"Babies aren't that fragile."

This is Casey's response whenever someone questions how he plays with his son : ) If he scared me, then I might worry, but Casey has a really good track record. He has never dropped a baby/child he has done this with yet and Weston already has a really strong neck. Plus, I think it is super cute!

The Amazing Casey and his balancing act. "Superman." Like most babies, Weston likes going towards the light : )

Free Man

On April 14, a nurse came to take out his IV. It was a great day because it made taking care of him a whole lot easier and we had had a few too many problems that came with it. The IV fluid that was supposed to last until the last day didn't, so a nurse had to come and put a new one on the day before and we gave him his second-to-last dose that night. At 5 o'clock the next morning when I went to give him his last dose, it didn't infuse because the nurse forgot to unclamp the line after she put the new space ball on. When he got his IV taken out, they had to give him his last dose of antibiotics by giving him a shot in each thigh. I felt so bad for him, but he was a champ about it all. Here is a better view of what it all looked like.


** He turned two weeks on the day he got his IV out too. At his two week appointment he was 21 1/2 in (78th percentile), 8 lbs 10 oz (48th percentile), and his head was 36 cm (40th percentile). The doctor said he is healthy and doing great!

Going Home

I know I've been a slacker lately and I have a bunch of posts to catch up on. On April 8, we got to take Weston home a five days early from the hospital. The day before they decided that they would send him home with a take-home IV and I would administer his antibiotics twice a day, so I got to play nurse for a few days. It was also the first time that they had done this at this hospital (UVRMC). One of th nurses was all excited about it, so she took a picture of him with his set-up. It was so exciting to finally get him in his going home outfit, put him in his carseat and take him out to the car. Casey thought it was lame that the nurse had to carry him out to the car and stay and watch until we put him in, but rules are rules. The night we got home, an at-home nurse came and showed me how to infuse his antibiotics and to talk to me about all the technical stuff. It was pretty easy and I caught on quickly. That night he slept like a log after his long day (foot painting, Hep B shot, going home, and having the nurse come) but it was great to finally have him home with us.

Proud parents

Weston dreaming/smiling in his sleep. He was happy to be home too : )

Weston and his IV (the ball on the left). He had a PIC line in his hand and then the "space ball" is connected to a long tube and keeps the line open so I could infuse his medicine.

"Daddy Time"

After I feed Weston, I would typically give him to Casey for what I would call "Daddy Time." When I hold him, he gets fed and sometimes eats, but when Casey holds him, he usually plays with him (as much as you can with a week old baby :) ). Here are a few pictures.

I had to be quick to get this picture because Weston is persistent like his Dad and always wants to exercise those neck muscles. It is so cute to watch him attempt to hold up his head then having to let it fall when he gets too tired.

He loves to play with/eat his hands and make faces at his Dad.

A Visit With Mama and Papa

Last Sunday my parents came to visit Weston and bring us dinner. This was the first time they got to hold him, so of course I had to take some pictures.

Weston is giving a funny look in this picture, but it is still cute. He got his middle name from my dad and happens to have my ears, which I got from my dad : )

Weston and his Mama

Splish, Splash, I was taking a bath...

Last Saturday, we were at the hospital late at night for his 11:00pm feeding and were lucky enough to be there to help give Weston his first bath. We really liked our night nurse, Linda, and she took some pictures and put them on a CD for us to have. It is a little harder with an IV, but still really fun. The best part is, he loves water like me : ) We can't wait to give him a bath without the IV.

They use a towel to help the babies adjust to the water, but Weston adjusted just fine.

Weston just relaxing in the tub. He had this, "Don't bother me, I'm bathing" look on his face the whole time : )

Washing his hair

A Baby Story

Some of you know the story/chaos that happened during Weston's birth and why he has an IV in the picture, but some of you don't, so I'm going to give a synopsis. It is a little long and none of the details are very graphic or anything, but you've been warned.

It all started late Sunday night (March 30) around 10:30. I was sitting on the couch watching TV and Casey was taking a shower. I was having a few contractions like always, but these were actually feeling consistent, so I went into the bathroom to get my watch. Casey asked me what I was doing, and I said, "Don't get your hopes up, I'm just checking." They were about 7 min. apart and 30-40 sec. long, but soon got a lot closer, so Casey called the hospital around 12:30am to see what we should do. They said that I could come in, they'd check me, wait an hour then check me again, but if I hadn't made any progress then they'd send me home. I didn't want that to happen, so I decided to wait it out a bit longer. I straightened my hair, we attempted to watch a movie, but my contractions were getting pretty bad, so we decided to go. By the time we got checked in and settled, it was around 1:50am. The nurse checked me and I was only dilated to a 3, lame, but then 20 minutes later my water broke, so I was there indefinately, great news to me. They asked me if I wanted my epidural, but I said I'd wait, but I changed my mind quickly. Epidurals are the greatest thing ever and made me a whole lot happier : )

We called my parents soon after that so they drove down and got there around 3:30ish. From then on, it was just a waiting game. I think I got like 40 min of sleep total, so I was pretty exhausted, as was Casey. Casey tried to sleep on the ground because my dad was in the chair : ) It was pretty cute. Later he discovered that he could sleep at the end of bed and it was a little more comfortable. Around 8:00am they put me on pitocin because my progress had stalled a bit, but by 11:30am I was dilated to 8cm. I was 10cm an hour later, but with a rim. Around 2:15pm it was finally time to push.

Just to give you an idea of how it worked, you push with a nurse, then when the baby's head has crowned they call the doctor to come in (at least at this hospital). I started pushing which is pretty painless, but REALLY exhausting! Finally, around 3:10 his head crowned and the nurse went to call my doctor and informed us to continue pushing. Well, the next set of pushing and his head was out and Casey, my mom, and I were the only people in the room. Casey and my mom were looking at each other not knowing what to do, but then Casey went to tell the nurse. He went out and said, "His head is out." The nurse smiles at him and says, "You mean his head has crowned" (she had just explained crowning to Casey a few minutes earlier). Casey was like, "No, his head is out." Nurse: "You mean ALL the way out?" Casey: "ALL the way out." At this point, they sound the alarm. Seriously. It is a "Code White" when you're baby is coming and your doctor isn't there. My dad heard it down the hall in the waiting room and was a little worried, but we couldn't hear a thing. A couple seconds later, 8-10 doctors and nurses rush in, and the next push (3:18pm), his body was out. The whole time I was thinking, "All this because my doctor isn't here?" But in fact, it was a little more serious. He was in distress when he was born and had pooed while still inside me and it was all over. I had no idea there was anything wrong (I was telling Casey to make sure and get pictures), but Casey was freaking out. They were worried that he had ingested some of it, so it was off to the NICU for him in his "tupperware container" as Casey calls it. I didn't even get to hold him : ( Once in the NICU, they had to hook him up to all these wires and tubes because he was having some respiratory problems. It was so sad. Casey asked if it was okay if he went with Weston, and of course I said yes. My mom was still with me, so I was okay. All of this took mere minutes, at which point my doctor finally showed up to give me a few stitches because I had tore a bit. This wasn't very fun because I could feel every time the needle went in and out and him pulling the thread through. My mom asked him if I could have a local anesthetic because she could tell that I could feel it, but my doctor said that it would probably hurt more than the stitching at that point, so I said, "I'll be okay," but was thinking, "forget it" and just told him to continue so we could get it over with. They then took me down to my recovery room so I could get some rest and my parents and Casey went back to the NICU before my parents left that night. Casey came back and told me that they wanted to keep him there for 24 hours just in case. He also didn't have enough fluid in his lungs so they put some surfactant in his lungs to help him breathe. I got to visit him for the first time that night around 8:00pm after I had got settled in, but we still couldn't hold him.

The next morning (April 1), Casey went up to the NICU a few times, but when he went up the second time around 7:00am, they told him that he had a bacterial blood infection (the bacteria was e. coli, but not the big bad kind you hear about in the news. It is the kind that we all have naturally in our intestines) and would need to be on antibiotics for 10-14 days (which means that we would not be taking him home). They don't know how he got it either. They were also going to do a spinal tap on him that night to make sure that it hadn't spread to his Central Nervous System. Our wonderful pediatrician came by later that night and explained the procedure and possible complications, but was very confident and said he had done plenty of these before, so we weren't too worried. We went up to watch about an hour later, but Casey said he couldn't watch so he left and I stayed. Weston was a little trooper and only cried when they put the needle in in the beginning and just sucked on his pacifier and was SUPER good after that. I was so proud of our little man. That night we also got to hold him for the first time. It was so nice to have him close.

I went home on Wednesday afternoon. It was kind of weird going home without a baby and we didn't really feel like parents when we were home since he wasn't with us. Then a couple days later the blood cultures for the spinal tap came back negative, but they said that he would definately need to stay for 14 days on the antibiotics to make sure the bacteria was all gone. We went back multiple times a day over the next week and a half so that I could feed him and so we could just be with him. The next couple of posts are pictures from our visits. We were so blessed to have such great doctors and nurses watching over him and that they were able to find the infection. They told Casey that it was a good thing he had respiratory problems and that they kept him overnight so that they found the infection, otherwise it could have been really fatal (he could have died). We're so glad to have our little Weston and for all the prayers and support from everyone.

Please Welcome...

Weston Douglas Tanner

March 31, 2008

3:18 pm

7 lbs. 14 oz.

21 inches

Casey's First Post

Okay, you'd probably assume this had something to do with Weston, but unfortunately it doesn't. It's about some virus that links to blogs. It has happened to Jenna's blog thrice, and I know of a few friends who have had the same thing happen. What happens is that some random virus, disguised as a fellow blogger posts some random comment that essentially says, "click here" and the "here" is hyperlinked to a virus, and as soon as you click on the link, the virus begins to download. So if you get a comment on your blog from someone that you don't recognize or if you see one on someone elses blog, DON'T click on the link.

Peace out-

Casey

Price is Right - Baby Style

Contestants, come on down! I have less than two weeks left, so it's time to play the guessing game. What day will he be born on, what time, and how much will he weigh? Unfortunately, I have no information to give you because my doctor left me with nothing before he went to Mexico, and my next appointment isn't until this Friday (March 21st, 8 days from my due date). Soooo, you will all be guessing based on nothing. It should make things more interesting : ) I would wait until my next Dr's appt, but there is that slight chance that he comes before then and then nobody would win and I like a happy ending : )

This is all I have:

Official due date - March 29

1st Sonogram - Showed him 1 week ahead of schedule

2nd Sonogram - Showed him 2 weeks ahead of schedule

Appointment on March 5 - Stomach hadn't grown and I hadn't gained any more weight since my last appointment (two weeks before).

My 25th Birthday!

I'm officially a quarter century old. That makes it sound so bad : ) March 4th was my birthday and Casey made it a great one. First, I woke up and got ready for work, ate one of my favorite cereals for breakfast (Strawberry Frosted Mini-Wheats), received a few phone calls, opened my presents, then headed off to work. For lunch, Casey made reservations for us at the Skyroom. This was one of the best things about my day because I've never been and have always wanted to (and hinted to Casey many times). Plus, you get 50% off in the month of your birthday for being an alumni. The buffet was super good. They had this really good Butternut Squash ravioli in alfredo sauce, 4 Cheese Ravioli, and Tri-tip (Casey really liked this and the cheese ravioli). Casey got a pulled pork sandwich and liked that too. He said it was the best food that he has ever had there. Oh, yeah, and when I went to meet Casey for lunch he also gave me flowers. They were so beautiful! After work, Morris and Christi took us to Mimi's Cafe for dinner and that was great too. Then Casey had made some tentative plans with friends, but gave me the option of doing that or staying home with him and just relaxing. We would have had fun with friends, but I was kind of tired, so I chose to stay home with him. We watched Rob & Big (our favorite show) then the movie we rented. It was a great day! Thanks to everyone for the phone calls and all my great presents.

Casey and I at The Skyroom. You can see the pretty flowers Casey got me too.

Baby Shower

March 1st was my baby shower thrown by my friend Kerstin Miller, and it was fabulous. We had a delicious breakfast, played fun games, and it is always nice to just hang out with the girls. Kerstin did such a great job and I had a blast. It was great to have a shower with all my great friends/ family in Provo. We got so many cute gifts for our litle boy too! One of my friends from work even made us a BYU blanket which totally screams "Casey's Little Boy." Thanks to Kerstin for throwing me a great shower, for all my friends/family that could attend, and for all the wonderful gifts. We're so lucky!

Kerstin and I

Is this not the cutest cake? Kerstin did an amazing job.

All the yummy food. It was in the morning, so we had breakfast food. Breakfast casserole, orange rolls, fruit pizza, the cake and drinks.

+/- 4 Weeks!

Where does the time go? Well, my time goes to working full-time, working out, making dinner, then not wanting to do anything for the 4 hours until I go to bed except for veg, but seriously. I can't believe that I only have 4 weeks left and I still have to get a carseat!!! I already know which one I'm getting, but I just have to go get it. On top of that, we're still trying to decide on a name. We just like both of them a lot and are torn, which I hate because I'm not the type to wait and see what they look like to decide on a name. I like to have it planned out before then. Other than that, I'm still feeling great! For the first time I'm starting to get tired more easily, but that only kicked in recently, so I think that's pretty good. I am getting a little anxious, but mainly because of the last sonogram. According to my doctor and my last visit, I could only have 2 weeks left, which is REALLY soon, or I could have 3 or 4. As you can see, it's not very definitive. Hopefully I'll find out more at my appointment this week.

5 Weeks (last week after the Utah game)

4 Weeks (today after my baby shower)

In case you wanted to know...

Courtnie tagged me the same week that Melody did, and I'd feel rude if I didn't do it, so here is yet another tag:

A: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B: Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C: At the end of the post, the player then tags 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Here's more than you would ever need to know about me:

10 years ago:
I was a freshman in high school, played in the high school basketball summer league, spent a lot of time at my sister's house watching her kids, and reading. Not very interesting, I know.

5 things on my to-do list today:
Today Saturday. . .
1. Go to babyshower (Done! and it was Great! Thanks Kerstin!) (pictures to come)
2. Update blog.
3. Buy carseat.
4. Buy groceries
5. Go to the BYU v. Air Force basketball game (Only two more home games left in the season)

5 Snacks I enjoy:
1. Laughing Cow spreadable cheese on Wheat Thins
2. Fruit
3. Haagen Daaz sorbet (Harvest Peach is delicious)
4. Parmesan Goldfish
5. Toasted English Muffins

What I would do if I were suddenly made a billionaire:
Save most of, invest it a lot of it, buy a house, and buy another car.

3 of my bad habits:
1. Checking for blog updates like 20 billion times a day.
2. Leaving my dresser drawers open (Casey hates it :) )
3. Procrastinating

5 places I have lived:
1. El Cajon, CA
2. Jamul, CA
3. Provo, UT
4. Vancouver, WA
5. Alpine, CA

5 jobs that I have had:
1. Receptionist for Heating/AC company
2. Nanny
3. Personal Assistant/Caterer
4. Receptionist for BYU Religion Department
5. HR Assistant - Creative and Events

5 Things people don't know about me:
1. My middle name is Vee. I know, a little unusual. My mom wanted to name me JennaVee but couldn't decide on a middle name, so she just split it up, and when I was little, that is what EVERYONE called me.
2. My favorite movie as a kid was "Big Trouble in Little China." Not a typical first choice for an 8-year-old, but I had a huge crush on Kurt Russell. I was so disappointed when I found out that him and Goldie Hawn had kids, but weren't married. That was the end of my crush.
3. I have what I call "Happy Songs." They are songs that I hear, can listen to over and over again, and make me really happy. ("Hey Ya" by Outkast, "Yeah" by Usher, "Pop! Goes my Heart" from the Music and Lyrics soundtrack, and almost anything by Nelly Furtado, etc.)
4. I plan Casey's birthday, parties, and themed dinners weeks, but usually MONTHS, in advance. I've already planned Casey's birthday in June, I planned his graduation party over the summer, and I already know what we're going to have for our green St. Patrick's Day dinner. There is a reason they made me the party planner at work : )
5. One of my guilty pleasures includes Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen movies. My sister would buy them whenever they came out and we would watch them. They are so corny, but I love them! One of my favorites is "Holiday in the Sun."

There have been so many tags going around that I'm going to tag anyone that wants to do this or needs to update their blog, but doesn't have anything to post : )

BYU v. Utah

Every year that BYU and Utah play basketball at home, you have to stand in line at a previous game to get tickets. The Saturday before the Utah game, you had to stand in line before the UNLV game. Some of the crazier fans set up tents the Tuesday before, but Casey and his friends set up a tent the Friday before (and were'nt really going to sleep in it). I thought that was lame, so Friday night, I convinced Casey that we should go and campout at the Marriott Center for Utah tickets. It was so much fun! I was 8 1/2 months pregnant, but we had a mattress and when are we ever going to be able to do it again? It was a little cold too (there was frost inside the tent in the morning and the fruit I had brought was frozen), but we were prepared with our -20 degree sleeping bags and a ton of blankets. We happened to be camping out when Jason called to let us know that Ashley had had Paisley too. The next day Casey woke up early and left because he had to take a test, but I held up the fort and just read all day in the tent until 1:30 when one of Casey's friends came to relieve us of our duties. I brought our little camera to take pictures of us that night, but it didn't have batteries : ( so we just have the day after pictures. They also gave out free Papa John's pizza on Friday and Saturday, plus I got to meet Coach Rose, and Casey got on TV again so it was worth it.

Standing in line right before the UNLV game

The line! Unfortunately, all the tents had been take down already.BYU v. Utah (Casey being Casey)

Pre-game stuff. If you haven't been to a BYU home game lately, you should go. The pre-game stuff is really cool and definately helps to get the fans pumped up for the game.

Tip-off Neville. He's just so ugly.

The difference between coaches. Calm, collected, Coach Rose.
Utah's CRAZY (bordering on psychotic) Coach Boylen. I've never seen anything like him.