Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone's holiday was great! It really didn't "feel" like Christmas to us, as we celebrated in TN last week. We enjoyed an uneventful day at home!
Yesterday we took Olivia to an indoor pool. We have 4 rec centers in the area where we live that we can use (well, we pay for them in our HOA's!). They are all very kid friendly with indoor pool playgrounds. The one we went to has a family pool. It looks like a huge hot tub and they keep the temperature between 98-100. Olivia started loving her bath, so we thought that would be something fun for her. She was overwhelmed at first with the noise and the undivided attention 2 little boys were giving her, but she quickly got comfortable and started splashing around. It was really fun to watch her expressions and totally worth the 3 stops I had to make to find swimming diapers (that were still HUGE on her).
Here she is in her first swimsuit (which I got at a consignment shop- with the tags still attached- for $3.50. The consignment stores around here are awesome!).



This is what we got Olivia for Christmas:



She does pretty well in it. Luckily, she has plenty of room to grow:



She lets us know when she's tired of playing! It's funny to watch her. She's trying so hard to control her hands, but she's not quite there. She gets frustrated and we have to rescue her!

Hope everyone's recovering from holiday madness and relaxing the next few days!

We're back!

We got back to Denver yesterday after a great trip home to TN. We celebrated an early Christmas with friends and family and got to introduce Olivia to everyone. She did great on both flights, luckily. Unfortunately, she got sick Tuesday and we ended up taking her to the pediatrician last night. She sounds soooo bad! I thought something was majorly wrong, but after a thorough examination, her doctor determined she has.... a cold. He's really good at not making me feel like I'm overreacting, when I obviously am. :) He said colds in babies this small, especially early babies with under developed immune systems, can get bad fast. He sent us on our way with some instructions and she seems to feel better today.
Here's some pictures from last week:

Olivia was asleep EVERY time we opened presents! In this one Michael is holding a fan on her. :) Sorry for my strange expression!



This is one of my favorite pictures from last week. Olivia's cousin Aubrey had her 2nd birthday party Sunday. We opened our Christmas presents after it and after a few minutes, we noticed Aubrey was missing. Where was she? She pulled a stool up to the counter next to her leftover b-day cake and was eating it with a spoon! Unfortunately, my camera died after this picture.



Olivia's cousin Maggie does a great job holding her!



With cousin Taylor.



On Tuesday we visited some friends at Megan and Brad's beautiful new house! Their little boy, Eli, turned one in September. Olivia really liked his Jumperoo, even though her feet didn't touch the ground.





Another favorite: She loves laying under the Christmas tree. We're trying to get her to reach for things she wants, so Michael's mom hung her beads on the tree. Instead of reaching for them, she just scooted until she could get them in her mouth.



She did this during most of the flight:



And fun was had by all! Thanks for reading.

It all started with high blood pressure...

So I've had a few people asking why Olivia was early. It's not really a one word answer, so I'll try to keep this as short as possible! Feel free to stop reading now, as I'm sure my long-winded explanation will take awhile... My blood pressure started creeping up early in the pregnancy, around 14 weeks. No big deal, my doctor said it's fairly common with first pregnancies. They would keep an eye on it. At our "big" ultrasound (when we found out it was a girl), they noticed she was measuring on the small side. I was 22 weeks pregnant. She was in the 30th percentile for that gestation. They scheduled more ultrasounds and appointments. My doctor thought it was related to high blood pressure. Moving along to 27 weeks. I start having contractions. In the hospital for a night, pumped full of IV fluids, given a shot of terbutaline to stop contractions. Managed to fly home for a few days right after this happended. 28 week ultrasound: she dropped from the 30th percentile to the 12th. Now they're worried. She isn't growing properly. My blood pressure is high, but not high enough to cause this much of a deficit. I start going to the doctor every week and having ultrasounds every 2 weeks. I'm also instructed to keep a log of my blood pressure at home. Fun stuff. 31 week appointment: they put me on modified bed rest at home. 33 week ultrasound: she dropped to the <5th percentile for this gestation and my amniotic fluid level was 6. Normal is anything over 10. Sent straight to the hospital "for the weekend (it was a Friday)." My doctor was hopeful that with bedrest and hydrotherapy, my fluid level would go up. They scheduled an ultrasound in the hospital for that Monday. Long, boring weekend, lots of IV fluids and hydrotherapy. Monday rolls around and my fluid level is.... 4. Great. I'm told I will be in the hospital until I have the baby. I took steroid shots to mature her lungs, because not only is my fluid low, but now I'm having contractions. It was basically a waiting game. I ended up getting a shot every day to stop contractions. They wanted me to get to 35 weeks, so 2 weeks in the hospital. They scheduled my c-section for 8/6/08, but told me it could be anytime. We toured the NICU and watched lots of TV! We spoke with a neonatal nurse practitioner and she told us what to expect after Olivia was born. Not only was she 5 weeks early, but was classified IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction) because of her small size. There were many concerns, but we were blessed with a healthy baby.

This is the day she was born (it was very early in the morning! My nurse convinced me to take one more belly shot.)



Right after she was born:


SOOOO Happy she's healthy!





The most frustrating part of the whole experience was not knowing why I had so many complications. My doctors initially thought my placenta gave out, but they sent it to pathology and it was fine- just small. It measured 33 weeks, so 2 weeks behind. She finally ordered blood tests and 9 vials of blood later, we find out I have a blood clotting disorder. The blood flow to the placenta was restricted, causing not enough oxygen/nutrients to make it to Olivia. The blood clotting disorder is not a huge deal, take a baby aspirin a day to reduce the risk of blood clots and I'm good to go! :) So that's it in a nutshell. Olivia left the hospital the same day I did at 4 pounds 7 ounces. It was terrifying to have a baby that small!

I love this picture, because you can really tell how tiny she is:



If you made it this far, sorry it got so long! That's alot of explaining. We are so fortunate to have a beautiful, healthy baby.

Snow Daze

Let me preface this by saying I like snow. Really. In moderation. This is what we woke up to this morning:





We always get more snow than Denver. I shouldn't be complaining- it's been a mild winter so far. Much better than last year! Our first snow this year wasn't until the beginning of November! It's usually the middle of October. The babies were used to going on walks, so they're a little cranky! The schools out here are so different! A foot of snow and they're on an hour delay. We would have been out for 3 days in TN. Glad I'm not working in the school system this year- had a few hair raising car rides last winter...

*Rant over*

On to more interesting things. This is my new favorite article of clothing (for Olivia!):





I LOVE these socks! They help since she has trouble keeping shoes on! They also make them to look like cowboy boots or tennis shoes, so more cute pictures to come! :)

I believe Olivia is going through a growth spurt. She's been really fussy and clingy the past few days. Hopefully it will be over before we leave for TN Friday! It would not be fun to fly with a fussy baby. She's growing and changing so fast. One thing that's changing is her hair. It used to lay so nice and flat. No longer:



It's especially wild after a bath. Oh, well, I think it looks cute either way! She has to get a shot tomorrow, so hopefully the roads will be clear. Not too exciting here in Mommyland! Have a good day!

Whoo-hoo! Double digits!

Finally! Olivia had her 4 month appointment today and I'm happy to announce that she has reached double digits! 10 pounds, 11 ounces, 22 3/4 inches long. She's in the less than 5th percentile for her actual age (basically not on the chart!) and 10-20th for adjusted age. Her pediatrician said he wouldn't be surprised if she has to shop in petites. :) Her cousins are petite and absolutely beautiful, so I think she's going to follow their growth patterns! I voiced some concerns about her development, but he reassured me that she's right where she should be for a 2 month, 3 week old baby (her adjusted age). It's hard for me not to compare her to the other baby I keep during the week. She's 2 days younger than Olivia (she was full term) and is WAY ahead of her developmentally and physically, but that's what happens when you're early. It won't matter in 10 years, but right now 5 weeks is 25% of her life! She got 1 shot today, DtaP. We're doing delayed vaccines (she will get all of them, just on an adjusted schedule). It's so hard to watch her get those shots! She has a Synergis appointment Wednesday. Synergis is a shot for preemies to help fight off the RSV virus. She goes once a month, November - April. Not fun! Here's her 4 month picture:



For comparison, here's her 1 week picture (4 lbs, 13 oz., 17 1/4 inches):



Quite a difference!

One more... Showing off her shirt (it speaks the truth):


"I'm the princess, we'll do it MY way"

Happy (day after) Thanksgiving!

We had a great first Thanksgiving with Olivia. We are fortunate to have wonderful neighbors. Sarah asked us a few days ago if we wanted to have Thanksgiving together. Their family is also far away! They made the turkey and desserts and I made the sides. We also found out that another family a few doors down didn't have plans, so they joined us as well (and brought salad and cookies!). We had a great time! There were 5 kids there, with Olivia being the youngest by about 2 years, but I think she enjoyed watching them play.
This is what Olivia did while I cooked:


I guess I'm not very exciting in the kitchen!

Like any good woman, she had 2 outfits for this occasion:



After an unfortunate incident (use your imagination!), I changed her into this:



Have to have a cute bib:



If you braved the crowds today for the sales, I hope you're recovering! We decided we'd rather pay retail than venture out with a baby.

Where to begin?

Well, I guess I've given in to the high demands for updates on our baby. :) Blogging is new to me, so please bear with me (and don't laugh) while I figure this out. While I feel we lead a relatively normal (aka: boring) life, my dear neighbor convinced me that people (family) would appreciate a blog. Especially since the majority of our family live approximately 1500 miles away... So, here we are. Olivia is sleeping in my arms as I type (the only way she'll sleep). We've had a pretty uneventful, yucky gray day here, so we're hoping for more sunshine tomorrow (gray days are rare in Denver). Olivia hasn't been feeling too well the past few days. Really stuffy and fussy (especially at night). It took us quite awhile last night to calm her down. Michael finally got her to smile with a stuffed butterfly. He would "fly" it from his face to hers (over and over and over). Her smile is worth any amount of "fussing!"