Mason

Update: Mason and Kelli are both doing well. Kelli's doctor let her go off the mag a little early and she is doing much better. She is able to eat again and is up and walking around. Best of all, she has been able to go up and see Mason. We have been together three times today. He is doing well. He is breathing on his own and seems to be doing a good job regulating his temperature. They have moved him to an isolet - a step between the first get-up he was in and an open crib. He is also eating pretty well. We have been able to give him a bottle twice and he guzzles it down. We hope that he will be able to get the IV out soon as a result. He also really likes the pacifier, which is one difference with his older brother. However, they look very much alike.

Thanks to all who have offered prayers and well wishes. We are so grateful that Kelli is on the mend and that Mason is doing so well. Our hearts break and sympathies go out to the parents of the babies in the NICU who are not doing as well.

Now for the fun part. Video of the first bottle Kelli got to give Mason.

And Second Time to the Rodeo Makes Four

Announcement:  We are now a family of four.  Mason Bryce Williams was born via c-section on Tuesday August 30, 2011 at 12:20 pm at Huntsville Hospital for Women and Children.  His due date was October 6, so he is 5 weeks and 2 days early.  Nevertheless, he weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz and was 18 inches long.  Kelli developed preeclamspia again, so yet another early baby - hence our second time to the rodeo.  Lincoln was born at 36 weeks and weighed just five ounces more.

Mason is having a little bit tougher a time breathing than Lincoln did and is in the NICU.  We anticipate he will have a several days' stay there, where Lincoln did not.  He is making good progress, though.  The big downside is that we have to go to him for visits and cannot keep him in our room with us.  What is more, Kelli is on magnesium post-delivery for the high blood pressure.  This means staying in the bed and only liquids for 24 hours (until tomorrow afternoon).  As such, she cannot go see Mason until tomorrow.  They did let her stop by on the way back from recovery.  We are grateful that both Kelli and Mason are doing well and are excited to start our life as a family of four.

Mason is named for his grandfathers - indirectly.  His middle name, "Bryce," is a combination of Brian (Tyler's dad) and Bruce (Kelli's dad).  His first name, while continuing the historical theme, was also Papa Williams' nickname in high school.  This apparently had something to do with a 70s musician famous for a song called "Classical Gas."   Mason and Lincoln have wonderful grandfathers and Kelli and Tyler have amazing fathers.  We hope that both follow in the examples of Mason's namesakes.  

Thanks to everyone for their prayers and well wishes.  We would appreciate your continued prayers for Kelli's speedy recovery and for Mason's quick progress, so he can come home soon.

Now for some pictures.  These are all in the NICU.  The "bow" on his head is an IV.

Mid-year Update

With the year half over (almost), we thought it would be good to update those of our friends and family who read our blog. Kelli and Tyler are fine, so let's get to what's really important - the kids. That's right. I said kids.

Per our last post, we are expecting a new baby. We recently found out that we are having another BOY. We were kind of expecting a girl, so it's thrown us (particularly Tyler) for a bit of a loop. We have a name for a girl. We have no idea what to name this boy. Luckily, we have a few months to settle on one. We are excited and hope he's just like Lincoln. Because he's pretty great. And, besides, if we get two of those giant hamster wheels, we could probably power the house next time there's an outage.

Some pics from the ultrasound:




Lincoln used to throw his head back like that second picture. It's crazy how similar they already seem. Speaking of Lincoln:

Lincoln is growing up so fast. He will be two and a half next month. His language is exploding and he is learning his numbers and letters. He can count to 9 and amazes us every day with the things he has picked up. Some of our favorite things he does/says:

• Anytime we leave his room at bedtime, he reaches out and says: "Wait, guys!" or "Wait, Ma!" or "Wait, Da!" or, my favorite, "Wait, Ma-Da!"
  
  
• We have had colds recently and Kelli has had a cough. After one of her coughing spells, Lincoln called "Mom, you ok?"
  
  
• Speaking of "ok," when Lincoln falls down, he almost always will hop up and say "I ok!"
  
  
• Lincoln does not like to hold your hand. When you try (especially when he's trying to do something he shouldn't), he will jerk his hand away and say: "No! My hand!"
  

I'm sure that everyone thinks their kid is the cutest, but we just have a blast watching Lincoln grow and learn and say funny things.

We had another trip to the ER a couple Sundays ago. Lincoln had croup and was having a hard time breathing. He didn't like the breathing treatment they gave him at the hospital. He kept trying to take it off and would scream "I done! I done!" Poor kid. It helped though and he is doing much better. We did learn that, if you have to go to the ER, 7 am on a Sunday is the time to do it.


And some happier pictures. (We couldn't end with that one.)

News!!! And the Hospital

It seems like we update this blog more when it involves babies and hospitals.  I think that's probably because that's when people most want to know how things are going.  So speaking of babies and news, we announced it on facebook (on April Fool's Day, cause that seemed fun), but for those who missed it, the Williams baby bump watch is confirmed.  I'm due October 6. 

And that's the news.  Now, the hospital.  I was in the hospital on Thursday.  For anyone that doesn't know, I have chronic daily headache and migraine.  When I'm not pregnant, I've found preventative medication that I can take that helps me manage them.  But when I'm pregnant, I just take what I can and take it one day at a time, and some are better than others.  I had a really bad migraine wake me up Thursday morning, and I couldn't even lay down because it hurt so much.  So I was sitting up between 3:30 and 7:30 or so when I decided the medication I had wasn't cutting it, and I needed more help.  My OB had said I could go in to the hospital for a shot of demerol when it got too bad, and I've never had to before (even with Lincoln), but I needed it Thursday.

I had Tyler take me in because I was hoping they could just give me the shot, it would start working, I'd be all loopy, and Tyler could take me home and then get to work about an hour or 2 late.  Oh, I'm such an optimist.  First, Dr. Petersen wanted me to stay for at least an hour so they could see how I responded.  Which, of course, makes tons of sense.  But an hour after the shot (which wasn't until we'd been there about 30 minutes), I had to conclude that the demerol did not even touch it.  I couldn't believe it.  Luckily Dr. Petersen figured out I was probably dehydrated, so they had to place an IV to give me some fluids.  I sent Tyler to work then; I knew it would be a while before I left. 

I was so dehydrated that it took them 4 tries before they could finally get the IV in, and they had to use the smallest needle they have, the ones they use on infants.  I have no idea how it got that bad since I drink water like it's going out of style, but it obviously happened, so there you go.  After we got the medication right and some fluids in me, I felt MUCH better.  They finally let me go about 6 hours after I showed up.  But it was worth it.

Then I had a migraine again yesterday morning, so I medicated with the new meds my OB had ok'd and stayed home and drank water until my stomach hurt to try to hydrate and avoid going back to the hospital.  I feel much better today. 

War Eagle!

I give up.  I wanted to do something cute and clever with this post, but since these pictures are from SEPTEMBER, that's obviously not going to happen.  We got together with some friends for the first Auburn game of the season.  Lincoln is right in the middle of their kids, 9 months younger than Hunter and 9 months older than Kaylee, so the three kids had a lot of fun.  And we didn't plan it, but Lincoln and Hunter were twinners (It's almost inevitable when we're both such fans of Target, right?) in their Auburn jerseys.  

 

You'd think we've stopped taking pictures of Lincoln or something since we've been so bad about posting.  But appearances are deceiving, we definitely have some great shots from the last few months.  We'll try to get those up in the next year or so...