The family you come from isn't as important as the family you are going to have. ~Ring Lardner
Daisypath Anniversary tickers

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Cinderella

I told you back in December that I would share some videos by Steven Curtis Chapman...so here you are. This song is a terrific reminder that times flies by so quickly. It is hard to believe that Isabel is already over a month old!! She will always be our little princess. If you would like to view the new video that has come out please follow the following link.
http://www.stevencurtischapman.com/cinderella.htm

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Lazy Saturday

We have had quite a lazy Saturday!!! Garrett and Isabel let us sleep in today. Isabel woke up about 6:30 and decided she didn't want to sleep by herself anymore. I picked her up and put her in bed with me (I know...that is terrible, but she likes to finish her sleep while resting on my chest), and she slept longer than Garrett. Garrett started babbling about 8:00 and at 8:30 I went in and got him out of bed. Joel stayed in bed with Isabel for a little while longer. Garrett and I had a fun morning watching cartoons and having oatmeal. Joel and Isabel then decided it was time to get out of bed. Joel's dad came over and they changed his car headlight and I have cleaned the kitchen and worked on some laundry. Other than that, we haven't done much else!!!!









Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Miracle

Joel and I are so thankful for our 2 beautiful miracles-Garrett and Isabel. It is still very important to us that we continue to think about other couples who are struggling with the same things we struggled with-infertility. Joel and I struggled with unexplained infertility for about 3 1/2 years. During that time, everyone we knew, knew we were trying to have a baby. Unfortunately, not everyone understands the heartache and emotions that go along with it.

After dealing with infertility, we decided that it was in God's plan for us to adopt a baby. Boy was that ever in his plan!!! We now have the most beautiful, precious little boy in the world. Having him sure makes everything we went through worth it. God also had something else in mind...He knew that we were meant to be Garrett's parents first and then He would bless us with another child. We were fully prepared for Garrett to be an only child, but He had other plans!!! We were once again blessed with God's truly unending love and grace...we were given our precious Isabel Grace (thus where her middle name came from).

We have been on the end of things where we were happy for someone that had a baby, but we were also heartbroken about our own situation. It is very important to us that we continue to love, pray and support everyone that is going through the same thing that we went through. We know that God has a plan for each one of us, we usually don't know what that plan is until something else is brought before us. I know that we were given Garrett because He knew how much we wanted a child, and then we were meant to have another child. Most people will say, "That always happens...adopt a child and then you will get pregnant." That is not why we adopted Garrett, but we will take it. That doesn't mean that everyone that adopts will also be given the miracle of pregnancy. That doesn't mean that one couple is more deserving than another. Why does it happen that way for some couples...I don't know. The only thing I do know is that we are all truly blessed by His love.

Please click the link below and go through the infertility journey with all of us that have been there, or are still there.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Today

One month ago tonight, Isabel Grace came into this beautiful world. It is amazing to me to think that she is actually 1 month old!!! She has really grown since she was born. In the NICU, she got down to 4 lbs 11 oz, now she weighs 6 lbs 2 oz. Her preemie clothes are beginning to get a little tighter. She used to swim in them, and now she fits into them quite nicely.

Let me know if you can see the resemblance in these 2 pictures...










Monday, March 17, 2008

We are making it

Did you think that I had lost my sanity??? I haven't posted in a while due to the craziness of my schedule!!! Isabel is doing great. She sleeps great during the day. I often times have to wake her up to feed her. The nights are a totally different story though. She tries to get up every 2 hours if possible. We are working on making sure that doesn't happen. We do everything we can think of to try and calm her down before giving in to feed her. I know some of you have gotten to see our beautiful little angel. I made a few stops last week to show off Isabel. I went by my office one day last week and then I went by Joel's office. We also made it to church on Sunday. We weren't able to get around quite fast enough to make it to Sunday School, but we did make it to the Easter Cantata. We spent the remainder of Sunday with Joel's family, his sister was in town with her family, so we enjoyed some family time with them.
The only way we are making it while Joel is at work is because my mom is coming over to help me. I don't think I would be able to handle it otherwise. I had both kids by myself for about 1 1/2 hours today. During that time, I experienced my first bit of chaos!! Both of them were crying at the same time. At that point, I had to decide who I could get calmed down the fastest. Garrett won that fight. I knew I could get him calmed down in a couple minutes and down for a nap, so sweet little Isabel had to cry for those few minutes. It is so hard for me to let either one of then cry, but when Garrett is crying, looking at me with tears in his eyes, and reaching his arms for me, I couldn't feel any more like a loser!!!!



A few pictures for those of you that have been asking...

Friday, March 7, 2008

Our Family of 4

Is HOME!!!! I went to feed Isabel this morning at 10:30. Shortly after I got there, the neonatologist on for the day came over to give her the once over. She asked me a number of questions and then sprung this one on me, "So, do you want to take her home today?" I had to asked her if she was serious a couple of times!!! I guess she was serious because as I type this, Joel is being a great husband and making me a peanut butter and jelly for dinner, Garrett is playing with his cars in the floor, and Isabel is sleeping in her cradle.

We we released from the NICU at 5:50 this evening. At discharge, Isabel weighed 5 lbs 7 oz. She is putting weight on like crazy!!! She has gained 2 oz since yesterday. We will go to the doctor Monday morning and they will do a weight check on her to make sure that she has continued to gain weight while home with us this weekend.

Garrett was pretty cute to watch as he checked out his baby sister. At first he stared at her and then he started reaching for her. Joel put his face up to Isabel's head and stuck his lips right on her head!!! Her first kiss from her big brother. Too cute!!!

I'll let you know how the night goes when I get up tomorrow. No more sleep filled nights!!!

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Are you hungry?

Isabel is sure hungry!!!! We have been fighting hard to get a full 24 hours without using her feeding tube. Well.......she has accomplished her final goal!!!!! Her feeding tube was removed today at 2:00pm. That is actually a couple hours prior to her 24 hour period, but the doctor felt very confident that we weren't going to have to use her tube at her next feeding. She did not have to use it then, or at her 7:30 feeding!!! I am anxious to call the NICU in a few minutes to see how she did at her 10:30 feeding.

Now what??? Isabel's nurse told us that they would probably monitor her for a few days to make sure that she is still eating, still gaining weight (she weighs 5 lbs 5 oz now), and doesn't have any episodes where her heart rate goes down. A common occurrence with preemies is the heart rate drop. These precious little babies don't quite know how to suck, swallow and breathe at the same time. When this happens, the milk is held in the back of the throat and they don't know that they need to swallow it and then take a breath. She hasn't had an episode of her heart rate going below 80 since 3/5, so we are hopeful that she won't have that happen again.

Call it a hunch, but I have a gut feeling that we will be home as a family of 4 by Monday.
I go to the doctor tomorrow to have my incision checked, so say a little prayer for me. I am hoping that there isn't much pain involved in this appointment!!!!

Keep those prayers coming!!!!

Love to All!!!!

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Slow Progress

Isabel is making slow progress. In order for her to have her feeding tube removed, Isabel has to be able to take all of her feedings for at least 24 hours. We will almost make it through our 8 feedings, but then she will decide that she is too tired to finish eating. We know that she is making progress because she is eating her entire feedings most of the time. Once she starts taking her feedings, her feeding tube will be removed and then we will be ready to go home!!!! YEA!!!!!

Isabel is sure starting to show her personality!!! She is little miss attitude. (I don't know where she gets that from!!!!) Joel went to visit her this morning around 7:45 and she was crying. As soon as Joel held her, she stopped crying. He then put her down and she started crying again...and she didn't stop until I got there to feed her at 10:30!!!!!! Needless to say, she didn't eat her entire bottle at that feeding...she was too tired!!!!!

Garrett is growing like a weed. Joel took him to the doctor while I was in the hospital. He now weighs 22.6 pounds!!!!! He is a MONSTER!!!!! 7 months old and 22.6 pounds----whew!!!!! It is amazing to see how he is growing and changing every day!!!! He eats baby food for lunch and dinner, he then has bottle in between those feedings. He is also able to entertain himself for longer periods of time. Yesterday we sat him in the floor with some of his toys and he played by himself for about 45 minutes!!! He amazes me everyday!!!!! We are anxious to bring Isabel home and see how Garrett reacts to her. I think he will stare at her in complete awe.

That is all the excitement that is going on with us right now.

Love to All!!!

Monday, March 3, 2008

Isabel Grace has ARRIVED!!!!

I know it has been a while since I posted, but we have had a lot going on. Here is the story...in a nutshell.

Monday, February 18-I went to the doctor for my usual visit and non-stress test. After they saw that Isabel wasn't moving very much, my doctor had me have an ultrasound done. Everything looked great, but she still wasn't moving. I then saw my doctor and she sent me to Labor & Delivery for a few hours of monitoring. I was monitored for about 4 hours and then they finally sent me home.

Tuesday, February 19-My mother-in-law came over to check my blood pressure after she got off work. As usual, it was quite high...just much higher than normal. She told me that I needed to call the on-call doctor. Luckily my doctor was the one on-call. She told us that I needed to be taken to L&D right away and to pack a bag. She figured I would be staying a couple of days to be monitored.

Wednesday, February 20-I met with a perinatologist and she was the lucky one to break the news to me....I was going to be admitted to the Perinatal Intensive Care Unit until I was 36 weeks. To say the least, I was not happy about being away from my house, my husband and my beautiful little boy!!!!

While in PCU, I was not allowed to do anything. I mean anything...I was allowed to shower, after riding in a wheelchair to the shower!!! I think I took the longest showers in history while I was there!!!!! The only other time I was allowed up was to walk the 10 feet to the bathroom. I thought I was going to totally go crazy!!!!!!

Monday, February 25th was a normal day for me. Normal until about 5:30 that evening. My blood pressure spiked again, and never went down. My doctor was on-call again that evening, thank goodness!!!!! She finally made it to see me around 8:45. During that time, my blood pressure never went down. My doctor told me that I was going to have to take it easy and I was going to continue being on bed rest until I was 36 weeks (March 5). She left my room and within 5 minutes, she was back. She had consulted with the Perinatologist and they agreed that it was too dangerous to wait for my blood pressure to get any higher!!!! It was time for a C-section!!!

I called Joel and told him that he might want to get to the hospital. I also called my dear friend Vicki and asked her to go to the house with Garrett. He was already in bed and I didn't want Joel to wake him up and take him to the babysitter. I also wasn't sure if there was time to do all of that!!!!!! Joel made it to the hospital just as they were finishing putting my IV in and hear about all of the "risks" of a C-section.

I am not sure what time they wheeled me in to the OR, but at 11:16 pm Isabel Grace arrived into the world!!!! She weighed 5 lbs 1 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. I was able to see her briefly before they wheeled her off to the NICU. I was finally allowed to see her when she was 23 hours old!!!! Let me tell you...she is pretty darn beautiful!!!!!!!

I was discharged from the hospital Friday. Isabel is still in the NICU, but she is getting stronger every day!!!! She has actually been moved from an isolette to a "big girl bed". She now spends her time in a bed that all the babies in the regular nursery are in. She has already learned to regulate her body temperature and now she has to learn to eat like a big girl. Preemies have a hard time coordinating suck, swallow and breathe. She is really starting to get the hang of it though. The Neonatologist is quite sure she will be able to come home by the middle of March...if not sooner. It strictly depends on her. If she is able to eat this week and to keep her weight up, she will get to come home sooner. Everything is dependent on her. She is the one in charge right now. She will also be the one in charge for many years to come I am sure!!!!!

We would like to thank everyone for your thoughts and prayers during this crazy time!!!!!
Hopefully pictures will be posted sometime this week. It depends how crazy things are!!!!

Love,
Misty