Dec 29, 2008

The Reason for the Season

Lily's one to two month consisted of Christmas, New Years and the start of Mike's last Spring semester. I took Lily to church for the first time to hear Mike sing in a men's choir for the Christmas program (but we snuck in and snuck out before anyone could assault us with their germs).Our Christmas tradition is to have a Middle Eastern meal (since Christ was from the Middle East). We have lamb with tzatziki, falafel's, tabouli, baklava and hummus with flat bread on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning we have blueberry streusel. Lily waited in the hall on a blanket for us to drag her in to see the tree and presents. We got matching PJ's from Santa, and we've decided that's all Santa will ever bring. We'd like the kids to know *we're* the ones giving them gifts.

Lynsey came to stay with us for a week between her semesters and was such a huge help to me. She's going to be a great mom someday.

Dec 22, 2008

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Only 4 days until Christmas and Butte is already looking like a winter wonderland! With average temperatures dipping below zero, Lily and Jessi have only left the house twice: once to make an emergency trip to Walmart (emergency because Jessi just HAD to get out of the house!!!) and once to sneak to church to hear Mike singing in a small men's chorus for Sacrament meeting. He did a great job.

Lily has been doing great. She usually sleeps 4-6 hours during the night and is a fairly happy baby during the day. She is so fun to have around and we already can't imagine what our lives would be like without her.

The end of the semester was December 18th and *hooray* Jessi has graduated! Mike has 2 more semesters left, and one last internship. We are so excited to almost be done with school.

Here are a few more pictures, and you can always click on the photo of Lily to the right to be sent to our online photo album for our most recent photos of Lily bug.

Sleeping in the swing

Daddy singing Lily to sleep

Singing along

Nap time!

Why suck my thumb when I can suck Daddy's?

Dec 16, 2008

15 Days to a Better You!

Two weeks after Lily was born, I found myself needing some "me" time. Luckily there was Enrichment Night to save me. I went with Kari to the Christmas White Elephant party - what a hoot! I had started pumping milk to store since my milk had come in. I was really excited that Mike could watch Lily so I could be gone for a few hours. I was even more excited that I looked smokin' hot! In the two weeks after Lily was born I had gone back to my pre-pregnancy size, all thanks to the Belly Bandit. Mike bought it for me for an early Christmas present and it was great! I didn't really have much to lose anyway (about 10 lbs) but I really didn't expect to be back in my jeans before Valentine's Day. It was a real boost to my self esteem to have women who had been pregnant compliment me on how good I looked. I wore the Belly Bandit out, so that helped "suck it in" too! This was also the first time I'd left Lily alone with Mike (with a bottle of pumped milk). She threw a fit over drinking out of a bottle and by the time I came home, both of them were so upset.

She'd already drank 2 ounces from the bottle, but acted hungry when I snuggled her, so I went ahead and let her nurse. Bad idea! She overfilled her tummy and projectile vomited all the milk all over me. It was sad and funny. It took two times of that happening for me to realize she wasn't hungry after her bottle, she wanted comfort.
I had to leave half a dozen times to take my finals. I was really thrilled to show off my pre-preggo self to my classmates, most of whom were under 20. One month after Lily was born, I graduated with my Accounting AAS with a 3.96 GPA. I also was awarded high honors from my professors for being an exemplary student. I was thrilled!Yes, I was a cheerleader. For semester. And then I got pregnant. And the squad was disbanded for lack of participation. Wasn't I hot?

In the middle of December, Sister Sherri Kuoppola brought us a dinner that I'll never forget. To be fair, a few other women brought us dinner, but sister Kuoppola's blew me away! It is now my favorite meal to make, and it's so easy to change up. I've named it Kuoppola Pasta in her honor:
3-4 chicken breasts, cubed
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 garlic clove
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (I blender this to get out the chunks)

1 small can sliced mushrooms (I leave it out unless I have it on hand, and then I blender it)
1 pkg cream cheese (chunked up)
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 bag mozzerella
½ cup italian blend cheese or parmesan
1 box pasta (cooked)
Saute cubed chicken in oil. Add bouillon, garlic, tomatoes, and mushrooms. Heat through. Add cream cheese, whipping cream and cheese. Simmer until hot. It will thicken up the longer it cooks. Remove from heat and add cooked pasta. Mix well and serve! Feeds 10

Dec 11, 2008

Web Photo Album

We've gotten some requests to post more photos on our blog of little Lily pie. It takes a really long time to upload photos to Blogger, so instead I'm going to include a few links to our Facebook photo albums - which should be viewable by anyone!

Elizabeth Fern Morgan

2008 Family Photos

We'll try and be better about taking more photos too.

Dec 9, 2008

Unmet Expectations

(I know this post will have a weird feel to it - it's not really in chronological order, but it's the remainder of my birth story with Lily. It picks up after our "failed" labor attempt. Yes, I wrote about some things that happened after "Nov 23rd" but I wasn't sure where or how to put them in here.)

November 22nd, we went about our business, buying groceries for Thanksgiving the next week, putting the studded tires on the car, doing laundry. We went to bed. At 12:40 I woke up, thinking I'd wet my pants. MY WATER BROKE!!! I called the hospital so someone would validate my thinking, and I was right. I woke Mike up (it took a few tries, poor sleepy guy) and by 1:40 we were at the hospital. I was 8 cm and 90% effaced when I was admitted. My group B strep test had come back positive, so they tried to give me enough antibiotics for Lily before I delivered. (It didn't work because my labor progressed so quickly. Lily ended up having to have all sorts of blood tests done after the delivery and they wouldn't discharge us until all the tests came back with her negative for group B strep.)

I threw up a cheese & peach jam quesadilla and apple cider that I'd eaten voraciously at 10 pm. Mike was sick too - when he's woken up in the middle of the night, his body thinks "Emergency!" and gives him really bad stomach pains and the poo's. When my epidural was in, the nurse checked me and I was fully dilated and effaced and ready to push (around 4 am). Unfortunately our doctor wasn't on call, so a doctor we had never met before was there to deliver Lily. I was NOT happy with the way he handled the delivery or my pain management after. He ended up giving me an episiotomy and using a vacuum to get Lily to turn her head the right way. (After Lily was born, he stitched up my episiotomy too tight and it took far too long to be comfortable *having relations* again. He also didn't tell me that I'd lost a significant amount of blood which probably also caused the problems in the hospital and after.) At 5:23 am, on November 23rd, 2008, Elizabeth "Lily" Fern Morgan was born. At 6 lbs 9 oz and 19 3/4 inches, the nurse said Lily "passed" her development tests like a full-term 40 week baby.

My parents and sister drove up and were in Butte at 9 am. They could only stay one day. We were discharged Monday night at 6.Two days later I was admitted back into the hospital because I was having a hard time breathing and had postpartum depression and anxiety really bad. It was really stressful to host my in-laws the week after Lily was born. I think with the next baby, family can come visit but they get to stay in a hotel, unless they're cleaning my house and making my food :) And speaking of... the next Tuesday (Dec. 2nd) my mom came back up for a week. It was so great to have her help and company.

Dec 6th I called my doctor because I'd developed a high fever and pain. He diagnosed me with endometritis, most likely caused by the group B strep and excessive blood loss. The on call doctor during my delivery was a moron. Through all of this, I was really struggling emotionally. I ended up in the ER two days after we were discharged (Nov 27th) because I was having a panic attack. I was afraid of falling asleep because "what if Lily stops breathing"; I was waking up gasping for air several times a night; I was afraid Lily was regretting her decision to come to earth. There were nights she cried the saddest cry - it sounded different than "I'm hungry" or "I'm tired" - and I'm positive she was crying "This isn't what I expected!" I also had expectations: to struggle with depression, or with pain, but even those expectations didn't prepare me for the reality of it. (My anti-depressant (Lexapro) caused me to have horrible nightmares, so after 3 months of taking them, I weaned myself off.)


Mike suffered from PPD as well (yes, men can suffer from PPD) and his expectations of a new baby were totally blown. Babies don't start out smiling, sitting, interacting, or fun. They start out crying, sleeping, eating, and pooping (sometimes multi-tasking and doing two of those at once). It took reading The Happiest Baby On The Block by Dr. Karp before Mike understood what the first 6 months of Lily's life would realistically be like.

Dec 1, 2008

Happy Family!

Mike's family got to come up and visit us during Thanksgiving, and it was so nice to have family around. Lily is so loved, and we were happy to host everyone. Here are pics of the Morgan's with Lily: