Happy Birthday...to me!

Wow...looks like I haven't updated this thing for well over a month. My bad. As most of you know, Samantha is doing wonderfully since her little stint in the hospital. She had an appointment with the cardiologist over at Doernbecher's a few weeks ago and they said that as long as she keeps up with the meds, she should be just fine....whew!!!

Thursday was my 27th Birthday and my mom came to watch Samantha so that Ben and I could go out. Let me remind you all that this was my first time leaving Sam for more than a few minutes in her 3 and a half months of life. Needless to say, I was a little paranoid and anxious. My mom did a wonderful job of keeping my sisters and I out of harms way, alive and healthy all these years. I knew that Samantha would be just fine with her Grandma, but I didn't know if I would be okay without my baby girl.

Turns out, I was just fine. Big surprise, huh. Nanny did a great job with her and Sam was happy the whole time. I only called six or seven times and I didn't hear any screaming and crying out of my little one. I can't believe that I have turned into one of "those" parents. The mom who is so overprotective and calls the babysitter every five minutes....oh my!

Out of the Blue

Monday was Samantha's 2 month check-up. We went in, the doctor said she was growing wonderfully (12lbs - 23 1/2 inches). Then the doctor was doing her regular examination stuff, when she noticed that Sam's heart rate was racing a little bit. She had the assistants come in and do an EKG on Samantha. They put a bunch of little blue sticky things all over her chest and tummy, and then attached wires to them. When they started up the machine, I just wanted them to hurry up and get it over with so they could take those little sticky things off. Samantha looked so uncomfortable. They finished with the machine and then left Ben, Sam and I alone in the room. I remember thinking, "oh, this is normal, babies heart rate's race all the time." A few minutes later the doctor returned to tell us that this wasn't so normal. . .

Sam's doctor is a wonderful lady and she was very calm and reassuring when she told us that we were going to have to go straight to Doernbecher Children's Hospital and see the pediatric cardiologist. She told us that Samantha probably has something called SVT (Super Ventricular Tachycardia) which in short means - fast heart rate. Too fast.


We took her straight to OHSU, and got her checked in. We passed many hospital rooms before we arrived at ours and I notices a lot of sick children, and I felt my pulse quicken. I was thinking, a hospital is for sick kids, Samantha's not sick, she was just fine this morning, why are we here?

A few moments after we got into the hospital room and Samantha on the table, they hooked her up to more machines, that had me wishing for the little blue sticky things again. The things they put on her were big and looked extremely uncomfortable for an infant. One time I counted and noticed 9 doctors and nurses in the room. This of course is totally unnerving. Why on earth would there need to be so many people in here?! The next couple of hours were a blur. I remember looking at the monitor and seeing her heart rate as 280 (it's supposed to be around 100). One of the doctors put an ice pack over her entire face (to try to shock her heart into going back to a normal rhythm), he also tried pressing down on her chin/neck, for the same purpose and it just wasn't working.


The nurse put an IV in her, that then fell out and they had to do the process all over again. I was crying and Samantha was screaming her little heart out. Meanwhile, Ben was trying to keep us both calm. . . poor guy. Finally, the doc decided to give her a dose of medicine that goes straight to her little heart to slow it down, and it worked. . . finally!


After all of that, the cardiologist came and talked to us about what SVT is all about and what we will have to do about it. I guess the bottom line is that Samantha is okay, and God is in control. This has been the most difficult thing I have ever gone through, but it is all going to be okay. We are still in the hospital until at least tomorrow. I will write more later. If you could keep Sam, Ben and I in your thoughts and prayers over the next few days, we would greatly appreciate it.

Way too many wires

Mama trying to keep it together while Sam is crying. . . again!

Keeping her spirits up

And I was complaining about the little blue sticky things!

Tired baby and tired daddy

Meme?...Okay

Leanne suggested that I do this Meme thing, so I'll give it a try. However, I do have a newborn, so I don't think my answers are going to be all that exciting, but here we go...

5 Thing In My Bag
Like I said, I have a newborn so the only thing I'm carrying around right now is a diaper bag.

1. Diapers...duh (also, wipes and other baby changing paraphernalia)
2. Camera and an extra set of batteries
3. Cell Phone
4. Wallet
5. Soft Lips chapstick


5 Things In My Room

1. My bed, which does not get used enough these days...NO SLEEP
2. Samantha's Bassinet
3. Samantha's Changing Table
4. Books and Magazines
5. Way, Way, Way too much clutter


5 Things I Have Always Wanted To Do

1. Go to grad-school
2. Run a Marathon (Got half-way there!)
3. Learn how to cook
4. Establish a deeper connection and relationship with God
5. Train our dog


5 Things I Am Currently Into

1. Samantha - she's extremely time-consuming but I wouldn't trade a second of it!
2. Reading...mostly parenting books and magazines but I love novels also. I'm a little in between novels at the moment.
3. Trying to find time and energy to get out and run.
4. The Office and Lost
5. Scrapbooking - I haven't done this since Sam was born but I have enough pictures to fill several albums.


5 People That Should Try This Meme:
Unfortunately, I am relatively new to this blog thing, so I don't have many blog-friends, or friends that blog.

*I do think that Judith Anne should try it out though. I already know her pretty well but I think her answers would be entertaining, to say the least. She's always got something funny to say. Love you, love you, love you Judith!

Mother's Day

Yesterday was my very first Mother's Day! My mom, sisters, and Samantha and I went to my Grandmother's house to celebrate. It was so cool having 4 generations of girls in the same house. It was wonderful how everywhere I went this weekend, people would tell me Happy Mother's Day. It was even extra special because my little sister is expecting a baby soon, and we were able to share our first Mother's Day together. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful Grandmother, Mother, and two wonderful little sisters that are going to make such awesome mothers.

I also have a truly wonderful Mom-in-law and two great sis-in-laws that I love so much!

It also made me think about something that has been on my mind a lot lately. I have a really good friend and a couple other people that I know that desperately want to be mamma's. It's crazy how there are incredible women that would make such perfectly amazing mothers and they are having such a hard time making that happen. Unfortunately, I also know some not-so-amazing people that are taking advantage of pregnancies and using abortions as a type of birth control. What is wrong with people? I have always been anti-abortion but how could someone that has had the joy of having a baby once, have an abortion because they simply forgot to use protection...? It's so unfair and confusing. This is definitely something I'm going to have to ask The Big Guy about when I get to Heaven. In the meantime, my heart and prayers go out to you that are going to make wonderful mothers someday. God has His plan, and it is perfect, even though at times it's hard for us to understand...He already has it all figured out.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you who are mothers and to all of those who will make great ones someday!

Pictures From The Hospital

mama and baby



Ben preparing to "assist" with the C-Section...
"assist"=hold my hand...which he did a wonderful job of


Our precious baby girl


Daddy and baby just after delivery


Ben's first diaper change...he did a great job!


All wrapped up

What the heck?

Why did no one tell me that having a newborn is SO much work? I mean, yeah, people always jokingly say, "oh, get ready for no sleep, and poopy diapers every 20 minutes," but I never took them literally. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not completely naive. I knew that there would be nights with not very much sleep, but I didn't know it would be EVERY NIGHT!!!
I have chosen to breastfeed, and I don't know how you other breastfeeding mothers out there stayed sane through the chaos! It is SO hard. It's uncomfortable, and a little inconvenient. For example...Thursday was the return of our favorite TV show, "The Office" (if you don't watch it, you should!) My parents and my sister and her boyfriend and Ben and I were all sitting down at 9pm sharp to watch, when Samantha decides that she's starving all of a sudden. Of course, this is my parents house and there is company over, so I had to go into the other room to breastfeed...AHHHH! My wonderful husband was so amazing and came into the other room with me so that we could watch it together later (thank goodness for DVRs) But still, no one else can feed her but me. I can't give her a bottle with pumped milk until she's about a month old and regular feeding is well established, she eats every 2-3 hours, sometimes she eats every hour on the hour...it's INSANE!
I feel like I haven't talked to my husband in days...and he's been right here the whole time. New babies are just so consuming that it feels like Samantha is the only other person in my life right now... Don't misunderstand me...I love her so much and it's totally worth anything that I might have to sacrifice to have a happy, healthy baby, but it's just a lot of work.

...A little more than I was expecting!

She's Here!

She's finally here! Samantha Elizabeth Russell arrived on April 1st at 6pm. I was in labor from 9pm on Monday night until 5pm on Tuesday when my doctor decided that she wasn't progressing AT ALL! (for those of you who know anything about labor, I hadn't dilated past a 1 that whole time). The doctor decided to do a C-section at around 5pm and she was born at 6. It was pretty crazy but it was so worth it. Ben and I have an absolutely perfect little baby girl. We are extremely sleep-deprived, but so so so happy to have her finally here!

More pictures to follow later...