Four Weeks!

Our little girl is four weeks old, just days away from one month! Time flies when you're having fun (or are sleep deprived.... days just blur together...) Speaking of sleep, I'm tired, so I'm having a tough time putting sentences together right now. I'll let the pics and video speak for itself. :)

Wild for lions...

This was how I got my shower in today... She woke up from her nap right before I was going to get in. But that's the way things are 'round here, I guess! She enjoyed herself, though, and when I came out of the bathroom, she was "talking" to the lion, laughing, smiling, and having a grand ole' time! So cute!

And with that, I'm going to bed... hoping for a repeat of last night! Not sure it'll happen, though, since she's been kinda "off" tonight, so far.... Jeremiah had his off nights, too, when he was her age, and he was still sleeping through the night (6+ hours) by 6 weeks (and has been sleeping 10-12 since well before one! Don't remember when he started that, exactly... maybe 4 months? Something like that.)






Thanks again to "Cousin" Jaime & Anthony, and "Great" Aunt Frannie! She loves it!

First Wedding!!!

At least, for Jeremiah and Jesslyn--or for us "with kids", I guess.

Jeremiah had a blast! The ceremony was outside, which was perfect! It was upper 70's and sunny, so while a bit warm in the sun, it was still really nice. I had Jesslyn strapped to me in our Ergo carrier, and Jeremiah actually sat quietly on Grandpa's lap for a little while.... But then he got restless, so we let him walk around the lawn. I ended up following him around, as he pulled flowers off the bushes (he was determined to get every last one of 'em... luckily, there were hundreds, so I wasn't worried about him actually hurting anything.)

The best part was when the bride and groom (my Uncle Paul, and now, Aunt Fabienne) had their first kiss, they played Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours!" and Jeremiah started DANCING! Oh, it was hilarious! Jeremy got most of it on camera (in HD, no less....) but here's a small clip to give you an idea...

Sooooo funny! What a ham!

He then enjoyed eating grapes during cocktail hour, snacking on french fries for dinner, and then making sure the door to the hall was shut at all times! Seriously, he stood there FOREVER closing (and trying to open) the door every time someone came through.

He then spent the last hour or so playing with Uncle Jason's phone, which is basically the larger, indestructible long lost 5th cousin of a Blackberry/iPhone combo. He LOVES it! But you could tell he was pretty tired by then, so we finally left (and got home in time to watch the Steelers beat the Jags.)

Good times.

Boo-yah!

Seven hours, baby!! Jesslyn slept from 12 a.m. to 7 a.m.! Now that's what I call "sleeping through the night!!!"

I only slept for 6 of those 7 hours, though... I actually fell asleep before she did (she was still kinda fussy when I went to bed, so I kicked Jeremy out to deal with her--I was TIRED!!!) but then around 6 or so (didn't have my phone, so I don't know the exact time,) I woke up to go to the bathroom and then couldn't fall back asleep! I just laid there for what felt like an hour, and then she woke up. Since the sun was rising, I had to know what time it was. Needless to say, I was shocked and excited when Jeremy's phone read "7:23". Woo hoo!!!

Guess I was more right than I thought when I joked with everyone at the wedding last night that the ONE beer I had (and few sips of red wine) would help her sleep better! Had I known that's all it would take................

j/k

Now, I don't expect her to keep that trend up, but maybe now we'll at least get a few more 4-5 hours in between feedings, rather than 2-3. A few more nights like last night, and I may just get my sunny disposition back (I have enough energy nowadays to function.... very little to spare on "tact," "poise," and "kindness." I know, that's sad, but hey, if this trend keeps up, I may actually be fun to be around again! Or for the first time, depending on how you saw me before... ;)

Maybe.....??

It's become clear to us that Jesslyn has no schedule.  Just when you think you've got her figured out, she throws a curve ball your way... And that is incredibly frustrating.

However, she also likes to mix things up in a good way, from time to time.  I was convinced she wouldn't be sleeping through the night by the time she's a month old (as her brother did) since she's had this habit of waking up EVERY THREE HOURS (good times for Mommy!)  Last night, though, she slept from 12 a.m. 'til 5:23!  I knew she had slept longer than usual when I heard her fussing and woke up--there are differing levels of tiredness that you feel, and surprisingly, I wasn't exhausted as I usually am.  Hence the exact time of her arousal... I just HAD to know how long I had slept.  And while she had slept for almost 5.5 hours, I had only slept a little over four, but usually it's more like 2-3 at the most.  So I felt pretty good!  

Of course, she followed no such schedule afterwards.  In fact, today was the most frustrating day, sleep wise, as we've had since she's been home.  All throughout the day, she'd eat, sleep an hour, eat again, sleep again, eat s'more, sleep a little, etc, etc.  Just when I thought she would be out for the count, along with Jeremiah, and I could get my own nap, she woke up after an hour yet again.  I cried.  I cried, and cried, and cried.  Was it really too much to ask for a nap?!  Apparently, yes. 

It's not like it was just her, though--Jeremiah was also up.  Apparently he fell asleep while in the van with Daddy (going to Blockbuster, even though they were only supposed to go to the post office to get me stamps... Blockbuster is a much longer trip, and taking said trip so close to nap time spells disaster...)  And when Jeremiah falls asleep in the van, that means no nap is had when he gets home.  Grrr...

Yeah, so today was a pretty lousy day, sleep wise.  Jeremy finally emerged from the "man cave" (which is why he didn't hear either of them crying...) to take over so I could try to get a nap, and wouldn't you know it---Jesslyn took an almost 4 hour nap for him!  ARRRRRGH!  

I'm pretty sure this is payback for the whole NICU experience... That's all I can figure out, at least.  I could be wrong.  I hope, though, that tonight is like last night, at least...  That would be sweet.  Maybe... just maybe!!!!

The "Worst of the Worst" Booster seats

While perusing ZRecs today, I came across an article on their "Tranquil Parent" site that identifies "the worst of the worst" booster seats for kids. I had expected to see a bunch of no-name brands, but was surprised at the inclusion of a few Cosco (more than any other brand), Evenflo, and Graco! Needless to say, I was a bit surprised and gave the article a good once-over.

Now, some people think we're crazy for spending so much money on carseats (we're a Britax family, at least once they outgrow their SafeSeat) but it's articles like this that make me glad we did. When Jesslyn is ready for a bigger carseat, we'll be getting Jeremiah the Britax Frontier, which is a combo seat that is also a 5-point harness booster up to 80 lbs! Are there other safe seats out there?? Sure, but God forbid if something should ever happen, I'll know we did the best we could to protect them.

You can read the article here.

Oh, and keep in the mind the article is strictly talking about the "booster" function, which utilizes the car's seat belt as the main restraint, rather than the straps included. The combo seats are probably fine otherwise, just unsafe for belt placement as a booster. So if you have one, it's probably still okay to use, just not as a booster with the seatbelt.

Shhh... Jeremiah's sleeeeeping...

Awww... he loves his Brobee doll--it was a gift from Jesslyn when she came home from the hospital.  Nice, huh?  :)  

He's never been into stuffed animals before, nor could he care less about a lovey, but he loves his blanket, and his Brobee doll now!  

So sweet.

Three Weeks!

Ugh... another "fun" night for Mommy last night!  Now, at this point, I expect to be up for an hour when she wakes up to eat... she's just that slow.  Wants to nurse, then chill a bit, then drink her bottle, and maybe then, if I'm lucky, she'll go back to sleep.  

Well, last night, she decided she really did not want to go back to sleep.  Two+ hours later, Mommy had had enough.  I guess she had, too, because she actually drank another bottle, and went to sleep--only to wake up two hours later.  Yay...

I think Daddy's gonna have to wake up when those feedings stretch into the two hour mark...  One thing he does better than Mommy is get her to drink her bottle, and fall asleep on his chest.  Since she INSISTS on being held when she's awake, usually she's pretty happy like that.

At least both her and Jeremiah tend to nap at the same time during the day, which means I get a little break (i.e. NAP!)  But it doesn't look like that's going to happen today.  Ah well.  We were blessed with a good sleeper once with Jeremiah... I wasn't really expecting lightning to strike twice.  I mean, it's not that bad.  She sleeps well, for the most part.  It just seems that she saves all of her short, lousy naps (and awake times) for the middle of the night instead of during the day.  At least she's not up all night screaming.  :)

Chillin' in her Moses basket.  Like her "modified swaddle"??  Yeah, there's no blanket in the world that can keep those arms in, so we just swaddle from the chest down to keep her legs cozy.  She's happy with that.

My favorite pic, so far--she just looks so girly to me, in this one!  Not sure what's going on with the tongue, there, but still SO PRECIOUS!

Another fav--she wasn't even asleep here.  I put her down, and her eyes happened to be shut when I took the shot.  She looks so peaceful.

I call this her "Daddy Face".  Just one of those expressions that reminds me of her Daddy.  I think it's the eyebrows--he does that scrunching thing, too.

Yup, we're here...

I know, it's been quiet here on the blog.  Well, usually the only time I can actually sit down and write anything is when both kids are sleeping.  And usually there's a bunch of other stuff that needs doing at that point, so blogging gets pushed to the back burner.  But we're here!  Haven't gone anywhere, just been a little hush hush.

Things have been going well.  Jeremiah's a great big brother--he adores Jesslyn!  Whenever she's crying, he wants to give her a bottle, or her pacifier.  When she's not, he strokes her hair, shakes her hand and says (or tries to) "Hi Jesslyn..." "How ya doing?" or just sits with her, and pats her leg.  It's so cute!  So far, no signs of jealousy or anything like that, which makes Mommy happy, of course.

As far as Jesslyn goes, she's doing well, though unpredictable.  We thought we had a little bit of a schedule in the works, but she likes to keep us guessing.  Not that I was expecting much, in terms of a schedule... I mean, she'll only be three weeks in two days.  For the most part, though, she sleeps well, eats well, and poops well.  :)  Isn't that what she's supposed to do??  Usually, she'll give us 3-4 hours of sleep at a time during the night.  We usually don't go to bed until she wakes up for the first time at night (sometime between 11:30 and 12:30.)  She'll then get up again once (between 4 and 5) before I have to get up with both of 'em around 9. 

Last night was terrible, though.  She's got a stuffy nose right now (hopefully that's the only "cold" symptom she comes down with) which has made eating difficult for her.  So instead of nursing, then finishing up with 2 oz in a bottle, she would nurse (and not well, since it was just "suck suck suck, breathe breathe breathe, suck suck suck, etc...") maybe drink a little bottle, but usually she'd just fall back asleep... and then wake up an hour, hour/half later, wash, rinse, repeat.  So instead of waking up ONCE, she woke up FOUR times!  By the fourth time, I just let Jeremy try to give her a bottle.  I didn't bother trying to nurse.  At least both her and Jeremiah took their afternoon nap at the same time today, so I got a nice nap myself.  And she seems to be doing better now, so hopefully tonight is a better night.

And that's 'bout it.  We eat, sleep (kinda), change diapers, watch Pingu, read stories, etc, etc, etc...  Good times.  :)

Brother/sister cuddle time!

Cozy & pretty in pink!  

Who'd a thought she'd be a paci baby???  Jeremiah could care less about it, but there are plenty of naps/bedtimes that wouldn't have happened without it.  And boy is she a cuddle bug! Probably partly due to her time in the NICU, she does NOT like being put down anywhere awake!  I don't mind it right now, but I can see that getting old down the road.  It does make road trips more complicated...  But for now, I've got my Moby Wrap and Ergo to keep her close.  Just another way her and Jeremiah are opposites (though he was a cuddle bug when he was younger, too.)

Our little angel....

Two Weeks!

I know, I'm a day late, though the pic itself is not. Aww... Doesn't she look so content sleeping on her Daddy's chest?? I'm sure this is just the beginning of Hallmark Daddy/daughter moments. So precious!

Happy face!

As any parent can tell you, smiles on babies are not the easiest things to catch on film. It's like they have a sixth sense that lets them know there's a camera on 'em, so QUICK! STOP SMILING OR THEY'LL CATCH IT!

Well, I tried. She was bein' real cute tonight, and I got what I could with my phone. It was kinda dark, though, so they're not the best, but I'm pretty sure those are smiles!!

Jeremiah meets Jesslyn

While not the "first" meeting, it was the most "formal" that he had had. The first time he saw his little sister (less than an hour after she was born,) he shook his head no and cried when Jeremy asked if he wanted to see her. While waiting for the EMT's, he did inch over to her to get a closer look.

Today went much better. He actually seems to be enjoying her-----so far. :) He even wanted to help feed her, and give her a paci! Awww...

Of course, he also wanted to sleep in her moses basket.... while she was in it. Umm... Mommy and Daddy draw the line there.

He's well on his way to becoming a great big brother!! I just hope he continues this trend, and doesn't decide he's a "baby"... At least not too much.

"Here's your new baby sister, Jeremiah!"

"Meh, I don't care, Grandma, I'm just gonna work here on my 'PDA'."

"See, Mommy, I still fit! I'm not too big!"

Why God created Big Brothers! :)

Service in action...

First Bath Pics!

First outfit/last day at the hospital!

And now the bath pics!

Yeah, she probably had one in the hospital, but none of that counts, as far as I'm concerned! Now she's nice and clean, hair brushed, nails clipped (those things were dangerous!) and sleeping soundly in her moses basket. So far, her hair is layin' down flat, even though we've only seen it curly so far. She's such a cutie pie!

She loved it, until we rinsed her hair... I have a sneaky suspicion the soap we used was not tear-free... I'll have to check. It was a sample from our ped's office... whoops.

Heh, now she looks bald... So much cuter in person, that's for sure!

Big brother Jeremiah is comin' home tomorrow! It will be interesting to see how he reacts... Hopefully he doesn't cry this time. Amazingly, Jesslyn brought presents home from the hospital for him! Yes, she's trying to buy his love... Hey, every little bit helps, right? Hopefully someday it won't take gifts to win his affection (probably sooner than we think, I hope.)

Update, 9/20: Just checked the Butt Paste website, and the shampoo IS tear-free, so I guess she just didn't like getting her hair rinsed after all. That's fine, I can deal with that. :)

First [official] doctor's visit!

...complete with a stop at Daddy's office-but no one was there! Their loss...

She's lost some weight since bein' at the hospital--was 12 lbs, 7 oz at one point, but that was when they were still pumping her full of fluids and fat ("lipids" through an IV in her belly button...) She's a more normal 11 lbs 12 oz now, and measured a full inch longer, for some reason... She was 22 in at birth, 22 1/8 at the hospital, and is now 23, for some reason... Not sure what's going on with that. But everything else is good with her--doctor was happy with things, though he did find her discharge summary amusing. There were so many contradictions in the report, he just laughed and said he should just ask us what really happened. For example: 4 or 5 times it says there was meconium staining.... well, there wasn't, and the neonatologist who first saw her was the same who wrote the final summary, and she did make a note of it... But that's one time outta the multiple times it was mentioned. Second example: she was jaundiced for a day or so, had to go under the bili lights. The report did mention this, but when it came to treatment, it said, "Phototherapy Days: 0" Uhh... more like one or two... but how is a detail like that important.... And so on and so on.

Anyways, she's doing super well, and we're just smitten! And it sounds like the little miss is waking up from her nap now (sleeps 3-4 hours during the day and 4-5 at night... they trained her well at the hospital!) And then sleepy time for us. **yawn.....**

"My First Week" by "Jess Jr"

This is how it all started--after 41 weeks and a day, I decided my old home was wayyyy too cramped and getting a bit too small for my taste. So at 3 a.m., my Mommy's water broke. By 4 a.m., her contractions had started, and were 2-3 minutes apart. Sheila, her midwife, showed up, put in her awesome IV so no one had to worry about me getting sick and ending up in the hospital (ah, the irony...) After 4+ hours of labor, Mom decided she really wanted me out! Ten minutes of pushing, and I was born!!

But, I was soooo anxious to get outta there, I started trying to breathe before it was time to do so... How was I supposed to know that was a bad idea??! Unfortunately, that made it tough to breathe once I was born. Thankfully, no one clamped my cord until it was done doing it job about 15-20 minutes later, so I was still able to "breathe" while Sheila and everyone else was trying to get me to breathe on my own. They had some success, but ultimately decided I needed a little extra help, so to the hospital we went! Like my mask?? (it kept popping out, hence the tape...)

Well, I guess that whole taking a breath before being born thing stressed out my heart a bit, and scared a lot of people... They decided I needed to go to another hospital for more care until it got better. Thankfully it did! But it was a rough ride along the way, as Mommy and Daddy can tell you. And can I just say that being "intubated" (that whole tube down my throat attached to the ventilator) was NO FUN AT ALL! It gave me a sore throat for DAYS afterwards, which made eating tough. But I'm a fighter, so I managed and ate despite the pain.

Once the doctors decided my heart was fine, and I was well on my way to recovery, they let me to go back to Reston Hospital, which is waaay nicer than Fairfax. The nurses there are SO NICE--they put pretty blankets in my bed, let Mommy and Daddy hold me, despite all the wires attached to me, and even let my Mommy and Daddy put some real clothes on me! No more naked baby shots!Finally, after all that craziness, I was able to nurse with my Mommy. It's kinda weird, and a lot more work than drinking a bottle, but I get to be so close to Mommy, and I know it makes Mommy feel better, so I gave it my best shot. The doctor at Reston was really happy with how I was doing with all that, so they finally let me come home!!! YAY!!!

And that's probably where you'll usually find me... I'm so glad to be home! I've missed my Mommy and Daddy so much (and I know they missed me!) The three ambulance rides I went on were fun, but the best ride of my life has been that short drive home, to my house, with my parents. It's so nice to be wearing clothes, being held, not having wires attached to me anymore. And I can't wait to meet my big brother again! I heard he cried the first time he saw me--I'm sure it was because he was so happy to see me! :)

It was quite the week, but I'm home now, and things are good. Thank you for all your prayers!! I know lots of people were sending them my way, and believe me, they helped lots! I can't wait to meet all of you--I think Mommy & Daddy wanna chill for a few days, but then feel free to come and see me!! I've got the chubbiest cheeks you've ever seen... Seriously, it's almost annoying--I can't open my eye if I'm laying on that side of my face... Too much chub. :)

XOXO,
Jesslyn Elizabeth (a.k.a. "Jess Jr")
:)

Guess who's coming home tomorrow...!

Almost there!

Well, "Jess Jr" is officially back at Reston now.  YAY!  We just called to check up on her, and she's doing great.  The nurse wanted to make sure we knew that her transfer notes said she wasn't taking her bottle very well, but she just gave her one, and she gulped it right down just fine.  Hmmm... big surprise... <~sarcasm.  Seriously, though, we both thought it was kinda odd that she was drinking her bottle just fine on Sunday (took it both from the nurse and from ME!) and then all of a sudden Sunday night, she didn't want it anymore, and wouldn't calm down enough to drink it. Grrr... Oh well, it's all good.  I'm sure the feeding tube will come out later today or tomorrow, since she's got some "gentler" care now, and maybe she'll even get to nurse!

Anyways, it's nice to have her back close by.  Visiting will be so much easier now, and far less stressful.  Only good news from here on out, we're pretty sure!  I'm feeling much better about everything, and can honestly say I'm feeling pretty peaceful today.  Still hate pumping, but it's something I can do for my baby, so it's worth the annoyance.  

We'll have more news and pics up later, after we go visit (waiting for Grandpa to come watch Jeremiah...)  

Oh, and stay tuned for the "BIG ANNOUNCEMENT" As soon as she's coming home, we'll let you know what her name is (she officially has one! Had to do the birth certificate today, so we finally settled...)

Two steps forward - one step back

Jeremy here. Well no pics today (forgot the camera) but we visited the hospital this morning. The doctor also called and spoke with Jess this morning and gave her an update while we were on our way in actually.

So apparently last night she wasn't tolerating her feedings very well (needs to maintain a lower respiratory rate for the most part) so they inserted a feeding tube. No more bottle feedings for now... She also needs to remain on antibiotics for the next 2-3 days as a precaution. I thought the doc had told Jess another 7 days, but he said 7 days total. He said that she could be transferred back to Reston Hospital if we would like her to be closer to home -- so he is checking with Reston to see availability. The earliest she would move back to Reston would be tomorrow if there was space. We are actually liking this idea since the Reston facilities are smaller and the nurses are nicer. We've found that the nurses and docs rotate so often at Fairfax that right when we establish a relationship with one of them, they are gone the next day. There are 26 neonatologists in the Fairfax NICU with many many more nurses. They have 6+ rooms on 2 floors vs. 1 room at Reston. We appreciated the round-the-clock access to the cardiologist but if her latest echo is the same as Friday she will be fine to return to Reston.

They have also upped her fluids to get her ready to remove the main lines in her umbilical cord. They won't let us pick her up or hold her until this happens. We pray that she continues to tolerate her feedings as they raise the volume through her feeding tube over the next two days to get her ready to go off the IVs. They will need to make a decision later this week whether to put a pick line in or not. We are hoping she is hydrated enough to not need a more permanent IV and can get by for a couple days while they ramp up her milk intake. A pick line would also require another series of x-rays and mean that holding her and breast feeding would be delayed until the end of the week at the earliest.

Thanks again for keeping our family in your prayers...

Jeremy

Getting better...

Well, last night was terrible. We had a decent visit in the afternoon, and then had a really crappy visit in the evening. The nurse was less than encouraging, even though the Dr we'd spoken to earlier was moreso. She was talking like "Jess Jr" wouldn't even be able to try to nurse until Wednesday at the earliest, more likely Friday. WHAT??!!!

Today was a much better visit. When we showed up, she was sleeping on her belly (awwww!) The nurse said she seemed to like that quite a bit (not a big surprise--Jeremiah was a belly sleeper... Couldn't get him to sleep more than 15 min or so on his back. Plus, if she's on her belly, she can't whack herself in the face with her IV arm.) The bili-lights are gone (so no Bono shades! :) They were "cool" but she's so much more comfortable without them!) and she's breathing on her own, so no more oxygen mask. In other words, everything is off her face! YAY!

Had a brief visit with the cardiologist. He's pleased with her progress, and will do one last echo cardiogram tomorrow to make sure those issues that were there are long gone (and make sure no others exist.) She's doing well with her feedings, eating a little bit every three hours, and looking for more. I even got to give her a little bit today! She wants to nurse, though, and keeps trying to suck her thumb, rooting around for something more. Awww.... Hopefully the doctor we've been seeing will be on call tomorrow so we can try to breastfeed (they say she has to have the lines outta her belly button first, but the doctor knew those were there, and still suggested it, so hopefully she's okay with it...) We'll see...

So all we're waiting on at this point is for her lung function to return to normal. She's still got a bit of the "strider" thing going on, and is working hard to breathe, but breathing on her own in normal air nonetheless. The nurse today said probably another day or two, and boy do I hope he's right (and not the nurse who was on last night.) Thanks to everyone who's been praying for her! Just a little longer, and she should be home! And boy will Mommy be glad when she is...

Much happier on her belly!

Aww.. poor thing still has marks where all the tape was, holding her oxygen mask to her face...
The nurse even took a family photo for us! Well, minus Jeremiah. Soon enough, I hope...
EYES! WE CAN SEE HER EYES!! Well, "eye". She's trying to get the other one open, too.
BIG YAWN! Compare this pic with the one of Jeremy from down below... Hmm...

Pics from today.

A few from today. She's off the ventilator now, but because it was in there, her throat is a little swollen, which needs treatment. And because they haven't fed her anything since there was a tube in her throat, she's jaundiced now (I know it's not caused by her not eating, but her not eating has not given her system a reason to flush itself out, and I doubt that meconium is any good to her system. But what're ya gonna do...) So they've got her under the bili-lights. Grr....

But, the good news is that they did try to feed her today. Gave her some breastmilk (what little I could come up with) and she did suck it down. So as long as the whole breathing issue resolves itself (which it should) and she starts eating well, she should be ready to come home in a day or two. YAY!! I'd LOVE to be able to bring her home tomorrow! But if we have to wait 'til Sunday (hopefully morning....) I guess I'd be okay with that. Well, not really, but there doesn't seem to be any reason for her to be there beyond Sunday, so yeah... the day she comes home, we'll be having a BIG birthday party for her! I can't wait.... I've got her little "coming home" outfit picked out and ready to go... Oh, Lord, please, just another day... Please please please!!!

So here are a few shots from today--neato visor, huh? At least more and more stuff continues to come off of her, so she actually had a free hand we could hold, and heard her cry--they even let me change her diaper!

Super baby!!! Up, up and away!

And the proud big brother, sportin' Mommy's shoes...