Isabelle is One Month!

I cannot believe our baby girl is already ONE MONTH OLD!!

Stats: 5lbs 6 oz 18 ¾ inches long!! Baby Girl is growing! However she in the 2 percentile. :( We are getting there though! Slowly but surely!

Clothing Sizes: She is still in her preemie outfits but she is getting so long we may have to switch to Newborn sizes soon!

Currently Eating: Um… booby milk! J  However her neonatologist and pediatrician still would like us to be adding 22 calorie fortifier to her milk and liquid vitamins.

Sleeping Habits: She pretty much sleeps great all day except for when it’s time to eat, night time is a bit opposite, she is a night owl and will stay up for a couple hours usually after we get done feeding her.

New Words/Phrases: She makes a wide variety of noises however I don’t think they would count!

Firsts and Milestones: She is working on holding her head up and she occasionally will turn on her side!

First out of town trip to get her newborn pictures taken! I can’t wait to see them!

First date night with Mommy and Daddy to Everest Indian Cuisine! She was the star of the restaurant! Everyone wanted to see her! You can look but you can’t touch! That’s my rule! lol

First stroll around the neighborhood in the stroller!

Favorite Things: I’m gonna have to go with her milk on this one. Lol.

Number of Teeth: None yet J

Signature Moves: Puckering her lips like she wants kisses! I know that’s not what she really wants but gosh I can’t help but givr her some sugars each time I see her do it! She also loves holding onto our hand while she is eating. Warms my heart!

Best Mommy Moment this month: Bringing Isabelle home was the best moment of the month. 21 days in the NICU, we were definitely ready!!

Words cannot describe how much I love this little girl!! 

Holiday Madness Part Three

It's Christmas and we're going home!!!!!!!!!!! On bed rest of course!

This one will be a short one because Christmas was  pretty uneventful.. let's call it... the calm before the storm! lol

Our amazing and thoughtful Doctor felt bad for us and decided to let us go home and try out bed rest there as long as I stayed in bed and took my medications as prescribed! I told her I'd do anything she'd wanted!! 

We packed up and as soon as they discharged me we were outta there!

Once we got home I parked my tail on the couch and took a nap while poor Daniel got all the baby clothes together so we could get them washed, just in case. However, now thinking back we really didn't need to do all that seeing that we did not own one article of clothing that she could fit in! It's done though for when she is finally able to wear them! I can't wait!

Later on my Grandma, Uncle Mike, and cousin Justin brought over last minute meatloaf, sweet potatoes, and green beans...never will I ever forgot that meal!

Once dinner was over and we got all the clothes folded and put away we said our goodbyes and checked my blood pressure.... it was not good. So I decided to go lay down without any TV or commotion going on to see if I could get it back down. Once I got to sleep I didn't stay that way for long.. I was up and down going to the bathroom because what I thought was the meatloaf not agreeing with me was actually a lot more.

Holiday Madness Part Two

December 24, 2013

Its Christmas Eve and yep you guessed it! We are still in the hospital!! Usually tradition consists of gathering with the family, eating dinner, opening one gift, and loading up in vehicles to go look at Christmas lights! <-- My favorite part!!! We also try to make it midnight mass as well but obviously this year being on bed rest I wouldn't be able to do anything.

Breakfast of Champs!

I was still confined to my bed until the 24 hour urine analysis was done. I never would have thought how stir crazy you can go when you seriously CANNOT get up out of the bed. Not even to use the bathroom, that was my biggest issue. I felt so nasty and I was so ready to get up and relieve myself without help! lol

Brushing my teeth with a cup of water.. 

Finally!! The urine analysis was done and I was "allowed" to take a quick shower. I suppose the pure excitement of being able to move on my own free will and take a hot warm shower was too much because after I got back out and got my freshly washed gown on my blood pressure had shot back up but shortly after getting back into bed and settling down it went back down into the range they had wanted it to be in. 

We were hoping they would allow me to go home on bed rest but they decided it would be best to stay another night for observation. They monitored Isabelle the entire time and ordered a ultrasound to be sure she was doing OK and not under any stress. Our baby girl was just fine and wanted to continue "baking in the oven" ... for now.

Because we had thought things were getting better and had gotten my blood pressure under control as long as I was in the bed relaxing they decided to move us to the postpartum wing and our amazing nurse,Veronica made sure she got a bed for Daniel! Poor guy had a rough night in the "chair" they had for him in the L&D room. You'd think most fathers would be staying with the mothers so they would have something a bit more comfortable for them to sleep in. 

Taking a nice stroll to our new room..

Daniel lugging our stuff to our new room

Once we made it to our new room with TWO beds we got settled in and watched some Christmas caroling from the local School Choirs, being the emotional wreck I was at the time when the little kindergartners came on singing Rudolph I cried like a little baby! I'm not trying to wish time away but I am so excited to see Isabelle do all those cute little shows and things they do through out their school years! 

After ordering a Pizza (Daniel was tired of hospital food) and watching some TV we decided to call it a night. Hoping we may be able to go home on Christmas Day!

Holiday Madness Part One

In order for me to get all this in I've decided to do several posts on the days leading up to and the day of Isabelle's birth. I thought I would have lots of time to do just one big post but boy (girl I should say??) was I wrong!! Ms. Isabelle gets pretty much all of our attention at all times! She has us wrapped!!! :) :) :)

Anywho! Lets rewind to December 23rd...

We started out our Monday just like any other day, headed to work, left work early for our routine OB check up, and had plans to head to Jacksonville to start our holiday festivities at my Moms! Isabelle (actually me) had other plans! My blood pressure was very high (180/110 I think??) when they checked it and decided that it would be best to send us over to the hospital because I also had protein in my urine, which is a sign (along with the high blood pressure) of preeclampsia .

My dork - trying to cheer me up :) 

We headed over (after a mini panic attack) immediately  to the hospital and got checked in, little did we know the roller-coaster we were about to go through. They eventually admitted me and got us into a labor and delivery private room because they could not get my blood pressure under control and decided they needed to do a 24 hour urine analysis and blood work on me to confirm I had developed preeclampsia.

Our room

I dislike catheters.. 

Our cozy home for the Holidays!

They let me know that the only cure for preeclampsia was delivery and that it would now just be a matter of time before they would have to take her. They were very vague on what they meant by "a matter of time" we were told it could be days or it could be weeks, just depended on how my body would do.

Whoa BELLY!

They also ordered for me to receive a set of steroid shots to mature Isabelle's lungs just in case she needed to come early! Those dang shots burn like fire FYI!  We tried to make the best of our first night but it was quite rough!!!

Daniel holding my hand while getting the Steroid Shot

Adjusting Isabelle's monitor - She was a mover!

We were pretty disappointed because it looked like our holiday plans were changing, but looking back we are so so thankful how everything came about. We are so very lucky!

Isabelle is 2 Weeks Old!

Actually 2 weeks and 2 days but hey who's counting???

Well of course this Momma is!!

I still haven't had a ton of time to do a detailed post on Isabelle's birth but I promise I will start working on it!

Lets get back to the important stuff!!

I can't believe our baby girl is already 2 weeks!??! Where is the time going?

She is still currently in the NICU but everyday we are getting closer to coming home!!

She is up to 3lbs 14.1 oz and 17 inches long! She is now bottle/breast feeding for majority of her feedings and up to 38cc!! She is smiling and cooing all the time! She is so stinkin precious!!!

Ahhhh!! I love her so very much!! She seriously is my everything!

Anywho! Now I shall commence a tiny photo dump of the prettiest little 2 week old I've seen!!

More pics to come!! <3

She is here!!!

I know its been awhile since I've posted but let me tell ya, I have an excuse!!!!!

I will do a more detailed post when I have more time but I wanted to share that  our little girl decided to grace us with her presence 8 WEEKS EARLY!!!! It actually wasn't her at all, it was me and my lovely body that decided "hey, lets try to kill Candice and her sweet little one today!" Anywho, I'll get down to the nitty gritty later on in a separate post!

So.... without further ado... I am proud to reveal our beautiful baby girl!!!

Isabelle Graece

12/26/13 4:56 am 

3lbs 8oz 16.5 inches

Because she was 8 weeks early she is having to stay in the NICU until she is healthy enough to come home. 

She has done amazing things in the past 7 days and she seriously is my hero! 

I knew my life was going to change when she arrived but I had no idea how I would change, she is the reason for living, she is my everything. I never thought I could love something as much as I love her. God has truly blessed us with this amazing little girl and I will never stop thanking him for entrusting me to be her Momma. This is what I was meant to be, Isabelle's mommy, and I love it, absolutely love it. 

I will try to do a more detailed post within the next few days! I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and Happy New Year!!