The List by Melanie Jacobson

John's mom gave me this book when she came to meet Aubrey.  It is a very fun and quick read.  It's about a Mormon girl who doesn't want to get married until she has completed all the adventures on her list.  But she meets the man of her dreams and has to decide what's most important.  It was definitely an accurate portrayal of the Mormon Singles scene.  It was a very nice distraction while Aubrey was in the hospital.  Thanks, Janis!

Half-Baked by Alexa Stevenson

So, you know that song "Killing Me Softly?"  The narrator describes going to a concert and the song performed describes exactly what she's feeling.  That is how I felt when I read this book.  

It's a memoir of a mother who goes through IVF, gets pregnant with twins, ends up on bed-rest, loses one twin and takes care of the surviving twin through a long stay in the NICU.  Sound familiar?  It did to me and it was extremely cathartic to read this while I was recovering.  The author has the same gallows sense of humor that I do.  She describes the incredible anxiety that came with that whole journey.  It was just so reassuring to know that other people went through what I was going through and survived and their babies were okay.  I spent several afternoons crying over this book shortly after Aubrey was born.  It helped me to have courage.  

Do we look alike?

Sara:

Aubrey:

I guess Aubrey wasn't as impressed with this dress as I was back in the day.  Or maybe she was mad that she didn't have a super-cure sweater to accessorize...

Aubrey: Home for 6 weeks

Aubrey has been home for about 6 weeks.  We often get questions about her age.  With preemies there are two things to consider: chronological age and adjusted age. Chronological age is calculated based on actual birth-date.  So Aubrey's chronological age is about four and a half months.  Adjusted age is based on original due date. So Aubrey's adjusted age is about 6 weeks.  Her development will follow her adjusted age for the first two to three years of her life.  After that she will be caught up.

So far, things are going very well.  We do lots of fun things:

Tummy Time

Play Time

Bath Time - She's too big for this tub now!

Sleep Time

Aubrey likes to sit in her bouncy chair.

She likes to sit with Daddy.

She likes to read with Mommy.

She had her first visit from a friend, Michael.

He's a little bit bigger than she is!

She had her first 4th of July.

We went to a friend's house and had a BBQ and watched fireworks.

We all went to church together for the first time.

Aubrey even started smiling at us!

And, the best news of all, Aubrey has slept for 7 hours several times!  We are all doing well, adjusting to a new life.  We've gone out several times and visited with a few of our friends.  Over the weekend we all went to a wedding reception and had our first family picture.  

Welcome Home!

A little while ago John observed that it's kind of weird to think about how people always say that the day their baby was born was the happiest day of their life.  For us, the day our babies was born was filled with uncertainty, some sadness, some relief.  We were sad that Rachel had passed, happy that Aubrey seemed to be doing so well and very uncertain about what the future would hold.  John said the happiest day of his life would be when we got to bring Aubrey home with us.  Well friends, that day has come.  Aubrey came home to us on June 2.

John is the official photographer of our family.  He has a daily-ish blog where he posts his photos.  He has lots of good photos of Aubrey and her homecoming.  Check it out.

My dear friend Jamie came to visit me and John and Aubrey the week before Aubrey came home.  At that point we didn't know when Aubrey was going to come home and her progress was seeming very slow.  They had started talking to me about moving Aubrey to another facility to get her progressing faster.  I was very discouraged and so grateful that Jamie came to encourage me.  I have a lot more to say about that, but it will have to wait for another post.  Anyway, Jamie took a lot of pictures and wrote about her visit.  You can read that here.

Aubrey is doing well at home.  We are all getting adjusted.  I will post more pictures and updates soon.

Aubrey's Fairfax Adventure

Aubrey had an eye exam a few weeks ago. The doctor was quite concerned about some abnormal growth that he saw in the blood vessels in her eyes. If the abnormal growth isn't stopped it can detach her retinas and cause blindness. So we wanted to make sure to get it taken care of.

On April 27th she took a ride in an ambulance and went to a bigger hospital called Fairfax so she could have the surgery. Since she came from another hospital they put her in isolation to make sure she didn't bring any germs with her. So we got our own room for a couple of days and it was quite nice.

So she got her surgery. The doctor used a laser to treat the areas around the abnormal vessels and stop the growth. The surgery went very well and the doctor couldn't have been happier. While we were waiting for the doctor's report we ran into a woman whose son was Aubrey's neighbor at Alexandria hospital. We thought they had gone home, but it turned out they transferred to Fairfax for surgery as well.  

The doctor who did the surgery wanted to monitor her recovery so Aubrey stayed for about two weeks.  She made a lot of progress while she was there. She got out of her isolette and into an open crib. She got off of her oxygen support. And she did great work with a speech therapist working on her bottle feeding.

  

John and I got to give her a bath for the first time.

The pictures are red because we were working under a heat lamp. She's really got that pout down. We keep warning her that it's not going to work on us, but sometimes I doubt our ability to resist. 

On May 11th she transferred back to Alexandria hospital. It was really fun to come back after two weeks. Aubrey had made so much progress and changed so much. All the nurses were exclaiming over how big she is and how they didn't recognize her. She's doing very well. She just needs to get strong enough to get all her feedings by mouth. Slowly, but surely, she is getting there. We are very glad that she is back at Alexandria so we can be with her for more of her feedings. We're all practicing and learning together.

Aubrey-girl in the NICU

Aubrey has been in the NICU for 57 days, her whole little life.  I wanted to share some pictures and record some things about life in the NICU.

Meeting Dad for the first time:

Meeting Mom for the first time:

This is what her very first diapers looked like:

Diaper beside a quarter.  Go ahead.  Pull out a quarter and see how small that diaper really is.  

This is the first time I got to hold her:

Her first time accessorizing:

Aubrey's set up in the NICU:  

This screen shows her heart rate, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation. 

Changing her diaper.

Daily Weigh-In.

We bring in blankets from home to cover and decorate her isolette.

Aubrey letting us know what she thinks of getting her picture taken:

Just kidding - that's her fourth finger, not her middle!  She does smile sometimes.  I don't really care if it's not on purpose!  She's getting much cuter:

She is working really hard on learning how to coordinate sucking, swallowing and breathing so she can eat from a bottle and come home to us.  This is a picture of her practicing while her meal is pumped into her stomach via a tube through her nose down to her stomach:

She's getting big and working on all the things she needs to learn.  We love you, baby girl!