I honestly cannot believe that it has been an entire year since my sweet Eliana was born.  At 5:36 pm she will be exactly 1 year old.  I have been thinking a lot lately about how far she has come and how much she has overcome.  We knew that she would probably come early, but I don’t think we ever imagined that she would arrive a full two months before her due date.  I can’t even begin to describe the rush of emotions that you feel the moment your baby is born.  I am sure every mother holds her breath, waiting for that first cry to reassure that everything is all right.  It was probably only a few seconds, but I swear, it felt like a lifetime.  

That first night that she was with us was hard.  I was only able to touch her and see her for a few brief minutes before she had to be taken to Children’s Hospital.  It was not enough time.  There were so many things that I was feeling that night.  I was so in love with this tiny, precious child.  I did not know that I was capable of that amount of love.  I am still amazed at how much love you can feel.  And just when you think your heart can’t possibly hold anymore, you find that it can.  It has this amazing way of expanding.  There was also an empty feeling.  She wasn’t with us and I couldn’t be with her.  To go through childbirth and then be left alone in a room without a child is heartbreaking.  Along with that was a fear of the unknown.  I didn’t fully understand her condition, how sick she was, what would happen next, how long she would be there.  There was also a hurt.  Parents know that one of the hardest things in the world is to see your child suffering. . .especially when there is no way to comfort them.

BUT, that little 2 lb., 6 oz. girl was (and is) a fighter!  She is smart, determined, and I pity anyone that gets in her way!  She has come so far.  And, she has done it all with a smile.  She wakes up happy, she goes to bed happy and stays that way between the two.  She lets you know when you’ve made her mad, but she never stays mad.  She amazes me every single day.  I could not be more proud of her than I am.  She is my world and she has absolutely captured my heart.

This may have been the fastest years of my life and one of the hardest years of my life, but it was definitely and without a doubt the happiest year of my life!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET, HAPPY, AMAZING, WONDERFUL ELIANA!

It’s been a while since you’ve heard from us – at least on this blog – but, rest assured, every day of the last year is more incredible than the last. I’m completely serious.

Our baby girl is the most adorable, the most loving and the *happiest* little thing I have ever met in my life. She actually has a sinus infection right now (yeah, on her birthday – poor thing) and, even with that, she still manages to laugh – at whatever. Be it something Heather and I might be doing or, perhaps, something her best friend Jackson might be doing… she just never stops smiling.

I thank God for that.

So, what has Eliana been up to since we last posted?

Well, she started crawling not too long ago… maybe about a month or so. She’s a pro at it now, too, let me tell you. She can *book* it across the living room in no time flat. We don’t stand a chance.

Let’s see, what else, what else… ah, she’s got two adorable little teeth on her bottom gums now and she’s finally getting past clothes for a 3-6 month old. Whoo-hoo!

Other than that, she’s had GREAT, GREAT, GREAT follow-up visits to the pediatrician and we just couldn’t be more thankful for that. There are continued PT appointments to help her along in some areas but she’s just doing very well overall.

At any rate, I’m very much looking forward to embarking on the next year of our lives as a family and I sincerely hope that we’re able to post on the site more often. I’ve got an absurd number of incredible pictures that I’d love to share with you at some point.

Our little Eliana turns five months old today and neither of us can really believe it.

We haven’t done a very good job of keeping the blog up-to-date but the reason for that mainly falls under the “no news is good news” category.

Eliana has been doing absolutely great since we brought her home on May 8th and, just a couple of weeks ago, she hit the 7-lb. mark. Fantastic! Since we’ve last shared with you, she’s also started smiling A LOT more and has even started “talking” with us (cooing and whatnot) when she gets really happy and excited.

Plus, she’s also started sleeping much better. In fact, last night, she went through the whole night without needing to get up to eat. Seven-and-a-half hours, to be precise. That’s very nice for us, of course, but we just love the fact that she’s able to get some good rest.

Again, apologies for the lack of updates but we’ve just been doing our own thing and spending LOTS of time with the little one. We’re also trying to make time for ourselves, too. We had our first date night last month (dinner – Casa Don Gallo – and a movie – “Day and Knight,” very funny) and we’re planning another date night too. This also helps the grandparents get some much-needed Eliana time.

Over the last month, we’ve also been able to bring her out into the real world more and more. About 3 weeks ago, we were finally able to bring her to church and she’s done very well each time.

Anyway, thanks for reading we’ll try to do a better job of keeping you all up-to-date.

God bless,
Jason, Heather and Eliana

P.S. – the photo below was taken just a couple of days ago. No words can describe how we feel when she gives us a smile like that. Seriously, no words.

People have been expressing their frustration (mild, nothing major – well, I did get that one threat by mail…) over the lack of pictures as of late so I thought I might let you know where you can find some new ones. I’ve abandoned Flickr for now and have migrated over to Picasa. When I have the time, I’ll update the home page and the right column so that pictures in those areas will be pulling from up-to-date Picasa content.

For now, though, check out my public Gallery on Picasa.

Just wanted to fill you all in on what’s been going on since we brought the little one home.

Considering how her first two months went, Baby E has been doing quite well in her first week home and we’re absolutely loving the fact that she’s finally here.

That said, she has had a bit of difficulty in terms of scheduling. The NICU environment from which she came wasn’t necessarily conducive (I’m hoping that’s spelled right) to a normal day/night schedule so she’s having a little trouble in that regard.

From the get-go, the nurses at ETCH recommended that we have some constant light/noise while she’s sleeping and, while that’s helped, she still isn’t getting the rest that she needs.

(BTW, when Eliana doesn’t get the rest she needs, we don’t get the rest we need… and when Heather doesn’t get the rest she needs, she often winds up getting mastitis… which is just unbearable pain. So, I’d appreciate some prayers that they both get the rest they need.)

In other news, the little one didn’t adjust well to the dry formula they switched her to upon her exit from the hospital so her little tummy has been quite grumbly and it makes her quite uncomfortable. (Which also doesn’t help with getting the proper amount of rest.) On our follow-up appt. to the doc last Thursday, Eliana was sent home with some medication for her stomach so, hopefully, she’ll be rid of these stomach issues soon.

Anyhoo, not much else going on… just wanted to provide everyone with a quick update. How’s everything going in your neck of the woods?

Throughout the last fourteen days, Eliana has:

• moved across the hall from NICU1 to NICU2 (definitely a less “critical” and certainly more calm environment),
• learned her Dad’s food=good philosophy (and, subsequently, gained some much-needed weight),
• passed a hearing test,
• passed a carseat test,
• spent her first night (semi-)alone with her parents in a (semi-)monitored environment

Now, the time has come.

Here within a few hours, we’ll be bringing our little Eliana home from Children’s Hospital… 59 days, countless worried nights and approximately 2.4 thousand fast-food meals* &  car trips to Children’s Hospital later.

Heather and I have explored many thoughts and conveyed many emotions here on this blog over the last 9 months and we’ll certainly continue to do so as we raise our little one. That said (and we’ve said this before), we can’t even BEGIN to express how thankful we are for all of you. You’ve prayed with us/for us, consistently checked in on us, and shown us a tremendous amount of love and support.

Over the next two weeks, we’ll slowly begin the next chapter of our lives and we’re ecstatic to do so. During this time, we’ll be updating the site and be posting photos to Picasa/Facebook/Flickr – so be sure to check back.

God bless you all.

Oh, and our little one officially turns 60 days old (at 5:36p) on this, her first day at home… and her first morning at home coincidentally falls on Heather’s first Mother’s Day.

*Okay, 2.4K may be an exaggeration but we’ve literally had very (very) little time to prepare some meals. For those of you who prepped some homemade food goodness for us, we simply can’t thank you enough.

It was in July of last year that Jason and I sat down, talked and decided that the time was right to start thinking about having a baby.  Due to our previous miscarriages early on in our marriage, we were very cautious about who to tell and when.  Originally we weren’t going to share with anyone that we were going to start trying, but then decided that we wanted people praying for us.

We spoke to both of our parents to let them know and to request that they begin praying that we would not only get pregnant, but have a successful pregnancy.  I joke with Jason that they must have immediately started praying because 5 weeks later we were back at their houses telling them that I was 5 weeks pregnant!  Again, we requested more prayers from them – as they were the only ones that knew.

Once we made it past the point where I had miscarried before, we shared the news with family and then friends.  Once more, we asked that they begin praying for us and our growing baby.  What we didn’t know at this point was that our baby was already struggling to obtain nutrients due to a blood clot in my placenta.

It was around 18 weeks that obvious problems started to arise.  We had some tests come back with abnormal results and Eliana began measuring three weeks behind.  Our doctors expected that she would continue to drop-off in growth.  It was at this point that prayer became even more crucial.  The requests went out and the response was overwhelming.

From there, things began to look good.  She maintained her weight, although she was still three weeks behind.  All was well until we hit 30 weeks, which I don’t believe my doctor expected me to get that far.  It was at this point that I was hospitalized and the journey really took off.  She was then born at 32 weeks – a beautiful 2lbs, 6 oz little girl.

I am finding that we had no idea just how sick this little girl really was early on.  However, sometimes, ignorance really is bliss.  The prayers kept rolling in and the love was definitely felt.

Now, here we are on her original due date and she is doing so well.  She is so close to coming home now!  She is taking all 8 of her bottles now and her feeding tube has been removed.  At this point it is all about growth and nothing more.  She is so amazing!  It looks like we will be rooming in this Friday and bringing her home on Saturday, if all goes as planned.  She should be hitting the 4 lb. mark tonight (last night she was 3 lbs, 15.4 oz).

It occurred to me recently that her life has been all about prayer!  Her name means ‘God answers our prayers’ and He certainly has!  I think that it is only fitting and so perfect that her original due date – today – is the National Day of Prayer.  Although, I have now changed that to the National Day of Praise!

First I want to thank everyone that came out or supported us in the March for Babies walk this Saturday.  We ended up having 14 people walking for Team Eliana and we raised a total of $630!  The weather was wonderful and the rain held off until long after the walk was over.  I haven’t heard the total raised from the Knoxville walk, but there was a great turn out!

Little Miss Eliana had a rather great weekend as well.  She finally gave up the oxygen hood!  As of 2:30 am on Saturday the hood was removed and has not returned!!!  This is HUGE!  This was really the last big hurdle. Since it has been removed she has managed to keep her O2 Sats up, with just the occasional dip, which she recovers from quickly.

Now it is all about taking bottles and gaining weight.  They also changed from every other to two of every three for her feedings.  Meaning, she gets two bottles and then one feeding through the tube, so about 5 – 6 bottles per day.  As of today she is still doing really well with the bottles and not having any issues.

On Saturday night she was weighing in at 3 lbs, 10 oz.  However, due to the additional bottles she lost a little and weighed 3 lbs, 8.5 oz last night.  That was something that we knew would probably happen due to the extra energy she is using on taking the bottles.  The next step with the feedings is all 8 bottles and they won’t do that until she is gaining weight again at her current schedule.

Obviously we can’t say exactly when she will be coming home, but it is definitely getting close.  We are estimating a few more weeks, but that could change – in either direction.

Oh, and she got her very first Pooh Bear from her daddy!

So, all in all it was just a wonderful weekend!!!

She is steadily gaining weight – currently weighing in at 3 lbs, 5 oz – and the doctors want her to be gaining between 1/2 an ounce to an ounce per day.  She is still under the oxygen hood, but she doesn’t really need it. . .she just likes it!  She is receiving 21% oxygen, which is room air.  However, she likes the humidity she receives from the hood (we believe), so when they try to take it off, she drops her oxygen saturation and they have to replace it.  There really isn’t a way to ween her off of that, she just has to decide she is done with it.

She is up to four bottles per day now, one every other feeding.  She normally takes the entire bottle, which is now 32 ml – just over an ounce.  She is developing the pattern of waking before it’s time to eat to let them know she is hungry.  We should be at 8 bottles in no time!

And that’s pretty much the only things that we are waiting on now.  She has to get off of the oxygen hood and take her bottles.  Of course, she has to gain the weight, but there’s not really a set amount there, that will come.

As for me – I had my 6 week appointment last week and we got some information.  They did blood work and tests on my placenta and found the cause of the problems.  There was apparently a rather large blood clot there taking up about half of the placenta.  We had done tests early on to check for this and they all came back negative.

We began seeing a change in her size at around 8 weeks, with the big difference hitting around 18 weeks.  However, that means that she was fighting for nutrition very early on and continued doing so up until she was born.  The doctor said that he was surprised that I didn’t miscarry early on in the pregnancy.  I said she was just meant to be!

The good news here is that we have identified the problem and it can be (possibly) treated, if ever we decide to have another child.  It also means that this was the cause of the preeclampsia, so by treating the clotting issue, we will be lowering the chances of that returning.

So, good news there!

Every day, thousands of babies are born too soon, too small and often very sick. We’re walking because we want to do something about this.  As most of you know, Jason and I recently welcomed Eliana into the world – two months early!

The money we raise will support March of Dimes research and programs that help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives. And it will be used to bring comfort and information to families with a baby in newborn intensive care.

Please join Team Eliana. You can do so on our team Web page. If you can’t walk with us, please help the team reach our goal by making a donation. You can do that online as well. Thank you for helping us give all babies a healthy start!

If you would like to learn more about March for Babies, visit the Web site at marchforbabies.org.

The March of Dimes mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.