Almost...!

Last night, I walked in for one of Evelyn's eatings and I noticed she had some stange sticky residue on her cheek. So I was about to ask the nurse about it when I realized that it was there because there used to be a piece of tape there which used to hold her feeding tube in place! Her feeding tube has come out! Apparently though they did not mean for it to be out already, Evie just decided it was time and she was the one that pulled it out of place. So they decided they will not put it back in unless she needs it.

So talking to the pediatrician this morning, he said she was doing really well with her bottle feedings (when I am not here for a feeding, they just give her a bottle with my breastmilk in it, which is awesome because that means Tony will be able to participate in those late night/early early morning feedings when she gets home!). She is doing so well that as long as she starts gaining weight, she can come home in a couple of days. DAYS! Those are the words the pediatrician used.

So the nurses have already started prepping me for taking her home. I have watched a few different videos about crying and carseats and i will watch one about infant CPR. They also have to do a carseat test where Evelyn will sit in the carseat for like an hour or two and they will monitor her oxygen levels and things like that. So I will bring in her carseat today or tomorrow so they can get that done. Hopefully by the time she is ready to come home I will have all this prep work done so it wont be delayed! Maybe she will be home by easter! I need to go buy a tiny tiny easter dress.

Real pictures

Cara and Eliza came to visit us at the hospital last night! It was soo great to just hang out with some cool ladies for awhile and just relax. They even brought Evie some cute cute outfits to wear since, hey, no one plans on needing premie clothes, so naturally I had none, but now i have some! Along with a supply of goodies and a snuggly blanket for Evie too. Thank you a gazillion times.
Also, Cara happens to have an awesome camera and photography skills both of which she graciously volunteered to us. So finally I have some good pictures to share with you all of little baby Evelyn.

She is doing so well! The IV has been unhooked and they should be able to take it out completely by the end of the day. One less wire to worry about. And she has been doing well in her feedings, so well that she has progressed to Stage 3 out of four, meaning that she can take all of her feedings by mouth! or at least attempt to. Stage 4 would be that she is eating well with each feeding so they could take the little tubey out of her nose. I still dont know when she will be coming home, but at this rate it seems like it could be soon!

Awake!

Not only referring to me being up this late, but little evelyn too! I was finally able to snap some pictures of her while she had her eyes open tonight. So far she has been somewhat of a night owl. She is more awake during the nightime eatings than the daytime, so I have made it to the nine pm and midnight ones for the past two days. It keeps me up late, but its also easier for tony and elijah too since its pretty much bedtime by the time i leave, so it doesnt seem like i am gone forever.
But anywhos, Evelyn was quite awake tonight.




And they also gave her a cute new hat to wear.

She had an awesome breastfeed tonight, so much so that they didnt even have to give her any milk through the tube! none! But unfortunately, her IV started leaking so after her dinner they had to take her to get a new IV placed.
But now I am just hanging out in the parents lounge, drinking a chocolate milk and waiting for midnight to roll around so I can go back and feed her some more! She has already gained a little weight

Oh yeah...

Wait a second, with all this new baby stuff going on, we dont want to leave you without some good old elijah fun time! I finally got to upload some of the pictures and videos we have taken over the past few weeks. First off, Tony and I took a weekend trip to Vegas! It was alot of fun to get away just for a day or two and play with grownups, i.e. there were lots of shiny blinky things that made us spend money.

Then the next week we got to go out to virginia for the big wedding! Not only a wedding though, we got to go to the zoo in DC and play with lots of cousins.

In one incident, elijah was dressed up as a little girl so we could anticipate how Evie might look in two years...

Elijah looooved playing with Papa Mickey in virginia

Tickling Lizzie!

Movin on uuup

Evie has been moved from an isolette to just a plain old crib thing that they put all babies in at the hospital. I wouldnt call it a crib, but you know what i am talking about. This means she is maintaining her own body temperature! Thats two things off the checklist now. the checklist being:
Breathing well on her own *check*
Maintain own body temperature *check*
Eating on her own

We are working on the last one. I am at the hospital right now working on that as a matter of fact. She had another successful breastfeed a little earlier tonight. Yay! I am staying for one more eating session then i will go home for the night. They feed her every three hours, so I came for nine pm and midnight. I will be able to come for a few tomorrow too since tony will be home. Then Mary will be here so I can stay here as loong as i want! I really dont want to that much but the more i do the faster Evie will learn to eat by mouth rather than nose tube. They even have rooms here for moms to stay in if they want to be here all the time for feedings and such. Free of charge! And there is a parents lounge with drinks and tv and you can borrow laptops (hence, this blogpost). They really are awesome here and i am so grateful for all the little (big) things that are making this as simple and stress free as possible.

Yum yums.

Well I am about to go home now, bein discharged from the hospital! yay for me but boo too. Evie is doing very well, she did good breastfeeding this morning, but seemed too tired to give it much of a try later throughout the day, but thats ok shes already got a leg up since she has tried it.

At least i get to go play with tony and elijah tonight! Evie will get her rest.

Evelyn Sharon Koens

that is the name that she is tied to from now on!

Sorry the pics arent that good they are just from my phone since we dont have the stuff to upload from the camera yet

She is doing very well! they have her in an incubator to keep her temp stable and she is on a little antibiotic, but they are giving her breastmilk through a tube so yay! mommys milk.

happy baby day!

she is here! no name yet, but little baby koens was born about 730 weighing 4lbs 12oz and around 17 inches long. she is doing very well i will give more detail later i am tired tired tired.

Clean hair

Thats about all the good news i have. They let me get up for a few minutes and the nurse helped me wash my hair. My contractions have kicked back into gear so its kind of just up to nature now. They cant put me back on the medication i was on before because that can be a no-no for extended periods. They gave me a few pills to try and stave off some activity, we will see how long that helps.

So what im sayin here people is that there is probably going to be a little baby koens here in the next few days! It will be scary she will have to stay in the NICU for a few short weeks since she is early but other than that a good healthy baby is to be expected. Dont really know how big she is or anything but in general around 33-34 weeks a baby can be around 4-5 lbs? lets hope for more like five.

Well, heres to sitting and waiting. aaaannnnddd go

L'hopitale vacay

So there I was, 7am, tony getting ready for work and i cant get comfortable enough to get back to sleep. I say nonchalantly to tony, it feels like im having some contractions. After a little while longer i just get up and settle on the couch and wait for elijah to wake up. Ok, ill wait until noon to call the doctor if these keep up... 8am...9am...hmm ill wait until 11 to call...10am elijah gets up.. 1030 on the phone and the doctor sends me in to get evaluated since these arent just practice contractions, they are bordering on painful.

Thanks mike, he takes elijah for the afternoon.

I go in and i am 2cm and 80% (most ladies will know what this means) its not bad, but it is not ideal. They get the contractions stopped and send me home after a few hours.

I get home around 2 and mike brings elijah back around 4 and he goes straight down for a nap, which is good because, hmm i think that was a contraction i felt again. Sure 'nuf by five i have called tony to come home early and five thirty i call the doctor again. She calls in an RX for the same meds they gave me at the hospital to stop that contractions earlier. By this time I am basically in full on labor writhing around on a yoga ball telling tony to call the walgreens to see if its ready yet. we hop in the car and i take the pills as soon as they hand it to me.

An hour and a half later i am still huffing and puffing on the couch slurring high pitched undecipherable words and phrases to poor tony.

i make tony call the doctor this time and she sends us back to the hospital where they find i am now 4 1/2 cm dialated and 90%. whoops. here comes the medicine.

It is now two days later and i am still here, probably will be here for at least a few more days, could be til I deliver. Luckily, as we speak they have turned off the medicine and i am doing well without it. If contractions dont kick back in, i will be moved to a postpartum room where i am told the beds are more comfortable (yay) and i am hoping i can shower because as nice as the nurses are, im pretty sure i am bordering on stinky.

Its not so bad though, everyone in our ward has been amazing. I have had calls to see how i am and how they can help and lists are being organized of people who can take elijah for us when tony has to work or wants to visit and elijah cant due to age restriction (though sometimes if it isnt busy, they will let him sneak by). Very very grateful for our neighbors.

Also there is pretty room service whenever i want and super nurses that refill my juice and water even after the fiftieth time i finish the gallon they brought me five minutes ago. its nice.

but i miss tony and lijah baby. he is probably confused about being passed around to all these people but at least tony can be with him most of the time too.

I suppose I will have quite a bit of free time for the next few days so i will keep everyone posted on progress!

In virginia

So we have been on vacay with my family in virginia for the past week and a half because my oldest sister has gotten married! The last of us six kids to tie the knot.

At the bridal shower, we had some delicious treats including tiny fruit tarts, which were a big hit with elijah.

While we were here, elijah got his first episode of the croup. We spent a few of the nights sitting on the front porch so he could breathe in the cool air to help his breathing and coughing. He has had some pretty grumpy moments but for teh most part he has been good.
This is the tired face of poor baby elijah after a long week away from home with the croup.

Now he is feeling better and his cousins taught him how to tickle people. although, he still prefers the headbutt.

Here is a glimpse of how advanced his vocabulary is getting.

Playing with Papa Mickey

Anyways it has been fun dragging myself around with my preggy belly (two more months). Im glad my family has mostly been taking on the load of carrying elijah and I have even been able to squeeze a few diaper changes out of people, namely grandma debbie.

Sorry It's been too long

Hello Everyone, upon multiple requests from my grandparents and my aunts here are some new videos and pics all of which are brought to you by Amy's old camera, Thanks.
We are leaving for Virginia tomorrow so I'm sure we will have many more pics and videos soon

Ok so I had a low wireless connection and you'll have to make due with just one video for now.

Debby's painting, don't worry Tam I'm starting on your's next.