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Day 2 (read day 1 first)

Last night was pretty uneventful, and this is a very good thing. The nurse's came in every hour to check on Oakley, he seems to be doing just fine. I was up every hour 3 -3 1/2 hours to feed him and well every time the monitors started beeping which was a lot. He seems to be getting a little dehydrated so I am I now feeding him every 2- 2 1/2 hours in hope's this will turn around and he won't need to get an IV in. The doctor is looking over all of his reports from the monitor and nurse's notes from last night and will be in to see us sometime today. Saying lots of prayers and hoping this precious little guy of our is on the up and up and I caught what ever bug it is he has soon enough. The Doctors and nurses have been absolutely WONDERFUL and feel we are both getting the best care possible right now. We are missing the rest of our family right now but Corey and Laker seem to be doing just fine. Aunt Heidi and Grandma Bev are taking extra special care of Laker and Daddy is trying to stay calm and handle all of this ( most of you know how high strung Corey can be) He is deploying a HUGE project this week that he has been working on and in charge of for the past year and a half so very stressful for him wanting to be with his family but having to be at work too. We are blessed he is such a hard worker to provide for our family and to have such a great job and co workers (they keep trying to send him home but he is stubborn) Thanks Corey for being the best husband and daddy by working, taking sole care of Laker, and being at the hospital with me and Oakley as much as possible. But not to much that you drive me crazy. So we wait, and wait, and wait, as life was so busy at home and all I wished for when adjusting to 2 kiddos at home was to be back at the hospital being taken care of by the nurse's this is not what I had in mind, Did you know that every Tuesday, and Wednesday at Holland Hospital they serve the SAME meals. As I could tolerate them last week after giving birth, this week they are just plain gross. Could be my lack of appetite or gut rot from only drinking coffee, or bleeding ulcer I am getting (just kidding on the ulcer) Its now afternoon and no sign of the doctor, just asked the nurse and she said every time he comes to our floor he gets called back to the birthing center. What the heck like newborn babies are more important than my kid. Yes I am being sarcastic. So finally around 2pm a doctor comes to see us. Different doctor from last night but none the less a doctor. He went over all of the reports from the monitor and said everything look pretty normal, a few occasions when his oxygen level went down but in some 7 days old that is normal. He said he has a virus (cold) and with new born's sometimes there brain does tell them to breath through their mouth if their nose is clogged so it takes them a few seconds, and same with feeding sometimes the feeling of choking happens while eating and their little brain doesn't know how to breath but completely normal. Still seemed weird that a doctor is telling me my baby not breathing is normal but they are the one with the MD behind their name not me. He then starred blankly at me and said WELL? I said WELL what? You just said my kid has a cold and I look like a over reactive mother. I guess he thought I was funny and laughed and said no any baby under 2 weeks old is usually monitored and hospitalized, we didn't see our normal pediatrian so I am wondering if he wouldn't of sent us to the hospital but better safe than sorry, anyway the Doctor wondered if I was comfortable going home with Oakley. I said comfortable HELL YES, he has been here basically for 3 day getting poke with needles, shots he didn't need. He has tape all over his chest and little toes for no reason. I have a 17 month at home that needs me and a husband that is going to have a nervous break down by the end of the week if we have to stay here much longer. He then said, do you have a ride, oh yeah a ride Corey took us here Tuesday night and we don't have a car, I said I can find one in about a half hour, get started on the paper work. I didn't even call Corey first because I knew he would rush home from Grand Rapids and needed to finish work, so I called Grandma Bev, her and Heidi had Laker so I knew one of them could stay with him and hoped one could come get me. The infant car seat base was in my car which is a stick shift so I knew Heidi couldn't drive it and it had been years for Bev but she was up to the challenge. I told her where the keys were and she was on her way. I then called Corey, he was more than happy to hear our baby boy was just fine. Then he said you can come home? I um can be there um, I then said don't worry mom is on her way, loooooong pause, she doesn't have an infant car seat, I said no worries she is picking up my car, another long pause, she hasn't driven a stick in years, I said well looks like we may need a new transmission too then but just stay at work we will be at home when you get home. So little Oakley you have been here for only a week and already caused me more gray hair than your brother. On the positive side the nurse's sucked your snot and boogers out soooo much with the sucking machine that the cute little snort you had that daddy hated is now gone. They did find lots of junk up there most likely left over from delivery and shooting out into this world in less than 5 min. Those first rough nights home with you after you were born also came from your nose being stuffy and you having a hard time breathing, I would cry too little man, I would too. So thousand of dollars later, Okaley you have a cold and diaper rash. The hospital sent us home with magic butt cream, (cost $6,000 ha ha) and instructions to feed you. So glad we had a doctor tell us to do that. You and mommy had LOTS of bonding time in the hospital just the 2 of us, after finally getting a good 24 hours to spend just with you no one else I can see you are already acting just like your brother, praise the lord!!!! I hope this continues he was the easiest baby ever and you seem to be too now. You both sleep with your arms up over your head, you can down a bottle in less than 5 min and go right back to bed, you are more than content watching the happening of this crazy house from your bouncy seat (in the middle of the kitchen table so your brother doesn't smash a truck over your head) I know this can change again over night but just give me a week or 2 to catch up on some sleep first. We love you Oakley, now lets not do this again!

Day 1

So the past few days have been an emotional roller coaster over here for the Kragts. We finally got to meet our beautiful baby boy Oakley, coming home from the hospital was great and Laker is the best big brother EVER it melts my heart how much he loves his little brother already.

Then Monday night happened, Valentines Day, while Corey was taking care of Laker and his bedtime routine I notice Oakley having a hard time catching his breath, not wanting to screw around with a newborn and breathing we packed up as fast as we could with 2 babies and headed over to Holland hospital's emergency room. Being very quickly admitted when you say newborn and breathing in the same sentence our precious little Oakley was checked out right away, everything seemed to look fine but the ER doc wanted to run some tests to be sure. Some blood work, RSV test and a chest x-ray and LOTS of waiting in a small room with a 17 month old that hasn't had a "normal" day in over a week. You can imagine over tired topped with way past bedtime equals TRAIN WRECK!! The chest x-ray showed what could be the very early stages of pneumonia but the Doctor didn't seem real concerned, white blood count showed normal and not even a little temp. to think something could be really wrong so they called our pediatricians office and they wanted some blood work done, and gave him a shot of antibiotic just in case the RSV test was a false negative, and asked us to follow up the next day. We went home feeling assured things would be just fine.

Tuesday morning called for our follow up appointment got in at 3:30 had a normal day and all seem well with Oakley. Around 1pm during a feeding he again seemed to have a hard time catching his breath, nothing is harder than watching your son unable to take a deep breath when needed, but he recover much quicker this time and I felt good to be going to the doctor to have him checked out again. We saw Dr. Miller which isn't Oakley's pediatrician but she was who was called from the ER so was up to speed on his condition. She looked over his chest x-ray and took a good look at him, again he seem to be fine some what congested but she didn't feel comfortable with the way his chest x-ray looked and his white blood count looked so she called the pediatric unit at Holland hospital and had him admitted for observation and to get to the bottom of what could be going on.

So I called Corey he left work I went home to grab a few things and get Laker taken care of, poor kid broke my heart to leave him again but knew it was best for little brother, and off to the hospital we went. Everyone was great we got settled in to our room right away, the nurse's were amazing and the Dr was even in right away to take a look at him. This never happens don't you always wait for hours to see a Doctor at the hospital. Dr. Chamnes (sp) looked him over and thought he looked good to, ask us some questions and went to look over his reports from the ER from the night before. At this point I am beginning to think I am crazy for thinking something is wrong but yet I KNOW something is. Momma always knows best right? Not long and the Doctor was back and confirmed it is a viral infection, caught early so no real symptoms or problems yet but being a viral infection nothing they can do for him as far as treatment. Because he is only 7 days old we are now told we are here for the long haul of at least 48 hours, he will most likely get worse before he gets better. Yeah that is the last thing any parent wants to hear, but Corey and I knew this was the best place for him to be even if it doesn't turn into a full out virus. So all sorts of monitors are hooked up to watch him close and it looks like me and Oakley are staying at the hospital again, but this time no visitors, no nursery for him to go sleep at and no nurse taking care of me and giving me those nice drugs to sleep, its me and my baby in a room and nurses coming in once an hour to check to make sure he is doing good and every few hours checking his vitals. So now we just sit and pray all is well over night and see what tomorrow brings.

Oakley in the hospital crib

All hooked up

Happy "Birth"day Oakley Edward Kragt

We welcomed Oakley Edward Kragt into the world on Tuesday February 8th, 2011 at 4:14pm

Dear Oakley,

From the moment we found out we were pregnant I knew how different from your big brother you would be, You were a very active little guy in the womb. It was so nice and warm you didn't want to come out. On Tuesday February 8th at 7am we went to the Boven Birth Center to be induced this is how the rest of the day went.

• 7:30am Dr. Gootjes checked me I was 4 cm dilated, she then attempted to break my water but couldn't
• 7:45am attempted to start IV of pitocin, 7 pokes 3 nurses and 45 min later they called in the ER nurse to start my line
• 8:45am finally started pitocin
• 9:30am IV drip pump not working good and keeps getting an error, now getting a new pump so I actually start to get pitocin.
• 10:30am contraction 5 min apart
• 10:45am increased pitocin, contraction's getting closer
• 11:37am increased pitocin, contractions 2 minutes and sometimes 4 minutes apart
• 12:30pm increased pitocin contractions 2 minutes apart
• 1:15pm Dr Gootjes broke my water, dilated to 4.5/5cm
• 1:25pm REALLY strong contractions – 2 min apart
• 1:30pm your heart rate dropped really low – Daddy freaks out! Nurse's came running but your heart rate came back up.
• 1:50pm Epidural started, contractions getting really bad
• 2:15pm Mommy feels good Epidural working great no pain, contractions 2 min apart
• 3:00pm Check and at 5cm
• 3:15pm Your heart rate jumped to 245bpm nurse's came running in, then it went right back down to 120, thought maybe it was the monitor moving.
• 3:45pm Checked & fully dilated, called the doctor and just waiting for her to walk across the street.
• 4:10pm doctor arrives and start to push, 4 minutes and 3 contractions later....
• 4:14pm Oakley Edward arrives, cord was wrapped around neck twice but all was good since you came so fast.

Oakley Edward Kragt

7lbs, 4oz, 20.5 inches

February 8th, 2011 at 4:14pm

You are perfect in every way, you look EXACTLY like your brother did with the exception of your hair, you have a medium amount and it is blond, your brothers was very thick and very dark. We love you Oakley welcome to our family.

Blizzard 2011

I was hoping this big blizzard was going to put me into labor.....it did not. So instead Laker wanted to "swim" in the bathtub. This boy LOVES the water.

And as much fun as we had nice and warm inside I had to think about getting to work some how, so we bundled up and outside we went.

View from the garage, not to bad but the end of the drive is where it was really deep.

Well this is how far I got in 1 hour, I had to call in reinforcement if I wanted to get out of the driveway sometime this year let alone to be to work on time.

Laker wasn't much help but he was having fun.

Bailey didn't help much either but these 2 had fun together.

Here is the guy that came to my rescue, We didn't get my car uncovered but I could get the escape out of the garage and down the road. Thank you Corey. Unfortunately Grandma Bev was stuck home too so Daddy got to multi task and work and take care of Laker for the day. (I don't think much work got done after I left)