New Blog

Okay, so I kind of let our family blog go... okay I went over a year without posting updates! Hopefully this one goes a better and I don't procrastinate so often. I am trying to get all of the photos I had on our last one transferred over to this one, but we will see how long that takes! Anyway, we have had so much happen this past year, and we are coming upon the beginning of our daughter Emilia's 2nd year, and time is showing no projection of slowing down... therefore I thought I should get our new blog started so our family and friends will be able to see updates on her before she enters college! Here is a fast forward through our past two years... We found out Christmas of 2005 that we were expecting our first, and were absolutely ecstatic. We waited until after our first sonogram @ 10 weeks to tell everybody just to make sure things were going well. Emilia was born on 08/07/06 at 36 weeks gestation. She spent her first weeks in the NICU at OPRMC where I was and currently still am a NICU nurse. (some of my fav blogs are babies I have cared for...)She was born just 1 month early, but was not quite ready. Her lungs were a little immature, and she was anemic due to blood loss in utero. So she was placed on a ventilator, given artificial surfactant and blood, and had central lines placed to monitor blood pressure and give nutrition. A cardiologist visited her to evaluate her heart murmur, and she was diagnosed with a PDA, which was not helping with her respiratory issues, and a VSD, which is a hole in the septum between the two ventricles. They also did a head ultrasound of her brain to make sure the blood loss wasn't occurring there, and an ultrasound of her sacrum(she had a dimple) and kidneys. All of her tests were coming back normal which did not give us a reason as to why she was so sick for being so old. Extended screens, genetic testing, and abnormal antigen screening tests were all done with still no answers. Emilia came straight off the ventilator to room air and was home 4 days later. I was able to take off 14 weeks maternity leave, and then went back to working nights and trying to stay up during the day, which did not work so well! I was not willing to send her to childcare, though, because it was flu and RSV season, and I did not want her getting sick. Eventually I switched to only working during the days on weekends, so I could be home with her during the week, and Chris played Mr. mom on the weekends... which he does quite nicely! He also switched jobs in the midst of all this, and continues to work for Mid America Regional Council. He is a traffic signal analyst and working on a regional project called Operation Greenlight (http://www.marc.org/transportation/ogl/). This has been a true blessing because his main office is minutes away from home, and he has fairly flexible hours, which has allowed him to participate in some of Emilia's day to day activities, not to mention he enjoys his job and co workers! Emilia's 1st year flew by without illness, and received a clean bill of health at her one year check up. Her anemia resolved and her VSD closed on it's own...yea! Then she became mobile, and one of her favorite things to do was to crawl up to us and bite our legs... we called her our little piranha! We started teaching her sign language early on, so we were able to bypass some frustrating times since she had learned to communicate many simple concepts. Both my sisters (also both nurses) had babies this first year, also, so Emilia ended up with a cousin 10 weeks younger than her, Lillian, and Hudson arrived about 3 months later. Talk about built in play mates at family functions! Chris and I now have a total of 4 nephews and 3 nieces! Like I said, Emilia is almost 2 now, and is busy, busy, and more busy! She is talking up a storm and actually putting sentences together. She also enjoys climbing, and has decided that life can indeed survive on only "coffee milk" (chocolate milk), cheerios, cheese and carrots. There is nothing like waking up to a cheerful toddler that says, "hi mama" and keeps repeating it until your response is as enthusiastic as hers, which takes a bit when she gets us up at 6 am! She has been and continues to be our greatest miracle, and such and inspiration as to the gifts that God holds for us every day. She makes us slow down and enjoy the details of life, like lady bugs and birds when we're on walks, or stopping to pick the yellow weeds which she thinks are beautiful flowers! Her enthusiasm for life is contagious, and though quite ornery at times, she constantly maintains such a sweet spirit. I hope this blog helps our family and friends stay updated on our family's day to day life and helps in getting to know where we've been, and better yet where we are going!