Yesterday was quite a day! For starters, it was Dane's birthday. I gave him his gifts in the morning. There were four of them. One from each of us. He loved them all! We also had a sister missionary here from Italy. She was entering the MTC yesterday and knew Dane from when he was a missionary in Italy. She spent the night here before we took her to the MTC yesterday. While Dane was out in the morning, I received a call from Julie Pochman (our friend who is expecting triplet boys.) She is 18 weeks along and had been feeling a lot of contractions. I advised her to call the perinatologist because her OB was not being very helpful. I then went with Dane, the kids, and some other missionaries to eat lunch and then enter the MTC. I had never been to an MTC orientation, so that was really neat. We arrived back home and later in the afternoon I received a call from Ethan, Julie's husband, that she was in surgery, getting a cerclage. I had mixed emotions. I was happy that someone had finally checked her and they were trying to save the babies, and I was really angry at her OB for brushing her off. I pray that she will be able to take those boys to a safe point and deliver three healthy boys. I am grateful that I was able to help them. As we all think back, there are amazing things that have happened in our lives that caused us to meet. I know we were meant to be here for them and I am so happy that I can lend my experiences to someone to use for their own good.
The babies have been doing great! On Monday Andrew was being very cranky so I felt in his mouth and he had a tooth that was beginning to cut the gum and the other was really close. We tried to appease him any way we could as he was really angry. He also began rolling over all the way. He started that on Saturday after our friends the Hollands had been here. Katie was rolling all over the place and I guess Andrew thought he could do it too. It is really fun!
Cassandra is quite a character! She is just so smiley and very hard-headed. The other day she was making Andrew laugh because she was banging a rattle against the entertainment center. I don't think I had ever heard Andrew laugh so much! Cassie is constantly in motion. On her back, she will scoot, especially when we try to change her diaper. Also, she likes to rock. We can be sitting with her and she will sit up and rock. She also loves her bath and splashes all over the place.
Elena shocked us yesterday. I was feeling in her mouth just to see since Andrew had his tooth and she had a tooth that had already cut through and was starting to come up. I couldn't believe it! She has not been cranky at all! We have decided that she is going to be very intelligent. She will sit for hours and stare at her hand move. She is also very cautious with her toys. Examining each of them slowly.
We had a great Halloween. The babies dressed up as a Flock O' Sheep. Dane and I were farmers. We took them to see Julie Pochman, then we went to see Dr. Berry, our family doctor. After that, we went to my old work, and then to the NICU. That was really fun for all of us because a lot of the people we knew were there. It was good for them to see how big the babies have gotten. We then went to Dr. Lauret's office, and afterwards to the MTC so all of Dane's co-workers could see them. We then came home and we all took a nap. That evening we dressed them back up and took them to our ward's Halloween Party. I think it was quite a day for them.
I think this is a really fun age. Each day they do something new and I love to see how they explore. Many people at the NICU marveled at how healthy they all are. I know we are truly, truly blessed.
Wednesday, November 15, 2000
Well, the babies are 9 months old today! I can't believe it! They are doing so many fun things!
Andrew is now great at rolling over. His favorite place to roll to is the entertainment center so that he can play with the video collection. He does it pretty quickly, too! He has two teeth now. They are very cute! We get a great view of them when he smiles. He loves to stay up with Mom and Dad past his bedtime. I think he has figured out what a great thing it is! We noticed some red spots on his back and face that turned out to be eczema. So, now we have to use special lotions on him and a special shampoo.
Cassie also started rolling over. Her favorite place to roll to is the shelf with the books on them. She tries to roll into the books, but gets frustrated when that does not work. We had a little scare on Monday because after rolling her left arm was limp and she would whimper if I would touch it. Well, it turns out she has what is called nursemaid's elbow and it just means that her elbow dislocates easily. The doctor showed me how to pop it back in and I have had to do it! My mom told me I was brave to do that, but with all of the other things we have had to do to these kids, that is one of the easiest. Cassie has also decided that she wants to sleep on her back now. If we put her on her tummy she just rolls over. I wish she would have done that when we were so scared about SIDS!
Elena has one tooth. She is the sweetest thing ever! However, she gets very offended when Cassie steals her toys, which is often! She just lets out the saddest cry ever! She can conger up tears faster than anyone I have ever seen! She is now our best eater of solid foods. Even vegetables! I guess I just had to be very patient with her and let her do it on her own time. When she gets excited she loves to kick her legs. It is really funny. And, those are some long legs that she kicks! She hasn't started rolling yet, but we are working on it.
We took our pictures today and Dane and I were exhausted. First of all, we
could not get Elena to smile in the pictures of just the three of them.
Elena! Who is the smiliest girl in the world! So, the one we ordered is
one of Drew and Cass smiling, and Lane has this surprised look on her face.
It is quite amusing! Then, we tried to take a picture of them sitting,
since the first ones were of them on their tummies, but they are in that
in-between sitting stage where they try to sit on their own, but can't. So,
we bagged the sitting pictures of the three of them. Then, we did a family
picture and we are standing up and Dane is holding Elena and I have Cassie
and Andrew. Well, you can imagine what wigglers they are, so I am really
just holding Cassie by her left leg and Andrew by his right leg. The whole
picture looks like there are tons of baby legs in it! Then, we did a
picture of Dane with Drew and that came out really cute, Dane said they got
a good gut shot. Then, I did a picture with the girls and it came out
really cute. Except, we could not get Cassie to stop playing with her feet
as we put shoes on them for the first time and they thought it was really
cool to pull the shoelaces. Anyway, the one we got had all three of us
a'grinning. Then, we did individuals and we got Cassie really well, Dane
was behind her holding her in the sitting position. We got a good one ofLaney too. She was flapping her arms in the air, but that is her style.
However, Drew just wanted to play with the props. (We had a BYU megaphone,
a little Cougar, and a little BYU football.) Anyway, we could not get him
to sit up as he wanted to lean forward and play. So, the picture we got
looks like we interrupted his play and he gave us a little grin. I tell
you, the photographer really earned her keep today. Too bad we were the
first appointment of the day and she still had to work!
Each day I marvel at these little miracles and how well they are doing. I hear about other babies and know that we were truly blessed.