Utah Open Source Planet

When we started discussing names for Parker we ran through a bunch. We tried to figure out if we could continue on the mnemonic device that we stumbled upon with our kids names, TACOS (if you go by what we call them) or JACOB (if you go by given names): Taylor, Andrew, Cameron, Olivia, Sawyer or Jared, Andrew, Cameron, Olivia, Benjamin. But there just wasn’t anything that sounded right.

We agreed early on that we liked Parker, and had settled on Mathew Parker. About a month ago, Adrienne came to me with a suggestion, earlier this year I lost my grandfather, and Adrienne suggested that we change the name we had chosen so that we could honor my grandfather. It wasn’t a hard decision. We hadn’t told my step-grandmother about the decision to change his name. I got this forward, written by my step-grandmother, to me by my mom today:

I was so moved to learn that Jared and Adrienne named their son Parker Forrest Ottley. Jared has always been so good about keeping in touch with his Grandpa. It means so much that he has honored his Grandpa in this way. Please tell him that I love him.

Another good day.  It started a little off, Parker is severely anemic.  They want to avoid a transfusion, because of the complications that could accompany it.  Double this with Adrienne also being anemic.  She received another two units of blood.  That helped her perk right up.

Parker’s pediatrician thinks that he could be coming home soon.  He may be going under bilirubin lights tomorrow for a bit.  He is started to look a little jaundiced.  It is highly likely that he will be coming home this weekend.

Adrienne’s doctor discharged her tonight.  Now the tough part begins: getting her to stay off her feet.  We went straight from hospital a to hospital b to see Parker.  It was the first time she had a chance to hold him.  I thought I had taken a movie with the camera, but it doesn’t look like it saved it.  Adrienne was able to feed Parker.  He latched right on.  They were worried that he would not have developed his sucking reflex yet.  He ate for close to 20 minutes.  We will go back tomorrow a couple of times for feedings.  In the meantime Adrienne will continue to pump for him.

Cameron, Andrew and Olivia were still awake when we got home.  (Olivia keeps running into the bedroom to say “I love you mommy!”)  It will be a big surprise for Taylor and Sawyer tomorrow.

Adrienne just discovered two staples that were left in her.  We tried to remove one with tweezers, I was trying to convince her to let me use wire snips to pop the staple in order to pull them out.  She is not to keen on that idea.  One of the two is a lot tighter, so she just wants to go see her doctor tomorrow to have him remove them.  It’s too bad, I think it would be fun to pop them out with a pair of needle nose pliers and wire snips.

It has been a great day for Parker (and Adrienne). Parker was taken off of the CPAP machine this morning. He is breathing on his own and doing well. He is eating (through a tube) and keeping it down. Tomorrow his pediatrician will take over his care from the neonatologist. I went up and spent some time with him this evening. He looks a lot like Cameron. He has spikey hair and lots of it. We finally have a length for him: 19 inches. If he went to term, he would have been out biggest baby. We are hoping that he will be home by the end of the week. I have updated the pictures on the gallery with ones I took this evening of him.

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Adrienne is also doing well. She got two more units of blood, but they took the IV out (of her right arm) after they finished. She is still getting liquids by IV (in her left arm). I took the kids up to see her today. They were all happy to see her and I know she loved the company. The doctor has put her on more pain medication. It is painful for her to move around. The doctor said that it could be months before she is fully recovered. He also indicated that if she continues her upward trend, the earliest she could be home would be Wednesday. It will be nice to have her home.

Around Noon today (Sunday, Dec 2) I took Adrienne (34 almost 35 weeks pregnant) to the hospital with abdominal pain.

At about 1:35 pm she gave birth to Parker Forrest. We know that he is 6 lbs., but not his length yet.

First Mom: Adrienne’s uterus ruptured and her placenta and the baby had moved into her abdomen. Five minutes longer and I would be writing this as a single father of five. She lost about half of her blood volume. She is on her second transfusion and probably will need a couple more. She is in shock, and they are treating her accordingly, but is stabilizing.

Now Baby: The Doctor’s are saying that we should name the baby Lucky, because he really is lucky (read miracle) that he is with us. He is not out of the woods either. He will probably need a transfusion as well. He lost blood when he involuntarily moved from the uterus to the abdomen. He is being moved from the hospital where he was born to one where they can have him on a ventilator. We are not sure how long he will be there, but he will be there for at least a few days.

Me: It is starting to catch up to me. I am working with people to get some stability for the rest of the kids and for me. As things progress I will update you all. At some point I will get some decent pictures to put up for everyone to see.

Update: Parker Forrest Photo Gallery

Mom is doing well. Drowsy and sore, but her bleeding is down to what is to be expected.  Parker is at his new hospital.  He is breathing without a respirator.  He is doing quite well.  I am hoping they will both be home soon.

We are back at the Hospital. Lots of cramping, pressure and a bit of spotting. She is still at 3cm and about 60% effaced. They will monitor of an hour and check again.

UPDATE:  We are back home.  No changes during the hour she was being monitored.  We have to go back tomorrow for her to be monitored for an hour or so again.

Adrienne is back home again.  She didn’t have any contractions while being monitored.  The doctor has extended her bed rest for another two weeks.

The steroid shot she gets always makes her jittery, so it is difficult for her to sleep which invariable makes her cranky. Today should be fun…..

I am in the hospital with Adrienne right now.  She went in for her weekly check-up (Yes…weekly) and now we are here.  She is 3cm dilated and 60% effaced.  She was having contractions this morning, which turned into cramps.  So we are here for another steroid shot and monitoring.  If she has contractions again (she is not right now), he will want to keep her here for two more days.

She will be 34 weeks tomorrow.  If this was tomorrow the doctor would not be trying to stop her labor.  But we are still 33 weeks.  So we are here waiting.