Abigail

Abigail Marie Tanner
Born Oct. 1st at 7:40pm
2 pounds 5 oz and 14.75 inches long
28 weeks gestation

Abigail was born so early because I came down with pre-eclampsia and HELLP. They life flighted me to Boise for the delivery because their NICU was better equipped to take care of her.

She was in great condition (APGAR scores of 8 and 8) when she was born. She was intubated for the first two days on 22% oxygen but after that she was placed on a CPAP. The little cutie had fingers the width of toothpicks and a head the size of a baseball. Her daiper was smaller than an index card and her binky looked like it belonged to a doll, not a baby. But, I geuss she was about the size of a doll.

I visted her as often as I could while I was recovering in the hospital. Sometimes it was very frustrating because my blood preasure would get so high that the nurses refused to let me get out of bed to see her. I kept trying to persuade them that if they would just let me see my little girl that my blood preasure would go down. They agreed only if I was wheeled over in a wheel chair. Even after I left the hospital my doctor still ordered me to not move around too much. So I'd catch the shuttle from the Ronald McDonald House to the hospital and then have transport wheel me up to the NICU. Gosh I felt silly. But at least I didn't have a stroke.

The first day I held Abigail I was just grinning from ear to ear. She was just so prescious and so tiny. I loved watching her little face make such tiny perfect expressions. I think she enjoyed being close to me after being torn apart for a few days. That's also when my milk decided to come in. By the time I put her back in bed I was drenched!

Abigail progressed pretty well for the first two weeks. Then we hit a pretty big bump in the road. She had to have her UV (umbilical vien) line taken out because it had migrated into her liver. They placed a PICC line in her left leg to give her IV fluids, TPN, and lipids. Then she stopped tollerating her feeds and became extreemly "spelly" meaning she had frequent periods of apnea and bradycardia. A blood test revealed that she had a systemic bacterial infection. Most likely it was from her PICC line. So they pulled her PICC line and gave her fluids through IV sites. They also had to give her several blood transfussions and intubate her for breathing support. The tube in her trachea was very irritating and made her creat lots of mucus secreations. After the antibiotics kicked in she started to feel better. So well in fact that she decided to pull her tube out. We tried her out of CPAP for the night but she was still so weak from her infection that she had to be reintubated the next morning. The trauma of being re-intubated caused a lot of blood to pool up in her lungs and her belly. Poor little girl.
A few days latter she started to feel much better. She had a new PICC line placed and they started weening her off the vent. Then she pulled her tube out AGAIN! This time we put her on a high flow nasal cansula and she's been doing well ever since. She is now a wappen 3 lbs 2 oz!

Yellowstone Trip

Brian and I decided we weren't really busy last weekend, so, we packed up and went to Yellowstone! Life holds few such perfect windows of opportunity for taking vacations and enjoying one's freedom. We called it a babymoon:) I'd love to take a few more if we can.

We biked on Friday and Saturday wherever we possibly could. This was a fun way to see the park because we weren't cramped in the car and we could get places a lot faster than on foot. Watch out for wild animals thogh. I didn't see the bison on the road until we were practically right next to it.
We also swam in Firehole canyon. This was a great way to cool off in not so cold thermal heated water. At the head of the swimming hole we jumped into some deep rapids and let the river carry us down stream . It was fun, but possibly dangerous. I'd recommend a lifejacket (which of course we didn't have).

Of course we walked around many of the geysers and took all sorts of pictures.

Our camping experience was, well, different. The campground was amazingly crowded. I never knew you could shove so many campers into such tight spaces. I'm amazed there was any room left for the trees. We had a bear roaming around the outskirts. Yikes, it was scary having to run to the bathroom at 3 A.M. Despite the crowd and the bear, we actually slept pretty well. Thanks to the electricity in the bathroom we were able to pump up a comfy air mattress. I might also note that this campsite bathroom had flushing toilets, soap, and a mirror:) Not too shabby huh?

My belly is definitely looking pregnant these days! I'm not huge, but I do have a very destinctive buldge. I guess that's about right for 20 weeks, right? I'm having fun with it. It nice that I feel so great and energized. I think I might even be up for the Mt. Timp hike we were planning on sometime in August.

We're Pregnant!

Well, we were pretty sure we wanted to have a baby. Now that we're pregnant, we're finding we don't have a clue on a lot of things:

1 - what the gender is (needed for baby shopping and baby shower planning)
2 - how to pick the perfect name
3 - how much the whole thing will cost
4 - what colors to paint the baby's room
5 - what advice to follow when everyone has different opinions
6 - how to tell other people I'm pregnant without them going ballistic and making a scene
7 - which hand-me-down baby accessories are "okay" to accept
8 - what kind of crib and car seat do we need
9 - how to "baby proof" the house
10 - how to take care of a baby 24-7

But hey, despite our ignorance, I think every thing will work out just fine:)

Get your free online pregnancy calendar from WhatToExpect.com

Honeymoon

Before I
describe the "series of unfortunate events," let me just tell you that
we had a wonderful time and enjoyed every minute of it. I thought it
was fantastic having Brian all to my self for a week. We loved
turning off our cell phones and not feeling guilty about it. We
weren't rushed. We didn't have a tight schedule. Thank goodness I
didn't have to worry about any homework. We didn't worry too much
about employment, mortgages, or money (though we were quite frugal).
We just enjoyed spending time with each other and growing closer
together. As far as I'm concerned, it was a beautiful peaceful bliss.
After the family dinner on Saturday we were quite tickled that our car
was so kindly, and tactfully, decorated with saran wrap, streamers,
tinsel wire, and window paint. We were especially amused by the
thoughtful presents inside Of course we didn't want to advertise we
were newly weds too long, so after my mom took a picture of our
beautiful car, we promptly went to the car wash.
We stayed in a cute little bed and breakfast in Springdale, just
outside of Zion National Park. No attendants were there when we
arrived. To our confusion and frustration, someone else was in our
room! So, we just moved our things into the bigger, nicer, room next
door. I didn't have a problem with that. Breakfast was served by the
cutest lady wearing a watermelon apron and a very big smile.
Despite our efforts, we did forget a few articles of clothing in St.
George. Thank you Emily and Jeff for delivering Brian's swim suit!

We drove through the tunnels and out the other side of the park. I
had never been that far on the tunnel road so it was kind of fun for
me. We stopped at the dam that created Lake Powell, took a spin
around the visitor's center, and hit the road again. We passed by
beautiful scenery along the South rim of the Grand Canyon and then
enjoyed the pretty trees and mountains around Flagstaff. It was a
very long drive to Seligman, but at least it was pretty most of the
way.
I don't really recommend staying in Seligman because it is a little
"Podunk." I'm afraid our air conditioner didn't work very well and
the place was borderline creepy. But, it beat staying in the car!
The next morning we drove about an hour and a half to the canyon rim,
threw on our packs, and started hiking down. Going down was no big
deal. As we were hiking along the riverbed though, we hit a pretty bad
heat wave. Eight miles later we arrived in the remote village
exhausted and very hot. So, we took a break at the café, cooled off
with three glasses of pink lemonade, and tanked up on some fry bread
with meat and beans. Then we moseyed on down the trail 2.2 miles to
our camp spot. Brian was so hot, tired and nauseous by the time we
got there I was determined to get him cooled off as soon as possible
to prevent heat stroke. So, I chose a camp site across the river.
This meant we had to wade through the river to get there. Yeah! I
saved him! And, only one sleeping bag got wet. At the time, our spot
seemed like it was going to be fairly quiet. To our surprise, in came
79 very excited, and consequently very loud, 7th graders from
California. They were right across the river from us. We were so
tired that we actually slept pretty well that night.
Day two was by far my favorite. We spent lots of time that morning
being lazy in our tent. Then we hiked/swam up the river to Havasupai
falls. It was breath taking! The water is crystal blue. At some
points along the river we were right up next to the steep red canyon
wall. We climbed up waterfalls 5-7' high and dove into the pools on
the other side. The water was fairly safe. We even met a friendly
alligator along the way When we reached the falls we swam out to
greet it. Brian took me all the way under the crashing water to other
side. It was kind of scary going behind a big waterfall, yet
exhilarating at the same time. We came back later with our camera to
take pictures. Then we hiked down to Moony Falls. I really don't
recommend this hike for children. We were swinging from chains,
sliding down tunnels, and scaling steep wooden ladders to get down
there. The pools were just as beautiful and the waterfall was even
taller than the last. Of course we swam a little more and took some
pictures.
We hit the sack early because we had planned on getting up early to
beat the heat for our hike out. Unfortunately, our mats weren't
nearly as comfortable, not to mention 79 raucous teenagers wooping it
up most of the night. So, we didn't sleep so well, woke up at 3:30
and hightailed it out of the camp at 5 a.m. after packing up and
fording the river at star light. We reached the top by 9 a.m. under
cool skies.
On to Vegas! I was so happy to take a nice hot shower, wash my hair,
and shave comfortably. Later we went to dinner at the Fiesta Casino's
buffet. After eating scarcely anything but trail mix and granola bars
the previous three days, Brian made himself sick at the buffet. I
didn't know someone could stuff that many entrees plus two large
glasses of whole milk into his stomach. He was dripping little beads
of sweat on his forehead and could not move for three hours after
getting back to the hotel room. I don't like that uncomfortable
stuffed feeling, so I just enjoyed some veggies, rice, a little meat,
and of course dessert.
We returned on Friday and had a fabulous reception on Saturday. We
had it at my best friend's beautiful home out in the country near the
Snake River Canyon. It was nice and simple. Brian took me dancing
out in the gazebo. We had a wonderful time. Thanks to all those who
helped with the luncheon and the reception!

Spudman Triathlon

Lisa and I participated in a Triathlon with Minta and her friend Julie. We decided very last minute . We showed up thinking that we were just going to have a good time. It didn't take us very long to figure out that there were not that many people there who just wanted to have a good time- in fact, there was no one there who participated for that purpose. Our close friend Beca did the mile swim at Spring Shores Marina at Lucky Peak. I rode a bike for 28 miles from Spring Shores to Ålbertson's headquarters in Boise. Lisa ran 6 miles along the green belt. We had a great time. And....we came in second place for our age group!!! Which is a very nice way of saying dead last. We actually did pretty well time wise for not having prepared at all. We had a delay at the bike to run transition station because Lisa and Brian H. decided to return to mom's house and then come back. They arrived about 20 minutes after I finished my portion of the race.