Lily woke up in a wet bed. A diarrea wet bed. A really stinky bed. She was smiling, but she was sssssstinnnnnnnnky. And she was coughing. Not a drank-my-bottle-a-bit-wrong kind of cough -- a deep, chunky-sounding cough. And her nose was runny. Yeh, after a YEAR without so much as a stuffy nose, we have ONE party and BAM they are both sick. Evie was coughing too, though no diarrea show yet. They are in decent spirits, their fevers are gone, but now they are coughing and that is really sucky. Poor kids can't have cough meds like Mommy and Daddy, only dratty Tylenol for fevers or pain and of COURSE they can't TELL me if their throats start hurting from coughing or something! ARGH. You can't get around a first birthday party, but aside from the nice presents and company seeing and enjoying the girls, THIS is the result of ours.
Since this is the first time I've dealt with sick kids, I have NO IDEA what I'm doing. I'm just really trying to keep things normal. Eating, drinking, playing. Intermingled with the I-sound-like-I-have-a-smoker's-hack cough. Now we'll see just how developed their lungs really are. I'm more worried about Evie, since she was our O2-crazy baby in NICU with her BPD. Luckily she seems a bit better now. But it's nearly impossible to keep them away from each other. They play with the same toys, and it isn't easy to prevent it. At this point, i doubt it's worth trying since they both appear to already be sick. I guess the fever was just the start. But when they are better, I guess all these toys are going in the bathtub for a for serious disinfection!
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
First time for everything!
Well the girls made it a full year before getting sick. Lily got sick at 3 a.m. on her actual birthday with a 102 fever. Tylenol knocked it down, but she was miserable and we got little sleep. It lasted about 24 hours, and she would only sleep on someone, but she ate well. The doctor said it was probably a virus and to just keep up the Tylenol. Fast forward to last night at 3 a.m. Evie woke up and had a 102 fever! Hers seems to have lasted less than 24 hours. We hit it with Tylenol pretty fast and she napped a lot today, but wasn't nearly as clingy as Lily. All in all, i think their first illness went "well" if you can call it that!!
As for their first speech therapy session, since Lily was sick that day it was mostly just Evie. The therapist was a very bubbly woman and fell in love with the girls. She fed Eve and told me that she has a good bite and good tone. She can maneuver her tongue well and seems to have no trouble with the stage 3 baby food we tried her on. She is confused with the new textures, but doesn't choke and gag. She told me to try letting the girls bite pieces of cracker *i.e. saltines...* and work on adding some lumps to their pureed food. So we've been doing that. She also said to try adding one more "solid" meal a day. As for the "speech" part, she said to repeat words over and over and over again. Drop a toy and keep saying "bang" or something or other. Same thing with "Mama" and "Dada" and to always call them by their name, not "honey" or "baby" or "sweetie" until they learn their names, which they seem to be having a spot of trouble with!
The physical therapist was impressed with how much they had improved since the evaluation. They are now cruising along the couch and Evie was pushing their activity table and walking along behind it. They can put a ball into a toy of theirs and push it through a holeover and over again. They can also stand with one foot on a toy or a book, and not fall over. And they can kneel upright without any support. So they are doing really well. They can balance without any support for maybe a 5 count, but that's not too shabby.
In other news, I might be starting a full time job -- from home. My old newspaper called me and mentioned the possibility. It would involve some feature-writing, pagination/editing/layout, and would, after 4 months, include full benefits. That is KEY. We want to have more children, but can't afford to pay for a pregnancy/delivery out of pocket. The job would pay about $28-30,000 a year. I would have to go to the office for meetings, probably once a week and go in a few times a week for a bit to send pages to press. But the rest would be from home. The only issue barring it now is whether they can acquire the laptop I'd need to paginate with. I have been thinking though, that it might be worthwhile to purchase my own if they can't because I'll be gaining a good salary for very little investment in the scheme of things. But hopefully they will be able to get one out of the budget! So I'll keep you up to date on the news there!
As for their first speech therapy session, since Lily was sick that day it was mostly just Evie. The therapist was a very bubbly woman and fell in love with the girls. She fed Eve and told me that she has a good bite and good tone. She can maneuver her tongue well and seems to have no trouble with the stage 3 baby food we tried her on. She is confused with the new textures, but doesn't choke and gag. She told me to try letting the girls bite pieces of cracker *i.e. saltines...* and work on adding some lumps to their pureed food. So we've been doing that. She also said to try adding one more "solid" meal a day. As for the "speech" part, she said to repeat words over and over and over again. Drop a toy and keep saying "bang" or something or other. Same thing with "Mama" and "Dada" and to always call them by their name, not "honey" or "baby" or "sweetie" until they learn their names, which they seem to be having a spot of trouble with!
The physical therapist was impressed with how much they had improved since the evaluation. They are now cruising along the couch and Evie was pushing their activity table and walking along behind it. They can put a ball into a toy of theirs and push it through a holeover and over again. They can also stand with one foot on a toy or a book, and not fall over. And they can kneel upright without any support. So they are doing really well. They can balance without any support for maybe a 5 count, but that's not too shabby.
In other news, I might be starting a full time job -- from home. My old newspaper called me and mentioned the possibility. It would involve some feature-writing, pagination/editing/layout, and would, after 4 months, include full benefits. That is KEY. We want to have more children, but can't afford to pay for a pregnancy/delivery out of pocket. The job would pay about $28-30,000 a year. I would have to go to the office for meetings, probably once a week and go in a few times a week for a bit to send pages to press. But the rest would be from home. The only issue barring it now is whether they can acquire the laptop I'd need to paginate with. I have been thinking though, that it might be worthwhile to purchase my own if they can't because I'll be gaining a good salary for very little investment in the scheme of things. But hopefully they will be able to get one out of the budget! So I'll keep you up to date on the news there!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Our First Birthday party
First is a little photo story of our birthday party yesterday. (Our actual birthday is Wednesday...) There aren't many pictures of gift opening and whatnot because it was a CRAZY mess of kids handing me presents and trying to stop Lily and Eve from eating the paper strewn about. We also didnt' get too many people pictures. Or many pictures in general! But here is a little bit of their special day! When I have more time (working tonight) I'll try to write more about it.
And next is a video of the girls' cake-eating antics!
And next is a video of the girls' cake-eating antics!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Happy Mother's Day!
To all you moms out there -- I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day! (Debra, hope your little ones weren't still sick with RSV...) We had a good day. Went to my sister-in-law's house and celebrated with them and both sets of grandparents. I got a few things from Eric, Lily and Eve -- including a necklace with the girls' birthstone, kind of as a place holder because Eric wanted to get something with two of their birthstone and two with our birthstone, to represent the whole family! They match so well too, with the girls being dark green (emerald) and ours being light green (peridot)!
And if that wasn't enough, Lily can now cruise along the couch. Slowly, but she does it. And Evie can stand up without holding on or being held for about 5 seconds. She needs balance work, but that is definitely progress. Lily doesn't do as well at that as she will fling herself forward to grab onto me when I try to let her go! They are so cute though. And their birthday is 9 days away!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Can't believe it.
One year ago May 11 I was admitted to the hospital with the girls and I still really can't believe it has been that long already. It feels like yesterday in some respects, though thankfully a majority of the NICU is a blur. Unfortunately, the parts that aren't a blur are the WORST parts of it...and I would love to forget those.
Anyway, I promised a blog post about fanfiction, so here is a little bit about that for those who are interested. I started writing fanfiction back in middle school, when I was an avid SeaQuest fan. Basically, it is where fans take the show, movie, book, comic book, etc, and use those established characters, settings, sometimes even plots, and change them to their liking. Some are short pieces, others, like one of my Lord of the Rings pieces, are 100,000 words or more. They are so much fun to read and write! Currently I have posted online stories from Star Wars, from when I was MUCH younger, and stories from Lord of the Rings, Dukes of Hazzard and Pirates of the Carribbean, from more recent years. Some of mine are unfinished and might never BE finished. Others are complete. I post at www.fanfiction.net under the screenname Gwenneth. My old fics are under the name rialin2032. I love that site because so many visit it and I love to get reviews from readers. I have written for a few other places, but that is the most accessible. I'm working ona few more Star Wars fics, in the Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith time period. I'm also working on a few Harry Potter stories. I'm a HUGE fan of Draco turning good stories, so those are predominantly what I write.
Anyone who wants more info can always comment or e-mail me! It's a great deal of fun and very relaxing for me.
And if that wasn't enough, Lily can now cruise along the couch. Slowly, but she does it. And Evie can stand up without holding on or being held for about 5 seconds. She needs balance work, but that is definitely progress. Lily doesn't do as well at that as she will fling herself forward to grab onto me when I try to let her go! They are so cute though. And their birthday is 9 days away!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Can't believe it.
One year ago May 11 I was admitted to the hospital with the girls and I still really can't believe it has been that long already. It feels like yesterday in some respects, though thankfully a majority of the NICU is a blur. Unfortunately, the parts that aren't a blur are the WORST parts of it...and I would love to forget those.
Anyway, I promised a blog post about fanfiction, so here is a little bit about that for those who are interested. I started writing fanfiction back in middle school, when I was an avid SeaQuest fan. Basically, it is where fans take the show, movie, book, comic book, etc, and use those established characters, settings, sometimes even plots, and change them to their liking. Some are short pieces, others, like one of my Lord of the Rings pieces, are 100,000 words or more. They are so much fun to read and write! Currently I have posted online stories from Star Wars, from when I was MUCH younger, and stories from Lord of the Rings, Dukes of Hazzard and Pirates of the Carribbean, from more recent years. Some of mine are unfinished and might never BE finished. Others are complete. I post at www.fanfiction.net under the screenname Gwenneth. My old fics are under the name rialin2032. I love that site because so many visit it and I love to get reviews from readers. I have written for a few other places, but that is the most accessible. I'm working ona few more Star Wars fics, in the Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith time period. I'm also working on a few Harry Potter stories. I'm a HUGE fan of Draco turning good stories, so those are predominantly what I write.
Anyone who wants more info can always comment or e-mail me! It's a great deal of fun and very relaxing for me.
Friday, May 9, 2008
This question thingy
I'm bored, figured I'd participate...
4 things I was doing 10 years ago (1998):
♥ I was still in high school, didn't graduate until 2000
♥ In April of 98 I began my training in Tae Kwon Do (I'm a third degree black belt now)
♥ Preparing for a band trip to Germany that would last two weeks (ended up being totally awesome!)
♥ I turned 16 that August
4 things I was doing 5 years ago (2003):
♥ bought our first house that November
♥ turned 21 in August and went to Ozzfest in Pennsylvania that day
♥ got my second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do
♥ working hard at college on my journalism degree
4 things I did yesterday
:♥ had a horrid migraine and slept a lot
♥ wrote a little of my fanfiction story
♥ started making my mother's day presents for my mom and mom-in-law
♥ rocked a cranky, teething baby to sleep
4 shows I love to watch: (since I don't have television, I don't watch tv regularly, but I love these series')
♥ the pretender
♥ hannah montana
♥ seaquest
♥ dukes of hazzard
4 things that make me really happy:
♥ going into the nursery in the morning and finding both my girls standing in the cribs and having them laugh and smile at me
♥ a hike in the spring when all the green starts to show on the trees
♥ reading a wonderful fanfiction story
♥ getting reviews on stories i've written
I'm not going to tag anyone as most people I visit in the blogosphere have already done this. But if you haven't, do it if you want to and consider yourself tagged!
4 things I was doing 10 years ago (1998):
♥ I was still in high school, didn't graduate until 2000
♥ In April of 98 I began my training in Tae Kwon Do (I'm a third degree black belt now)
♥ Preparing for a band trip to Germany that would last two weeks (ended up being totally awesome!)
♥ I turned 16 that August
4 things I was doing 5 years ago (2003):
♥ bought our first house that November
♥ turned 21 in August and went to Ozzfest in Pennsylvania that day
♥ got my second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do
♥ working hard at college on my journalism degree
4 things I did yesterday
:♥ had a horrid migraine and slept a lot
♥ wrote a little of my fanfiction story
♥ started making my mother's day presents for my mom and mom-in-law
♥ rocked a cranky, teething baby to sleep
4 shows I love to watch: (since I don't have television, I don't watch tv regularly, but I love these series')
♥ the pretender
♥ hannah montana
♥ seaquest
♥ dukes of hazzard
4 things that make me really happy:
♥ going into the nursery in the morning and finding both my girls standing in the cribs and having them laugh and smile at me
♥ a hike in the spring when all the green starts to show on the trees
♥ reading a wonderful fanfiction story
♥ getting reviews on stories i've written
I'm not going to tag anyone as most people I visit in the blogosphere have already done this. But if you haven't, do it if you want to and consider yourself tagged!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Not much time...
I wanted to update quickly. EI came and we are definitely qualified for speech therapy. The girls both performed at a 3-6 month level in that area. There was a 15 percent delay and a 20 percent delay in the gross motor skills area. Both girls were age appropriate in fine motor skills (they corrected to 10 months for their prematurity). All in all it wasn't bad and the women were really surprised how well-behaved LIly and Eve are, but we knew that! We will have a meeting to discuss the therapy. The PT lady was going to talk to the service coordinator about PT for hte girls but because they weren't delayed 25 percent, but 15 and 20, they TECHNICALLY don't qualify.
AND a new video to enjoy!
AND a new video to enjoy!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
On the Move
It's been a while since that post with Lily's first crawl and BOY are the girls completely different kids already! Now they both crawl, both can kneel and play with toys, both can stand on their own at the gates or in bed, and both are advancing in leaps and bounds with their play. I swear, Early Intervention, who is coming tomorrow afternoon, is going to find that in the month since the referral, the kids have completely changed. Maybe even caught up!
And their first birthday is right around the corner. For those family and close friends who read this, YOU'RE INVITED, even if you didn't get an invitation yet. (Because I haven't had a chance to send any...) The party is May 17, a Saturday, at 2 p.m. at our house. You can get their later if you so desire, but not much earlier if you can help it! Anyone is free to bring some food if you like, as well, though there will be food there.
Back to the babies. Let's see, they can both hold their own bottles now, though we are still behind in terms of chewing anything. Perhaps they'll be far enough behind in speech to qualify for a speech therapist! I wouldn't mind as I don't have a clue how to help them learn that. I mean, I look like a cow chewing grass trying to show them how to move their mouths. And all they do is smile and laugh at you!
They are definitely a lot more fun now that they can play. They have gotten good at picking up little tiny things, and so we ahve to be extra careful in the house now. They still beeline for the dog food dish if they get out of the corral we use to block them into one and half rooms of the downstairs. We can put things in and take things out of boxes and toy bins now too, which is nice, so they can pull out their own toys if they really want to.
All right, back to work now...I've got a deadline to meet!
And their first birthday is right around the corner. For those family and close friends who read this, YOU'RE INVITED, even if you didn't get an invitation yet. (Because I haven't had a chance to send any...) The party is May 17, a Saturday, at 2 p.m. at our house. You can get their later if you so desire, but not much earlier if you can help it! Anyone is free to bring some food if you like, as well, though there will be food there.
Back to the babies. Let's see, they can both hold their own bottles now, though we are still behind in terms of chewing anything. Perhaps they'll be far enough behind in speech to qualify for a speech therapist! I wouldn't mind as I don't have a clue how to help them learn that. I mean, I look like a cow chewing grass trying to show them how to move their mouths. And all they do is smile and laugh at you!
They are definitely a lot more fun now that they can play. They have gotten good at picking up little tiny things, and so we ahve to be extra careful in the house now. They still beeline for the dog food dish if they get out of the corral we use to block them into one and half rooms of the downstairs. We can put things in and take things out of boxes and toy bins now too, which is nice, so they can pull out their own toys if they really want to.
All right, back to work now...I've got a deadline to meet!
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