Welcome new followers!

I have posted many things about Kennedy's birth, a few posts back.

Go ahead and check them out.

Here is her birth announcement for your enjoyment! : )

Another day still breastfeeding

After a rough few days, I have re-evaluated our breastfeeding "relationship"

I will feed her at the breast (with a thing called a nipple shield, something that makes it more like a bottle and easier for a baby to "latch") for 20-30 minutes, then give her a bottle of what she "should" be getting.

This way, we experience the breastfeeding and she is getting twice the calories and not a lot of work.

I have ordered a suppliment from an online pharmacy that is supposed to help with milk produciton, should be here in a week or two.

After feeding her the "new" way today, we were BOTH much happier and I will see if it works!

She has another DRs appointment on Friday with the GI Pedi in Fontana (frecking drive! Right @ 3:30 too!) I ***hope*** that her weight is UP, UP, UP! After feeding her sooo much!

If it isn't up enough, it may not be the BFing, it may be the Reflux/GRD instead.

Here is a picture just for fun!

Another LC appointment

We had another Lactation Consultant appointment today... all the way in Riverside UGH!

I'm tired and can't imagine breastfeeding any longer... Kennedy doesn't want to feed at the breast, and the Suplimental Nursing System they gave me... well... I can't make it WORK!

I can't imagine how much more of this I can take.

Kennedy isn't doing well either, she isn't gaining any weight, again. I HAVE to get her to eat more, and if the SNS doesn't work, she needs bottles.

All I do is feed (where she cries and so do I) then pump, and as soon as I'm done (sometimes before I'm done) she is ready for more.

I feel like a failure (I know that's not how I should feel, but I DO!) I'm doing everything I can for her, and it isn't enough!

Important Info

I have finally updated the blog with the story of Kennedy's birth and hospitalization.

Posts are a few back.

Long and detailed. Will add pictues later.

Just for fun

Pediactrics

The DR that was there was very nice! He stated that the pedi in Wildomar was looking at the WRONG blood sugar levels, 47 is fine for a newborn, but NOT an adult (farking idiot!) She was low (45 is low) but it wasn't the emergency that they made of it and stuck her for an hour!



The DR said that they will do another 2 x-rays to check her lungs, run a catheter to check for a UTI and then have a specialist come in and set her up on a monitor to check her stomach acid levels.



She was put on monitors for heart rate, breathing, and O2 stats (those things beeped all night!) She was given a one-on one nurse that sat in her room with us. They gave me a bed (WAY nicer than the one at the FCC) and let me stay. Brad could come and go whenever he wanted, but couldn't stay there.



I sat down and started pumping to give her something to eat and build her immune system. The nurse Carmen, started the catheter, and suggested that we leave the room. We did, I needed to take a walk and not hear her cry. I think Carmen did a great job because I never heard her down the hall and when we came back she was OK.



They continued the IV fluids and we waited for the guy with the monitors to come the next day (the 11th... happy birthday to me, my newborn daughter is in the hospital with wires EVERYWHERE!)



We didn't see much of the pediatricians when we were there... mostly the nurses, and I couldn't have cared! They were so NICE (and after the stupid pedi in Wildomar, and then we found out that another pedi in the FCC MIS-READ her chart and ordered the formula, then couldn't even TELL US them self! They had a nurse do it! She didn't need it! You only need to supplement when the baby looses 10 % or MORE of their body weight, and she had lost only 9%)... I think I should sue... too many mistakes.



The guy came and put a tube down her nose and into her stomach, to measure her reflux and he said that she would look like the Unabommer... she actually looked more like a suicide bomber if you ask me (how un-PC is that?!?)



Thy put her on a 24 hour study, so he would be back that day. We had a computer thing to enter when we fed and held her. We couldn't really hold her much after that one was put on. If it fell off, we would have to start ALL OVER again! So for 24 hours + she was alone in a crib. We touched her and talked to her, but I couldn't hold her! (I have a NEW AND HUGE respect for NICU moms!)



There was this funny nurse that came in to "check out my baby" when she came on shift. She says that she has to "approve" the babies! LOL! She approved! Turns out that she would be taking over for another nurse that went home, her name was Myloc. She was GREAT!

Here she is singing "I'm a little teapot" to Kennedy.... so cute... espically with her Asian-American accent! : )

Everyone there was so helpful and supportive and LOVED Kennedy.

More to come later...

Emergency Room...

We left the hospital around 2:30 on Friday the 10th and headed home. Brad drove sooo slow... he said that he was nervous driving with Kennedy in the back seat! LOL!!



We got home and started getting our things out of the car. Kennedy and I sat down to breastfeed after my mom arrived with some preemie sized clothes for her... she was SWIMMING in the newborns! While we were feeding she got fussy and I went to burp her and she projectile vomited (like she had done in the hospital earlier that day after giving her formula) and it came out her nose and everything!



After that... she stoped breathing... and turned purple and blue. SCARED THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF ME~! I didn't know what to do... I just froze. My mom ran over and took her and started patting her back, Brad then took her and got the bulb-booger thingy and forced it into her mouth to get her to breathe.



She was locked up and rigid, OMG, remembering it still makes me cry. We called 911 and they waited on the line while we got her breathing again. We told them that we didn't need them to come and she looked fine. The three of us aged 20 years, but she looked OK.



About ten minutes later, she did it again! That's it! We got into the car and headed 3 exits down to the pediatrician's office.



We walked in and everything seemed to take FOREVER. They got us into a room and the pedi came in. Weighed her 4lbs 13oz (loosing more weight) and took her blood sugar (47) (that was painful for her and me... the nurse was SQEEZING her little foot to get a drop of blood and nothing was coming out, dehydrated).



I was trying to breastfeed her, get some fluids into her and the pedi and nurse kept saying "no" because that's what started this whole thing... that wasn't what started it... it was giving her the DAMN FORMULA!



They then decided that she needed an IV (OMG... a ped's nurse trying to start and IV on a dehydrated baby, that weighs less than 5lbs... not good... should have known!) The pedi called 911 and 4 firefighters and 4 EMTs and a trainee busted into the room after I demanded my baby to breastfeed.



That was semi-comical... all these men, who see people AT THEIR WORST... blushed at the sight of a woman BFing! LOL!!



We then spent the next HOUR trying to start the IV.... she cried so loud and so long. I thought that her cries were literally going to kill me... I cried along with her. After NUMEROUS pokes and failures the head EMT said that she wouldn't transfer her to Kaiser in Riverside (from Murietta) because of her condition and the inability to get an IV in.



So instead we took an ambulance ride... literally across the street to the ER. We got there and found that staff to be GREAT! They allowed us to breastfeed and give her pedialite to get her hydrated before trying to get an IV going. The nurse (male, nice) did a GREAT job on her IV, after having it for 3 days, she didn't even have a bruse! They took an X-ray of her lungs and thought they saw something so they gave her antibiotics and got another ambulance to take her to Riverside.



Brad went with her, I couldn't get into the back with my incision. That was hurting like HELL during this entire thing! Turns out it was nerve pain from the start of the incision, but YIKES! That was tough.



Mom and I went home to get some things, hoping that the hospital would let me stay with her. We quickly left and headed to Riverside. We got there around midnight and Brad was talking with a Ped's DR.

Birth Info

Kennedy Diem Ackerman, born via C-Section 7/8/09 @ 8:58 am weighing 5lbs 4oz and 19 & 5/8th long.

Blue eyes and blonde hair!!

I gained only 10lbs total (after the nasty morning sickness took some off on the front end) and have lost 20lbs so far! Now let's keep that trend going!

She is soooo spoiled already! And like any typical girl, a CLOSET FULL of clothes already! LOL!! Everyone just LOVES buying little girl clothes, I can't blame them, they are just too effing cute! Evidence below!

FCC

Getting into the FCC was a nightmare, then I got there and we were sharing a room, fine, whatever, that sucks.

I finally got to hold her 3 HOURS LATER! UGH!!

Then family arrived and I was trying to sleep... but my roommates had their 15 kids and 25 friends visiting and they were so FRECKING LOUD! UGH! That first day was a wreck! We had NO ROOM because the room was set up for them and we had a TON of stuff.

The nurse said that Angelina ands Christina could only stay a few minutes, but those brats stayed all day and kept me up. Not to mention my room was at the end of the hallway and my bed was the one right in front of the door, so EVERYONE who came into that room, for me or her, looked at me and everyone leaving the curtain open meant that everyone in the hallway was looking at me too! UGH!.

TO keep the curtain closed, meant that I couldn't see the TV! And the bathroom was over on THEIR side of the room and we felt weird going over there because they didn't have their curtain closed and we felt intrusive.

They finally left that afternoon and after they cleaned the room, we kinda took over. That was much nicer!

I had a pediatrician come in and ask me (accusingly) "why is she so small?!" and I said "Why don't YOU tell ME?!?"

I had a hard time getting any rest in the FCC, because I had an IV that would occasionally beep, a catheter that I was worried about getting too full and compression cuffs on my legs, in addition to the incision.

They had me up and walking about 14 hours after surgery ans that was a feat! OMG! Just getting out of bed and walking down the hall was a JOB! Of course the cath had to come out, that was nice, but that meant that I had to get up to go now... bummer. LOL!!

The nurses were very nice, they took good care of us! The problem was that they came in that room like ALL THE TIME!! Never got sleep!! Vitals, blah, blah!.... The first night someone came in at 3:30 am to take my blood! SERIOUSLY?!?!? That night was tough with BFing, we asked them for some formula and instead they helped me latch her and gave her a pacifier because she just kept sucking!! We got some sleep after that. The hospital bed was the OLDEST thing that I have ever seen! OMG! There was no pictures left, rubbed off and it squeaked and had a waterproof feeling mattress that wasn't comfy. The only thing I liked about it was it's adjustaility.

The next day they had me take another walk, and I almost passed out/fainted. It was too much, too soon. Smelling salts... work well! LOL!!

That day we called all the friends to tell them that the baby was here! (7/9/09) So we had a few more visitors that day.

Friday morning at 5am, the brought me another roommate... fun. I told Brad to ask the nurse where we could get the hell out of there, we could rest at home! Later they said that all patients say that as soon as they get a roommate... well... get some damn private rooms. Everyone and their mother kept telling me that "they had a private room there, or that sucks" ... yeah... it did!

(7/9/09?)They were working on getting us discharged that day. We were seen by an OB and a Pedi each day, everything looked good. Then a nurse told us "the Pedi say that you are supposed to supplement her with formula 3 time a day. I asked for a LC and an SNS.

The LC came in and was very judgemental and attacking. Why isn't she skin to skin?!?! wake up, c'mon daddy this is a team effort, she isn't doing it now!

I couldn't take it and started to cry. Brad told her to calm the hell down and she helped us supplement her with formula. That;s when she projectile vomited it up... made me cry.

Another LC came in Martha who made us feel better about BFing her, and she supplemented with another formula (soy) and she threw up again. Worried me again.

We left the hospital around 2 after walking to NST to show Rosie, my nurse the baby, she wasn't there, bummer.

We got in the car and on our way home, Brad was sooo nervous about driving with the baby! LOL!

Got home, Mom came over with some preemie clothes, because NBs were WAY too big for her.

I got settled a little and started to BF her and she threw up, aspirated, went stiff, and blue/purple.

OMG! Scared me to death, she wasn't breathing, we rushed her to the DR down the street.

Jumping on the roller coaster there...

C-Section

We arrived around 6am for the 8 am section, got checked in and ready. Got an IV, and prepped... then another lady came in SCREAMING and it looked like they would bump me.

Nope.

In I went, alone. Brad couldn't come till I was ready. The anaesthesiologist asked me to straddle the table... yeah right! I asked him if he knew what he was asking a pregnant lady to do and he said that they ask them all to do it, and I said you haven;t been punched yet? He said that they wouldn't punch them... they have the drugs. They were GREAT and funny. They said that they keep it cold in there to keep their beer cold! LOL!!

I got the spinal and everything went numb... odd feeling. The draped me and in came Dr Stanley and Dr. Connely. There was some nurses and scrub techs there too,

They gave me O2 and called for Brad... but nobody got him! I had to ask again where it my DH?!?! Then the nurse went and got him. They had already started surgery when he got there.

The morphine made me really itchy!


I didn't feel anything more than people touching my belly, no pain and no pressure... another ODD!

Dr. Stanley reminded everyone not to tell me what the baby was, because I wanted to know AFTER she was out, because she was but first, not while she was inside.

The scary thing is when you hear your surgeon call "scalpel"....AHH!! Then you expect to feel pain and you don't! WIERD!

At one point I looked at the drape and there was blood and yuck shining threw ....ewww.. I could see my reflection of that was happening when they were operating...sometimes I looked... most of the time I just looked at Brad.

Dr. Stanley took her out... said there was a song... in the 70's... buy some lady i don't know.... I am woman.

OMG!!! it's a GIRL!!!


I couldn't believe it! A daughter!!! She looked just like me and was soooo teeny! 5lbs 4oz 8:58 am.

They took her to the warmer to get her measured and weighed, they told Brad that he had to step back... odd... he is her father!

Later he got back for some more pictures, I made him, because I couldn't see anything with her over there!

They then took her to the NICU for tests and food, she ate like a horse! The nurses there were questioning Brad about why she was soo tiny....

They began stitching me up, talking away, like I wasn't there... the anesthesiologist was the one who talked to me the most, he was very nice.

After stitching me up they took me to recovery, same room they prepped me in.

I kept asking Brad where she was, when could I ahve her?!?!

they keep saying after they transferred me to the Family Care Center (FCC) and that they were going to move me soon... well that took FOREVER. I told brad to GO GET MY BABY!!

Finally they moved me, as they were moving someone else into that room, crowded!

Once we got the the FCC I got to hold her, almost 3 hours later! TORTURE!

Auntie Val's Pics

Here are some of the pictures that Valerie took of the little monkey!!! If anyone you know is interested in a photographer here is her site!! http://valerieackermanphotography.com/

Baby's Here!!!

We are all still adjusting, and TIRED! LOL!!

I will post pictures and updates ASAP! Just trying to get used to everything and I will update everyone!!

4th of July~!!

It was a long weekend! Too much fun!!!

On Friday Brad and I, spent the day with Julie having breakfast and then into the pool we went, then we took some maternity photos with Val, then had dinner with Val and Dan at Claim Jumpers! YUMMMMM!!

I got the potato soup, as always!

Saturday we hung around the pool and got a great tan! Dan, Robert and my mom were there. We then went to the baseball game at the Storm because that was the only place where they had fireworks... and baseball is all American! LOL!!

I think I walked too much because my legs and hips HURT the next day!

Sunday, Dan hung out and we made a GREAT breakfast (another YUM!) and went back in the pool all day : )

Needless to say... we all have some NICE tans!