Our first 3 days home together

Yesterday Gabe and I took Ellis Jane on her first walk around the block.  It was a beautiful day, so we seized it.  I LOVE this first photo.  It shows Ellis' beautiful face, and also her giant clothes. For some reason a lot of preemie and baby clothes are made more similar to adult proportions, which means Ellis' arms don't even come close to the ends of her sleeves.  I also chose an adorable little hat for her, thinking it was the right size.  It wasn't even close, so we folded it up and hit the road.  These first two pictures are of Ellis snoogled up in her stroller, entirely overdressed for the weather by her always-cold mama.

Here are a couple of Gabe and Ellis.  Once a day we have to put 1 mL of vitamins with extra iron (the doctors weren't convinced that Ellis' fair skin was thanks to her pale folks, hence the extra iron).  It's pretty raunchy stuff and it makes her puke (yes, puke. Not "spit"--that's too light of a term) probably 4 out of 5 times. Because of this tendency, we decided to strip her down therefore getting a rare glimpse of her little arm which is typically covered in efforts to stay warm and not burn unnecessary calories. Run on.

How many men does it take to change a diaper...

Gabe's good friend Dr. Nate flew out to be our butler for a few days.  So far he's gotten the oil in our car changed, done some painting, gone grocery shopping, cooked our meals and now assisted in a diaper change.  It's been quite a luxury to be cooked for, let me tell you.

Here is another from our walk around the block:

Now, I've mentioned to many of you what a spectacular milk-producer I am, but I suspect you haven't grasped exactly the extent of it. There is no food in our freezer, other than Ellis'. There is also more at the hospital, which we refused to bring home because there is simply nowhere to put it. Kind of ironic that our baby only weighs a little over 4 lbs, huh?

Poor Daly.  He has really taken a back seat these days.   

Drum roll, please...First bath at home! Plus the first picture of Ellis' back cheeks.

I actually really like how this picture captures the fact that life is SO not about me anymore (not that it ever was, but one can sure be deluded enough to think so). And yes, that's my bra.  Nice. 

Babies have lots of nooks and crannies. In this picture I'm getting one of the crannies clean.

Pay no attention to the mess surrounding us, clearly I haven't.

So there's a little expose (pronounced x-po-zay)on life in our household over the last three days.  More to come soon I'm sure.

our pact

My new pact with Ellis:

She'll keep growing, and I'll take the blame every time her little bum makes a big noise.  

Why? Because she's my girl, and I'll always have her back.

Home sweet home got a lot sweeter today...

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Here is Ellis just before we left the NICU, all tiny and ready to go! (Notice how you can hardly see the straps.)

Here we are in the car, leaving the hospital.  It was brighter than Ellis is accustomed to, so she kept her eyes closed for the beginning of our journey home.

Thinking this could be fun...

Having some second thoughts...

Some shots of our drive through downtown Denver:

We made it home, safe and sound.  It often felt like this day would never come, but thankfully, 6 weeks and one day after Ellis was born, we are home.

It was a bit surreal as we left the NICU.  There was a baby admitted to the "bed" right next to Ellis yesterday.  The baby was in the NICU because she was having seizures and they found a brain bleed. As we left today, the parents were being taught some of the same things our nurses began teaching us six weeks ago. 

Was that really just six weeks ago?

In a way, it feels like a lifetime ago.  We were scared, we knew nothing, and we didn't always know what to expect.  Today we are excited, we know a great deal (more than we did six weeks ago), and though we don't necessarily know what to expect, we have a pretty good idea.  I wanted to tell those parents to hang in there, to promise them that little by little their precious little girl will become strong and healthy.  And that as she does that, they'll become stronger, too. 

When we arrived home, Gabe prayed for us.  I cried when it hit me. We're home.  Ellis is ours. Thank GOD. Thank you, God. Shortly after, I sat upstairs with Ellis in her room---and cried some more.  AND here it comes again! I am so grateful that our little (but growing bigger everyday) girl is home, and healthy. Trying to explain how strong this feeling is is falling very short. 

The strangest part is that a small piece of me misses the NICU.  The nurses we came to know so well, who loved and cared for Ellis so well.  The nurses that cared for Ellis' rookie parents so well, through our scares, our sad days, our days of celebration, and just the regular day-to-day stuff of being a parent to a child in the hospital.  The place that we spent so many hours getting to know our girl, watching her grow, watching her hurt and heal, feeding her, changing her, just being with her.  Her story began there, and as much as I am ecstatic we're home, I can't that forget our first "home" with her was in the NICU, where she needed to be. I will always look back fondly on our time there---even though I didn't know how I'd make it there one more day, so many times.

We're home.  Ellis is sleeping on the bed next to me, as if she's been here all along. Gabe and I won't be sleeping much starting tonight, and we wouldn't have it any other way.  Thank you for all of your prayers and support---the myriad ways you've all given. We really would not have maintained any level of sanity without it. 

p.s.  Daly is not impressed with our addition.  This is just fine.  The less attention he gives ellis, the better. =)

helloooooo???

Is there anyone out there?  Where have all of the comments gone?

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.