Ewe!!!

Yesterday Rylee, Coulee and I ventured out to have lunch with Lance. We had sushi and then went back to his office so he coule show off his precious baby girl! She slept through the entire lunch (of course)!

Rylee has been a night owl lately. She likes to sleep most of the day and then once 9:00 p.m. comes around she is like, ding! Wide awake! And usually stays awake until midnight or 1:00. Then she'll sleep a few hours and be up again for a couple hours. Not fun for the parents who want to sleep! Hopefully that won't last too long!

Rylee finally lost her umbilical cord 2 nights ago! She's got a cute little outtie belly button! Yesterday morning I woke up to Coulee eating something off of the floor. When I finally realized what it was it was too late... she ate Rylee's umbilical cord. Ewe!!!! I was so disgusted but laughed so hard!!

New things

She looks so tiny in our big bed!

We've been trying to walk but it's hard with all the rain!

Naked baby- she hasn't lost her cord yet!
Sleepy time Rylee and I went to see the lactation specialists last week. Much to my surprise, the appointment went very well. They weighed her first and she weighed 9.7lbs. That is 13.5 ounces more than she was when she had her first doctors appointment. The nurse said this is very good (almost a 1.5 ounce weight gain per day), and that she is definitely getting enough milk from me. I was very relieved to hear this, as I was concerned I wasn't producing enough milk. She reassured me that Rylee is just a hungry girl and needs to eat very frequently. I feel so much better hearing this! Rylee has been eating well since the appointment, and is starting to get a little chunky!! (well... just her belly and face. She still has skinny little legs and arms!) She is growing like crazy. She has almost outgrown all of her newborn clothes and is starting to wear the 0-3 month size (although they are still pretty big on her). She is becoming more and more active every day. She is constantly moving her arms and legs around. She loves her hands and has to have them free and close to her face at all times. Her eyes are still gray (although I think they are starting to look a little blue). We are anxious to see what color they will be! She is also becoming very vocal. She is constantly making cute little cooing noises. She is still a very good baby and only cries when she is hungry or has a dirty diaper.

Our first pumpkin patch

Yesterday we visited the Maris Farms pumpkin patch with Auntie Mandy and Uncle Jon. It was a beautiful, warm fall day, perfect for the pumpkin patch. Rylee got all dressed up in her "little pumpkin" outfit and hat, and then slept through the whole outing!

Family photo
Sleepy pumpkin

More visitors

We had a busy weekend. The Sequim Craigs came to visit along with Auntie Mandy, Uncle Jon and Grandma and Grandpa. We also went on our first walk with Rylee and Coulee. Rylee fell right to sleep as soon as we put her in the backpack. Coulee was so excited to finally get out of the house and get some exercise!

Getting ready for our first walk
All of the girls cuddling

Uncle Jon

Cousin Jessica

Uncle Peter

Her first few days at home

Rylee's first few days at home were spent sleeping, eating and pooping. Oh- and cuddling with all of her visitors! She has had visits from Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Peter and Elisabeth. Sunday we all went to Michelle and Adam's wedding. It was beautiful and Rylee got to meet all of her other Aunties that couldn't visit her in the hospital. She slept though the whole thing!

Elisabeth and Rylee

Her pumpkin outfit

Her other pumpkin outfit!

Hanging out

Hi everyone!

We have been doing pretty well at home. It was really nice to have Lance home a few extra days to help. It really makes a big difference! Today was his first day back at work and it has definitely been a challenge for me being home alone with Rylee. We are still working on the whole nursing thing. She was feeding for an hour- 1 1/2 hours at a time... but the doctor suggested we try only letting her feed for 30 minutes at a time and more frequently. He said we need to train her to eat more efficiently. Makes sense I guess but she seems hungry all the time! Today she had been especially fussy and will only sleep if she has her pacifier in her mouth. It's so hard to know if she is getting enough milk! She is also still on her oral antibiotics and they are giving her diarrhea... her poor butt is so red and sore!

She had her first doctors appt yesterday which went really well. She has maintained her weight from when she left the hospital (8 lbs 9 oz.) and has grown in length (now 21 3/4 inches). The doctor said everything looks great! She has her next appointment in a month.

Welcome home, Rylee!

Proud mama and baby. I was born at St. Joes too and have a similar picture of my mom with me in front of the oval window.

Getting more snuggles in

Finally ready to get outta the hospital!

The celebration dinner. I finally can have a glass of champagne... yay!


We finally were able to leave the hospital Saturday evening. I can't tell you how wonderful it felt to be able to put her in the car seat and walk out the hospital doors WITH our baby! It was so exciting to get home and show Rylee her new house, nursery and puppy (even though she slept through everything!) Coulee seems to be adjusting well. She is very curious about the new little addition. She keeps trying to sneak kisses in. I think she like the new baby smell. She doesn't seem to be too jealous of the attention Rylee is getting. I think she likes all the visitors!

Yet another set back

Just when we think we've had enough, we had another set back on Tuesday. I developed a fever and had to leave the nursery. My doctor put me on Tamiflu (just in case it was the flu) and said I couldn't return until the fever had been gone a full 24 hours. I was devastated. Once again, I had to leave my baby! At this point, I had been with her for every feeding since her birth and we had finally gotten her off of the formula. Now I had to leave? The hardest thing I've ever had to do. Lance took me home and put me to bed, where I stayed for the next day. He continued to go to the hospital to see Rylee and bring in all the milk I had been pumping.

Luckily, my fever has been gone now since yesterday morning. I plan to go to the hospital this afternoon to reunite with my baby girl! I pray that nothing else goes wrong in the next few days. They are hoping to discharge Rylee on Saturday as long as everything stays stable and she continues to improve. She is doing so well now. She is eating well and gaining weight. Her color is back and I think she is ready to come home. I can't wait to go see my baby again!!!!!

This is my favorite picture. She looks so content and happy!

Big yawn

Sleeping peacefully

Hello everyone!

Since Aunt Mandy can't visit her in the nursery, she sent a gaurdian giraffe to watch over Rylee. Rylee loves it. It plays music and slowly moves it's head.

Sleepy baby

The nursery has so many cute outfits!

The giraffe watches over her night and day

Look at all that hair!

Grandpa Tom came to visit too

Rylee's 1st few days of life

Our first family photo!

There were may visitors who came to see Rylee on her first day of life. She spent the day being cuddled and held by all of her new family and friends.

Grandpa Mike

Auntie Mandy

Aunt Nory

Aunt Michelle

Grandma Marcia

Ma and Pa Thomas and the Lackey family also stopped by to visit Rylee. It was a fun-filled day.

Saturday night Rylee was really fussy and the nurse noticed that her respirations were really fast. Even when she was quiet and resting her respirations were still around 80 per minute. They ended up doing some bloodwork and discovered she had a WBC count of 40,000 and an elevated CRP (which tests for inflammation). They decided to move her to the nursery for the night. That was one of the hardest things I've had to do- watch my healthy (at least I thought) baby being taken away from me to the special care nursery. We were really scared at that moment. The doctor said she would have to stay at least 2-3 days in the nursery.

The next day they did a chest x-ray and discovered she had a mild pneumonia. They put her on antibiotics and told us she would need to be in the hospital for 7-10 more days. They also put her on the monitor to continuously watch her heart rate and respirations.

They let us stay in our hospital room one more night so we could still visit and feed her every few hours. Monday they kicked us out of that room, but luckily we were able to stay in a little "sleeper room" outside the nursery. We spent the next couple of days pretty much living in the nursery with her.

Rylee Anne has arrived!

Rylee Anne is finally here! She arrived Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 8:38 pm.

She was 8.86 lbs and 20 1/4 inches long.

I started having contractions Wednesday afternoon at work so I came home early and called Lance. We spent that night and the next day walking, practicing our breathing techniques, and doing more walking. We decided to go to the hospital Friday around 2:00 am when the contractions were about 3 minutes apart. Come to find out when we arrived I was only dilated to a 1. We knew we were in for a long day. The day went smoothly up until it was time to push. I spent 4 hours pushing and then they discovered that Rylee's head was stuck under my pelvic bone. At this point we all were afraid that I would need a c-section. They decided to try the vacuum suction and luckily, it worked! Out came my beautiful baby girl! I can't even try to explain the overwhelming feelings I felt at that moment. She was the most beautiful, perfect thing I've ever seen! Lance and I were instantly in love with her.

She has a full head or dark hair, dark eyes (for now), a little button nose and perfect pink lips. It is hard to say who she looks like. So far we can tell she has Lance's ears and my long fingers and toes. She is definitely a snuggler just like her dad.