Eco-Car Marathon Weekend

This weekend was the Shell Eco-Car Marathon, which happened to be in Houston this year. Our friend, Heath, was one of the faculty advisors for Louisiana Tech's team. They entered 3 cars in this year's competition, a prototype vehicle and two urban cars. Barbara and Carter stayed with us for the weekend, and we managed to get all the kiddos downtown for some of the events Saturday afternoon. They had a blast! Here are some pictures of the cars and everyone cheering them on.

This is LA Tech's prototype vehicle. The competition is based on miles per gallon. This prototype car got up to 786 mpg, which placed 10th in the competition.

These are the urban cars. The red car was actually built and competed in last year's race, and the blue car was designed and built this year. The red car got up to around 150 mpg, and the blue car got up to 251 mpg, which placed 2nd in the competition and won the design innovation award! We're very proud of them!

There was also a spirit award, which LA Tech won hands down. There was a lot of Tech blue around, as well as a lot of bulldog barking going on.

Jackson LOVED the cars. As they went around the track he would say, "another car" and cheer and clap. He and Carter stayed up late last night to watch the urban cars run, which they would tell you was well worth it!

The boys had lots of fun the rest of the weekend too. They did everything from playing the piano to reading books to building towers to hunting easter eggs. We had so much fun with Barbara and Carter here. We wish we could see them more often!

Of course, there are more pictures in the album, but here's one last shot of our amazing friends at the competition!

Audrey is 2 Weeks Old!

Audrey is 2 weeks old today. She had her 2 week check up and is doing really well! She now weighs 8 lbs 7 oz, which is above her birth weight and puts her around the 90th percentile, and she is 20.25 inches long, which is around the 75th percentile. She's sleeping well so far, but we know we are approaching the weeks where babies are the fussiest and trying to prepare ourselves for that.

Jackson is still so loving toward his sister. Every morning and evening after waking up and just before going to bed, he has to give her a hug and a kiss. It's precious. One evening around Jackson's bed time, Audrey was fussy and crying a lot. Jackson often spends 30 minutes to an hour talking after going to bed, but this night he was still up after an hour. I decided to go upstairs to check on him, and when I sat down next to him, he looked at me so concerned and said, "Baby crying. Baby crying." You could tell he wanted to fix whatever was wrong. I reassured him that we would take care of Audrey, and he crashed. I think we have the sweetest little boy on earth!

Here are a couple of pics of Audrey at her 2 week mark with a few more in the album.

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Audrey is 1 Week Old!

Audrey is already 1 week old! She's close to being back to her birth weight, and is doing really well overall. She's sleeping great during the day, and once we can finally get her down at night, she sleeps well then too. We'll see if that keeps up!

Her big brother loves her so much. He is always excited to come home and see Audrey. Yesterday after he got home, we were giving Audrey a little tummy time on the floor, and Jackson decided to join her. We quickly grabbed the camera so everyone can see what a sweet, loving big brother Jackson is. It melts my heart!

And here's the proud Daddy with his kiddos.

As always, there are more pictures in the album

Cowboy JDT

After school on Tuesday Nana took Jackson to get his first pair of cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. As you can imagine with his love of wearing shoes and hats, he was pretty excited! There are more pictures in the album, but here's a cute one, as well as a video.

Getting Settled

Audrey and I were released from the hospital on Friday. We are getting settled at home now, so we have finally posted some pictures for everyone. Here are few of the pics from the hospital and our arrival home. There are more in the album.

I am continuing to recover well. It's a little harder when you were opened up twice I guess, but we've had some wonderful help. We even made it to church this morning. Jackson decided to dress up for the occasion (really his Nana dressed him up ;-)).

Jackson also went for his first bike ride today. He and Ross went right after his nap, so you can't tell how excited he was. He was grinning from ear to ear by the time they got back though!

Audrey's Delivery from E's Perspective

So I thought I'd share/document my perspective and a little more info on how things went for Audrey's birth yesterday. I was scheduled for a c-section at noon yesterday, so we arrived at the hospital at 10. They hooked me up to the monitors, and we quickly discovered that I was having pretty regular contractions. On Monday I had made zero progress towards labor, so it was decided that a repeat c-section was the way to go this time. Given the change in progress, we waited a little while to see how labor progressed. When the doctor arrived to check me we discussed our options and opted to go ahead with the c-section and finally meet our little girl.

At noon they wheeled me to the operating room where I was given my spinal block/epidural. Then Ross was allowed to join me in the room, and the surgery began. Audrey McKenzie Taylor was born at 12:31 PM, and baby and Dad were whisked away to the nursery while the doctor and nurses wrapped up the surgery.

Just after they wrapped everything up and my doctor headed out, I started feeling awful. I was very nauseous and sick feeling in general. I could tell my awesome nurse was concerned about something too by the way she was looking at another nurse that had assisted in the surgery. She very quickly called for my doctor to come back, and in the mean time I was given some medicine to help counter my low blood pressure. They decided to wheel me back to my room and monitor me for a little while. I was covered with a "bear hugger" to try to bring up my body temperature, and they checked and rechecked my blood pressure, temp, etc. while they also kept pushing on my belly. Ross was back in the room when I arrived, which was a huge comfort to me.

After about 20 minutes or so they decided they should open me back up just to be sure nothing was wrong. I was quickly wheeled back to the operating room and everything was re-prepped. It felt like I was in there for an eternity. At this point I didn't know what they had discovered, but I heard my doctor request another well known specialist doctor to come assist him, which was when I got a little nervous...I trust my doctor completely, so I wasn't worried until he sounded worried. That doctor didn't end up making it before they got everything taken care of and were able to explain what happened. Apparently an artery in my uterus had separated and ruptured in an unexpected area. My doctor was able to repair everything and remove the lost blood. They determined I'd lost 3 liters of blood during the course of the procedures and requested 2 liters of blood be transfused to me.

When I returned to the room they continued to work on bringing up my body temp and ensuring there was no more internal bleeding. I was shaking uncontrollably, which many people who've had babies know is part of the process of recovering. It wasn't until I finally got to hold Audrey that my body calmed down...that was a pretty neat feeling.

I have been recovering quickly and pretty well. I was allowed to eat solid foods late yesterday evening and was up and walking around this morning. My epidural is expected to come out tomorrow, and we are supposed to go home on Saturday.

Jackson came to visit yesterday and today, and he is SO sweet with Audrey. He gives her the most gentle hugs and kisses and seems genuinely excited about the baby. When I was pregnant and you asked Jackson where baby Audrey was, he would point to my belly and give it a kiss. Yesterday we asked him where baby Audrey was, and he walked over to her, pointed, and gave her a kiss...too sweet! Today Jackson held her for the first time, and this is what he did...

All of the grandparents have been here to meet Audrey and help take care of JD while we are at the hospital. Jackson is really enjoying the time with them.

First Night

We have made it through the first night. Mom and baby are both doing well. Audrey has nursed pretty well and E has been able to eat a bit and is looking forward to breakfast. I've updated the ticker at the top for Audrey on the main blog page now that we finally get to count up! I'll try to get some more pictures today.

First Picture

Here she is:

Elizabeth is recovering well and Audrey is doing great! She is currently with the pediatrician.

Doing fine

I just talked to the doctor and E is doing fine. She had some internally bleeding that they patched up and she should be out soon. Audrey's temp is up and hopefully we will be able to bring mom and baby together soon.

Back in the OR

E came out of the OR but was bleeding more than they would like so she has gone back in to get checked out. The doctor didn't seem too concerned and almost didn't go back but wanted to be on the safe side.

Audrey McKenzie Taylor

Born 3/10/10 at 12:31 pm. 8 lb 3 oz. 19.5 in long. Pictures coming soon. E hasn't come out of the OR yet.

OR

E has gone in...I'm waiting to join her. She was progressing a little@but not really in labor so she decided to go ahead with the c-section.

Hospital

We are at the hospital for Audrey's birth. E has been having a few contractions and the doctor will probably check her progress when he gets here but chances are we will be going into the operating room in about an hour for a c-section at about noon. They are getting her all prepped right now.

Morning Play Time

Jackson was sent home sick from day care on Thursday, which of course means I am sick again too. Jackson is on an antibiotic and seems to be recovering quickly though!

We have had lots of fun the last couple of mornings. Jackson loves hats. Yesterday's hat was the fireman's hat my friend, Lauren, gave him.

Of course, no outfit is complete without mardi gras beads, and "Chomp, Chomp" (Gator's new name) and Mama's lunch box are a must when running in circles around the house.

Today's hat was the painters hat the nice man at Sherwin Williams gave him. The mardi gras beads were a must, and today's extra accessories were his pirate finger puppets!

There are a few more in the album too...including one where JD "dressed up" Ross!

Rough Times

We've had a rough couple of weeks since Ross' return from Hawaii. My Papaw passed away that week, and since I am so close to my due date, we weren't able to travel to the funeral on February 20th. It was very hard for me not to be with my family during this time. I have many fond memories of my Papaw from walks around the boulevard in front of their house and learning to play croquet in their backyard to watching him love and adore my Mamaw. The last time I saw my Papaw was at my cousin, John's wedding. Here's a picture of him proudly listening to my Mamaw play the piano at their reception.

On top of that Jackson got a really bad stomach bug that Friday. I won't go into the details, but I will say I can't even count the number of times we all had to change clothes. It lasted through Monday when I finally caught it. I guess my immune system was even weaker than Jackson's because I had it until this past Friday. I was finally able to eat real food Saturday evening. 5 days of being sick and hardly any food while you're 39 weeks pregnant is NOT fun! Fortunately, I was able to enjoy our first crawfish boil of the year to celebrate our friend, Stephen's birthday! My energy really returned on Monday, so I've been able to take care of a few final things around the house. Now we're ready and eagerly awaiting Audrey's arrival!