Mortal Enemy

At the Doctor’s Monday

The dust storms of West Texas have wreaked havoc at the Prather household. After Friday mornings feeding at 2:30am I noticed Caroline was starting to cough and wheeze. All of sudden she spit up everything in her small stomach. It was surprising the amount of liquid she can hold! I called the doctor Friday afternoon because RSV is going around. They told me: Humidifier, Saline, & Blue Bulb Syringe is only thing we could do for her stuffy nose.They said if it wasn't better by Monday to bring her in. She battled this mucus stuff all weekend.

We discovered Caroline's mortal enemy is the blue bulb syringe. She is pretty much a content baby except when that syringe comes out.

We will say her lungs DO NOT match her size.

We took her to see the doctor Monday.

• First thing is she weighs 5lbs 6 oz!
• She does not have RSV or allergies.
• The dust in the air is causing her mucus
• She peed all over the doctor's table
• We love our pediatrician! Dr. Karen Soriano highly recommended

All Clean

Caroline's umbilical cord fell off a couple of days ago so we are now able to give her a real bath. She loves the bath and is so cute laying in there. She has been partying during the night but the bath calms her down and she seems to sleep a little better.

She loves it when her daddy washes her because he is much faster then I am.

You will notice the bodysuit she is wearing is coming off her shoulder -it is probably the last time she can wear it!

Last night was rough. She spit up at her 2:30 feeding and had trouble sleeping the rest of the night. Poor baby! She has lots of mucus and keeps spiting it up on her own. My sister-n-law Stephanie helped me a ton this morning with saline drops and a bulb syringe. She finally fell a sleep at noon with her mouth wide open. I have the humidifier running next to her swing which seems to help.

Slumming it at the Prather House

Looking like a gangster in her monkey swaddle blanket

Today was the first the day Caroline and I were all alone at home. So far so good. She insists we watch the DIY network all day. Today has consisted of sleeping, eating, and getting a diaper change

We had her 2 week check up this morning and she back up to her birth weight and should be over 5 pounds by the end of the week. The doctor we go to is amazing and answered all our silly first time parent questions:

• She sneezes a lot is that ok?- normal
• Her belly button has a ton of dried blood in it how do we clean it out?- doctor cleaned it out said it looked good.
• We noticed she has been wheezing after the dust storm yesterday.- normal
• She hiccups all the time is she ok? -normal
• Is her color ok?- really pink
• Weight?- Gaining like a champ- last night she ate every 2 hours. Today it back to 3 to 4
• Skin is dry- she is shedding her newborn skin

We don't go back till the middle of April so I will be calling all my experts to put my mind at ease.

Navy Seals in Training

A couple of months ago we stumbled on a show called Hell Week on the discovery channel. Hell week is the Navy seals training that consists of 5 1/2 days of cold wet, brutally difficult operational training on fewer of four hours of sleep.

I feel like Chris and I are trying to pass our parental navy seals training.

Caroline slept so good in the hospital however; the very first night home she did not. We put her down after her last feeding at midnight, turned the light out and thought we were going to just pass out. 15 minutes into the night she started screaming and it just went down hill from there. We fed her, changed her, warmed her, swaddled her, rocked her, even broke down and gave her a pacifier. The only thing that calmed her down that night was hold her tight while sitting up in bed. At 6am Chris was amazing and held her until 8am when I fed her. Thank you Jesus my mom was there to let us sleep the morning.

She slept all day. Chris and I hit that drawing board and came up with what we thought was a great idea for the next night. I will just say it did not work. She was awake ALL NIGHT!

Caroline's pediatrician told us her nights and days are mixed and we needed to try to stimulate her before bed .

We broke out her play mat after her 9:00 feeding and kept her awake until her midnight feeding. She was not happy to be kept up the way we did. Papaw really helped out. It was so hard to keep her up mainly because I already want to give her everything she wants. Her poor little cries are so sad. We were strong and stuck to it and it paid off tremendously!! It is amazing what a three hour stretch of sleep will do for a person. This seems to work this week but we will see what week 2 holds.

These were delivered on Wednesday afternoon from Amy, Gian & Sam Falco. They were so sweet to get after a 2nd hard night!!

Going Home!

We got the go ahead from Caroline's doctor to go home on Tuesday. We were discharged around noon with the instructions to feed every 2 to 3 hours.

Translation: I felt a bit like a cow

UMC has babies pass a car seat challenge. I kept thinking of a scene from The Office. Dwight straps Jan's stroller behind his car to test to make sure it was safe. He drags it all over the parking lot. Apparently all they did was put babies in a car seat and then hook them up to heart monitors for two hours. Not as cool as thought it was going to be but Caroline did great! She loved the car mainly because she was snuggled in so tightly and she likes to be rocked.

Glad to get her home.

These were from Chris & Caroline for Valentine's day. They are so thoughtful!!

She is Here!!

Caroline Grace Prather is here!!

2/12/12

6:00 AM

4lb 13 oz

17.5 inches

Honestly Caroline and I were both surprised that she came early Sunday morning.

I had to go do non-stress test on Tuesday {which we both pasted!} Then one on Friday {Which she did not} So we met with the head doctor to see what the next step would be. He talked to us about our options. Chris was the rock as I cried my eyes out. Dr Yoemen said we could induce today(Friday) or take the test again tomorrow and see if the baby could pass.

We decided to wait. Chris and I both thought we would take the test Saturday morning and then go get get a Rudy's breakfast burrito. Wrong!

After failing the test they started the pitocin at 10:00 am Saturday morning.

It progressed VERY slowly until I got the epidual at 10:00pm.

then:

5 popsicles

One movie {Step Brothers}

One TV Show thanks to Hulu {Modern Family}

A whole pack of spearmint gum

2 small naps

10 minutes of pushes

&

She was here!!

First bath by her dad

Besides being bite size she is very healthy. She came out screaming and with that left hand in her face.

We are so glad to meet her! Chris and I prayed for her for so long and love her very much!!

Week 37 {Full Term!!}

Size of the baby: Her weight is 4lb 5oz {according to Friday’s ultrasound}. The doctor told us that 3rd trimester ultrasounds are the least accurate so it is hard to tell.

She is considered Full Term as of today!!

The heart beat on the last visit: The doctor did a non stress test this morning and she started out sleeping with 133bpm. After they woke her up with what looked & sounded like the Taboo buzzer she was very active at 145ish.

Signs of Labor: The doctor told us she is in the head down position. I have been having Braxton Hicks contractions for a while now but other than that she is safely underneath my ribs.
Gender: Sweet Little Girl

Name: Caroline Grace Prather. I found this picture on pinterest and it made me laugh because this exactly the kind of response my dad would make given the chance.

Symptoms: My hips & back are giving me fits. Walking and stretching help some -also vanilla milk shakes from Chik-fil-a.

Craving: Cutie oranges are apparently almost out of season. Sams {where I usually get them} were completely out. I settled for their giant oranges. They are about the size of my unborn baby’s head. Sams doesn’t mess around with normal or average proportions. Bigger is better is their motto.

Right this moment Girl Scout cookies and milk sound really good.

Movement: On the non stress test this morning I got see what her little heartbeat is doing when she moves around. A nurse named Ginger kept commenting “Wow she is excited!” and “What a happy girl.” Strangely enough this made me feel better about being there. I have been nervous about going since Friday afternoon but it wasn’t so bad.

Maternity Clothes: Some maternity clothes- some regular. I have 4 work shirts that I wear over and over every week. The blue shirt that is in most of weekly featured pictures is my favorite. Now it highlights my outie belly button and it has a mystery stain on the left side but I still love it.

On Saturday night we went to the Tuff Hedeman bull riding challenge at the City Bank Coliseum. We worked a State Farm event before it started. It is AMAZING how big those bulls are. Fun Fact about Chris Prather when he was 11 he rode steers in Hobbs NM. I love hearing him tell the stories of his cowboy days.

We went to Cagles with our friends on Wednesday night. They have the best chopped brisket stuffed baked potatoes. The food was good & the company was great.

Our Little Baby

Our Little baby is head down confirm by the ultrasound tech today. Also confirmed was her gender. It's a little girl for sure. Chris's fear was having to explain himself to a son why in all his pictures he was wearing pink.

In the top picture Caroline is sleeping with her arm over her face which is so funny because this is how Chris naps on Sundays. Just like her dad!!

She is measuring 4 lb. & 5 oz which is on the small side. All the blood flow, brain activity, & placenta looked very healthy but because she is so little I get to go Tuesday & Friday mornings and have a stress test and ultrasound for 3 weeks until she gets here.

I felt better after I talked to Stephanie because both of her babies were little. She said the Prathers make small babies which is going to be a blessing on D day. I do need to get smaller clothes for her. I only have a few newborn clothes that I received at my shower. So it looks like I need to go shopping for a couple more. Holding those little newborn oneise up is a little intimidating because of how tiny they are!

We are excited to meet her but would like her to cook a little longer!!