Gaining weight

Today Cordelia had a checkup with her regular doctor. I think he was really impressed by how well she is doing. She has gained two pounds since her surgery! The doctor could tell right away she had gained weight. She will go back to the doctor in a month to get weighed again. She still hasn't gotten her 1 year vaccines so she may get them at the next appointment. The doctor just wants her to put a little more weight on before we catch her up on the vaccines. After the checkup the doctor gave all the kids a little pack of Teddy Grahams. He fed some to Cordelia and couldn't believe how she gobbled those down. She has always been a good eater, it's just now the food is actually being absorbed. Everything looked great and we just need to continue doing what we are doing.

Yes we can!

As we sat in the hospital all week we wondered if we would be home in time to vote. I had been waiting for four years for this election day so I was going to bummed out if we didn't get home in time. The weekend before election day there were non-stop election ads on TV. The local Minnesota ones were really nasty. Especially the Coleman/Franken duel. I'm not sure that one is even decided yet, I think it's in a recount. By the end of our stay I was pretty sick of all the campaign ads. (Really, I was sick of TV in general). On the way home we made one last stop at Jamestown to fill up on gas and get out and stretch. We were getting back into the car when a man stopped us to shake our hands. It was Duane Sand, also filling up and on his way to another stop in the state before the election. I guess he never misses a chance to shake a hand. Anyway, we made it home with a day to spare before the big election. I talked to Rion a little on election day about the adults he would see in the gym, but he didn't really seem to listen. I had never really thought about talking to a five-year-old about this historic election, but they must have talked about it in school. The next day after school he told me Barack Obama had won and that he liked Barack Obama. Know why? Because he likes his name. Rion does say Barack Obama really cute. Then he told me about the White House and he knew the president lived there. Then he thanked me for voting for Barack Obama. I told him he was welcome.

Home

The drive home went well. Cordelia cried some in her car seat, but I could tell she was much happier strapped in her seat than in the hospital. It was really good to see the boys when we got home. I had been trying for days to get Cordelia to laugh, but never could. It took Torii all of a minute after seeing her. I took the week off from work just to make sure Cordelia was going to be ok and also I was exhausted and wanted time just to be at home. Our first couple of days home, we got excited every time she would poop. It was good to know everything was working. Now our goal is to fatten her up. She drinks a lot of Pedisure because it has more calories than milk. Her appetite is as healthy as ever. She eats whenever we eat and snacks a lot too. We have so much Halloween candy in the house so she has been getting some candy. It's not often you hear a doctor give you orders to fatten up so she should enjoy it while it lasts. She seems to be back to herself, but more clingy than before which is understandable. Now we are just settling back into our normal lives.

Getting back on track

On Friday we gave Cordelia some Pedialite. We tried plain first which she didn't like. Then we tried apple Pedialite which she gobbled down. The doctors had told us that sometimes babies aren't interested in food right away, but she was. On Saturday we got to move on to more foods. We had talked to a dietitian about a game plan as far as food went. She was talking about feeding her formula, but I told her we were actually weaning her off the stuff before all this occurred and I really didn't want to go back to formula if at all possible. She had no problem with that so we started her on Pediasure and whole milk. She also got some Cheerios and baby food that day. On Sunday when we arrived at the hospital the nurse told us she had a big poop that morning. And she hadn't had any trouble with any of the food we had been giving her. Not long after the surgeon came in and gave us the clear to leave. We could have stayed another day to make sure everything was alright, but he was confident that she would be just fine. All the nurses would be doing for another day is checking her temperature every once in awhile and giving her Tylenol. We could do that on our own at home. After nine days in Minneapolis we were finally on our way back home.

Livin' in the big city

I've been to Minneapolis many, many times, but always as a tourist. The main purpose of going to Minneapolis is usually to see the Twins play and then a trip to the Mall of America. Or doing some other touristy thing like the zoo or Valley Fair. Never have I experienced Minneapolis the way we did last week. At one time in my life I wanted to live in Minneapolis more than anything in the world. Well, I got over that and I'm happy I did. Although it was quite interesting to kind of live there for a week. I love finding places that are big with the locals. One thing we really enjoyed was a place called the Global Market. It was in a building that Sears and Roebuck built in, I believe, 1929. I took a picture of it because I thought it was so cool. It looked art deco which I love. At night the Midtown letters on top glow in bright green neon. Now the building is used as loft spaces, offices, and the Global Market. The Global Market is made up of many different booth type spaces. Some places sell handmade goods, others are restaurants. It's kind of like an indoor street fair, but everything looks like it could come from Pier One Imports. There's also mini grocery stores with products from all over the world. That's what I would love about living in a big city. Sometimes I get frustrated because I subscribe to Cooking Light and sometimes they have ingredients that you just can't get around here. We ate at the Global Market three different times. The first time we had Mexican, the second time Greek. The third time Fred went back to the Greek stand and I went to a place called Andy's Diner. It looked like an actual retro diner. It was way cool. I ordered a hot roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and it was the best meal I had there. This was on the second to last day in the cities and this meal tasted like a home cooked meal. It really hit the spot. We also got some dessert at the Norwegian booth one day. Very good. I will not however miss the traffic in Minneapolis. I told Fred we had been there too long because by mid-week we no longer needed a map to get to where we needed to be. We only got kind of lost once. We were staying at my uncle and aunt's house and one day the construction crew decided to close one of our exits. We thought we had found the detour, but ended up going back the way we had just come. We saw signs that said "Exit closed use alternative routes". Not being from there we had no idea what alternative routes to use. We called my aunt and she told us the alternative routes. The hospital itself is in kind of a rough part of town. Although there are some nice places around the rough areas. We stayed at the Midtown Sheraton which is next to the Midtown building. Very nice hotel. The hospital put us up there for five nights. We saw the prices and they start at $250 a night. If I ever hit it rich I would have no problem paying that much to stay there. Those were the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in. One night we decided to relax a little and went to the hotel bar which was also really nice. And since we were in swanky hotel we decided to be goofy and get swanky drinks on our first round. I ordered a Cosmopolitan and Fred had a Martini. Then Fred talked me into a Long Island Ice Tea. I hadn't had a drink since before I was pregnant with Cordelia so those drinks really did me in. I sure slept good that night. Also around the hospital there were some really nice old mansions. One looked like a castle. I wanted to take a picture of it to show the boys, but we never got around to it. I don't want to say it was fun to see Minneapolis in the way we did because of our circumstances for being there, but it was interesting in experiencing the city in a new way. It really is a cool city and I look forward to finding some more cool non-tourist areas on a fun future trip there.

Long days

After we got back from the Mall of America I did get to hold Cordelia. Although it was a major process to do it. The nurses had to move two machines to the other side of the bed, then lift her over to me on the chair. Then we had to make sure all the cords weren't tangled or underneath her. It was pretty much like that for the next two days. Slowly things got disconnected from her. The first to go was the chest tube. I'm told she didn't cry much. I didn't stay around for that one. I'm pretty sure I had a chest tube when I had surgery on my chest and I don't have good memories of the removal. On Friday the epidural and catheter were taken out. By Friday being in the hospital was getting really old. We were pretty sure the epidural and catheter were going to be taken out that day, but it seemed busy all over the hospital and it was later in the day when those were finally removed. Since Cordelia was doing so great we were told we were also going to move to another floor that day. Up until then we had been on a critical care floor where the nurse to patient ratio is really low. We waited around all day until finally a nurse said that we wouldn't be moving that day. About 8:00 that night Cordelia started falling asleep as I rocked her. I was looking forward to leaving the hospital a little earlier than usual and getting a little extra sleep as well. Then that night's charge nurse came in to tell us that we would be moving to another floor that night. It would be sometime before 11:00, hopefully before Cordelia fell asleep. I looked at her with a very disgusted look on my face and said, "she's almost asleep now!" After venting to Fred he talked to the nurses and magically we got up to the 7th floor shortly after. By the time we got into our new room, the nurses checked vitals and Cordelia fell asleep, it was past 10:00. As soon as we got to the elevators I broke down and tears started flowing. I still hadn't had a good cry since the surgery and this was my breaking point. I was sick of the hospital. Sick of the nurses. I was mad that they woke Cordelia up to take her to another floor. I was mad at the loud nurses just outside our door who were keeping my baby awake. I was angry that Cordelia would wake up in a room that she was not used to. I was mad that I wasn't in bed yet. And now I was also out of my comfort zone. Out of the room and floor that we got so used to in our week there. Now we were someplace that we didn't know with nurses that we didn't know. And to top it all off it was Halloween. Cordelia's costume was laying at home, unused. And my boys were out trick-or-treating and I was missing it. It was the first and hopefully the last time. I know that when I keep things inside, it usually will end up exploding out in a not so good way. And that is exactly what happened that night. I thought I was handling everything so great and then the simple act of moving to another room was the final straw and I erupted. Fred reassured me that everything was going great and by moving to another floor was a good indication of how well Cordelia was doing. Still I needed to have my cry and get it all out of my system. After my cry I felt better. At least for a couple of days.

Security blanket

At home Cordelia likes to go into the laundry room, pull my shirts out and snuggle with them. On our way down to the cities Cordelia was crying from too much time in her car seat. On a stop I took a shirt out of my luggage and gave it to her. That was all it took to get her to fall asleep. After her surgery, she saw me and immediately wanted to be picked up. She kept her arms out and had the saddest look on her face because I wouldn't pick her up. Then I gave her my shirt. She grabbed it, put it against her face and immediately fell asleep. For the next week she would not let go of the shirt. When nurses came in to check her vitals, Cordelia would not let go of it. I once tried to get it out of her hands when the nurse was getting her out of the bed so I could hold her. Her grip was so tight that I could not get it from her. Now that shirt is hers. That's ok, she deserves it.