Looking Back at 2012

Lorena has been home 2 1/2 months!  The time sure does fly by when your having fun...and adjusting to life parenting a preemie.

Looking back, 2012 was a wonderful yet scary year for our family.  2012 started off happy but on Jan 4, I found out I had miscarried after an early sonogram detected no heartbeat.  We had been going to a specialist in Omaha, NE so she performed the D and C and told us we could try again in a month or two. How could we try again so soon?  We knew we weren't going to replace the baby we had miscarried, but we knew we wanted to be parents.  Somewhere deep down, I knew I couldn't dwell on the past and needed to move on with our future.  All along I knew I had to be strong if I wanted to be a Mom.  So we tried again in March and got pregnant with help from the same specialist.  Some people are afraid to talk about infertility.  I must admit, it's not my favorite topic to talk about either.  Infertility exists and it is something that Dan and I accepted.  We did not have to do IVF but I needed special shots of medicine to ovulate.  I always knew that our path to parenthood would be tougher than others.  I shouldn't complain though.  I know other couples whose road to parenthood has been much tougher than ours.  

Flash forward to late April and I had to have emergency ovarian surgery.  That was pretty scary too!  I was about 8 weeks pregnant and there are always risks to the baby when the mom goes under general anesthesia.  Luckily my specialist in Omaha saved my ovary and the baby made it through surgery with flying colors.

Summer was a bit of a whirlwind.  Major drought kept me driving all over central KS with my job and Dan always stayed super busy with wheat harvest, haying, building our new machine shed, and daily chores on the farm.  We also were able to buy our first farm.  Rumor has it that the Barnes Mercantile building's stone was quarried from our farm and others near it south of Barnes.

August 30th I went into preterm labor (due to my water leaking for no apparent reason) and was flown to Topeka.  I recently found this picture that one of the medics took in the helicopter as we flew to Topeka.  Not my best picture, but their jokes really helped brighten my mood on the way to Topeka.

August 30, 2012 - headed to Topeka

After a week of bed rest, Lorena Ruth was born one day shy of 28 weeks on September 6, 2012 at 2 pounds 7.9 ounces and just over 15 inches long.  Lorena came home on Nov 3 after 59 days in the NICU.  Like I said earlier, time has flown by since Lorena came home.  She is a good baby.  She will sleep for about 7 hours each night!  Dan and I are getting pretty spoiled since we don't have to wake her up every three hours to eat anymore.  Lorena weighed 10 pounds 15 1/2 ounces and was 21 3/4 inches long at her last check up (1/10/13) and now officially has fat rolls as seen in her picture below.

Things I've learned in the past few months from parenting a preemie:
1.  You can never have too much hand sanitizer or Lysol in stock
2.  People think you're weird when you use hand sanitizer every time you pick up your baby
3.  You belong to a special club for preemie moms...something most people will never understand since they don't know what you have gone through
4.  You are thankful for what you have gone through (in a weird way) because it makes you appreciate your kids even more
5.  Don't complain about your kids.  Some Moms never get the chance, because their babies are in heaven

11 pounds - mid January 2013

Do Farmers Really Work during the Winter?

Summer is the busiest time of the year on the farm and I often hear my husband say "I will get a chance to do some things when it slows down this winter."  Winter is supposed to be a slow time on the farm.  No crops to plant or harvest, no hay to cut and bale, and no 14 hour days in the wheat field.  However, Dan says this every summer and when winter arrives he is still busy on the farm.  I have yet to see a winter when things really slow down since I have moved to Kansas.  Winter days are filled with feeding cows, preparing for early spring calving season, catching up on projects in the machine shop which are put off during the summer, fixing fences, and finally the most time consuming job and focus of this blog...clearing brush and trees.

I have never really had to help much with this job.  I am usually busy with my full-time job as a crop adjuster.  Now that I have Lorena, I am working from home more and we spend most of our days inside waiting for warmer weather and for flu season to be over.  Today we had a small glimpse of spring so Lorena and I ventured out to the family's latest tree clearing project.

There are many reasons to cut brush:
1.  To prevent pesky little cedars from becoming giant trees that suck moisture out of the ground
2.  To keep the cedar trees from going to seed and spreading all over the farm
3.  To make firewood to heat our house
4.  To make more pasture for our cows and calves to graze on during the summer
5.  To make the pastures more efficient (trees and brush can choke our grass, providing less food for cows to eat)
6.  To make hedge posts for fences and corrals for the cattle
7.  To make the pastures "clean" (which is the main reason to cut brush in my opinion)

Here are some photos I snapped today to give you an idea of how we spend a sunny winter day:

Skid Steer is a necessary piece of equipment for clean up - Jasper appears to be helping in this one

Tree saw attached to skid steer which is used to cut down tree

Once tree is cut down, Dan uses chainsaw to cut straight parts of trunk into fence posts

Dan taking a break.  I have heard stories that he started using a chainsaw when he was 5 years old.

Uncle Phil comes to pick up fence posts

Skid steer used to pile the finished product

The crooked posts and scraps are taken to another pile.  Some good logs are saved for firewood for our wood stoves

Brush pile burning the craps and tree limbs - A common site on the Hiesterman Farm

Dan and Luke taking a break

What I do when the guys are clearing trees:

Explore the pasture.   this is some sort of cactus I found today.

Bring Dan water...it got hot today!

Take care of our chubby angel Lorena Ruth

Cutting trees is labor intensive and time consuming work.  However, the Hiestermans take pride in keeping their pastures clean, similar to how my Dad prides himself on keeping the roadsides mowed during the summer on his farm in Illinois.  Farmers are stewards of the land.  By clearing brush and keeping our trees cut, we are providing a safe and bountiful place for our cattle to pasture.  Our honey-do lists will be bigger come springtime, the kitchen floors may be dirty, our yards may not be mowed every week during the summer, and there may be iron piles scattered all over our yards, but our pastures are always clean.

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Lots of first

Lorena has had a busy few weeks.  She loves to eat and is taking between 3 1/2 to 4 ounces of breast milk/formula each feeding.  She has slept a few times from 11 pm to 6 am (which is an amazing feeling for Daddy and Mommy) but she still gets hungry around 2 am most nights.  Her sucking reflex has improved so much in December.  We had to practically force her to eat when we first brought her home.  Dan and I had to wake her up every three hours to feed, use a finger to stimulate her cheek to remind her to suck, and use another finger to hold her chin up to keep the nipple in her mouth.  She also wasn't strong enough to keep a pacifier in her mouth.  Lorena now takes her bottle quickly and has a strong sucking reflex like a "normal" baby.  Like most parents, I really don't want her to get hooked on her pacifier...but I'm just so excited that she is strong enough to finally keep one in her mouth. Cindy is still watching Lorena while I work.  We are thankful she can take time off to help us out.  Cindy and Ernie also watched Lorena so Dan and I could go celebrate the New Year for a while!  It was a pretty tame New Years Eve...we were home by 12:15.

Cute girl

Lorena has been busy in December:
1.  She is able to keep her pacifier in her mouth

With her pacifier

2.  She likes watching the colors on the tv - she gets this from Dan

3.  She is tracking objects with her eyes

4.  She has "found her hands" and holds them together sometimes

5.  She likes holding onto my clothes when I burp her (and pulling on her Daddy's chest hair)

6.  Her eyes have turned blue.  All preemies have gray eyes and Lorena's are now blue like most newborns.  She will eventually get brown or hazel eyes we think.

7.  She took her first tractor ride!  I left her with Dan for a morning to get my haircut.  He proceeded to take a cardboard box, cut holes for Lorena's legs, and wrap her in blankets.  She slept like this for 3 hours in the tractor with Daddy while he spread manure.  She is definitely a farm girl at heart already. :-)

First tractor ride 12-18-12

8.  She made her first trip to see Grandpa and Grandma Cox in Illinois!  We still hadn't been getting Lorena out much but Dan decided that we would go back to Illinois for Christmas to keep my sanity.  I really was missing "home" since I hadn't been back since the middle of August.  So we packed up Lorena and headed east.  We were gone for 5 days and had a great time.  The weather was cold but traveling went great considering we had a newborn along for the ride.  I'm so glad Lorena likes her carseat.  I have heard of babies that scream all of the time in car seats and I'm so thankful that Lorena is a good traveler.  She usually falls asleep once the car starts moving.  Chillicothe Missouri is our halfway point and was our pitstop on the journey.  After a quick diaper change and feeding, we were back on the road.  Since we still can't have Lorena around too many people, our Christmas gatherings were spent with my immediate family only and a few friends of the family (that are like family to me).  We are also keeping her out of church because there are so many germs and flu bugs floating around now.  Christmas didn't really feel like Christmas without church service though.  Here are some pictures from our trip to Illinois:

with Grandma

Grandpa's hands are much bigger than miss Lorena's

Grandpa's little girl

with her Aunts and Cousins

saying bye to Grandma and Grandpa

Best buds from high school!  Dan got to meet Zach's crazy family too and he loved them!  

Cheering for the Illini.  Too bad we couldn't beat Mizzou...maybe next year.

9.  First time in "the Shop".  I took Lorena outside to make sure Daddy and Cousin Jason were actually working last Saturday afternoon. She wore her snowsuit even though it was 70 degrees in the shop.

Thanks Aunt Maria for the suit

10.  Had Christmas with Dan's immediate family. We missed the big Hiesterman Christmas because we were in Illinois but we were able to go to a small gathering at Dan's parents with his sisters and their families.  It was good to be together.  Lorena got lots of good gifts.

11.  Lorena is finally in 3 months clothes and size 1 diapers.

Ready to go sailing in her stripes

Sleepy princess