Early Morning Baking Buddy

One thing I really missed during the last trimester of my pregnancy was baking.  Quite frankly, I didn't have the energy before I was put on bedrest, and afterwards I sure wasn't going to risk Caylee jumping the gun just to bake!  The fact that she did jump the gun completely aside, of course lol.  So, while Caylee has been sleeping, I've been reintroducing myself to my bakeware, spices, and baking cabinets!

My first post-pregnancy projects were basic banana bread and pumpkin bread loaves.  They turned out quite nicely, but I was wanting something a little sweeter.  So, I found a recipe online for a cream cheese layer to go with pumpkin bread and gave it a go!  So far, it hasn't quite worked with the pumpkin bread--mostly it either rises to the top or mixes with the rest of the batter.  Oh well, it sure tastes good!

My next project was an amazing Blueberries and Cream Coffee Cake Pie recipe by Cleo Coyle!  She is the author of my first and favorite mystery series--The Coffeehouse Mysteries.  I've read all of them on my Kindle and loved each one!  One amazing aspect of her books is all of the scrumptious foods she describes therein--even more amazing, she includes the recipes in the back of each volume!  Out of respect, I'm not going to post the recipe for the Coffee Cake Pie here, but you can find it in her book Roast Mortem.  And yes, all of her titles are plays on aspects of coffee!  While I won't include the recipe, I will include the picture of my pie--and boy was it yummy!  I made it for Caylee's first outing to Uncle Ethan and Aunt Julie's house for a play date with Lucy, and it was quite a hit!

My other baking project was a loaf of Cinnamon Blueberry Cream Cheese Bread.  Last Saturday, I threw the recipe together myself, modifying my basic pumpkin bread recipe and combining and modifying several of the cream cheese filling recipes I had found online.  My first step, of course, was to preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Of course, I had my baking buddy on deck.  

I wasn't sure how long she'd stay asleep, so I measured out all of my dry ingredients for the bread first:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon (next time I'm going to up that to 1 Tbsp--I wanted more cinnamon taste!)

I then measured out the ingredients for the cream cheese layer:

1 8oz package of cream cheese, microwaved for 15 seconds

1 egg

1 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Next, I mixed all of the cream cheese layer ingredients in my mixer until mostly smooth.  Caylee-bear woke up at that point lol.  We took a break for a diaper change and then got back to work!  I poured the cream cheese mix into a giant measuring cup with a spout and then washed out the mixer.

Once it was dry, I poured the dry bread ingredients in and used the mixer to blend them.  Next, I measured out the non-dry ingredients for the bread:

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup water

I poured all of that into my blender and mixed it together with the dry ingredients until smooth.  While that was blending, I pulled out my 9 ounces (1 1/2 small tubs) of frozen blueberries and tossed them in about 1 Tbsp of flour.  This is a trick I learned from Cleo Coyle's recipes to help absorb excess moisture from the blueberries while they bake!  Next time I might use more blueberries, but this time I carefully folded the flour-coated blueberries into the bread mix.  I definitely didn't want to smoosh them!

After that was done, I carefully poured some of the batter into my already-Pamed and floured bread pan.  I then added a layer of the cream cheese mix.  I could tell right away that the cream cheese mix was not going to layer as I had originally intended.  The blueberries make the bread batter thicker, but the cream cheese mix was especially runny.  Next time I'll refrigerate it for a bit.  This time I went ahead and added more blueberry bread mix, then cream cheese and topped it off with the remaining bread mix.

In my oven, it ended up taking 70-75 minutes to bake at 350 degrees.  The blueberries sunk, resulting in a fruit layer at the bottom, which I rather enjoyed.  The cream cheese marbled instead of layering, but it still looked pretty and tasted pretty darn good!  At least, my little brother Austin and his girlfriend Fanny both enjoyed it!  I was glad to be able to make them something yummy while they were in town, especially since they watched Caylee-bear Saturday night so Bryan and I could go on a dinner date!

All in all, it was a success even with with modifications I'll make next time.  It's so good to be baking again!

RA and Motherhood

As I've already mentioned, to get Caylee here safely we opted for a C-section.  The upside--at least for me--was a fairly easy recovery.  Of course, never having delivered a baby vaginally, I have nothing to personally compare it to; however, the C-section recovery was about what I expected from a major abdominal procedure.  That is, the recovery was annoying, inconvenient, and somewhat painful--though of course the wonderful pain meds helped with that last bit lol.  The downside was that it has postponed my restart of my RA medications.

Even more of a downside, for the last week and a half I've been dealing with my first post-pregnancy flare, which has been a doozie.  Luckily, the prescription strength Ibuprofen from my C-section combined with my 20mg a day of prednisone seem to be keeping me at least functioning.  Of course, that's when I remember to take my middle-of-the-day Ibuprofen.  For example, I forgot today and am severely regretting it tonight.  Soon though I will be back on my once-a-day Meloxicam with the prednisone, so hopefully that combination will tide me over until I get to start the big boys.

There are a few hoops for my to jump through before I get to start the rest of my drugs back up.  First comes my MRI this week.  This is sort of like a baseline for the post-pregnancy condition of my joints.  Of course, it's also a way to measure how much damage I've managed to do by being off of my meds since November of 2010.  Should be interesting!  I also am probably going to have to get more bloodwork done--as always lol.  Of course, last week, the tests saw some slight elevations in a few areas, so I had to do a repeat on Friday.  Since I haven't heard anything this weekend, I'm assuming no further issues showed up, but I should get a phone call to confirm that either Monday or Tuesday.

After that, the next step is to get my postpartum clearance from Dr. F.  That will be next week.  I don't foresee any issues with that appointment--I seem to be pretty much healed up.  And if I haven't been taking it as easy as I should be, at least I haven't been vacuuming or lifting objects heavier than Caylee.  In other words, I haven't done anything the doc needs to hear about, unless she detects an issue on her own!  Lol.  The day Dr. F clears me, Dr. C will call in my methotrexate prescription and I'll be back to my weekly injection.  I'm not looking forward to that AT ALL, but I am looking forward to a month or so down the road when the drug reestablishes itself in my system.  At that point, hopefully I'll see some improvement!

Finally, there's my insurance company's prior approval process for my Remicade infusions.  We're billing it differently this time, which should help with the financial end of that medication.  It's amazing what you can learn about your insurance when you have the time to call and chat with people about something you read in your policy!  There shouldn't be any issue with getting approval, so we went ahead and scheduled my first infusion appointment for the week after my postpartum clearance appointment.  In around two months, I should start seeing improvement from the Remicade establishing itself in my system.

Until then, I'll keep on keeping on.  Bryan's been a big help during this flare, as always.  I'm so lucky to have him!  That said, I'm looking forward to getting this nonsense back under control.  Believe it or not, it hasn't been anywhere near under control since the Enbrel stopped working during my first year of teaching.  So, here's hoping this drug combo will do the trick!  And of course, hooray for the end of my prednisone usage FINALLY being in sight.  I hate that drug, as much as it does the job.

So anyway, that's where things stand RA-wise.  Wish me luck in regards to the MRI--unrealistic as I know it is, I'm still hoping that Dr. C tells me there hasn't been any progression!  Hey, a girl can dream, right? ;-)  For now, I'm going to go enjoy my last bit of evening with my hubby and baby girl before I head to bed.  Gnite!

Caylee's First Month!

It's crazy to me that our little girl is already one month old!  I know everyone always loves to point out how fast time goes once you're a parent, and how much a little baby changes from day to day, week to week, but it still astounds me to be living the reality of it!  Especially since the possibility was very much in question there for awhile.

The pups adore Caylee--she is THEIR baby and we are allowed to care for her lol.  They both get very vocally upset with us if she's crying and we don't fix it soon enough!  Bryan and I are more than just surviving--we're loving this whole parenthood thing so far!  He is still home on paternity leave, which we have all thoroughly enjoyed!  He's been working on household projects along with spending plenty of cuddle time with Caylee-bear.  I've been (of course) getting lots of cuddle time in too and figuring out my own system for keeping the household running and keeping up with bottle washing and laundry.  So far, it involves fewer naps than people tell me I should be taking, but I'm doing fine!  Especially since I'm now an avid coffee drinker lol.  College didn't do it, being a teacher didn't do it, but man, this motherhood thing sure did make me a coffee convert! 

So, for Caylee's First Month post, here's a rundown of what she's up to, and how our lives are operating at the moment!

Weight (as of 9/13): 10 lbs

Length (as of 9/13):  22 inches

Daily Schedule

6:30 AM:  Wake her up for first daytime bottle, generally followed by anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes of wake time and then back to sleep

10:30 AM: Second daytime bottle, generally followed by 30 to 60 minutes of wake time and then back to sleep

2:30 PM Third daytime bottle, generally followed by 30 to 60 minutes of wake time and then back to sleep

6:30 PM: Fourth daytime bottle, generally followed by bath time every 2nd to 3rd day and anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes of wake time before back to sleep

10:15 PM:  First of what I call the night bottles followed by 15 to 30 minutes of wake time and then down for bedtime

2:30 AM: Second "night" bottle, back to bed

Repeat.  Well, most days lol.  She has her fussy days, mostly due either to an interruption in her routine that makes her overly tired or a bad gas bubble.  Mostly, it's a bad gas bubble.  We now put .3 mL of simethicone gas drops in her bottles, and that seems to help!

Wake Time Activities
Listening to Mama and Dada talk
"Talking"
Listening to Mama sing her the ABCs and the special ABCs
Sitting in her high chair and looking out the window (she really likes windows)
Sitting in my bouncer and watching the fan and lights (she really likes fans and lights)
"Reading" books with Mama and Dada, especially the black and white picture book
Laying on my Activity Gym mat and looking at the dangling animals and the mirror
Listening to music--mostly Texas Country and Classical--while doing any of the above

Sleep Places
Crib
On someone's chest--her favorite lol
High Chair, Bouncer or Swing
Laying on the floor

Outings
The Emergency Care Clinic and ER when Daddy through his kidney stone
Aunt Julie and Uncle Ethan's house for a play date with Lucy
Aunt Alicia and Uncle Bouncer's house
Papa and Mimi's house
The yarn shop!

This weekend, Austin and Fanny are in town to visit her (and us too...kind of lol).  Gan Gan watched her one night during her week here so that Bryan and I could go have dinner at Chuy's, and tonight Austin and Fanny are letting us go to dinner again!  And possibly even breakfast tomorrow by ourselves!  Well, speaking of Caylee-bear, it's about time for her nap.  Hopefully I'll be more prompt with her two month post, and in the meantime have a couple of other posts on what all else is going on around here.  That said, it took me the better part of this week to finish this one up and get it posted, so no promises!  In the meantime, here's another picture!

Caylee Is Here!

Our little girl has arrived!  And on her own schedule, may I add lol.  My last post was all about how we still had 8 days until my scheduled C-section.  Three days later--on Thursday August 16th--we headed to see Dr. F for what was supposed to be our last OB check up before the big day.  I was excited to hear that the doc was going to take me off of bed rest, thinking that now we could go pick out Caylee's curtains and a lamp, and that Bryan could move the pack and play into our bedroom.  Basically, I was looking forward to doing a bit of last minute nesting to make sure all was in order for Caylee.  Dr. F mentioned that we could go see a movie, joking that it was the last chance for such an outing that we'd get for some time.  Then she checked my cervix.  

"Well, so y'all are going to head to the hospital and we'll probably be doing the C-section this evening."

Bryan thought she was making a joke.  I immediately asked if I was dilated--and she replied that I was at 4 cm.  My response: holy crap!  She asked if I had been having contractions, and I replied that I'd been a bit crampy off and on, but nothing consistent, regular, or nearly as painful as the preterm contractions that put me on bed rest in the first place.  Initially, she was going to send me for monitoring with a possible C-section, but then decided to go ahead and send me to Labor and Delivery and scheduled the C-section for 5 pm that day!

Bryan and I immediately started on all the phone calls we had to make on the way to the car.  We did swing in Dr. W's office to share the news, and then we were on our way--back to the house lol.  Since Caylee wasn't arriving imminently, we made the executive decision to go get our bags and take a last minute picture or two before heading to the hospital.  

We finally checked in about 11am, and settled in to wait.  Bryan's mom was the first to arrive, and they ran down to the cafeteria to grab lunch.  Her arrival was followed by my mom and dad--along with Joy the Giraffe, a huge stuffed giraffe my parents just HAD to get Caylee lol.  Family slowly filtered in between then and 5 pm: Bryan's Papa and Mimi, my Nannie and Papa, Bryan's dad, and my brother and his girlfriend all made it!

They wheeled me back and hooked me up to my epidural--best thing ever, by the way!  Dr. F, Renee, Bridgette, and all the other nurses were fantastic.  Dr. F started the procedure--talk about the weirdest sensation ever!  I couldn't feel what she was doing, but I could feel her doing something!  My legs only existed as a vague warm sensation, and all the cutting and gutting felt like pressure.  When she pulled my muscles apart, it was even more pressure combined with jerking.  Then there was a huge tugging sensation and Dr. F pulled Caylee out!

She was born at 6:04 pm, August 16th, 2012, and weighed 8 pounds and 2 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.  It sounded like there was a bookie in the room, the way the doc and nurses were calling out guesses about her weight!  Everyone but one nurse thought she was at least 9 pounds lol.  I did pretty good through all of it, though I did need the nausea medication--there was a moment where I really thought I was going to hurl thanks my rapidly changing fluid levels.  I ended up with 15 staples--I asked Dr. F how many she was putting in and she laughed.  Apparently she's never been asked that before, but she still counted for me.

They put Caylee on my chest for a minute and boy was she mad!  She has good lungs, that's for sure.  I didn't get to hold her nearly as long as I wanted--her O2 levels were a bit low, so she had to go to the nursery and be under her astronaut (oxygen) helmet for a while.  She got a great APGAR (Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, Respiration) score of between an 8 and 9 out of 10.  Bryan went with her when they wheeled her to the nursery and got to show her off for a minute to the family.  Dr. F went ahead and cut my tubes and finished sewing me up, and then I was wheeled back to my prep room.

A bit later, they transferred me to the Postpartum ward and we settled into the room where we stayed until Sunday.  It was a big private room and even had an extra bed!  Everyone but my parents and Austin and Fanny headed out around 9:30 pm.  Mom, Dad, Austin and Fanny waited with us until they brought Caylee back, which wasn't until close to 11 pm.  I have to admit to being pretty lousy company---I just wanted to see and hold my baby!

Once it was just the three of us, Bryan and I decided to room in with Caylee.  We had originally thought we would let her stay in the nursery so we could sleep, but when it came down to it, we couldn't bear to let them take her away again when we had finally gotten her back.

The next few days were filled with holding Caylee, feeding and changing her, and sharing her with all of the family and friends that came up to see her.  Oh, and watching Shark Week on the Discovery Channel!  Bryan stayed with us Friday night, and then Mom stayed Saturday night.  Saturday evening, Bryan and Dad ran errands and got the house set up for our homecoming.  I didn't get feeling back in my right leg until over 24 hours later, when they removed my epidural at 5am Saturday morning and my system had a couple of hours to clear out the medication.  Saturday night, Bryan stayed with us again, and we had a wonderful Sunday morning, just the three of us getting ready to go home.  Mom and Dad came up to help us get out the door, and we ended up being discharged at 1 pm instead of 6 pm!

We've been home with our little Caylee-bear for one week today.  Last week, Vic and Bryanne-Michelle came in to meet their niece and help out around the house.  We had Caylee's newborn photo session last Tuesday, and she got to meet her Aunt Julie and cousin Lucy on Friday.  Bryan has to go back to work this week to wrap things up before his paternity leave, so yesterday Mama Lynn and my parents came over and stayed for dinner.  Then Mama Lynn is staying until Tuesday and Mom and Dad will be here Wednesday through Friday!  I can't find the words to express my gratitude at all the help we've received, as well as all the yummy casseroles that friends and family have made for us!

Caylee is doing wonderfully!  She eats every 4ish hours, and man can she put away her bottle!  Between feedings, she only fusses when she needs to be changed, and the rest of the time either sleeps or stares at the big new world in which she finds herself.  She has Bryan's forehead, ears and chin, and overall head shape.  I think she also has his hair, as it's starting to curl and she has a ton of it!  I hope she has his skin.  She has my nose and cheeks, and we'll see whose eyes she has as they pick a color.  And she smiles a LOT, just like I did as a baby.  Yes, I know some of it is gas, and that she won't exhibit the "social smile" for another month or so, but she smiles even when she's not gassy at all.  She's just one happy, chill little girl!  Bryan and I think she's pretty much perfect, of course, and have fallen completely in love with her.

We are so happy to finally have our little girl safely home in our arms!

Only 8 More Days!!!

In only 8 days, Caylee will make her arrival!  In only 8 days, Bryan and I will become parents!  And then, 3 days after that, we'll bring our little girl home and start our lives as a family of three people and two dogs!

Last week we had our last ultrasound, and everything still looks wonderful...except Caylee is definitely running out of room.  Her face in her ultrasound picture was all squished lol.  She measured in at 7.5 lbs at only 36 weeks and 4 days!  Basically, at that point, she was the same size as an average baby at 38 weeks.  My only thought was, well, at least she's slowed down a bit!  At the last ultrasound she was 3 weeks ahead of average and now she's only ahead by a week and a half!  

That said, by the time she's 38 weeks and a couple of days, there is a good chance that Caylee will weigh in somewhere between 8.5 and 9.5 pounds.  This means there is also a good chance she could get stuck coming out.  Add to that her head size and you get a scenario where we can't use a vacuum or forceps to help her if she does get stuck.  Personally, I'm not at all fond of the idea of going through 10+ hours of labor only to have to have a C-Section anyway!  So, we're cutting out all that middle concern and skipping straight to the end!  After talking all of this over with the maternal/fetal specialist and my OBGyn, we went ahead and scheduled a C-Section for August 21st!

And, double-plus bonus, my doctor is going to go ahead and clip my tubes while she's in there!  For a whole variety of reasons, Bryan and I are completely happy with just one little one, and this means I don't have to go back on birth control after the pregnancy.  One less pill a day to take once I'm back on all of my RA meds!

While I continue to enjoy every moment of my pregnancy, Bryan and I sure can't wait to hold our little girl!

Bed Rest

I was so close to making it through this pregnancy without going on bed rest!

At least it's only modified bed rest, meaning I can be in my recliner instead of only in bed, and I can get up to shower and eat!  So, what happened you ask?

Well, it seems our little Caylee is quite a big girl!  Which isn't really a surprise, seeing as I weighed in at 9 lbs 1 ounce and my brother was 9 lbs 5 ounces.  That said, I also have a slightly higher than normal amount of amniotic fluid, the combination of which makes my uterus think that it has finished it's work.  Wrong!  Lol.  Anyway, two and a half weeks ago, I was running around with my cousin Brooke.  We had gone to Babies R Us and had just gotten to Kohl's.  We were having a great time!  And then I had to pee.  

Not to get into overshare territory, but when I was done, I discovered I had some bright red spotting.  I had been feeling crampy off and on all day, but chalked it up to Braxton Hicks contractions.  That said, the spotting had me calling my OBGyn, who immediately had me go to the Perinatal Assessment Center at the hospital.  Brooke was a trooper and called Bryan for me as I drove us to the hospital.  Bryan met us there, and they put me and the baby on the monitors.  Caylee was perfect--strong heartbeat and lots of kicks.  I, on the other hand, was having preterm contractions.  ACTUAL contractions complete with acceleration, not the practice kind.  I guess at least I know what they feel like!

  Fortunately, it was not preterm labor...my cervix hadn't changed at all, nor did it change between my discharge from the hospital and my already-scheduled OBGyn appointment the next day.  Also, by our appointment, the contractions had pretty much stopped.  However, my doctor doesn't want to take any chances (which I very much appreciate!) and has me on bed rest at least through this coming Thursday.  I've been having some Braxton Hicks off and on, but nothing near as painful, consistent, or all over as the preterm contractions, thank goodness!

Bed rest is definitely not high on my list of favorite things ever.  That said, I've been so thankful for my mom and my hubby!  Mom came down every day the first week I was on bed rest and helped me finish getting everything ready for Caylee, including cleaning my house and cooking for Bryan and me.  Bryan has been keeping up with the housework, running errands, cooking, and basically picking up my slack.  And he's been super supportive the whole time!  And then there's Sherry and Blair who came by for lunch, and Julie and Ethan and Lucy who came over for dinner, and all of our other friends who have called and swung by to check on me!  Y'all are awesome!

I've also been thankful the Olympics happened to coincide with my period of enforced idleness!  The Games, especially beach and indoor volleyball and gymnastics, have given me something to focus on.  I've also been working on a couple of knitting projects.  Basically, at this point, it's a waiting game until Caylee gets here!

Here are the knitting projects helping to maintain my sanity:

Lucy's Blanket!

Caylee's Coming Home Hat!

7ish Weeks To Go!

I cannot believe that we only have about 7 weeks until Caylee makes her arrival!

I think, however, that she can more than believe it--she seems to be getting frustrated with the rapidly decreasing amount of space available to her.  How can I tell?  Well, she sure is kicking and moving up a storm AND she loves playing "shove the squishy things" with my internal organs.

While she's busy rearranging mommy's insides, Bryan and I are busy rearranging and preparing everything in the house for her arrival.  On June 16th, my mom and Vic threw me a wonderful baby shower for my side of the family and a few of my closest friends.  Mom treated me and Vic to a nail salon visit the day before, and before that Vic went to Target with me to help me pick out a pretty dress!  We easily had 25-30 people come...and it's a good thing we all like each other because it made my house very cozy very quickly!  It was an absolute blast!  Everyone was overwhelming generous in their gifts to Caylee--she is going to be one of the most well-outfitted kiddos ever!  I didn't take many pictures, but I know others did.  For now, I only have one of the picture collages that my mom made!  This collage has my Aunt Candy, cousins Brooke and Jenna Kay, my Nanny and Gan Gan and mama, and Kel, Vic, and Bryanne-Michelle--sister-in-law and best friends, all of whom were bridesmaids at our wedding!   Oh, and I'm in there too!

So, I've been doing lots of baby laundry and folding and sorting lots of tiny little baby clothes.  It's so much fun!!!  I also made a grocery store discovery:  Kroger's Baby Detergent has the same ingredients as Dreft for 1/3 of the cost!  As of right now, all of the clean clothes are living in Caylee's pack n play, waiting for me to put them in their dresser drawers.  

That organizational task is next week's big job, since her furniture arrived last weekend and, thanks to Bryan and Uncle Ethan, has been placed and assembled in her nursery!  Here's a picture of the beautiful crib Caylee's Grandpa and Grandma bought her!

 And while I didn't get to do much hands-on helping, I did take lots of pictures of Caylee's daddy assembling her crib!

The finished product is beautiful...all that's missing is Caylee!  She has a group of friends waiting on her, including her monkeys, giraffe, Aggie sock monkey, and her incredible Totoro, made for her by our amazing friend Ruth! 

The nursery is coming together nicely.  Now, to get the rest of that done, and the rest of the house ready too!