Kate Alexandra Niedzinski

9:53 a.m.; perfectly healthy; 7 lbs, 12 oz; 21 inches long; beauuuuuutiful. Shannon did an amazing job and we are so incredibly thankful to God for our wonderful, healthy Kate. Thank you for your prayers!

Heading to the hospital...

Shannon is certainly in labor and we're leaving right now for the hospital. Thanks for praying!

39 weeks

I've been having contractions since Sunday night, anywhere from 6-30 minutes apart. It's been one false alarm after another. I'll be sure I'm in labor, wake Jim up, call my parents... and then the contractions slow down. My body is feeling pretty taxed at this point. Last night I was complaining and Jim gently reminded me that 39 weeks is an answer to prayer. It really is. I'm so thankful to be full term and I'm trying to enjoy these last few days.

I took Grant to the doctor yesterday because I thought his wheeze was pretty bad (and he was really grumpy). She assured me that what we are hearing is not fluid in the lungs, but his chest vibrating from post-nasal drip.

The person who I'm praying for to get well now is my doula! For those of you who don't know, a doula is a birth coach. She is there in addition to Jim, the midwife and the nurse. Unlike the midwife and nurse who will be in and out of the room, my doula never leaves my side. She's kind of like my personal cheerleader. (Doula is the Greek word for servant.) She is there to provide massage, coaching for Jim, to bring me water, to communicate with our families and just to provide an extra set of hands. She was there for me with Grant's birth and I cannot imagine having another child without her! She provided great coaching and encouragement as well as practical help.But, unfortunately, she seems to have caught Grant's bug. I told her I'll try to hold this baby in another couple of days so she can get well.

Still cookin'

Well, it looks like my midwife's prediction of this weekend was not so accurate. It is Sunday afternoon and no signs of labor. This is just like what happened with Grant. They put me on bedrest so he wouldn't come early and then he ended up being late! In his case it was a good thing because he was bigger and stronger for his surgery. If it were up to me I'd have this baby today! But, I continue to trust in God's perfect timing and try to enjoy this last week or two with Grant as king of the castle.

His cold finally seems to be gone, but he still has a pretty serious cough. This is causing some wheezing and labored breathing and unfortunately for all of us, keeps him up at night. If he's not significantly better in the next day or two I'll have to take him back to the doctor. I guess it is better to be on the safe side and make sure his lungs are still clear.

And, for those friends and family around the country, here is the picture you requested...

Funny Words

Grant is adding new words to his vocabulary everyday. The other day he he said "I love you" to Jim for the first time as he threw his arms around daddy's neck. Other words are not quite as obvious, but we've figured them out by context. My personal favorite is the way that Grant says his own name. If you ask him his name he'll slap his chest and say, "Geek." The other funny one is when he wants to have a pillow fight with dad he asks him for a "pee-pee fight."

Still sick

Unfortunately, Grant does not seem to be getting better yet. His cough sounds terrible, but we're hopeful that it is still not in his lungs. He seems to have the most trouble in the night because he can't breathe well when laying down. I'm super thankful that Jim is willing to take shifts in the night so that we can switch off sleeping. I guess we may as well get used to getting up with someone in the night. :)

I saw my midwife this week and my body seems to be moving closer to being ready. She predicted this weekend for the baby's arrival! Please pray that Jim and I continue to stay healthy.

Lung check

We took Grant in to Pediatric After Hours clinic this afternoon because he appeared to be wheezing when he climbed the stairs. Thankfully, they said his cough is not in his lungs. He did not mind the visit because they both took his temperature in his ears and checked his ears for infection. The nurse thought we were kidding when we told her that Grant loved things in his ears. He really does. Often we find him waking up from his nap with one pacifier in each ear. :) Interesting fetish.

Coughing Grant

About 36 hours after the doctors said Grant's lungs sounded great he came down with a cough. Last night he was up coughing and crying for most of the night. He is miserable. I know that having a sick kid is exhausting for any parent, but I'm hoping that as time goes on it will be easier for me than it is currently. Instead of just hearing a cough in the night I go on "high-alert," trying to listen to see if it sounds like it is in his lungs. I get super worried and feel guilty for taking him to story time, where I'm sure he caught it. I wonder if we should take him to the hospital or if I should just wait it out.

When he had the stomach flu a couple of months ago I got a taste of what it is like to have a "normal" sick kid. The stomach flu isn't life threatening for him, so it didn't create the worry in me that a cough does. I hope and pray that one day a cough will be in the same category for Grant as the flu. As for right now, please pray for Grant to be healed, for the cough to stay out of his lungs and for everyone around here to get some sleep.

EKG

Things went great today at U of M. They decided not to do a sedated echo or chest x-rays at this point. Grant will get chest x-rays in the early fall and if all continues to go well they will wait to do an echo for another year. They are hoping by then he'll be old enough to sit still and not need the sedation.

They did check his oxygen saturation levels (99%, which is great) and did an EKG. They EKG looked excellent. Grant had to sit very still for his EKG for a significant length of time. Grandma sang and danced for him while I sat with him on the exam table and rubbed his hand. I really didn't know he was capable of sitting still for that long. I was so proud of him.

He didn't really want to sit still while the two doctors examined him. By that time we'd been in a small space for too long. At one point he looked at the cardiologist and said "all done. bye-bye. home." Then he proceeded to walk to the door, opened it and left. I finished the rest of the visit with the doctor while Grant pushed his stroller around the halls of the cardiac wing.

It was so nice to have such a brief visit to the hospital. Grant's cardiologist, Dr.Cotts, said that at this point the statistical chance that something could go wrong with his heart is small. That is why he wants to wait to do the echo when Grant can be awake. As far as the lungs go, we have a few more months until we'll know more.

Dr.Cotts wants to do an echo on baby girl a couple of weeks after she is born just to be sure her heart looks good. I hit 37 weeks this week and am ready to meet her!

Prayer Requests for Thursday

Thursday we'll be at U of M for a series of routine tests for Grant. He's doing great, so we expect a good report, but we'd appreciate being covered in prayer. Here are some specific things to pray for:

1. That Grant's heart would continue to look perfect and that the veins would not be narrowed.
2. That Grant's lungs would be miraculously healed and the x-rays would show it. (This would truly be a miracle and would greatly impact how careful we have to be of germs, especially next winter.)
3. That Grant would react well to the sedation and would wake up easily with no side effects.
4. That our day at U of M would not trigger any painful memories or induce any anxiety in me.

Thank you! It is always so comforting to know people are praying for us.

36 weeks

I went to see my midwife this morning and all is well. I am officially off bedrest! She said she's totally comfortable with the amount of amniotic fluid that I have because I'm so far along. It has been a delight to chase Grant around the last couple of days. He's been super happy and snuggly with me. I'm dilated to one, so the process has begun, but it still looks like I'll have some time to enjoy Grant and get things ready for our baby girl. I'm continuing to get a lot of contractions now that I'm more active, but they don't bring any anxiety because I know it is safe for her to come out now.

Speech Evaluation

Today Grant had a speech evaluation through Beaumont Hospital. His pediatrician recommended speech therapy back in April when he was not really talking. The first appointment we could get for an evaluation was today. It was a good thing that we didn't get in sooner, because Grant's talking has really picked up in the last month. He's just starting to put two words together and names every object he sees. It was music to my ears to hear that he scored above average in both comprehension and expression. This means that we have no therapists to see for the rest of the summer.

Grant's next big appointment is next Thursday in Ann Arbor. They'll do a full workup on his heart and lungs. It will take much of the day and he'll have to be sedated. I'll post with the results when we get them.

A day at the Park

We recently took Grant to the park with our friends, the Korals. They have a son a little younger than Grant. The dads had fun chasing the boys around while the moms laid on a blanket in the sun. What a fun day!

Storytime

One of my favorite parts of the day with Grant is reading books in his room when he wakes up in the morning. He is a great sleeper, usually sleeping from 7:15pm-7:30am. After he gets dressed I sit in the rocker and he brings me books to read to him. There is a farm book that Grandma Niedzinski gave him that he loves to look at because he likes me to count the eggs on the pages. Yesterday he did the counting for the first time. He says, "one, two, free, four," and then he goes back to "free" again. :) Now he wants us to count everything.

He loves the interactive books best, like the ones with flaps and doors that open with pictures behind them. Unfortunately, he sometimes rips the flaps off. Whenever he does I tell him that daddy will fix it when he gets home from work. (Anytime anything breaks, rips or gets stuck under the couch Grant looks at me as says, "dada?" I tell him that yes, daddy will fix it when he gets home.) The other day he was really missing daddy (he has become VERY attached to Jim lately) so he started going through his books, ripping them and asking for dada. I soon caught on that he thought if he kept ripping them daddy would come home and fix them immediately. He was not a happy camper when he learned that not only was daddy not coming home to fix the books, but he had earned himself a "time out".

35 week ultrasound

Today I had an ultrasound to check on the fluid levels. The first time they checked (a couple of months ago)mine was 6, then a week later 11, then 2 weeks later 14. Today the level was at 7.2. Some doctors consider it safe to have a level above 7, but others want a level above 10. So, the ultrasound people are checking with my doctor to see if she feels comfortable with a level around 7. If not, I'll go back for another ultrasound next week. If they find it is low next week they would probably induce me for the safety of the baby. But, hopefully, the level will increase like it did last time. Please pray for this.

They also measured the baby today and found that she was 6.1 pounds. This is big for 35 weeks. So, maybe she's almost ready to make her appearance.

Baa Baa Black Sheep

This weekend uncle Bryan and his fiance, Kristen, came into town. Today uncle Bryan and Uncle Hal were singing and dancing to nursery rhymes with Grant. Grant loved the attention and the silliness that only uncles can provide.

Happy 4th of July

Normal life?

Well, life is as close to normal as it has ever been. I'm still on bedrest (almost 34 weeks!), but in spite of that we are spending a lot of time doing fun stuff, we just have to make sure there is somewhere for me to sit. Last weekend we went to a Niedzinski family party and Grant met most of his 19 cousins for the first time. He loved all the attention and had fun following the big kids around. On Sunday we went to a bbq at a friend's house and sat outside while Grant played in the yard with their kids. Grant even went to church on Sunday and had a blast dancing to the music and running around. In spite of all the interaction with others Grant has stayed super healthy and is learning many social skills that he missed out on staying inside all winter.

Don't get me wrong, I still go through a pack of wet wipes a week, but that is so different than being consumed with medications, feeding struggles and doctor appointments. I am feeling really thankful. Grant has come so far. Everyday now he pulls up my shirt and says to my belly, "hi baby, bye baby." For the first time since Grant has been born I feel like I have something to give again. God's timing is perfect.

Gas Station

Grant is so much fun these days. He is talking a lot and is starting to have an opinion about everything, whether it is what to eat for breakfast or which shoes he wants to wear. One struggle we have everyday and night is getting dressed. I tend to take a more forceful approach and just wrestle him into his clothes, but recently Jim came up with an interesting bribe. Grant's favorite part of the day is when daddy cleans his ears after his bath. So, last night when Grant refused to let Jim put on his pajamas, he said, "If you let daddy put on your pajamas, then I'll clean your ears." Grant got a big smile across his face and yelled out, "OKAY!" He totally cooperated for the rest of the dressing process. Who knew?

Tomorrow I'll be 33 weeks pregnant. I'll probably be on bed rest for another 3. Even though it's far from ideal, we're in somewhat of a groove. Ever afternoon after his nap Grant goes to Grandma and Grandpa's house until dad gets home from work. In the mornings we often go to a friend's house so that Grant can play and I can stay off my feet. The pictures below are from a play date last week with Grant's friend, Jack.

More Water Fun