Jeremiah is 15 months old

Today JP went for his 15 month checkup and immunizations. He was such a trooper. He did not cry at all when he got his first shot and cried for about 10 seconds with the second one. The nurse had a hard time holding his legs still because he is so strong. She said that she was warned about how strong he is. I held his arms so that he would not reach down and accidentally get stabbed by the needle. Jeremiah is growing extremely well. He weighs 25lbs 2oz. (in the 55th percentile), and is 31 1/4" tall (50th percentile).

He really has changed in this last month. He loves kissing his sister and is now trying to pick her up. He will try to comfort her when she cries and comes to find me when I do not come fast enough for his liking. He is saying a lot of new words now. He says "sister" and goes around looking for Rachel. He says "tutle" (turtle) for his favorite stuffed animal. He has said "Gammy" (Grammy) for his Grammy Linda. Although she has not heard it yet. He says "book" when he wants or is playing with his books.

As most of you know he can climb the coffee table and stairs. He even pushes the chairs to climb to things that are even higher. He loves to climb the couch in the front room and look out the window and watch for daddy coming home from work. He even will look out the window and just watch the snow falling.

He loves to be outside now matter how cold it is. He loves running in the grass, playing with the rocks, going for adventures (walks), riding his tricycle, playing on the swings at the park, climbing anything that he can at the park, and helping daddy with the yard work. Going for jogs with daddy in the jogging stroller (I just got cleared to start exercising so now I can join them on their jogs). Jeremiah loves to climb anything that he can and has no fear, which is good and also bad. We are trying to teach him to have a healthy respect for climbing and heights.

JP is looking forward to the winter snow, playing in the sow, Halloween, Watching his sister get bigger (he wants to play with her), Thanksgiving (with Grammy Linda coming), first Christmas in our house as a family (last year we went to Cali.), growing and learning.

Rachel Has GERD

Rachel has GIRD (Gastrointestinal Reflux Disease). What happens is when she eats and her tummy is full the sphincter at the top of her stomach does not close all the way causing her to spit up all her food. This brings up stomach acid and is painful. Jeremiah had this too at the same age. We took her to the doctor who prescribed her medication to help reduce the amount of acid that her stomach produces.

They wanted me to give her the medicine and then weigh her after two days and let them know if she has lost or gained weight. At the doctor she weighed 9lbs 5oz. and when we weighed her two days later she weighed the same (9lbs 5oz.). We called the doctor and informed him that there was no weight change. He than told us to up the amount of medicine we were giving her to see if that helped. They also wanted us to come in a week later to check on her weight.

So today that is exactly what we did. While we were there for JP's 15 month checkup we also had Rachel looked at and weighed. We got to do a twofer. Anyway, she is doing really well and weighs 10lbs already. She has gained 11oz. in 6 days. Normal amount of weight gain is 1oz./day she is putting on 2oz./day. She will remain on the medication at least until her two month checkup and then she will get checked again. So we got a clean bill of health for Rachel, which is really good news.

Fall is in the air...

It's fall again here in Colorado, the aspen trees are turning and it is a wonderful time to see the leaves changing colors. So we drove about an hour and half to see the beautiful trees and the "aspen gold"!

This year JP was running around and picking up the leaves. He had so much fun picking up the leaves and inspecting them. He wanted to go off exploring and was really sad when we had to leave.

Here are some more pictures from our first adventure as a family of four...

Rachel turns 1 month old...already

Can you believe that Rachel is 1 month old? I know I sure cannot. This past month has gone by so fast. She has been lifting her head from day one. Even the pediatrician was impressed. She has even more control over it now. She had started smiling, cooing, is more awake and aware. She sleeps well, even while JP is crying and screaming. She wakes up twice in the night and falls back asleep well. The longest she has given us is 5 hours of sleep (only once). She has already gotten her first cold (so much for going for a well check up at the doctors). It was a mild cold but it did cause her to have trouble sleeping and breathing. She is doing so well now.

Here is a video of Rachel...



We are looking forward to seeing her personality develop and watching her grow. We are loving our new daughter and enjoying being a family of four.

JP Climbs Coffee Table

What my life is like with two kids...

Welcome Rachel Elizabeth Laufer!!

What a roller coaster ride these last few days have been! Short version; We have a new daughter, Rachel Elizabeth Laufer, born 9/1/09 weighing 6 lbs 13.8 oz and measuring 18.5 inches in length.

Long version; From my last post you'll remember that I had been on Procardia and bed rest to stop pre-term labor. Well, as of noon on Sunday I was directed to stop taking the Procardia but remain on bed rest for another week. By Monday afternoon, around 2pm, I started having contractions. They were light but rythmic. By 2:45pm I called Paul at worked and he started timing them for me. He said they were 2-3 minutes apart and lasting approximately one minute. So the contractions passed both criteria that the doctor gave us for going in to the hospital. Paul told me he was coming home immediately and told me to call my doctor, so I did. I called Dr. Bowman, my OB doctor, and she wanted me to come in to her office immediately, so we packed up the truck and went.

Dr. Bowman saw me right away when I got to her office and she checked to see how I had progressed since my last appointment. We were disappointed to find out that I actually hadn't progressed at all! I was still 3cm and 80% effaced. Dr. Bowman decided to put me on a monitor to determine exactly how far apart my contractions were and how long they were. After 30 minutes on the chart recorder she looked at the chart and determined that my contractions were very regular, lasting approximately one minute, and 4.5 minutes apart. She said that I was either having a reaction to going off Procardia or in the first stage of labor. She gave me a choice, I could either be checked into the hospital for further monitoring or I could go home and come back in if the contractions got stronger. I talked it over with Paul and we decided to go out and have dinner (some spicy food!) and see where things went.

For dinner we went to Los Dos Portillos, a local Mexican restaurant, and had some spicy food. During the meal I started feeling stronger contractions and had trouble finishing my meal. However, the contractions still weren't strong enough for me to go to the hospital so after dinner we went home and watched some TV.

While we were at home watching TV I noticed the contractions starting to get more painful and frequent. Paul tried timing them again but I was so distracted I kept forgetting to tell him when they were starting! So we called the doctor back (by this time it was 7:30pm and after hours) and she instructed us to go check into the hospital. So we did!

Back at the hospital, now in the Labor & Delivery unit, we got settled in and I was hooked up to the IV and baby monitors. By this time it was about 8:45pm on 8/31. They monitored Rachel's heartbeat while simultaneously monitoring my contractions. By this time my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart but much stronger. The nurse checked my progress and told us that we were 4cm dilated and 80% effaced. So there was some progression from earlier in the afternoon. The nurse left us hooked up to the monitors, asked Elizabeth a battery of questions, and then left to wait to see if we progressed.

I was able to get up and walk around the Labor & Delivery unit (which I was not allowed to do last time). I was hoping that it would help further my labor and the contractions along. I walked around for a while. Which did seem to make a difference in how I was feeling. I was even able to go into the jacuzzi tub (another of the things I was not allowed to do last time). After walking for a while I got into the jacuzzi tub for about half an hour. The warm water and jets felt really good. I did not feel a lot of the contractions while I was in there. It was nice not feeling the contractions but did make me think that maybe things were slowing down and not progressing. I started to get cold so I decided to get out and get back into the bed.

A few hours later the nurse returned to check my progress. She said I was 4, maybe 4.5cm dilated and that they would monitor me a little longer but were thinking of sending me home. They thought that I was just reacting to being off Procardia and not in real labor. However, she said they'd monitor me for one more hour and check my progress. After she left the room Paul prayed for me and Rachel and asked the Lord that if it was His will that Rachel be born soon that I'd progress enough that they wouldn't have us leave the hospital only to have us turn around and come right back. Shortly after the prayer my contractions increased noticeably in strength.

The nurse returned an hour later (now around midnight) and checked me again. She said I had progressed to 6cm, that I was clearly in real labor, and not just reacting to being taken off Procardia. She then left the room to report to the doctor. She returned just a few minutes later and asked me if I wanted my water broken. Paul and I quickly discussed it and decided that it would be a good idea to help the labor progress. Shortly later the doctor on duty came in and broke my water. I was expecting an experience similar to when this happened last time when I was giving birth to Jeremiah. The pain I experienced then was nearly unbearable due to Jeremiah's position (back labor). However, I was pleased to find that there was no pain and my contractions only felt slightly stronger after the procedure. This was around 1AM. The nurse said they expected me to progress at a rate of about 1cm an hour, and estimated that Rachel would actually be born some time around 5:30-6 in the morning.

At around 1:30AM I was checked again and determined to be at around 7.5-8cm. I seemed to be progressing much faster than they anticipated. My contractions after having my water broken were much faster in duration and much stronger. They were only 2-3 minutes apart and strong enough that I had trouble talking during them because I was concentrating on my breathing technique.

By 2:30AM I had progressed to 9cm, and nearly complete. The nurse started preparing the room for the delivery and notified my doctor that I was getting ready. The contractions at this point were quite strong and I discovered, after having to get up to use the restroom, that I felt much more comfortable handling the contractions in a standing position bent over at the waist and supporting my upper body with my arms placed on the bed. The contractions were now back to back with very little time between to rest or speak.

They had a NICU nurse there to check Rachel after she was born due to the fact that she was going to be premature. So there was a lot more people in the room then last time. I was really starting to feel the need to push but the nurses kept telling me not to push. My doctor had not made it yet and the nurse was telling me not to push. I was really needing to push by this point and was making it very clear to everyone there.

Finally me doctor came in threw her jacket on the chair put her cloves on and checked me and said that I was ready to push. I couldn't wait any longer Rachel was coming whether they liked it or not. I started to push. My doctor was trying to get her scrubs and sterile cloves on while I was already pushing. She saw what was going on and told me to wait that she was still trying to get ready. She got ready just in time to deliver Rachel. Three pushes later Rachel Elizabeth Laufer was born.



I was so happy to be able to deliver without having the epidural. Rachel had a little trouble keeping her oxygen level within the normal range. They kept monitoring her and giving her some oxygen. She never had to go into the NICU and was able to stay with us the whole time I was in the hospital.

We are all home now and trying to adjust to being a family of four. We are grateful to God for His blessings and seeing us through this time. Jeremiah is loving having his new baby sister. He is kissing her all the time. He is still working on being gentle with her. Which can be a challenge at times. But we can see how much he loves Rachel.

That's all for now!

P.S. Here is a picture of Jeremiah and Rachel both one day old.

Update on Baby Rachel

35 weeks & 3 days

Today I went for yet another doctor appointment. I saw my doctors partner who also delivered Jeremiah. Anyway, I have not changed at all from last week to this one. I am still 3cm dilated and still 80% effaced.

I am looking forward to being off this medication so that I can sleep through the night without having to wake up and take medication. I have 6 more days of being on the medication. I just keep telling myself "I will make it through this day".

Bea is now gone home and my mom is back for two weeks to help out. That will take me right up until I am off of bed rest. Then I will be able to play with Jeremiah again. I miss my time with him.

Jeremiah is doing rather well with the whole situation. He is running (and I do mean running) all around the house. He is wanting to climb all the time now. He is into to Sesame Street and of course Elmo. My mom says this is the best workout routine ever and that she will look like a model when she gets back home. He loves to go outside and play with the rocks and run around the yard. He is very interested in other babies and wants to say hi but he is good about not touching them.

I am waiting to for Rachel's baby furniture to come so that I can start setting up her room. It's hard not being able to "nest". I have the room all painted and everything ready to go once the furniture gets here. I am hoping that it comes this week. I have plenty for clothes from 3-9 months for her. My sister-in-law Christine sent a bunch of clothes that her twin girls have already grown out of for Rachel. I also got a few newborn outfits from my sister-in-law Marsha. I am set for a long time with clothes. I may need to get a few things for Rachel that are warmer because of the difference in the weather.

When I get Rachel's room all set up I will take some pictures and post them for all to see.

Anyway, that is the update for now. If anything changes I will let you know.