Man it never ends

So I figured my ER visits were a thing of the past after I had Ashlyn... Guess not.
It all started Saturday night. We went to dinner with some good friends at a little Italian restaurant. I had a pizza and a glass of wine came home and went right to bed. When Erik came to bed at 2 I had a terrible pain in my back and couldn't get back to sleep. I came out and took a demerol left over from my c-section but next thing I knew I was throwing up. It finally went away right about the time Ashlyn woke up and I just figured maybe I got food poisoning.
Sunday night we had friends over to watch the Steelers/Ravens game. Erik's family is from Baltimore and mine from Pittsburgh so it was a divided household to some extent. We had chicken wings and beer and a great time with our friends. About 30 min after everyone left I decided to take a shower because I was feeling achy. While in there I started hurting again and got nauseous. By the time I called Erik in I was in alot of pain. I began throwing up again and was in excrutiating pain so I couldn't stand, sit, lay down or anything. Erik called my mom who rushed me to the ER. While checking in I began passing out and ended up on the floor of the waiting room in my mom's lap writhing in pain. By the way they really don't like you doing this but if you want to get back quickly man it works (not that that was my plan I was just in that much pain) They got me pain and nausea meds and sent me for an ultrasound and a ct scan. By then Erik was up there and mom had gone home with the baby. At first they thought it was my kidneys because I did have a few stones and a mild infection but then they realized that like my mom has been saying my whole pregnancy it was my gall bladder. Mom had hers out a month after I was born so she knew. We have referrals to follow up with kidney and gi doctors and hopefully we can get my gall bladder removed before the 31st when my medicaid insurance ends. We have racked up so many bills with this pregnancy thank god we had medicaid!
It was a really scary night and all I could think of was Ashlyn and Erik and getting home. I'm not looking forward to recovering from more surgery but I definitely do not ever want to go through that again!!!
Just wanted to give you a little update and I will keep you posted! On the plus side Ashlyn is now 8 lbs 11 oz! She is growing so much and changing every day! Mommy and Daddy love making her smile and have started to figure out all the ways to make her do it! It's the best!
Love
Ann
PS... I can't leave you without a picture of my girl! Here's one of Ashlyn and Daddy right before we went to Sears for her first professional pics. That was another whole experience in itself!!!

1 month old!

Happy New Year! Ashlyn is 1 month old today!!! She should actually only be a week old but we are so glad we have had this whole month to get to know her!!! We are so in love with our little girl! She is growing and changing every day. She is already up to almost 8 1/2 pounds and is finally fitting in her newborn clothes. 0-3's still hang off her but it won't be long with the way she is growing. She got her first cold this past week which was very hard for mommy and daddy. We just want to make her all better! She has been very sweet though and quite the little trooper. Mommy's classmates have been bringing us all kinds of yummy dinner which gives us lots of time to spend cuddling with the baby! Thank you to everyone who has brought food, signed up to bring food, and to Rosemary who organized it. We really appreciate all your support.

Some things I've learned...

So now I'm 3 weeks in to this mommy thing... I'm learning so much! I thought being a Child Development undergrad and an Early Interventionist that this mommy stuff would be a piece of cake... Well here are a few things I've learned..
1) Babies are EXPENSIVE!!! Who knew you could go through a package of diapers in a weekend! And they don't make preemie diapers in packages larger than like 36 so we made SEVERAL trips to Walmart and Target (lots of places dont carry preemie diapers either!) before she moved up to Newborn diapers

2) If someone who is already a mommy gives you a gift you didn't register for trust them that you are going to need it. People who are already mommies know the things you REALLY need! Some of the things I use on a daily basis I never would have thought to register for but were given them by my mommy friends!

3) From now on anytime a friend has a baby I will be delivering food, gift cards to favorite restaurants etc... It sucks to have a new baby, no food in the house, and no desire to cook if there was food in the house.

4) Having a supportive involved father makes this parenting stuff so much easier. Nobody should ever have to go at this alone. I always knew I was lucky to have snagged my husband but I never knew how incredibly blessed I was until I watched him as a father. I'm tearing up just writing this because I am so grateful to have my little family.

5)And the most important lesson I've learned so far which also might have been the hardest I've laughed in months... Don't EVER take the diaper off a baby until you are ready to put another one on or put them in the bath. And DON'T EVER carry a completely naked baby from one room to the next without a diaper on. I promise you will regret it. Murphy's Law dictates what will happen in this situation and let me tell you it is not pretty! How can such a little thing make so much poop!!! LOL! What a night!

I'll leave you with a small update and some pictures from after Ashlyn's first real bath which she LOVED!!! We went to the pediatrician yesterday and Ashlyn is now 7 lbs 6 oz (up almost 2 pounds from her lowest weight of 5 lbs 8 oz.) She measures 19 3/4 inches! She is still in the 20th percentile for height and weight but the doctor said her weight gain is wonderful! She also slept in her bassinet for several hours tonight which is HUGE for her. We are just loving seeing her personality emerge and getting to know her!
Love,
Ann

Happy New Year!

We wanted to wish everyone a happy new year! We had a nice low key night at our house with our little family. As a new years gift to mommy and daddy, Ashlyn actually slept in 4 hour increments and fell back to sleep right after eating when she did wake up!!! It was so nice to wake up feeling refreshed!
Our good news... Not only is Ashlyn back up to birth weight but she is now over 7 pounds!!! What a relief to us after watching her lose and lose and not gain any weight back! Now that we've got all the feeding issues worked out it looks like she is right on track!!!
2009 brings lots of changes and new experiences for us. Not only do we get to adjust to being new parents and watch our beautiful daughter grow but we are also moving to Chicago and Ann is graduating with her Masters degree! What a year this will be! We hope to get to visit lots of friends and family this year and hope many of you will come visit us in Chicago!
Love,
The Poyers