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.

37 weeks

Well, we've made it to 37 weeks! Wow, I can't believe it! Baby could really come any time now! Personally, I think baby will come either right on time or a little late. At my last appointment the midwife said my cervix is still closed but getting softer. I haven't "dropped" yet either. I hope I do soon because it is getting harder to breathe! Baby is still active as ever. It's so amazing to think that there is a little person inside me that could make its way into the world any day!

I'm still working. I don't enjoy it now, as it's so hard to be on my feet for 12 hours at a time! 2 little breaks during the day don't make it any easier. Only 2 more full work weeks and one day to go! 7 days total. I just keep telling myself that I can do it! It will be so worth it in the end if I can make it! I want to spend my whole 12 weeks at home AFTER the baby is born!

Lance and I went to the North Bend oulets yesterday after a friend told me about all the baby stores there. It was so much fun and we got so many cute little clothes!! I did keep all the reciepts, just in case baby girl really is a baby boy! My favorite outfit is this bright pink, brown and white zip up sweater with matching hat! So cute!! I can't wait to dress her up!

Not much else is going on. We went to Costco to stock up on food and we have an appointment at Dinner's Ready next weekend to stock our freezer full of pre-made dinners. We are trying to be as prepared as we can!

37 weeks!

Lance's extra baby weight (yeah right!)

I can still wear my belly button ring! (And no stretch marks- yay!)

Beautiful Shower

Last weekend was my baby shower. My sister Mandy and best friend Wendy threw it for me at my mom's house. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful shower. All but one person came to help celebrate (I was amazed at that due to busy summer activitites)! Even Lance's sister and niece from California made it! My sister decorated the backyard. The theme was bright pink fish. She even spray painted goldfish crackers hot pink because she couldn't find anything else that would work! Who thinks of that? She is so creative. We played the chocolate in the diaper game, the baby food game, and the guess how big my belly is with string game. So much fun. I got so many wonderful presents. The baby is set for clothes for the 1st year I think! I feel so blessed to have such great family and friends. Thank you to everyone who came to help me celebrate!

I can't believe I will be 9 months pregnant on Friday. I can hardly believe how fast time flies. I am so ready to be done with this. People were not lying when they said the last trimester is the heardest! I am so tired and sore all the time. I feel like an old lady every time I get up- my back hurts, my feet hurt, and pretty much my whole body aches! I have no energy and I feel so incredibly fat! I have gotten a lot of swelling over the past few weeks. In fact, my hands get so swollen that it is causing carpal tunnel symptoms! I wake up many times during the night to numb and tingling hands. My wrists have also been hurting a lot. I hate going to bed at night because sleeping is so uncomfortable! Poor Lance has probably about 6 inches of the bed to sleep on next too my 5-6 pillows! What a great hubby though- never complains. I just can't wait to be done. At least I will have a little baby to show for all this misery! The work countdown is on. I only have 4 more work weeks left. The 12 hour shifts are getting so hard. I had to call in sick last Thursday because I was just so exhausted. I just keep reminding myself that there are only 4 more weeks.... I can do it... I can do it.

I will post pics from the shower when I get some. Of course I forgot my camera, and so did Mandy and Wendy! So I am hoping someone at least took a couple of pictures!