Live from Austin, it's Chloe and Chris!!!

Yay! We're LIVE...kind of. Here's a video of Chris in action with Baby Chloe. Now the updates can be even more exciting....like Chloe spitting up ;).

Sorry I've been lame with the updates, I was just hoping to have fun news to share. Sadly my blood pressures are still up and Chloe has developed reflux. So I get frustrated with the 4 times a day blood pressure monitoring and Chloe fills the in between with tears and spit up. We're a mess...but a blissful, love-filled mess. We're trying all the "tricks" to make the reflux better for our little girl but apparently the best "trick" of all is to give it time.

This weekend Chris's Mom will be here. We're excited for Chloe to meet her Grandma and for us to have an extra set of hands around for the weekend.

That's all for now but I hope to get more pictures and videos up here soon!

We're home...again.

Thanks for those praying people who've been lifting us up. We're home! They released me from the hospital today for the 2nd time in two weeks from the labor and delivery unit. I got to see some of the same nurses and lovingly told them I didn't want to seem them again for a few years.

They finally got my pressures down to a reasonable though still higher than normal level. The goal is to use the meds for the first week paired with rest. Then we'll start to reduce meds as my pressures will allow. Our prayer at this point is that I will be able to reduce the meds and return to normal. There is a slight chance that high blood pressure will not only be pregnancy related for me since it has not yet returned to normal on it's own. So we are praying against that and hopeful that it will still go away.

Chris has taken the rest of the week off and we're going to do what is totally Un-Crack Team like and actually rest and accept help from our awesome community of friends. It's counter-intuative to our can-do natures but we really do want what's best for our cupcake, Chloe, and for my body to heal. We'll do our best to get some more pictures posted but rest is our number one priority at this point.

Thanks again for your prayers! Here's a Chloe picture with a bear made by our friend Stephanie who is also doing the bedding stuff for her room. Sad to think Chloe will one day be bigger than the bear! I love this precious bundle stage...

Another update...

We need prayer...

We're back in the hospital. I went to my OB follow up this morning and my pressures were higher...too high to leave. So they admitted us the hospital and monitored my pressures all day. They didn't like the numbers so we're staying for a few nights. We've done more blood work, a urine test, a ultra sound and a continued blood pressure monitoring. They still don't see anything wrong other than the pressures. So we then have seen an internal medicinist and between them and the the OB's recommendations we are trying some other oral meds to see if they help drop my levels.

PRAISE GOD that Chloe is a great baby and seems to be unaffected by all of this. We're praying that continues. In the meantime Chris and I are worn down from all of this. We are ready to be home with our baby and not have IV's in every two days and dealing with the "hospital systems."

Will you please pray for us?

We hope for more cheerful updates soon.

ER excitment....ugg.

Sorry I've been slow to post updates, return calls, and send emails. I WILL get better...one day. So it's been a hard weekend. Friday at my OB one week follow up, my blood pressure was still high mid-140's over 100's. So they decided to medicate. I didn't have any of the worrisome symptoms but they still didn't like that it was remaining in a high range. So, Friday night I took the first pill. By the early morning feeding, I had felt a small headache coming on. By noon yesterday I was in tears in pain. So we called the nurse on call from our OB and she suggested going to a pharmacy to see what my pressure was. We did that...it was still high. When I called to check back in, she suggested we go to the ER. Of course at this point I am in tears again. This time, not for pain, because I would be taking my 10 day old baby to the ER too. We packed everything up and had to leave my brother at home. He had barely arrived when the excitement started. Once at the ER they did an EKG, a CT scan, blood work, and a urine analysis. I cried through all of them...again not for pain but just frustration and upset. Then we played the ER waiting game. At least they have TV's in every room and we were able to watch some March madness, feed Chloe, and try to be calm. Once the results came in they had found a urine infection and still high blood pressure but no brain bleeding or abnormal labs. They decided to discontinue the first blood pressure meds and give me a different one as well as a prescription for the infection. Almost 4 hours later we were able to head home. It was a LONG day. It was painful in parts... I had the blood work from my hand and then an IV inserted "just in case." It was a frustrating day. BUT the Lord has blessed us with an amazingly agreeable child. Chloe slept soundly the whole time with the exception of waking up once to nurse and then returning to a slumber. She was great! I'd rather me be the one in pain and frustrated than her anyway. We're going to have to really hunker down this week which is a bit counter-intuative to our nature but the Dr.'s are insisting that is part of the treatment to get my pressures down. At this point, we'd love your prayers: - for my blood pressure to go down and my infection to heal quickly - for Chloe to keep nursing well and not be affected by any exposures in the ER - for Chris to have stamina as he balances a busy week at work with taking on a little more around the house so I really can rest. Hopefully the updates will be more fun soon...like Chloe actually fitting into her clothes? She's up to 6lbs, 4oz so it's not far away now. Here's a sweet picture update. Chloe with the Cat in the Hat!

Happy St. Patty's Day

We're still planning to do some serious posting with updates soon but this one is time sensitive so I promised Chloe I would get it out first thing this morning since she was such a good sport during the photo shoot. Mommy and Daddy almost forgot she wasn't a doll or model because we were having so much fun. Oh...and she is a doll and prettier than a model too! (Click the pic to make me bigger)

Irish love to you all!

38 1/2 weeks...

Don't feel like you have to read the novel ahead but for those who want the birth story....here goes: Tuesday March 10th was a full day for me. I had coffee in the morning with my dear friend Sarah. We talked about baby and my slight concern of not being sure when my water would break. Next I headed to my Tuesday morning Pre-Natal Yoga class. I love that class and have made several friends all due around me. For several of them this was their last class and I wanted to be sure to see them since the next few weeks of class for me could be lonely waiting for my bundle to come or the Dr. to tell me no more yoga. After class I headed over to lunch with a group of gals from Seiko - Sam, Ola, Nicola, and Jen. Finally, I headed over to my weekly appointment with our OB/GYN. Chris decided since we were both having busy days he'd just meet me there.

We checked in, did the normal pee on the paper to check all the levels, and the nurse came to check my blood pressure. She thought it was a little high but said that Dr. Mills would check it again when she came in. A few minutes later Dr. Mills came in and also got a high read...not super high but in the 140's range. (Side note, the previous week I had a border-line pressure read but had consistently been so low that they weren't worried). She did my weekly "check" and sadly I was still not dilated. But still Dr. Mills said we needed to talk about inducing labor. She said I was far enough along for the baby to be safe and there were greater risks if my blood pressure went up more. In my mind, I'm thinking through which day in the next week would be good to schedule an induction. I still had a handful of things I wanted to get done before the baby came so I was hoping she'd let me wait until the following Monday. I asked about what the time line for the induction would be and this is the moment when everything changed:

Dr. Mills: "Time line?" You need to go across the street and check into the hospital right now. You aren't going home without a baby.
Karen: "Umm - I think I might cry" Chris: (jumps into Coach mode and is on his feet with a tissue in hand rubbing my back)
Dr. Mills: (Explains a few things was super nice and reassuring, encouraging, and wonderful but I honestly didn't really hear a word she said)
Karen: (thinking of everything I wished I had done at the house) Ummm...ok.... Dr. Mills: I'll be there to check on you once you get settled in.

Chris and I walk down stairs and get in the car to drive right across the street to check in. We were assigned to room 28 and within minutes they are drawing blood for blood work, putting in the IV asking me to sign all the consent forms and telling me to stay calm and not think about everything. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I'm listening to the baby heart beat on the monitor, I'm getting juiced up by the IV fluids, and I didn't get to shower after Yoga and was thinking it would be a long stinky time before I smelled good again and I'm supposed to "not think about it." Chris ran home to get our pre-packed bags and I just laid there...thinking about trying not to think about it.

An hour later the blood work was back and Dr Mills was there. The great news was the blood work didn't give them any concerns for pre-eclampsia which left it to be pregnancy induced hypertension. They still had to induce but at least things were less severe. The rundown from Dr. Mills was this: - I was supposed to order and eat a big dinner - After eating they'd insert Cervidyl to loosen my cervix and hopefully help it start to dilate. - 12 hours later they would start the potocin to induce labor. I could have that for 12 hours. - If labor did not progress I'd have a c-section which was likely since I was not dilated at all.

I was assigned a labor and delivery nurse - Cyndi and ordered dinner. I had pasta, green beans, a salad, a roll, and jello (what is it with hospitals and jello?). At 7:00 Cyndi came in to insert the Cervidyl. I'll leave out the details but let's note that I had to resort to the pain management breathing we learned in our birth classes for the entire 3 minutes it took her to get it in. Gross. I then had to lay still and let it set for 2 hours. No using the restroom and again trying to stay calm and not think about it. Really they wanted us to sleep since we would be in for a long day. We called a few people, waited for the 2 hours to pass, and watched a little TV. At 10:30 we tried to sleep. By 11:30 we realized I was in too much pain for sleep so I agreed to a light dose of Ambien. By 1:00 the monitor was showing contractions that I didn't feel though I was in pain and my body was having the shakes to manage the pain. They wanted to give me a narcotic for the pain but I just didn't want to go that route so I opted to do more breathing and had my Coach (Chris) guide me though and rub on my legs and back. I was literally praying for the shakes to stop so I could sleep. 2:00 - The shakes stop, I take a breath of relief, my stomach cramps hard, I hear a pop, and suddenly water is gurgling out...my water had broken!!! This was really fabulous because now I was in active labor which meant the painful Cervidyl came out. Nurse Cyndi checked my cervix and I was 3cm dilated! Again, great news. I opted to get the epidural because I had been managing pain for hours and didn't think I could sleep or get through tomorrow's long day without the help. At 3:00pm I got the epidural in and waited for it to take effect. At 3:45 I got a popsicle for all the hard work...Yum! At 4:00pm Nurse Cyndi put in the catheter and Chris and I went to sleep. We slept awesome for two hours. At 6:00pm I abruptly wake and tell Chris I am feeling LOTS of pressure. Cyndi comes in for a check and again miraculously I am 9.5cm dilated. By 6:30 we started pushing but my contractions were 6 minutes apart rather than the normal 1 - 2 when you start pushing. At 7:20 Dr. Mills arrives and starts to help with pushing. Around 7:35 I do a final round of pushing and the baby was crowning so Dr. Mills calls in the nurse who will catch the baby and starts the bed setup. At 7:40, the baby just popped out on her own...I didn't push and the nurse didn't make it in but Dr. Mills grabbed her.

Baby girl Craxton was a tiny 6 pounds 3 oz and 20 in. long!!!!

What a miracle....more to come.

We're going private....

Hey friends and family...

We've decided to make our blog private. Since we have a precious bundle of joy that we want to share stories about we feel more open to telling the whole story if we know who is on here reading our family updates. I know it adds a step for you to sign in and I apologize in advance but I promise we'll be adding more of the real Craxton style details than we would have if it was a public blog. We hope you'll stick with us for the adventures of Chloe Jane....

We love ya.