Emily On The Run

Try as they might, Emily's soccer team fell Friday night, 5-4. Emily had one assist on a goal and played fullback much of the match. The game was played at Mary Our Queen field, where Dad once played his soccer games.

Saturday, Lauren and Julia play at Christ The King field, where Dad played his home soccer games in grade school.

Night Time Is Right Time For Veronica

Veronica lost her belly button "thingy" (as the girls call it) on Wednesday and that seemed to open the door for a better night's sleep for everyone.

She slept four hours between feedings that night, then did the same Thursday night. Perhaps it is the colder weather that has helped her turn things around.

She also enjoys her motorized swing (pictured at left). Could it be she has her mother's love of thrill rides?


Olivia ready for soccer (at bedtime) and dress-up (at dinner).

Olivia was in "dress up" mode tonight, which meant we had a special visit from Snow White at dinner time. An hour later, we got a visit from a pajama-wearing "Pele" in cleats and shinguards. No, she did not wear them to bed.

Friday night, Emily has a soccer game. In last week's game, she scored a goal — and only Aunt Bridget and Uncle Jon were there to see it. Hopefully she can work her magic again with her family in place to see it. Lauren and Julia have their soccer game Saturday.

Say "Cheese"

We received Veronica's baby picture from the hospital in the mail today. As you can see, it's pretty standard.

What we didn't notice at the time was that she was "throwing" a gang sign. Looking back, we should have been clued in by her baggy clothing...

People have been asking us who Veronica looks like. Judge for yourself from these baby pictures of the other YD girls.



Clockwise from top right: Lauren, Olivia, Julia, Emily.

Obviously, Lauren's photo needs some explanation. Her "sick in the hospital" picture was taken about a week after she was born with fetal hydrops. As defined by "webmd.com," fetal hydrops is a serious condition in which the fetus becomes extremely swollen from buildup of fluids in the body tissues. Organs such as the liver and spleen become enlarged, anemia sets in and the ability of the baby's blood to carry oxygen is decreased. Even with treatment, survival rates are low.

In Lauren's case, her fetal hydrops was detected on an ultrasound at 33 weeks. Delivered by emergency c-section 45 minutes later, she was unconscious and not breathing. So much fluid had accumulated in her body that her heart had been pushed to the right side of her chest. Doctors inserted two chest tubes to drain the fluid and surgery to remove part of her lung started her on the road to recovery.

Forty days later, she came home with us, attached to a heart monitor. Tests never revealed why she developed the condition. Now if she can just quit sucking her thumb...

The Tooth Fairy Cometh

All Lauren wants for Christmas are her two front teeth...

We knew Lauren was close to losing her other front tooth. What we didn't know was that she would eat it as soon as it fell out.

Editor's Note: The same thing happened to her dad at Denny's in Kansas City when he was seven years old. That is why he no longer eats hamburgers at Denny's.

So, with no tooth to leave for the Tooth Fairy, Lauren was resigned to leaving a note beneath her pillow explaining the situation.

When the tooth fairy comes to the YD house, she always comes bearing gifts. As you can see from the picture below, it amounts to quite a handful.


The Tooth Fairy always leaves plenty of "swag" when she visits.

The pink box (which had a dollar's worth of quarters in it) comes tucked in the Tooth Fairy bear. Also left behind was a new book (not pictured) and a handwritten note:

Dear Lauren:

What? You ate another one of your teeth! Do they taste good? Next time, try to get it under your pillow for me, OK? I flew in to check on your mom again and I almost flew into a baby bed! Congratulations on your new baby sister! I’ll bet you are proud and happy to have her. I also saw the note on your refrigerator. It made me sad to see that you might miss your friend’s birthday party because you have been (misbehaving). C’mon sweetie, you know what you need to do to make your parents happy and proud. Please try to do better, OK?

Hope you enjoy your new book!

Love you,

The Tooth Fairy

When Lauren goes to bed tonight, she will put the pink coin box and bear beneath her pillow, along with a thank you note that the Tooth Fairy will retreive overnight.

Is It Morning Already?

Morning seems to be coming earlier and earlier these days -- and likely for two reasons: it is darker when we wake up and we don't get a lot of sleep during the night (as you can see from the photos above).

Veronica isn't featured as prominently in the pictures above because she was the only one getting any sleep when it was time to wake up this morning. Must be nice to be able to sleep in...

This week is ITBS testing for Emily. It's a gauge of her progress up to this point in third grade. Dad went out and got her some special "brain food" (Fruity Pebbles) so she would have a good breakfast. Good luck, Emily.

Bathing 'Vergonika'

In our house, not everyone likes "bath night." But when it came time Sunday night to give their new sister her first at-home wash, the girls made sure they were in the middle of it all.

Lauren, Julia and Olivia were the most interested, helping get the warm water, scrubbing Veronica with soap, reassuring her with a gentle voice that it would soon be finished, etc. Having been through this already, Emily wasn't as anxious to contribute, but she did have fun watching her little sisters fight over the responsibilities of helping mom and dad.

We also learned today that the name "Veronica" can be quite a mouthful for some. Olivia says "Vergonika." It reminds us of when Emily couldn't say Lauren's name very well. Instead, she said "Lo-Lo."

Are We There Yet?

(From left): Julia, Lauren and Olivia spent nearly five hours in the car today. And not once did they say, "Are we there yet"?

Sometimes there are commitments you just have to keep. Even if you have a newborn. Such is the case with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Tour de Trace bicycle event happening Sunday. Today, Dad took three of the girls with him to mark the 100-mile route, which stretches from Council Bluffs to Hamburg, Iowa.

Helped by meals from Burger King, candy from a local Casey's store (in Hamburg) and treats at McDonald's, the girls endured stop after stop as Dad marked the course with spray paint and signs. Tomorrow, he'll be gone for about seven hours while the event is actually going on. Here's hoping the girls are just as cooperative.

Hurricane Veronica

As Hurricane Rita made landfall, Hurricane Veronica was making her presence known, too.

2:30 a.m. CST, Sept. 24 — Doesn't Veronica know the routine yet? Sleep at night, stay awake during the day, stay awake while feeding and no screaming in the early morning.

Seasoned parents know there's always that adjustment phase when a newborn comes home. But this was getting ridiculous. Three nights of virtually no sleep because of Veronica. After dad monitored her routine (10 minutes of eating, 10 minutes of sleeping, 20 minutes of screaming, repeat), mom called the experts at HealthTouch One. It could be a variety of things, they said. Bottom line, give us a call in the morning.

So Veronica has the distinction of getting to watch live coverage of Hurricane Rita making landfall. In case you missed it, take a look:

Veronica's 'Other' Mom

Whatever Veronica is doing, Olivia is there to watch over her.

There's always a "mother hen" in the family when we have a new baby and this time, the title is easily bestowed on Olivia. The former "baby" of the family may only be three years old, but she acts like a 30-year-old mother — constantly watching over Veronica, rubbing her head, asking if she needs her diaper changed, etc.

Veronica, on the other hand, is acting like a four-day-old baby - hardly sleeping at night, crying when she's hungry, crying when she's wet and sleeping during the daytime when everyone wants to see her with her eyes open. Doesn't she know the other girls were never this way?

The First Night At Home

Danielle, Olivia and Veronica (in car seat) enjoy the ride home.

It's hard to settle down from a ride in a limo, much less one with a new baby in tow. So when it came time to put the girls down for bed, it was quite an experience. The past two nights, the girls were screaming that they wanted their mom. This time, with mom home, they wanted dad. You would have thought Julia and Olivia would have been tired, not having a nap and having tagged along with dad all day. But no, they were still awake about a half-hour after being tucked in.

As for Veronica, she didn't sleep a whole lot. Mom and dad were up with her about every hour. She even got to take in a late-night (or should we say "early morning") movie on HBO with dad about 3:30. Here's hoping she gets her days and nights figured out.

We promised more pictures of our luxurious ride home from the hospital. This is the Racing Limo provided by Extreme Limousine. It's quite a ride and is turning heads all over town. If you know of someone who wants to advertise on it, drop us an e-mail. Chuck and Shala Grave, the co-owners of Extreme Limousine, are fantastic people and provide an excellent service. They have a fleet of six luxurious vehicles so think of them the next time you want to travel in style with excellent service.

They're Home!

Posing in front of our Racing Limo, provided by Extreme Limousine, are (back row, left to right): Danielle's mother, Beppie, Danielle, Sean, Emily and Sean's twin sister, Aunt Bridget. Front row (left to right): Julia, Olivia, Veronica and Lauren.

A lot of things have changed since the birth of Emily eight years ago. For one, Danielle did not have to ride in a wheelchair from her room to the front door on her way out. And we did not have a limousine take us home from the hospital with the other four girls, either.

Thanks very much to Shala and Chuck Graeve of Extreme Limousine for the ride home in style in their new "Racing Limo." (We'll be posting more pictures of it later.) It was quite a thrill and the girls all cheered when we pulled into the driveway.

Aunt Bridget and Dad celebrated their birthdays today. They were both born on Sept. 21, six years apart. Aunt "Dee-Dee" as she is known, is the most unbelievable helper of anyone around. She is always there to attend to our every need and her husband, Jon, is very understanding of her taking time away from him to help us out. We appreciate it!

Get Used To It Girls

Olivia and Julia quickly get the hang of the "big sister" thing.

There's always a period of adjustment when a new baby arrives. Veronica isn't even home yet and already there is some chaos in the YD house.

Some of it probably stems from not having mom around. The other factor is all the excitement surrounding Veronica's arrival. The past two days have been a whirlwind of getting the girls to school, picking them up, running up to the hospital, getting Julia and Lauren to a soccer game, etc. Then, when it's finally bedtime, some tears have been shed over the absence of mom (and Veronica).




All we can say is:
Lauren, get used to that sound.


On Wednesday afternoon, Veronica and mom will be heading home from the hospital in style. The owners of Extreme Limousine, Chuck and Shala Graeve, have generously offered to pick up everyone at Methodist in a 21-passenger limousine. It should be quite a sight. (We'll post pictures, of course).

Veronica's First 24 Hours

Veronica slept fairly well her first night. She was asleep from 12:30 a.m. until 4 and seemed to prefer sleeping next to Danielle, rather than in her little in-room crib.

Veronica's nasal passages are a little swollen, meaning she is having problems breathing through her nose. However, she is a very good eater.

Danielle still believes her due date of Sept. 18 was off -- probably about a week too late. "She really acts older than she is," Danielle says.

Danielle is doing well. She seems to have fared better with this birth than any of the previous four.

Danielle's Biggest Helpers

For the past three YD girl births, Danielle has received tremendous support from two people (three, if you count Sean). Her mother, Beppie, and sister, Frans, have been there every minute of the way, offering support and encouragement.

Frans not only acted as Danielle's "birthing coach" but also provided yummy treats afterwards. Bep helped out in every way imaginable and has continued to be on hand while the rest of the YD family goes about the school and home routine.

A Visit From The Big Sisters

Veronica's older sisters nearly overwhelmed their little 'sis.

The waiting was the hardest part for Emily, Lauren, Julia and Olivia. They were at Aunt Dee-Dee's house when word of Veronica's birth was posted on the blog. All but Olivia had guessed they would have a big brother. But they were far from disappointed.

They arrived at the hospital about 6:30 p.m. and couldn't wait to hold little Veronica. And they surprised her with a birthday cake. And Veronica surprised them with "big sister" gifts.

Veronica Karlie Weide

Dr. Bassett poses with Veronica and Danielle.

Veronica has a nice full head of hair and incredibly big feet. Her weight beats Olivia (Baby YD No. 4), who was 8 pounds, 12 ounces. She is anxious to meet her four older sisters, who will be coming up to the hospital later tonight.

It's A Girl!

Meet Veronica Karlie Weide

Time of birth: 3:38 p.m.
Height: 21 inches
Weight: 9 pounds, 3 ounces

"That by far was the easiest," Danielle says. She pushed for all of eight minutes.

Veronica has already found her thumb...

The Final Push

What started at 8:30 this morning is now less than an hour away.

When Joan checked at 2:53 p.m., Danielle was nine centimeters and the baby was at zero station. We are now waiting for the arrival of Dr. Bassett, who will be there to "catch" the baby when it comes out. (He's glad it didn't come during Saturday's Nebraska football game.)

Seven And Counting.

So much for the "two people in the room" rule...

Pictured above from left to right: Laura, Stacy, Sara, Joan and Danielle.

Danielle is now at seven centimeters, "definitely progressing" as Joan puts it. So for the first time all day, they will not be turning up the pitosin. And for the first time, the epideral is not keeping Danielle from moving her legs.

So, following five hours of frustration, we are finally up and running on the live Internet coverage from inside Danielle’s room. It’s a flashback to our first narrative back in 1997 – using a dial-up connection. By the way, Danielle’s mom thought “blogging” was an abbreviated term for “baby log.”

Still Waiting for Baby YD No. 5

Rested, relaxed and ready for Baby YD #5.

Welcome to live coverage of the birth of Baby YD#5. We’re coming to you from the ninth floor of Methodist Hospital here in Omaha.

For those of you who are new to the YD Baby narratives, we have been doing this since Emily was born in March of 1997. At that time, Sean was using a Macintosh laptop with a dial-up Internet connection. Today’s coverage is being brought to you via an HP laptop (thank you Patrick Ragland) and IP connection in the “Daddy Room” here in the maternity ward.

6:52 a.m.
Lauren came into Danielle’s room this morning and without even acknowledging her, started singing “Happy Birthday” to her stomach.

7:30 a.m.
As the girls were getting ready for school, they had a lot of questions. Will it hurt? Will you bleed? How long will you be in the hospital? Emily looks a little nervous, but Julia is excited about having Aunt Bridget pick her up from school.

8:15 a.m.
Only 15 minutes late, we arrive at the Methodist. One time, we had to use the emergency entrance after hours and the security officer offered Danielle a wheelchair. This time, no one even gives us a second glance as we walk in the main doors. We’re hoping for a bigger room than we had last time (2002 when Olivia was born).

8:35 a.m.
Our nurse for the day will be Joan, who has worked in the maternity ward for seven years. She doesn’t get off until 7 p.m., so she’ll be with us for the long haul. Shadowing her today is Sara, a senior at Clarkson College. Beth, a resident medical student, also shows up. We’re a little leery of students, since one of them did a poor job of stitching up Danielle after Julia was born.

8:50 a.m.
The clock is ticking now that the pitocin is dripping into Danielle’s IV. Things are really hopping in the maternity ward, Joan says. They have already delivered more than 200 babies this month. Over the course of a normal month, about 300 to 375 babies are delivered.

9 a.m.
Stacy, who is Olivia’s godmother, arrives with her fiancé, Michael. It’s good to see her, since she has the laptop. She also brought Dani a purple heffalump named Lumpy. He’s making himself at home on her stomach.

9:15 a.m.
Dr. Bassett arrives. Danielle asks him what his guess is for a delivery time. He said he has a c-section at 2 p.m., so 3 p.m. is great. By lunch would be even better, Joan says.

Dr. Bassett says Danielle is about two centimeters dialated, which is no change from the past three weeks. He also said she is 60 percent effaced, which is less than the 80 percent he told Danielle she was a week ago. “He just tells you what you want to hear in the office,” Joan says.

9:59 a.m.
Joan has increased the pitosin to try and “get things going.” But so far, nothing is happening. If the pitosin does not work, they’ll have to do a c-section.

10:25 a.m.
Sean is working to get the computer’s wireless connection going. Unfortunately, it is not working. So we’re going to Plan B. to get these updates on-line.

10:30 a.m.
Danielle’s mom, Beppie, arrives. She is one of five people in the room now: Stacy, Michael, Sean, Dani’s sister Frans, and Dani’s niece, Laura. Joan made a comment earlier that only two people could be in the room at the time of delivery, but that she could “make an exception” for us.

10:55 a.m.
The pitosin dose has now gone from six to 18 to 24 to 30 on the levels. Dani is feeling some contractions, but nothing to shout about.

11:10 a.m.
We can hear the woman next door delivering. Danielle described it this way: “We heard them counting and she pushed three times and the next thing we heard was the baby crying.”

11:20 a.m.
It is nearly time for the local midday news programs to begin. When Sean was working at KMTV in 1999 (Lauren), 2000 (Julia) and 2002 (Olivia), Danielle was mentioned on the station’s Midday news when they showed KMTV’s Skyview camera at 72nd & West Dodge pointed west toward the hospital.

11:30 a.m.
Joan has upped the pitosin level to 36. The contractions are two to four minutes apart at right now.

Noon
It’s lunch time – for everyone buy Danielle. She hasn’t had anything to eat since about 7:30 last night. They don’t let moms eat anything after midnight on the day before induction, to prevent nausea.

12:15 p.m.
We have decided to start the movie Stacy brought, “Guess Who,” starring Ashton Kuchar.

12:30 p.m.
Joan checked and Danielle is four centimeters and 80 percent effaced. Her pitosin level has been upped to 48.

12:50 p.m.
So much for the movie. They are administrating the epideral, so everyone but Frans has been cleared from the room.

1 p.m.
Dr. Bassett is back to check on her progress a little early. He said she’s pushing five centimeters and projects the delivery to come about 4 p.m. He said we have to be finished by 5 p.m. because he has a big office meeting. He is off to do a c-section, which will take about 40 minutes.

1:10 p.m.
Danielle says her legs and feet feel warm, but she is experiencing a little shortness of breath. Joan doesn’t think it’s a problem, but she is going to let the anesthesiologist know about it.

1:45 p.m.
The anesthesiologist has arrived to check on Danielle, who said it feels like someone is standing on her chest. Jolon is also in to find out why we are not regularly hearing the heartbeat. Danielle can still use her legs. Joe said that they have changed the way epiderals are, so that you can push.

Final Preparations

Can you figure out what this painting is all about?


The girls show off their custom-painted shirts from Methodist Hospital.

We're inside the 24-hour countdown and that means the final preparations are being made at the YD house.

This afternoon, Mom took the girls outside to work on several projects in anticipation of Schnickelfritz's expected arrival tomorrow. The patio table made a great workstation for the girls, who were joined by a few of our neighbors. We'll be showing you the finished painting (above) after the baby is born.


Emily carefully touched up the clouds.

Julia was meticulous in painting her special t-shirt.

Lauren was charged with painting the sun.

Olivia took care of painting in the grass.

Girls Go 0-2 For The Weekend

Julia's expression reflects the disappointment of Saturday's loss.

Emily continued her "road tripping" of the fall soccer season with a game way out west at 156th & Pacific Friday night. Unfortunately, her Raiders came up on the short side, losing 2-1. It actually looked like they might runaway with the game after scoring in the first minute. But "Number 95" (as Uncle Jon liked to refer to her) took over, keeping Emily's team from scoring again.

Julia and Lauren's "Lions" team played Saturday at noon at St. Margaret Mary. For some reason, Julia decided she was too tired to play, so it was left up to Lauren to try and score a goal and earn a post-game trip for ice cream.

Unfortunately, no one on the team found the back of the net in a 2-0 loss to the Rockets. The girls played fairly well, but just never got things going.

If you watched the Nebraska-Pittsburgh game, you know what we mean...

Lauren was all smiles before the game, showing off her toothless grin.