My first failed outing with 3 kids

So, I really love being a mom. So much so, that sometimes I over estimate how much I can handle. 

Today, I decided to go on an outing to the zoo with the Kentuckiana Babywearers group. I went to the zoo last week with my friend Elizabeth, and she was a great help, but I just kind of figured I could do it on my own. I didn't want to ask her to do it again because she is pregnant and almost full-term and I could tell she was very tired after our last trip (I was, too, and I'm not even pregnant anymore!). I got a zoo membership for Mother's Day, and I want to use it as much as possible, so that is another reason I decided to go today. 

Let's start at the beginning of the day. I was out of lunch food and I wanted to pack our lunches, so I got everyone ready early and we headed to the grocery store. I go to Kroger because they have a double car on the front of some of the carts, which makes it easier with the boys. They usually are all out and ready to go if you go early in the morning, but they were all gone today. I decided it was fine and we would just go through the store with the boys helping me push the cart. Evangeline was wrapped in the Moby and I walked awkwardly along with the boys. Micah fell down twice because Canaan was pushing too quickly, so I decided to put him in the seat of the cart. To my surprise, he actually liked it. In the past he has not wanted to sit in the cart. So, on we go. Eva wrapped on my front, Micah in the cart, and Canaan pushing, with me to the side guiding the cart along. Eventually, we finished our shopping in about twice the time it should have taken. No big deal. I'll go home and pack our lunch and we will go to the zoo. 

Back home, lunches packed, change and feed Eva one more time, make sure the boys use the bathroom before we leave, and get in the car. Load the wagon into the back. Off we go.

Our meet-up was scheduled for 11AM. I'm not really sure why, but the zoo was PACKED. I had to park in the very last row of the lot, which is very large. I decided to put the boys right in the wagon because we were running late. Eva was once again wrapped in the Moby. We reached our group and we were still waiting on people. The boys got into the lunch bag and ate all of their lunch and then asked for my sandwich. At this point, pulling the wagon and carrying the diaper bag and baby, I'm starting to realize this was a bad idea, but I need to keep going. I'm here now, no turning back. We all go into the zoo and Micah tells me he needs to use the toilet. I tell everyone I will catch up with them. Both boys are out of the wagon now and Canaan insists on pulling it himself. He has problems looking where he is walking anyway, so he runs into people and things and I am just trying to get Micah to the bathroom on time. They both use the bathroom, but one of them somehow pees on his shorts anyway. I change him. Canaan again insists on pulling the wagon. I must press on. The boys are going to have a great time.

The baby starts crying. My baby who never cries is crying. Okay, maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe pressing on is an even worse idea. I somehow convince the boys to get back into the wagon and we go all the way back to the car. We were at the zoo for an hour and didn't see one animal. 

You know, I'm really just glad I made the decision to leave before there were any meltdowns, including any I might have myself. Thankfully, the boys didn't question me as we left the zoo. When we got in the car and started to pull away, Canaan said, "Thank you, Mommy."

Man, I love those kids.

Evangeline Grace

Well, I figured it was time to give everyone an update. I'm sorry if there are a million and one typos; I'm doing this on my phone.

I'll skip the labor and delivery story for now-- but I will say that she came right on her due date and contractions started just before my bedtime, so I went into labor without any sleep. We got to the hospital at 1:30 AM and she was born at 6:48 AM-- an extremely fast labor!

Let me first say that Eva is fine. She is eating well, sleeping, and rarely fusses about anything. Right after she was born, the nurses found that she had a temperature of 101. They took my temperature and saw that I had a fever of 101 as well. My fever went down quickly, but hers only went down to 100, then 99.7. I was negative for Group B strep, so they said her risk factors were low, but that they wanted to do some blood tests to make sure she didn't have an infection. She was eating a lot and our room was warm, so I figured she was probably just getting overheated and chose to not worry about anything until we got the blood test results.

When the results came in, a doctor came to talk to us. She said that her white blood cell count was fine, but that her "bands" were a little high. She described these to us as immature white blood cells. She said that she didn't want to treat her yet, but she did want to do a blood culture to see if anything would grow, indicating some sort of infection. That meant a 48 hour test, and we would be in the hospital until late Sunday afternoon. I was expecting to go home Sunday morning, so a few extra hours didn't seem so bad. Also, her fever was already gone, so the only reason they had to worry were the blood test results.

They also did another round of blood tests. Saturday morning, a different doctor came to talk to us. He said that her bands count had gone down but that her white blood cell count was up and that she had a high CRP, also indicative of infection. He said that he wanted to move her to the NICU and start an antibiotic IV, which she would need for another 48 hours. (Okay, so now we won't be taking her home until Monday night.)  He also said that if the antibiotics didn't bring down her white blood cell count and CRP, they would do a spinal tap. He then reassured us that they simply don't take chances with newborns with fevers and signs of infections, and that he fully expected us to go home with a healthy baby on Monday.

Last night, she spent the night in the NICU. I went in to feed her every three hours, and she seems just as content as ever. In fact, she's becoming a champion breastfeeder. It was hard to see her with an IV stuck in her hand, especially when she seems just fine on the outside. I'm also getting antsy to get home. I miss my big boys so much!

We did find out from her blood tests last night and this morning that her CRP is coming down, but isn't within normal range yet. It started at 29, was 16 last night, and was 14 as of 4 AM this morning. It should be below a 10 to be within normal range.

Please pray that Eva's blood test results will be within normal range by tomorrow. Also, her blood culture hasn't grown anything so far, but pray that it doesn't... We will get those results this evening.

Again, by all appearances, Eva seems to be a completely healthy 8 lb 4 oz baby, so thank Jesus with us for that. My main concern right now is that things start to look better before they decide to do a spinal tap and that I can continue breastfeeding her for the one day she will be in the NICU and I won't have a room here at the hospital. Since we believe it will just be one day, I'll be staying in the NICU waiting room tonight and all day tomorrow so I can continue breastfeeding on demand. If she ends up staying longer, we'll figure out the breastfeeding situation from there.

Thank you for your prayers and all your warm words since Evangeline was born. We are just enjoying her so much. She's so soft and cuddly and sweet. I wish every one of you could hold her for at least a minute. :) Thank you again, and we love you all!