Tuesday, October 19, 2010

The Beach

Here are a few of my favorite pics from our beach trip. I took almost 300 pics so I've scaled down a lot! We had the opportunity to go to Amelia Island and loved it. My parents came down part of the time which was great! They watched the kids a few times so Jason and I could just hang out at the beach alone! Ben had no fear of the water and would have played all day there if we let him. This was his first time on the Atlantic so it was a different experience. The current was really strong the first day but got better. We had beautiful weather all week. I hope that we can go back again next year!















Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Totally Related


This is Ellie and Ben at 4 months.....can you tell that they are brother and sister??!!! :)


Friday, August 27, 2010

4 months old today!!!!



I can't believe that Ellie is already 4 months old!! The time has flown by!!!

Here are a few things she is doing:

Rolling over from tummy to back (regularly) and back to tummy (occasionally)

Cackling all the time

Loves to watch her brother

Is very ticklish

Wearing a size 2/3 diaper

Sleeping at least six hours at night

Playing in the exersaucer

Sucking on her hand ALL THE TIME!!




Thursday, July 29, 2010

Picture Update






Wednesday, July 14, 2010

I promise I'm alive!!!!!

So I have finally started to feel a little back to normal. We are adjusting to have two little ones and it's going pretty well. Ellie is a really happy baby. She loves her big brother a lot!!! We're not sleeping through the night yet but we working on it, Ellie loves to eat! I'm breastfeeding this time and it's going really well. I still ask my friends questions all the time because I'm not sure what's normal. She has already rolled from her back to her tummy once!! I'm going to try and update more often now. I have tons of pics to post but I thought I'd share her birth announcement first.


Thursday, April 29, 2010

She's Here!!!!!

Elizabeth Parker Graham
April 27th 12:19 pm
6 lbs. 8 oz.
19 1/2 inches

Saturday, April 24, 2010

The Nursery






Here a few pics from the nursery. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I just have a few finishing touches I want to add. We haven't moved the chair in there yet because we know she'll be in our room for at least a few weeks and Ben loves sitting in the chair to read stories before bed. My mom painted the pictures and I think she did a great job.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The count down is on!

I saw the perninatologist yesterday and we have schedule an amnio for next Monday. As long as the results come back that her lungs are mature I will deliver next Tuesday!!!! I'm excited and nervous all in one. First, I didn't think that I would make it this long and second, I'm nervous about have two at home now!!! We talk to Ben all the time about baby Ellie but who knows how much he's soaking in.

The nursery is done!! I knew if we finished the nursery she would wait to come because that's how things work out for us. If we weren't done she'd be here!!! I was making Jason hang things until 10pm the night before we saw the doctor!! I'll post pics soon!

Now I want to clean everything in the house before she comes. Not that I can really do any cleaning so this makes things a little hard. It's one thing to ask for help with laundry and Ben but cleaning is different. Thankfully my husband is a better cleaner than me!!!! The only thing is he can only do it on the weekends. On the weekend Jason has a long honey do list so sometimes washing the floors gets pushed off. I will have to really get priorities in order so I get the most important things done.

T- minus 7 days!!!!


Tuesday, April 13, 2010

My Miracle is 3 today!!!

I know that I've posted this story before but I still can't believe it!!!

My husband and I were so excited when we found out we were pregnant!! At twenty weeks, we found out that we were having a boy and starting painting the room, buying clothes, and getting ready for the big day. At 32 weeks I started having what felt like chest pains. I didn’t think too much about it because this was my first child and thought he was pressing on my lungs. I mentioned it to my doctor who said that I should have called immediately and if they happen again to call. At that same visit I had some protein in my urine. During the middle of the night the chest pains came back worse than before. We left for the hospital at 2:00am.

My doctor reviewed my blood tests when he came on that morning and he told me that I had the HELLP syndrome, which is a condition where your liver enzymes elevate and your platelet count drops down very low. This is very dangerous for me and the baby. I was given steroid shots to speed up lung development and was put on magnesium sulfate (worst stuff of earth; makes you feel like you have the flu 10x). The NICU came down to let us know what to expect about babies born around 32 weeks. I felt very lucky to be at our hospital, because it is has one of the best NIC units in the country.

My doctor went off duty and a new one came on the next morning. She felt that they could not wait and had to deliver as soon as possible. They scheduled a C-section and it was kind of surreal. I knew this was happening, but could not believe it was happening to me. My husband and family were close by and I was comforted that God has a plan for all of us.

Next, they wheeled me off to the operating room and prepped me for surgery. During the c-section I was waiting for that moment when you hear the baby cry. My moment never came. Ben needed help to breathe when he first came out. He had an APGAR of 1 and 9. He weighed 2lb 14 oz, but had a precious face and we saw right away how beautiful he was. After only a brief glimpse, I really couldn’t see anything except blankets, tubes, and wires. I didn’t get to “see” him again for another 24 hours. It was the hardest 24 hours of my life.

I was able to see Ben for the first Saturday evening. It was an overwhelming moment. He was still connected to a ton of tubes and wires. I couldn’t hold him yet, but he did grab my finger. We also learned that he had another condition called IUGR -intrauterine growth restriction which was why he was so small at birth. He progressed well over the next few days and was off all by breathing treatments by four days old. When he was about 10 days old I got to do kangaroo care. This is when you hold the baby skin-to-skin. It was truly amazing to feel him nuzzle into the nap of my neck. It was in that moment that felt like I became a mother.

Ben graduated to an open crib and was doing well on gaining weight and feeding. I started to breastfeed after about three weeks twice a day. As Ben’s feeding volume increased, he started having bradycardia and apnea moments. They would decrease his feeds and get better, which continued for a few weeks. Once he was incident free for five days were cleared to go home after 37 days in the NICU.

Ben came home on a heart monitor that he wore 24/7 and had home health care for the first two weeks. He was on a few different prescriptions every day and was on a strict feeding schedule. Each day got easier and better. He was off his monitor by the end of August; feedings remained to be our biggest challenge. Ben has severe acid reflux.

Today, you would look at Ben and never know that he was a preemie. He is on the regular growth chart at 90th percentile for height!! We feel that God has blessed our family with the miracle of Ben’s life. We think that he is perfect in every way and are so glad to have him.


Thursday, April 8, 2010

Easter

Here are few pics from Easter




Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Bedrest

So it's official now, I'm on bedrest. We spent this past Saturday at the hospital. My blood pressure spiked and I started to feel the pain in my chest. We called my mother at 3:00am to come over so we could go down to the hospital. After being monitored for several hours and having my blood work come back clean my doctor felt comfortable letting me come home. He said that he thinks I might visit the hospital a few more times before baby girl comes. I'm hoping to stay home as long as possible. Ben had a very hard time when he woke and we weren't here. I feel so conflicted wanted to be there for Ben and knowing I need to do what's best for me and baby at the same time.

To make matters worst this week, Ben has ended up getting sick and spent the evening at the after hours clinic with my husband. He came home on antibiotics, breathing treatments, and benadrly.

My wonderful MIL has stayed with me during the day to help with Ben. This too has been an adjustment. I'm not one for sitting and watching, plus I start to freak out if things are done differently then I usually do them. (I know I need to work on that!) I feel completely guilty watching her do my laundry and wash my dishes. My mother is coming over for Thursday and Friday and I think it might be easier to tell her how to do things.

I'm not sure how much time I'm going to have to blog before the baby comes but I will try to keep it updated as best as I can.

Please keep us in your prayers!! :)



Tuesday, March 2, 2010

laying low

I'm so sorry for being so slack with my blog lately. It's been more difficult to keep up with than I thought while I was pregnant. I had a appt. yesterday and my BP was high. I have been officially put on low activity at home. So far all my labs have come back good and I get good BPs at home but when I've gone into the doctor's office the last two days they haven't been so good. I'm very lucky to have my mother and MIL near by to help with anything and everything. I have no idea how I'm going to do this low activity with a two year old but I guess we'll figure it out. Please keep me in your prayers if you can. Baby Ellie needs a few more weeks in there!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Baby Shower









I had my baby shower this past weekend. It was wonderful!!! My MIL hosted it and did a fabulous job!! She had it at the restaurant Grace 17.20 and the food was amazing. It was so fancy that they had little menus for each person printed with my name on them! I got a ton of beautiful clothes. Two of my favorites were a vintage Polly Flinders dress from my SIL and monogrammed bloomers and bib from a close family friend.


I was just so excited to make it the shower this time. I miss all three of my showers with Ben because I had him so early.