Harper

Meeting Harper

We have been so excited for Sage to become a big sister. We knew it would be an adjustment, but with her surgery scheduled just 9 days before Harper's arrival and the difficult recovery she was experiencing we knew her world was going to be turned upside down. She has done pretty well, but has definitely been acting out with lots of tantrums. She has also been waking in the night hysterical. She screams so hard she makes herself throw up. One night we changed her jammies and bedding 3 times. We have been up several hours a night with her. The past couple nights haven't be great but have been significantly better. Jeanne came to stay with Sage and brought her to the hospital to meet her sister. Their meeting did not go as expected. Sage was still in a lot of pain and was due for another dose of Lortab, so when she got there and saw me hooked up to the IV and with the hospital gown on, she wanted nothing to do with me. After getting some medicine and sitting with her daddy, she came around a little. We had a present for her to open from Harper, which included a Best Big Sister book, Big Sister jammies and a new baby doll.  We also planned for Jeanne to pick up a cupcake from the Sweet Tooth Fairy. We had practiced singing happy birthday to Harper for weeks. Jeanne also took her to pick up a few balloons. The nurse bathed her in the room so Sage could help. By the end of her visit Harper got her fair share of kisses and has since been smothered with kisses every chance Sage gets. 

Harper Lee's Big Debut

I was scheduled to be induced  Friday, February 8th. The day before they told me to expect a call between 7-9 am and to be prepared to go in right at 7. About 7:45 am on the 8th we got the call asking us to be at the hospital at 8:30. About 9 hours later at 5:38 our Harper was born. It was such an easy labor and delivery. It really was night and day from our experience of having Sage. The whole experience was so calm and peaceful. Our nurses were wonderful. We absolutely loved them. We especially loved our labor/delivery nurse Candie. I'm sure my nurses were just fine when I delivered at Provo, but I don't really remember them too much. We will however, remember the nurses at IHC. The most difficult part was getting the epidural. I don't remember the pain and all the pressure with my last one, but this time around it was almost unbearable. I kept arching my back and the anesthesiologist had to keep stopping to have me round my back and make sure I was okay. Unlike my experience with Sage, once my epidural was in, I could not feel anything. I hardly ever had to push the button for more fentanyl except at the very end and even then I was not in much pain at all, but just felt a little pressure. Dr. Froerer came in and broke my water and one point and things started progressing fast. I went from a 6 to a 10 within an hour, but lil Harper was pretty high up, so they had me "rest and descend" for a couple of hours at a 10 to let the contractions bring her down instead of having to push forever. By the time Dr.  Froerer came down she was more than ready to make her big debut. He came in about 5:30pm and I pushed through a couple of contractions and she was born at 5:38pm. They put her right on me and let Taylor cut the umbilical cord. There is something magical about bringing a child into this world and there is no doubt in my mind that she came right from Heaven!

Our Brave Girl

We survived yesterday. Sage had her scheduled tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy at Primary Children's Hospital yesterday and did really well. She is a champ! Her Grandpa Tony and Taylor gave her a blessing that morning. We were not scheduled to be there until 10:00 am and her surgery wasn't until noon, so it was a difficult morning not being able to give her anything to eat. She was quite hysterical for her milk. Once we were there she did pretty well and was distracted with all the toys. We had taken a surgery prep class last week so she was familiar with where we were and with what to expect. She however, was really upset about the hospital bracelet and did not like the jammies she had to change into at first. She kept saying, "I go". Luckily after that huge meltdown the pre-surgery waiting room had the cars she was so excited about from our prep class the week before and we got the first and maybe only smile of the day. They gave her a sedative 20 minutes before taking her back, which she fought like it was the end of the world. We didn't think she had got any significant amount in because she was not as sedated as she should have been. However, when we walked down what seemed like a forever hall and the anesthesiologist took her from us, she just looked at him and you could tell she was loopy. Thankfully there were no tears. Well, at least no tears from her... I on the other hand was a mess. About 30 minutes later Dr. Hill came out and informed us that everything went really well and that if her oxygen levels remained good for the day and she was taking her pain meds and drinking that she could go ahead and go home that evening instead of staying the night. He later changed his mind as he started thinking about how small her airway was and wanted her to have a couple more doses of some steroid in her IV for the swelling. Better safe than sorry forsure. I was able to go back to the recovery room where I found her sound asleep on one of the nurses. When she awoke from the anesthesia the nurse said she cried for a second and then reached her little arms out and wanted to be held. They all said she was an angel. When the nurse gave her to me she laid her head back down and then looked around and called for her dada and then went right back to sleep. She was groggy for several hours and most of the day. Her oxygen levels were really good and she didn't need to be hooked up to any oxygen for very long. She had swallowed a little blood so threw up a couple times. The most difficult thing for her was the IV in her hand and the thing to measure her oxygen that was strapped to her toe. We had to keep her covered so she couldn't see it otherwise she would freak out. She drank some fruit punch slushy, ice, a little milk and even had some mac and cheese. She couldn't have done better. She is on loritab/ibprofin and amoxicillan for the next 10 days. She is doing really well today. They say the pain doesn't peak for a few days though until it starts to scab. We are just trying to stay on top of the pain and keep her hydrated. Taking her medicine is going to be the greatest challenge. I do have to note how awful our night nurse was... he was the nicest guy, but he had no common sense and was obnoxious. He was loud and would make a big production of taking her vitals. He would swing open the curtain with the bright light shining in and talked really loud and try to tell her stories about his puppy when she was sleeping; this was at 2:30 in the morning. He also was really rough holding her down to give her her medicine and would put all the medicine in at once so she would choke on it. Sage would just scream every time he came in and would yell, "go, go, go...." over and over until he left and then it would take us a little bit to get her calmed down again. It was a really long night. We both ended up staying the night and would switch off laying with her in the bed and laying on the fold out couch. We all survived and were all ready to go home this morning. The three of us curled up and took a nap when we got home. Sage woke up a couple hours later saying, "up" and signing that she wanted to eat. She had some sherbet and chocolate pudding for breakfast and requested more mac and cheese for lunch. She has also been walking around with a bottle of apple juice and a bottle of "bunny milk" (milk with the chocolate nesquick syrup- it has a bunny on the bottle). She is napping now. I will be induced a week from tomorrow. Thank you Harper for hanging in there this long and hopefully she will at least give us a few more days to give our Sage girl the extra attention, love and cuddles she is needing. We love our Sage!