Movin' On Up

Calla turned two weeks old and graduated to the big kids room, aka, the growing room last night. So we celebrated with her first hippie outfit, she was born in Eugene afterall. She wanted to celebrate by doing a photoshot with her namesake, the Calla Lilly for her birthday.

So back to the big news. We were moved down to the first floor NICU unit (the growing room), were the babies that are stable go that just need to grow and learn to suck, swallow, and breath. Which we all take for granted but it is pretty hard at first. She is definetly the smallest baby down there right now,by about a pound. She is definetly an overacheiver, we did not think we would be moved down there for a few more weeks. We still have at least a month here though, because she has a long way to go before she has the stregth and stamina to take in all of her food orally. She is doing amazing though and is up to 3 lbs. 10 oz. Her parents are so proud of her!

I am all ready for the Oregon Country Fair!

That flower is huge, it is bigger than my head.

So happy in mommy's arms.

Bye Grandma and Grandpa

Hi everyone!

We had to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa Shaff this afternoon. We had to drag grandma out of the room. They were already trying to plan their next trip at breakfast this morning. I guess those just once a year visit are history now from the parents/grandparents.

Calla is resting this afternoon for her next set of vistors. Some friends from Corvallis are visting this afternoon, Kevin and Nicole.

I love holding my Dad's hand!

Well that is it for now, just thought I would post a few new photos. It is off to see my daughter.

Mom, Grandma, and Calla enjoying a moment

Calla is growing by the ounce it seems now. She is upto 3 lb. 8 oz. as of tonight. Another 8 oz. and she gets to escape her isolete and move into a crib. It will so much easier to pick her up. She is enjoying her time with the AZ grandparents. Grandma Lynda got some good holding time with her tonight while she was wide awake.

We did get some slighty scary news today though. The doctors noticed a heart mummer this morning so they did a ultrasound of her heart today and found a Ventricular Septal Defect, which is a small hole, about 3 mm, in the wall between the two lower heart chambers. It does not seem to be affecting her right now since she is doing so well. It is a very common congentital heart defect that may go away over time. It is in the muscle of the lining, so as she grows, the muscles might just close the holes and everything will be fine. If she had gone full term, it might not have even been noticed becasue the muscles might have closed in the holes by then. But we will be visiting a cardiologist in the next few months in Portland to monitor the holes. Right now it is just something we have to watch closely. Here is a web site that has a little more detail if you care to read:

http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/health/heart-encyclopedia/anomalies/vsd

On the lighter side Calla got her first real bath with a tube full of warm water. This is the way to go as opposed to how we did it a few night ago that was just a sponge bath. She seemed to really like it, just like her mom likes her baths.

Mom and Dad giving Calla a bath

Saturday, April 26

Hi Everyone. I have not written in a few days because we have been busy, but lots of fun. On Thursday, my mother left after a week and a half of taking care of us. I know she will miss her smallest granddaughter lots and we can’t wait to see her again whenever she decides to come visit, hopefully with Grandpa next time. Friday was full visitors and Saturday Grandma and Grandpa Shaff got to hold their first grandchild for the first time. It was a great experience for all as Calla gave them a few smiles and lots of open eyes.

Calla continues to do amazing. She gained another 50 grams over the last 24 hours and is showing more and more interest in nursing. The last two days she has latched on and sucked a little. I am not sure if she has gotten anything yet because I have been pumping before her feeding time so I am going to change that and start pumping after her feeding time that way if she really is ready to suck and swallow, even if it only a little bit, I will have the milk ready to give her. She never ceases to amaze me. When I went to see her an hour before her feeding time this afternoon she was wide awake just looking at the world. She had her big beautiful eyes wide open and just looked around as I talked to her while I was pumping. I know she will grow up fast so I cherish every moment with her.

Scott and I continue to do well. I have started to only pump twice at night so I get 5 1/2 hours of sleep at a time and try and take at least a 30 minute nap each day. Scott gets full night of sleep, but then he gets to do any errands that need running during the day. We are a great team. We are really enjoying the visitors, so keep coming. We love to show off Calla and it is so nice to feel the connection back to Corvallis. We really miss Corvallis, our home, friends, and of course Aspen. Thanks to everyone for your help and support. Your friendship and help through this adventure makes it so much more endurable.
Lots of Love,
Courtney

I don't think Grandpa Bob has ever smiled so big!

Grandma Lynda holding her granddaughter for the first time, I am not sure if life gets any better than this.

I already have them wrapped around my little finger!!!

Calla got all dressed up for her Grandma Lynda and Bob tonight, but they had some flight troubles and will not be getting into Eugene until past midnight tonight. Which is way past Calla and her parents bed time, so we will be seeing them in the morning. They had to fly into Medford, OR and rent a car and drive up to Eugene, which is over a 2 hour drive. It was either that or not fly into Eugene until tomorrow evening. They meet another nice lady from Eugene who is renting the car with them to get to Eugene, so at least they will have a local driving them and will not get lost late at night.

Calla did not get dressed up for nothing though. Her neighbors Joy and Jay came to meet her as well as another friend from Corvallis, Audrey. So she had a pretty social night.

Calla's doctors told us tonight that she is a superstar and is doing great. She gained another 35 grams yesterday! She just makes her parents prouder every day! Well, we should ready for a big weekend with the grandparents. So goodnight everyone and have a great weekend. Enjoy the sun if you are in Oregon.

Here she is taking a nap with her Mom and sucking her thumb. Look at that head of hair already. I think it is thicker than her Dad's.

Calla's back on the internet!

I think I am so cute!

Well, sorry for the technical difficulties over the past 24 hours if you tried to get a Calla update. Google determined the site to be a suspected spam creator website. We had to petition them to review the site and repost it. They said it might be up to 4 days, so I guess we got lucky, it was only shut down for about 24 hours.

So now back to the important news, Calla. She has been growing the last few days. She has gained some weight over the past few days and is now back to her birth weight of 3 lbs 2 oz. She has also gotten taller over the past week, by growing 1 inch, she is now just under 17 inches. She surprises us everyday. The last few days she has started waking up about 30 minutes before each feeding, which she gets every three hours. These are the best moments of the day.

Check out my ripped bicep!

Granda Cindy left today, I think she is going to miss her newest granddaughter. They got a lot of good snuggle time though while she was here. Tomorrow Grandma Lynda and Grandpa Bob are coming into town to meet their first grandchild from Tucson. Calla told me tonight she can not wait to meet them. She is practicing her cutest looks tonight for them.

A Mother’s Story – The Emotional Rollercoaster

Well here I am again writing when I am supposed to be sleeping. I even decided to give myself some extra time between pumpings so I could get more sleep and of course, I am wide awake. Since I was released from the hospital I have had nothing but emotional highs, Calla has been and continues to do great, and I am so proud of her. However, today was a hard day for me. Like Scott wrote she continues to have her episodes where she forgets to breath and she often has then when I am holding her in the evenings. This is always hard on me because I feel that I can’t protect her from them. One week ago she was still inside me and I could protect her from everything and now she is no tiny and has to deal with the big outside world. I know that she will grow out of them and that she is doing great for how tiny she is, but that does not change a mothers need to protect her child from everything or the need I have to make everything all right.

Scott and I have settled into a routine of spending time with her in the hospital and taking some time at the guest house for ourselves. But it also it had to make those decisions about how much time to spend there and when to leave and take time for ourselves. Most parents don’t “get” to be part time parents with fulltime babysitters watching their child. So we deal with the emotions of leaving her to be cared for by others (no matter that they are wonderful Doctors and nurses!) while we take a nap, eat lunch, or run and errand. We know that we have to take care of ourselves, because we need to be healthy for her and ready to take her home whenever she is ready. So I struggle with some guilt over taking time for myself but also trying to remind myself that “normal” mothers get to have their new babies at home to snuggle with, nap with, and just be at home with. While Scott and I have to visit our daughter in the hospital and wait for her to be strong enough to go home. So we are hanging in there, we know that their will continue to be emotional highs and lows, but as long as we stick together we can get through them all.