Introducing Johnathan Douglas Bierer

Johnathan Douglas Bierer was born on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 9:12am. He weighed in at 7lbs 11oz and was 19.25 inches long.

Johnathan was born by planned c-section, but apparently he had planned to be born that day whether we were ready or not, because my water broke about 15 minutes before surgery. :) Talk about timing!



Doug got to be there, our doctors and nurses were wonderful, and the whole experience could not have been better! Unlike Danika's birth, there were no complications, nothing unexpected (except the water breaking!) and the recovery has been a breeze so far. Not that it is without pain, but compared to complications last time, this is a piece of cake! :) As soon as they let me get out of bed (24 hours after the surgery) I felt GREAT. I even convinced them to let me out of the hospital a full day early because I was feeling so wonderful. It was great to be home and to have our little family of four all under one roof.




Danika ADORES her baby brother. She loves to kiss him and pat him and she has been really gentle with him. We are so proud of her. She loves to be Mommy's helper and wants to help change diapers and assist in putting his binky back in when it falls out. :) Yesterday she crawled up next to me leaned over, gently put her hands on both sides of Johnathan's face and softly said, "I love you baby John. You are my best friend." Talk about melting a Mommy's heart.
I feel so blessed I am just beyond amazed at this precious gift times two. To be entrusted by God to care for these two precious lives and to raise them to love Him...it overwhelms me sometimes.


And speaking of being overwhelmed...I have the most amazing husband. I will post more about it later, but for now let's just say I love that man. He was just fantastic through the birth and the subsequent days in the hospital and now that we are home, I just couldn't ask for more support or help than I get from him. He is just fantastic.

John is doing great...already gained back all of his birthweight and then some. He is a great eater, and sleeps in decent chunks, so I'm tired but not falling apart. He is easy going and pretty easy to appease...so far so good!






So....the adventure shifts to a new chapter as the little Bierer family becomes four instead of three. Thanks for tuning in! :)

Praying for Papa Jerry

I just wanted to drop a quick entry in here to let all of you know about my Dad.

A few weeks ago my Dad (Andrea's Dad, Jerry Endicott) had a large spot on his head looked at and biopsied. They tested it, said it was benign, but decided to remove it anyway. Mom called on Friday to tell me that the results from the removed section of skin came back and Dad has melanoma.

Mom and Dad are in the decision making phase of all of this...I talked to them this morning and they are pretty sure they are going to switch the care of all of this to a specialized melanoma research project in MI, but I know that this is all coming at them very fast. If you can pray for them and the decisions and choices they need to make, I would greatly appreciate it. I feel like I'm already running on empty and my ability to think clearly and "help" in this situation is somewhat diminished...so pray for me too.

Oh- and Danika is running a fever, and this baby is due in 4 weeks, and work has me tremendously stressed out, and we are still reeling from the events of the last several weeks and the sharp pain in my side has not gone away yet and I can't sleep. Other than that, things are great. :)

I just laugh a lot right now...otherwise I would cry. :) God says He won't give us more than we can handle...I personally think He has way too much confidence in my mental state. :)

In all seriousness, I am starting to feel a bit "hollow" and "numb" with all that is going on around me...and I don't want to do any of the really important aspects of my life the disservice of "checking out" and not engaging emotionally with what is happening. My parents need support, my husband needs a wife, my little girl needs a mommy, and this baby boy needs me to be 100% when he enters this world. So...I am trying.

Just wanted to keep you updated on our life...thanks for tuning in. :) I'll try to stay sane enough to write more soon. :)

love,
andrea

Sick again...and again....and again...

Will it never end?!?!?!?!?!? How can we possibly be sick AGAIN?!?!?!?

**WARNING: Lots of disgusting references to vomit in this entry - Read at your own risk**

We got the flu over the weekend. The full-blown, everyone barfing, near-death experience, flu.

Danika started barfing Friday...Doug had to go get her from daycare because I was out of town. She had a rough day Friday, but Saturday she seemed all better. Hit the ground running in the morning, ate breakfast & lunch...everything seemed fine.

So...Doug took her to the mall to see the pets at the pet store. As he was walking her around...she barfed. All over herself, the stroller, the floor. He was thrilled to say the least. He brought her home and she had a rough afternoon and evening again. The next morning, I woke up feeling really sick, Doug woke up barfing, and Danika seemed fine.

UNTIL...the Superbowl started. Then...she barfed 4 times during the game. Doug was still tossing his cookies and I still felt like crap, and it was just one huge disaster. And to make it all WORSE, Danika gets scared when she starts to throw up and she runs around. Oh yes...a child with vomit spewing from her mouth running in circles in my living room. LOVELY. She managed to slime every piece of furniture in the room. It was awful. And dragging ourselves to clean it up when we are retching and gagging was miserable, too.

I started to throw up around midnight...and it got worse from there. Monday Doug was still recovering, I was worshipping the porcelain goddess all day long, but Danika was finally back in action for real...which made for a REALLY boring day for her. Doug and I were still so miserable at one point I woke up on the couch, I look across from me and Doug is sound asleep on the blue chair, and then glance to my side and Danika is sitting completely still in our big blue rocking chair. Not playing. Not watching tv. Not sleeping. Just sitting. And watching...us. Waiting for one of us to open our eyes. As soon as she saw me, she jumped up, ran over and asked, "Wake up now, mommy? Up now?" Poor kid was bored out of her skull.

Today is the first day the whole family has been back on their feet since Friday. What an awful time of year...we have been sick since NOVEMBER! I seriously think I'm going to lose my mind.

So....if you are wondering why I haven't written much in the blog this past week...there's your answer.

Now please excuse me...I need to go scrub vomit stains out of my couch and rug and use about 4 bottles of Lysol on my entire house.