Big Brother, Big Helper!

Ben is really sweet with Reese! He talks to her and rubs her head :)

He is such a good helper!

We all went to Target the other night and put Reese in her stroller. Ben took the stroller and wanted to push Reese-it was really cute!

Today I bought Reese an activity mat for her to lay on. Ben wanted to put it all together for her.

Reese and I worked up at Ben's school on Tuesday and then went to Chapel on Wednesday with him. Ben loves showing Reese off to all the kids and teachers :)

showing her off to his friends :)

Ben is such a great BIG BROTHER!

1 Month!

Reese is 1 MONTH old today!

* She weighs 7lbs & 3ozs, and she is 20 1/2 inches long (we had to measure her ourselves because they forgot at the doctor.)

* She is still wearing New Born size clothes and diapers.

* She sleeps pretty good most of the time.

* She likes her swing and riding in her car seat.

* She loves sleeping on her Daddy.

* She loves when Ben talks to her.

Reese is so sweet! She had a little "colic" issue but the doctor prescribed some medicine drops and they really seem to be helping. She pretty much just sleeps and eats still. Her eyes focus more now so she can sit and look at you now :) She has so yummy chubby cheeks!

We just love her!!!!

She Loves Her Bubba!

Reese loves Ben! I know it sounds silly but you'd have to see it to believe it!

If Reese hears Ben talking her little eyes move around until she finds him. If he talks to her she gets really calm. Today after Ben got home from school I sat Reese on the couch with him so she could see him :)

"Sometimes being a brother is better than being a superhero."

Author: Marc Brown

1st Dr's Visit

Reese had her first doctor's appointment today. Matt and I guessed what Reese's weight was now. Matt said 6lbs-1oz, I said 6lbs-5oz. The nurse weighed her and she was ***6lbs-9oz***!!!!

Reese's height stayed the same. She's still 19 1/2 inches. We were really excited that she had passed her birth weight! She's a good little eater ;)

a little sleepin'

a little swingin'

BIG BROTHER NEWS: Ben had his 1st soccer practice tonight! (I didn't get any pictures because the guys were running late.) His team is the SHARKS and the first game is on my birthday-yay!

2 Weeks Old!!

Our sweet Reese is 2 weeks old!

She is a good natured baby! She eats about every 2 or 3 hours during the day. She can go 4 hours sometimes at night. She is sleeping better now-I think she just needed to get used to the noises and her bed at home.

Yesterday Matt and I took her to shop for appliances :) She did great-It's pretty easy right now since all she does is sleep.

We are all getting back to a "normal" now. Big Brother is back in school and Daddy is working from home for the next couple weeks. I am just enjoying us all being together!!!!

*getting ready for bed*

*sleeping in the swing*

Just Hangin' Out

Reese is 13 days old today :) She is so sweet! But at night she doesn't seem to want to sleep in her bassinet... During the day she has no problem sleeping in it. She loves to sleep on a big king size pillow we have & she likes to hang out on her changing pad. I think it's because in the NICU they have all of these cushion type things that cuddle the baby so they feel secure. I'm not sure what to do about the bassinet-If you have any suggestions let me know :) p.s. We don't co-sleep. It's just not our thing.

Just relaxin' on the changing pad.

sweet little face!

love these little piggies :)

KINDERGARTEN ROCKS!!!

Today my first baby started Kindergarten! Ben is getting so big :( and it's happening too fast!

He was excited to see his friends again, but also a little nervous-but that passed very quickly. Ben was happy to see that his little buddy, Gage, was sitting next to him at their table-YAY!

Me and my big Kindergartner :)

Thanks Gigi & Pops for the AWESOME back pack!

Sitting at his table-next to his buddy Gage :)

Ready to learn!

We are so thankful that Ben is able to go to such a wonderful school! I can't wait to pick him up to see how his day was :)

I'm OUTTA Here!

August 12, 2011 was Reese's LAST day in the NICU-YAY!

take me home!!!

asleep in my own bassinet!

Ben helping Daddy give a bottle. He didn't want to hold her, just help :)

We had a good night. She was a little restless because she peed through 2 diapers and her blankets. But once we got the diaper situation taken care of she slept from 230am to 630am!

She is the sweetest thing! She's just been sleeping and eating-what babies do. Reese loves to hear Matt and Ben's voices. She always opens her eyes when she hears them :)

Matt and I are so relieved and happy to have our little family under one roof! It's perfect!!!

Thank you everyone for praying for our sweet Reese and us!

So sweet! Here head is so teeny that the bow looks HUGE!

BEN NEWS: He lost another tooth! He's getting too big!!!! :(

Just One More Day!

Today was Reese's 8th day in the NICU. She gained more weight-her weight is 5lbs 11oz!!! She is obviously eating very well :) Reese is off the nasal cannula and doing great!

I went up for her 12pm feeding and the nurse told me the news!

REESE GETS TO GO HOME FRIDAY!!!!

I was so excited! I called her Daddy right away to give him and Ben the good news!

We have to take a CPR class Friday evening and then we get to go get our baby girl and bring her home!

1 Week Old!!!

Reese is 7 days old today!!! Sorry I have no pictures today. I just wanted to hold her the whole time I was there-pictures where the last thing I was thinking about ;)

Day 7 in the NICU was another great day for Reese!

*Daddy went up and feed her at 9am and she did great! She doesn't have to be under the "bili light" any more-the jaundice is level is fine. They had put her in her own cute pink and grey sleeper :)

*I went and feed her at 3pm. She gulped the bottle down in under 8 minutes! She is doing great with breathing and feeding. They have her on the nasal cannula with 25% oxygen with 1% pressure.

*Daddy went back up to feed baby girl at 9pm. She took her bottle great! They turned the oxygen down to 21% (room air) w/ .5% pressure.

The nurse told Matt that at Reese's 3am feeding they are going to take her off the nasal cannula! Please pray that Reese does good with this big change! We are ready to have her home with us!!!!

She's Teeny, But She's Strong!

Reese spent her 6th day in the NICU today. We are missing her VERY badly tonight but it helps that she had a great day today! She even gained an ounce-She weighs 5lbs 10ozs!

She started feeding from a bottle!!! YAY!

* At her 9am feeding she ate 50mil. in 12 minutes :)

* Daddy gave her the 12pm bottle and she ate 1/2 then got tired so the rest went through the feeding tube.

* I went back up at her 3pm feeding and we practiced nursing. She did good and will do better as she gets stronger. She had 30mils in the bottle but got tired so she had to finish through the feeding tube.

It's a lot of work for her to feed/nurse and breathe at the same time. But she is doing so good and will continue to get better at it! We are so proud of our little Reesey :) She will be home in no time!

THIS JUST IN: Matt just called to get an update from Reese's nurse. At her 9pm feeding she ate the WHOLE bottle in 9 minutes without getting tired! The nurse told Matt that she is doing so good and should be off of the oxygen soon and home in a couple days :)

Day 5 With Our Sweet Girl

Today Reese is 5 days old and she's weighing in at 5lbs 9ozs! She's doing so good and her lungs are getting stronger and stronger! Her feedings are up, and she's off all the IV's.

They put her under the "bili light" because she's a little jaundice... That will go away with in 2-3 days.

a little tanning-heehee

Christy took me up to the hospital so I could hold Reese at her 12pm feeding. She was really alert today and enjoyed hearing us talk :) And her Aunt Christy enjoyed seeing her.

me and my sweet baby girl!

baby milk coma :)

Matt took Ben to a birthday party this morning, so he came up for Reese's 3pm feeding. He finally got to hold his baby girl!

Could there be anything sweeter?!?!

A Gift From Reese

We got a BIG BROTHER present for Ben from Reese :)

He started putting it together right away and did it all by himself (unless he got mad at something, then Daddy helped). Matt told him that Reese wanted Ben to build her something so she could see it when she got to come home. So now we have a Space Center sitting on our coffee table-haha!

Come home Reese so you can see what your Big Brother built for you!

Bring On The Tooth Fairy!

Ben lost his first tooth! He was so excited!!! He said "This is the best week! I am a big brother, I lost a tooth! It's amazing!"

He's got 2 more loose but won't let anyone pull them :)

Our Sweet Baby Reese

Reese made her arrival on August 3, 2011 at 3:55pm! She was 6lbs 7ozs & 19 1/2 inches long.

She came out screaming!!!

Very excited Daddy :)

so sweet!

Big Brother meeting his baby sister :)

Reeses' first hours in the NICU.

Reese was having a lot of trouble breathing, so she had to be put in the NICU. The doctors said that she had RDS (Respiratory Distress Syndrome). It is the most common lung disease that affects premature babies and sometimes full term babies. The cause of RDS is the physical immaturity of the lungs and a decreased amount of surfactant.

It has been a lot of back and forth, ups and downs. But she is so strong!!!

Day 2 in the NICU. The first time to hold her since she was born :)

Reese on the C Pap. This pushes oxygen down in to her lungs. (day 2)

Day 3 in the NICU. Off of the C Pap, but she had to go back on it shortly after.

Friday the doctors started Reese on steroids. She will get those 3 times a day for 3 days. Then on Saturday they gave her "replacement" surfactant through a breathing tube directly into her lungs. This coats her lungs to prevent them from collapsing. (She has only had to have one dose of this so far.) She made a big improvement after the surfactant was given to her!

Sunday morning Matt called and she was still improving. They increased her feedings and are going to take her off of the IV's at 6pm. So she will be getting all breast milk-which is wonderful if she can continue to digest it well. They also took her off the C Pap and put her on the High Flow Nasal Cannula at only 30% oxygen-and that is wonderful! She is adjusting her own temperature and is in clothes and swaddled with a blanket now :)

Today at her feeding time (through a feeding tube that goes directly into her stomach) I got to hold her today! She is teeny and super sweet!!! I just kissed on her and talked to her. She tried opening her eyes to look at me but she just couldn't do it-the breast milk makes her very relaxed ;)

Tomorrow I am going back up at her noon feeding so I can get a hold of her again! The nurse also told me to bring some clothes for Reese-yay! Then Matt is going to go at her 3pm feeding so he can hold her-which they are both going to love!!!

If she continues to do well they will start slowly backing off the oxygen, upping her feedings with no IV, they will then put her in an open air crib in her own room. Reese will also have to be able to nipple feed before she can go home (probably with a bottle first). The nurse said Reese has all the mechanics down for nursing but that her lungs may not be able to handle the feedings and breathing at the same time-we'll just have to see how that goes.

I want to thank EVERYONE for all the prayers for Reese and our little family. It is amazing to see and feel what prayer can do!

As she gets better it of course gets a lot easier. It's hard to leave her there but we know she is being very well taken care of. Plus her grandparents go up to visit her too when we aren't there-she's getting plenty of love :) Matt and I are so ready to have our sweet girl home with her big brother!!! It won't be long now before she'll be with us! She's a strong girl and doing such a good job at getting stronger!

Keep the prayers coming :)

P.S. We will get some new pictures as soon as we can! She looks so much better now- you can tell she is feeling better!