What's Her Name?

I have heard that question way too many times! Last night Ben and I finally had some time to sit down alone with our little girl and talk about her name. After downloading a new baby naming app on his i-phone and flipping a coin a few times for fun, we prayed about it and decided on Claire Jean. I always have a really hard time with names. It feels like such a huge responsibility to choose a name that they will have for their whole life. I never want to get it wrong.

The hospital had a room for me to stay in near the NICU and after we decided I wrote it in the blog and fell asleep within two minutes. When I got up a couple of hours later to go feed her, the nurse had already made her a name sign. She wasted no time! All day today the residents and med students were so happy she finally had a name. So were our families. No one is as happy as me!

CLAIRE JEAN BLOOMFIELD

Bili Lights

The bilirubin came back high this morning, so they put her under bili lights. She actually seems to enjoy it. They put her in an isollete last night because she was having a hard time maintaining her temperature, so adding the lights was no big deal.

Her little sunglasses are totally stylin'.

My mom brought the boys to visit and we took turns playing with them and visiting the baby. The hospital's play area is about to close, but they still had a few toys out for us to play with. Cameron was busy in the hospital preschool while we took these pictures.

Here's Jake's creation.

And here's Tyler's.

What fun!

Visits from Cameron and Ben

This afternoon Ben brought Cameron to visit me. I went with him to the hospital's "preschool" while Ben went and visited the baby. It was so cute. They have a teacher that provides school every morning and every afternoon for the kids in the hospital or their siblings. Cameron was the only healthy kid there. There were two other five year olds and a three year old. I don't know why they were there, except one of the boys had bad burns all over his body. So sad, but so nice that the hospital provides such a great program for them to attend. Today they got to pretend they were doctors and use a bunch of medical equipment on a baby doll. Cameron loved it. He would make a great doctor some day.

They have a huge rabbit there. This picture does not do justice to how huge it is.

Tonight Ben came back for a quick visit. We finally had a minute to ourselves with our sweet baby, but I am so drugged up on Percocet I couldn't even begin to discuss names. I feel like my head is in a tunnel.

All I know is that she is a cutie patootie!

IV in the Head

During the night I came in and found out her IV had gone bad and they put a new one in her head. It's actually easier to hold her and keep an eye on it with it there. I just hope they don't pull out her hair when the take it out!

Sevann stopped by between classes and brought me a Subway sandwich. Such a treat after eating so much hospital food! She came down to the NICU with me on her way out and got a quick hold in before I fed her. She's not a very good eater by the way. She can barely keep her sleepy eyes open! They are giving her feedings through her tube, but she's been having a hard time digesting them. They are advancing her VERY slowly. Every time she has a high residual (leftover in her tummy), they don't increase her amount. At this rate she may be out of here by kindergarten!!!

Gotta love the sweet sleepy eyes she can barely bring herself to open!

Sweet Baby Girl

Another visit to see my sweet baby girl... she is so cute!

Can you see how happy I am?

Thanks to someone in my ward (who I don't even know) who had my VT Tennille drop by some preemie clothes and treats. Now she looks like a little girl!

Here's a hair shot...

And a few more close ups...

I've been pumping, but of course not getting much. I finger fed her what I've gotten (hence the gloves), but most of her nutrition is coming through her IV. She's on TPN and lipids. They'll start turning them down once my milk comes in and she can get more of that. I can't wait to take her home! The boys are DYING to see her!

Battle Wounds

I finally got my IVs out! What a relief! My poor arms...

Holding Her

Tonight Ben and I went to visit our sweet baby girl again. We got to hold her which was a little awkward with the CPAP and IV, but it felt so good to hold her! Her temperature was a little low, so we had to hold her "skin to skin." We'll spare you the graphic pictures.

When she's in her bed, she seems to really like being on her tummy. She likes her binky too!

It doesn't take long to fall in love!!!

Visitors

Andy and Amy came by to see me and take a peek at the baby. Amy had never even been in the NICU where Andy works. That was crazy to me! After lunch I got moved to the mom/baby unit and they helped move me down. In the afternoon my mom came and brought Jake and Tyler. Cameron stayed and had some one on one time with Ben.

It was so good to see my boys (although a little tricky to keep them off my incision). They were so happy.

They thought it was SO cool that my room had two beds.

Tyler especially loved it. Their favorite thing to do while visiting the hospital is to make the beds go up and down. Jake asks if he can do it about fifty times whenever he comes to visit.

First Visit to NICU

I finally got to get out of bed today at 9:30 to go see my baby girl! She's doing well on the CPAP on room air.

Look at all her dark hair. It reminds me of Jake's hair when he was born. I can't wait to hold her!

No name yet! We can't even get a good look at her!

She's Here!

Yesterday after lunch I started feeling nauseous and light-headed. My mom was visiting me, so I had her take my blood pressure (after no one answered my call light about it). It was fine, so I decided to take a rest. After dinner I threw up my lunch and dinner (TMI, I know). I continued to feel sick like I had eaten something bad or caught a bug, but I just went to sleep.

I woke up sometime in the night and threw up again. Along with that came bleeding. After waiting about 20 min. to see if it would continue (which it did), the decision was made to throw my little girl a birthday party. I called Ben and he came right over. I was quite scared, but I had a really awesome nurse who put me at ease. I felt relieved that all the worrying about bleeding and abruption was about to come to an end.

The first several minutes in the O.R. were MISERABLE! I felt nauseous and hot and anxious. I swear I was about to have an anxiety attack! The anesthesiologist resident sat me on the table and placed my spinal. It felt like it took forever. Then they layed me down and tilted the bed down backwards (with my head down) to spread the medicine. I then started feeling like I couldn't breath on top of everything else. He kept pinching me an saying "Can you feel this?" over and over again. I finally said "I don't know! I need some oxygen!" They finally let Ben come back and that helped out a lot. I soon got numb and comfertable (sort of) and felt like I could breath again.

The nasal cannula had a wierd piece that went in front of my mouth to monitor my breathing. It was really wierd.

Here is Ben all ready to go. I kept asking him to look at me instead of watching the surgery, because it was making me nervous. He is so interested in stuff like that! Most dads don't want anything to do with watching!

After tons of pulling and prodding and pressure (they aren't kidding when they say "lots of pressure"... it felt my sternum was getting crushed!) she finally came out! She was born at 2:22 on 2/22/10. I thought that was funny. She was crying a lot, which is always a relief.

Our friend and neighbor, Andy, is a NICU fellow. I was SO happy he was the one attending my delivery. I knew she was in good hands. When he brought her over to say hi to me, I couldn't believe how tiny she was! We found out later she weighed 5 lbs. 1 ounce. She was grunting in my ear, so I knew she was headed to get some CPAP.

Here is a picture to show off Ben's outfit to the boys.

It took a LONG time to stitch me up! They had a hard time getting her head out and had an extra cut in my uterus. The resident had a hard time stitching it up, so the attending had to do it over agian to stop the bleeding. Then the residents stitched me up layer by layer in what seemed like slow motion. Thankfully it wasn't really uncomfortable. I was REALLY happy when they finally told me they were done and slid me back to my regular bed.

Here is one more shot of Ben't hot outfit. I like it without the mask.

Ben went to visit our sweet baby girl in the NICU. She's on CPAP on room air and getting some IV fluids. She's doing well. I can't wait for my legs to defrost so I can go see her!

Uncle Randy

We are long overdue for a post dedicated to Uncle Randy. Ever since my oldest nephew James was born Randy has held the title of "Favorite Uncle." It is a well known fact that no one in our family will dispute. None of the other Uncles dare to compete with him. Cameron's friend Clayton once told me, "He's our uncle too."

Randy has recently taken his uncle status to a new level. He changes diapers, reads stories, makes meals, runs errands with kids in tow, gets kids dressed, moves around carseats, does housework, takes care of bedtime routines, and even helps with potty training. He has been our super hero around here. He gets up early every morning to come to get Tyler ready while Ben goes to class, then he goes to class and comes right back when he is done. Because of all the snow and all of his back and forth between our houses, he has had to shovel out multiple parking spaces. He has also helped my elderly single neighbors shovel out there spots and walkways.

Tyler absolutely adores him. Sometimes when he wakes up in the morning or after naps he calls out for Randy to come get him. He's always so excited to see him!

I love this picture. I think they were looking at pbskids.com. I love Tyler in his undies and rocket socks. His big chunky buns and legs are just too cute!

Here's a smiling one. Happy buddies!

Uncle Randy is our super hero!

I'm so Excited!

I can't decide what I'm most EXCITED about! Is it....

That I get to celebrate another unbirthday for this little girl? (I'm 33 weeks! Hooray! Also, Ben's gonna make homemade ice cream for me tonight to celebrate!) Or...

That I get to see these two cute boys in only TWO DAYS? Or...

That this cute little boy goes potty in the toilet and wears underwear all day? (Thanks to the snow storm and the heroic efforts of Ben and Uncle Randy) Or...

That my mom is going to come and provide some much needed Grandma Daycare? (This is an old photo obviously, but it portrays her Grandma capabilities very well.)

So many exciting things! I'm a happy girl!