Thursday, December 31, 2009

An Oliver fix

Here's a recent picture for those that choose Oliver as your drug of choice:)

I had posted on Facebook before Oliver was born that my dad was teasing me over the expensive things I buy Oliver. He wanted to know if we would be able to buy Oliver's formula from WalMart or if it would need to be specially ordered from Paris. Well come to find out, we are in fact having to order his formula off the internet! He has to drink the EnfaCare for preemies which I can't find anywhere in the ready-to-use cans so we have been ordering it from the Enfamil website every week. Shipping is free so it's no big deal, but I'll be glad when I can switch him to the Enfamil Premium.
We attempted to weigh Oliver last night on our kitchen scale:) I have pictures of that to post as soon as I upload them. He's almost 6 pounds now.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

One month old

Oliver is one month old today, and yesterday was my official due date. Never would have dreamed he would arrive this early!

My cousin Ashley was due January 20th. And I say "was" because she just had her baby girl Ava on December 26 which is our grandfather's birthday. She weighed 6 pounds 9oz. I think they must have had her due date off. Here is a picture of Ava. She is already home and doing great!

And speaking of sharing birthdays, I don't think I ever mentioned that Oliver was born on my uncle Thomas' birthday. Thomas is my dads brother and likes to ride Harley Davidson motorcycles with my dad. I guess we all know what Oliver is going to be doing when he's old enough:)

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

3 weeks 3 days

Oliver is 3 weeks and 3 days old today. He's such a good baby and doesn't even cry when his diaper is wet or dirty. He hates cold wipes on his butt, though! But he loves when I put his eye drops in his eye. He has some clogged tear ducts right now.
Here is another sleeping picture. I promise to start taking better pictures with his eyes open. I'm sure I'll get plenty on Christmas day.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Oliver's first night home

He didn't cry one time last night! But waking him up every three hours for his feedings was pretty easy because he's on a pretty good schedule and he's hungry right on time. The minute I would wake him up, he would start crying and "eat" his hand. He does this when he's hungry.
Here are some pictures from 2am:)

Monday, December 14, 2009

Home At Last

After two weeks at Texas Women's NICU, Oliver is finally home. It's 11pm and time for his feeding, and he's sound asleep. Time for me to go wake a sleeping baby. My blog is about to get CRAZY. I can't wait to write everyday about all our new adventures.

xo

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Who does he look like?

Today Oliver had his feeding tube removed. Yay! I can finally see his face better. I think he looks so much like Brice, but all the nurses tell me he looks just like me. What do you guys think?

Oliver & Santa

So, Santa Claus came to visit Oliver and all the other babies in the NICU and take pictures with them. Notice his latex gloves?? He changed his gloves after holding each baby. Now that's one germ free Santa Claus!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Birth Story Part 2

After the nurses let me hold Oliver for about 2-3 minutes, they had to take him to the NICU. Now it's time to deliver the placenta and sew me up. This was very uncomfortable and worse than pushing Oliver out. I didn't like this part at all!! So the entire time that was happening, I was texting all my friends telling them "Oliver is here. 4 pounds 6oz and 17 inches long!"


I did a great job staying relaxed and calm. Maybe that's why my labor went so quickly? But when the nurse told me it was time to push, I totally lost it and broke down. I kept saying I can't do this without Brice. This isn't the way it's suppose to be. The nurse started crying and had to step back for a moment and calm herself down. As sad as I am that Brice chose to miss Oliver's birth, he has now been sitting with Oliver every night in the NICU and feeding him. And that's all that matters right now. Sadly, it won't be that way once I get Oliver home with me. It breaks my heart, but those are the choices Brice made. He knows I love him and that he would have made a wonderful daddy, but I have to do what's best for Oliver and me now. And I say "would have" because it won't be the same as us being together as a family everyday in the same house.

Oliver has now been in the NICU since November 29th but today they are taking his feeding tube out and he's suppose to come home tomorrow or Tuesday. Please pray nothing changes. I can't wait to get him home on my own turf, and I need to stop letting people run over me and stick to my "rules".

Since my sister couldn't be here, I want to thank Jennifer for staying the night with me at the hospital two nights in a row, and for being there for me and helping me to the bathroom and holding my hand during all the uncomfortable "down there" checks. I don't know what I would do without you Jennifer, I love you!

This is my own personal writing space, and if anyone has a problem with me talking "openly" about my personal life, then don't read it. A lot of people didn't realize how stressed I have been since I moved back home, and I truly believe that has a lot to do with why Oliver came 4 weeks early. No one is to blame for that except me. I should have been able to handle things differently. It helps me to write my thoughts out and read everyones comments. Everyone keeps telling me that Oliver will be able to sense when I am stressed and sad, and that's going to make for an unhappy baby. So I'm going to keep doing what I do to make myself feel happy. And reading all the support I get from you guys, and sometimes complete strangers, means the world to me.

xoxo

Saturday, December 5, 2009

My birth story

The past week has been a complete blur because everything happened so fast. I was suppose to be on an airplane coming home from visiting my sister in Kansas. At the last minute I decided not to buy my plane ticket because my sister had a bad feeling about me flying so close to my due date. I really wanted to spend Thanksgiving with her, but we have a close bond, so I knew if she thought I shouldn't come than I better not.

Saturday November 28th, I went to dinner with my dad and Donna at Cafe Anice. I had a hard time eating and getting comfortable. My back was hurting. Didn't sleep too well that night. Sunday November 29th I woke up with bad cramps. Which were actually contractions, but I thought they were cramps from not sitting on a toilet in the past 5 days! So I tried to use the restroom and noticed I was bleeding a bit. I thought it was from my infection so wasn't too worried about it. An hour later at 1pm I am still cramping and still bleeding so I decide to take a bath. While in the bathtub I felt what felt like I was peeing in the water and more blood came out. I thought man, that infection I have is bad! It never clicked that maybe my water had just broken. So I got out of the bathtub and wrapped myself in a towel. The cramps are still coming every 4-5 minutes and by this point I started to think maybe they were actually contractions and not cramps from being constipated. Right about that time, I felt more fluid drip down my leg, and when I looked down, to my horror, saw a huge puddle of water on the bathroom floor with blood mixed in it. Okay, now my brain starts to work- maybe I should text my dad? No wait, can't do that, he's on his motorcycle an hour away. So I texted my mom and Donna and we decided it would be best for Donna to drive me to the hospital while my mom tries to get ahold of my dad.

The entire way to Houston my contractions are coming every 4 minutes. Donna wouldn't take me to McDonalds eventhough I was starving, so she agreed to stop at a gas station and let me get a snack. So we went inside and I got some chocolate milk and a snicker bar all while having contractions and grasping the aisles as I walk. But hey, I knew once I got to the hospital I wouldn't be allowed to eat! When we get to the hospital and I get out of the car, more fluid soaks my pants the minute I stand up. Yup, positive now my water broke. During all this I am texting my sister who is texting Jennifer, who is hauling ass from the deer lease back to Houston so she can be by my side. It's a 4.5 hour drive she ended up making in 3 hours, and still ended up being 5 minutes too late for Oliver's birth.

Anyways, I get a room and the nurse checks my cervix. I'm not dilated at all!! That's when the nurse told me it would be 24 hours from the time my water broke at 1pm before anything would happen. Okay great, just great- this is gonna be a long ass labor. My dad finally shows up in his black leather motorcycle gear. And now here comes my mom freaking out. Okay everybody calm down, we got 24 hours to go.

At 6pm, five hours into my labor, I'm starting to feel like a wuss because I need that epidural- like now! But isn't it too soon if I still have 24 hours to go? The nurse said if the pain was too bad I could have it now. Yes please get that damn anesthesiologist in here as soon as possible. I think I was 4cm dilated at this point. So finally what felt like an eternity, the freakin anesthesiologist finally decided to end my suffering. Such sweet relief. Well sorta. It wouldn't work completely on the right side and I was having bad back labor, but at least I was numb on the left side. An hour after I was given the epidural, I decided to take a nap while my parents and Donna eat good smelling food right in front of me, laughing and joking having a good ol' time. The nurse comes in before I can even shut my eyes and says she wants to check my cervix. Ok, just hurry so I can take a nap. She checks me and her eyes about pop out of her head. You're ready to push she said. O.M.G I'm ready to what? Push? No, I'm not ready for that yet. Yes you are. But I've only been here for six hours and you people said it was gonna be 24 hours! I'm sitting here thinking okay just calm down and breathe and do what the lady says. So we do about 3 practice pushes and she yells at me to STOP! "I can see his hair" she said. Well go get the doctor then! So since he was going to be a preemie they made everyone except my dad leave the room and warned me the minute he comes out they have to take him out of the room to make sure he's breathing and then they'll bring him back to me.

So the nurse gets everything ready. The on-call doctor takes her sweet time. All while I am laying with my legs spread open and my sons head about to pop out of me. By this point it's 8:30pm (remember my water broke at 1pm) the doctor finally comes in and tells me we're gonna push with each contraction which I could still feel on the right side so I didn't even need to be told when the contractions were coming. So right before my first push, I decide to text Amber, my sister-in-law, and let her know I am pushing that they better hurry up and get to the hospital. So I push once for 10 seconds. Relax. Oh wait, gotta text Kristi before my next push. So I text her and tell her Oliver's almost here. I push again on the next contraction for another 10 seconds. Now I gotta text my sister before the next contraction because the doctor is telling me this is going to be my last push. The last and final push I gave it every bit of effort I had, and saw the doctor grab the nasal aspirator and I knew that meant his head was out. I looked up at my dad and his eyes were kind of teary. Next thing I know I see Oliver screaming bloody murder at excatly 8:55pm. My dad puts his fingers in his ears and says "He's crying, I'm never gonna get any sleep!!" The entire room starts laughing and they rush Oliver out the door. Five minutes later he's finally in my arms and breathing on his own. He's so alert. His eyes are wide open. He's looking me up and down, and left to right. He knows I'm his mommy.

To be continued....

Friday, December 4, 2009

Oliver pictures!


Snug as a bug!



Oliver!!



Still sleeping



What BIG feet you have!!



My little holler'



Soo funny. He's thinking "Okay, now what am I suppose to do?"



5 minutes old. He knew excatly who I was and was looking me up and down with his eyes.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Well so much for that 9 month belly pic......

I know I promised everyone a 9 month belly picture this past Monday and I swear I had every intentions of doing it, but Oliver had other plans. He was born one day shy of 36 weeks on November 29th. He weighed 4 pounds 6.7 oz. And was 17 1/4 inches long.

He's doing great, but is still in the NICU because he didn't finish a feeding last night. His lungs have been working at 100% since the day he was born. And he's been able to regulate his own body temp without the help of the heat lamps. Hopefully he'll be home on Thursday. The nurses said he's doing wonderful, but he has to be able to finish all his feedings in the bottle without the help of the feeding tube before he can come home.

I am exhausted and promise to write my birth story soon. It's a bit crazy!!

Oliver Call

Saturday, November 28, 2009

9 months pregnant!!

Well almost. I'll be 9 months on Monday. Holy cow!! I'll post a belly picture then- I promise.

Last week we made a trip to the emergency room because I thought either my water had broken or I was leaking fluid. Turns out I just have a really bad infection. So got some yucky cream for that and I'm doing better now. But while we were there at the hospital, the doctor told my dad Oliver's head is straight down towards the birth canal. So he's ready to come out as soon as my body is ready. Hopefully that won't be before my induction date. My sister will be here December 19 and my good friend Jennifer will be my "doula". Jennifer has been with me thru a brain surgery so she's use to taking care of me and waiting on me hand and foot. My dad is getting me a HD Flip (video recorder) for Christmas, so Jennifer will also be in charge of filming the birth. And I'm giving her a copy of my birth plan so she can keep the nurses in check. Now that I think about it, Jennifer's job is more important than mine trying to push a baby out, hehe. She's a good multi-tasker so I think she can manage. And my God, what would I do without my sister? So I think we got a good plan in place, and as far as Brice being there I just don't know yet. One day at a time I suppose.

And BTW, I am having some trouble with my email. If anyone needs to email me my address is maryann@cmaaccess.com but I can not send out messages right now. We are trying to get that fixed with my cable company. However, I can receive messages so feel free to email me, but it may be a bit before I can respond.

xo

Monday, November 9, 2009

33 week belly shot!

Today I am 33 weeks pregnant. 6 more weeks to go till my induction date at 39 weeks. Here is a bare belly shot. xoxo

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

I think...

This is a good picture of what Oliver is going to look like. What do you think? Look at that mouth? We'll have to compare this picture to him once he's born.

For those of you who had 3D ultrasounds done, did your baby look anything like the ultrasound picture once he/she was born?

Friday, October 30, 2009

Oliver Call Fief

I don't really know how I came up with Oliver. I don't know anyone in real life with that name, or anyone who has a son named Oliver. And it defiantly isn't a name I ever saw on the top baby name list. About 3 years ago, a girl on a fashion message board I am a member of named her son Oliver. I thought it was kind of an odd name. But for some reason it stuck in my head. So after Brice turned down Joel and Avery, I mentioned Oliver not even being totally serious and he loved it. At that point it just stuck, and after a few days I knew that's what I was meant to name my son. It fits him perfectly. Even my sister said he looks like an Oliver already.

Now I know you're wondering about the middle name- Call.
If you have never seen the old western movie Lonesome Dove then the following will make no sense to you:)
Brice is a huge Lonesome Dove fan. And so am I. Though I admit I had never seen it till I met Brice. So we wanted the middle name to come from the movie. Brice's first choice was Captain Augustus "Gus" McCrae, but I couldn't picture my son with the middle name Augustus. So that leaves Captain Woodrow F. Call a famous Texas Ranger played by Tommy Lee Jones.
If we had a girl, her name was going to be Brynn Lorena. Lorena is another character on Lonesome Dove.

I guess now that I am single I can name my son whatever I want, but honestly I know he's meant to be Oliver Call and I know everytime I say his name and see his sweet face I'll remember the great man his father use to be before he turned his back on us for crystal meth.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

My side of the story...

I'm writing this here in hopes the more people who know, the more who can reach out to him and try to help. It's a hard thing for me to admit and talk about, but this is MY blog and that's how it got started to begin with- when I needed an outlet and my own private writing space after my miscarriage. This won't be my last post on this subject-

After my miscarriage in July 2008, Brice became really depressed. One thing led to another and he somehow started using crystal meth. He was still the same sweet and caring and loving Brice, but money started getting tight. He somehow managed to blame it all on me to why he couldn't pay his truck note, insurance, credit cards, ect. We always had separate checking accounts and our own money. My dad always told me that's a huge mistake and not how a marriage should be, but it worked for us.

Every month I paid the water bill, light bill, gas bill, and paid for every piece of food in the house. Brice paid our mortgage. Six months ago Brice didn't have the money for our monthly mortgage of $1400. I took a loan out of the bank and told him not to worry about it (the bank loan) I would pay it each month. During all this, he was still the sweetest most loving husband anyone could ask for. He was so excited to be a daddy. I was in complete denial he had a drug problem. But I knew he did. He never slept. He never ate. He stopped hanging out with all his friends. He stopped visiting his family. He had meth sores on his mouth and sores all over his hands from where he would pick at his skin. After catching him twice in the garage smoking a meth pipe, he started going out and would stay gone all night long to get high.

I use to tell him that if he didn't stop I was going to move back to my dads house. He would cry and beg me to stay and to please support him that things would get better. I guess I figured as long as he was paying the mortgage and treating me like the Brice I married, I could deal with it. That's called denial I suppose. He was your typical addict. He use to tell me that if I got better with cleaning and doing laundry, he would stop doing drugs. He always blamed it on me, but yet told me how much he loved me and didn't want me to leave.

September 2009 once again, he didn't have the $1400 for our mortgage payment. At the end of September things were getting tensed for him at work because his bosses knew something was going on with him. He was always late to work and wasn't doing his job. Those are the exact words of his boss Darrell Taylor. Brice came to me and told me he needed to quit his job because the stress from his job is the reason he gets high all the time. He said he wanted to be sober so he could be a better husband and father and begged me to please support his decision. My brain told me no man in their right mind who has a baby on the way, quits their good paying job without finding another job first. But this is where my denial stepped back in. I told him to do whatever it is he needed to do to get sober. He quit his job that day. He started going to Houston 3 nights a week and would stay gone till 6am. His reason was he needed to sell the drugs he had to help us pay our mortgage. I told him it wasn't worth it. I told him we could get an apartment till he finds a job. He said no because me and the baby deserve a better life than that. This went on for 3 weeks straight- him going to Houston 3-4 nights a week till 6am. And he never had one penny to give me to pay our bills. Come October we are now two months behind on our mortgage. And he's three months behind on his truck payment. With no truck insurance. Because he stopped paying that, too.

A week ago he started getting really moody and would start crying for no reason telling me he's so confused about things and doesn't understand why we (me, my dad, his family) can't just understand why he has to do this because it's his only way to support us right now without a job. Well that would be fine if I was actually seeing money from these drugs he's supposedly selling. I realize now he was never selling drugs. He was going to get high all those nights. Last Saturday he came to me crying and said he loved me but he needed to get away and think about things. He said he didn't know how long he would be gone. So I let him go. That night he texted me and said "I love you baby. Sleep tight. I'll be home tomorrow sometime". He never came home. On Sunday he still wasn't home and ignoring all my text messages and wouldn't answer his phone for his parents. On Monday he still wasn't home and still ignoring all my text messages and still ignoring all the calls from his worried family. Finally Monday afternoon he texted me and asked me to move my stuff out of the house. I asked him why? He said "because I can't go on like this any longer. I have to do this for myself". He was blaming me for the drug situation he was in.

He finally came back to the house on Tuesday with his new meth whore by his side. Was high out of his mind. I called the cops on him in hopes they would find drugs on him and take him to jail so he can get help. They did find two meth/crack pipes, one in his truck and one in the house, but for whatever reason didn't arrest him. He now has a "meth whore" living in the house with him. She supports what he does because she does it to. He chose all that over his wife and son. We had such a good life together. Brice is now telling his family we were having marriage problems and that he has been trying to get me to move out for 6 months now. This is so far from the truth. Not once in the two years we have been married has Brice ever asked me to leave. He was always the one begging me to stay. Meth has taken ahold of the man I married and I don't even know who he is anymore. Brice use to have the kindest heart you could ever ask for in a man. But he's not that person anymore. And he blames it all on me.

I am now living at my dads and plan to file for divorce soon. I love Brice dearly, and if he would agree to get help I would forgive him for everything he has done. I want our old life back. I want our future back. I want my husband back, the man he was before crystal meth took over his mind, body, and soul. The Brice I know and loved would never end our marriage the way he did- thru a text message and then having a meth whore move into our house with all her clothes in my closet. Anyone who knows Brice, knows this isn't anything in a million years he would ever do. He was raised better than that. If he was in his right mind, he would have came home and told me this isn't working anymore we need to figure out who's going to move and who gets what. But instead, he chose to break our marriage off over the phone and asked me to move out, and came home the very next day with his new girlfriend. He had no guilt at all for kicking out his wife and the mother of his son- for drugs.

It kills me inside to know he chose drugs, the drug lifestyle, and a meth whore over me and the wonderful future we had together. But I guess like my sister said "Stop thinking about yourself for a minute, Brice also chose all that over his own son and his sons safety". When I look at it that way, I am glad he kicked me out because I would have never left him.

I don't want this divorce to get nasty, but right now I do not feel like my son is safe being around him, and I will do everything in my power to make sure of that. I'd give my life before I let my son be around Brice in that house without me or his parents there supervising. A lot of people close to Brice may now think that since he was so unhappy with me that he'll get better now that I am gone. They don't realize what meth does to a person and it's not a drug you can just stop, which is how Brice got himself into this situation to begin with.

Everyone that knows about this, even Brice's best guy friends, have come to me and said "I knew something was going on with him, he's been so different lately". And like my good friend Kristi said, "everyone has marriage problems, but marriage problems don't cause you to do drugs and make the choices Brice has made and is still making".

I'll end this here and all I ask for everyone to please pray to God to bring back the old Brice. Even if we never get back together, I just want him off drugs and to be the happy fun loving person he use to be so he can be a wonderful father, uncle, and a good son like he use to be. I'm not the only one who sees all the bad changes in him, but sadly I am the only one not in denial about it anymore.

xoxo


A good website to learn about meth www.kci.org

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Introducing.....

Oliver Call Fief at 30 weeks

Will write a new blog later about how we came up with his middle name.

His little face was pressing against a lot of tissue so that's why his eyes and other parts aren't too clear. He likes to snuggle against me I guess! But you can tell he looks a little squashed, haha!



Wednesday, October 7, 2009

28 week placenta check-up

Today I am 28w3d. Yesterday me and Jennifer went to Texas Womens Hospital to have my low-lying placenta checked. The girl who did the ultrasound was really nice and spent 20mins showing Jennifer the baby and all his cute features! He was face down, but tilted to the side a bit so we weren't able to get a full face view, but we did see his mouth and lips which were moving and talking to us! The ultrasound tech pointed this out to us and thought it was really funny. You could see his little lips moving 90mph. I'm not sure what he was telling us, but then he waved. So maybe he was just saying hello. Then he stuck his tongue out at us twice. I think it's amazing we were able to catch all that on the ultrasound. The doctor came in to check some measurements of his legs that the ultrasound tech did. The doctor made a comment to Jennifer how "defined" his hands and feet are for 28 weeks. They told us everything looked great, so I assume that means my placenta has moved up to where it needs to be, but I will know for sure next week when I go see Dr. Miller. The doctor said he weighs 2 pounds 2oz. and is in the 50 percentile for his weight and length. So he's average- not too big, and not too small. We got one last look at the side of his face before we left, and his little lips and mouth were still moving!! I guess he's going to be a talker just like me:)

I have my 29 week 3D/4D ultrasound this Saturday. I really hope he turns over by then because if not they won't be able to do the ultrasound with him face down. You can't really see anything with him in that position. So send us good vibes he turns his head by Saturday!

xo

Monday, September 28, 2009

O.M.G

*you better be sitting down for this one*

I am officially in my 3rd trimester today. I am 27 weeks. Only 90 days to go!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Some of my FAVORITE things

We have been given so many generous baby gifts, but I wanted to post a few of my favorites. I love everything we have gotten, but these are really cute and I wanted to share.
These are all his clothes. I have only bought three outfits out of all of these!

Precious Planet cradle swing from Donna.

Precious Planet bouncer from Mollie.

Harley Davidson jacket. Can't remember who bought this.

Camouflage blanket from Natalia and Paul. Green blanket from aunt Kat.

I bought this frame today at Babies 1st Furniture.

These are Nathan's old baby Uggs. He's going to let us borrow them for the new baby. They are kind of dirty, but that's okay.

And my new favorite outfit I bought at Ava Grace today in Sugarland. It's so much cuter in person and sooooo soft!

I wish I had time to post pictures of everything because we have gotten some really nice and generous stuff already for the baby, but I'm sure once he gets here I'll be taking lots of pictures of him using all his goodies and wearing all his cute outfits. Without our family and friends there is no way we could afford all this nice stuff for him- so thank you all so much from the bottom of our hearts:)

xo

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

showers and stuff!!

My first baby shower hosted by my wonderful sister and mom was August 29. We had a great time! This shower was mainly my moms side of the family and a few close friends. Here are some pictures....










Then we had a couple's shower this past Sunday hosted by my dad and Donna and their good friends Mollie and Larry. Everything turned out perfect and was so beautiful. We had a great time. Somehow there was a mix up with my cake. The cake lady didn't have time to come inside so Donna met her outside in the parking lot to get it. It was in a huge white box and the cake lady told Donna to take a look at it before she left. When Donna open the box, she was shocked to see it was a pink and purple baby girl cake with pink glitter!! Donna didn't have the heart to tell the lady it was suppose to be blue, so she brought the cake inside and was afraid I was going to be upset. When my dad and Donna showed it to me all I could do was laugh. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen. I loved it. And it was yummy! Probably one of the best cakes I have had in a long time. The cake was donated as a gift from the lady who made it, so it's not like we really had the right to complain. All you can do is laugh in a situation like that and enjoy it. Donna added a blue diaper pen to it that we had left over from some deco's. Here are some pictures....


















Thank you to my good friends Jennifer, Nikki, and Kristi for taking pictures during my showers. Without you guys I wouldn't have gotten any pictures at all- so thank you! My next (and last) shower is November 7 with Brice's family. I am soooo excited!!