So here's to Stephen, his continued good health, and making dreams come true.
Lots of love from Team Lindsay!
Here we are, all set to head out the door this morning (James was barely awake - Mondays are always rough):
And this is James' new classroom:
He had a great first day! He slept on his cot like a good boy during naptime, drank his sippy cup, played well "with" the other kids, and learned the letter "A" and the color blue (well, "learned"). He even came home with his very first coloring pages... in GATOR colors! He did pretty well with the bluebird, but you can see with the carrot that he still prefers to bang his crayons over actually coloring with them:
Nurses started coming in and out with all sorts of equipment. Then the doctor came in. She gave me one of those knowing looks of concern, dropped her voice low, and calmly told me that because Cora was less than 3-months-old, fever should not occur at all and we would have to run the full gamut of tests to rule out such scary things as meningitis and pneumonia. She started listing them off: IV, bloodwork, catheter, lumbar puncture, x-ray, cultures… and then she told me we’d have to be admitted for at least 48 hours. By this point I was in tears (I knew the IV would hurt her badly, and the lumbar puncture scared me) and I could tell both she and all the nurses were fully expecting that. Not to mention I was terrified that there was something seriously wrong with my baby! They answered all my questions (procedure details, risks, etc.), then went about getting everything else together to start the exams.
Watching Cora get her IV was the worst thing I have ever experienced as a mom. Sure, I cried a little when James got his first shots back when I was a new mommy, but tears were literally rolling down my face for this procedure. It took FOUR nurses, TWO tries, to place the IV. The first IV, attempted by three nurses, apparently went in, but wasn’t collecting anything. When they pulled it out, I could see that the needle was BENT! Seriously? So they called in another nurse and moved over to the other foot. After 45 minutes of Cora literally screaming, they finally had the IV working and collected the blood they needed.
Here is Cora’s little IV and “splint” to keep it in place: 
Next was a catheter to collect a urine sample. That process was much faster, but Cora was just as unimpressed. By the time everything was said and done, her little lips were bright red, her cheeks were flushed (from both the screaming and the fever), and she was exhausted: 
Then came the lumbar puncture (otherwise known as a spinal tap). This was to check for meningitis. They wouldn’t let me stay in the room for the procedure. They assured me the test had minimal risk (the needle is placed below the nerves, so paralysis is not a risk) and doesn’t hurt (they numb the area prior to inserting the needle, like with an epidural). However, because they have to hold the baby VERY tightly, curled into a little ball (which babies hate), they scream the entire time. That, and the fact that it is a sterile procedure, meant that I spent that half hour finishing the paperwork to admit Cora to the hospital and hanging out in the consultation area. That’s when I called my mom and dad bawling. By the time I got back to Cora, she was passed out and being sweetly rocked in one of the nurse’s arms. I was so happy to have her back in mine: 
After a good nursing session, they sent us into x-ray. Thank goodness Cora is small enough (and without head control) that they couldn’t use the “medieval torture device” to take her x-rays. Instead, I donned the lead apron and held my baby tightly in place for the 2 angles they needed of her chest. She fussed throughout the procedure, but at least there was no screaming, and she was fine as soon as I was holding her again. The x-ray technician was such a nice guy… he rolled us into the room on the hospital bed so that we would disturb Cora as little as possible. In fact, all the staff we dealt with at the hospital, from the ER nurses and doctor to the pediatric nurses and our pediatrician, were really wonderful with us. So sweet with Cora the entire time, and very patient and understanding with me. And of course everyone thought she was just the most beautiful little girl and took every opportunity they could to pet her head.
Around 6am we were finally able to head upstairs to the pediatiric unit, again rolled on the hospital bed. Such service! Our pediatrician came by at 8am and let me know that the spinal fluid was clear – no meningitis (bacterial or viral), and her blood chemistry looked good (other than a shift in the white cells, indicating some sort of viral infection). We would have to wait a full 48 hours for the cultures though, so the earliest we would be going home was Friday morning. Sigh. 
Throughout the day Cora mostly slept. Her fever went away, but then dipped back up to 100.6 in the afternoon. After her 2nd dose of Tylenol she slept even sounder. We had some visitors and lots of phone calls. The pediatrician checked in at the end of the day to let us know that the x-ray looked good (no pneumonia) and the cultures were clear at the 12-hour mark. Big Brother James came to visit his sister after school and spend some time with his Mama. We ate pizza, walked the halls (the first time I had been out of the room all day), and played in the rocking chair. After Jay and James left, Cora decided she was ready to wake up for a while… and she was up until after midnight! At 9pm I had gotten her all fed, settled, and sleeping – then the nurse came in and turned on the lights to administer the next round of antibiotics. Of course, that woke Cora, she got mad, then she got the hiccups, and we were up until I gave in and decided to break the rules. I brought her into “bed” (you know, those tiny fold-out chairs?) with me and nursed her until she dozed off. I got a good hour nap in that way (my first sleep stretch longer than 10-20 minutes in over 40 hours), then the nurse was back at 2am to check on Cora. That woke her up until 3am, but I was able to get her swaddled and settled in the crib for a good 3 hours. If only I hadn’t been interrupted by nurse visits and IV alarms every 30-60 minutes during that time… Regardless, I felt much better Thursday morning after getting a little sleep. Cora must have been feeling better too, because I got a few smiles out of her that morning:
The pediatrician checked in again that morning to let me know that the cultures were still clear. As long as Cora could keep the fever away, and the cultures remained clear at the 48 hour mark, we could go home Friday morning (even though she normally makes patients stay 72 hours). They weighed Cora again and she had gained 2 oz in 24 hours. I wasn’t surprised, considering how much she nursed the day before. It seemed to me that whenever she was awake, she was eating. Whether for comfort or nourishment, I was just happy that her fever didn’t keep her from eating (or producing normal diapers) – one less thing to worry about. Jay was so relieved to hear that the cultures were still negative:
The rest of Thursday was pretty uneventful for Cora, but Jay called to tell me that James woke with a wheezy cough. We know what that means… so we bumped up his ear re-check from next week and discovered that his right ear was healed, his left ear was still infected, and he was in the early stages of developing croup. Again. At least we (and when I say we, I mean Jay) caught it early. Again. Since he never had a fever though, he wasn’t contagious and was able to go back to school. Another 3 weeks of antibiotics, and if his ears aren’t better by then, we’ll be referred to an ENT and have to consider tubes. Poor boy just canNOT catch a break! And the rest of Team Lindsay wasn’t doing much better… Jay’s bronchitis was still causing horrible coughing fits. He was allergic to some of his meds. He was exhausted from the sickness and lack of sleep. And I had caught something from the family germ bank as well. Luckily the ER doc was able to take a look at me while we waited for Cora to be admitted to pediatrics, so at least I got some meds for my sinusitis and double ear infection (hadn’t had one since I was a kid, and now THREE since Christmas)! The ER registration staff was even sweet enough to come back to me so that I didn’t have to leave Cora alone in the ER..JPG)
Sleep on Thursday night was a joke. Cora refused to sleep by herself (not that I blame her, after everything she'd been through), and we learned that her IV and it's constant alarms were not normal (ya think?), so they replaced the machine. That did the trick for at least 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep, but when Cora woke to eat at midnight, that was the end of my sanity. The poor baby wouldn't settle after eating and was crying differently, so I could tell that something was bothering her. I called the nurses in to check her IV. They said it looked alright, but when they went to flush the line, nothing went through. Apparently it had come out after her last round of antibiotics. No wonder she was crying. So, once again, my baby was poked and prodded. They tried for almost an hour, sticking her right hand in 2 places, trying the other foot again, and wrapping the rubber band all over her arms and legs searching for a suitable vein. When nothing could be found and they couldn't get the IV to stick anywhere, they gave up. They were going to call one of the NICU nurses to try, but I asked them to call the on-call doc first and find out whether we actually needed it (since we were scheduled to go home in the morning). When I didn't hear back from them for over an hour, I gave up, shut my door, turned out the lights, and brought my baby to bed with me again. We dozed off and on until shift change, which was the first time we'd seen anyone since 3:30am. Whatever. The pediatrician came by at 8:30am and said that as soon as we got the "all clear" from the lab we could be discharged. Hallelujah! Too bad it took them until 11:30am to make the phone call and get our discharge paperwork together (ONE measely paper) so we could be released. But again, whatever. At least my baby girl was released with a clean bill of health. We were VERY happy and thankful for that:
Thank you all so much for your prayers and positive thoughts. It was a rough few days and we couldn't have gotten through it without you.
And for the final stats, Cora weighed 10 lbs 3.5 oz at 2am on Friday, so she gained about 4 ounces in the 2 days she was in the hospital. In other news, I got a grand total of 10 hours of sleep in a 77 hour time period. My king-size TempurPedic never looked so good...
Words James uses correctly and on a pretty regular basis:
Mama/Mommy (Mamamama/Mommm)
Daddy (Da or Dad)
Ball (Bawl - also used to identify balloons)
Uh Oh (said occassionally with a dramatic pause)
No (Nah)
Yum/Mmmm
Baby (Bay-bee, usually said with a pause between syllables)
Bad (this is generally said twice along with finger shaking at Mouton... "Bad Bad")
Light (Yigh or Yite)
This/That (Isss?/Attt?)
Car (Cah)
Book (Booka Booka)
Whoa
Bubble
Words James USED to use regularly, but that we never hear nowadays:
Cat
Belly Button
Gestures James makes that symbolize things:
Fan - He twirls his index finger in a circle while looking at a fan to indicate that it spins
Bad Kitty - He shakes his index finger at Mouton (and sometimes other cats)
Grandpa - He uses his fingers to pull on his lips to indicate Grandpa's moustache
Bounce - He holds his arms out to the side and moves them up and down (he likes when Daddy makes the air mattress bounce him around)
Hush - He holds his index finger to his lips to tell the baby (Cora) to hush (stop crying)
He can also wave, give "five", blow kisses, shake his head "no", act like a Zombie, and "show us crazy"
Animal sounds James makes when asked "What does the 'animal' say?" or if he sees the animal (or a picture of the animal):
Dog = Woof Woof
Sheep = Baaaaa (said with head leaned back and mouth wide open)
Monkey = Ooh Ah (said while pushing his ears forward to make "monkey ears")
There are lots of objects/toys/animals that James will point out (or bring to us) if we name them, but he can't say the words yet (or at least, he doesn't remember them). He knows the names of the rooms of the house (for example, he'll walk to the kitchen when asked). When we ask him to dance (or "shake his booty", as we like to say), he happily bounces and shakes his whole self (and he really can shake that booty). He knows that the ambulance goes "wow-wow-wow-wow". And he's good at imitating our words and actions (it's just that most of those words don't "stick" in his repertoire yet). I figure, if he can do all this now, we're in for a treat over the next few months.
Maybe she'll get lucky and have lashes like her brother after all...
It worked! While the sippy cup still purposely hit the floor a couple of times ("uh oh"), there was far less whining, more eating, and no throwing of food. We can only hope this lasts... 
Cora is wearing James' Night Owl onesie today for 3 reasons: Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday night. She's still sleeping well at night, but we are currently having trouble getting her to go to sleep at bedtime. Whereas she was going to sleep pretty consistently by 8:30pm since she was 2-weeks-old, the past few nights she's been fighting the good fight until 10:30pm. And she fights dirty. We just hope this is a VERY short-lived phase...
Well, Cora's nursery is all set up and decorated (pictured above is the sign her Auntie T'in made for her, which perfectly matches her bedding set). The bedding has been washed and ironed. And the second baby monitor we ordered has been installed (currently positioned for a close-up view of her face). I suppose it's time to move Cora out of our room and into her own... 
The vinyl wall art was ordered from a couple of shops on ETSY.com. This tree and owl we found at designedDESIGNER.
These little birds and birdcages were found at Chuck E Byrd Vinyl Wall Art:
All Cora's bows are now displayed and organized on a couple of pretty hanging ribbons (the one on the right came fully-loaded from her Grand Aunt Beverly). The mirror (repurposed from our downstairs bathroom remodel) and shelves were painted by Jean:
And one last look back towards the "door" (er... gate). The string of hearts is from Jenny:
After big brother and Daddy getting smiles over the weekend, Mommy finally got some just for her this morning. Lots of them. And it was wonderful! 
...when Daddy goes upstairs without James