The Husband

This feels a little like cheating because I already posted today, however I wrote that one a week ago and forgot to post it.

I have been thinking a lot lately about how wonderfully perfect my husband is for me. In small group a while back we read the book "Just Do Something" by Kevin Deyoung. It is a very good book although I am fully convinced I could have written it myself ;o) It was just my kind of thinking... and perfectly enough it is Joe's way of thinking as well :o) There is a chapter in it about getting married that summed up says, find a girl you like and marry her. We talked about the thought that any two Christians can have a successful marriage. I get the idea behind the thought but there is just something perfect about being married to someone you just "get". I brought up the fact that there are lots of males in the world that I think are wonderful people and I totally understand why their wives married them and consider them to be quite a catch, however I can think of tons of reasons why I could NEVER be married to them myself :o) I suppose that is why you date and fall in love and hang out and your thinking and desires and dislikes and quirks become similar more and more along the way until the wedding day when you become one and the oneness just continues down a path until one day you look like one another :o)

With Joe being home more often than not since graduating, following a year of him being gone more often than home I have really enjoyed having a buddy in the house. There is adult conversation and tag team parenting and its all leaving the girls very high maintenance :o) However so worth it!
I am also learning how to live with him around more often. He is here, doing things I normally do and getting into stuff he normally leaves alone. I do believe he even read my blog for the first time ever a few weeks ago. He also says things like "don't you dare blog about this" which makes me laugh because its usually something I would never blog about anyway, I just love that he is somewhat aware of this little corner of my life.

Yesterday he had a day of appreciating a truly long day for no reason at all other than the sheer fact that your 3 children seem like they have multiplied into 30. You know those days where they just seem to talk more and get hurt more and need more and do more and make more messes and bedtime cannot come fast enough and for some reason dinner doesn't get eaten until its dark outside and your brain no longer works so you dirty double the amount of dishes? That was our yesterday. We survived and I like to believe he appreciates me more now because of it.
He was still wonderful though, he kept the kids while I ran a few errands and helped Kara pack for vacation which she didn't really end up needing but it was a good excuse for us to fold laundry, snuggle Carly and chat for a few hours.
 He helped me make dinner and as I fought to let him stir the pot and give his opinions. Its amazing how much I feel like the kitchen is my domain (except dishes, he can always wash the dishes). I had to continually remind myself that even thought I wouldn't have chopped that so small or stir that so often or used that spoon that it really didn't matter, especially because I was so tired and it was a new recipe that I was totally and completely changing myself!

He also had the idea to hang a record number of picture frames on the walls  that have been boxed up since we moved 2 years ago and he was so very patient with me and let me rearrange them on the floor 95 times before he hung them up. He even used rulers, levels and math to hang them exactly the way I wanted them! Wow, Math, my brain hurt while I was standing at 11:00pm bouncing a crabby baby and he was doing math and hanging pictures on the walls... I guess that is where our perfect similarities end, I would have gone to bed hours ago with crooked pictures hanging on the walls :o)

The Darling Mermaid Darlings

Did anyone watch the show Pushing Daisies? I loved it, it was quirky and cute and had the lovely Kristin Chenoweth, and the Darling Mermaid Darlings which is what watching my girls in the pool makes me think of every time :o)

 We have been enjoying Joe's moms pool a lot this summer. I am DYING that I haven't been able to jump in with them for the past 5 weeks, just following doctors orders :o( I have been sitting in the shade with Carly Baby and cheering on the girls as they test their bravery. Last summer Amelia had no qualms in the water and at a mere 12-15 months old she preferred being under water to above. She would pitch herself out of my arms and hold her breath as she dove underwater. By the end of the summer I could let her stay under for a few seconds before pulling her back up, it was such a crazy thing to see. It made Joe very uncomfortable and would make me swim with her. Therefore it is not surprising that this summer true to her Crazy Woman nature she is jumping in, diving under, belly flopping, leaping off of her daddy's shoulders & wanting to be pitched across the pool by anyone willing. She wears swimmies and paddles her little heart out but after she gets tired she cant paddle past the slight current made by the filter and its quite amusing to watch her float in the current around the pool. Annie has always been my more timid one. She has loved the water for the past few summers and enjoys playing on the steps, floating on her back with her swimmies and just generally playing around. This summer she has perfected jumping off the steps with just enough force to allow her chin to go under but not her head and there was no convincing her to jump off the deck or let her Daddy throw her up in the air... until now! The child has started running and jumping into the pool, letting her head go under water and is swimming face down "underwater"! Then just a few days later she asked to take her swimmies off and jump in to Joe without them. She jumped in and proceeded to swim underwater to his waiting arms! The very next jump she wanted to see if she could swim all by herself to the stairs, and she did! She can swim about 3-4 feet underwater before she starts to get nervous and comes to the surface quickly, however she has not figured out how to doggy paddle yet so she just treads water with her nose barely above the top until we pick her up :o) And her latest trick is that she is able to lock her legs and stand on Joe's hands raised all the way above his head! If he's not careful he is going to have a cheerleader for a daughter and we all know he would rather have a softball/soccer player ;o)

I wasn't going to post this without pictures, but the good ones are all on Joes moms phone and so they will have to come later...

 

Thoughts & Ism's

I have this baby,  she has been living in my house for a month now and I have yet to see the whites of her eyes until this week ;o) She has been living true to preemie rumors and has slept so very well that I had to fight to wake her up to feed her. This is one of the most frustrating things in the entire world when you are in such a tired, hormonal & emotional time of your life. I would have to do everything shy of hanging her upside down and when I would get her to open one eye for one second I would lay her back and she would immediately fall fast asleep! She also was not feeding for as long as my other girls did, she seemed to be done after 5 min and everyone knows it takes waaay longer to feed a newborn than 5 min! But in spite of all of this she has been fattening up nicely. We go to the Pedi tomorrow for her 1mo follow up as well as Amelias 2 year check up... prayers would be appreciated, its the first time I am doing a dual pedi appointment! :o) I am sure I will grow from the experience and be a better person because of it :o)

The job that Joe wants was posted last week so he has applied for it after many days of revising his resume and writing responses to the silly application questions. This application said things like 1.check all that apply: bachelors, associates, certificate etc, 2. Explain in your own words why you are qualified for the things checked above... duuuhhh because he has obtained a bachelors degree, an associates degree, and an electric certificate... Geesh! Now make what I wrote into a paragraph and sound very intelligent and not at all sarcastic and you have your application worthy answer! So PRAYERS are seriously wanted for this one, the posting will be taken down on the 17th.

Our small group has taken a summer hiatus (thank you small group for not showing up at my door every thursday for the past 2 months! I love you all and I LOVE LOVE hosting small group but new baby = tired mama by 7pm!) They have been playing some sand volleyball for the past few weeks. Carly and I watched from the sidelines the first week. The girls came along the next week because the set up is really nice. Its in a little valley, set apart from the rest of the park, its completely shaded and there is a small playground, a shelter and a nice big maple tree to sit under with the bebe's (of which there are currently 5 in our small group!) This past week as soon as we arrived there was a nice little pop up shower that was not concerning, I plopped down with the bebe's and started to feed Carly, the rain picked up and I decided to move under the shelter, then the skies opened up and everyone else joined me under the shelter as the rain and then hail started pouring! The wind picked up and a tree fell behind us in the woods... just when you had time to feel a little nervous (unless your Dave, then you are wishing your children weren't present so you could challenge your small groupies to a game of volleyball in a hail storm) it was done. Now that the sand was a big mud puddle and the blankets were soaking wet, people decided to leave. But not Super Dad, he already had the girls out dancing in the rain before the sky went dark and the hail came, so they went puddle hopping, playing in the wet sand and sliding down the soaking wet slides for a good 30minutes before toweling off and heading home for baths and bedtime! I am really enjoying watching my best friend be a daddy these days. We are going to miss him when he gets a 9-5 (even though we have heard rumors that the job he wants is more of a 6-3!)

Speaking of Daddys Girls. Joe's mom bought the big girls these jammies a few months ago because they say "I'm all about Daddy" and it sums them up quite well. Then Carly received a hand me down dress that matched! So I attempted to take pictures.

Ism's

Me: "Joe there is a mouse (trapped) in the basement"
Annie helping me put the groceries away grabs a can of ravioli off the shelf and says "Here Mom, smack it with this!"

Annie being very annoyingly excited about leaving for a party I suggest a game of would you rather...
Me:"Annie, would you rather be a mermaid or a princess"
Annie:"what are you talking about?"
Me:"its a game, would you rather be a mermaid or a princess?
Annie:"Neither, I want to be a little girl"
ok, try again
Me:" would you rather live on the moon or in the ocean?"
Annie looking very quizzical "I just want to live in a house!"
I give up! 

Joe getting ready to mow the yard in 100degree heat puts on an old basketball tshirt with the arms and sides cut out. Annie entering the scene surveys this outfit choice laughs and says "daddy what are you doing? Your naked is out!"
Mia coming into the room jumps up on the bed, takes one look at her father and looks at me confused and says "dada, what you doing? Mama, wook at him shirt!"
I foresee them reacting this way about his wardrobe choices many more times in his future :o) 

Mia has picked up the term "but MaaaaMaaaa" she says it when I tell her to do something she doesn't like, and she says it when she is tired, bored, happy, sad. All. The. Time! I am ready to loose it! It was a little amusing in the beginning because you could tell she didn't know why she was saying it, it is just what she has heard her sister say. Kind of like when she replies "Noooo..... toooo" Instead of "No I don't want to"

Yesterday at lunch Uncle Joe said "Mia you are a Crazy Girl" to which she replied completely serious faced "toots in your bed!"

In an attempt to sleep in this morning after staying up way too late last night I sent Annie out of our room to entertain herself at 7:30 this morning. She came back a couple of times for help with dress up clothes and once to ask me aid she could go in Mia's room who was now awake and playing in her crib. After that we didn't hear from them for at least 45 min and joe went to check on them and found them downstairs playing nicely by themselves! When they eventually a joined us in our bed and joe proposed breakfast Annie declares "we already ate! We had cookies!" turns out they needed something to eat with their tea party : ) When I asked her if she also made tea she looked at me like I was a insane and said " no way, we would spill that everywhere!" I'm ok with cookies for breakfast when they are self served and I get an extra hour and a half of sleep!

On our own

Oh iPad, Whats a story without pictures?? :( I am sure there's a way to get some on here right? Anyway... Tonight joe went back to work. We have survived! Mia didn't take a nap & was a a big grump. I had a girlfriend stop by and bring dinner, which the girls actually ate! They are not picky eaters, it's just hard to get them to eat at all. She hung out for about an hour, which ended up being helpful when Carly spit up her entire meal all over herself and her swing to the point that it ran down and out of the seat requiring me to give her a bath and wash a load of laundry! And when I came back down they were all playing hide & seek. After that we actually made it outside to play for a bit before baths and bedtime! I was pretty proud of myself for choosing to turn the tv off! I did feel bad that I had to tell annie that we couldn't take a walk, and I had to stop pushing them on the swing because my incisions started to hurt. :( Now as I lay here in bed I am struck with an odd feeling of newness and change as I have a little companion here with me while I wait for joe to get home from his late shift. I decided I liked it, until I put her in her basinett and stretched out to lay down and put my foot in a wet spot of baby spit up that I didn't realize she left for me about 45 min earlier...

Recovery

Recovering from a C-Section is different from anything I have ever done before. My only surgical history is my wisdom teeth and that was about 1 day of sleeping off general anesthesia and pain meds and then a few days of ice cream and jello. Who can't handle that?

Recovering from my vag deliveries had their rough spots (anyone else hear the funeral march as they head to use the bathroom for the first few days?) but mostly its about a week of laying around, staring at a new baby and having some annoying throbbing. For me anyway, I do realize there are many, many different things that we as women deal with when recovering from having a baby. But recovering from having your core cut open just kind of stinks.

So where as the first week of my recovery I was a mess of tears quite frequently, now looking back on it I would say it was 95% hormones and 5% I hurt thanks to pain meds tha is.

That week, had I been able to sit up in the computer chair, I would have been on here writing a 45page sob story on having to suffer through a cesarean section Ohhh Woaaa is meee. And that would have been fun for us all to see & remember how Kate acts while on Percocet (For the record I act more sane that Kara does).

I am able to say it now. "Thank goodness for CSections". But I didn't believe it a week ago.

In all honesty I was sooo excited to not be pregnant so I could lay on my belly and roll over in bed and bend down to pick something up off the floor. So having to spend 2 extra weeks after delivery still unable to do those things and also unable to sit up without levers and pulleys it really put a whammy on my emotions!

Joe immediatly called in to work after my surgery and took off 2 weeks, which because of his schedule, is actually 2 1/2 weeks!!! He is still all ours until friday. 
Now is when I switch into my "All Hail King Joe, Ruler of the Husband and Fathers" mode. He has been more than I ever could have imagined. I keep joking that I never knew that if I stopped cleaning he would start, but in all honesty from the moment we walked in the door from the hospital he has been not only doing everything, but proactively doing everything. He would get up with the girls in the morning and let me sleep, he has fed them, bathed them (he even lotioned them up), clothed them, entertained, disciplined, he has cleaned the house, vacuumed, done countless loads of dishes and laundry and he does it 24/7. It was all very difficult for me to sit back and watch. I felt bad for him most of the day listening to him break up their fights and clean up dinner and entertain them all at the same time and then turn around and do it some more. And I realized that even though he is their father, and a very active one at that, I was sitting on the couch watching someone else do my job and it appeared to be very daunting a good portion of the day! I do most of my job with joy. I like being a stay at home mom. I don't mind my daily chores and finding fun ways to entertain the girls. I like taking them on outings and having playdates. But for someone else to do it and me just lounge somewhat uncomfortably and watch has been difficult. He has been taking care of me too, reminding me to take it easy and take my medicine and bringing me things and carrying everything around while I just walk alongside. Sunday he was carrying 2 big bags, and 2 babies out of church as I just slowly followed after him and I could see his cape flapping in the wind like super husband!
He even took the girls out shopping and hung swings in the big oak tree in the backyard and made a fun jungle gym into a really cool waterslide (that will be a blog post to come).

His only complaint has been that at the end of the day as he falls exhausted into bed he kisses Carly on the head and says "oh yeah, I have another kid, I forgot about you" and we all fall asleep at 8pm while the sun is still shining brightly outside ;o)

I am down to only taking Motrin twice a day. The incision isn't so bad so far, I scar like none other so I am anxious to see what it ends up looking like. The pain is mostly internal. I am guessing my intenal incision is what is still hurting. I also have a weird rash from the sterile drape that is itchy on my abdomen and the weirdest part of all is that the skin on my lower abdomen is sensitive to touch. It hurts to have a waist band across my stomach so I have been wearing dresses (and Joe asked his mom to get me some night gowns which he calls me "mother" when I wear them and told me I couldn't wear them anymore after my recovery was over, which I greatly respect because there are more pleats on those things than I have ever seen in my life) but when the dresses brush up against my lower abdomen it feels all prickly like needles. Weird huh?
I wanted to write a little more and add some cute pictures, but our computer crashed and I just can't get the hang of typing on Kelly's borrowed iPad! So I'll sign off for now before I mess something up and end up deleting this whole thing.

Carly Jayne Zuerner

Goodness I can feel the nauseating length of this post before I even begin... however the story has to be told, every. last. detail. must be recorded for my future reading pleasure.

Ill start at the very beginning (its a very good place to start)

Saturday I decided that Wednesday the 6th would be a good day to have this baby. Joes big final presentation would be done tuesday morning, and although he still had a few finals to take they weren't a big deal. I informed my mother and Joes mom, jokingly of course, that if it worked for them I would like to have a baby on wednesday ;o)

I rode home early saturday night from Joe's cousins wedding in Lexington (which I got the all clear from the doc to attend being barely 2cm dilated) with his stepdad whom I had previously teased about having to deliver my baby in the truck on the interstate. It was then that I started contracting. Not painful, but noticeable enough to laugh to myself about it. About 6 contractions in the 1.5 hour car ride. No big deal. Slept fine.

Sunday morning, in church, contracting frequently enough to time them, sure enough, every 4-6 min. Not painful, just enough to say I have no idea what the sermon was about. I contracted all day at that pace and had NO desire to rest or nap. Joe and I did yard work all afternoon. I informed the women in my family that evening that I had been contracting all day.

Monday, I worked 12 hours, answering 45 texts from the women in my family who had been told of previous days contractions that no they were not painful and mostly were even lighter than they had been the day before.

Tuesday, felt great, Joe gave presentation, we took an evening walk, went to watch him play softball which ended up being delayed and we stayed till 10:00 to cheer him on. Seriously folks, you have never heard a 3 year old cheer for old man softball like mine did that night.
With still plenty of energy went to bed at 11 with a good book and immediately started contracting a very different type of contraction, not painful, but the kind I knew would get painful. Lower abdomen, like a rainbow shape coming and going every 2-5 min. I read, and joe came home, and I read, and I laid, and waited, and he tossed and turned in his sleep and I laid, and waited. They still weren't painful but I knew they were the right kind so I didn't want to get up I thought I should rest and wait. By 4am I was bored so I decided to go downstairs... where they immediately stopped :o( Completely, not a contraction to be had.

Wed morning Joe went to class and I was cranky! "it is Wednesday, Im supposed to have a baby today!" I called my mom and whined to her about my night and how "pissed" I was, and mama don't allow the word pissed to be thrown around so I wanted her to know I was serious! :o)
She commiserated and told me to call her if I needed her.
I decided I couldn't take my disappointment out on the girls so we needed to have a purposeful morning. We went for a turtle pace Mia pace walk to the park and I had some (2 or 3) nice strong unpainful contractions, we came home and cleaned the basement, and then I sat on the ball while they rode bikes and I had some more strong unpainful contractions, and then we made lunch and the strong contractions got painful!!!

Joe was done with class but working on a final project at school, Joe's mom was at home, and it was nap time. So I decided to call Joe and tell him I was contracting, thought it was labor but wasnt sure, just wanted to know how much longer he would be. He was conveniently done with his project and raced home. Joe's mom was out but could come within the hour to get the girls. I told her I wasnt sure if it was real, but if they could nap at her house then if it was nothing we would just come get them after naptime.
I was by this time contracting every 2-3 min and pacing, my sign that its labor, so I called the Dr's office just to check in. They wanted me to come into the office to be checked because at 36weeks they just don't believe you even if you are an L&D nurse.
I also called my best nurse Allie to inform her on her day off that I was in labor and she agreed to come when they admitted me and since the new computer system went live this week and things are so flingin flangin mad at the hospital they were happy for a patient to show up with her own private nurse :o)

By the time Joe got home I was pacing so hard I was practically running in circles and haphazardly adding a few more things to be put in the overnight bag. Joe asked me if I thought I should take a bag with me and I pointed out a pile of stuff ready to go! That is when he knew it was go time :o) He then switched into labor mode and called his mom demanding "where are you!" and strapping the car seat in the car.

The girls were previously playing very quietly until Joe got home with their bribery of fruit snacks now Annie was following me all around the house at this point asking me questions. I told her she was going to grams to take a nap which was nothing new they do that sometimes, she wanted to know if her daddy was going with her. I told her that no daddy was going to take me to the Dr to see if it was time to get the baby out and all she said was "Really!?! Yay" No questions asked.

My least favorite doctor made me wait, perched on the exam table, contracting every 2 min, breathing through them, but still laughing and having a good time. Still trying to get ahold of my mom who was out to lunch and not answering her phone. "call her if I need anything" she said! :o)
I was finally checked 3-4cm, bulging bag, but he couldnt feel a presenting part meaning couldn't feel the head.
"Why dont we swing around the corner and do and ultrasound to check for lie" he says, no big deal.
But when he placed that probe on and all we saw was a big pocket of fluid I knew it was bad. He is Worlds Worst Ultrasound dooer, amongst worlds worst many other things so I was a little miffed when he had to squirt gel all over my abdomen and proceeded to look and look and look for the head... he found it, below my right rib cage!!!!!!!!! AUGHHHHHHHHH Transverse, She was Transverse!!!!!!!!!! How did she get transverse!?!?!!

I immediately burst into tears and was sent over to L&D (my dr's office is attached to the hospital) I met a favorite doc on the elevator and cried on her shoulder. I saw my friends in triage while registering and sobbed at them over the desk. I was greeted at L&D by my friends and sobbed on their shoulders as well.

Here is where my job is my blessing and my curse.
Curse: 1.The MD on call is C/section happy and would have to be seriously convinced to try to do a Version which means try to move her head down by pushing really hard on my belly.
2. I was already in labor and trying to push on a belly that is contracting every 2 min is on the impossible side.
3. Babies don't like to have someone pushing on them and often drop their heart rate needing an emergent C/S. 4. Emergent C/Sections are not fun for anyone especially the patient, the baby and the nurse trying to do all of this with a new computer system.

Blessings: 1. My friends upon hearing the news of needing to be verted immediately went to bat for me with the Doc. They Begged her to try to turn her and for that I will be eternally grateful because I was in no mood or position to do it by the time I saw her.
2. I knew that a transverse lie was a better bet than breech to try to get her to move.
3. I had my best friend Allie there to be with me.
4. The doc was waaaaay more obliging to me than she ever would be with a non nurse patient for which I am very thankful and also very annoyed by for other women of cincinnati.

They were slammed at work and I got the only available room which doubles as a labor room and recovery room. I didn't care, there was no one else in there and it is still a very nice room.
Allie arrived as Judy and Monica were admitting me and I was ready for an epidural. See its about this epidural. I was unofficially going to attempt a natural delivery this time. I HATE getting the epi, however I didn't want to have a version without it and if I needed a CSection I would have one anyway. So I cried and cussed through the epi and then when it was ready and I was shaking like a leaf Dr Gardner came in and did another ultrasound. Now she was pretty much breech at this point. Butt on my left pelvic bone and head crammed waaaay up under my right rib and the doc explained the pros and cons of turning her to Joe. A wonderful lovely favorite resident friend of mine came in to assist and she tried. I believe she truly did give it her best shot, but twice after moving her a little bit she just swung right back into her snuggly old head under the ribs position and stayed put.
And I burst into tears! Again.

I couldn't stop, and I couldn't stop shaking. I couldn't open my eyes, I just laid there, practically flat on my back while they dosed my epi for surgery and Dr Gardner explained everything to Joe. I was so sad. I dreamed about this day for 9 months. I have done this 2 other times, I never even thought that I could possibly ever need a c/section for any reason. I was SO disappointed. Joe was wonderful, he just sat by my side, taking it all in totally torn apart for me. And when I was simply loosing it he got in my face and told me that it was no big deal, we were both healthy and it had to be done... he was right of course, and I could have told you that he would have said that. I lamented to him about missing out on my labor experience and that was that.

I wasn't scared, but my opinion of having a section was not a good one based on all the women I have taken care of. I have never actually polled them afterwards so all I know is from their comments and our interactions. When you have a csection you feel anxious enough to need Versed, you are numb as ill get out, you are flat on an OR table with a drape at your nose and you get nauseous and even more anxious, needing more medicine and then afterwards you are drugged or in pain and so numb you feel like you might just drop your baby.

However these things were not true for me. When I realized laying on the OR table that I had just hours before consumed a large lunch of quinoa stir fry I was very scared I would see it again. I had the new Anesthetist Angie, that I have actually never worked with and she was SO Wonderful! I never got sick, I never got anxious, I never had any pain, never even felt the pressure of them pushing her out! Afterwards I felt really tense across my shoulders and after 10 min Angie convinced me to get some med that completely took care of it and I felt fine! I did feel like a lump of mashed potatoes, but that was it!

Dr Gardner is notorious for her extremely fast c/sections and so I was grateful to only be in the OR for about 20 min. She even sutured my skin for me because I hate, hate, hate staples for no good reason at all they just freak me out :o)

Another blessing is that my epidural started working. It was extremely light and one sided for a long time and just when they thought they were going to have to redo it, the c/section dose started to work and ended up working perfectly!!!! I would have needed Versed if they had to redo my epi!

I did feel the huge rush of relief of getting her out of my rib cage just as I wondered for the last few months if I would. I remember Allie saying she looked like Mia, and other than that it was done in no time!

They wheeled us into the recovery room and we invited Mom, Dad and Gerri in. Not long after Kelly & Kris were there and good old Gramps brought Annie and Mia to see their new sister which is a big deal in and of itself. Gramps does not drive the minivan let alone haul kids around in it! My poor wonderful biggest sister was in a fog of kidney trouble but showed up faithful the very next day to snug on the new baby.

We had no idea what her name was going to be and it was driving me crazy! I didn't think it was right to have a child in my arms with no name, it was creeping me out! We had tossed around the name Tess quite a lot for the last few months until Joe ruined it by calling her "Testicle"! We have also liked the name Grace for a long time but couldn't come up with a middle name. Carly was a name that Joe liked when I was preg with Mia and I always felt like it was right for this baby, however the middle name was still holding us up. Joe liked Alli but I wasn't sold and I liked Alice but Joe wasnt sold. I had suggested Jayne as a middle name earlier in the day so as we threw all of these names around in the recovery room for everyone to try out. Joe finally just mentioned Carly Jayne and I loved it! Annie calls her "Carly James" and I do plan on letting that ride as long as possible. Mia mumbles "Tarly Jeeene" and mostly calls her "baby". Annie told me"I didn't know our baby was going to be called Carly James, but I like Carly and I like James and so Carly James is her name and I just like it" :o)

The recovery has been one big crazy emotional ride. That story is to be continued...