fried and on a stick...

We ventured out yet again... to the Maryland Renaissance Festival. It was a gorgeous day here - high of 72. This morning Eric said that we should do something outside and went online to check out the local happenings... Ren Fest! We hadn't been in years, probably since before we were married. We knew Pacey would have a blast, we told her that where we were going she would be able to see princesses - not Disney princesses - "you mean like statues?" - no - "you mean real live princesses?!?!?" - yes! She looked adorable (as usual) in her Disney princesses shirt, jeans, and tennies. I did her hair "like a princess" in double knots... super cute.

We had lots of fun, we enjoyed bits and pieces of lots of shows - kids sing-along and story time, juggling, tournament of champions (knights on horses)... Pacey and I waited in line for 30+ minutes to ride an ELEPHANT!!! We bought Pacey a princess hat and had her face painted with a purple unicorn. She got to meet Robin Hood and Maid Marion - he called out to her as they were walking by - "Dear Princess, I like your hat!"

Elliott tagged along in his snuggli carrier and stroller - he slept the entire time.

We ate our way through the whole place - Eric was so excited - reading all the different food signs... we ended up with fish-n-chips, chicken dippers, fried cheese, fried sweet potato sticks, fried ice-cream, sweet nuts, several sodas, and one hard core cider - sounds like the Very Hungry Caterpillar! We were amazed at how many things were offered on sticks and/or deep fried - steak, cream puffs, chocolate covered cheese cakes, chocolate covered bananas, pickles, mac-n-cheese (on a stick?!), cheese, peppers... Mom called us while we here eating some fried cheese and asked if we wanted to come for dinner - I said, "are you serving deep fried things on sticks?"

Enjoy the pictures...

I am sad...

Tuesday was Elliott's original due date... September 16th. I guess I was hoping for a miracle, we were told that his apnea and need for a monitor would likely go away with maturity - meaning by the time he reached his 40 week gestational age. Yes, the doctor told us give or take a few weeks but since his monitor had not gone off since Sunday I thought we were home free... well, it just went off and every time it does, it breaks my heart. I don't understand how he can go days with breathing fine and then have an episode where he stops breathing.

There seems to be some confusion among friends and family with this monitor - so here is the deal.

Elliott is hooked up to an apnea monitor - 24/7 - the monitor records his heart rate and respiration's. If/when he goes longer than 16 seconds without taking a breath, an alarm sounds - one beep for every second he does not take a breath. Our role in this situation is to touch him to trigger a breath, tho some times he takes a breath before we can get to him - likely startled by the alarm. The monitor also goes off if/when his leads come loose. He wears two adhesive leads on either side of his chest - next to his nipples... this alarm goes off all the time - it is a constant beep to alert us to re-adhere the leads.

The monitor company will come out once a month (they have not been out yet) to download the information from the monitor. They will send the info to a pulminologist (sp) who will read and interpret the info and send a report and recommendation to our pediatrician who will in turn let us know what is going on. We have already been told that he will be on the monitor for a month after his last true episode. It is the pulminologist's job to determine the true episodes. Our hope is that these episodes are not true apnea but that is really wishful thinking.

I survived...hey, hey!

Well, Eric went back to work this week - I was not thrilled but I did survive...

Sunday we discovered that Pacey was not thrilled with being a big sister. I asked her if she was glad that she was a big sister and she said, "not really"

GASP! "Well, what would happen if you weren't a big sister?"

"You would have to get things for yourself!"

"What about the baby?"

"If you were holding the baby, Daddy could just get things for you!"

So, it isn't that she doesn't like him, she just is not thrilled with helping us... so off to Grammy and Grandpa's for a sleepover and a much needed break from her brother.

Monday - Mom and Pacey came to the house pretty early and we hung out here all day. When Eric got home we took our first family trip to the Super Wal Mart - yes, 4 acres is too much store when you are healing from a c-section, but it was worth the pain to get out of the house... with my bedrest, I had not been anywhere but drs. appointments and the hospital in 6+ weeks.

Tuesday - Eric took Pacey to school and Elliott and I survived a day at home on our own.

Wednesday - Mom came up and after several hours of prep - we embarked on our first mall trip. We packed up the kids and headed to the mall - it felt great to be back at the mall - you all know how I love to shop, and so I did... we also ate lunch at the new Austin Grill - tex mex - yum!

Thursday - Eric took Pacey to school and I had several hours to get ready before my 1:15 Buckson appointment... I am pleased to say that I made it there in one piece and on time! She continues to be pleased with my incision draining and is sure the antibiotics will take care of my infection - oh, yeah, I forgot to post that my incision is infected - yay :-/

Friday - would have been my first day home with 2 children, but my good friend Debbie called and said that she would take Pacey for a couple of hours. They went to the park and to McDonald's for lunch- somehow Pacey came home with 3 happy meal toys...hmmmm?

Here are some pics from the week...

Me and my boys...

Pacey, Grammy, and Elliott at Austin Grill.

Mommy's little super star!

Cute but crabby...

Hail to the Redskins...

Well the Skins did not look too hot in their season opener against the Giants but Pacey and Elliott sure did...

Big Sister

While I was in the hospital, Pacey stayed pretty busy with sleepovers at Grammy and Grandpas.


They enjoyed a boat ride and harvested Grandpa's grapes. They even took Jack to the groomer's for the first time.


Enjoy the pics...

two birds...

I just sent an email to my friend and co-worker, Jen... thought I would just cut and paste it here and kill two birds with one stone.

Hi... carrie update... baby boy came home on thursday of last week, he is on a heart/respiration monitor which drives us crazy... it goes off more often for loose connections then it does for a true apnea episode... we were told he would be on it for at least a month after his last true episode... i am a mess... thought i was getting better, monday i was home alone with the babe, eric and pacey were running errands... i was in bed and started to bleed from my incision, thought i would bleed out and die, called 911 and went for an ambulance ride - fun! turns out i have a lot of blood pooled in my lower abdomen and it will either be reabsorbed by my body or, if it can find a way out, it does... so, i was not going to die. went back to ob on tuesday for staple removal - she sent me for a sonogram to check my lower belly - still lots of blood but she does not want to go back in... told me it would either drain or reabsorb but that i could push on my belly to make it bleed - uhh, no thanks... going back to ob today, baby boy goes for 2 week check up tomorrow...eric goes back to work on monday... pray for me!