Meeting Miss Larkin

The first people to get to come back to the recovery room to meet Larkin were Liz, Mrs. Marcia, Trigger, and Campbell.  Now remember that Trigger has been in LOVE with Larkin the whole time that I have been pregnant.  He has seriously prayed for her daily and constantly kissed my belly and talked to her.  So, this was a sweet moment for him to finally meet her.Campbell completely ignored Larkin and went straight to the computer…thank goodness that Michelle has children our kids ages and is understanding of their behavior!Zizzy holding Larkin…I think this is when we were trying to determine who she looked like.Campbell finally came over to see Larkin.We were all talking while Campbell was looking at her…I promise that he had been standing there for maybe a second and we look down and Campbell had his finger IN HER MOUTH!  Great!!!  And so it begins!Grammy and LarkinThen, Matt took her out to see everyone else.  Look at the Iphones!Aunt Deanna holding LarkinPoppy and LarkinPapaw with Larkin…Look at her sweet little hat with a pink bow!I had prepared big brother gifts for Trigger and Campbell.  They had some new cars and trucks, a mini potato head, markers and paper…all things that they could be entertained with at the hospital.Larkin’s first time with a paci.  She will take a paci occasionally but is definitely not attached.Mamaw came by that afternoon to see Larkin.Look how sweet…Anna Grace was so sweet with Larkin.Chelsea and Corbin came after school to meet their new cousin.It takes a lot to entertain a 3 and 1 year old in a hospital.  My dad was attempting to control Campbell by showing him some pictures on his phone!I didn’t have something to put on our door.  Deanna was so sweet to go and find something.  Isn’t this adorable.  It has magnets to be able to put pictures up.  I can’t wait to hang it in her room somewhere!!!Reid got to meet his cousin!!  He was really interested…I hope he’s just as interested in his little brother in a few months!LOVE this picture of Anna Grace…Such a pretty smile!The great thing about staying with grandparents is that you get to dress yourself in whatever you want.  I have to say that I got all of their outfits ready for Trigger and Campbell being gone…they were ALL matching outfits so that they would look really cute when they came to the hospital…and, what does Trigger have on…camo vest and a an orange camo hat.  LOL…he’s such a BOY!!!  He actually looked really cute!  I love that little vest!Look at Campbell…so sweet!Campbell blowing kisses as they were leaving one morning!Look at those sweet lips…I love them!I didn’t really have any preemie clothes so my parents went to Monroe Saturday morning and got some from spoiled rotten, silver spoon, and the children’s shoppe.  Then Liz washed them all and brought them to the hospital.  Aren’t they great!!!  This outfit below, I LOVE…my dad did NOT love it…he said it looked like curtains or an old lady!  Ha!!Trigger’s first time to hold Larkin.We stayed at the hospital until Monday (we had her Friday morning).  Dr. Harper came around Monday…I sure LOVE him!!!!  and I’m sooo glad he got to deliver my last baby…FINALLY!!!  Going home day!!!I had bought a preemie coming home outfit before I knew that Larkin would be this tiny because Campbell even wore a preemie outfit home from the hospital.  I debated about whether I should even put her in it or just leave on a sweet kissy kissy gown.  I couldn’t help but to put her in her first smocked dress.  I didn’t really get a good picture of her in it.  AND, the bonnet was HUGE so she had to just wear another hat.  Oh well!

And she screamed until we were halfway home.   She is not a huge fan of having to be strapped in!  We will have to work on that because we are in the car a lot!

I don’t think I have even mentioned that this second csection was WONDERFUL…I mean…a PIECE OF CAKE.  I got up Saturday morning and beebopped on into the bathroom…in fact, Jennifer (my nurse) had to tell me that I could slow down and didn’t have to move so fast. Ha!  We got home on Monday and I was getting up and down off the ground on Tuesday.  I didn’t take any pain medicine after I left the hospital.  AMAZING!  It’s obviously a God thing.  It’s been a good thing because with three, there really isn’t time for pain and downtime!  I was even driving after a week and a half with ALL THREE children! I am just so thankful!!!!!

Larkin Elizabeth Woodard

Before I tell you about Larkin’s birthday, let me tell you about her name.  We love family names…and names that are unusual.  Well, Larkin was Matt’s great grandfather’s name.  We have always loved it and wanted to use it for a girls name.  I do think it’s slightly funny that we named our first born BOY after a woman (my mom) and our sweet little GIRL after man.  Her middle name is Elizabeth.  We chose this name because that is Liz’s name and Matt’s mom’s middle name.  It was also the name that my mom was going to name me up until the last minute.  So there you have it…that’s how we chose.

On to Larkin’s birthday.  We had to be at the hospital at 5:00 AM.  Soooo early!  Matt’s mom came over that morning to stay with the boys and bring them to the hospital for the birth.  A sweet nurse, Carla, started my IV while a couple of other nurses asked me a million questions.  I had a few more things to do (questions, bloodwork, etc.) because we didn’t have a chance to do any pre-op the day before since it was a last minute thing.  They hooked me up to a monitor.  The funny thing was that Larkin looked absolutely PERFECT on the monitor that morning…way, way better than she had at any of my NST’s.  Dr. Harper and Michelle thought that was quite humorous.  Dr. Harper talked to us…we signed some paper work.  With Dr. Harper’s recommendation, we chose to have my tubes tied so I had to sign those papers.  I may post more on that decision later.  We had to wait awhile to get my blood work back to make sure it was ok to go ahead with the spinal.  After it came back, they took me back to the operating room.  It’s funny (well not really)…this time, my second csection, I didn’t anticipate on being that nervous since I knew what to expect.  However, this time I was just as nervous or maybe more because I was so worried about Larkin.  We just didn’t know what to expect.  There can be so many problems with the two vessel cord…plus that she was small…plus that she had intrauterine growth restriction..we just didn’t know what to expect.  Anyway, we got back to the OR and I got onto to the sterile metal table.  And I started the whole body sweats and the whole body shakes because I had to get a spinal.  I HATE getting a spinal…it’s a toss up of what I hate the most…spinal or IV….hmmm…I HATE THEM BOTH!  After lots of digging and extra numbing medicine…because apparently I have a weird back?!?…I got my spinal!  YUCK!  I was worried that I would get sick because I got very nauseated with Campbell.  However, this time I told them that and they went ahead and gave me some medicine…NO nausea!  Yay!  And, this time, I was numb on both sides immediately.  With Campbell, they had to tilt the table to numb my right side.  Let me just say that Michelle makes me laugh…she was good at distracting me!!!!  Let’s just say that having a baby…even a csection…is not for the modest.  As I lay pretty much naked on the table, all the nurses (which I’m friends with a lot of them…and if we aren’t friends, I know them from Michelle) are bustling around getting things ready so it’s quite embarrassing.  At one point, I hear someone calling my name from outside the operating room.  I look over (and remember that Im just laid out on the table) and my friend, Susan, (who is also an OB nurse) was waving away.  She wasn’t working and just came to be there for the birth which was so sweet.  Well, the next thing I know, Susan is in scrubs and by my side.  Dr. Harper asked her if she wanted to assist and she said yes.  So, she was literally right in the middle of things assisting Dr. Harper in the surgery. 

Okay…back to the birth.  Dr. harper came in and got started.  I have to say that I felt (not pain) a lot more pressure this time than I did with Campbell.  The whole thing is pretty much a blur but I do remember feeling a ton of pressure and then Susan saying “awww…she is precious..she looks like a baby doll” and then Dr. Harper said “she is a tiny little thing but perfect!” And I hear SCREAMING!  Which seems like a no brainer that I would hear screaming BUT we never really heard Campbell scream..he grunted and made other noises because he had so much fluid on his lungs and he needed some extra help.  Larkin, on the other hand, did NOT need any help.  She was absolutely PERFECT!!!!!

Here are some pictures to document Larkin’s Birth!

This my LAST picture EVER of me being pregnant.  :(  Check out my belly.  I can tell now that it had shrunk and wasn’t as big as it was suppose to be.

And, OF COURSE, I was on my phone.  Notice that you don’t see my left hand/arm.  That would be because my IV was in and I do NOT move my hand/arm once it is in!This is the last time that Larkin was on the monitor!Me and Michelle (my wonderful nurse AND friend).  The lady behind me is the nurse anesthetist, Christi.  She is really sweet and is friends with Michelle.  She gave me my spinal for both Campbell and Larkin. AND, she had a baby girl about a year ago and she had a two vessel cord and a tiny baby too!!!Before the operating room…In the operating room..Michelle stole the camera which was great because she got some shots that Matt couldn’t have gotten from his stool!  This is Susan and Dr. Harper.My itty bitty girl.  I’m not sure what a normal cord looks like but Dr. Harper said the cord and placenta looked really small.  They were both sent off for testing so maybe the tests will tell us something about the two vessel cord.And she’s screaming!!!  Love Dr. harper looking down at her!!!ANd I know this isn’t focused but you can tell that I am smiling and sooo relieved that Larkin came out breathing!She weighed 5 pounds and was 17 inches long.All cleaned up.Her two apgars were 9 and 9.  Such a blessing!We all agreed that she looks so much like Trigger….nothing like Campbell!Me and Susan…Thank you, Susan for coming and for assisting even though you weren’t supposed to! ;)My first time to hold Larkin! 

We are slightly in LOVE!!!!!!!

Our Last Night and the Nursery

Matt came home early from work to pack his things.  He asked me if we could go do something special…just the four of us.  We made sure the boys were packed up and we took their suitcases to my parents.  Then, we went to eat at Log Cabin.  It was more for the memories than anything else because none of us felt like eating!

It was rather funny because the boys got along better that night than we have ever seen them get along!  Trigger was helping Campbell and hugging on him. 

Oh I forgot to tell about Trigger after his nap…Matt and I went in to get Trigger up from his nap and I told him that he was going to get to meet Larkin tomorrow.  It was THE most precious thing.  I was so sad that I didn’t video his reaction…he was downright GIDDY!  He let out a giggle..he flipped and flopped on the bed.  He was beyond excited!!! He had been praying for this sweet baby for a LONG, LONG time!!!!!

After we got home from supper, we started our normal bathtime/bedtime routine.  I did take a few pictures first though!

Campbell wasn’t happy with Trigger because he wanted that phone…I just thought it was a funny picture!AND, here is Miss Larkin’s room.  I took these the night before we went in to have her…it wasn’t done then…and it’s still not finished now!  We used the same furniture that both of the boys used.  However, we got some crystal knobs from Lauren Roebuck for the armoire and dresser.  I think it makes the furniture look a little more girly!Oh how I LOVE her chandelier!!!!  I’m not sure why there is green in the picture..there aren’t green crystals on it.And, of course, she had to have a door sign just like her brothers…but a little more girly!

After we got the boys in bed…which was very, very sad to me to have to put Campbell in his bed for the last time.  There has seriously only been a handful of times when I haven’t put him in bed…he is my little punkin eater and we have a very special little bond.  In fact, I am soooooo ready to be able to rock him and put him down that it is killing me!!!!!!!

Anyway, after we got the boys in bed, I finished gathering things for our big day.  I took a bath because I knew that wouldn’t happen for awhile!  And, I went to bed.  However, I didn’t sleep very much at all.  I was so worried about Larkin and what she would be like…if her lungs would be okay…AND, I had contractions…painful ones…all night long!  AND, I had back labor.  I remember looking at the clock around 1am thinking “should I wake matt and go on to the hospital tonight” but I didn’t…I just cat napped and made it until the morning. 

Our Pregnancy

I need to post about having our sweet baby girl but I wanted to back up and talk about what happened leading up to her arrival.  On December 15th, we had our last appointment with Dr. Jones.  It started out like they all do…they took my vitals and then I had an ultrasound.  We are always trying to read them and see if they have found something of concern or if everything is good.  We could tell from the screen that she was growing right at the 40th percentile so we knew that was good.  After the ultrasound, we met with Dr. Jones in his office.  He had nothing but good news.  He was amazed that my fluid levels were so good and said it had to be from all the rest (on my side) that I was getting.  He told us that her growth looked good…it had dropped down a teeny tiny bit from the last time but still looked GREAT.  Even her stomach measurement looked great.  He told us that we were going to have to be very careful to watch for growth restriction because all of my issues that I have listed before.  He said that if her growth dropped below the 10th percentile, we needed to deliver right after at 36 weeks.  That kind of surprised me…I don’t know why, but it did.  Dr. Jones told us, like with Campbell, we needed to start non-stress tests (NST’s) weekly.   He then released us and told us that we could be in the care of Dr. Harper from here on out.  YAY!!!!!

These are our pictures of our last ultrasound EVER with Dr. Jones!!!!  Now that I’m thinking of it, I guess I shouldve taken a picture with Dr. Jones but we never really got along that great soooo….

Dr. Harper started seeing me weekly and sometimes more than that.  I started going to the hospital for my weekly non stress tests.  When I say NON stress test, they basically hook you up to a fetal heart monitor and measure the baby’s heartrate…they also give you this little button and you have to push it each time the baby moves.  They want to see that they baby’s heartrate is reacting to the movement…like it should go up about 10 beats after a movement.  If there isn’t a lot of reaction from the baby, your baby could be in stress for one reason or another.  When I tell you that these NON stress test are THE most stressful things during my pregnancy, I am NOT joking.  I truly hate them.  I go in there…I always have a nurse that I know which Is so nice!!!  I lay on the bed and pray that she is going to move….then I push the button when she finally does move and then I watch…obsessively WATCH her heartrate to see if it goes up like it’s suppose to.  Well, the very first NST I had was done by my friend Susan.  She came in after I had been on for awhile….gave me some juice and told me to drink it…I hate that because that means the baby isn’t cooperating.  I drank the juice and Susan came back in…she tore off the sheet and said she was going to get michelle (another very close friend) to look at it because “it didn’t look bad but didn’t look great.”  So I lay there wondering what that meant.  She came back and said she had michelle (who was in a csection) and the dr who was performing the csection (not my dr) look at the strip…while in the middle of surgery! and he said it was FINE for me to go home…GREAT…the word “fine” is not what I wanted to hear when they are sending me home with a baby in my belly.  Most of the NST’s went this way!  In fact, I started having two a week and on one of the times, Dr. Harper came by and looked and said we need to do a contraction stress test.  That is where they hook you up to pitocin and basically put you into labor and make you have contractions to watch how the baby reacts.  After an IV and a long morning at the hospital, they released me with more of the “she doesn’t look bad but she doesn’t look great”.  WONDERFUL!  Well the last straw was on January 5th.  I went in for my non stress test.  Dr. Harper happened to be making rounds that morning and came in to see me.  He asked me when my next appt was and it was actually right after I finished my nst that day.  He told me that there was no reason for me to go over there to wait that he would measure my belly right then.  So, he measured it and continued talking to me about other things.  I asked him “how did my belly measure”…because if you remember, I had a long period of the pregnancy where my belly measured small (when I had low amniotic fluid) but it had finally gotten back on track.  Well, he replied “it’s measuring small”.  So, BECAUSE IM SUPER ANAL, I asked “do  you think we should do an ultrasound to check her growth because Dr. Jones told us to be watching for IUGR (Intrauterine Growth Restriction).  He agreed that that was a good idea.  I laid around at the hospital until the ultrasound lady could make her way up.  She did an awesome job measuring.  After she finished, I asked her how she was measuring.  She said she was measuring around 34 weeks on everything (head, limbs, belly, etc.).  Well, at the time I was 37.5 weeks so I knew that was NOT good.  She told me that she was measuring in the 3rd percentile.  YIKES!!!!  She handed me some pictures and left.  I walked down the hall and talked to michelle and several other nurses who all agreed that I would definitely be delivering!!!   I left in shock and a little overwhelmed.  I went to get my boys from Liz and took them home for naps.  I frantically pulled more things together…I did have most everything packed already!  I kept texting Michelle and she finally called around 4 and said that she had talked to Dr. Harper and that I would need to be there at 5am for blood work and a csection.  Stop all medicine…etc, etc.  Then I got a phone call an hour later from Dr. harper.  I could tell he was concerned.  He said that the baby was showing that she only weighed 5lbs 5oz.  and right at 34 weeks growth.  He assured me that that did not mean that her lungs were not developed but that you just never know.  He told me to be prepared for a NICU stay.  Dr. Harper also told me that my stomach was only measuring at 26 weeks…and that he was quite concerned as soon as he measured me.  I’m telling you…I was hit hard with the reality that my precious baby probably just completely stopped growing right after we left Dr. Jones appointment on December 15th because I was 34 weeks at that point.  For some reason, I was so sad that my body had failed her.  We know that it was probably a combination of my hypertension (which had become quite high…way higher than with either of the boys), 2 vessel cord, and the blood clotting disorders…I mean it really wasn’t a surprise but still sad. 

Here are a few pictures from my NST’s…do you see how that line in the blue doesn’t really go up and down very much.  It’s suppose to have more up and down movement.

I was concerned about my lovenox (blood thinning medicine).  I am suppose to be off of it for 48 hours before surgery..definitely before a spinal.  Dr. Harper told me they would do blood work and check to see if it was safe the morning of the surgery.  My concern was that if I couldn’t have a spinal that they would put me to sleep.  I really did NOT want to be knocked out for the birth. 

Christmas night….complete chaos

For Christmas day, we get to spend ALL day at home with just our family of four (five if you count Larkin in my belly).  It is always so nice to be able to relax and stay in our pjs all day.  On Christmas night, we ALWAYS go to my grandparents house.  Usually we have a huge meal but this year we decided to just do finger foods.  I was a little sad because I LOVE my mamaw’s dressing.  I got over it though.

Last year, we started the tradition of buying Christmas pajamas for the great grand children and taking a picture with Mamaw.  And as you can tell, my little Campbell was the uncooperative one.  I was so proud of my big boy, Trigger.  He tried so hard to wrestle Campbell down…and Trigger was photo ready with a smile on his face the whole time he was pinning his brother down! 

Well, I can’t say that it will be an award winning shot this year but when you have 10 children that are 7 and under (AND 7 of the children are 3 and under), it makes for an interesting picture.  AND, next year, we will add three new babies to that picture!  Whew…that makes me tired just thinking about taking a picture with 13 children!