This morning the pediatrician checked Lilly thoroughly, read her chart, and declared that she was clear to go home.  It was my pleasure to call Michael with that wonderful news!

Since the older four children spent the night at my folks’ house, Michael had only our two youngest boys with him.  They came over to the hospital and helped me get everything ready to go.

Now we’re home, and Lilly is fast asleep on my tummy as I sit on the couch and enjoy just being home.

Thanks for all of your kind comments here on the blog.  I’ve enjoyed reading them. 

Love,  Christie

Today could be the day that Lilly comes home!

The doctors are going to check her out around 10:00 and give the go/no go decision at that time.

As of yesterday, her breathing had slowed, but was still above the normal range. She was allowed back into Christie’s room though, so that was nice for her (and Christie).

There are a few more pictures up in the photo gallery.

Well, my kids seem to enjoy staying at the hospital for a longer than average time. Most of them have resorted to a high bilirubin count to impose on the hospitals hospitality, but not Lilly - nope she has to be different.

During the night during one of the routine check-ups they do on newborns, the noticed some rapid breathing (panting). Normal is in the 30-60 range, she was up at 100!

To give you an idea on how worried the nursery staff is about this, they woke up the pediatrician at 2:00 this morning.

This of course complicates things:

1. They won’t let her breast-feed until her breathing is below 70
2. They are feeding her via an IV
3. The pediatrician won’t discharge her until AT LEAST Saturday (everyone was looking forward to having her home today!)

Interestingly, there doesn’t seem to be a problem with her lungs. Her oxygenation rate is great, she’s just doing it a lot for some reason.

Christie is in a boarding-mom status now, so she can stay at the hospital, but she isn’t a patient anymore. She’s free to come and go, but will probably spend most of the time there anyway.

Stay tuned here for updates.

Well, it’s official - Lilly is ornery.

She didn’t want to wait until the scheduled induction, so she sent Christie into labor at 2:00 this morning. We went to the hospital at 4:00 and by 8:54 Lilly had arrived.

Christie was able to labor naturally with no drugs - which has been a wish of hers.

Lillian Janice, born December 11th.
Weight: 9 pounds 6 oz.
Length: 20.5 inches

Mother and baby are doing well and should be resting now.

Pictures are available http://iamtheteacher.com/gallery/v/favorites/MyKids/Lillian/
Michael

Tomorrow is the big day.  We almost postponed our induction until later this week, for various reasons, but finally decided to just stay with the schedule.

So now I’m putting together a bag to take to the hospital in the morning, and wondering how it’s all going to turn out.  Believe it or not, I’m nervous.  This is a big deal.  I wonder what Lilly is going to be like.  I wonder how labor is going to go.

Today we worked hard at our Monroe house, but as always, even though we accomplished much, we left behind so much more to do.  Will it ever be done?

The day that seemed it would never come is now upon us.  The best thing I can do is put on a brave face and march forward confidently.  But as Twila Paris sings, “Deep inside this armor, the warrior is a child.”

Before Mary left for Taiwan, she commented to me how much she liked the odd little pine tree in the back yard. Apparently the rest of her family teased her that it is a “Charlie Brown” tree. But right then I decided that it needed to be decorated when Christmas came around. Sure enough, a week ago I headed out and wrapped 250 lights around it. Since then it’s been my cheerful little friend, shining brightly through the snow and ice. I often peer through the kitchen window or out the patio window just to enjoy the glow. No neighbors can see it. It’s only my little treat to myself. But I really like it!

Living in Central Illinois will make anyone a weather skeptic. We often get all kinds of predictions and warnings that don’t come true. But every now and then, things actually happen like they are forecast, and then we sit back and marvel that someone actually predicted that it was coming.

Today’s ice storm was just one such time. Read the rest of this entry »

Today we got so much done at our house on Monroe!  I’m very encouraged.

But since I was so distracted by the work there, as well as piano lessons and Amelia getting sick again and needing to go to the doctor, I completely forgot to get to the grocery store or to the place where I buy coffee.  That means we have no milk and no coffee.  Tonight I’m too tired to care.  I’ll think of something else for breakfast, and I’ll make tea. 

Baby Lilly is still safe and sound in her favorite place in the world.  I am scheduled for an induction next Tuesday morning if Lilly doesn’t come out on her own before then.

Tomorrow there is more bad weather forecast.  I hope we can get some more work done at the Monroe house before we have to retreat and escape the bad weather.  Michael has decided we will list the house with a realtor by January 1, even if we’re not totally ready.  So we need to do all we can between now and then.

Not much else to report here.  I’m ready for a hot bath and a good night’s sleep.

Much to our delight, we woke up this morning to snow!

I remember when my oldest children were toddlers, I felt obligated to help them get dressed to go play in the snow. It was a huge amount of effort and they always wanted to come inside in less time than it had taken them to even get all the way dressed in the first place.

So today when Judah was begging to follow Laura outside, I simply told him no. I just didn’t feel like hunting down all the pieces necessary to get him ready to play outside. But when Laura asked if SHE could get Judah all dressed up and take him outside, I readily agreed. She found warm clothes, dug in the closet for snow boots, hunted down mittens in the right size, and brought him to me for a little help getting the last things tucked and tugged into place.

Out they went, and I was mentally predicting Judah would be back inside before the door hardly closed behind him. But I was wrong! Judah and Laura had a marvellous time. I dashed outside with my camera, snapped a few photos and was back inside before I hardly had time to shiver. Then, when the duo showed up just outside the patio door, I grabbed the camera again and snapped a few more photos without even having to step outside.

I noticed that Judah lost a mitten, and knew that for sure he’d start to cry and want to come back inside, but no, he just wrestled his mitten until he got it back on and then he went back to playing.

I have decided, THIS is the best way to let little people play in the snow… by letting someone else do all the work!

It’s certainly not in the forefront of family news, but it is something to report. Ever since last Saturday Amelia has been sick with something that prevents her from keeping much of anything in her stomach. Interestingly, she hasn’t been feverish or lethargic. But she has definitely not been herself. By today she seems to be better (time will tell!) but now Miguel is definitely sick with the same thing. It’s so hard to see kids sick, especially when they have the dry heaves since there’s nothing left in their stomachs.

I just hope that I don’t catch what they have. I’m not one of those generous parents who says, “Oh, I wish I could be sick for them!” I’m quite content to be the one taking care of the sick ones, rather than being the one sick in bed while kids are running wild around me.