Brooke Noel Day 2

As many of you already know, we welcomed Miss Brooke Noel Holcombe into the world yesterday May 25, 2010 at 3:00 pm. She was 36 weeks gestation and weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz. and was 20" long. (if you didn't know, I make em BIG) I was induced due to several complications and the labor and delivery was super quick and smooth. The morning of the induction, they gave me a cervix softening agent around 9:15, gave me my epidural at 12:00 (was 2 cm dilated) and was 8 cm by 2:45. The doctor said the baby would be there within the hour, but 5 minutes after he left, I told the nurses to call him back because she was about to come out. Sure enough, I was right and had to wait on him to come back, after 1 push to get her head out and 1 push to get the rest of her body out, there she was! So blessed...

She was immediately taken to the NICU and has been there since. She is breathing on her own, but has needed a little assistance due to her prematurity. She is currently on CPAP which is a little oxygen mask that covers her nose and gives her a little extra oxygen. CPAP also has more pressure to help her lungs open up to their fullest capacity when she takes each breath.

When she arrived in NICU, her pulse ox was in the mid 80s and she was having trouble breathing. She also exhibited grunting which meant she was struggling a little to breathe. They have had her on 21-30% oxygen since she got there. She has since began periods of rapid breathing. They would like to see her BPM stay under 60 consistently and hers has ranged anywhere from 20s to 80s.

We had a conference with the neonatologist this afternoon and he said that her breathing issues are a result of her prematurity and she would need to stay in the NICU until she is able to breathe without assistance and keep her pulse ox in the 90s. This could take days or weeks, every baby is different.

They inserted a feeding tube today as she is not ready to feed by mouth yet due to her rapid breathing and fear of aspiration. She did very well with the tube and I am able to pump my milk and feed it to her through the feeding tube.

This has been a very difficult time for us as we have not been able to hold her and do all the things we were able to do with our other two. I was able to hold her tonight for the first time for over an hour! (boy, what we take for granted...) That was such a special moment for me and hopefully, we'll be doing a lot more of that over the next several days. We are all praying for strength and healing for baby Brooke and that she gets to come home sooner than later.

I am doing great. My sciatica and hernia pain is minimal since I delivered and I should be discharged in the next couple of days.

Savannah and Lucas are doing as well as can be expected. They have a full time nanny who takes care of them during the day and Brian has taken some time off work and tries to balance his time between all of us. Savannah especially doesn't understand why she can't see her or hold her. She is very anxious. Lucas is just having a hard time with all of the changes going on and not understanding why mommy isn't there. They both need your prayers... They've been crying a lot and missing us terribly. I know they'll be ok, but I feel like they need me and I can't be there right now. It's a hard situation for all of us.

We will be sure to keep everyone updated and would appreciate many thoughts and prayers sent her way. She is a miracle and she is fighting. We are so grateful as this could have been a lot worse. Welcome to the world sweet girl.

Pregnancy Complications

Well, I am almost 35 weeks pregnant with baby Brooke Noel! SO exciting! I am really counting the weeks, no! Make that DAYS (36 days and counting). It is beginning to seem a lot more real the closer we get that we will have 3 babies under the age of 4 come summer time. I love having my kids close together. Savannah and Lucas are so close to each other and having a girl first was a blessing. She is very "mother-like" and takes such good care of her brother. She is BIG help too! She can unload the dishwasher (the low stuff), feed the dog, do a load of laundry, bath herself completely and help with her brother, get herself dressed, get me anything I need so I don't have to get up, and the newest skill... she can buckle her own seatbelt! She cannot wait to be a big sister again... she kisses my belly all the time and lays on Brooke, talks to her, and loves on her all the time. Lucas is excited too. I think he thinks Brooke is in my belly button. HAHA, he knows who she is and prays for her every night. He loves babies and plays with Savannah's babydolls, takes care of them, feeds them, rocks them, it is so sweet! His girlfriend is baby Lauren down the street. It is true love for sure, shes a younger woman. hehehe!

Ok, onto my pregnancy complications. This pregnancy has been challenging to say the least. We almost lost her in the first trimester. I had a subchorionic hemorrhage in my uterus and they gave me a 60% chance of miscarrying. That was very scary, but she hung in there and the SCH was dissolved by 14 weeks. What a miracle! Since then, I developed severe varicose veins in my legs and other not so fun areas. I thought they looked pretty bad, but my doctor confirmed my thoughts in the 2nd trimester by saying they are the worst he's seen in 25 years of practice. They are REALLY ugly! Not just ugly, but very painful. They create lots of pressure, itching, burning, and lots of discomfort! In addition to these, I developed a hernia in my groin area that has grown to golf ball sized at this point. He thinks I have additional hernias as well in that area that are not as pronounced because of my pain level. To top it all off, I began getting a sciatica like pain in my third trimester that is debilitating. At this point, I cannot stand or walk without experiencing excruciating pain. Since I am in little to no pain while sitting, Brian hired a part time nanny last week who comes from 8:30 - 1:30. She is awesome! She helps me all morning and puts the kids down for their naps at 1:00 so I can sit and rest until technically 3 in the afternoon. I am so grateful to Brian for offering this help, as it was getting to be too much pain for one person to handle. My doctor ordered a lightweight wheelchair that arrived this morning. It is awesome! It is really going to help with the pain the next few weeks. I have to remind myself that it could be so much worse. Atleast the conditions I have aren't life threatening for me and the baby. Just pain for mommy!

Well, the kids are off with Amy (their nanny) all morning. They went to the Yellow River game ranch. I know they are going to have a blast! I miss those times with them, but I know this is short term. That's it for now...

Publix Shopping Trip 5.7.09

So, many of you are wondering how I did it last night and saved $89.00 at Publix. Here is a breakdown of what coupons I used. I give most of the credit to southernsavers.com. I've been doing this for almost one year now. My oldest friend Lisa Neicen introduced me to extreme couponing last year and it has saved my family THOUSANDS of dollars. Really doesn't take a lot of work. Check out her site to get started!



Publix Trip 5.7.09

Quantity Product Price Coupons Total After Coupons

7 Electrosol (20 ct. gelpacs) $2.00 ea. $2.50 ea. (-0.50)
BOGO $3.99 paper made .50 on each!

4 Glass Plus (glass cleaner) $1.25 ea. $0.50 ea $0.25 ea.
BOGO $2.49 paper

2 Snuggle (liquid softener) $2.99 ea. $1.00 ea. $1.99 ea.
store dispenser

8 Ziploc Bags $1.50 ea. BOGO Q $0.35 ea.
$0.40
both from paper

4 J & J 1st Aid $1.99-$2.99 $2.00 off 2 $free plus overage
Publix Qpon
$3.00 off 2
store dispenser

1 Children's Tylenol $4.09 $2.00 off 1 $0.09
Publix Qpon
$2.00 off 1
from doctors office

1 15.5 lb. Purina Dog Food $9.99 $1.00 $7.99
Food Lion Qpon
$1.00
inside bag

Jello was free by stacking .50 off 1 qpon with a $1.00 off 1 super target qpon!

The best way to save money is to STACK coupons! Most people don't know you can use one STORE coupon and one MANUFACTURERS coupon on one item! If you find that item on sale at that time, you can usually get it close to free. Also, most grocery stores double most coupons up to .50!

I also used a $5 off $30 purchase (Publix coupon).

www.southernsavers.com will explain everything and tell you where I got the paper coupons. I usually buy 6 to 8 papers per week to get the inserts, so that's $8.00-$10.00 per week out of pocket but there is usually a FREE item in most inserts to pay you back for the papers. If not, you save much more than that each week.

Happy Couponing, please let me know if you have any questions!

God is great, sing His praise!

Finally! We are all healthy in the Holcombe household! Lucas broke out in a rash on Sunday that we were told signifies the end to this awful virus. Since then, his temp has been normal 98.6! We feel so blessed that we can close that chapter of his little life. He is still having a hard time latching on and eating, but they said he's probably still just a little weak.

Savannah Joy got sick again on SUnday and ran a random temp of 102 all day and was completely miserable. She woke up fever free yesterday morning and has been great ever since.

Mommy's breast infection is much better and I have also been fever free and pain free for a few days thanks to the big white Augmentin pill. LOL. I also went in for my 6 week post partum check up today and everything was perfect. I can't believe it's been 6 weeks since Lucas came into the world!

So, I got a bunch of built up laundry done today which was a relief since one of my guest rooms was covered in clean laundry. UGH! How annoying. We are getting a bit of Hurricane Faye and have been having some pretty hefty storms here. I could barely see to drive this morning to my appt.

Well, Lucas just woke up from a 2 hour nap and we are headed to McDonalds for dinner. If you haven't already, you should visit www.facetheglory.com and get the coupon for a free southern style chicken biscuit (am) or sandwich (pm) when you buy any medium or large drink (.99 cents everyday!) between now and September 1st! Brian has had so many chicken sandwiches in the past week that he is now having nightmares about them. LOL. But, hey, who can beat a large drink and sandwich for .99 cents. These are tough times! :)

That's it for now. Hope everyone is having a blessed day!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight." Proverbs 3 v. 5 and 6

Scary Week!

Well, this has been a scary time for our family. Lucas started running a temperature between 100 and 101 on Thursday morning. I didn't think it was that high, but I called the doctor anyway. They were very concerned because of his age. I had no idea, but any infant under 6 weeks old, you have to be worried over 100.4.

I took him to the doctor and she was very concerned, simply b/c of his age. She did xrays and preliminary bloodwork. Everything came back normal, except his differentials did show there might be some sort of virus. She was still concered since Lucas was still running a temp of 101.1 at 5:30. She wanted us to go in to the ER for a spinal tap. I didn't understand why since all of his bloodwork was normal, but I really trust her.

We got to the ER and several hours later, Lucas underwent a spinal tap. It was painful, for both of us! No one wants to see their little 5 week old go through something like that. Finally, they came back around 11 pm and told me that he had spinal meningitis. They said it was most likely viral, but just to be sure, he would need to be admitted for atleast 2 days. It takes up to 48 hours for the cultures on bloodwork and spinal fluid to grow. We were very blessed that it wasn't bacterial meningitis, which I hear is much much worse. They treated him as if it was bacterial meningitis and pumped him full of antibiotics just to be safe. We found out yesterday that it was definitely a virus. His blood tested positive for the entero virus, which is a very common virus that goes around in young kids in the summer time. In fact, Savannah was sick too and she most likely had the virus, but since Lucas is so young, it moved into his spinal fluid. Yuck! We were admitted to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and aside from Lucas being sick, it was an amazing experience! I knew they were the top children's hospital in the US, but experiencing it first hand was incredible. Everyone was so friendly, caring, and everything was made for kids! Even the tiny gown he wore. I will definitely be donating to them!

I actually ended up getting something there as well. 103 fever! It was a very uncomfortable 24 hours for me. I hated it b/c it was so hard to take care of Lucas when I was sick. Poor Brian had to stay home to take care of our other sick baby, Savannah, so I was there by myself. AND, I spent my 28th birthday sick and in the hospital (oh well, at least my baby is alive, that is the best gift I could have!)

Anyways, we are so blessed that everything worked out and Lucas is now healthy and home. God was really watching out for us cause it could've been a lot worse. Now we need to pray for Savannah, she was so much better yesterday and this morning. Then, after her afternoon nap, she woke up screaming hysterically and couldn't be calmed. She was running a 101.5 temp and complaining of hurting all over. She's been miserable all night. Hopefully, she'll be better soon. Well, ya know, when it rains, it pours!

Happy 2nd Birthday to our Little Joy!

Happy Birthday Angel! Well, our little girl is now 2 years old. We had such a fun day. 1st, mama made homemade chocolate chip pancakes. We put a number 2 candle in them and let her blow it out. She was so excited this morning! "Hat-tee Burt-Day Vannah!" is what she ran around saying.

Then, she got dressed in her "Birthday Girl" tee shirt and went to the Children's Museum in Atlanta with her boyfriend Aiden. Really, we are determined to arrange their marriage :). They were so cute together! She had so much fun. They played store, painted, and did lots of somersaults.

When people asked her how old she was... she said "two in August". That's what I used to tell everyone when they asked her age. "She'll be 2 in August" I guess she heard it enough, so now I'm teaching her she can just say 2, because it's already August.

Lastly, we went to Chikfila for family night and the whole restaurant sang her Happy Birthday and gave her free ice cream.

Savannah turns 2, Lucas 1 month... wow, how time flies!

So, I hate that I am so bad about blogging. It's been almost a month since I've posted, so I'll make it a good one. LOL. Gets kinda busy with two little ones...

Well, Savannah Joy turns 2 years old tomorrow! I cannot believe it. She is a trip. Where do I start? She is fully potty trained, day and night... knows all of her colors (her favorite is blue), and LOVES the doodlebops. She is such a sweet big sister. Always giving baby Wook! "Luke" kisses and hugs and trying to "help" Mommy. She talks all the time and wants to do everything herself! She looks a lot like Daddy, but totally has my personality (drama queen!). As sweet as she is, we are definitely getting a taste of what everyone calls the "terrible twos". You never think it's going to happen to you. Ever heard "my child will NEVER act like that. HAHAHA! Just wait. Even the most precious little faces are capable of it. :) Her favorite word is NO. We are now throwing ourself on the floor, whining, crying, and trying to get away with anything we can. It's fun! Good times... Overall though, we are so thankful for her sweet and loving spirit. She is our little princess.

Tomorrow, for her bday, we are going to get up and make chocolate chip pancakes, dress up in our birthday girl shirt and tiara (thanks to Aunt Heather and Aunt Kelly) visit Chikfila for lunch, play at the mall playplace, and bake a rainbow cake (her request!) It should be loads of fun. We are having her party on Saturday here at the house. It's a doodlebops theme. She's dressing up in a Dee Dee costume for the party that Aunt Heather bought her. So cute I can't stand it, I'll post pics later.

Baby Lucas couldn't be better. He is so laid back! Totally opposite of Savannah. She was really high maintenance. He sleeps and eats and cries when he gets gas, is hungry, or tired. He's so sweet and very healthy! He outgrew his newborn diapers and clothing after 2 weeks. He just goes with the flow.

Well, that's it for now, will try to post more soon.

BTW, the pictures up top are of Savannah. The 1st is her fingerpainting naked in the bathtub (really fun for her and easy to clean up too!), the next is her and her adorable boyfriend Aiden at Chikfila for National Cow Day, they dressed up like cows to get free food ;), the next two are of her and her aunt Heather and Uncle Richard at our house shortly after Lucas was born.