Christmas at the Hospital

Merry Christmas everyone!

Thank you for all of your Christmas wishes and prayers for us this last week. We just got our laptops and cell chargers about an hour ago, so now I can explain why we have dropped of the map for the last 4 days.
We are going on our 4th day staying at Seattle Children's Hospital. Greta had her first Pediatrician visit on Monday and we discovered through some blood work that she had a very high bilirubin count. It shows itself in the form of jaundice (very common for infants) but Greta's was reaching a point where she needed immediate hospital care. We headed straight over to Children's Hospital (without bags or even charged cell phones) and her blood work upon entry put her bilirubin count at 24! ( A normal count starts at 7).
She was immediately put under lights resembling a tanning bed, and has been chilling under them for the last several days.
Thankfully she started to improve right away, and being one step away from a blood transfusion this came as a HUGE relief.
We are very blessed to have caught her situation when we did, going much longer without treatment can cause possible deafness or brain damage.
So praise God for the prompt care she has recieved! Her rates are dropping and this morning she was at 16 so we are hoping to be able to go home tomorrow!
Here is a picture of her in her little "bili bag". It keeps her toasty and gives her the max amount of light. She is such a mover and shaker though! She is constantly getting all tangled in her IV's and suction cups. We are so happy to have such an alert and perfect little sweetie. We are constantly laughing over her funny faces and flailing arms and legs.

Our little family made attempts at Christmas Stockings last night. We wrangled up some hospital footies and while Kent was sleeping I scoured the hospital vending machines and reception desks for treats. Nothing says Christmas like a bag of Fritos and a plastic cafeteria spoon.
Kent had been sneakily storing my Christmas gift in the trunk of the car, so I woke up to the boots I have had bookmarked on my computer since summer! Weeee!

1. 

Santa came in to our room last night and dropped off a sweet little stocking for Greta with a blankie and toy! He also made his rounds today and dropped off a little stuffed puppy and gave her her first Santa pic!
It has been quite the unconventional Christmas season for us, but sitting here next to our sweet little girl who is on the mend and having just took my first shower in 4 days I feel like the happiest woman in town!
Thanks everyone for your prayers, they are truly felt!
Merry Merry Christmas!
I will leave you with a video we took yesterday of Greta's 4 day birthday!

Greta going home

Look what we did!

Hello All!
It's Kirsten, and I am laying right next to our sweet little Greta! She is faaast asleep right now, and we like it that way. It has been a long night, but so so happy...I even got 4 hours of straight sleep!
We are still in the hospital at Overlake recovering and what not. Greta is doing well, and so am I! However I do feel like a train wreck...or like I gave birth to a 8lb 14oz baby. Not sure when we will be going home, but we are pretty sure it will be today sometime.
But, here is the skinny on Greta (since pictures won't be coming until later). Firstly, she is perfect as any mom would tell you of their new baby.
She has my chubby cheeks and long toes, Kent's nose bridge and upper lip...and a full head of the softest darkest hair.
It is still a little hard to believe that this is our Barley!
And soon we will be taking her home to our house to live and play with us!
Now we just have to figure out how we are going to get her there through the snow and ice...

Greta Cherie Walter

She's here! A big 8 pounds and 15 ounces, 21 inches long. Kirsten did a really amazing job, and both of my girls are healthy and strong and sleepy. I think our camera cable is at home still, unfortunately, so no pictures for the time being, but rejoice with us that the newest Walter is alive and well and looking really healthy! More to come later, and pictures too!

Baby Time!

Kent here with a guest post series.

10:51 PM, 12/19: I had this picture ready just in case, and I’m glad I did. The weather is insane lately with the worst, by far, yet to come over the next couple of days (check out the weather reports for Seattle, and you’ll see what I’m talking about), and the roads are better than they were, but the timing still doesn’t lend itself well to driving around. Fortunately, we’ll be staying put for a couple of days, because we’re legit now! Kirsten’s water broke at home about 9:30 tonight, and we made it up here to Overlake Labor and Delivery in our own car. We were grateful that the roads got plowed and cleaned up well enough that we didn’t have to take an ambulance. We’ve checked in, and everything looks ship shape so far. All my other updates will probably be a lot shorter than this one as the action picks up, and if you don’t see anything else until we’re back home… Well, just trust that we were a little too busy. More to come…

12:40 AM, 12/20: Our awesome midwife Nicki just got here and checked in with us, and Jenni, our nurse (also fantastic) is across the room hooking up the penicillin to Kirsten's IV. Kirsten has a bacteria that plenty of moms do, called Group B Streptococcus. It's just one of the many bacteria she's got going on, and though it's nothing harmful to grownups, newborns can get some gnarly infections from it, so they do a couple of doses of antibiotics to protect the little folks. A nurse here told us on a previous visit that she's never seen a baby get infected with the B strep after the penicillin dosage, so it's really just standard procedure. Contractions are a lot more intense at this point too, so keep watching.

2:02 AM, 12/20: Dilated to 4 cm now, and more effaced. We've just decided to go ahead and get epidural medicine. The biggest motivator at this point is that it's the middle of the night, and Kirsten's really going to need her rest when she starts pushing. If it was daytime, the dicussion may have looked just a little different, but night time is for sleeping, and that's something we both really need at this point.

3:00 AM, 12/20: The epidural went in with no complications thanks to Dr. Silverman (UVA guy; we talked about Virginia a little bit). Kirsten's next mission (and Nicki specifically said the word "mission") is to get some sleep. That makes it mine too. More updates after we wake up.

7:49 AM, 12/20: Well, that wasn't the very most consistent sleep in the world, especially for Kirsten, who had to switch sides every thirty minutes or so and do some periodic monitoring and whatnot, but "this epidural business," as Kirsten has just said, "is fantastic." The last check was at 5:30, and we were hanging out at 6 cm. Still lots of contractions, but they're new and improved, with 99% less pain!

8:51 AM, 12/20: Hey, 9 cm! Alright! The guard changed, so now our nurse is Malinda, and today's midwife is the very friendly and very informative Jennifer. She just checked in with us for the first time and broke the last of the water to make a little more room for everything. We've been assigned two more hours of sleep if we can (hard work and little sleep ahead!), and after that, it's probably time for pushing!

10:32 AM, 12/20: Well, between another bag of epidural medicine and some extra pressure, we didn't really go back to sleep yet. Jennifer just checked again, though, and we're all the way at 10 cm! The extra pressure was from Greta turning and getting lower, which is exactly what she should be doing. If she keeps moving down like this, we'll be in the pushing part pretty soon. And then I won't be updating as much. Stay tuned.

2 Years! What a difference!

Two years ago today I woke up in Charlottesville, VA Mrs. Walter! Kent and I were just married and on our way to Prague for honeymoon and Christmas. It was the most beautiful and memorable week.
This morning...I woke up at 3:00am Mrs. Walter and co! with some lovely contractions and the makings for another very memorable week.
Today I am seeing my midwife, and the hope is (especially if my contractions keep up pace like this) we will be bringing home our sweet little girl sooner than later.
What a difference 2 years makes!
Kent and I were talking last night about the last 2 years and have come to the conclusion that we have the happiest marriage that any two human sinners could strive for. And now we are starting in on our 3rd year, and there is so much to look forward to.
Thank you to everyone for coloring our lives with friendship and love, we are SO looking forward to what lies ahead!

Makes me laugh!

Seeing as I am sick with a cold and carrying a behemoth child, not too many things make me laugh nowadays.
But! Bloopers, especially sports and news bloopers never fail. I saw this last night and thought I would laugh my child out!
Does this make me mean?
(Juice, I think you will particularly enjoy this.)
(p.s. I miss you.)

Holy Smokes!

So our Greta girl is full of surprises!
Here is the run down from the last couple of days.
The Barley is now "of age" she is 37 weeks and can be delivered safely anytime now. So we were very excited yesterday when I was having those classic symptoms you here tell about! Contractions 5 minutes apart and fantastically uncomfortable..."this is it!" It's baby time! We go to the hospital and they hook me up to monitors and do some charming tests only to find that my contractions aren't doing anything to progress my labor, and that I was still at the same measurements I was 3 weeks ago. Rats. All that pain and no progress. They tell me to go home and try and get some rest.
So instead we go out and try and help her along with some exercise, walking around looking at the Christmas lights and shops in Bellevue then dinner at Maggiano's. (We are only just a little impatient.)
However, today brings new motivation.
They had me come in to do another ultrasound after her heart rate was having some low dips just to make sure her fluid levels were healthy.
Good news! She is healthy...boy is she healthy...last week they estimated her weight at about 5-6 lbs. Today with all of her ultrasound measurements she clocked in at 9 1/2 lbs.
NINE AND A HALF POUNDS... POUNDS!
And this little turkey has 3 more weeks to cook! Granted, there is a few pound margin of error, but we certainly weren't expecting this from our little preemie! Needless to say the technician had to scoop Kent and I out of the room and practically deposit us out the door.
NINE AND A HALF POUNDS! Her head measured at 39 weeks, her femur at 40, her belly is actually off the charts as over 40 weeks.
Where did this giantess come from? Is this the same little sweetie I have been bedridden with for these last several weeks to give her a fighting chance at health and happiness?...Because I think she found it!
So there it is...my new motivation to do stairs and drink Raspberry tea. And now we can all stop singing "ohh poor little Barley" and unite in a song of "ohh poor Skirst" and for everyone else "ohh I'm glad it isn't me".
But with all shock aside, there is a sense of relief at our house today. All signs are pointing to a healthy happy baby and I would much rather do the fighting for her in childbirth than have her fighting for her life.
That's what mommies do!

Christmas Concert '08!

Our scheduled Christmas activities have been somewhat of a question mark this year. All eyes are on the Barley. However there was one Christmas tradition that I wanted to institute and observe if I could at all help it...A Christmas Concert!
A time to get together and sing Christmas songs with friends like they did in old 50's movies. (sans the hot toddies-maybe next year!)
So I busied myself (as much as one can busy oneself while not moving from the couch) with plans. Mostly I busied my mom and Kent with the baking and the Christmas decorating. A task that I envied them for...I love setting the house in Christmas order and making things just so (also, maybe next year!)
However, I was able to make these darling little mistletoe pins in the meantime.
So, with everything in order we called on our good friends Meg and Ryan to come celebrate with us around the Christmas tree.
Kent played the guitar, and Meg charmed us with her cello playing. Ryan and I chose less "Traditional" instruments and played the keys (car keys) in all the jingly sorts of songs.
A festive time was had by all! With baked sweets, cider, cocoa, and ornament decorating! It was a very cheerful evening. (Minus my discussion of our flagging economy and the predicted doom and utter economic collapse they say we are headed for in as little as 4 years. (I have nothing to do but read this mess on the news all day)...also start gardening.)Now, some may wonder at my crazy Christmas antics and wonder what was I thinking?...what with all the standing, jingling, and sitting at the table shown above. Surely this breech of Dr's orders catapulted me into labor?
Nope..and relax! The Barley had a blast, and really would never dream of interrupting the Christmas Concert '08! It was a lovely night off and I sang and laughed until my prego belly shook like a bowl full of jelly!
Merry Christmas to all!

The Final Countdown...

Da-da-da-duuuuuh, duh-duh-du-du-duuuuuh!
As discussed previously, the Paper chain is the countdown method of choice in the Walter Household.
Used to countdown major events and milestones. And if getting off my butt, (or left side to be more precise) to join civilization isn't a milestone I just don't know what is. Ahh, to feel the wind on my face and pavement under my feet again...richness.
As is, we have 6 links left in the paper chain placed by my afternoon perch.
6 links left and it's "Look out world the Barley and I are back and taking no prisoners!"
Kent and I have had the feeling that as soon as I am off these muscle relaxers, and we give my uterus permission, it's going to spaz out as it's been aching to (and ache it does) and presto we got baby!
So if you look at it that way, it really is The Final Countdown!
Peace and quiet...final countdown. Night time is for sleeping...final countdown. A time where I have to sqwunch up my face to remember what spit up smells like...final countdown.
But also it's having a little homemade person, who is totally and completely brand new to the world to teach you new depths of love and sacrifice. You don't see a lot of things on earth that no one else has for the first time. And I have a little paper chain to countdown to one!

P.s. If she doesn't come by next Friday we are going to IKEA. I can't of anything more labor inducing than walking 5 miles of Swedish warehouse looking at sales!