the story of bridget hazel

on march twenty sixth,

at exactly nine fourteen in the morning,

our family officially became a family of five.

bridget hazel fiske came into the world weighing seven pounds and one ounce,
and she was nineteen inches long.

we instantly fell in love with her.

that afternoon, bridget got to meet her brother and sister for the very first time.

tennyson loved her, but mostly from afar, while enjoying the presents bridget had brought.

maggie loved her, mostly from as close as she could possibly get.
if we tried to pass bridget to somebody else, maggie would get furious and start shouting, "no! maggie do it!"

however, it wasn't long before we started getting concerned about bridget.
she hadn't been even remotely interested in eating for the entire day, and she was grunting with every breath she took.
i knew it was something that was an issue because every time a nurse came in, the first thing they asked was "is she still grunting?" and then "has she tried eating yet?"

 around four o'clock that afternoon, the nurses decided we should send bridget to the nursery for observation.

while she was in the nursery, the pediatrician came to visit.
in order to help her breath better, the pediatrician decided to put bridget under an oxygen hood.
she was also given an iv since it would be dangerous for her to try eating when she was working so hard to breathe.
i hated that she had to be in the nursery and couldn't be in my room with me.
and i hated that i wasn't able to hold her.
but i could see how much the oxygen hood was helping, and it was clear that the nursery was the best place for her to be.

the next morning, bridget hadn't improved.
when we removed the hood for even the briefest of minutes, her stats would drop back dangerously low, and it became clear that this was more of an issue than just her lungs not quite being ready.

the pediatrician took an x-ray of her lungs which showed that bridget had congenital pneumonia, and the decision was made that she needed to be brought to the nicu at the hospital across town.
the nicu would be able to treat her with antibiotics and give her a cpap which would help her breathe much better than the oxygen hood would.
the news devastated me.
it was hard enough having her in the nursery, i was having a hard time knowing that i'd be stuck at a different hospital.

but i was once again blessed to have a wonderful nurse who talked to the doctors for me and i was allowed a four hour leave of absence that night to visit her.

the next few hours were nothing short of a whirlwind.
the transport team came and took bridget to the nicu,
and mike and i followed not long after.

not even five seconds into our visit to the nicu, we knew our baby was in the right place.

her stats were already better, the nurses took no time putting a little bow in her hair, and the isolette looked so much more comfortable than the oxygen hood.
plus, i was able to briefly hold her again.

it was agonizing not being able to hold bridget when she was under the oxygen hood,

and those five minutes i got with her were so sweet and so needed.

after our brief visit, mike brought me back to my hospital room, and i spent the night working on recovering so that i could get discharged as soon as possible the next morning.

once i was discharged, mike and i made our way back over the nicu to visit bridget.

it was a scary morning.

bridget was teetering on the edge of either becoming a whole lot better, or becoming a whole lot worse.
and the doctors really weren't sure which direction she was going to tip.
we sat there listening to what could potentially happen that afternoon if we couldn't get bridget on lower levels of oxygen, and even now i am so elated that bridget did start getting better that afternoon and we were able to avoid going down what would have been a pretty scary path.

as her lungs got stronger, and as the pneumonia started to clear, it just became a waiting game before she could be discharged.

we were waiting for her to come off her oxygen.

we were waiting for her to get up to full feedings.

we were waiting for her jaundice to go away.

we were waiting for her antibiotic treatments to end.

at the end of all that waiting, we got the biggest blessing of all.

we were able to bring bridget home.

it was the longest week of my life,
and having one of my kids spend that long in the hospital is something i hope i never have to repeat.
but we feel incredibly blessed that we had such wonderful nurses and doctors looking after her, that we were able to visit as often as we did, and that it was only a week long stay.

since she has been home, she has been doing wonderfully.
and besides the fact that she never wants to be put down,
she might just be my easiest baby yet.

new towels

tennyson and maggie got new towels the other day.

we pulled them out for the first time tonight.

i think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

even after we were all dry and in pajamas, we spent a lot of time in our towels.

in between roars, tennyson would run up to me...

"mama, name is sully."

and then more roars and the occasional...

"mama, gaggie name mike."

so tonight, instead of putting tennyson and maggie to bed,

i got to put mike and sully to bed instead.

they are such goobers.

but i sure do love them.

coming out of hibernation

i feel like everything has gone into hibernation this winter...

including my blog.

i promise you haven't missed anything.

this winter has been dull and long and and we've spent far too much time in our pajamas watching tv.

i blame the bitter cold, the three thousand feet of snow and ice, and my ever expanding belly.

but lately, it seems the spring thaw might just finally be here.

our three thousand feet of snow has melted down to a more manageable foot or so and the sidewalks are finally clear and i can finally get my kids out the door without having to bundle them up in a million layers and still have to listen to them shiver and exclaim that it is "soooo cold, mama!!"

the windows in our house have actually been cracked open a few times.

yesterday they stayed open for a good duration of the afternoon.

it's amazing how wonderful 45 degrees can feel after a winter that had far too many days below freezing.

----- ----- -----

yesterday we went to our little outdoor mall here in lansing.

mike was able to get out of school before six, which was glorious, and so we all took a little family trip to get some outdoor air and some new clothes and books.

speaking of new clothes, maggie is all sorts of girly trouble.

she's our fashionista.

we walked into baby gap yesterday and maggie stopped dead in her tracks.

her eyes bugged out and when she recomposed herself she ran towards the racks exclaiming (in the most excited of little voices) "wow!! pretty dress!!"

it didn't surprise us one bit.

----- ----- -----

truthfully, maggie is a hoot lately.

she's got a personality as big as the sky.

and a vocabulary to match.

she absolutely insists on choosing out her own clothes, and on any given day you'll likely find her decked out from head to toe in pink with a tutu to match.

she's speaking to us in little sentences and we forget that she's not even two yet, until she goes full on tantrum mode, then we quickly remember.

and tennyson is still just as quirky as ever.

his newest love this winter has been legos.

he calls them his "puzzles" and he'll sit at the table for hours playing with his set.

he's also become quite the neat freak. there have been multiple days where i'm lazier than i should be and a little tennyson comes up to me, gestures around the room, and says "see the mess, mama?"

being trapped indoors together all winter has really brought these two kids together.

they're the best of friends, and i love that they have really become playmates lately.

it's nice hearing them in the other room giggling and having a good time.

and it's nice having some time to myself while they play.

that part won't last much longer. we've only got two more weeks until #3 gets here.

so here is to spring finally arriving in michigan.
(i'm blissfully ignoring the snow in our forecast for tonight.)

i promise that we are out of hibernation mode and that my blog will be more active in the upcoming seasons.

one year

sometimes i can't believe just how much has changed

all in the short time of one year.

christmas at home

for the first time in our married lives, mike and i stayed home for christmas.

we've loved traveling in past years, and there is nothing like being with family for christmas,

but with two kids and one on the way, we decided it was too much hastle.

and we discovered that there is nothing like being home for christmas, either.

we started our christmas traditions inside our own home.

the kid's favorite was their advent calendars. nothing beats a piece of chocolate every single day.

we also took a trip to see christmas lights down in jackson.

the kids got to sit in the front seat with mom and we drove around the fairground spotting santas and dragons and trees.

on the way home, the kids slept and mom and dad listened to a recording of "a christmas carol" from the 1930s. it's a tradition from the fiske side that i quite enjoy.

on christmas eve, we decorated gingerbread cookies for santa.

tennyson decorated, maggie ate the sprinkles.

fun was had by all.

and after all the cookies were decorated, we grabbed the popcorn and snuggled on our couches watching "a year without a santa claus". it's one of my all time favorites.

santa came that night.

christmas morning started at 5:30am for us.

just like every other morning.

we opened our stockings on mom and dad's bed.

i think christmas morning could have ended here and the kids would have been perfectly happy.

we ate breakfast in bed, since it is one of my traditions that you don't get to see the tree until after breakfast.

maggie and tennyson had their traditional breakfast of eggos, and mike and i enjoyed my first attempt ever at cinnamon rolls.

then it was present time.

somehow santa knew just what the kids wanted.

the only toy tennyson wanted this year was the "m house". it's a scare floor from monsters inc that has figurines and doors that open into bedrooms and he hasn't stopped playing with it since he opened it.

in the afternoon, we skyped with our family.

 we had the missionaries and some neighbors over for a turkey dinner.

the kids both napped and recovered from the morning.

and we spent hours upon hours playing with all our new toys.

spending christmas at home was wonderful.

it was so nice to be able to enjoy the kids.

it was the first christmas that tennyson really understood and got excited about.

and the whole day, the lines from my favorite christmas song rang through my head...

"it's worth the wait the whole year through,

just to make someone happy like you,

and i'll never outgrow the thrill of christmas day."