Ages

Its been ages since my last post.  I can't even begin to fathom how I will catch up.  So....

Kale turned four, had a party at the park, had a great time, he threw a 2 year old fit (twice), he really liked his presents.

Scout started eating cereal around four months...moved on to baby food mixed in around 5.5 months...had an allergic reaction to instant mashed potatoes (can't be outdone by brother) which required an ER visit and now we think maybe she is allergic to milk?  She loves sweet potatoes, squash, and bananas.  She isn't sure about green beans.  The coming weeks will bring carrots and peas to her mouth.

Speaking of eating...its paying off for Scout.  She went from 14lbs 5oz to 15lbs 5oz in a matter of a few weeks.   Her body weight shifts a lot though: at the ER she weighed 15lbs 10oz....and the NEXT day at the doctor she weighed 15lbs 15oz.

Since she is packing on the weight, Scout has started her own exercise program.  Its called the "roll, wiggle, scoot, and rock to get where she wants" program.  She really got into it this week.  Its a matter of moments or days until she is crawling and then I will be dead.  So, if you don't see another post from me, that is why.

Kale is, well, Kale.  He loves his little sister to the moon and back.  He truly adores her and compliments her daily.  Several times a week, he will randomly tell me that "I love my baby sister".  Melts my heart.  He is lashing out a bit at me and his dad.  Don't blame him.  The only constant in his life this year has been unexpected change.  New houses (twice), new school (twice), and a baby sister.  He likes structure and knowing how things are going to be...and he can't figure out his daddy's work schedule at all.  Heck, I can't figure out my husband's work schedule most of the time either.  Kale is the kind of kid who wants to know who/where/what/when/how ALL the time.

Kale recently spent the night at my parent's house and while he was there, he learned the hard lesson about who is in charge.  He thought he was in charge.  By the time he came home, he knew my parent's were in charge.  I asked him, "Kale, who is in charge at Mema/Papaw's house?" and he replied "Mema and Papaw".  I then got hopeful and followed up with "so who is in charge at our house" and the kid didn't miss a beat and said, "I AM!".  We are slowly trying to change that.  Given that he got a double shot of stubbornness, strong will, persistence, and "I like things my way"....this isn't going to be an easy or quick battle and we know it.

My work keeps me busy.  I hit the door running and don't stop all day.  My day starts with kid related stuff, moves on to work, goes back to kid stuff, and then ends when everyone else is in bed.  I randomly might get to bed before my husband about one night every few weeks.  Kale still wants me to lay down with him and its going to be a hard wean to get him away from that addiction.  It doesn't help that his mommy enjoys that cuddle time with him.  We are just enabling each other.

My husband seems to work all the time these days.  Such is life when you are a wildlife officer in the middle of major hunting seasons in a huge hunting state.

We are trying to find the new normal and settle.  We will see....

Scout Gracyn Fletcher

On May 17th, at 38.5 weeks pregnant, I went to the hospital to deliver my daughter.  It was a scheduled c-section.  My birth plan was simple because I had learned from my son's birth---don't plan too much because it will NOT go as you plan.  My birth plan for Scout was for my husband and I to go back to recovery and then my room together and spend time alone with her before allowing her big brother into the room to meet her and spend some solo time with her.  Then, only after her brother had loved on her a bit, would everyone else meet her.  Pretty simple.  Scout had a different birth plan.  Apparently there is a sign in my uterus that says "be dramatic with your birth and show mommy who is boss!"

By the time I checked in for delivery, most of the nurses already knew me from my three previous "observation" visits over the past couple of weeks.  My nurse knew I was specifically scheduled that day and asked to be my nurse.  Hey, I am just thankful that not all the nurses were running the other direction from me at that point!

I was scheduled to deliver at 11:30am.  I was prepped.  My anxiety over the epidural (it took five tries with my son) placement was all for nothing, as the epidural was easily placed on the first try.  I definitely had the jitters.  I was chewing ice like crazy because it was the only thing I was allowed to have.  During all this, my husband read the paper and investigated financing for a possible vehicle purchase.  Don't get me wrong, he was supportive of me and knew his role...but he also knew that all the prepping was up to the nurses.  I was all ready to go when the nurse came in to let us know that an emergency c-section had just bumped me back an hour, which translated to an hour and a half.  When it was finally my turn, all my jitters had gone away and I was remarkably calm given that a doctor was about to cut a six inch line into my belly. 

They rolled me to the OR and Ep had to wait outside as they prepped everything and finished prepping me in the sterile room.  The doctor appeared and then my husband appeared.  Everyone was chatting.  All was well and the procedure began.  Ep was sitting near my head.  I had already cleared it with the anesthesiologist for Ep to be able to stand up and watch them pull Scout from my belly.  I wanted him to see his daughter being born, just like he watched his son be born.  So, the doc let him know to stand up and he watched as they literally pulled Scout from my belly.  And he took pictures.  Now I know what it looks like.  Yes, really.  Its amazing.  No, I will not post the pictures here.  I will tell you its incredible to look at a picture of your own child being pulled from your belly. 

Scout was born at 1:23pm weighing 8lbs and 5oz.  She was 20 inches long and had fat rolls, including a double chin.  She hollered at us.  I was laying there when suddenly I see the doctors hands holding a baby over the drape.  There was my daughter's beautiful scrunched up face looking down at me.  She looked like this:

Scout was then taken over to the baby warmer, where the nurses poked and prodded her.  Her daddy watched from afar until the nurses summoned him over to take more pictures and also to start filling him in on a concern. 

Scout had some concerns of her own and let us know by hollering at us.  She was not happy to have left my warm belly and arrived in such a cold room!

They prepped her for transfer to the NICU because she was raspy with her breathing and seemed to have fluid somehow in or around her lungs.  As the nurses explained this to me (the drape had been lowered and I could somewhat see them and Scout), I am pretty sure that my brain just kind of left the room and took my emotions with it.  I didn't say a word to anyone, but I nearly passed out.  I felt myself start to fade, but rolled my head the other direction and snapped myself out of it.  I am not even sure if the anesthesiologist realized that happened.  All I know is that then I had a massive headache. 

By the time I went through recovery (they said it would be a couple of hours, but my husband and I both agree that we think it was less than an hour!), Scout had settled in up at the NICU.  They wheeled my entire hospital bed into the NICU for me to see her again before going to my room.  I will be eternally grateful for that.  This is Scout all snuggled in her NICU bed and wearing a diaper backwards.

  

And this is Scout at one day old, still wearing her diapers backwards.

Although it broke my heart that our birth plan did not work out, we were thankful for things to go as well as they did despite the circumstances.  Kale got to see his little sister through a glass window instead of getting to hold her.  We did not allow anyone else in to see her because she needed to rest and a quiet and calm NICU room was what we needed her to have for a quick recovery.  My parents met Scout the next day, but they were not yet allowed to hold her.  I got to hold Scout when she was right at one full day old.  My husband held her when she was two days old. 

We stayed in the hospital for 3 nights and were both discharged together on Friday when Scout was 3 days old.  She was in the NICU until about 10 minutes before we were discharged.  They gave me the option to stay and room in with her one night, but all I could think about was all of us getting home and her big brother finally getting to touch her and not have a wall of glass between him and his sister. 

Scout decided that we needed just a tad more drama and didn't want to be any less dramatic than her brother.  We requested an EKG to rule out the heart defect that her older brother has.  The EKG ruled that out.  The the doctor said BUT...as in but we found something else that concerns us.  There was concern over a part of her heartbeat called the QT wave.  Thanks to Kale, we are familiar with what the QT wave of a heartbeat is.  Scout had a long QT wave in her EKG.  They told us that most times when this is found at birth, an EKG a week later will show that it has resolved itself.  Apparently Scout just wanted to make sure that her parents were on their toes...because a week later, she had a clean EKG. 

That is Scout's birth story.  Her first two weeks of life were another fun adventure and definitely not your average newborn's first two weeks.  More on that later...

Scout's Name

Many people have asked where we came up with Scout's name.  Some simply assume its from the book, "To Kill a Mockingbird".  Although my husband and I both like that book and I thoroughly relate to the characteristics (intelligent, thoughtful, confident, fights with boys, and is essentially a tomboy) of the Scout character in that book, that is not where her name originated. 

While my husband was attending training for 16 weeks, I needed a weekly gut check.  It would have been easy to feel sorry for myself...pregnant, juggling a 3 year old, trying to sell a house, and only seeing my husband 48 hours each week.  I kept reminding myself that military spouses have it soooo much worse.  Then God supported my gut check by sending a tv show my way.  Its called "Coming Home" on Lifetime.  Its about the homecoming and reunification, often a surprise, of military families.  There wasn't one week that I watched it with a dry eyes.  The week two episode rang true even more for me.  Sure, my husband was absent 5 days a week and missing the last half of my pregnancy.  However, he was around some and would be there for his daughter's birth.  The week two episode featured a father who would be returning from a year long deployment and meeting his 2.5 month old daughter for the first time.  He had essentially missed all of his wife's pregnancy and even his daughter's birth.  I bawled.  The baby, a little girl with fair skin and dark hair, was named Scout.  The name rang out to me.  I knew my husband would either love it or hate it.  He loved it.  He loved it so much that week after week, he let me know it was still his favorite until he finally told me that I would have a hard time getting him to agree to naming her anything other than Scout.  I realized then how much he truly did love that name.  I also realized how much I loved the idea him being so steadfast about her name.  I wasn't going to mess with that.  So, we named her Scout Gracyn Fletcher. 

The middle name...it was one that was on the list of first names at some point.  After we settled on Scout, we threw around a few middle names.  I wanted her to have something different, yet feminine.  We also toyed with a middle name that has a little bit of meaning to us.  It all boiled down to the morning she was born.  On the way to the hospital, we were dropping her brother off at school so he could have his normal routine until it was time for him to meet his sister.  As we drove, I asked him which name he liked: Gracyn or the other name.  He very boldly and frankly said "Gracyn! I like that name!" and there you have it, that is how she got her middle name. 

The defined meaning of the name Scout depends on which source you prefer.  Some will tell you it means "listener" while others will tell you it means "observer". 

Want to see the little one that our Scout is named after?  You can see her in two places...
Here:  The blog of Scout's mom
and Here: Pic of Scout

It was only after I had Scout did I realize all their physical similarities...I went to the web searching for photos of her and found those listed above...and was simply brought to tears.