Elin is 1 Month Old

Welcome to my monthly Elin posts and me constantly saying for 12 months “I can’t believe I have a 1 month old.” 

The last month has been gone in the blink of an eye.  With Elin making changes everyday.  She still sleeps a lot but is a pretty content little girl.  Her personality is slowly starting to emerge and it is so much fun seeing who she is becoming! 

She was only semi happy to participate in her photo shoot.  I didn’t have time to figure out the lighting in the room as before I could she was cold and MAD!  I thought she might be happier when I got her into her jammies.  She wasn’t but I really like jammies with her knee high socks (bottom right corner). 

She is slowly working into her own schedule and has about 3 or 4 awake times during the day.   She is sleeping 3 to 3.5 hour stretches at night and has only had a couple of nights (early mornings) where we have been up with her.  It is really fun to see how she develops into her own schedule.  Thomas was also really good at doing that and although I can’t say they sleep through the night, I can say that they sleep at night and typically sleep well.  I hope this pattern continues for our little lady.

She likes to bounce on the ball, lay on your lap on her tummy, be held on your chest, staring at Thomas or Stella, swing in her swing and look at everything around her.  Some of her dislikes are sleeping on her back, she prefers side or tummy, having a wet diaper, burping and being hungry. 

Some of my favorite quirky things about her are I love are:

~ her trying to focus face in the bottom left corner

~ She is becoming quite chunky with all her eating and grunts so cute when she is hungry.

~ her reddish skin coloring, dark reddish hair (party is in the back), and her eyelids that have stork bites on each of them.

~ how her bottom lip pouts when she gets sad.

Memorial Day Weekend

What a fun long weekend we had as a family of 4.  Mike came home from work early on Friday night.  While he and Thomas held down the fort and grilled, Elin and I made a trip to get flowers for the flowerbox. 

Saturday we played in the yard went to the park and just plain relaxed. 

Sunday we were off to Bainbridge Island.  It was our first trip on the ferry.  Thomas was so excited to go on the big boat.  While we were driving over to the ferry, he was holding Elin’s hand.  This is pretty common, yet I am never in the back seat with them to get a picture.  It is so nice because if she is upset often him holding her hand will make her stop crying.   His heart is so kind even if he sometimes has a hard time showing it (ahem…Mike )!

Once we got over to Bainbridge Island we took off in the car.  We didn’t have a plan we just went.  We headed up to a beach and got out to explore.  The beach was full of driftwood and it was funny to look at familiar places like Ray’s and Golden Gardens park that we live near from across Puget Sound. 

After a quick play at the park we loaded up and headed to find someplace to eat before Thomas would want to nap.   We found a bar and grill on the marina and enjoyed a great lunch together.  Cheers to my first lunch beer and Memorial Day.   After walking on the docks and seeing all the sea life Mike and I also had a whoa we live on the “ocean.”  A year later there are still things that are just so surreal for us.

On Sunday night we went to our neighbors for dinner.  We call them “the boys” as they have a 4 and 6 year old who Thomas loves playing with and totally looks up to.   It was fun to grill out and watch the 3 kiddos run around in the back yard.  A perfect taste of summer!

Monday we had to take care of business.  We cleaned the house and had to go get new tires for my car…boo!  Then we did our own grilling and wrapped up a wonderfully long relaxing weekend. 

Monday night as I put Thomas to sleep I told him about his great grandfathers who he was never able to meet.  Both his Great Grandpa Jimmy and Joe were in the armed forces.  Memorial day has taken on a whole new meaning for me as I tried to explain to my son what the price of freedom has meant to so many.  Memorial Day served as a day for us to be together as a family, say thank you to those who are or have fought for our country and remember our Grandpas. 

Elin’s Newborn Photos

I am not a professional photographer but I did my best to take a few pictures of Elin before she gets too old!  I wanted to capture my favorite newborn things like the peach fuzz all over her back and the little rolls.  Little munchkin was a trooper and the above were my favorite shots.  I love her little lips, fuzz on her back and stork bites on her eylids.

A few randoms…

These little nuggets are so stinkin cute together.  As I have already said Thomas loves holding her hand.  It is also fun to see how they look similar and how Elin likes things that Thomas did when he was a baby.  They both love bouncing on a giant exercise ball, they sleep similar, and both of them love staring at the animals.  They are also different in their own ways too, but that is for another post!

After dinner Mike and Thomas go downstairs to play hockey, baseball, and games.  That gives me time to spend with my little lady.  She is falling into her own schedule and is usually awake for an hour or so right around dinner time.   So she and I get to play and talk to one another.  It is crazy how much she changes from day to day.  Also the new normal is doing things with a sleeping baby.  Elin is still napping a lot so it has been pretty easy to keep Thomas feeling special and doing the same things we always did.  We wanted to make cupcakes as a “thank you” to Mike’s coworkers who were so wonderful to us both for Elin’s birth and her hospital stay.  They were all willing to do anything they could to help and we are so appreciative to have such a good work family.

Catching up…

Keep checking out the blog posts by scrolling down as I catch up from a wildly busy month!

3 years on the road to happily ever after…

In what feels like the blink of an eye, Mike and I, celebrated 3 years of marriage.  What a road it has been, there have been smooth roads and bumpy ones, hills and valleys and there is no one that I would rather have had on the drive with me than Mike.

Thomas, Elin and myself packed up and headed over to Mike’s office to pick him up for lunch.  Thomas absolutely loves going to see Mike at his office and was upset when it was time to drop him off.  On the ride home we drove by the Mariner’s stadium and he was then more upset about not going to see the baseball go gos. 

We ordered in dinner and got both of the kids to bed and then sat and looked at old blog posts…looking back at everything we have done together.  What fun it was to see how much has changed too in the last 3 years.  Can’t wait to see what this next year has in store for us!

Rub a dub dub… two little ones in the tub

Thomas was a big helper giving Elin her first in the tub bath.  Elin was not a huge fan at first but then decided it wasn’t so bad.  Thomas helped wash her feet and keep her warm by pouring water on her. 

She has now had several more tub baths and she is a huge fan.  So glad that I have 2 water babies.  I can’t wait to get back to the pool with Thomas and introduce Elin as well.

This was Elin after bath.  It also shows that she is semi into the pacey.  She likes it right after she eats if she gets the hiccups, on car rides and some other times when she wants to fall asleep or chill.   She usually sucks for a minute or two and then will spit it out, but it does the trick when she needs it.

3 Nooshes

Since he was born, Mike and I have called Thomas “Babaganoosh.”  This has been shortened to “Noosh,” and Thomas has taken it upon himself to start calling us all “Noosh.”  So we have a “Dada Noosh, Mama Noosh, Elin Noosh, Stella Noosh, Tucker Noosh, Itzy Noosh, Grandpa Noosh and Grandma Noosh.”   It is about 50/50 when you ask him his last name if it is “Thomas Noosh or Thomas Laschen.”  What a silly little Noosh he is!

Dinner with Max and Amy

Max and Amy came to meet Miss Elin and Thomas was so excited to see both of them after not seeing them for a few weeks.  Max is his favorite big buddy and once he steps foot in the door Thomas just wants to be with Max.  So much fun to watch and fun for Mike and I too to get to hang out with our friends who are so great with our kiddos!

Oh no baby girl…

The doctors had reassured me that Elin was in the best situation for not catching my cold.  Since most colds are viral they didn’t give me any antibiotics before or during labor and with me breastfeeding we were all hoping for the best.  This virus, was a nasty one and it didn’t listen and sure enough our baby got sick.  It started on Thursday night with a little sniffle and then by Friday it was full blown sneezes with boogers.

She didn’t have a fever and she kept eating so the “warning signs” that we were looking for to bring her in right away were not there.  Instead of each day getting better over the weekend she just continued to stay the same or get worse.  It was hard to tell if she was lethargic or just a newborn in the sleepy phase.

On Monday I called her doctor and she wasn’t in but another doctor in the practice told me that it was ok to wait to bring Elin in until the next morning (her scheduled 2 week appointment).    On Monday night Mike and I both were pretty nervous about how Elin sounded.  Her cough was getting worse and she wasn’t able to clear her lungs like she had been.  The doctor confirmed our fears after listening to her and told me to go to Children’s in Seattle right away.  While she called to check us in, I called Mike at work and told him to meet us there.  As you can imagine, I was a mess, but I held it together pretty well.  Sweet Thomas climbed up on the chair in the doctors office and gave me a hug and kiss and then said “all better mama.”  His heart is so kind and he was such a big help keeping me calm.  The entire drive to Children’s Thomas held Elin’s hand and said “All better baby E.”

After getting to the ER the nurses suctioned her nose and throat and then took swabs to test for both viruses and pertussis (whooping cough).  They put her on the oxygen monitors and took her vitals and then we were left to wait for the doctor.  After a few minutes of watching cartoons and rocking the alarms started to go off as Elin’s oxygen levels were dropping.   So out came the oxygen mask and the levels went up again.  The doctor came in and talked to us about some of the courses of treatment and thought that it would be best for us to stay to have Elin monitored and to continue to receive oxygen to help her recover.  After hearing her cough she was also concerned that it maybe pertussis and ordered a round of antibiotics. 

Then we waited to be transferred to her hospital room.  I was again a mess.  It was so surreal that our little girl was only 2 weeks old and was being check back into the hospital. 

Thomas was a great helper getting her all settled in and was so brave with all the doctors heading into the room.   After we got settled in, Mike and Thomas went home to get clothes for us and stuff for the hospital.  Kristi our beloved dog sitter/park taker came and grabbed Stella for us and we had our bases covered.  It was a huge relief when I talked, well hysterically bawled, to a nurse about the fact that Thomas was not suppose to be allowed in Elin’s isolated room.  She had a virus so we were under special precautions as to not transfer it to anyone else.  The hospital policy is that no child under 10 is allowed in the room, however because we have no family in town and he is still nursing to sleep he was granted permission.  I guess there is a golden ticket when nursing a toddler, that and a lot of questions .

From there it started to colossal balancing act between Mike and I and our two kids.  Blah, what a quick lesson in mothering/fathering 2 children.  It was so difficult for both of us to leave/go with Thomas or Elin and leave one another.  Mike was a rock balancing all of the weight on his shoulders.  I was running through all my medical experience and weighing the different scenarios in my head.  Thomas had everyone in the hospital in love with him and even the cleaning lady stopped back a few times just to “see the boy.” 

By Tuesday night they had determined that she had human metopneumovirus which is one of the common cold virus out there. She did not have RSV or Pertussis which could have made her even sicker. The only bad thing was that because it was a virus all they could do was supportive care.  They had to let her body fight the infection while we helped by nursing her, suctioning out her nasal passages and giving her oxygen.  The doctors explained that the virus peaks at day 5 or 6 and we were right in the middle of hopefully the worse of it.   

So every very few hours they would try to lower the amount of oxygen she needed to be on and they even tested her on room air.  The requirement for discharge was that she had to maintain oxygen saturation in the hospital for 12 hours and not need deep suction (in nose and throat) before we could be discharged.  Over the night she had been able to be weaned off oxygen down to .01 L which is the lowest setting before room air.  However, she was unable to keep oxygen levels up without this little bit of help.  After the doctors did their rounds they also decided she would benefit from having a chest x-ray to make sure anatomically everything was within normal limits, which it was.  So after we did that at about 2 they took her off of oxygen and we started the clock.  She made it 3 hours before she needed to be put back on and we were granted another night in the hospital. 

After dinner and some more play time with Thomas and Mommy, Thomas and I went to sleep while Mike kept watch until leaving about 10.   At Midnight they again turned off the oxygen and she made it 30 minutes before being put back on.  Ugh, after her 3:30 a.m. feeding I called my mom and I was pretty upset.  I was starting to wonder like the doctors had been WHY she couldn’t seem to maintain her oxygen without just a little nudge of help.  I was scared that we were going to be stuck in the hospital another night and I was more worried about Elin. 

At 5 a.m. they turned off the oxygen again.  When she made it past the 3 hour mark and I let out a little sigh, but I have to be honest 9 more hours seemed like forever.  Every hour she kept keeping her levels up and not “just barely” as she had in the previous days trial she was up in the 95-100 range with a few dips into the lower 90s.   Thomas and I left and went to the park and to pick up lunch before heading back to keep Elin and Mike company and nap.  Then we started to get ready for our discharge at 5 p.m. as long as she kept her level up.  We had lots of family and friends praying for her and it was much needed and appreciated.

Children’s was wonderful to us. When we walked into our room there was a hand knit blanket to welcome us.  It was part of Project Linus, what a nice thing for people to do.  I have to admit that we went through clothes, blankets, and hospital gowns pretty quickly.   Thomas received bubbles, 2 stuffed bears, a stuffed pelican and treats from the volunteers and nurses.  The nurses and doctors were amazingly kind and gentle to us.  When Mike and Thomas were gone and I needed to run to grab a latte from the Starbucks on the 1st level Elin’s day nurse (she was the same both days) held her and rocked her for me. Not only were they kind to us but the construction workers who were building outside were in on the fun too.  They were building a new wing to the hospital and everyday would move a life sized “where’s waldo” doll for the children and parents to find.  They also would write in spray paint messages to the children in the oncology unit, that would forever be a part of the building.   It was truly the best place to be if you need a hospital for your sick child.   This is Elin after we came home snuggling in her jammies and I snuck the quilt in behind her for a picture.

Emotionally as we walked out I was hit hard.  In the elevator we rode up to the 5th floor to leave and when we got off a man got off and greeted his daughter who was about Thomas’ age in a stroller hooked up to multiple IVs.   Her mom was pushing her and I was so thankful that we were going home.  That isn’t the case for so many in that hospital.  I don’t have answers for why children get sick but it breaks my heart.  I hope and pray that we don’t ever need to go to that place again not for ourselves or to visit anyone we know. 

Meeting Grandpa and Grandma Laschen and Yard Overhaul

Grandpa and Grandma Laschen flew in to meet their granddaughter on Thursday night.  Friday morning after getting some yummy breakfast the boys got to work on the yard overhaul.  Our yard needed a lot of work and they were up for the challenge.   Thomas was eager to help Grandpa and Daddy get to work and was “just one of the guys,” hauling rocks and playing in the dirt. Kathy was a huge help to me with the kids and I think she liked all the snuggle time too! but a lot of fun to watch Thomas with his grandparents and to have Elin meet them as well.   The boys did a lot of hard work and it was too short of a trip like always 3 days the yard was transformed.  At the end of each day they were both tired.On Monday it was back to work for Mike and a park day for Grandpa and Grandma and their grandkids.  I took the opportunity to run to the grocery store without the kids and then met up at the park.  We were all sad to see our family leave and can’t wait until the next visit.Since the initial weekend in the yard Mike and I have added a planter box underneath our dining room window and some annuals to the flower beds.  The yard looks amazing and now with time the plants will fill in.  The next step is the weeding, thatching, power raking, fertilizing, and aerating of the grass to try to get it healthy again after many years moss/weed growth.  I can’t wait to see what it looks like in a month or two.The before and the after in the front and back yard.

1st few days with Elin at home

Thomas was a little iffy on holding Elin at first.   He liked to touch her, kiss her, and know where she was at every moment but didn’t want to get too close.  This is the first time he held her and he was so proud (it was May 2nd).  He was also pretty confused about the lack of baby in my belly.  He kept pointing to my stomach or rubbing it and asking “baby go?”   Another funny thing was when he wanted attention from someone who was holding her he would instruct someone else to hold her by saying “Dada hold baby E.”

As always Stella was a great big sister from the beginning.  She gets extremely worried if Elin is crying and will go into the room to make sure she is o.k.  She had a week full of attention from her dog sitter, Kristi, taking her to the park and walks with Grandpa and Grandma. 

The week was rough for me.  I had a spinal headache from the wet epidural that made me quite a treat to be around. When I stood up I could almost black out in head pain and the coughing from my lingering cold about made my head feel like it was going to pop off.  I really felt completely and was debilitated.  I stayed on the couch, went to the bathroom and did the best I could to take care of my kids.  Thank goodness my husband and parents were here to help. 

I also had 2 trips to the ER to have blood patches placed to try to help my body replace the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).  One anesthesiologist explained it like a bathtub being filled and emptied.  When I was standing or sitting the bathtub (my csf) started to drain causing decreased flotation to my brain and increased strain on all my cranial nerves.  When I laid down their was more pressure and therefore some relief from my symptoms.  My main symptoms were neck/shoulder pain, throbbing headache, all sounds/noises/people talking had a robot sound to it, lights were difficult on my eyes and my vision was blurred.  Before leaving the hospital the anesthesiologist instructed me to do conservative treatment which is drinking massive amounts of caffeine and lay reclined/flat as much as possible. 

By Thursday night I was in so much pain that Mike and I decided it was time to say that the conservative treatment was not working.  We put the kids to be and left them with Grandma and Grandpa and headed into the ER for a blood patch.  The anesthesiologist at the hospital placed another epidural needle in my back and then drew blood from my arm and injected it into the epidural space.  This was to patch the hole caused from my original epidural.  I then laid flat for an hour and got up.   After this procedure I felt about 50% better but still had the neck pain and robot sound in my head….boo!   We decided it was time to go home and lay down and see if there was more healing.

Friday I was ok and was able to move around a little bit more but by Friday night it was getting bad again.  After sleeping/laying down all night didn’t help we called my OB and 2 other anesthesiologists who all agreed that I would need to have a repeat blood patch.  So we went back to the ER this time knowing it was going to be a longer trip Elin came with and Thomas went to the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa.  At the ER we waited and waited and finally I got the 2nd blood patch.  It was a bit trickier this time and Mike and Elin had to leave the room.  Thank goodness for my male nurse Abod who let me hold his hand and would give me a hard squeeze each time she put the needle in my back and for my IV.  It took her 7 rounds of lidocaine and 7 epidural needles to find just the right spot.  The 7th needle went in, there was not tingling, pain, or other weird feeling and we were in the right spot.  She drew the blood and put it into the epidural space.  Then again I laid flat.  This time I could almost immediately see things in the room clearly and the neck/shoulder pain disappeared. The robots however remained . 

Long story short it took 19 days for the spinal headache to be gone.  From the 2nd epidural on everyday I got a little bit better and was able to do more without needing to lay down.  What a crazy headache, it almost was like going crazy because when laying down I felt mostly normal and when standing I could hardly take it.  Every morning it was like a sick joke when I felt great waking up only to stand up and be hit with a slamming headache.  I am so glad it is gone and will never have another epidural again my spine apparently has a little different epidural space according to the doctors.

Stay tuned...we will have updates soon! A broken computer is slowing us down at the moment :-(. Can't wait to share pictures and happenings with our newest little bundle. Life is full and good.

A few days on our own…

On Monday, a week after Elin was born, we were on our own.  My parents had left and Mike was back to work.  Yikes, it was tricky to manage “normalcy” with my headache.  To be honest, thinking back it is hard to remember and it seems like I was in a time warp.  Looking at the computer was painful the same with the t.v.  Listening to music was still like listening to robots sing. 

Mike would start a ginormous pot of coffee before he left for work, so I could drink it before getting out of bed.  I would try to time my Tylenol/Advil so that I would be in the “middle” of the medicine around 7/8 and THANK GOD for the cartoons Curious George and Clifford the Big Red Dog.   I would get morning stuff routine done as quick as I could before getting to the couch and waiting for the coffee/Tylenol/Advil combo to take the edge off.  Then we would get going for the morning activity. 

It was nice to have a partner in crime for our outings and having Whitney and Dahlia to help us out.  Our first outing was to the beach to explore low tide.  How cool, we found some big shells, saw birds eating the fish that were trapped in the tide pools, and star fish (or sea stars if we are going for accurate terminology.)

Elin was great at hanging out and just wanted to eat and sleep.  So that made it easier to keep my attention on Thomas.  After we got home we would eat lunch and head for nap time.  Oh how I loved, and my head needed, nap time, and 6 o’clock when Mike got home from work!

Our second trip was to the zoo.  Then home again for a much needed lunch and nap. 

We also played outside in the back and front yards, went to the park near our house, and got lots of snuggles in.  Thomas was a  really big help getting diapers and playing nicely with his sister.  If he could have only cleaned, done the laundry and cooked dinners he would have gotten 2 gold stars.  Ha, in all seriousness he was a trooper because his mom was very different than what he was used to. 

Here are some more pictures of Thomas loving on Elin from the days at home together…this big brother seriously loves his little sister.

First Family Walk

Sunday night I was feeling pretty good so we decided to take a stroll over to the park.  I wanted to try and be as “new normal” as possible.  It felt great to be in the fresh air and to be doing something other than going to the ER!

I think Thomas and Stella appreciated having Mommy do something normal too.  It was a short trip and then back onto the couch for me.  Mike was a trooper and was running around with Thomas like a giant 2 year old.  So grateful that Mike seems to have endless amounts of energy!

Bath Time

Elin got a ticket for her first bath by making a very large mess in her pants.  Mike and I called it a “code blue” as we were changing her blow out, because it just kept coming. 

She was not a huge fan of her bath and being cold.  It was quick, pretty painless, and best of all she got squeaky clean!