First Holiday

Today is St. Patrick's Day and officially Gabbie's first real holiday.  We didn't do anything, but stay at home today, but of course I had to get her a little outfit in honor of her first holiday.  She looked so cute to say the least.  Her Aunt Fran made her the matching hairbow.  I do have to say how impressed I was that she let me set her up like this for these pictures and didn't throw a fit.  She is definitely getting stronger with everyday.

I love this one!!!

Tomorrow we are going to have her pictures taken with her cousins in their matching Easter dresses.  I can't wait to see how cute these pictures turn out.  Gabbie is going to swim in her dress, but we will make it work.  :)

2 Week Dr's Appt

On March 7th, Gabbie went to the doctor for her 2 week appointment.  We made the decision to see Dr. Dean with the Lee's Summit Physician Group.  She came very highly recommended to us by lots of people.  Chris had to take her to see a doctor from that group on February 25th as her billyrubin levels were high.  Luckily in one day, they were slowly dropping which meant that she didn't need a blanket or treatment.  :)  Any how, we saw Dr. Dean on this day in which I was very impressed.  She is very young, personable, and willing to answer any of my crazy questions.  At this appointment, we found out that we have a very healthy little girl.  All of the blood tests that they did at the hospital checking for 35 different disorders came back normal and negative which made me really breathe a sigh of relief.  She weighed 7'15 when she was born.  When she was dismissed from the hospital, she weighed 7'10.  In a matter of two weeks she had regained all of the weight she had lost and was up to 8lbs.  This put her in the 37%ile for her weight.  I wasn't too surprised as she is skinny and long at this point.  Her length when she was born 20 1/4 inches long.  In a matter of two weeks she was up to 21 3/4 which put her in 92%ile.  I have a feeling we are going to have a very tall little girl.  Her head circumference was 35cm which put her in the 24%ile.  She has a very small head that is for sure.  It is alright though as her brain has plenty of time to grow.  She doesn't have to go back for another 6 weeks and at that time she will get her first shots.  :(  I am already dreading that to say the least.

My First Photo Shoot

When Gabbie was one week old, we scheduled to have her newborn pictures taken.  We went to a wonderful photographer that came very highly recommended to us.  She did an amazing job capturing some beautiful pictures of Gabbie and our little family.  The photo shoot wasn't to much fun with her as she screamed the first 40 minutes for some reason.  When we went to change her outfit, we realized that she was poopy like no other.  Whoops....  Luckily we have a beautiful little girl that helped Monica get some amazing pictures.  Here are just a few of them!

Some Fun Firsts

Here are a few fun pictures of things Gabbie did for the first time when she was at home.

First tummy time...she kept trying to go to sleep.  :)  Roxas knows how to do tummy time though.

She was so funny as she would turn her face down or to the other side so she could sleep, but we caught on real quick.  Can you say she already has a temper!

This was the morning after her second night home.  We had a much better night and just had to get up at 4am to feed her and change her.  WOO HOO!  You can tell by her cheering arms we were all happy that morning that we got sleep!  In addition, Gabbie doesn't like to be curled up in a ball at all.  She would rather be laid out straight with her hands above her hands.  She has a funny startle reflex where her hands fly above her head all the time.  We love it!

Well...it only took one week for Chris to go into withdrawals from Call of Duty as he stayed with me at the hospital the whole time.  It was very quiet in the house and I knew he had Gabbie.  I crept down the hall to spy and this is what I found.  He still wants to get Gabbie her own X-BOX and is now pushing for a Playstation 3 for her.  I can't win with him.

Gabbies first bath time at home...she hates it!!!!

I am sure that the neighbors can hear her screaming bloody murder when it is bath time.

Gabbies first time sitting in her boppy.  I just love this picture of her HUGE feet!

One of Gabbies first smiles.  :)  She makes the cutest faces when she sleeps.  She also rolls her eyes in the back of her head which my mom calls her the exorcist baby.

Gabbie rolled over from my belly to my back on day 6.  She hasn't done it again, but she did it twice that morning!

She loves to play with her hands and feet.  This was one of her first nights at home. 

Homecoming! February 24th, 2012

The car ride from the hospital was one of the most nerve racking experiences.  I got in the backseat with Gabbie which was easier said than done.  I tried getting in and didn't realize that the seat was too far back and about jumped out of the car as I thought I had ripped my incision open.  The nurse came running over to check me out and said I probably had just pulled something.  Scary.  I sat in the backseat with Gabbie as Chris drove us home.  Chris probably drove the slowest he ever had.  :)

When we got home...Chris had to take care of both of us.  He got Gabbie out of the car and upstairs as I was in the car still.  He had to help me up the stairs very carefully.  I was worn out and in pain to say the least.  Once I was settled on the sofa, we called my dad to bring the dogs home.  It was so funny when they came in as they didn't even realize Gabbie was here at first.  She was sitting in her glider and they had no idea.  All of a sudden Rudy started smelling the air and found her.  Roxas then crawled up on the ottoman to check things out.  They were definitely not sure what we had brought home and didn't like her.  For the longest time they hid from us and ignored us.

That afternoon we had tons of visitors to see Gabbie.  My parents came over as did my brother and his family.  The sweetest part of the day was that my brother went to the American Girl store to get Gabbie her first American Girl baby.  What a sweet gesture on his behalf.  He even got her with the same features as Gabbie.  I know that when she is older, she is going to love her first baby.  Of course I took pictures of Gabbie's first few hours at home.  :)  Better yet, I should say, I sat on the couch and Chris took the pictures for me.

Our first night with Gabbie was a nightmare.  We figured out real quick that even though the nurses said she was wonderful with her feedings and sleep, that she had her days and nights mixed up.  I don't think we slept at all that night and on top of that, I was feeling more than lousy and dealing with my own medical issues.  Not a fun first night at home that is for sure, but we knew the next day we would be keeping her up during the day to make that night a lot easier. 

We Are Going Home! February 24, 2012

Today was the day that we got to bring Gabbie home.  The morning started off with a visit from my doctor to tell me that I might not be going home.  :(  My right leg was still numb from the spinal tap that I got from the c-section and extremely swollen.  The doctor was more than concerned that I had a bloodclot in my leg.  I was ordered to go for an ultrasound of my leg that morning to make sure that I didn't.  I was so upset.  I remember asking the doctor if I have to stay, does Gabbie go home without me and she said no.  I breathed a huge sigh of relief.  I went for the ultrasound and found out all is good, but that I would have to see a neurologist after I got home.  I was so happy and couldn't believe that we were going home.  Chris and I packed up everything to go home.  My favorite nurse came home to give us lots of goodies and love.  She helped us get everything packed up and ready to go home.  I think this is when reality was really hitting that we were getting to take Gabbie home with us.  Here are some pictures of our last day in the hospital. 

I am starting to look a bit more normal, but oh so happy.

One proud daddy.  He of course wanted her to wear her Daddy's girl onesie home.

I am going home!

Pam, my amazing nurse and friend that I made with all of my visits to the hospital.  She was more than amazing through the whole process.

Our little family  <3  So in love!

Her first ride in the carseat.  She hated it!

Our Little Miracle

Each day we were in the hospital, it become more and more real that Gabbie was our little miracle.  Each time I would hold her and she would look into my eyes, I would tear up a bit.  Hear was this beautiful and perfect baby and she is ours.  On top of that everyone said that she looks like me.  I didn't see it when we were in the hospital, but I sure did when my mom showed me one of my baby pictures.  She is definitely our baby.  :)  Everyone that would come in would comment how beautiful and perfect she was.  The nurses in the nursery would fight over her and who got to take care of her.  We would send her down to the nursery each night to get some rest as my pain was through the roof and I would have nurses in every few hours for more medicine to help with the various symptoms and pain that I was experiencing.  When I would walk down the hall in the morning to get her, I would find her in the nursery with a bunch of other babies, but the nurses would have her out playing with her and giving her individual attention.  One of the nurses said to me, you don't have to leave tomorrow do you.  :)  That made me feel so good that she was being cared for like she was and that she was so loved.  I hope that Gabbie knows all of the people that loved her and supported her all the way from when she was a little embryo to this beautiful almost 8lb baby. 

One of my favorite memories in the hospital was one of the pediatricians that saw her one day came down to give us our daily report on Gabbie.  When she walked in, she said wow....I am so glad that I got to meet your miracle.  She then told us that she had read through my file and can't believe everything that we had been through to have this perfect little girl.  She said that she was perfect and she was honored that she got to meet her.  It made me tear up hearing this.  Like I said before Gabbie is so loved and her story of creation has touched so many people and given them inspiration.  We are even writing up our story for our RE with SHER Institute to give hope and inspiration to other couples as they deal with infertility.

While we were in the hospital a lady came in to take her newborn pictures.  Here are just a few that I snapped with my camera of her and her adorable dress that I bought her.  Little did I know that when I bought her dress that she would be so tiny.  Gempeler babies are normally not tiny.  :)