Gavin David Ross

We had our baby. . . finally. He came Sunday, at 6:58 pm. 8 lbs 10 oz of adorableness, Gavin David Ross. Dark brown hair, 20 inches long. Hooray!

Things looked good, I am feeling well and he was doing well. Monday just before noon we were planning on both of us being discharged and going home. However, Monday afternoon he was not eating at all or having any bowel movements. Nurses started getting worried, and so he was wheeled down to the nursery and had an x-ray taken. He had lots of air in his intestines.

The gastro-intestinal doctor looked at the x-rays and after having a tube stuck into his stomach, letting air and other fluids out, he was still not doing much better. Next day, Tuesday, he still was not passing all the air after some large bowel movements.

They decided that the level 3 NICU at another hospital would be better for him. There is a better infant radiologist and they can see more things in x-rays. Finally around 3, he was on his way to the other hospital.The next morning (Wednesday) he had an x-ray with a barium enema and things were better seen.

This is what they transfered him over in, in the back of the ambulence! Craig would be so jealous.

It appears to be Hirschsprung’s disease. For more details, look at these websites http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site1040/mainpageS1040P0.html or http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hirschsprungs-disease/DS00825 or http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/hirschsprungs_ez/index.htm

Basically, part of his intestines need to be cut out and it will solve the problem of him not being able to keep food down and better go to the bathroom. He has not eaten since 11 pm on Sunday. Poor boy. And it will probably be quite a while still (next week after the surgery).

Last night (wednesday), they put a catheter through the umbilical cord into him to provide nutrients. Today(Thursday) they took the sample of his skin from the area that the nerves are not working and test it to make sure the nerves are not working. This will take several business days and then after the results are back, we will plan the surgery. Then, it will be a couple more days before he can take food (let his intestines heal and re-introduce food). That is the plan for now.

life goes on

well, i have survived!! actually, we have. Still prego, and ok with it, besides the uncomfortable part.

I ended one year and started a brand new one! so many changes for me and they seem to be going pretty good. I am loving having only 15 students!!! the day is pretty long most of the time, but it could be worse. and of course, it still does not end just because I leave school. i have so much to do all the time and things never get done. but that's life.

last week, dr guessed the baby to already be 8 pounds. but things are looking good and I finally asked him questions and found out things should be ok labor wise with him.

craig is being watched by his aunt nini! she is great, it's just an adjustment for me. I drop him off around 7:15 and don't pick him up until 4:30. he is growing up and changing so much!! he is getting taller, heavier and learning so many words. his most recent giggle is saying the batman theme! na na na na na na na batman! tonight in the bathtub, he added batman shark! he's so goofy! we laugh so much because of him.

Trevor is keeping busy! he has a new calling that i will talk more about in our private blog. i'm not sure how he feels about it yet, but it seems to be going ok. he's working with my dad though and that can be tricky. they get along fine, it's just my dad is very spur of the moment and sometimes not as reliable.

I have great teachers that I am working with at my new school and everyone sure is helping me out great! i think i might finally have a substitute lined up for when i go on maternity leave (seeing as it could happen at anytime!!!!). i'm kinda hoping i make it to open house next week, but trevor mentioned that unless i am still in the hospital or in labor, i could probably figure out a way to go anyway. it's kinda tricky not knowing when this thing is going to happen. oh well.

last time, i lucked out and was just focusing on getting my finals finished and the night i was done, i went into labor. so i didn't really have to guess... not that i remember.

i'm having contractions, but nothing serious. i have another appointment tomorrow, so i will see how much more things are doing.

well, i'm supposed to be recording grades, not blogging, so i will stop. or go to sleep. i'm not sure. ha ha ha :)

contacts!

Back to normal life, I am having a big baby! Doctor is guessing an 8 or 9 pound unlike Craig who was 7 lb 14 oz. we will see.

Also, I am trying out contacts! I have an astigmatism now. So my left eye is always blurry, but i still think i love having the contacts! I love being able to see when swimming, getting my hair cut and so forth!! my prescription is at least -5 so when I had to take off my glasses, it really did leave things very blurry.


Plus, I am getting very pregnant! I have had a lady ask me if I was ready to have the baby and I told her i still had 2 more months. what is my response supposed to be when people comment on how big I am getting. hooray. thanks for also noticing. o-well.



I no longer sleep through the night but have to wake up in the middle to go to the bathroom. Plus, I drink about 3 liters of water every day in a 5 hour time span! i get so hot during school, that I down it afterwards too. i feel a little silly carrying 3 liters with me into school, but so far, no swollen feet! hooray!


Trevor is staying busy enough at work. There is continual talk/gossip/guessing around him about what is going to happen and lay-offs and mandatory furlough; but he tries to ignore it since there is no point in worrying over nothing he has control of. It is all just gossip for right now and people worrying... at least in his department.


Craig is growing and talking more and more! He is now counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 most days and sometimes says more numbers between 4 and 10. We had one of the babysitting group families over last week at our house and he played pretty well with them considering he does not like to share his toys. Then, last night he played wonderfully with another one of the families for babysitting group. He didn't want to leave at all at the end.


He is understanding lots more that we are having a baby! he kisses baby Gavin every once in a while and understands that there is a baby in mommy's tummy we have to be careful of.

for me, my first year of teaching is almost over! AAHHH! I have lots of things to do still (and should be doing now instead of blogging). Plus, I am a little nervous about next school year! i will be in a new grade level, new school (with a new principal observing me), have to set up my own classroom and not just share someone else's AND i will be leaving on maternity leave with a substitute. I just need to pray more about everything!


we pre-registered to have the baby today and it's sinking in more to me that this is all coming to an end very soon and really, I'm not ready. Mentally, I am ready for a second child. But his room is not together and with all of the things with school, i am not ready!


I also got my hair trimmed on Friday! hooray. i have been badly needing it. It is still straight (straight being a relative term for my hair that never like to NOT be curly) so we will see tomorrow how much I like it when it is all curly again.

back to regular life and a checkup

Well, we had lots of fun on our trip visiting family and then back here with other family visiting, but I am still trying to catch up on sleep and get back in the swing of things. We also had our check-up today for baby and he is a big one!! So, hopefully, his growth will slow down a little. Because i don't really want him to come early (would make it harder with my class) and I don't need a 9 pound baby. we'll see.

I promise to try and get many more pictures and videos together and get some blogging done! if only for journal reasons. I need to keep track of things because I always forget things.

some fun- repost

somehow i deleted this post. oops.

I have a job next year. there are pros and cons.
I will be in a first grade classroom, working full-time, at a new school, just across jones from my school right now. I'm getting more excited thinking of things i will be doing next year, but it's a lot of work!! there a lot i don't have. o=well, that's for another time.

We have had some fun recently! we had some time this last week and walked around bass pro shop! it was ok. mainly just fish in tanks. we did see a duck too and sharks. it was free, so that was nice.
then, we went to king putt on Friday night! it was fun. i'm never one for taking the game too seriously and waiting much. there were a couple people in front of us going a little slow.... and stopping to take pictures with 2 other groups behind them. BUT, we jumped ahead of them all and got out of there pretty quickly. it was fun, but a really little place. each shot was about 10 feet. and the next one was right next to it. it was a blacklight place.

I have discovered that Craig really was pretty nice to me. When I was pregnant, he never really kicked too hard. this little guy, he is a kicker! he likes to prove how strong he is. on Saturday i had my last new teacher conference and one of the boring classes, i just watched my tummy and see when he kicked. it was fun. he really is getting stronger and stronger!

Trevor recently decided to buzz his hair off. it's been a couple of days, but I'm just barely posting about it. i didn't think I'd like it, but it's not completely gone and i do like it! it's a change and change is always nice.

Craig's favorite number is fourteen! he was 'reading' the airbag sign in my car on Friday and apparently it says 14 and then he proceeded to 'write' it down!! i love it! then on Saturday, hanging out with daddy, any number he saw was 14. it's at least a start.

happenings

well, last week was crazy, but we survived! Trevor finished his project and is now DONE with his bachelor's degree!! hooray! his group and he did a very good job and now just have to wait for their report to be graded. He chose not to walk at the actual graduation ceremony, but i didn't last year and i don't regret it. so, less money, college is getting out of us. For his project, he created a small train track idea to run up and down a street and they wanted a train set to display. So, now Craig gets to play with it! and he loves it!

he sits on the pillow and controls the train and then when problems occur, he goes over and fixes them. He wakes up in the morning and plays with it. when we come home at night, he wanted to play with it. we finally put it away for a little bit last night because he was throwing pieces, but overall he has played very well with it and loved it. and of course Trevor loves it too. it's a very fun track!

Baby news- he is a kicker!!! Trevor hasn't been able to feel him yet, but i think he will be able to VERY soon. this boy kicks a lot more than Craig ever did. it makes me wonder about their personalities. But we are getting more and more excited every day for this baby. Craig still doesn't quite understand what is going on, but we try and remind him of little baby brother in mommy's tummy and that's why I can't pick him up as much.

me- well, i am doing good. glad last week was over. at the school carnival, it was a lot of bending down to pick up the balls they kids tossed and the next day, my legs were a little sore (i wore wedges and so it was even further to lean down.). but it was fun and I'm glad it's over. we split the money to buy supplies for our classrooms next year.

who knows what classroom i will be in. today the list comes out, i think, of all the surplus jobs and so hopefully i'll get some idea. we did hear last week that all of the elementary teachers should have a job, and that secondary teachers might not. but we will see. there are a lot of people higher up than me who have been out of the classroom, in specialists areas, like training teachers and such and now they are reducing those jobs and a lot more people are back in the classroom. and of course, all of those people have more seniority than me. but i have some hope. it just might be a full-time if not part-time positions are available. we will see.

It's a Boy!!!!!!

The doctor's appointment went well today! Craig is getting a little baby brother!! We are so very excited!! the doctor says he looks very good, head growth and weight and bones all look great! i am so happy to hear everything is looking good for our little guy and I'm so excited to now know what we are having!

updates and finally a picture

the baby's dr appointment went well. heartbeat is good and Craig and I even heard the baby kick! I been feeling a little not myself (but nothing I can really complain about... considering how lucky I am with no sickness). I've just been a little dizzy when standing for too long and people have been saying i look paler than normal. But the dr didn't say anything about low iron.

i have called all 5 of the schools in the valley that have a half-time job open, but no interviews scheduled yet. Most of them are asking for my evaluations (from my principal) and so that makes me doubt that they'd want me. When there are other available teachers who have worked longer and got better reviews. o-well. I gotta try.

Craig is growing up so fast and learning so much so fast!! I finally cut his hair again and wow he really needed it. two saturdays ago, it was so nice outside, Trevor was working on our semi-dead grass and Craig just rode his bike around out front and loved it!! then, this other pic, he likes to put toilet paper around his head. he's so silly.

We were able to go to the brandts baptism and it was very special. They are a family we know from the dad working with my dad. Megan, Luke, Dad and I were able to sing a song at their baptism and it reminds me how much i really enjoy singing with them. It was so easy!! we practiced the morning of and it was a hymn, but it really sounded pretty good and was so fun!! i love singing when there isn't very much pressure. and we are family so our voices blended very well.

Trevor is doing good, just tired of his last class and ready to be done with school. he's so great for Craig and I. Last night i was laying with Craig before putting him in his bed and I just thought how glad i am that I married such a wonderful man.

new baby

guess what! well, you could guess from the title. we are going to have another baby! i was going to wait until i saw a doctor to tell everyone, but my dad was spreading the word last night when he picked up Heidi from YW. the baby will be due around September.

well, we still have not gotten the papers signed on the counter offer from the seller, which means we can't have an inspection. they are the ones who wrote the counteroffer so i don't know why it is taking them so long!!
but we got some possibly bad news yesterday about the HUGS program helping us with our down payment. so we will see if it works out, or we don't know what will happen. if not, we have to come up with the entire down payment and will have no left over savings for the stove and appliances that we SO badly need(i know... we should have waited to get a house and just saved, but we need a place of our own so bad). which means we might not buy this house and lose it! uggh. but we are praying that things will work out. whatever that means. and praying for more patience.

school is back in session for me and we are sharing a car. which means i get up, drive trevor to work by 7, get back home, usually take a brief 5-10 minute sleep and shower before craig wakes up. there are some things that i will miss. for instance, just asking my mom to listen for craig while he is sleeping and we run and do an errand, or drop trevor at work.

trevor doesn't start school until next week, i think. then, he will have to meet with his group to get his project all finished by the end of the semester.