New baby = Rough nights

Yes, our nights have gotten a little rough. We are really hoping it is not colic. Elyse will take her night feeding and then act like her tummy really hurts for A WHILE. This is when she will scream and cry. It is so hard to listen to because its obvious she is in pain and yet she is inconsolable and nothing seems to help. We've had one REALLY bad night, with the pain and crying lasting a couple of hours and then several very fussy nights, starting at about 10 p.m. I've heard the fussy nights are
Other than this, Elyse is doing wonderful! She is so sweet and she makes the funniest faces! I'm determined to try to catch a picture of all her funny faces so i can share them. She is growing everyday, but still in preemie clothes. :-)
We don't go back to the cardiologist until September 12, so no new doctor news. It's amazing how the Lord has taken the burden of worrying about her heart away from me. I hardly even think about it and we are not obsessing with using the stethoscope! My sister said, "I can't believe you don't use that everyday to check it." Praise God for this peace He has given ME... the biggest worrier of all.
Again, any advice on night time fussiness, send my way!

What's wrong with this picture?

Lol... does anyone know?

Elysia's first trips to the doctor

Well Elysia had her first doctor appointments this week and she did so well! First we went to see Dr. Cottrill on Monday. She had an EKG and echocardiogram done of her heart. Everything looked great, huge blessing! She did not like the EKG at all but was such a big girl when she had her echocardiogram done. It was so neat because they had her lay down on the same big bed where I used to lay to have her echo done. They had me lay next to her to soothe her and she just did beautifully! Dr. Cottrill was very pleased with how everything looked and Elyse's heart rate was 62 while we were there.
Next, we went to see Dr. Lear, our pediatrician on Tuesday. We loved her and everything went great. Again, Elyse did so well. Her umbilical cord even fell off while we were there so we get to have a real bath now!
We are so blessed with how well Elyse is doing. She is eating so good and is already over her birth weight, weighing 5 lbs, 3 oz. Now if only we could get the sleep schedule down. :-)
We continue to thank you for your prayers. We know how well she is doing is all a blessing from God and we're overcome with joy and thankfulness.

Ok, just one more pic :-)

TOO CUTE!!!!

The first days of being a mommy

I'm so sorry I haven't sent out an update sooner. As you can see, we have been so busy. :-) Our little Elysia is... well... quite perfect, I'm sure of it! We got to come home yesterday, after I practically begged all of our doctors to keep us til Friday. They all were so assured that she was ready, so we got home yesterday afternoon.
Health things first... Elysia's heart rate is staying steady in the mid-upper 50's. This is lower than it was in utero but of course, she is not getting my medicine anymore so this is understandable. Dr. Cottrill is not concerned about this. She said that they could always give Elyse medicine to raise her heart rate but she didn't think it was necessary. She said that Elyse will give us signs if something is wrong, like her heart rate drops a lot. We would see blue around her lips and she would get really pale. She would also have a big lack of urination and she wouldn't be interested in eating. So... we feel better that we know what to look for. They said they did not need to send us home with a heart monitor. They said we could buy a pediatric stethescope to have to listen and count her heart rate IF we get worried. My mom has warned me not to get obsessed with the stethescope if I get it and let it worry me all the time... good advice for someone like me. Other than Elyse's heart rate, her health is wonderful. Praise the Lord! We have so much to be thankful for.

And as for my first days of being a mommy, all I can say is, "does it get any better than this?" I always heard about a mother's love but had no idea it would be like this. The love a mommy has for her baby truly IS unlike anything in the world.Of course my hormones are raging, but I can hardly look at Elyse without breaking down into tears or at least tearing up, amazed at what a miracle she is and how good God is to bless us with her.

Thank you all for the many prayers you sent our way the day Elysia was born and the days after that. God heard them and we have been so very blessed. Again, my hormones are raging and I am tearing up writing this because I am so thankful for friends that care so much to pray for us. We couldn't ask for anything more!

Elysia is here!

Hello everyone! Yes, Elysia Hope has arrived and she is absolutely perfect! She is 5 lbs, 1 oz, 18 in. long and has a head full of dark hair!
The irony of her arrival is crazy though. It was 1:00 in the morning last night and I woke up with contractions. Thinking I only had about 4 more hours of sleep anyway, I tried to go back to sleep when... my water broke! How ironic is that?! I guess Elysia had her mind made up that either way, she was coming this morning, and wanted to throw us for a loop.So we headed to the hospital at 2 in the morning, where I was given medicine to stop my contractions. Dr. Campbell was to be there by six to "start" getting me ready so to make a long story short, we had to wait until our scheduled c-section time. Everything went great and Elysia is doing very well, praise God!!
She is in the NICU so they can monitor her heart rate, her blood pressure, and how much uring she produces. Her heart rate is staying in the 60's, which Dr. Cottrill is very pleased about. Her blood pressure is good and they put a catheter (sp?) in to keep track of her urine output, because this is connected to the heart somehow. Her lungs are great! But she really isn't crying that much. (Knock on wood), All the nurses say she seems to be a very content baby. I haven't gotten to "hold" her yet other than really quick when she first came out. But I get to touch her and feel her soft skin, which I love! She is eating VERY well, although I am not able to breastfeed right now because of all her cords and monitors. So I am pumping and they are giving her that and supplementing with a bit of formula. They are hoping I can breastfeed tomorrow.
So praise the Lord for all this wonderful news! I appreciate so much all the phone calls, emails, thoughts, and most of all, all of the prayer. It continues to be so amazing to watch the Lord answer prayers. We feel so blessed by this day and I thank each of you for your prayers. As I always say, PLEASE keep praying for her.

Monday's the day!

Well here's the rundown on how our day went with the amnio. It gave us a few surprises. Dr. Campbell did the amnio but was not able to get a good sample of fluid to measure the development of the lungs. He said she was positioned too "lateral" and she started to move toward the needle when it was in. So... he had to stop. He said that the reasons TO go ahead and deliver on Monday outweigh the risk that the lungs may not be fully mature.
Then they wanted to monitor me after the amnio because that can apparently trigger labor. So they put me on a monitor for an hour and found that I was having contractions every five minutes. I wasn't feeling this at all so this was a huge surprise to me. The nurse thought Dr. Campbell may put me in the hospital over the weekend by he said as long as they weren't painful to me, I was fine to go on home. I am supposed to "take it easy" and go to the hospital if they get painful or if I start to lose fluid. Oh, and she weighed in today at 4 lbs, 14 oz, so she may get to 5 lbs by Monday.... maybe not. :-)
So... after an eventful morning, we are scheduled for a c-section at 7:30 Monday morning at St. Joe East, where Elysia will make her arrival! This will be a day full of uncertainties, so please pray for us. We want to pray that Elysia will have a smooth delivery so she won't be in distress and that her little heart and body will be ready to function well on its own when she comes out.
Thank you in advance for your prayer for all of us on this big day. It's been a long time coming. Psalm 139:13-14 has been a verse that I've thought a lot about throughout this pregnancy. It says "You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made."
We know this has been and continues to all be part of the Lord's plan for Elysia Hope. :-)
Ryan or I will update the blog just as soon as we can after the weekend!!

Getting closer...

Hello everyone! I know some of you were expecting an update yesterday after our doctor appt. but I wanted to wait until today because we met with the neonatologist today. First, the appt. yesterday with Dr. Campbell went very well. Elysia's heart rate was the highest I think it's been. It measured at 73 and then at 70, so we were very pleased with that! I told them I think it's because she's saying she's ready to come out! While we were there, Dr. Campbell set us up a time to meet with a neonatologist today. So Ryan and I went and did that this morning. He was very intelligent and very informative. It was almost too much to "take in" and I ended up just feeling a little overwhelmed. BUT, he was very nice and helpful. He said that Elyse would definitely be in the NICU at St. Joe when she is born so they can more closely monitor her heart. It sounds like there's just going to be a lot of monitoring going on for the time she's there. They not only have to monitor her heart rate to see what it's going to do once she's born but they have to monitor her urine output to make sure she's getting enough fluids. This is somehow related to the heart. He mentioned other things to be monitored but I sure can't remember them. :-/ He didn't say if she would come home with me on Thursday or if she would need to stay longer. As much as I know I will want to take her home, I'll definitely be ok if they want to keep her longer to be on the safe side. He also talked to us about the fact that she would probably need a pacemaker down the road, which is one of those things we're very thankful they can do.

As our pregnancy journey comes to an end, I realize it has been a long one, full of uncertainties! Yet, it's been wonderful in so, so, many ways. Ryan said it perfect several weeks ago, that he felt blessed that God chose us to go through all of this with our baby. Isn't it amazing that God can give you this feeling of peace and joy in such a time of uncertainty??!! We have gotten through all the uncertainties, not because we are strong people, but for the simple reason that the Lord is SO good and because so many people have prayed for us and for Elyse's heart. Now that we end the pregnancy journey, we will get ready to start a whole new journey , also full of uncertanties. I ask again for your continued prayer for the upcoming week and even long after that. If you have other people you know praying for us, please have them keep praying! We can never thank you enough for this.

I will definitely post a message Friday after I have the amnio. We will know for sure then if she will be delivered on Monday or on a different day. Either way,... it's getting close! :-)