Amazed at the resemblance!

All I can say is wow. They look so much alike!

Count down to Christmas

Well Scott went back to work today. I miss him so much and his help. Fortunately, my mother-in-law is keeping Chloe during the day until the doctor releases me from weight lifting restrictions.
I'm looking forward to Christmas so much. I'm really glad that Lexi did decide to show up early, because now everyone gets to enjoy her and I'm not going to be in the hospital on Christmas either.
I'm planning on spending today mainly resting, and then I'll be using tomorrow to get the clutter straightened out and get Chloe's Christmas presents wrapped up. I won't be putting them under the tree though until Christmas eve.
Things are quiet right now. Lexi is such a good baby. I actually got lucky twice in a row.
Oh and in good news, I finally got pictures of the girls together! I've got gorgeous girls!

Decent amout of sleep FINALLY!

Well Lexi last night decided she'd rather sleep longer spurts and eat more per feeding so she went to taking 2 ozs every 3 hours instead of an ounce every 1-2 hours. I feel so much better since I got good sleep. The only thing that did suck, I got stuck in a hours long COLD flash during the coldest night in Louisiana thus far and flat could not get warm.

Other news

Well thanks to lovely lack of sleep and 3 days in the hospital, I've not blogged in a few days.
The day that we were discharged from the hospital I received this answer to a prayer in a video text from Chloe's teacher:




She's still a little stiff and sore and will probably have a limp for a bit, but thank goodness she started walking unassisted the day we brought Lexi home.
Chloe's adjusting quite well to having a new baby sister. She calls Lexi, "Baby Lexi" and "My baby." She constantly asks if she can kiss her and we've rarely had to fuss at her for being too rough. She's had a few more tantrums than normal, and a couple of jealous episodes, but I've found the happy medium is when Lexi is really in a good sleep, to just put her down in either her swing or carrier and then cuddle with Chloe. Scott's also been really good about keeping Chloe entertained and attending to her primary needs since I can't lift her up right at the moment.
I'm happy, very tired, but very happy. My family is truly complete!

Lexi's birth story

Well I had been having preterm labor issues since about 24 weeks along, but as of my OB appointment Monday, my doctor had lifted all my bed rest restrictions because Lexi and I had entered the "safe zone." I was on Monday 2cm dilated and fully effaced and her head was at +1 station. My Ob said he fully expected to see me before my 37 week check. Well he was right.

Wednesday at about 4:45pm the hard contractions started after irregular contractions on and of all day. They came fast, and were 3 minutes apart. After and hour I let my husband know and we headed towards the hospital. Scott was so certain it was going to be a false alarm, that he made us stop across the street at the Walmart to make me walk to see if the contractions would keep coming, well they went immediately from 3 minutes apart to 1 1/2-2 minutes apart. I had Scott then bring me to the hospital after a few minutes.

Since I wanted a repeat c-section I knew I had to progress for them to do anything. When the nurse checked, I was still the same as Monday. The nurse said they were going to check me again in and hour and that if I was progressing, they'd call my OB to let him know.

An hour later, my contractions were still coming every 2-3 minutes. The nurse came in and checked me and said, "oh, she's even LOWER. And yup, definitely more than a 2", and hurried out of the room. About 10 minutes later they came in and informed me that my OB was on his way to go on do the c-section. I signed all my consent forms and then they wheeled me back to the OR.

At 9:16 pm, Lexi was born, SCREAMING and didn't stop screaming for over 20 minutes. She got APGARS of 10 and 10 because of her screaming. She weighed 6lb 9.7 oz and was 20 inches long.

She's absolutely perfect in every way, and for a technically preemie, she's doing great and acting like a full term baby. She's bigger than her sister who was a 38 weeker.

Lexi has arrived!!

Alexandra Olivia Van Norman was born Dec. 8, 2010 at 9:16pm via repeat c/s. She is perfectly healthy and beautiful. She weighed 6lbs 9.7ozs and was 20 inches long. I'll be back to post the full story when I'm not so tired and busy with my kids!

Finally sleep!

Finally, Chloe slept normally. I'm soo glad too. I really needed an uninterrupted night of sleep before Lexi arrives. I'm so physically exhausted, I don't know how I'd manage if I don't get a bit more sleep.
Good news, this morning, when I was getting Chloe dressed for school, she looked at me impatiently and said, "Down! Wanna walk!" We're making REALLY good progress. She still won't walk without holding on to our hands, but her confidence is definitely building. I hope she'll be fully back to normal by next week.
Well, its 9:00am, and I'm gonna go lay down and get more sleep!

4am really?

Ok, Chloe. You USED to be an awesome sleeper. Only waking up in the middle of the night if something was TRULY wrong, but every night now for a WEEK you have woken up at 4 am for no reason whatsoever other than to pitch a temper tantrum when I go back in to turn your music on because I won't let you come to bed with me, nor will I get in bed with you. Your sister will be here any day now, and I do not want to be dealing with 2 not sleeping through the night. 1 is hard enough and you have been sleeping through the night for OVER A YEAR.

Lexi should be here any day now

Well I had my OB appointment today. I'm now 2 cms dialated, fully effaced and the baby's head is at +1 station. Dr. Elborne doesn't think I'm gonna make it to my appointment Monday, let alone a c-section for Dec. 23rd.
We headed over to the mall and walked it pretty good. Chloe even got out of her stroller and walked a bit. Then Chloe sees the carousel and starts repeatedly asking to "ride horsies." So I take her over there and let her pick her horse and then the ride gets started. Of course after about 3 spins, she starts freaking out and screaming for her daddy. So I made the operator stop it short since we were the only ones on there. As soon as it stops and we're off, guess who wants back on. Yup, the demands to "ride horsies" came back, lol. Maybe when she's older.

Turn your heads sideways for this one folks....

Obviously she'll walk if she's at school...... its progress though! Now hopefully she'll keep up with it when she gets home and not revert back to helpless baby.

The tree is up. I'm very pleased how it turned out. Other than decorating the tree. It's been a rather lazy day. Chloe's not walked at all. I hope and pray that she will make progress again this week with her teacher.

Tomorrow I have my 36 week appointment. I'm hoping Lexi will choose to make her appearance before my scheduled c-section on Dec. 23. I'd much rather get a week to recover than spend Christmas in the hospital.

WHY ME?

Seriously. WHY ME? Chloe is back to acting completely helpless and will not walk at all. For the last hour she's been fighting taking her nap and is now going on 20 minutes of a screaming temper tantrum about nap time.
I really wanted to go to the mall today, but noooooooooooo, Scott won't take me out there because he doesn't want to get in the crowds. I want out of this frickin house! I'm sick of it. I'm stuck here all week and now its the weekend and I want to get away and I can't.

We have a walker!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a walker and a stander!!!!!!
Chloe actually is walking if we hold her hands, thanks to her wonderful teacher, (pictured with Chloe to the right), Heather.
Finally, a light at the end of the tunnel of this really crappy past few weeks!
We're pretty sure once Chloe gets her confidence back up, she should be walking completely unassisted by the end of next week. Its a total relief for all of us because the last few days have been just absolutely been a great frustration for all of us with her reluctance to walk.
I'm also absolutely pleased to report that she's done some walking and cruising around the furniture at the house as well and holding on to her hands. She has complained of her legs hurting, but she's finally using them, so I'm sure they probably are a bit sore from all the movement. I hope she sleeps long and hard tonight and will face tomorrow with much more confidence in her ability to stand up and walk.

What a way to start the morning.

So first it starts with Chloe oversleeping (my alarm clock) and therefore I overslept. I managed to get her up and dressed well before 9 for preschool. Well her Nana came back here and got her. The other day, my mother-in-law got her truck stuck because she didn't park in the right spot of our very muddy, wet driveway, and I managed to get it unstuck. I very specifically told her HOW she needed to maneuver and where to back up so that she didn't get stuck in the mud. So today when she leaves, does she listen? No, she decides she'll reverse down the entire driveway and winds up stuck in the ditch. She got herself stuck so well that this time I couldn't unstick her, and she had to call my father-in-law to pull the truck out with the tractor.
In the mean time I notice one of our dogs, Missy, is missing from the fenced yard. (She's always been our escape artist being a dauchsie.) So I'm hollering at the top of my lungs in my nightgown trying to track her down, hearing her barking from the Parish property next door. At the same time I'm sitting there trying to get a hold of Scott to let him know that yet again Missy has found a way to get out of the yard. I call his desk line. No answer. I call his personal cell phone. No answer. I call his work cell phone. No answer. So now I'm getting pissed. First of all, I'm 35 weeks 5 days pregnant and could have this baby any day now due to preterm labor and I can't get a hold of my husband! Second of all, my damn dog has gotten out and I can't find her. Third of all, my mother-in-law is stuck in the mud because she didn't ask me to either move the truck so it won't get stuck, or listen to how I told her how to get out the other day after I unstuck her the first time she got stuck. And finally, my stubborn 2 year old who has a mental hang up on walking is now late for school. I'm ready to climb back in to bed or in a deep hole and never come out of it. Oh yeah, its really a wonderful life right now.

I'm tired of it all.

I'm tired. Physically, emotionally. I'm ready for this pregnancy to be over with. I'm so desperate for Chloe to get over her fear of walking and get back to walking again since the Spica cast has been removed, and dear God, please let her walk before the new baby gets here.

I'm at my breaking point. I have my sister not speaking to me because I removed her listing as my sister on FB and refuses to talk to me unless I apologize for that, even when I already tried to explain why that happened. And for me it has NOTHING to do with stupid facebook, it has everything to do with every time we EVER get any damn fight anymore over ANYTHING, she immediately jumps to the "I'm done with you. I'm cutting you out of my life" bit to immediately make me apologize for whatever slight she feels I've done. I'm tired of it. I don't do that. I don't threaten to cut people off the minute I'm mad at them. My niece is almost 10 days old and I haven't even met her yet, and at this rate, probably never will and it breaks my heart.

I'm in so much physical pain right now. I can barely walk, my back hurts sooo bad from all the preterm labor, the new medicine I've been given to try and stop the labor is NOT working. I'm terrified of having a premature baby. I feel so isolated and alone right now. I'm at my total breaking point with the stress. I'm so scared of trying to be a mom to a new baby and a toddler. Especially if Chloe still hasn't gotten over her fear of walking. Did I make the wrong choice? Should I have waited longer before trying to get pregnant? Can I even handle this at all? The way I've been feeling lately, I'm beginning to think I'm not going to be able to handle it.