Claire Goodman

Claire Goodman

April 23, 2011 @ 1555

6lbs 8oz, 18.5in

(birth/labor story to come.)

Our sweet little girl a couple hours old. We love her and cant wait for her to come home. we of course think shes perfect. she has dark hair like paige did but its not quite as long on top. she has her own little look. shes a good baby and a little fighter.

Easter afternoon she started breathing harder and working hard to get the air she needed. She didn't get better so Monday they decided to air-vac her to Tucson to get evaluated by NICU doctors. She had to fly by herself and they say she did a good job. It was hard on me though. Hard to let her leave me and trust the people to take good care of her. The flight was 40 minutes and our drive was 2 hours. My parents were nice and met the Claire at the hospital and stayed there till we got there.

She is a good little eater and sleeper. Feeding is our favorite part of the day because thats when we get to hold her.

This is her little bed in the NICU. She is still working harder then she should to breath. They think she just didn't get all fluid squeezed out and suctioned out when she was born. They have suctioned her a few times which has helped but they can't deep suction her to many times because it increases swelling. she is receiving oxygen through a nasal cnnula and humidified air through a tube under the hood (or clear box over her head.)

Once we can get her off the oxygen for a total of 24 hours we get to take her home. They have tried to decrease it but she hasnt tolerated it yet. She isn't on much oxygen. She's on 1 leader @ 26%.

Paige was so excited to meet her new little sister. She got to meet her when she was 4 days old. My mom came to safford for Claire's delivery Saturday and then took her to Sierra Vista for Easter. As things worked out she has stayed there since. She's had a great time there playing with her cousins. We miss her and can't wait till we can be all together. Paige is going to be a wonderful big sister.

#1 babysitter

There are so many things that I have taken for granted before being on bed-rest. My little sister Megan is here in Thatcher attending EAC and she is one of those "things" I have taken for granted. Last semester I enjoyed her frequent visits and her helping me with Paige when I needed it but, these past 3 months she has really helped me out a ton!!! Since being down I have had more people then I can count offer to help with Paige. Paige now thinks that everyday she should go play with a friend. Paige doesn't leave me everyday but most days out of the week she has had somewhere to go play and get out of the house for a while. Its been really nice for Paige. Most of the people have been from our ward but not all of them. There have been so many wonderful people!! I know that I could ask so many people with out any notice to help with Paige and again I'm so thankful for that. However it has been a blessing having Megan down the road from us. I have called her MANY MANY times to have her come rescue Paige from me. As long as she's not in class she has always come and taken her. And most of the time that she has come and taken Paige its when she has not had a nap and not very happy. Paige loves her Aunt Megan and loves doing things with her. She always does something fun with Paige. Paige always has an "adventure" story to tell me after coming home from being with Megan....some of the things that they do are go on bike rides, make cookies, go on walks, feed the ducks, go to the temple and "play" with the big girls. (Megan lives in an apartment complex for girls only...Paige gets lots of attention). Not only is Megan the best babysitter she has also come many times and helped me do Paige's hair. Paige loves her hair braided and lets be honest....that can be pretty hard to do when you are supposed to be laying down. I love her living down the road from us. We will be sad when summer comes and she leaves and goes back to Sierra Vista. Thanks Megan for all you do! We love you!

These are pictures Megan took for me when she had Paige one afternoon:

Sierra Vista Trip

The 18th of February I had another appointment in Tucson. Garet wasn't able to take me so my mom came a couple days early (cleaned our house) and then took Paige and I to my appointment. My appointment didn't go that great but in the end I was OK so that's all that matters. This time when they measured me I was lower then I ever had been. I measured at 1.0cm. The doctor came in and checked me and said that I was also now dilated to a 2. (that's not much in dilation but at 29 weeks that's not good I guess) Well because of the changes she sent me over to triage in L&D to spend the afternoon. She wanted to see if I was having contractions. (I told her I didn't feel like I was.) So after spending all afternoon/evening there they confirmed that I was having small contractions, that I have an over active uterus and although I was having small contractions they weren't "impressive" enough to keep me hospitalized. I was of course excited to not have to stay. When the nurse was discharging me she said I have to go home on "strict, strict, strict bed-rest". I thought that was funny because I had been on "strict bed-rest" so I asked her to specify. (Surely I couldn't be confined more then I already was to my bed.) She said no sitting but only for meals, just laying down in bed (& its ok to prop myself up), and only getting up to use bathroom and quick showers....so yes the same thing I have been doing the past few weeks. I was also to come back in a week for another appointment. It was again going to be difficult for Garet to miss work so we decided to send me to SV for the week and have my mom take me to my follow up appointment. The doctors also thought this was a good idea because I would be closer to Tucson if anything changed.
So for the next week I hung out on my parents couch. It was definitely not as comfy as my bed but the change of scenery was nice and the constant company was enjoyable. Paige had a blast playing with all her cousins. I guess all the play eventually wore on her though because Thursday while we were there she started running a fever and had one till Saturday. Friday early morning I went to my appointment. Nothing had changed or progressed so I came back to Thatcher. We were glad to be able to come home and see Garet.

This is just a cute picture of Paige and Madi playing. Paige found 2 jump ropes at my moms and played with them all week. She practiced tying things up. Her favorite thing to do was make a "train" with her bike and Madison's bike and then pull Madison. Madison enjoyed this also. The girls were lucky though and only had a few accidents.

Exercising

I thought this picture was cute and worthy of a post. Garet has MANY goals this year and one of them include doing a triathlon every month starting next month and then in the summer months do 2 a month through November. He hasn't started swimming this year yet due to the weather but he has been trying to run, bike and also do P90x. Well Paige occasionally joins Garet in on the P90X...its so cute!

Valentine Fun

For the past 3 years every Valentines Day, Easter, and Halloween my cousin Britni and I have gotten together to makes festive sugar cookies. Its been a fun little tradition that we have started. Britni and I enjoy it probably more then the kids. I figured this year we probably wouldn't do cookies becuase I was in bed. But Britni just brought the kitchen to my bedroom. It was lots of fun and a good change from the norm. We brought a fold out table into my room and chairs for the kids. Britni sat on the bed and helped the kids while I layed in bed with my little table. We frosted lots of cookies and had a good time. So glad that Britni was thoughtful enough to think of this.

Savanna, Macadee, and Paige (2/09)

Savanna and Paige
Paige

In the past 7 years that Garet and I have been married I have usually done a Valentines breakfast. Most years we have done heart shaped pink pancakes or pink heart shaped biscuits and gravy. This year Garet made breakfast and we had pink oatmeal. Paige thought it was really cool. Valentines day was kinda fun though. I wasn't able to do the usual corny things but it still was fun. During the day Paige and I made little Valentines for people and she delivered them to people. Then my VT came over and we had our usual lunch. (My VT are awesome. They come over every Monday and we have lunch together....its so nice to get girl time and visit with them) When Garet got home from work we had some yummy hamburgers and then had a fun FHE. We of course had to do our lesson on LOVE. We then enjoyed dipping strawberries and blueberries in chocolate. Paige was funny. Garet brought out all the fruit first and Paige dove right ini saying how yummy the fruit was. Then Garet brought out the dipping chocolate and she tried that. She said, " WOW Mom this is even better!!!" silly girl...of course chocolate makes everything better. :)

Paige..real proud of her pink oatmeal. She got this shirt from my mom for valentines day and LOVES it. This is the shift she wears now as soon as it is clean.

Garet and Paige...enjoying the Valentines Day treat!!

Silly Faces

I don't know where Paige learned this or if its just something kids do but she has learned to make funny faces. A couple weeks ago while laying on the couch Paige wanted me to take pictures of her making silly faces so here are some that I captured. (She thought she was being so funny it was great)

(my favorite funny face)

We sure love this little girl and we're so so glad that she is in our family.

Primary

Back when I did our January post I neglected to post about a big event in Paige's life...(hahaha) Paige went to PRIMARY!! I couldn't and still can't believe that my little girl is old enough to be in primary. I was kinda nervous about this transition for her because she absolutely loved loved nursery. She loved her teachers. A couple weeks prior to primary I talked with her about this transition and she did seem excited about the change. She did say though, "Mom what is Sister Paine going to do with out me?" She remembers the primary program and frequently asked me, "Mom when I go to Primary do I get to sing on the stage to?" I told her yes and she is still excited about this idea. On her first Sunday I droped her off in the Primary room. She was the first one from her class there. I couldn't stay and wait for her teachers to come because I had to go and teach my class. She looked up at me and I could tell she was really nervouse. I knew if I stayed any longer she would probably brake down and cry and then it would be really hard to leave her. (I think I was having a harder time myself though..but I never cried) Well she loved primary and everything about it. I think her favorite part as most kids is singing time though. On the first Sunday they gave her a CD with the songs that they'll be learning that year. I told her that she would be learning these songs and then at the end of the year sing these songs on the stage. Paige loves listening to her primary songs and listens to them often. She has taught herself most of the songs on the CD. I'm so proud of her. She practices and practices. Its really cute and I have to admit, it makes Garet and I really proud!! Just the other day at the hospital...(another story) she was sitting with me and asked if she could sing her primary songs. So sitting in triage she sat and sang Praise To the Man. Its really cute to hear her sing this song b/c she can't pronounce all the words.

I can't remember the exact theme in primary this year..(oops) but I know it has to do with the scriptures. Im really grateful for this. I want her to develope a love for the scriptures and the stories at a young age. We've been trying to teach her stories at home and its just comforting to know that it can all be reinforced at church. Her Favorite stories are the stories of Nephi. We've been reading first Nephi as a family and have been talking about him alot. A couple weeks ago Paige went to the neighbors house to play. When my friend brought Paige home she reported they played Nephi, Laman and Lemuel. I thought that was really funny! Again makes a mom proud. A couple weeks ago Paige was also playing with her cousins in the family room. I was laying in bed and couldn't catch everything that was going on but then I heard Paige tell my neice, "Karlee do you want to be like Laman and Lemuel or do you want to obey like Nephi." My brother and I started laughing pretty hard. I promise I did not say this to her before. I think its funny the things kids come up with.

Well Paige loves primary and I'm so glad shes does. I hope she always does!!!

January

Well January hasn't really been that exciting for us. With mom on bed-rest you can't do a whole lot. Like I previously blogged in my pregnancy update I was put on bed-rest the 5th of January. This is when I was 22 almost 23 weeks pregnant. I was on bed-rest from the 5th through the 21st, taking me to 25 weeks. As previously posted I was then placed in the hospital for a week. I then got to come home because my measurements hadn't changed, all my tests were negative and I wasn't dilating yet. Because my cervix still measured shorter then its supposed to I was told to go home on bed-rest....again. This time I do not get up much at all. I only get up to use bathroom and to shower, and I can sit up all the way to eat my meals. I try to be good about this because I don't want to go back to the hospital, but it does get really really old laying around. I am so grateful that I am home with my family. It was hard being in the hospital with Garet and Paige a couple hours away. With frequent phone calls and texts, visits from my mom, an old high school friend, and a family friend it wasn't that bad. It also helped knowing that Paige was in good hands back at home. My little sister Megan and little brother Jared did so much to help. They had Paige the majority of the time. When Megan had class or wanted to socialize (like normal college students) she got help from neighbors, friends and other family. I know Paige missed us but being with other people that loved her helped.
Since being on bed-rest we have enjoyed frequent visits from family in-town, ward members, my mom, sister in-law Laura and my sister Marlee and Brother Justin. Its been very humbling to have so many people help us. I am not one to sit back and not do much so it gets frustrating at times. I am so grateful for family and church. There have been so many people bring books by, meals, activities for Paige to do, movies and other treats. And I have lost count of all the offers to help with Paige.. I can't forget those that have helped me do laundry and "really" clean my house. Again like I said its very humbling...and I have learned a lot from the examples of my friends of how I need to be. I'm just so lucky to be surrounded by so many wonderful people.
Paige and I have had a lot of one on one time. Before being placed on bed-rest it was still just Paige and I. But now that I am just laying around we read a lot more, watch movies together, do crafts, and color. Mom can't get up and do anything else. Paige loves, loves, loves to color right now. Its a blessing right now because she'll just sit by me for hours coloring. We have gone through 6 different wonder color marker books, and 2 different coloring books in just the last 5 weeks. Paige has also had to "grow up" a little bit more this past month. I didn't realize how much I did for her. She now carries a stool around the house and does what she needs to. (turn lights on/off, reach different toys/food/snacks, reach clothes, get dressed all by herself, climbs on to the toilet by herself)
Garet has also been very good to me the last few weeks. He really has had to pick up extra duty around the house. He gets us breakfast in the morning, gets Paige ready for the day, gets me all set up with what I need and then goes to work. When he gets home from work he cleans up the house, gets dinner if needed or just prepares me dinner if someone brought us some. He then cleans up the kitchen and gets Paige ready for bed and helps me with whatever I need then goes to basketball practice. (he's the coach). By the end of the day he is exhausted. We are so so grateful for him!!!

Paige and I were watching a movie..and the next thing I new she was out. She had squeezed between the couch where I was and our little table. She looked so cute! (this is when I was on moderate bed-rest before being hospitalized. ( I did take the picture but I wasn't being a bad girl. At this time I could get up more frequently.)

Paige and I making Fruit Loop necklaces in my "Bachelor Pad" as Garet calls it. With the help of Garet, my mom and my wonderful neighbor Brandi they have arranged a nice little space for me. With a little rearranging of the room I now can watch TV, and use the computer in my room. I also have 2 sitting chairs where I can visit with people that come, and a nice mini fold up table that I eat meals on, and do activities with Paige on. But the best feature about the room is a mini fridge. Garet makes sure its nice and stocked before going off to work with water and snacks for both Paige and I. The fridge also works good as a side table where I can put my books, water, lamp and stuff like that.
Crafty Paige