Three months

What he's been up to

* Visited with the Easter bunny a couple of times, he wasn't scared but also wasn't thoroughly impressed with the big fuzzy thing. But we got the obligatory picture anyway!

* Elim loves his aden and anais blankets, they are perfect for this hot weather in Guam! He often will grab it and pull it up to his face

*He loves to be carried around in his carrier (not carseat)! Anywhere we go he is constantly peeking out the side, sometimes gnawing on the strap while checking out what is passing him by. He is getting so interested in the world around him! He used to fall right asleep, but not anymore now that there's so much cool stuff going on around him!

* He "walked" in the 2nd Annual Boonie Walk for Babies this year to remember his big sisters Emilyn and Hailey. He did it like a champ! No fussing or anything other than a couple seconds when he was being strapped into his stroller! Once we were moving, he checked out the sights and eventually took a nap!

What he can do:

* He can roll over easily when he wants to, though he's currently on a bit of a rolling strike. He rolled over like crazy for a few days then just stopped! I think it scared him a bit to roll over so fast because he would throw his hands up and they would be shaking right as he got on his back. But he's started doing it again!

* He can hold his own toys now, and more often than not they find their way to his mouth! His favorite toys right now are the green frog rattle that hangs from his carseat handle and another plastic rattle we have.

* He's getting better at holding his head up while in the Bumbo, at first he just flung it back but he's doing great now!

* Can hold his own weight for longer periods of time with us just holding under his armpits for balance.

* He's talking up a storm, I love having first thing in the morning long conversations with him. He loves experimenting with making all different sorts of sounds with his voice!

His Stats:

He weighs 15 lbs, 7 oz and is still 24 inches long! Packin on the chub, love it!

Two months

What he's been up to

*Flew across the world to Guam first class! He did wonderful and slept the majority of the flights with the exception of when he was eating or hungry.

* Blows bubbles all the time and has even done a few raspberries on accident!

* Starting to talk back to us

* Loves playing in his floor gym, especially the rattle that is right at his level to hit with his hand. Smiles away at the sun that attaches to the top, plays music and has different colored blinking lights.

* Loves naked baby time and starts kicking his legs in a circle when he gets it, rolled over from belly to back once but I think it was on accident since he hasn't repeated it.

* Loves his baths, I think they are his favorite thing. We slather him up with soap and then fill the tub up and put him in the big tub with lots of water supporting his head. Then he starts kicking away and goes nuts, he loves it!

* Grammy and Grandpa are here to visit! He's been travelling all over Guam and visiting places like Two Lovers Point, Tarague Beach Overlook, Tarague Beach, Jeff's Pirate Cove, driving around the island, going on a World War II tour, going to a few fiestas and many other things!

What he can do:

* First awake smile at five weeks two days old right after having his diaper changed.

* Smiled in response to something Mommy did at six weeks four days old

* Laughed when he was asleep at seven weeks three days old

* Smiles when he gets put in the position to eat

* Started lifting his head and shoulders up off the ground when he's on his belly when he was about five weeks old

* Will stand up with just supporting him under his arms to keep him from falling over, he loves bouncing up and down too!
His Stats:

He weighs 13 pounds and is 24 inches long, he's growing quick!

One Month

Wow, I can't believe that Elim has been here for an entire month already! It has already been filled with lots of excitement both good and bad.

What he's been up to

*On his fifth day of life he was admitted for dehydration and hypernatremia as well as a touch of jaundice. He narrowly escaped being admitted to the PICU only because they were full to capacity and waiting on nursing staff to come in so he could get a bed. In the wait time his sodium level went down far enough that he was able to go to the regular floor. He got an IV in his scalp because they were not able to get one started in his arms or legs since he was so dried out. Elim was admitted on Friday and discharged the following Monday night. We had high hopes of never having to see him in a hospital again.

*On his sixteenth day of life he was admitted to the hospital again, this time for RSV. We suspect that he caught it when he was in the hospital for dehydration. We went to the ER when his breathing rate got up to the high eighties. Once there, he acted like he was ok, his breathing slowed down and his oxygen saturations remained in the nineties. However, when we were getting his discharge instructions his saturations dropped to the eighties and stayed, so plans were changed, oxygen was started, IV was inserted and we were sent to our room. He was taken off of oxygen soon before we were sent to his room though, and he never needed it again. He was almost discharged the next night but while we were discussing it we fed him and his saturations dropped and stayed in the seventies, so we stayed another night. But the entire night he did great and we got to go home early the next afternoon!

*Met a lot of his family including Aunts and Uncles, cousins, Grandparents and Great Grandmas!

*Got his newborn pictures taken by a wonderful photographer

*Visited many places including his pediatrician about seven times, Babies R Us, the park, and his Great Grandma's house in Tulsa

*Loves staring at walls, they seem to be the most interesting things ever!

What he can do!

*Elim is a champ at holding his head up from the day that he was born! He's still a bobble head but he is so strong!

*Gaining weight like crazy, even through two hospitalizations he still gained weight and even jumped up in where he was at in the growth charts.

*He is quite the little actor! Between acting like he is ok at the hospital when he really is not and acting like he eats properly when a lactation consultant is watching but doesn't when she's not looking I think he deserves some sort of award!

*Tracks a glow in the dark light when the lights are out

Our Valentine

Our sweet Elim Henry-Otto arrived on February 14 at 6:46 pm. He weighed in at 8 lb 2 oz and was 21 1/3 inches long. Charles was not able to be here for his birth, but was able to meet him a few hours later via skype when he was in Hawaii waiting for his next flight to come meet his little guy in person.

A First Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated the girls' first birthday. We threw a little party with mostly family and a close friend. It's not ever what I would have imagined the first birthday of my children to be like, but it was just right for the situation. I felt their love all around me throughout the day, along with the love of all of my family and friends. Here's a few pictures of our celebration!

The whole setup


Butterfly birthday cake


The birthday girls!


Punch, birthday cake, and pink bubble gum ice cream!


Close up of the girls and their flowers


The butterflies from their cake


Their balloons

Elim Henry Otto

It's been awhile! I am currently 17 weeks 3 days pregnant, and we found out that it is a boy! We have decided to name him Elim Henry Otto. The E and H initials are from our Emilyn and Hailey. I had heard the first name before, and thought it was cute. Then when we were searching for E and H names I thought of it and looked up the meaning. Of course on different sites there are a million different meanings, but the first one that came up for me for the meaning was oasis, and knew it was the perfect fit if our little button was a boy. An oasis is something that provides refuge, relief, or pleasant contrast and I sure hope this sweet little boy is just that for us! I'm sure that anything that includes bringing my child home alive and healthy will be a pleasant contrast to what we have known before, empty arms and broken hearts. We are still hopeful that our dream to bring a baby home alive and well will be fulfilled. Elim is pronounced with a long E. The name Henry is just because we thought it was cute and flowed well. Otto is a family name on my husband's side, it is his middle name and his Grandpa's name as well. We think it also may be my Great Grandpa's middle name, but we're still not totally sure about that yet!

I am now back in Oklahoma, and have been here for just over a week! I've already had my first appointments with both my regular OB and high risk doctor. Both appointments went great, and I like both of them! At my high risk appointment they basically did the full anatomy ultrasound and that is when we found out that little Elim was a boy! He is measuring a week ahead by his leg and arm length if I remember right. However, by head circumference he is measuring a full two weeks ahead! Taking into account all of his measurements, he is weighing in 8 ounces give or take an ounce. My cervical length is 4.68, which is still wonderful! I go back two weeks after my appointment for another cervical length check. The high risk doctor seemed fairly confident that my preterm labor was caused by me being pregnant with twins alone, though he said there's not really any way to say for sure. So since I'm only pregnant with one baby this time, we shouldn't have any problems, and I really hope that he's right! I had my second shot of 17P, and had to give it to myself. I figured I might as well start practicing since I'll be doing them myself for awhile!

Here's a few pictures of our little Elim Henry Otto!

His sweet profile!


Elim's hand


Elim's crossed feet

Crash course for my pregnancy monitoring

In the past nine months I have been missing my girls I have learned so much about what happened. I've probably learned enough that I could be my own doctor, if only I was able to work the ultrasound machine myself! I thought I'd give everyone a little "lesson" to refer back to whenever I say something that just makes you tilt your head and furrow your brow in confusion when I'm talking about my appointments.

I was given two possible diagnoses for what happened. The first was preterm labor (PTL) and that is what we are leaning towards what happened. The other is incompetent cervix (IC). This is basically where your cervix does not do its job properly. Basically that means it doesn't hold strong, and eventually dilates on its own sometimes with no contractions at all. Since I showed up at the hospital already 4-5 cm dilated they can't be for sure what happened with me. They don't know if the contractions started the dilation, or the dilation caused the contractions. So they're monitoring or treating me for both. Though we are more leaning towards PTL, since a week and a half before I had the girls my cervix was plenty long. Following are the treatments for each and a few key words relating to each.

Incompetent Cervix:

Cervical length checks: Basically they go in and do an ultrasound to measure your cervical length, pretty basic. They worry a lot when the cervix gets down to 2cm, though they will also worry if they see a steady downward trend in length at each appointment. For me, I will be monitored with bi-weekly ultrasounds to make sure there are no changes. My length at my 15 week 4 day ultrasound was 4.89, and at 16 weeks 5 days was 4.68, nice and long, so yay! I had those a week apart because I was originally going to be doing them weekly, plus we wanted to double check the plane ride caused no drastic changes. These will continue until I am 24 weeks, and at that point if there have been no problems I will switch to only being followed by my regular OB. If there are signs of problems, I'll still be followed by the high risk doctor.

Cerclage: Basically this is a stitch to keep the cervix closed. We are not going this route at this point in time, we are going to be monitoring and if we see things starting to change then it may possibly be an option.

Preterm Labor:

17P: This is a progesterone shot that they give weekly. It helps to prevent preterm labor before it starts. It helps to calm the uterus and hopefully keep it from contracting. I just recently heard that it maybe makes the uterus more flexible. I just got my supply of this last week and give the shots at home, I'm sore at the injection site for a few days afterward, but it's all worth it to give this baby a chance!

Preterm Contractions: My doctor in Guam told me to go in at any sign of contractions based on my history. So I am sure I will be getting to know the L&D staff very well in the coming weeks whether they be "real" contractions or just Braxton Hicks. Better to be safe than sorry.

I think that about covers it, if anything "new" comes up I'll explain that later. Not all of my information may be correct, but either way it's my understanding of everything they're monitoring and doing to give Button the best chance at coming full term!