Everyone's Excited to Finally hold Brooklyn

The day after we brought Brooklyn home from the hospital Tia brought our kids home. They all came rushing in to hold Brooklyn. Everyone had to have their turn.

Mason came with them and was privileged to be the first cousin to hold her.

Tia/Granny holding her 12th grand-kid.

Sara gets to be a big sister now. Look at that smile!

This is the sweet spot for Granny's kisses.

Kaylee Bug is so excited to have a baby in the house.

Rachel's not sure how excited to be as she gets closer to babysitting age. ;-)

Bryant has decided he is excited, even if it is ANOTHER girl.

Brooklyn in the NICU

After they took Brooklyn to the nursery to bathe her and such they discovered that her oxygen levels were not as high as they should be and she started to have shallow rapid breathing, so they put her in an oxygen tent to try and turn things around. Also, while they were bathing her one of the nurses noticed a click sound in her hip. Knowing my family history of hip dysplasia the doctor took a second look and also found a click so he ordered an ultrasound of her hip to check it out. They waited to do the ultrasound until she was unhooked from the machines but when it was done the ultrasound tech didn't find anything abnormal. Whew what a relief!

Eventually they told us she had wet lung, which is where she still has some fluid in her lungs and is having trouble getting it all out. Her oxygen levels would go up a little and then come back down, but hey couldn’t get her levels to stay up. After a while of the tent they tried putting an oxygen mask over her face and eventually hooked her up to a C-Pap machine in hopes that a little pressure forcing the air into her lungs might help to open the air sacs in her lungs and enable her to breathe more deeply and get rid of the rest of the fluid.

Paul and family came by to see us in the hospital and take Kaylee back with them to spend the night with Anastasia. A few minutes after they got there Sam and Tia Silvey brought our other kids by to see us and the baby. Unfortunately they could only view her through the window of the NICU (somehow we're missing that picture too, but I know someone took a picture of that group). Our kids were so disappointed that they didn't get to hold her when they came, but they weren't downhearted for too long I'm sure. They had lots of fun at Granny and Papa's. (Thanks Sam and Tia!)

The tube coming out of her mouth went into her lungs to help drain the fluid.

I hated peeling those stickers off when we got home.

It was hard not having her in the room with us so we went to the NICU to visit her often. We were both relieved when they finally took the c-pap machine off and we could hold her.

You can see all the stuff taped onto her left hand. She had wires dangling everywhere. We had to be careful when we were holding her so we didn't unplug anything.

(I think she looks just like Sara in this picture.)

We didn't know until 7pm on the 27th that we were for sure going to be able to take her home with us. They took her off the c-pap that morning and brought her to our room about lunchtime since her oxygen was staying high enough. They checked her again at 3pm and 7pm before giving us the go ahead to take her home with us. We were both very relieved and ready to be home and really snuggle our baby.

Brooklyn Opal Silvey

I know, we are way overdue for some pictures and blog entries so here we go... Hopefully now that I can access our pictures through my laptop we can do a better job at keeping this thing up to date. (Here's hoping right? ;-)

We are now a family of seven. Brooklyn joined our family June 25th. I still can’t believe she’s finally here. We got to the hospital at 2pm on the 25th. I invited my sister, Michele, to be there at the hospital with us. I wished I had known what to expect with my first one so I offered her the chance. It was fun to have her there. Well, they started the Pitocin at about 3:15pm and things started. I was dilated to a 3 when we got there and at about 6:45 they gave me the epidural and checked me again. I was only dilated to a 4. Since it seemed like we were going to be there for a while I sent Caleb and Michele back to our house to grab a cable so we could play movies on his laptop and watch them on the TV in room, also, to get Michele some dinner. The nurse came in about an hour after the epidural to put a catheter in. As she was raising the bed back up she looked at the monitor and said, “It looks like we may be getting some head compression. I’d better check you.” She lowered the bed back down and checked me and exclaimed, “You’re complete. We’d better call the doctor.” Just then Caleb and Michele walked into the room, thankfully. The nurse made the call and started setting up for the doctor. Thankfully the doctor hurried and I didn't have to wait too long for him. My epidural didn't work very well at all and this was definitely the most painful pushing of all my kids.

True to form I only had to push a few times and she was out so the pain didn't last too long. She was born at 8:27pm, only about 5 hours after they started the Pitocin. Since Caleb doesn't cut the umbilical cord the doctor let me do it. I really liked my new doctor. I felt like he actually talked to me and involved me in the delivery process more than just telling me when to push.

Now, on to the pictures...

Somehow this one posted out of place and I'm not going to take the time to fix it so deal. ha. My dad and Benjamin Gibson (somehow we missed that picture, sorry Benjamin) came to the hospital soon after the delivery and got to hold baby Brooklyn.

It took her a little bit to cry and when she did it wasn't a whole lot, which was a nice change from Sara who everyone could hear.

When Brooklyn was born she was 20 inches long and weighed 8lbs 2oz.

Brooklyn and Daddy. I thank my Father in Heaven for blessing my life with such an amazing man!

Yes, we are so happy she's here.

Michele was "blessed" ;-) to be a part of the process. She said she was glad she came. Hopefully she isn't too traumatized by the whole process.


Hopefully this is the first of many entries to come you just may have to be a bit patient. Life with five children is already crazy busy, but I wouldn't trade it for anything! Also, I've realized as I have been looking through our pictures that we have totally failed in that department this time around with everything else going on. So, if you have any good pictures with Brooklyn please send them our way. Thanks.

Almost Done...

Almost Done...

Doctors..... It's a love - hate relationship...

We have been to the doctor so many times over the last few months I'm really getting tired of it all. I'm so glad we have that option and so very thankful for the blessings of a close and well meaning medical profession, but I've lost count of our recent visits. We have been multiple times for my pregnancy and the girls eczema, in addition to our regular chiropractor visits. We also had to take Bryant last month for an allergic reaction to something that manifested itself in hives that stuck around for a week. Then, we had to take Rachel to insta-care for swollen hands and what was later diagnosed as eczema herpeticus (viral infection in the ecaema skin) with a secondary bacterial infection in the ecaema skin. And, what do ya know, yesterday we were back again with Sara. What the crap is going on!?! Sara ate some store bought trail mix and within half an hour her eye was swelling and had the start of hives. She started crying and complaining that her stomach hurt. While I was trying to console her and decide what to do she threw up all over herself, me, the couch, and the floor. That decided it... a quick clean up and we're off to the doctor's again. After checking her airway and lungs to make sure breathing wasn't impaired we were told to give her benadryl and treat her symptoms. We're still not sure what exactly set it off, but she is doing much better today. At least we didn't have to go to insta-care again. I guess we're making up for all our healthy years, right?
Please keep us in your prayers so that all the allergy and eczema stuff that's going on in our family will be resolved. I really don't want to make any more unexpected doctor's visits for a long, LONG time. ;-) Hopefully things are cleared up enough with the girls skin that when the baby comes I'm not still having to put topical creams, etc on them multiple times a day. Anyway, there's a quick little update of our year thus far... Enough doctor visits to pay for their mortgage, but so thankful for them all the same. And so very greatful for Caleb's job, which offers good insurance. Like I said, it's a love - hate thing. :-)

Fish Fry Batter

Caleb found a recipe that we really like for fish. We haven't tried it on shrimp yet, but I'm anxious to give it a try. I've also listed the Tartar Sauce recipe we use. These aren't Caleb originals, but I can't remember where we found them. Anyway, enjoy!

FISH FRY BATTER
2/3 C. flour
2/3 C. water
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T. vinegar

Whisk ingredients. Pat fish filets dry and dredge in flour. Then dip in batter and fry in oil.


TARTAR SAUCE
1 C. mayo
1 T. relish
1 T. minced onion
2 T. lemon juice
salt & pepper

Stir ingredients together and use for dipping .

Second Ultrasound

I went in for the second ultrasound today. None of her fingers or toes have fallen off since the last one. ;-) He checked the kidneys again. It looks like one of them has closed off, but not the other. So, he said they will probably scan her again after she's born to check them then and just keep a close eye on her until they do close off. He said they usually close off on their own by about 6 months, but kids with this tend to get urinary tract infections more easily so we'll have to watch for that. (I'm not sure if that's just during the time till it closes off, or if that continues after.) Anyway, it didn't sound like anything to be concerned about and hopefully it will resolve on its own.
Other than checking the measurements again, which this time put the date a few days early, there's not much new to report except that she is going to have A LOT of hair, according to the tech. Even I could see it in the pictures. No wonder why my heartburn isn't any better than it was with Sara. I've decided ultrasounds aren't nearly as fun the second time around, but that's mostly because laying on my back for any length of time right now is just torture. My SI joint and my low back are really giving me a lot of trouble this time around. Oh well, life goes on right. Not too much longer now. My due date is still June 28th and we are counting it down. :-)