Our Dear Sylvia Rose

Here is some of the story of our little angel who we miss so much:

I had a 36 week ultrasound(Nov. 16, 2017) and we discovered Sylvia had a large hole in her heart.  The barrier between the lower ventricles was not fully formed.  Andrew and I went to McKay Dee hospital in Ogden(Nov. 17). They couldn't see much more behind my ribs but assumed the main arteries were flipped. We then had to wait FOREVER to get into Primary Children's which was very nerve wracking.  We finally got in on November 30th. I was 38 weeks along and they still could not see around my ribs, though they were able to see that the arteries were indeed flipped but they had a new worry that there was a narrowing of one of her arteries.  The night of December 5th I didn't feel her move at all and I thought "I'm probably just being paranoid..." but I went into the doctor anyways to get a heart beat about 10 AM.  The nurse didn't hear anything and called a doctor in to do an ultrasound and as you already may have guessed she was no longer alive.  Lorelei was there with me and I sincerely  hope she won't remember it.  The nurse took her to get a sucker while I had to call Andrew at work.  I kick myself for not having him come with me in the first place.  He arrived and we both had to call our moms to tell them the awful news.  The first thing the doctor had told me was that it wasn't my fault and there would have been nothing we could have done to change it, I am grateful for his words to this day.  I didn't even have a second to think about blaming myself because he nipped it in the bud.  Originally I was due to have a cesarean section the next day(12/7) with my normal Doctor, Anne Blackett, who was out of town until that night(12/6).  The plan had changed since we had found out about her heart anomalies and I was to have her the same time but at the University of Utah hospital.  After the news of her passing we decided to switch it back to the original plan of a C-section at 9 am on Thursday, the following day, in Logan.  My body had other plans though as after we got back from the women's center I went into labor around 1 pm.  Lorelei's dance recital was that night so my parents were already on their way and my mother-in-law had arrived shortly after. 

We arrived at the hospital spoke with Dr. Kirkman(the one who did the ultrasound that morning)  I told him I really didn't want to labor through this since we already knew she was gone.. It would just be too emotionally painful.  So they started prep on the operating room but there was an emergency c-section, with a living baby, that needed to use the room.  So a little before 8 pm was when I finally got in for surgery.  The anesthesiologist came in to administer the spinal block which took over 10 minutes of trying.. rolling into a ball while having a contraction is something I do not recommend.  I was poked so many times and I could feel every single trickle of blood down my back while my tears were pooling on the floor.  Finally it was all said an done and our beautiful girl was born.  Andrew held her and we wept, all the while the anesthesiologist was there to comfort me.  She looked just like her big sister!

Sylvia Rose Shepherd was born December 6, 2017 at 8:22 pm, weighing  8 lbs 6 oz and 21 inches long.

She was perfect on the outside so the cause of death couldn't' be determined but she looked to have passed away 2-3 days earlier.  Apparently the false labor knocked her body around enough to feel like her movement.  Months later the autopsy came back letting us know that she did indeed have a narrowing of the artery which would have required immediate surgery with a very low chance of survival. I'm glad I was able to be with her 100% of her life.  She would have been whisked away to surgery and who knows how long she would have survived and how much pain she would be in.

to be continued...

Baby Products I Love

For all my friends who are having their first baby, here is some of the stuff I love:

Exersaucer helps me actually get stuff done, and she loves to rock bounce and play in it!
Mr. Brown Can Moo Can You? it can stop Le Gherk from screaming 99% of the time.
Links! I use these to attach her toys to her high chair, her carseat, and her stroller in case she loses grip or throws it.  She also just loves to play with them as is.
Sun Hat I like this one best cause it has a draw string, LL's head is rather little.
Bouncy Chair I bought her a swing with super sweet tunes and fun dangling bugs... she hates it.  So I got her this vibrating bouncy chair, she loved it so much.
Swaddlers I like these type best(I can always find them at Ross for cheaper), though I've never tried the aden & anais that everyone raves about.
WubbaNub
This Video Monitor was on sale when I bought it, and is super great!  Andrew had a scare once when Lorelei was screaming and nothing he did could calm her(I was gone), So he put ear plugs in and let her cry in her crib.  He heard her stop and looked in on her and she was choking on her own spit up and flailing around.  She was fine after he helped her out, but it was SUPER scary.
Soothies she'll have none other!
Sock Ons come in two sizes.. and they keep her socks on.  You only need one pair, so it's super nifty
Baby Banana makes oral hygiene a blast!
Gripe Water for a while this is all we could do to calm her colic, until we figured out it was her formula.  How come no one told us we should try a different formula?
Pedialax/Mira-lax it's not pretty.. but sometimes she just won't poop... Which causes screaming sleeplessness.
Little Loofah's way better than wash cloths and you use a lot less soap
Water Bugs  rubber duckies are great but... they get water in them, and you can never quite get it all out!
Sophie the Giraffe
Jacques the Peacock
Floor Mirror
Boppy
Cloth Books, Beanzo loves the Peek-A-Boo Forest and Captain Calamari!
I also love my Maya Wrap that was given to me, I would still like to try a moby wrap though.
I do like my JJ Cole diaper bag but I fill it too full/it doesn't have as much room as I really want but I do love their Diapers and Wipes Pod which was given to me!
Cardigan Dress Set
Gerber Sleep 'n' Play super light so great for summer and if you get a bunch of different patterns their size vary which can be bad but I like it for when she's in between sizes(she tends to stay there a month or two) oh and you'll usually want the zipper ones. It's a pain to try and figure out buttons when you're a zombie.

That's all I can think of right now.

Frugal Baby

A friend of mine once asked me "How do you even afford a baby!?" here is one of the ways to make your bundle of joy a little less of a financial hit.

     Diapering - Disposable diapers can really add up fast, you'll probably spend over $3,000 just on diapers (not including wipes)  I wanted to use cloth and bought a few different kinds and found this one to be my favorite(you should have 18-24 of them).  They fit babies from to 8-40 pounds, are super absorbent, and dry fairly fast(the hemp insert takes a little longer to dry than the microfiber).  I find cloth diapers to be amazing for a few reasons:  It's cheaper, it helps you be self sufficient(I'm all about that), it's better for the environment, and it has no chemicals.  I still use disposable wipes for the poop messes and I use Flannel Wipes with Booty Luster for her wet diapers.  The poop diapers I just spray the waste into the toilet and throw it in the wash; The Gherkin's poos are now quite solid and I can how just roll the poo off into the diaper with out touching anything but the outside of the diaper.  Laundering them is super easy just pre-wash on cold, and sometimes I use oxyclean, they say to use a special detergent for less chemicals on the babies skin, but I make my own($.17 a gallon).  Then throw your clothes in with them for a regular wash.  I take the covers out and hang those to dry and put the inserts in the dryer with the other clothes and hang the hemp up to dry a little more after.
     I was really discouraged with cloth diapers a couple of weeks ago, they stopped absorbing and started leaking.  My bad I had forgot about striping the diapers!  Don't forget to do that ;) especially after using a diaper rash cream/petroleum jelly, it sticks to the diaper and stays there causing the diaper to repel liquid waste instead of absorbing it.  Also I do still use disposables for night and travel.  While I love cloth diapers they don't wick moisture away from the skin like disposables and I would rather not risk her waking in the night.

Clothing - I'm sure most of you can already guess how to save on clothing.  Find some hand-me-downs, shop at a thrift store, and buy clearance at the end of the season for next year.  But I also try to buy as much unisex clothing as possible so if/when we have a boy I won't have to start a new wardrobe from scratch or make him wear a ton of pink and purple.

Feeding - Of course breast feeding is the cheapest route, but most people struggle with it.  Here is my story:  I had a horrible time getting her to latch when we got home from the hospital!  It caused me to stress out which DOES NOT help your milk come in or my blood pressure was still through the roof from the preeclampsia(I had to get on medication).  I didn't get milk until 6 days after she was born so we were supplementing with formula and I was pumping.  It was very difficult but I kept trying to get her to latch and finally she did.  We had been supplementing but she was colicky so we stopped(since at her one month appointment the Dr. was concerned she was gaining weight too fast, I wasn't worried about her getting enough).  I had a real problem keeping up with her demand and was feeding her every hour and a half.  It turned out it was just the type of formula that was making her so gassy.  Anyways at her four month the Doc was worried about her weight gain and we worked it out that I didn't have enough milk fat.  So we're back to supplementing with a sensitive formula and she's gaining weight like a champion.  My point is you should try to stick it out, but it might not work out the way you want it to, but good on you if you try!

Hygiene - A small thing I have noticed that can save a little money is if you use a loofah when bathing instead of a wash cloth you go through soap a lot slower.  Also babies don't need to be bathed every day.  They are not like stinky children, teens and adults!  

Giving Birth to a Gherkin

     Disclaimer: This is a birth story and some may find certain details to be TMI

     On a brisk January(30th) morning we arrived at my 39 week appointment.  The nurse asked me how I was doing, and I just looked at her... oh they know all too well how I'm doing!  I'm swelling like crazy, can hardly move, can hardly sleep, and I just want this baby out of me A.S.A.P.  They took the normal measurements: weight, blood pressure, and urine.  They took my BP several times and it was pretty high (165 over... who can ever remember the bottom number?).  Andrew and I met up with the doctor and she says "Well your blood pressure is high, and you have protein in your urine(signs of preeclampsia)... how soon can you be at the hospital?"  I replied with "Oh... probably 30-45 minutes".  That was that... little miss feisty britches was coming out, soon!
     We got home and I had pretty much everything organized and ready.  I was annoyed cause I had wanted to have most of the hospital stuff in the car before we even went to the appointment.  We pulled out the list of remaining things to grab(the little everyday stuff, i.e. toothbrush).  I was excited/nervous and Andrew was freaking out, "I didn't get to finish this thing I was working on at work!" he said, as he was running around the house like a CRAZY man. 
     We were admitted at 10:30 am, I was drilled with questions by the nurses. Then I was poked again and again and again trying to get the IV in.  (as I'm reviewing this in the journal we kept apparently the IV/pitocin drip was making fart noises, and Andrew thought it was me!)  At 1:00 pm the Doc came and struggled to break my water, she said it was like a glad bag, ha!  Then we just hung out and watched movies and TV til 6 pm.  They put a contraction monitor inside my uterus(and yes, it hurt like hell going in). I was at 4 cm then and when they checked me at 11pm, yes, even with painful and constant contractions(and when I say constant I mean I literally didn't get a break from them) I had not dilated any more.  The Dr. had mentioned that my pelvis might not be big enough to deliver her, so the nurse gave me two options:
1. Try to continue to progress naturally which would probably take another 10-12 hours(it had already been 12).
2. Have a c-section.

   I really wanted to go natural but since the doctor was already worried that I couldn't, I chose the faster option of c-section. So I was prepped and then we strode down the hall to the operating room.  I had a spinal block and was laughing as they were moving my large, pregnant, jiggling body around.  The nurses commented that they had never heard a patient laugh in the operating room.  Well.. I am no ordinary patient.  I'm EXTRAordinary, stitches!  In 10 minutes little Lorelei was born.

Lorelei Michelle Shepherd
              born on
January 31, 2014 at 12:13 am
6 pounds 13 ounces (3.09 kg)
19.5 inches long (49.53 cm)

Ignore my swollen MASSIVE double chin

 Now recovery.. that's a tale for another day!

It's Been Over a Year!

     So it's been over a year since we've posted anything.  I was pregnant and it was AWFUL.  Good thing the end result is SO awesome that you wouldn't mind doing it again.  Everyone says that you forget.. but it's been 3 months and is still very clear to me, and if I start to forget I can always go back to my pregnancy journal and review.  Anyways, now it is the Adventures of Em and Rew and Lorelei.  She's the cutest littlest Gherkin that ever did live!

100 Days Old! 5/11/14

Check out her website(a work in progress),
and my Pregnancy Photo Journal.

Life and Health.

If anyone happens to be wondering what we're doing..  Andrew got an internship.  His first day is today actually.  I hear tell this new employer is putting up a volleyball net and they have Nerf wars in the office or something.

As for me, I'm far more boring, I've been watching a lot of documentaries. I shall list a few and what I got from it:

Forks Over Knives- I totally want to be a vegetarian, for health!

Hungry For Change- Set your mindset to stun! I mean.. to positive 

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead- Juice is a tasty way to eat all the recommended amounts of fruit and veggies and get a ton of vitamins! 

Farmageddon - Man I hate the government, why can we no buy fresh raw milk!?

Vegucated - Vegetarian longing even more.  Animals sure fart a lot.

Life style changes are hard!  I try not eating sugar and processed foods, and I try to not eat meat.  NEAR IMPOSSIBLE! Especially when eating out.  So for now we'll just cut out the sugar and ween off the red meat.  (we have to use what's in our freezer!)  Then work our way off poultry and fish.  Kind of annoying but it'll be worth it.  Eat to Live!  Not the other way around.

Oh hey.

It's almost spring! YAY!  I'm excited to plant.

I'm not much of a blogger, but since this is mostly for family I will keep doing this.

We got a new dishwasher, juicer, and food processor.  I love appliances.  That is all. :-P