Doctors, Doctors Everywhere

Today has been a long day full of doctor's appointments for Peyton. Since we knew we had several appointments during the day and it would interfere with feeding time we tried to plan as much as possible and had a feeding just before we left for our first appointment and I pumped some milk for a bottle for her. But as any mom would tell you, no matter how much you plan, children have their own plans!

Our first visit was to the pediatrician for her two week appointment. I have been so nervous about her weight especially since we had a couple of days of bad feedings while we were evacuated. It seemed that with all the stress I was under, she picked it up and wouldn't feed as long as she normally did or would only feed on one side. They wanted her to be at her birth weight (6 pounds 7 ounces) by two weeks so I have been worried about that all week. Once we got there they did all her measurements and she is 20.5 inches, her head measured at 13.1 inches and then she was weighed....6 pounds 10 ounces!! She is over her birth weight! I was overjoyed! It made me laugh how something so simple could make my week! It is reassuring to know that breast feeding is going well and she is getting what she needs and is growing stronger and bigger! She then had to have her heel pricked for the two week blood work for various disorders done by the state. She was such a trooper but it was so sad to see her scream. Even after they were done she would still whimper, it broke my heart. The doctor then looked at her and everything is checking out fine. Since our next appointment isn't until two months the doctor went over things to expect in the coming months and one thing mentioned was that we could extend her feedings at night to 4 hour intervals and no longer than 5 hours which is great news! Since Peyton is such a sleeper I am pretty confident that I will be able to get some more sleep and not get up every 2.5-3 hours!

After the pediatrician appointment we tried to find some food for mommy and daddy and since everything is pretty much still closed or without power it was very difficult. We finally ventured to Target and picked up some Pop Tarts (so unhealthy) for breakfast and then headed on our way to her Orthopedic Surgeon at Texas Children's Hospital for her hip. I would have never scheduled two appointments so close together in one day but the appointment was originally scheduled for yesterday but canceled due to the hurricane and since they were squeezing us in I didn't want to pass it up. 

While we were trying to get to the parking garage (we got a little turned around) Peyton started screaming (it is a horrible feeling to hear her cry and you can't do anything about it) because it was getting close to feeding time. Our plan was to get to the appointment early enough to feed but it didn't work out like that. As soon as we got parked I pulled out the bottle of breast milk and tried to feed her and she did take a little bit but overall she was having a hard time. When I registered, I registered for wide nipple bottles to help with nipple and bottle confusion however she has a really hard time sucking on those bottles because I think they are too big for her mouth. The ones we used at the hospital were skinny and narrow and she did great. We will have to continue to work and her getting used to the wide nipple bottles and if she doesn't go buy some other bottles. Since I am going back to work in December we will need to figure this out eventually but I am not going to worry too much about it until end of October or so. 

We made it up to the office and got checked in and she started getting fussy again because our bottle feeding really didn't satisfy her. Since we were about to get x-rays I decided to try and wait until we were done with those to feed her and grudgingly pulled out the pacifier which satisfied her. We headed in x-rays and had to get her undressed from the waist down. John and I both had jackets to wear and were instructed on how to position her. John got to be near her head to comfort her and I had to pull and hold her legs in a couple of positions. The first was extending her legs and pulling them together and then the second was holding her legs in a frog position. She screamed partially because she was cold, hungry and uncomfortable! It was so sad and I actually got some tears in my eyes. It was horrible to see her so miserable. We got her dressed and went back to the exam room to wait for the doctor and since he was going to be a little bit I took that opportunity to feed her on at least one side. She was in bliss land and so relieved. The doctor came in to evaluate her and said that based on her x-rays and what he felt he was not feeling the hip dislocation that was felt in the hospital. However, since x-rays at this age could be unreliable he would like us to go for an ultrasound (scheduled for October 20) and then we would go from there but overall, his opinion was that things are so loose at birth that they could have tightened and repaired on their own but to rule out any long term issues we need to have an ultrasound. Although it is great news to hear that everything could have been healed on its own, I am praying that we are not missing anything. Please pray that God gives the doctor wisdom and if there is an issue that it is obvious on the ultrasound and if there isn't wrong that it is also obvious. Once we were finished there we went and found a nice corner in the waiting room and feed some more so she could make it home, visited the food court for some lunch and then headed home for a much needed nap.

Although a busy day, Peyton did remarkably well and it was full of good news! Please pray for her appointment on October 20 for the ultrasound for her hip and wisdom and discernment for the doctor treating her. Also, I have a post-op doctor's appointment tomorrow so please pray that everything is healing correctly. 

Peyton's day is not over (such a busy girl) as her Grandpa Hill is flying into Houston today! We will be heading over to Grandma and Grandpa's house in a little bit to meet Grandpa. I am so excited for him to see her and hold her. My dad will be here until October 5 so I am looking forward to some good times with him!

Home Sweet Home

We are home!!!!

We got up this morning with the plan to head on home. Since we were expecting to be without power for a couple of days at the minimum we ventured out to hit some grocery stores etc in the Katy area thinking that since most of Katy had power and really wasn't affected it wouldn't be that bad. We were wrong...every grocery store and home improvement store had huge lines. We made it to an HEB and picked up some non perishable foods and more water and then made it to Academy for some camper stove propane tanks to cook with. We then packed up the car and headed home. We knew from friends that our house had pretty much no damage but the only unknown was the power situation but we figured more than anything, we just wanted to be home.

It was pretty weird driving home and seeing some of the damage. It wasn't as bad as I expected. Pretty much blown down trees, signs and bill boards and some store front damage. It was weird seeing a store sign wrapped around a tree in a cemetery and a trampoline bent around a light post. Well we made it home and as we walked in John looked at our stove in the kitchen and looked at me with astonishment because the clock was on. We had power! What a huge blessing and relief! We quickly unpacked and got settled back into our house and we are so happy. 

My mom and sisters are staying with us because both of their places still are without power so we have a full house (five adults, three dogs and a baby). My mom's house had a little more damage than ours, the siding and insulation on her second floor blew off in a spot and actually exposed the sheet rock. John helped nail a tarp over it as a temporary fix. As we expected, the trees in our front yard are a little slanted, the tree in the back was on its side and we have some fence damage but overall we are very lucky. 

I have uploaded some pictures of our house and our hurricane adventure here and will add some more as we venture out in the coming days.

Please continue to pray for everyone in this area as Galveston and portions of our area experienced some significant damage and have a long recovery process ahead.

Hunkerin' Down - Day 3

So, we survived Hurricane Ike. Besides some strong wind and rain last night we really didn't feel anything in Katy...until the power went out around 4:00 AM. We then spent the day listening to the radio for updates and being really uncomfortable. It was so HOT and I finally saw Peyton's fussy sidr as she was really hot and uncomfortable. I had her in her diaper only which helped keep her somewhat cool but she loves to be swaddled and couldn't be tightly wrapped so she was really fussy. The power finally came on around 6:00 PM and Peyton was so happy to be tightly wrapped in her swaddle and has been her peaceful, happy and sleepy self since.

Update on our house...it seems like League City wasn't hit as bad as we initially thought it would be. Some friends have gone by our house and the initial reports are that the tree in the back yard was uprooted and is on its side, some of our fence is missing and there are some random shingles in the back yard. Since there is so much new construction in our neighborhood, the shingles might not even be from our house. It is a huge relief to hear that our house isn't too damaged and is liveable. I haven't heard anything specific on my mom's house but from what we hear our whole subdivision was in pretty good shape so I am hoping her house also had minimal damage.

We are planning on heading back tomorrow and before heading home will be heading to some stores in the Katy area to pick up some supplies in case if our power is still out so we can survive. We won't be updating the blog for awhile if the power is out but as soon as we can we will update everyone on what is going on and upload some pictures from our hurricane adventure...

Hunkerin' Down

Hunkerin' down is the new phrase being used on all Houston news stations and even by the Houston mayor. We are taking his advice and are in Katy at John's mom's house. We left League City after Peyton's 4:30 AM feeding on Thursday and have been trying to get as comfortable as possible which is difficult when you know that a huge storm is getting closer and there is so much uncertainity. My mom and sisters are at a nearby hotel in Katy so we are all safe and sound.

The evacuation went well and since we left before a large amount of the mandatory evacuations came through there was no traffic and we got to Katy in about an hour. Of course Peyton slept the whole time. I took a picture of her in her Hurricane evacuation outfit. She looked so cute but she was only wore it for about a hour becuase when we got to Katy and changed her diaper she decided she wasn't done going potty and peed all over the changing pad and consequently her outfit. It is bound to happen sometime!

Since being in Katy Peyton has adjusted fine and really has no idea that anything has changed. She is such an easy going baby! I think that everything finally hit me yesterday and I have been a little overwhelmed. On Wednesday, I was in preparation mode which resulted in me doing way too much and then by the time we got to Katy, I was really tired, in pain and just overwhelmed that I was a new mom who just evacuated her house with a one week old baby. John and my mom have been amazing in comforting me and after a day of rest and prayer I am a little better.

Enough about the hurricane (well for now...we will update once we know the extent of everything)...Peyton is over a week old and I can not believe how much our lives have changed for the better in that short time. She is an amazing baby and so calm. I love getting to know her more and more and figure out her personality. She sleeps so much and would sleep through the night if I didn't wake her up to feed her. She also such an easy going little girl, she has been around so many different houses/people in her first week and she never notices the difference and dogs/barking results in a grimace and that is it. She is starting to have some more alert periods and she is content to just be still and look around. I am amazed at how calm she is and am so thankful. One last update, we were able to get an appointment with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon for Tuesday to look at her hip and recommend a treatment plan. They initially said that their first appointment wasn't until November but we called the nurse's line and they are squeezing her in on Tuesday. I am so thankful that she will be getting treatment as soon as possible. Please pray for her appointment and for her first adventure downtown to Texas Children's.

Please continue to pray for the hurricane and that it doesn't cause too much damage and for everyone in the affected areas safety. I will keep you posted on what our status is and the status of our house is...until then...hunker' down!

Hurricane Ike

The last thing any new parent or anyone for that matter wants to deal with is a hurricane...well...Peyton will be a week old tomorrow and we will be celebrating her birth by evacuating. Craziness!

We have been monitoring the storm and since it keeps changing and inching closer and closer to Galveston we have decided that the best thing for us and a week old baby is to leave. Some friends, Luis and Amy, brought over dinner tonight and Luis was gracious enough to stay and help John start putting up the storm boards and Amy watched Peyton as I started to pack. I have no idea what John would have done without Luis's help and we are so thankful for their servants heart. After getting all of our boards up, John headed over to my mom's to help her put her storm shutters up and then came back to finish up preparations at our house. I have been packing everything for Peyton, Titus, me and John and making sure we have all of our important documents etc for an evacuation. We packed up the car tonight and amazingly everything fit. We just have to put the pack n play that is set up in our room (Peyton sleeps in our room at night for now and naps in her room until I get fully recovered) and then we are set.

We will be heading out in the morning to Katy to stay with John's mom which should be far enough inland to just have some heavy rain and wind but nothing too bad. My mom and Shannon are also evacuating to Katy. We will keep everyone posted and please pray for us and Peyton as we evacuate. We have established a really great routine in our house and we have all been doing well, I just pray that I don't get too stressed and that Peyton adjusts to the temporary change. Also, please pray for everyone on the Texas Gulf Coast that will be affected by the storm.

This will for sure be a story to tell Peyton when she is older.....

Peyton's First Night Home and First Bath

Well, we survived our first night home! Peyton is still as sleepy as she was when we were in the hospital so it is a relief to know that she wasn't acting! We had a couple of issues our first night but mostly due to Mommy not being used to waking up in the middle of night. It will take some getting used to. Also, Peyton is a sleeper which makes feeding time even more difficult. She doesn't wake up for feedings on her own and she is very difficult to wake up and be alert and often falls asleep multiple times throughout a feeding. Since we are supplementing with formula she should only be breast feeding for 20 minutes and then having her formula which one would think wouldn't be that long of a process but due to her sleepiness it takes a solid hour. No fun when she gets her next feeding in two hours! I am sure this is short lived and in a couple of weeks when she is always awake I will long for these days back...until then, our most common phrase is, "Peyton wake up..."

Today we had our first bath. With the formula supplment she has been spitting it all over herself and I also wanted to give her a bath after coming home from the hospital. Here are a couple of pictures and a video and I have uploaded some pictures (click the link under the pictures section on the left).

Our next adventure is our first outing tomorrow to the peditrician for a follow up on her weight as well as for a referral to a orthopedic surgeon for her dislocated hip. As I write that I realize that I don't think we have updated everyone on the hip situation so for some background information....since she was breached, her feet were up near her face and when she came out that is where she kept them. They believe that she was in that position for awhile and as a consequence her left hip is dislocatted. We have been assured that this is normal with breached babies and is not something to be concerned about but needs some attention. The common treatment is a brace that she will wear for a couple of months or so to help guide her bones to fuse correctly. Our peditrician was very reassuring and will be sending us to a specialist to recommend the next course of action. Please pray for the doctor's and that they have wisdom in recommending the right care for her and that she heals correctly.

Peyton Going Home

Praise to God that Peyton and I were released from the hospital on Sunday (both with clean bills of health) and got to go home together.

We were a little worried on Saturday that she would have to stay in for observation as her weight had dropped too much when the peditrician evaluated her again Saturday morning and requested that we start to supplement her feedings with formula to maintain her weight. We did that all day Saturday and then Sunday he found that her weight had stabilized and she could come home as long as we still continued to supplement and then visit his office on Tuesday for a follow up appointment.

When I came home from the hospital, my grandmother hand knit an outfit for me and Peyton was able to continue the tradition and she came home in an outfit that her great grandmother hand knit for her and although it was a little big she looked like an adorable little doll. She had a hand knitted sweater, hat, booties and a blanket!

We are home now and are adjusting to life as a family of three...plus a dog. Titus by the way has done amazing and is actually very timid around her and mostly keeps his distance. He has come up and gotten a couple of sniffs here and there and is doing really well.

Check out the pictures link or click here to see more pictures from our big day.

Peyton Elise Acord

Peyton Elise arrived today, September 4 at 1:18 PM weighing 6 pounds 7 ounces and 19 inches long and is a healthy little girl. Here is just one picture but if you click here we have uploaded some more.

We are having a baby tomorrow....

So, I went to my doctor's appointment this morning with a scheduled c-section for September 15. While at the appointment I found out that we will actually be becoming parents tomorrow, Thursday, September 4!!! 

Turns out that my amniotic fluid levels have dropped again from last weeks ultrasound and my doctor feels that the best thing for Peyton is for her to make her arrival. I will be arriving at Clear Lake Regional Hospital tomorrow at 10:30 AM and the surgery is scheduled for 12:30 PM. It has been a crazy day, going through Admitting at the hospital, going through my pre-op appointment less than 24 hours from when I will be there and finalizing the little details such as care for Titus etc. Praise the Lord that none of these last minute preparations are really baby related and that we have been prepared for her for awhile.

We will be in the hospital until Sunday and as I mentioned before we are more than happy to have friends come by and visit us in the hospital starting Friday but please give John a call before coming by. Also, many of you have offered to bring us dinner and we are so appreciative. Our friend, Bryce Jakub, has graciously offered to organize everything for us so please get in touch with him or with John and he can give you Bryce's information. 

Also, we will be trying to update the blog tomorrow evening or as soon as we can with some pictures and all of the information about our little girl. 

On a side note, my mom and I were talking earlier this afternoon and reflected on how good God is. A week ago, I was so upset over having to start bed rest and waste my leave time without my little girl at the same time, after prayer, I knew that the Lord was calling me to trust in Him and rest. I was obedient and reduced my work schedule and made plans for a last day earlier than planned. Little did I know, that God knew when she would arrive and that He was teaching me a lesson in trust and patience. I feel so blessed that I was able to learn such an important lesson prior to Peyton's arrival and that God is blessing us with me not have to use my leave without Peyton here. 

So, please be praying for us tomorrow as a whole lot will be happening. Here are specific prayer requests...

• Prayer for my doctor and for the nurses who will be involved in my cesarean and during the recovery
• Prayer for Peyton, that she arrives healthy
• Prayer for my body to react well to the epidural and during the recovery process
• That Peyton and I pick up on breast feeding quickly and are able to breast feed as soon as possible after the cesarean
• For me and John in these next couple weeks as we adjust to being parents

37 Weeks

What is the baby doing...

Peyton is full term now which means if she was to arrive now, her lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb! She weighs about 6 1/3 pounds (we think she weighs a little more per the ultrasounds) and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel. Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long.

How is the Mommy doing...

I can't believe that Peyton will be here in two weeks or so! I can't wait to hold her and see what she looks like! And I can't wait to not be pregnant anymore!

I am doing better than I was earlier in the week. I enjoyed Tuesday-Thursday off from work by using remaining sick days and then I went to work on Friday. My blood pressure did elevate slightly on Friday while at work but not in the dangerous range but it reinforces the fact that I need to wrap things up there and stay home and rest. I will be at work on Tuesday and then Wednesday afternoon and then I am off until December 15.

The doctor's office was supposed to call on Friday to schedule my c-section date but I didn't hear from them so I will be giving them a call on Tuesday. It should be around the 15th so we will keep everyone posted. 

We are installing the car seat today in case she makes an earlier appearance and we also re-packed our hospital pack to include some additional things for our longer stay at the hospital. John is looking to clean our carpets (part of our Spring cleaning that has just taken awhile to get to) either today or tomorrow and after that we are ready for Peyton to come home. Well, John and I are ready, I am still not sure about Titus. Titus has been pretty funny lately...my mom has been moving into her house and since there has been movers and tons of boxes over there during the day she has been dropping off her dog Molly at our house so she isn't too stressed with everything. Molly and Titus are not the best of friends but they tolerate each other and get along as long as I am not paying attention to Molly. It is ridiculous! As soon as I call Molly's name or pet her Titus immediately runs right next us and starts crying or nudging me. It has been a good exercise having her here all week because he is learning to share attention and he has gotten better. I am sure we will be having the same adjustment period with Peyton.

We are thankful that it looks like we will be avoiding Gustav which is a huge praise! I didn't want to have to evacuate being pregnant. We both have tomorrow off for Labor Day and will be mostly relaxing around the house and resting! 

• Next Doctor's Appointment: Wednesday, September 3

Prayer Requests...

• That my appointment Wednesday morning goes well and my amniotic fluid levels haven't dropped
• That the last 1 1/2 days of work are calm and my blood pressure stays low while I am finishing up there
• That the Lord continues to calm my fears of a c-section and He prepares my body for a speedy recovery
• That Peyton arrives healthy and strong and that we figure out breast feeding soon after her birth
• Finally, that the Lord continues to prepare our home and hearts for becoming parents

Note to Family and Friends...

Although we don't know the date yet for the scheduled c-section we realize that she could come at any time and we just wanted to pass some information to everyone. 

I am delivering at Clear Lake Regional Hospital in Webster, TX. We will pass along information about her arrival as soon as we can through text and hopefully get some pictures up on the blog shortly after. We will be at the hospital for 72 hours after she arrives and we would love for friends to come by and visit us at the hospital but please call John's cell phone first to make sure we are not sleeping or busy.

Also, when we get home we would still like to see people but once again please call before hand and know that if we don't answer right away we are either asleep or really busy and will try to get back to you as soon as we can. I have had many people offer to bring us dinner and help out and if you are still interested please get in touch with John and he will pass your information to a friend of ours (Bryce Jakub) who is coordinating everything for us. Thank you for all your prayers and support and we can't wait for Peyton to meet all of the amazing people in our life!