Bringing Home Baby

On Sunday August 22nd, it's finally time to go home.  Lil' Man's jaundice was down and he had been given all of his antibiotics.  It was an absolutely beautiful day.

This is the sky that day from my room...

In his outfit already to go home

He's very protective over his "paci"

Buckled up and ready to go...

Again with holding the "paci" (iPhone)

Finally home

sleeping in my arms (iPhone) 

sleeping on daddy (iPhone) 

Passed out and proud to be home (iPhone)

Special Delivery

On August 18th, 2010, we added to the Tennerys.  A bouncing baby boy named Alex.  He lit up our life in many different ways.  He was a very special delivery.  I faced many obstacles in just getting him here, and once he was here, he began to face some of his own.  But he is a trooper, strong and tough, and of course made it through everything that was put in front of him.

 Not liking his first bath

 But loving the running water

Just like his daddy, loves getting his hair washed

Yes, I know it's a shocked look... this is me in the recovery room when my entire body was still numb and they brought him to me and told me I needed to feed him... the joys of breastfeeding

Meeting his sister for the first time...

 I think she loves him... 

 Lil Man ended up with jaundice and had to be under the photo therapy lights for 24 hours...

As you can tell it upset me more than it did him, he's trying to look at his hands like "no big"

This is during the 24 hours of photo therapy, he was burping him after I fed him, you can see the little Velcro that holds the "sunglasses" on (iPhone picture)

when he came in the room for the first time (iPhone)

(iPhone)

(iPhone)

This is what I saw in my arms when I woke up from a nap (iPhone)

Not to mention the jaundice getting bad, but his umbilical cord also got infected, which resulted in an extra day in the hospital for antibiotics.  After all was said and done, he was doing great.

Deliver Me

After going into labor with Lil' Man at 23 weeks and then again at 34 weeks, we couldn't wait to meet the little person that was so ready to be here.  I spent 3 days in the hospital at Helen Keller trying to have my labor stopped.  Once it finally stopped and my blood pressures went down, I was sent home to bed rest. 

These are pictures from my iPhone from my bed in the hospital of my babies.

On August 17th, after 3 weeks of bed rest, we went to ECM to have an amnio to check for lung maturity.  Of course I was scared, who wouldn't be with a needle going into their stomach?  As I took a deep breath, the needle went in.  I was doing ok, I had my eyes closed and I was just breathing.  All of a sudden it hurt.  I felt like my stomach was ripping.  I then heard the Tech and doctor making statements such as, "well, I haven't seen that before", and "do you see this?"  I had no idea what was going on but they were asking my husband if he could see the screen to see that our son was playing with the needle.  Now by playing I mean, kicking and grabbing, anything he could do to get that needle out of his personal space.

After this fun, we reported upstairs for me to be monitored.  My blood pressures were sky high and I was a little crampy, but who wouldn't be when trying to have a needle pulled through their stomach.  I was given medicine and my pressure eventually came down.  I received word that the amnio results were negative for maturity, but they were "a high negative", so they were close to positive and with my blood pressure as high as it was and him pulling on the needle the doctor decided he couldn't repeat the amnio, so he decided to deliver him the next day.

We reported to ECM at 10:00 am the next day.  Of course I was nervous, but I was ready to meet this already trouble maker.  We were told to bring the camera, so of course this excited me, as I love pictures.  I told my husband I wanted a ton of pictures because I wouldn't be able to see anything.  Now, keep in mind this is what I said, I didn't really think this was what I was going to get.  However, I have to say when I saw the pictures that he took I couldn't be any prouder of him than I was at that moment.  I felt as if I was there, and I will have these pictures forever.  Now, I have to say they may be a bit graphic to those with a weak stomach, but here are a few of them.

My husband, ready to go in

Here he comes...

 It's a boy!

Cutting of the cord...

 Cleaning him up

 Suction

What a rough time

 7 pounds 13 ounces 20 inches long

Feet print

 so tired...

 Getting ready to meet my mommy!

Happy parents!

 Our new addition!

Alexander "Alex" Jacob Tennery

August 18, 2010

Our 3rd grader

Today was Lyssa's first day of third grade and first day at the "big school."  She just amazes me and I can't believe all these years have gone by so quickly.  The morning started off pretty good, she got up bright eyed and bushy tailed, as my dad would say.  I originally thought a neighbor was going to be taking her to school on her first day, due to me being put on bed rest, but it just so happened Benji ended up being off work, so it was a family event.  Of course, I had to break the rules and ride with her to school.  I didn't drive though, so I didn't break that rule.

And yes that is the month's school lunch menu taped to the door...

She's ready for her first day... long legs and all

Going out to the car for the ride to the school

Going into the "big school", but for some reason she doesn't look so little since she is all legs. 

This is how I first saw her this afternoon at pick-up, the line only took about 20 minutes to get through.

And this is the "what took so long?" look I got from her when we got up to her to pick her up.

She described her day as "good but boring", said it was a lot of rules.  However, she did say her teacher is really nice and she likes her.

On another note, I received a letter in the mail Saturday asking for my permission to test her for the gifted program, based on her SAT and OLSAT scores from the second grade.  Her dad and I talked to her about it and left it up to her, she was excited and said yes.  So, she will be going through tests for the first little bit of school, as well as doing regular classroom work, and cheerleading has started.  If she doesn't test into the gifted program it won't be a big deal as we are still very proud of her and very proud of the scores she received on the tests that made the school want to test her further.

This year has started off really well and soon we will be adding to our family, it seems 2010 has been a great year for us.