meals and visitors

This week since Karen has been home from the hospital we have been truly blessed. We have had friends and family bring food almost every night. We've had grandparents helping out with middle of the night feedings, diapers, laundry, cleaning, and errands. We have also had the joy of seeing our families getting together for a meal and spending the evening together. We couldn't have gotten through this week without all of this help.

Valentine's Day

Liam spent his first Valentine's Day with his grandparents. Linda and Steve took care of him in the morning while Brian was at the hospital with Karen, then Colleen and Burl came in from WV to take over. (Linda was SOOOO happy to see Colleen, she said she hadn't gotten any sleep for the past two nights taking care of Liam for Brian and Karen).

home from the hospital

Well things have been a little crazy here at the Cassidy house...

Some of you knew (most of you had no idea) that Karen went to the last hospital Tuesday night via ambulance. Well after lots of tests and blood work they diagnosed her with pancreatitis, gall stones, and a kidney infection. Wednesday morning around 3am she was admitted into the hospital and put on some pretty heavy pain killers and a strict ice chips only diet.

Thursday she had surgery and they removed her gall bladder (one of the stones had been blocking her common bile duct and causing the pancreas to become inflamed). They said that this will keep her from having any more similar episodes. She was feeling better on Friday until we had a "hiccup" with the pain medication. Karen's mom had noticed some welts on her legs around 10am Friday...at 11am they gave her the first dose of oral pain meds (Percoset sp?)...we noticed some more bumps show up and called the nurse. The nurse (unknown to us) called the doctor, told him what happened and had Karen taken off the Percoset....one small problem...when she was supposed to get the next dose of pain meds at 3pm and Karen called the nurse, the nurse had nothing to give her. She didn't think to ask the doctor what she should give Karen instead of the Percoset and since she didn't tell us...we didn't have the chance to ask that question ourselves. So...here she was at 3pm with the pain meds starting to wear off...at 4pm we still don't have any pain meds (b/c it takes over an hour for a doctor to call in a script, the pharmacy to get it and the nurse to get it)...finally Karen gets some medication (Vicadin) around 4:30 (by this time she was in so much pain she was crying). After all of this happened Karen had a relapse and had to go back to the ice chips diet.

So Saturday she started eating clear liquids (yum..jello), and Sunday Karen was actually feeling better and eating soft foods. However, her labs that they took every morning kept coming back with high numbers, so the doctor's wouldn't let her go home. Monday they did an MRI to see if the reason the labs were coming back high was because of stones that had escaped and were still hanging out causing problems.

Finally, Tuesday morning when the surgeon did his rounds he said enough is enough. The labs are still elevated but he wanted to send Karen home anyways. She has 3 follow-up visits with 3 different doctors that in the next 2 weeks, but at least she's home. :-)

trying on new outfits

Liam has so many people buying cute clothes for him...his Auntie AJ bought him a coat that looks like a teddy bear, his Daddy bought him a fun shirt ("I take my bottle shaken not stirred"), and his Auntie Kelly bought him a shirt that speaks the truth: 'What- Party, Where- my crib, When- 2am".

Liam is 1 month old!

Our little boy is 1 month old! On Sunday, February 10th, we had a relaxing day at home, then went to Nana and Pop's house for dinner. On Monday we had our 1 month check-up and physical at the doctor's office. Liam is 9 pounds (25th percentile) and 21.5 inches long (50th percentile).

Super Bowl

We went to Aunt Dana and Uncle Chris's house to watch the Super Bowl. Dana's sisters were there (and all got to hold Liam) and Pat (Liam's Grandfather) came as well. Mommy found the best shirt for Liam to wear while watching the Super Bowl with his Daddy. It said "Shhhh...I'm watching the game with Dad". Unfortunately, Liam slept the entire time we were there...so he wasn't really watching the game. He waited until we got home after halftime to open his baby blues and "watch" the game.

posing in some of his favorite outfits

Liam got a lot of cute outfits from friends and family...and Mommy loves taking pictures of him wearing his favorite gear. Two of Daddy's coworkers got him the I heart puppies shirt and his Uncle Daniel got hi the Steelers outfit.

Liam and his girls

Liam has two beautiful cousins here in Virginia...and on January 21st he got another beautiful cousin in Ohio! His cousin Madison (2 1/2 years old) loves giving him kisses and holding him. His cousin Cameron (4 months old) coos and giggles with him. He hasn't met his cousin Hannah (2 weeks old) yet, but he can't wait to see her and "talk" with her too!

Liam's first bath!

We gave Liam his first bath on Sunday, January 20th. He didn't like it when we first put him in the tub...but once we started washing him, he stopped crying and seemed to enjoy his bath. When we stopped rinsing him off, we couldn't get him out of the tub fast enough and into a warm towel.

pictures from 1 week old

We had our first big snow on January 17th...and Liam was one week old! We had a busy week getting adjusted to being at home and all of the doctor's appointments. We had to go to the doctor on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. The doctor had us coming in because she was concerned about Liam's jaundice coming back and the fact that he wasn't gaining weight like he should. However, when we went on Thursday we got some great news. Liam had gained 3 ounces! His umbilical cord fell off too...so we can give him his first bath!

Liam's vistors

Our first week at home Liam got a lot of visitors...he got to see all of his grandparents again; his Uncle Chris, Aunt Dana, and cousins Madison and Cameron came over; Steve and Katie Luttrell came for a visit (and brought food, diapers and hand sanitizer); Auntie AJ stopped by with gifts and hugs; Greg Schaub, Cristin and Anthony Crutcher came over for dinner one night; Uncle Daniel drove down from New York (he just couldn't wait to meet his nephew); and our church youth advisors came to the house to meet and have some Chinese food.