Do unto others ...

Things have been pretty calm lately. Tuesday Sarah went to gymnastics. All the way there we talked about how she was going to go with Miss Barbara by herself and mommy was going to wait for her. She seemed to be fine with it - up until the moment Miss Barbara came in and told all the kids to line up. Then the fit came. But she went by herself for the first part. Then I went in with her again during the bars and beams stuff. She did better. She didnt insist on holding my hand the whole time. She seemed to be content just knowing I was in the room watching her. Maybe next week will be even better.

We took Emily to her very first Dans game on Wednesday. She slept, then ate and then cried because she was hot. Sarah had a good time though. She ate a hot dog, drank some soda and ran around with Grandpa Jim. Dave took the girls home about 8:00 and I stayed at the game. It was fun.

We got some exciting news Wednesday - Dave's sister is going to have a little boy. And just as exciting, Kristi is going to have a little girl (and her middle name is SUPPOSED to be Dawn)! I went last night and started buying baby shower stuff. I have LOTS to do.

On a not so happy note, a guy that I work with was just diagnosed with Leukemia a couple of weeks ago. I guess it's pretty bad - he even has some cancerous cells on his brain. He is in the hospital now and will be for at least 4 weeks to start. He has insurance, but I guess they are estimating his insurance will run out in about 3 months. His wife is a stay at home mom, so they dont have any income right now. We are trying to do some stuff here at work to help them out. One thing we are doing is having a blood drive on July 7th from 10 to 5. I guess Jeremy has to have about 2 pints of blood per day. We found out that for every pint of blood that is donated in his name, regardless of the blood type, that that is one pint of blood that he doesnt have to pay for. So, if you are in town and want to help, please stop by TOM and donate. Or if you are in Champain, or you want to donate on a different day, just stop by the blood bank and let them know that you are donating for Jeremy Dinger in Carle hospital. I dont know Jeremy very well, but I know that I would want people to help me and my family if I was in a similar situation.

Catching up

Good morning readers! We had a good weekend. Didn't do much on Friday - I was on call, but I don't think I got any calls. Saturday was busy though. I had a lot to do to help get ready for the Relay for Life. Plus I was on call again and ended up getting several calls. But we had a great time at the Relay and Team Time-O-Matic raised over $1,300!

Emily went to the doctor today - she is so big!! She is catching up with Sarah and will probably pass her before long. She is 25 and 1/4 inches long (tall?) and she weighs 14 pounds and 7 ounces. I told you she was fat!

Mom is liking her new job. While what happened to her sucks, I think it was all for the best and she will be happier in the long run. I am really proud of her and the way she has handled everything. Walgreens loss is Chitticks gain.

Here is a picture that I took of the girls this morning. I am so glad that Sarah finally loves her baby sister.

An oldie but a goodie

So, if you look over at my list of favorite blogs, you will see The Carlson House of Twins. Jen Carlson has twin boys and she had a rough pregnancy and the boys had a rough start. She decided to post a blog entry recounting her experience. She did it for a couple of reasons - so that the people who read her blog and don't already know the story could read about it, and also so that she would have it in writing to look back upon as she started to forget the details. I have decided that that was a great idea, so I am going to do the same thing. So, in case you don't know, or maybe just forgot, here is Sarah's story.

In the summer of 2005, I had been sick and throwing up for several weeks. Call it denial or just being naive, but I had no idea what was going on with me. Finally, I decided to take a pregnancy test on August 8, and I discovered I was pregnant. After some initial freaking out, Dave and I were so happy to be having a baby.

Right from the beginning, I could tell that I was not going to be one of those women who love being pregnant. At first it was just the regular stuff - LOTS of throwing up, being extremely tired and of course moody (moodier than usual). Then as I started to show, things started getting worse. Nothing too horrible - I had a bladder infection, a kidney stone, a weird rash, failed my glucose test, and lots of ligament and back pain. But still nothing that was totally out of the ordinary.

As things got further along, I just felt awful. I was in so much pain most of the time that it almost brought me to tears to walk across the floor. I tried to tell people how bad I felt, but everyone pretty much just thought I was being a big baby. Mom told me that I was a wimp and that I hadn't even gotten to the bad part yet. I just kept thinking that if things were going to get worse, then I was not going to make it.

At 32 weeks I had a regular appointment. I was sitting there with my midwife, Lori, and I was almost in tears telling her bad I felt. I told her that I felt like a big baby, but I just hurt so bad all the time. She was really wonderful. Instead of looking at me like everyone else had, she wanted to do some monitoring of me and the baby just to make sure everything was okay. She hooked me up to this machine that monitors me for contractions and also the baby's heartrate. After about 30 minutes, she came back and looked at the readout and told me that I was having contractions. She checked to see if I was dialated and I was not. They decided to give me some IV fluids in case I was dehydrated and that was what was causing the contractions. They ran the fluids and then put me back on the monitor. Lori came back to check on me and said that I was still having contractions. She was also listening to the baby's heartbeat and I noticed that it was really slow. It was beating more like my heartrate than a baby's. Lori said not to panic, that sometimes they grab their cords or something and that will cause the heartrate to drop. After a couple of minutes, the heartrate went back up. She told me that they were going to send me to the hospital to get a shot to stop the contractions. It would just be an overnight stay. Before I went, they wanted to do a sonogram to check the fluid levels. Everything looked fine - except that the baby was breach. Not a big deal, just meant that I was going to have to have a C-section.

I got to the hospital and got my shot. The contractions seemed to stop shortly after that. It was an uneventful night and I was sure I was going to go home the next morning. Shortly after I woke up, my doctor came in. She said that there were several times during the nigth that the baby's heart rate dropped below 70 bpm. They were really worried that the baby was in distress. She said that they were going to give me a steroid shot to speed up the lung development and that I was not going home until I had the baby. The goal was to keep her in for 48 hours so the shot would have time to give it's full effect. I was devestated. I had tried so hard to do everything right during my pregnancy and it didn't even matter.

As the day went on, there were more times that the heart rate dropped. Then the neonatologist came in to talk to me - I cried the whole time. He said that the baby would probably weigh between 3 and 3 1/2 pounds and that she could be in the hospital for up to 8 weeks. Next, they decided to give me a catheter and told me that I could no longer get out of bed and that I should move as little as possible. It seemed whenever I moved, it made things worse. I had a tough time falling asleep that night. I remember staring at the hear monitor and praying it wouldn't drop again. I think I fell asleep shortly before 11. About 15 minutes or so later, I woke up to two nurses standing over me. I looked over at the heart monitor and it was reading 64. I heard one of them say it had been down for 7 minutes. I started crying. The nurses lowered my head, rubbed my belly and even shocked my belly a little to try and get the heart rate up. Nothing worked. One nurse ran out and called the doctor and then ran back in and said we had to deliver. I was so terrified. They woke up Dave and before he could even get all the way out of bed, they were wheeling me out. I was crying so hard and I just remember telling him to call my mom. As they wheeled me into surgery, it was like a nightmare. I was praying and crying and trying so hard to wake up. They wheeled me into this all white sterile room and I just laid there crying, staring at the ceiling. I just kept saying "It's too early." There was nurse in there with me who held my hand the entire time. She was so wonderful. The anesthesiologist came in and was talking to me and gave me an oxygen mask. He was really sweet too - he kept lifting up the mask to wipe my tears. That was the most horrible, terrifying few moments of my life. Then the dr came in, and I went to sleep.

When I woke up, I was totally drugged. I looked around and saw a nurse and asked her if my baby was okay. She told me that she was beautiful and she cried when she was born. Then she went to get Dave and my mom. After making sure I was okay, they left and went to see the baby. They came back and told me she was beautiful. She was not in an incubator (just on a warming table) and she was on oxygen, but never had to have a ventilator. She weighed 4 lbs 9 oz and was 17 1/2 inches long. They wheeled me through the NICU so I could see her, but I was so drugged that I don't really remember it. When I got back to my room, we decided to name her Sarah Joy.

The next morning, I finally got to go see my baby. She was so beautiful. The nurses told me that she was perfect, just tiny. We were in the NICU for 11 days. The NICU is a hard place to be. It is hard to see your baby lying there and feel like she is not really yours yet. I could hold her and change her, but I couldn't take her home. I couldn't make any decisions for her. I felt more like a bystander than her mom. It is hard to explain what that feels like if you have never been there. She was so amazing though. The only problems that she had was learning how to eat. She was so tiny that she would get tired so fast and could not stay awake long enough to eat. She would eat a little through the bottle, and then the rest through feeding tube. When we were able to leave, she was able to eat a little less than an ounce about every 3 hours. (If it tells you anything, the first time we fed Emily a few hours after she was born, she sucked a two ounce bottle dry - at 11 days, Sarah couldnt even eat an ounce).

We had a couple of scares after coming home. The first couple of weeks they sent nurses to my house 3 times per week to check Sarah and weigh her. The first week, she wasn't gaining any weight and they thought she was going to have to go back to the hospital. Luckily she started eating a little better and she had gained a couple of ounces by the time we went back to the doctor.

Then when she was about 6 weeks old, I noticed that she would stop breathing for several seconds while she slept. I freaked out and took her to the ER. They kept her over night on an apnea monitor, and it turned out that she had sleep apnea. They sent us home with a monitor and she had to wear it to bed every night for a few months. When she would stop breathing, it would go off. It was the loudest thing I have ever heard and a terrifying sound to hear in the middle of the night. She eventually outgrew the apnea.

Sarah is now a perfectly healthy two-year old little girl. She is tiny for her age, but she is

developmentally right where she should be, if not a little ahead. She is super smart (which makes her super bratty sometimes!) and she is my miracle baby. I thank God for her (and her sister) every day.

We're getting there

Gymnastics went a little more smoothly last night - not perfect, but better. When Miss Barbara came in to get the class, Sarah started crying so Miss Barbara carried her. She told me that if Sarah didn't relax, that I could come in with her later. I heard Miss Barbara tell Sarah that if she stopped crying, then mommy could come see her in a few minutes. So after the first section of class (the trampoline part), I got to go in with her to do the bars and beams. She did MUCH better. She didn't cry at all and did everything she was supposed to do. Then when it was time to go do the obstacle course (that is what I call it anyways) I left her again. She cried a little but then did fine and even lapped a few of the other kids. That's my girl!

Sarah did her race on Monday night. She had to hold my hand still, but she ran super fast and finished ahead of most of the kids. It's not competitive, but I am glad to see that she is keeping up with other kids her age.

Not much new to report with Emily. She is as cute as ever. She mainly just eats, sleeps and poops. Oh, she did start laughing this weekend. I was tickling her neck and she started giggling out loud. It was adorable.

Nothing new

Not much going on in the Pettigrew household lately. The weekend was pretty tame. Saturday, the girls spent the morning with their Grandma Marilyn while I went to the Catlin rummage (and then took a nap) and Daddy ran the race out at Lake Mingo. They had a really good time. Emily ate and slept (as usual) and Sarah helped Grandpa ride on the lawn mower and he took her out to see the kitty's five times. They wore her out.

Sunday we had a good Father's Day. We got up and went to Church in Catlin and then went to visit with Great Grandma for a little while. Great Grandma got Sarah her very first Barney doll and she loves it very much! Then we went out to Aunt Mary's house for a cook out. Sarah was so tired when we left that she was asleep before we got half way down the road.

Last night Sarah ran her race at Lincoln Park. She is super fast.

Wish us luck at gymnastics tonight - hopefully Miss Barbara is there and Sarah doesn't cry the whole time.

Adorable

Here are the girls' "school" pictures. Sarah's by herself weren't very good - she looked miserable in both of them. But we weren't going to get them anyways since she just had her picture taken. we are going to get these two though. They are adorable!!

Superstar

For those of you who didn't catch it (and you had to be paying attention!), Sarah was on the news last night. I went to high school with Tinisha Shade and she asked if anyone knew people who had a lot going on in their back yard. Of course I mentioned mom and Marcie. So the news crew came out and did a cute little story at Marcie's house about vacationing in your back yard. If you were paying attention, you could see Sarah sitting on mom's lap in the background. There was a lot of Jared and Jacob though. It was cute!

Was it worth the wait? (probably not ... )

Since I was getting in trouble for not posting, I thought I better get to blogging!

Not too much has happened since my last entry. Our weekend was good. I ended up going out with a few of my friends on Friday night. I learned how to play spoons (only we played with forks). It was fun, although way more violent than one might expect. Just look at this poor fork!

Saturday morning I was looking forward to going to the Catlin rummage. For those of you who were up at 6:00, you know that there was no way that was going to happen. It was poring down rain. I was so sad. Luckily for me, it was moved to this coming Saturday. I was supposed to work, but someone is going to work for me. Whew.

Sunday we spent the day at Marcie's in the pool. At first, Sarah was scared of the big pool and only wanted to play in the baby pool. Finally she agreed to get in this inflatable turtle toy and ride around. She didn't want to let go of my hands, but she had fun anyways. She kept telling me that she liked the little pool, but she liked the big pool too.

Sarah still isn't too sure about this new gymnastics class. Last night was our second class since she moved up. She wasn't going to like it anyway, but it got worse when we got there and found out that Miss Barbara took vacation this week and a lady that Sarah didn't know was teaching the class. They let me go in with her since she was so upset, but she still cried most of the time. I think she would have been okay if Miss Barbara had been there, but a new class and a new teacher was just a little too much for her. We will see how next week goes. Wish us luck.

On a side note, I wanted to tell everyone that I am very happy for my friend, Somer. After too many years, she and Matt finally got engaged last night! They probably won't get married for 10 more years knowing her, but I still really happy for them. Wish them congratulations if you see them!

Looking good

Sarah went to the doctor yesterday. It was just for a follow up visit for all her issues (pooping, allergies, etc). She is looking good! She now weighs 24.4 lbs. Still tiny, but getting there. I thought that one of her tubes had fallen out a few weeks ago, but the doctor said they are both still in there. She still has to stay on her medicine to help with her constipation issues, but once she is potty trained, we can scale it back to three times per week instead of every day. She also still has to take her Zyrtac every day for allergies. She goes back to the ENT next week, so we will see what he has to say about her tonsils and her ears still running.

Last night was Sarah's first night in the big girl class at gymnastics. In the other class, I always went with her but in this class, she goes by herself. Miss Barbara came into the viewing room to get the class and Sarah looked up at me and said "Mommy go with me?" It broke my heart when I told her no and she just sobbed. But she made it through the class and didnt do to badly for it being the first night. And she wasn't too traumatized because when I asked her if she was going to go back next week, she said yes.

Nothing much new to report with Emily. She is as fat and cute as ever.

In March of Dimes news, we have started planning the Chef's Auction. It is a really fun event with food, drinks, and a live and silent auction. If anyone has anything they would like to donate to the auctions (goods and/or services) let me know. All donations will be appreciated! Right now, a couple of people I know are going to donate some Mary Kay items, another is going to donate some Longaberger pieces and my friend Doug is going to donate a simple will. I will keep you updated.

Growing Pains

Sarah is almost pottied trained. She peed in the potty several times yesterday (and even pooped once!). She is doing so well. I think once we make the transition from daycare to Natahsa's house, it will be smooth sailing. I hope so, cause I am going to get tired of washing 6 pairs of underwear a day while Sarah learns how to do this.

Emily slept in her crib for the first time last night. I think it kind of freaked Sarah out. Sarah went to bed about 8:00. I laid Emily down in her crib about 10:00 and then I went to get ready for bed. Before I went to bed, I snuck back into Sarah's room to make sure that Emily didnt wake her up or anything, and Sarah was just standing beside the crib, staring at Emily with a really distressed look on her face. She looked up at me and in a really stressed voice said "Mommy, get Emmy out, Get Emmy out." I'm not sure if she was upset that Emily was in her room or if she was worried about Emily laying there by herself. Either way, Sarah slept with mommy and daddy so she could relax.