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!

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.

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.