Ya-ya and Chiquita stories

That's an excellent question.

So....

Since I work from home, Yaya and Keetah have been sharing a bedroom, and a queen bed. Arguing constantly. One wants to talk when the other wants to sleep. One wants to play with stuffed animals. Etc.

We finally break down and decide to split 'em into separate beds. We buy new twin mattresses. I put together the first frame. I rearrange the bookshelves to make room. I drag the trundle bed frame from the attic, knocking down the ladder in the process. I put zip ties all over the damn thing to keep it from popping up, for fear they will collapse it cause injury and mayhem. We make the beds. We put them to bed.

Before I go to sleep I go to check on them... and find them piled up together in one bed.

grins..

So cute! How old are your girls now, DD?

I wrote this on another thread:



Leave it to Keetah to devise an experiment to determine the truth. She decided that we must leave out exactly nine carrots; if all the carrots were eaten, then Rudolf was with Santa.

Rudolf didn't let her down.

6 and 4

We were watching the UT/Alabama championship game the other night. Yaya and Keetah were quite excited and were cheering at the TV.

At halftime, Yaya tells me that when she grows up she is going to invent a TV with a tube, which is connected to all of the football stadiums. When you cheer for your team at the TV, the sound will go to the stadium where your team is playing.

Today we were playing veterinarian. Keetah was a sick kitty, I was the kitty's person, and Yaya was the doctor. Yaya took an X-ray, and informed me sotto voce, "it's just a piece of paper; I have to draw the picture."

Introducing... the Whump. The Whump is Yaya and Keetah's new brother, and named because of his tendency to push against Mama's tummy and create a big, visible lump.

He's a big boy, almost 10 1/2 lbs. 21 inches long.

We've been living up at the hospital, because he was admitted to the NICU. He's on seven-day course of IV antibiotics for pneumonia.

Welcome The Whump! get better soon and get home so Daddy can tell us some more stories

Oh my goodness! I didn't know that you guys were expecting.

The Whump is a big boy indeed, hope that helps him get over the pneumonia quick. Sorry for such a stressful start though. How's everyone doing?

A present for baby Whump, even if it's not spelled quite right:

That's wonderful! Welcome to the A2K community, Whump -- I'm looking forward to your upcoming thread, "DrewDad stories"!

'Sup Whump Dawg?

Welcome to Whump!! and fondness/concern for Whump's parents.

Welcome little wump.

The unofficial Wump nomenclature

A wump is a fictitious creature with one or more humps created by Dr. Seuss, a writer of humorous verse for children and adults. In this nomenclature system, each thrombospondin repeats/modules is a hump. Additional levels of humpage may be generated by alternative splicing of these wumps. New levels of wumpage may be introduced by cloning and discovery of new genes in this family.

Having the baby in the NICU is pretty brutal. Fighting the caregivers, who change from day to day, to provide the care we want him to have rather than the care they want to give.

Babies (especially big babies like Whump) are hard to get IVs started on. They stick, and stick, and stick, digging around each time. And the standard of care is that they do not use any kind of pain relief other than dipping a pacifier in some sugar water. We had to fight to get them to use a topical lidocaine cream. (They looked at us like we were crazy to want such a thing.) And then we had to monitor every new shift to make sure they followed the doctor's order on it. They argued with us about it, despite having the order from the doctor right there in the chart.

Then the IV only lasts for 24 hours or less, and they have to start all over again.

Finally, they put in a PICC line (peripherally-inserted central catheter), which was supposed to last the rest of his stay. Apparently, it just came out, though.

Signing off for now.

Oh gosh, that sounds brutal. I'm so sorry.

The whole fighting for care thing sounds familiar though, from my own birthing experience to various health scares my kid has had.

Stay strong. Do you have a good support system? As in not just you and T. but grandparents, friends, siblings, cousins, etc?

Support is so-so, as most of our extended family members are flaky. (Our emphasis on a strong, loving family environment is largely a reaction to this.)

My mom's been really supportive, though. She kept the girls for five days straight, night and day. Some of T's friends haves been very supportive.

Aw, sorry 'bout the flakes. Hooray to your mom and the supportive friends.

Do you know when The Whump will be able to go home?