Olivia and I ventured to California for the first time last week. I was excited to show her off to extended family and friends. She met her great-grandfather, great-uncle and aunt, cousins and family friends. She was dealing with some reflux issues, so she had a rough start to the week, but as time went by, and the medication started helping, she was a better baby.

My Grandpa was the first to meet Olivia. We figured it would be easier for him to meet her one-on-one before the big family dinner the next night. She was kinda fussy, but it was so great getting to introduce her to her great-grandfather!!!

The family dinner was great and I loved that everyone loved her! Then on Sunday I introduced Olivia to my friends, Tammy and Nicole and their families. It's so great that our kids will all be fairly close in age! On Sunday afternoon, Maggie hosted a casual get together at her house to introduce the baby to her friends and family. It was fun catching up... especially with Matt's friends, Stu and Sarah, who came up from Cardiff.

One of my favorite parts to the visit was seeing Shaye taking such an interest in Olivia. She shared her toys, gave her kisses and showed concern when she cried. At one point, Olivia was crying, so Shaye, without any prompting from anyone else, came over and offered her "Miss Bunny" blanket to soothe Olivia. The sweetest thing EVER!!! I can't wait for them to grow up and become best pals!

We can't wait to visit again... probably in May, and with Matt in tow!

Poor Olivia!

For the past week or two Olivia has been a fussy baby! I thought it was gas, so we got some Mylicon that, at first, was helping. But the last several days she's been fussier than normal. Most of her awake time she has really been straining after feedings. I could tell it was more than just gas... she would grunt, her face would get red and it was obvious there was something wrong with her tummy! It's been really frustrating not knowing what was going on or how I could fix it. So this morning I called the pediatrician's office and got an appointment for this afternoon. After talking with the pediatrician and having her examine Olivia, she said it sounded like a classic case of reflux. So she prescribed some Zantec that I'll give to Olivia twice a day for ten days. The doctor said it's common in premies and she should outgrow it within a few months. I'll start giving it to her tonight and should hope to see some improvement within a couple of doses!

Some updated stats:

Height: 22 1/2"

Weight: 9 lbs, 4oz

Head: 34 1/2"

She's gained 12 oz in the last 2 weeks and has grown 1 1/2" in the last month! She's doing great and the doctor was very pleased with her growth!

Olivia's Big Day

So Olivia had a very big day today! Last Thursday night she had an overnight oxygen test to see if we could finally take off her oxygen tubes. Her first 2 tests didn't go well... she failed them quickly. So I wasn't very optimistic about her passing this time. But about 20 minutes into the test she was still holding her oxygen rate in the 90s! I was feeling relatively hopefully that this might finally be the night. And sure enough, we got the official word from her doctor that she passed the test "with flying colors"!!! So as of this morning, Olivia is wireless! It was weird carrying her around today without having to drag the oxygen cord behind me, making sure I didn't step on it, or keeping the cat from playing with it. And, she's even cuter... I hardly thought that was possible!

We also had a pediatrician visit today. In the last 2 weeks Olivia gained a full 1 lb!!! Her doctor was very impressed... she went from being in the 3rd percentile to the 10th percentile which, according to her doctor, is a huge jump! She also had her first round on vaccinations, which I wasn't ready for. I thought that we'd have to make a separate appointment for her shots... one that I was not looking forward to. But her doctor said we could do them today or make an appointment for next week. I figured it would be better to just get them over with... and this way I would only have a short period of time to stress and freak out about it! She did so amazingly well... she did cry pretty hard with each of the 3 shots in her thighs... it made me tear up! But in about a minute she was done crying and within 5 minutes she was back in her carseat asleep! So impressive... such a rock star today!!!

6 Week Doctor Visit

Last week I had my 6 week follow up visit with my OB. I was anxious for this visit because I actually wanted to get on the scale... which is a first for me. But my pre-pregnancy jeans were starting to feel a bit big on me so I wanted to find out how much of my pregnancy weight I had lost. Not only have I lost ALL of my pregnancy weight, but an additional 6 lbs!!! I was thrilled! Now I just need to continue this and lose some more weight! I just wish the weather was a bit warmer so I would have more opportunities to take Olivia out for a walk.

My doctor was still able to feel my fibroids that I developed during pregnancy so I decided to get an ultrasound to see what is going on with them as well as the cyst that is on my ovary. So this week I had the ultrasound. Unfortunately, the fibroids have grown in size. Although my doctor (and I) are not that concerned about them since they are on the outside of the uterus (and therefore should be an issue when trying to get pregnant again). But the cyst on my ovary should have disappeared by now and instead it grew in size. I'm a bit concerned about this, so we decided to re-do the ultrasound in 2 months and see what's going on. If it gets larger, then we may have to remove it. So we'll see what happens!!!

The Flowers Visit!

Bethany, Ryan and Shaye came to Colorado Springs this past weekend to meet their niece/ cousin Olivia! We had such a great visit! Shaye is growing so much and was so much fun to have around (except for a few meltdowns!) Shaye loved seeing Nate again... although I'm not sure the feeling was mutual. Last time they visited she was 10 months old and only crawling, so he could escape her by going upstairs. Now she's running all over the place and could follow him upstairs, so Nate had to get more strategic in his hiding! She did great though, and was so cute when she would pet him or let him smell her hand.

We had a pretty low key weekend, mostly just hanging out at home. But we had a few outings to Downtown and Manitou Springs. Shaye got her first look and feel of snow and she loved it! She even got to sled down the driveway! It was so much fun!!! On Saturday night, Bethany's former roomate from San Diego (who now lives in Aurora) came down for dinner. It was great seeing Julie and getting to catch up! Bethany and Ryan made a fantastic dinner and even bananas foster for dessert! Julie was kind enough to take a picture of all of us...

It was so hard to say goodbye to everyone... I get so emotional now when my family leaves. It's really difficult being far away now that Olivia is here. I wish we could just see eveyone whenever we wanted! Maybe someday... in the meantime, we'll have lots of web calls and since I'm not working, I'll try to visit as often as possible! I can't wait to see them again!!

1 Month Old!!!

Today Olivia is 1 month old! I can't believe it! It seems like much longer since I was delivering her! She's doing so great... at her pediatrician visit a week ago, she had gained 8 oz over the previous week which is awesome! The doctor had anticipated 3-4 oz so she was thrilled with 8 oz! She's also grown 1/2" since birth putting her at 20". She's doing a great job feeding... we still are doing a combo of nursing and formula. I'm still waiting for my full milk supply to come in... both my doctor and the lactation woman at the hospital said it could be until her original due date (which is this week) before my milk comes in, so hopefully sometime soon!

We also had a cardiologist follow up appointment this week. All of the issues she had in the NICU are resolving themselves on their own either closing up or already closed. I can't remember all the acronyms of all the parts that were issues, but the cardiologist was pleased with her progress. He also suggested increasing her oxygen in hopes of getting her off it sooner. So in talking with him and the pediatrician, we have increased her oxygen level and will be testing her off the oxygen more frequently... I'm hoping it might only be a few more weeks before she's off the oxygen, but who knows! The doctors don't seem to give us any idea up front which is frustrating! I'll just be glad to have her off so that I don't have to tow around the cord all the time, and try to keep Nate from playing with it like it's a toy!

I'm so thrilled she's doing so well. She's such a sweet and calm baby which is great! She seems to sleep through most anything, and she's been doing pretty well sleeping at night and going for longer stretches between feedings, which I appreciate immensely! Our next pediatrician visit is next week for a weight check so we'll see how much bigger she's gotten!!!

Olivia is Home!

So I'm a little behind on the blogging... but understandable because Olivia is HOME! She was able to come home one week ago after spending her first 2 weeks of life in the NICU. She finally got a hang of the feeding thing and started gaining some weight. Maggie and my Dad helped me get her home from the hospital and then it officially began!!!

So far Olivia's been great... very content, a great sleeper and really improving on her eating! She really only fusses when she's hungry... doesn't even fuss when she's got a wet or dirty diaper! I'm so thankful to have my parents here to help with her and help with things around the house. It enables me to catch a nap on many afternoons which really helps!

So now my days are filled with feedings, diaper changes and my favorite... holding my daughter! We've introduced her to a few people who have come over and of course they all think she's adorable... who could disagree?!

Olivia's Nursery

We've got Olivia's nursery about 90% done now. Thanks to my parents help (it couldn't have been done without them!!) we got the crib, dresser, changing table and glider put together. We also got some cute decorative items put together today, so it's got more of it's "beach" theme. We didn't get the chance to paint or put up the wallpaper border I had hoped, but with Olivia's unexpected early arrival we decided to just skip it. I might order the wallpaper border later and put it up. In the meantime, I think the room turned out pretty cute. We still need a few more decorative items (we need some items for inside the boxes above the crib, her name in wood lettering for above the changing table and some organizing baskets), but I finally feel comfortable bring Olivia home to her room.

Here are pictures taken today of her room:

Our First Family Photo

Here is our first family photo taken by my Dad in the NICU... Olivia temp was a bit low that day so she's got the hat on!

Olivia Update

Olivia is doing really well! We finally have her actual pediatrician looking after her now... she's been out of town over the holidays, so yesterday was the first time she was able to examine Olivia. She said she's actually doing better than expected for her age, which made me feel great! I've been frustrated that things are taking longer than expected... I thought for sure we'd have her home by now! All of her issues have pretty much been resolved... now we are just working on getting her feeding exclusively from a bottle or from me. Our pediatrician says that there is a "Feeding Fairy" that visits the hospital... babies tend to go from being a bit lethargic about feeding to "getting it" and taking everything down practically overnight.

So we feel that the Feeding Fairy has done a fly-by on Olivia because she officially nursed for the first time yesterday! It was amazing!!! I had been trying to breast feed her several times and she would just latch and give maybe a handful of sucks, but that's about all I could get out of her. Then suddenly yesterday I tried again, and she just continued to suck and suck! I was thrilled!!! She nursed for 10 minutes in the afternoon and then 20 minutes that afternoon! Today she nursed again for nearly 20 minutes! I feel like she's finally got this nursing thing figured out. Now we just need to get her to be able to nurse from me and also finish the remaining amount she needs from the bottle. My milk has not fully come in yet, so I'm not able to provide all the milk she needs yet. Now that she's nursing I'm hoping it'll come in soon, although the pediatrician said that it could take until her original due date (February 1st) before she is really nursing full time. So my patience is being tested and we just pray that she won't have to be in the NICU much longer!