Photo update of the last 2 days:

Here's our girl :)  Last night she had gained 35 grams (just over an ounce, which is 30 grams) at her weigh-in!  An ounce a day is the goal, so we were very excited. Tonight's weigh in (done a little earlier than normal) showed no weight gain.  My heart dropped.  This means Ellis coming home will be delayed.  Possibly not for another week, or more now.  I went ahead and got my heart set on Wednesday or Thursday of this week, but barring some astronomical weight gains over the next couple of days, Ellis will remain in the NICU for some extra time. I am feeling my patience being tested in a new way tonight.  Maybe it's my own fault for thinking she'd be home on Wednesday or Thursday.  When will I learn that things go up and down and all around nearly EVERYday here?  

Aside from all that, isn't she stunning?

Here is the hostess with the mostest, my good friend, Lexi.  Also pictured is the cutey-pie, Tate.  Yesterday morning, Lexi hosted a post-baby baby shower for me (the original party plan had to be postponed for obvious reasons).  It was great to spend time with many of my most favoritest women in life.  A few weren't able to attend, and they were dearly missed. It was a great way to spend my morning, especially since I haven't done much socializing lately.

Such big girls:

There were 6 pregnant women at this shower. Holy moly.

Amy:

Deb & Donna:

Brooke and Keri (stay tuned, she's going to be a mama any day now...)

Kati, Dana &  Chrissie, who is also prego:

Julie & Sonya:

Chrissie & Holly:

That's me with 3 pregos, Amanda, Keri and Amy:

Welcome to the NICU...

...where "nipple" is a verb...

...and occasionally the thing your daughter grabs onto with all her might in order to survive a gas pain.  Her fist might be little, but I couldn't pry off her fingers for the life of me. Luckily Gabe was there with the camera to record this "first" of ours.

Ellis sleeps in an open-air crib now.  That's right.  Our girl is out of the isolette. We were/are very excited with this development.
Of course she's practically covered from head to toe in order to stay toasty, but she's still in a crib!


Our camera battery needs to be recharged, but hopefully I'll get some new pictures of the cutey-pie posted soon.

weight update

3 lbs. 13.4 oz.

(16 oz. in a pound, so *she's very close to 4 pounds!!!)

*In case anyone's been living in a hole in the ground for the last month, I'm referring to Ellis Jane's weight gain (on breast milk alone, I might add =)

We're hopeful that today will be her last day in the isolette. One of Ellis' favorite nurses, Angie, has been conspiring to switch her to an open crib tonight...we'll see if Angie still thinks Ellis is ready.  WE think she'll be ready, but you just never know with that little one.

Some of the many faces of ellis jane...

Changing diapers will be SOOO much easier when we don't have to reach through two portholes to do it!

Her gas faces crack us up every time.

So do her big yawns :)

So sweet.

ellis jane knows how to gain.

Ellis weighed in at 3 lb. 8 oz. tonight.  In your face.  Sorry for throwing that in your face. I know there is no reason for me to throw that in anyone's face.  It just seems like I should be competing on her behalf for some reason.  She's gaining weight on breastmilk alone, so maybe I should throw it in the face of Human Milk Fortifier that made her so gassy and distended the doctors wouldn't let her eat for over 48 hours.  In your face HMF.  We don't need you anymore (for now).

I'll try to get more sleep tonight so you don't have to read another post like this tomorrow.

Lots of photos!

Dad's first bottle:

First time being held by Grandma Vickie (only one of them cried, and it wasn't Ellis...)

No tubes, for once!  Look at that chubby face, it's so good to see :)

p.s. there is another new post below!

Nursery update and a Grandma picture

My mom was here last week.  She basically cooked and cleaned for us and just loved us the way moms do.  It was great.  She also got to meet and hold her granddaughter, which they both enjoyed very much. Another huge help was painting the dresser I bought for Ellis ($14!), which Vickie and I had planned on doing not long before I went into the hospital.  It didn't happen because I started feeling crummy and very busy.  After about 16 hours of cleaning and painting the dresser was transformed---and I didn't lift a finger.  It looks great and the nursery is closer and closer to being ready for a little girlie to come live in it.

Ellis with her Grandma Shelly

BEFORE...

AFTER!!!

These are just postcards I bought months ago that I thought would look cute in the nursery.  I bought four mismatched old frames at Goodwill and painted them white.  I like it.

Someone should really update this blog...

Time seems to fly when your life consists of sleeping, pumping (for breast milk, that is), driving to a downtown hospital, spending 8 hours at said hospital, driving home, pumping, sleeping, repeat. We've gotten into our routine and driving to and from the hospital is not the pain in the neck I would have expected.  It's actually really nice most nights to be able to talk and process things with Gabe for 30 or 40 minutes. Other than the fact that we are desperately anxious to take our little girl home, it's a very tolerable routine.

I have a new appreciation for "roller-coaster" as a figure of speech. Take tonight, for instance. The Knipps came up from the Springs and took us to lunch at Wahoo's and then followed us to the hospital.  Ellis was wide-eyed and alert for a lot of the visit, which was fun for all of us.  After the Knipps left, Ellis started to get a little frustrated with me and here's why.  On Friday afternoon, with a very distended tummy she decided she couldn't eat.  The docs were a little concerned that she could potentially have an intestinal infection, but hopeful that it was just a really bad case of gas caused by the fortifier {extra calories} that is added to my breastmilk.  So she was x-rayed and taken off food.  Flash forward to today {3 x-rays later, no sign of infections}--the girl hasn't gotten to eat in over 48 hours {was being "fed" through an IV a concoction of nutritious liquid}, then I come along smelling like dinner, she starts showing every cue in the book {opening her mouth, sticking out her tongue, smacking her lips, looking longingly at me with sweet, pleading eyes...}, and I won't feed her.  What kind of mother am I?  I cried four different times and almost opened the milk bar when there were no nurses around.  But I didn't.  So Ellis got fussier and fussier because she could smell who I was and she was trying to suckle from every blanket and knuckle that came near her mouth.  Poor girl. 

Gabe and I had to leave the NICU from 7-8. While we were away I got a little more emotional and we both decided we were going to press for Ellis to get a real meal when we returned.  We put together a strong case and marched back to the NICU.  When we returned we were immediately informed that Ellis was approved for real food again!  Instantaneously our spirits were lifted.  Gabe got to feed her a bottle for the first time (his, not hers), which she WOLFED down, and promptly fell fast asleep. 

----

The infection near Ellis's left shoulder seems to be clearing up, though she'll be on antibiotics for another 10-14 days to make certain it's GONE for real this time.

Her belly is soft and smaller than its been in days. These are great signs.

Despite being taken off rood for the last 2+ days, she managed to gain back some weight and is sitting at 3 lbs. 6 oz. now.

She is off of oxygen and breathing like a champ all on her own.

She continues to get cuter everyday.

I'll try to post some new pictures soon.  We've got at least 160 to choose from that are still just sitting on our camera.