Time for an update!!!

Well, for those of you who don't know...little Bethany Arlene Hodges was born on 12/5/2008, a few minutes before 2pm. She weighed in at 8 lbs, 7 ozs and 20 1/2 inches long. She has a head full of dark brown/black hair, and by far, the hairiest ears I have seen on a baby...ever. It's like she is growing a garden on the back of her ears! She is adorable!!!

Let me take a walk down memory lane and share a little with you all...

As I said before, Josiah's birth was not the best and left me with an experience much to be desired. The biggest things were that I wanted to remember the first time I held little Bethany, and I didn't want to wait over 12 hours to try to feed her and I wanted her with me in the recovery room. I came away from the experience ELATED! Everyone thought mostly I was just on a drug induced high, but I was feeling great and was happy about how everything turned out. Less than 24 hours after my surgery, I was able to have my catheter and IV removed and was walking around like it was nobody's business.

After the birth, Bethany was great. She nursed great from the beginning and has not skipped a beat since. The afternoon after her birth, my nurse asked to check Bethany out and while she was checking her over, she got a weird look on her face and looked at me and said that she was going to take her to the nursery for just a minute and would be right back. She did come back a few minutes later, without Bethany, and she was talking really fast and acting really nervous and told me that she was checking Bethany out and noticed that she was rapidly breathing and not calming down. The called the doctor down to check her out and he said he heard a really bad heart murmur. From there, they ordered chest xrays and an echochardiogram. They returned Bethany to me several hours later and said that they checked her out and she appeared to have three small holes in her heart. These are the types of holes that are supposed to close when the baby is born, but these have not. They checked her again the next day and she had no sign of the bad heart murmur they heard before. We are going to see a cardiologist in about a month, but the doctor thinks that there is no reason the holes will not close between now and then, and also that if they don't, they are so small no surgery should be required. I will keep everyone updated. Well, in the middle of all of this, Bethany did have a good bit of jaundice and was kept under bili lights for about 2 1/2 days. One day she was kept under the entire time and no one was able to hold her but me, and I was only able to hold her for about 30 minutes at a time to nurse her.

I was discharged from the hospital the day before Bethany was, but the hospital staff was able to let me board in a room that was not being used...with the understanding if they became busy or booked, I would have to go home. Well, that did not happen, and I was able to stay the night, and Bethany was able to stay with me in the room. The next morning Bethany was released and we all went home! We had a great morning at home and a great day in general, with all of us getting much needed naps. Josiah had come home and we were all excited to be a family together again!

Around 8pm, I sat down to feed Bethany and became really cold. I thought I was cold because I was walking around in a sleeveless shirt and pants, so I got a little more dressed. After I fed Bethany, I was shivering, so I put on a coat and got a blanket out. Eventually, I knew something was wrong when my teeth were chattering and I was shivering uncontrollably and I had three coat and two blankets on. Danny called the doctor and the doctor pretty much said wait until the morning or go to the emergency room. Through the night, I had chills on and off and blankets on and off. I was so much sicker the next morning. We headed into the OB's office and he checked me out and determined I had a severe uterine infection...to which he said I must head back to the hospital immediately for 3 or 4 days and that I needed to be on some extensive IV antibiotics. So, off to the hospital I went! My sweet sister in law, Amber came and picked up Josiah and took him back to our house so he could take a nap, my sweet mother in law came by our house to pick him up later and take him back to her house. My DH kept Bethany with him the entire time. My main concern was whether or not I could still nurse Bethany while I was in the hospital, and all of my fears were relieved, she was able to still nurse and stay with me in the hospital as long as someone stayed with me. So, the way it worked was Danny took Bethany home at night with him and gave her formula through the night. Danny then came early in the morning with Bethany and stayed with me until our cousin Miracle or Amber arrived. Miracle, Amber and Danny worked shifts on and off to keep Bethany with me all day and home at night. This was so very special to me that they would do this as they knew how much it meant to me for Bethany to feed well.

My second time around in the hospital was not as rose-y and peach-y as it sounds, though! For two days, the stat blood work that was ordered by my doctor was never done. When it was done, it wasn't done thoroughly and had to be done two more times. One of the times, a phlebotomy student came in to draw some blood. The phlebotomist teaching him stood aloof against an opposite wall as the student asked me where I would like to be poked. It was then that I looked over at the "teacher" and told him what a bad stick I was and I preferred that he do the poking [it was the student's first week!!!!]. About this time, my nurse also walked in, so I had three people hovering over me trying to find the best place to draw blood. The "teacher" poked and missed, laid the used needle on my bed sheet, and then let the nurse have a try. Well, the nurse missed too. About that time, the student picked up the used needle and poked himself pretty badly on my used needle [Oh, yeah, didn't tell you that a few minutes before they all came in, I had gotten the news that I was diagnosed with a staph infection called MRSA - it was "colonized within my nose" and not serious, but I guess it was contracted by the student now!], dripped blood on my covers and washed and dried his hands, but left his bloody paper towels in the trash can and on the floor on top of my shoes. I didn't realize there was blood everywhere for about an hour. I asked the nurse to come back in and handle the dirty sheets and trash and paper towels. The next day I had two of my three IV's "blow" because of some minor negligence on behalf of a nursing student's part. Finally, last Sunday morning, I was able to come home from the DR and I have been feeling really good since!

Danny was supposed to go back to work Monday night the 15th, but since we had not really had much time together at home since Bethany was born, he was able to get a couple of more days off, and he did not go back for the first time until last night. This gave us a few days home with Josiah and Bethany together trying to get used to our new little addition.

Josiah pretty much ignores Bethany for the most part. He has done a few funny things, for example:

• the morning after we got home, we were all waking up for the morning and Bethany was crying...all of a sudden, from Josiah's room, I almost heard his wheels turning...then I heard him trying to cry like Bethany, little baby whimpers. I think he thought we would come and get him out of bed quicker if he cried like her.
• He has told her no-no about many things, including sitting in her swing - he still thinks it is his!
• If he sees Bethany's pacifier lying around, he will bring it to her saying "I help!" then shoves it in her face...somewhat gently...
• the only thing I don't know quite how to handle so far are the fits Josiah will throw out of the blue. One minute he will be standing in the living room, the next minute he throws himself on the floor in a fit, over nothing! I guess he is trying to make sure he hasn't lost any attention. This is going to be a balancing act!!!

So, I know this is a long update, but it is over due. Danny told me tonight over dinner...you need to update the family blog, don't you? You know you are behind when your husband tells you you need to catch up on something!!!

Well, I am going to close this for now and maybe in a couple of days add some pictures. My parents are coming into town for a week, so maybe I will post again after they visit. We look forward to having them!

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, phone calls, visits, dinners and gifts. Your kindness is more than we could repay! We love you all!

The Hodges Family

Danny, Melanie, Josiah and Bethany