Update

Ok I know you're all mad but i'm just not very good at this regular blogging thing! We're all doing well, just busy. Karma is 2 months old and I can't believe it!! She's huge...yes huge! 10lbs 3 oz huge to be exact! That's 4 lbs she's gained in 6 weeks. She's just trying to keep up with the weight gain of her mommy, but she has a way to go. Merik is doing great and is as active and busy as ever. He still loves Karma but understands she's not going away. Today he was mad at me and hit her. Naughty-yeah he was in the corner for that one! He also is in the habbit of calling us by our first names. Its so funny, he'll ask for something from mom and when I say know he asks "tan-tae" and he's constantly asking for "pat". We're having fun as you can tell. I will be starting a new job soon and am very excited about it! I will be taking pricing calls for the mortuary my uncle works for. It is such a blessing as it will allow me to work from home! We just can't believe it! Life is good but busy!

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Karma Sue Berry

Little Karma entered this tough world June 4, 2008 at 5:29am weighed 6lbs and was 19" long. My water broke the night before and 6 hours later, she was here. We were so excited to have her but unfortunately she wasn't quite ready and coming 4 weeks early her lungs weren't quite developed. They let me hold her for a few minutes and then Pat carried her to the NICU. The first day she was under a hood that blew oxygen around her. They thought she'd only need that for a day or two, but she had other plans!
Day 2 she was put on CPAP which blows a certain percentage of oxygen directly into her nose and mouth. She wasn't being fed at this time but she was hungry based on the way she devoured the pacifier! By the end of day 2 she couldn't breath on her own anymore even with the help of the CPAP so the morning of the third day she had to be intubated (put on a ventilator). It was very sad and scary knowing that this was the worse case scenario they had given us on day 1. They diagnosed her with premature lung disease and a surfactant deficiency. Surfactant is a lipid rich layer that coats the lungs and acts as a lubricant during the oxygen transfer into the blood stream. Infants make surfactant in the last weeks of pregnancy and hopefully make enough to last them the aprox. 3 days it takes for their bodies to trigger the production of it on a regular basis. Because she was early she had not made enough and by day 2 she couldn't breath anymore. They gave her a synthetic version of surfactant and immediately she began to improve. We did have a scary experience when her tube became clogged by the surfactant and we watched as the nurses rushed to save her. She turned completely blue and flat lined. It was horrible but we were blessed to have wonderful nurses that were experienced, knowledgeable, and calm and everything ended up fine.
Pat was able to extubate her (take the breathing tube out) on day 5 and she spent the next few days learning how to eat, gaining weight, and slowly requiring less and less oxygen. She was finally able to come home after 9 days in the NICU! She is still on oxygen and probably will be for a while. She's on almost the smallest amount possible but is very attached to it. We were sent home with a monitor that she wears at night that warns us if her oxygen levels or heart rate become dangerous. We are so grateful for nurses and doctors that took such good care of her. It was a very scary, sad, and long week and a half but we are so grateful to our Heavenly Father to have our beautiful baby girl home and healthy. We are very grateful also for all of the prayers and support we received! We couldn't ask for better family and friends!
Merik is totally in love and takes very good care of her! He is always asking about her and wanting to check on her! I expected him to not really care about her but he adores her! He has been pretty cranky and clingy but it could be worse. She has had a toothbrush and a ball thrown at her head but they were deflected and she was saved.
We're so excited to have our little family and can't wait to see her grow up!

These boots were made for ME!

"Look at my muscles!" "So Cool!"

Feeding the Ducks

We took some old bread and fed the ducks at the park. Merik enjoyed it but kept trying to eat the bread!

My pregnancy is going great. I'm 35 1/2 weeks, and dialated to a 2. The midwives say anytime so we'll let you know when it happens. I hope I make it to the hospital or Pat may be working overtime for this little girl! We're really excited but definatley not in reality. I finally did pack a bag though and cleaned really well so if it happens at least that's done. Hopefully it will set in that I have 2 kids once i'm holding her?

Goofy Kid!

Merik is definately Pat's child and already has his sense of humor. He's realized that he can do things just to make us laugh and spends a lot of his time doing those things. He recently smelled his shoe, which smells horrible, and made me smell it. After my reaction that is now his favorite thing to do is make other people smell his shoes. He just thinks its so funny. He also loves to scare you. He is still a dancing fool which always shocks us because he'll dance forever. We were at yet another wedding the other night and Merik was of course on the dance floor stealing the show, until he made himself sick by spinning too much. It was really sad but funny. I am always shocked how much food he can put away also! We went to a mexican restaurant last weekend and ordered him a kids meal (12 and under) which had a bean burrito, a beef burrito, beans, and rice. HE CLEANED THE PLATE and then ate my guacamole and beans and rice. PIG! I don't know that I expected anything less from Pat's offspring but jeez! He and pat love to wrestle and make farting noises, another shocker. He's just adorable and we're having so much fun playing with him.