Busy, Busy

We're still alive & kicking just really busy. As most of you know if you follow me on FB or my Caringbridge page for Katelyn, she is still in the NICU. I was really hoping she'd be home by now but she had other ideas. I think she's back on the uphill after downsliding a bit so now I'm hoping by early June she'll be home. I'm still counting my blessings and thanking the good Lord above because I know things could be much worse. So it's been back and forth to the NICU every day, trying to pump every 3 hours (since obviously I can't breastfeed right now) and still trying to keep somewhat of a normal routine with Ryan. Oh yes and doing errands, paying bills, doing laundry, etc etc.

Ryan is loving being a big brother from a distance. He loves seeing pictures & videos. I pump in her room, so he's in there a lot with me and either brings in his toys to play with or starts organizing Katelyn's stuff. Her room is not all that organized yet but I do have her stuffed animals on the bookshelf and Ryan seems to think they need to go in her crib. Also, my mom got her a butterfly that plays music and lights up the starry sky on the ceiling and Ryan wanted to take it out of the box & put it out for her.

Today was an exciting day because we let Ryan go visit his sister for the first time. She will be 6 weeks old tomorrow (wow, really?) and we figured it was time. Also, he's not sick..probably because he just got done with his antibiotic last week that he was taking for his double ear infection. That's really what has prevented us too from taking him. Ryan was sick, then Dean got pneumonia & I was sick for about a week with the cough & congestion. We've seen our share of sicknesses and I'm over it! Back to the visit...Ryan was so excited to see his baby sister. He was smiling from ear to ear, told the receptionist "I'm going to see my baby sister" and when we were walking down the hall towards the Pod he kept saying "I'm so excited". We washed up and then I got her out of her crib so Dean could hold her. Ryan was smiling and telling her Hi and waving to her..hehe.

meeting her for the first time

He was showing Katelyn a picture he colored for her

he was softly touching her head

giving her a goodbye kiss

This morning we went to the store so Ryan could pick out his big boy bedding. We wanted to move him into a twin bed because for one, we wanted to use the crib/toddler mattress for Katelyn's crib and two because he has outgrown his Thomas toddler bed. I thought we might be able to get a few more months out of it, but we saw no point in having to buy another crib mattress and he is just to long for it, he sleeps scrunched up in it and sometimes I go in there and he's turned sideways. Ryan was excited to get into bed tonight. So much so that he didn't even ask for us to read any books to him. Let's hope he stays that excited for bedtime! (probably won't but hey, one can wish)

Of course he picked Cars!

plenty of room to stretch out!

 

Ryan & his balance bike

Since getting his balance bike for Christmas, there hasn't been much opportunity to ride it outside since it's been pretty cold the past few months. Luckily, we're now getting some warmer temps so it's time to head outside amungst all the pollen. Ryan's been riding his bike back and forth from our kitchen to the family room..which is not all that big (we live in a townhouse) but he's gotten so good with his balance and now lifts his feet up off the ground. Dean went outside with him after work today so he got a couple videos, he could hardly keep up with Ryan since he was moving so fast.

Ryan loves his sister

These days most of the talk around the house is about Ryan's new baby sister. We have shown him all the pictures and videos we have taken and he already loves her. He knows she's in the hospital but we have not taken him to see her. He's at the age that he's starting to get afraid of things. A couple months ago he woke up during a thunderstorm crying and would not go back to sleep in his own bed...so now he's afraid of thunderstorms. I know seeing his sister wouldn't be scary in itself but seeing everything else in the NICU, the machines, other babies, all the noises, might so right now we're holding off taking him to see her. My mom helped him write a card for her and we took that in along with the lovie he helped pick out for her and it's watching over her:

If your following the caringbridge webpage you know the latest on Katelyn so I won't repeat that but yesterday we did get to hold her again and of course I had to put another frilly headband on her..hehe One of the nurses said Katelyn could use it as a garter on her wedding day..ha!

 

Katelyn Grace!

Katelyn Grace blessed us with her presence Sunday, April 3rd weighing 5 lbs. 13 oz and was 18" long. I was 36 weeks & 6 days...1 day shy of being full term. I'm so thankful to have made it as far as I did though and Katelyn is just such a blessing and a proving that she too is a miracle.

She was born with an abdominal wall defect called an Omphalocele. Her liver, intestine and some bowel are outside of her body contained in a sac. We knew early on about this defect and had many many worries but all we could really do is pray and knew that God had a plan. So far, all tests that have been done on her such as a heart echo, kidney ultrasound and headscan have all come back normal! They started her on a tiny amount (3cc's or ml's which is comparable to a tsp.) of breast milk tonight and as of a couple hours ago, she kept it all down. Hopefully when I call after I write this, they will say, she still kept it down.

I think I will start a Caringbridge webpage for updates and pictures. It's a private website for anyone going through a health situtation. Apparently, once your done updating the site, you can have it printed into a book. I would love that for memory sake. I will try and work on that this weekend. If you'd like me to include you in on the people who can access that page, email me, comment here or if your reading this on FB, send me a message to my inbox.