OH MY GOODNESS...

Our girl Audrey is thriving...I think she is 8 lbs now, which is almost triple her birth weight. I can't help but think all the love she gets is helping her grow. David commented how he sees all of our grandmothers and Audrey's great great aunt Louise sit and hold her for hours at a time. I know there are theories that she could be spoiled, but right now in my mind she was deprived of two months she should have still been in my womb. If we can give her some extra love out here, so be it.



Wyatt went to the zoo this week with me and Cici. He has been to the zoo a few times in his short life, but this is the first time he really appreciated it. He cried when we started to leave the elephants, adored feeding the birds and talking to the parrots. I can't say enough how much fun it was, only sad having to leave for nap time.

Wyatt turns TWO...and loves his planes, trains and automobiles.


Assorted photos we neglected to blog, but great memories nonetheless.

Little Moose

I can't believe it has almost been a month since we posted an update. On March 31st, 2 days after she had moved to room 1 in NICU, I was there giving her a bath when the doc doing rounds started discussing us rooming in with her. "Rooming In" are big words in NICU. That is what parents do the night before they let their baby go home. I overheard him talking to the nurse about it, and started stammering...was he talking about this coming weekend? We weren't expecting her home for at least another 2 weeks...maybe 3. He looked over at me and said he was thinking about doing it immediately, and asked if that was okay for us. My head was spinning, and I wished real hard I could have David there to hear this...of course it was okay for us! We didn't exactly have her room ready, but close enough...and I sure wasn't going to leave her in the hospital when they are telling us she could come home.

On Wednesday April 1st, David and I spent a LONG night in the small and strangely organized room with a foam bed and plastic covered rocker and our amazing little girl. The next day was our favorite little guy's 2nd birthday...and the first day he ever got to lay eyes on his mysterious baby sister. Mimi and Gramps took care of him Wednesday night and dropped him off at daycare on Thursday. Grandma and Grandpa Parrish picked him up and had him home when we arrived. At 3 lbs and 12 ozs, 3 weeks and 2 days after birth Baby Audrey finally came home!

Today is David's birthday, and it is about the time we thought she would be leaving the hospital. She had her second pediatrician visit yesterday and weighed an impressive 5 lbs 6 ozs. She has gained over an ounce a day since her last visit. An amazing little girl, a sweet big brother and two relieved and grateful parents are adjusting quite well to being home together!

Always a surprise with her!

To give you a little NICU room organizational info, there are 5 rooms total (at our hospital anyways), numbered 1 to 5. Room 5 is for the babies in the most serious condition, and Room 1 is for the babies closest to heading home. Our little Audrey started out in Room 3, which was a surprise, since we thought she'd likely be in Room 4 (but she didn't need help breathing and went straight from birth to Room 3). SO I went in to see little Audrey last night at 8pm. I had been there at 2 that afternoon to feed her, David went back at 5pm with Mimi to give her a bath and all seemed to be normal. I approach the desk wearing my name tag with her room #3B, the receptionist looks at my tag and looks at the list, then looks at my tag and back at the list....then says YOUR baby is in room 1. I felt like I had just won the biggest prize ever at the gameshow. I looked around the lobby and expected applause and cheers as I fought back the weepy joy I could barely contain. The reality that this little girl just made a huge jump without any warning moving her closer to home with our family was overwhelming.

The nurse said she had already completed her assessment, which included her weighing in at a whopping 3lbs 6ozs. She hinted that Audrey would be coming out of the isolette if she had gained weight over the past 5 days...which I knew she had. So this morning when I returned to see her, she was in an open crib for the first time. Today they increased her nipple feedings to 2 out of every 3 feedings, and if she does great with that they will push a little further and see how she handles taking all of her feedings from bottle and breast. Once she gains the strength to eat independently and continues to gain weight, I think our littlest moose will come home. Nurse Andrea indicated it could be as early as next week....we have a lot of work to do! Crazy to imagine after all we've experienced, this half pint is gonna come home with us soon.

The 3 pound milestone!

Today our little Audrey burst through the 3 pound milestone. Tonight she weighed in at 3 lbs - 1 oz, which is just over an ounce more than her last weighing 24 hours earlier. Her diet is completely milk now, and the IV has been completely removed. She continues to amaze us and tonight papa got his first shot at feeding her with a bottle. She didn't take much, since she tires out quickly, but she's figured out how to latch on and get the milk out! DeeDra started breast feeding once a day back on Thursday of last week. Audrey's catching on well and has started gaining steady weight now, so we are very pleased with her progress. The feeding tube is still in to supplement the other feedings, but hopefully that will come out soon as well. The doctor tells us she is mature beyond her size, but the goal is still at least 4 lbs before they will consider releasing her to come home with us. We're looking forward to getting her home so she can meet her big brother and we can have the family under one roof. Check out Audrey's big smile at the thought of coming home!

We had a great weekend with Wyatt too and enjoyed some quality time at our local park. I had fun bouncing and jumping while Wyatt sat and looked up at me doing a hand-stand above him. He seemed to enjoy it, and I had fun getting out and jumping around with him. He particularly enjoys when I run fast pulling him in the wagon on the trips to and from the park. When we started out toward the park yesterday, the first thing he said was, "Fast Daddy." Once I started running, Wyatt started squealing and laughing loudly. If I were a betting man, I'd put money on Wyatt enjoying snowboarding just as much as his daddy does. It'll be a couple of years, but I'm thinking he'll pick it up quickly and have an absolute blast in the snow.

Alright Audrey!

One week after arriving in Texas, she is almost back to her original birth weight, and has completed photo therapy for jaundice. Audrey continues to take more milk and less fluids from IV. Hopefully in the next week or so she will begin to breast and bottle feed. It is difficult to imagine this teensy girl without all the wires attached. Looking back at photos of Wyatt's birth, I am in awe of the vastly different experience this has all been. The pregnancy and birth have been so filled with worry, it seems like a hazy dream. Hard to believe we have a dear baby girl who will actually come home with us in a few weeks and become a vital part of this pretty cool little family we've become! She may not make it home in time for Wyatt's birthday, but hopefully we'll have her here for David's. I can't think of a better way to celebrate!

Audrey Shea Parrish arrives

It's been a while since our last post, and the birth of our new baby girl seems like a good point to pick it back up. Yesterday, March 10, 2009, at 8:25am, Audrey Shea Parrish was born. She weighed in at 2lbs 13 ozs and was 15-1/2" long. She entered the world 8 weeks before her due date, after what seemed like an eternity of 3 visits per week to the specialist to monitor her progress. We knew she would have to be delivered early, but also knew that she was healthy according to all of the tests. The big question was when, and last Friday our specialist answered that question. He said it was time and we were scheduled for 7:15am on Tuesday morning, March 10. We had to be at the hospital at 5:30am and woke up around 4:15am. Neither DeeDra or I slept well, so the early rising didn't really matter. Everything went smoothly at the hospital, and Audrey came out in much better shape than any of us expected. They estimated she'd weigh 2lbs 5 ozs, but she was more, and they thought she'd need help breathing, but she's been breathing completely on her own for her entire life. She cried right after she was born and with all of our concerns leading up to the birth, I must say that hearing that baby cry was the best sound I've ever heard in my life. She truly is amazing and DeeDra and I are so very grateful that she's doing so well. She is small and will likely be in the NICU for about 6 weeks, but she's got a great start and we feel very fortunate.

Enough of the words. Here are some pictures of our daughter... and one of big brother Wyatt. And, yes, we'll need to change the name of our blog now.