Days at the hospital

Since we were at the hospital during Christmas, Santa decided to come and visit us there. We had some other pictures I wanted to post, however, Melanie went through and deleted the ones that included her.

Since Shelby was hypoglycemic, she had a blood sugar of 21 when she was born when 50 is a normal low level, and she didn't like to eat and had a bit of an infection. Because of all this, miss Shelby was in the NICU for her stay at the hospital. Due to the limits on visitors in the NICU, only Shelby's grandparents got to come and hold her while at the hospital.

Initially, Shelby had an IV in her little hand but with the continual moving around, the IV came out so one morning, Melanie and I walked in and Shelby had the IV in her head. The nurses assured us, this was a great spot for the IV because they could find the vein easily, of course that is probably just because there was less pudge on her head. Shelby received dextrose and anti-biotics through the IV for four days.

We were told Shelby needed to maintain her own blood-sugar without the dextrose but poor little Shelby couldn't quite figure out breast feeding. We kept trying to get Shelby to eat but she wasn't getting enough nourishment on her own. Melanie and I wanted Shelby to breast-feed but it wasn't looking good at first. We then heard the nurses talking about a feeding tube being used. At this point Shelby was given a blessing by her dad and grandpa and we decided to use formula to supplement the breast milk. The next day Shelby came home from the hospital and has been great since. And Shelby is completely on breast milk, we just feed her through a bottle. This way she can maintain those chubby cheeks!

Little Froggy Baby

My little froggy baby is too cute! She doesn't do much besides eat, sleep, and poop, but I can't stand how cute she is. I haven't been getting much done these days because I always choose spending time with her over accomplishing the things I need to do. You may notice that she is wearing these pajamas in several of her pictures, but I think they are so cute that I like to put her in them as often as possible. Also, when wearing them she likes to poop all over them, so they get washed frequently.

She is always opening up one of her eyes. Kelly is convinced that she is just checking to make sure we are still holding her and paying attention. I am finally understanding why every mother thinks her child is so cute. I think being a mom is the best thing in the world and I am so glad that we have Shelby in our family. It is so great to have her home and have her healthy!

Coming Home

Well, if we waited for Melanie to do another posting, I'm afraid Shelby Jean will be old enough to type her own posts!
One benefit of having Shelby born around Christmas time was being visited by Santa in the nursery! (Melanie is planning on posting some pictures of Santa and Shelby soon) Another benefit of having Shelby in the NICU was that all Melanie and I had to do was show up and hold her and feed her. The nurses did the rest, so we were a little spoiled, and unprepared for saturday night.

We were able to bring little Shelby home from the hospital on saturday night, the 26th of December, after she decided it was time to eat on her own. I personally think she heard the nurses mention feeding tube and she thought her nice little bed in the NICU wasn't so nice after all.

Our first night at home was anything but dull, I think Shelby was having second thoughts about coming home with just the two of us. I personally think she saw how I changed her diaper and swaddled her and she knew I was doing it wrong. She just wanted to go back to where the nurses knew how to do everything just right. Anyway, we made it through a long night and once it was over, I realized Shelby is a lot cuter in the morning.

I know Melanie and I both think Shelby was the best present we could ever receive. I am so grateful that everything came out just perfectly in the end and both mom and baby are doing great!

She's Finally Here!

Well we finally made it! Shelby was born at 7:34 pm on December 23rd 2009. She weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and was 19 inches. She took her sweet time getting here, but we are so excited to have her. She is really well mannered and loves to spend time being held. The good news is that she is not a real crier (for now) and can sleep through anything.

We are so thrilled with our Christmas present of a brand new baby. We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Stick A Fork In Me

This is my official 36 week photo and I am so glad we are almost there! We had an ultrasound on the day this was taken and they told us our baby weighs 7 1/2 lbs. That made me a bit nervous because we still have a whole week to go. I have heard that they are often high on the weights they give, so I am definitely hoping this is the case for us. At this point, I am thrilled that tomorrow is my last day at work and that we go in on Tuesday morning to have this baby. I know it will be a long day and probably end up being a lot of waiting around, but we are excited to have the end in sight. We are just trying to get all the last minute things taken care of so we can relax and enjoy our last few days as a couple. Wish us luck - I am pretty sure we are going to need it Ü