settling in...

i promise i'll get back to regular posting one of these days, but for now it's somewhat sporadic and probably a little chaotic - much like our lives ;-)

we've officially been home together as a family of five for a week now. there are times where things run seamlessly and i feel like jeffrey and i deserve a medal. and then there are times when i'm thankful i'm not a reality show of any kind, because people would surely judge me in the worst way - ha!

so far, *knockonwood* liza has been a relatively easy baby. all things considered with her entrance into the world. but since arriving home, she pretty much just eats, sleeps, and poops. all the things babies are supposed to do. i know that can all change in the blink of an eye, so we're trying to keep that in mind through the good days and bad.

libbi has been absolutely over the moon excited. she is the proudest big sister i've ever seen. she is like a little momma. it is the sweetest thing for us to watch her interact with liza. she talks to her in a tiny little voice and just ooh's and ah's over her all day. she has even started calling her, "lize" ha! she is the only one that calls laney, "lane" and i guess she's decided to call liza, "lize" ;-)

it's almost like she's experiencing the whole "big sister" thing for the first time. libbi wasn't even two when we had laney, so she really had no clue what was going on. this time around, she's very aware and so excited. but with her newfound awareness and excitement also comes a lot of questions....
we've had quite a few *interesting* conversations regarding nursing. i'll spare you the details, but let's just say she had some questions i was definitely not prepared to answer - ha!
she also wants to know the reason why liza does the things that she does.... "Why does baby liza cry? why does baby liza make so many funny noises? why does baby liza's belly button look like that? and on and on and on..." 

laney, on the other hand, is content to just go about her business and check in with us every once in a while. she loves "baby why-za" and is more than ready to hold her whenever the need arises. and every time she holds her she says, "i'm a big girl!" and just smiles. then two seconds later she's "done" and i have to be ready to make the catch or else baby liza might end up on the floor. sometimes i'm not sure if laney is more into liza or liza's accessories. she has frequented the bouncy seat, the car seat, and even tested out the basinet.  i've caught her on numerous occasions trying on liza's socks, bows, and even trying to squeeze into some of her pants (not gonna happen). she was quite excited this morning when she noticed (all on her own) that liza's umbilical cord had fallen off. she's been announcing all day that her "billy buddon fell off!" i guess that could be considered her first proud moment as a big sister. ya gotta start somewhere, right? ;) 

we've made a few outings over the past few days and have been somewhat successful. after staying home for a week straight, we were all pretty much going stir crazy. we had to get out of the house - for all of our sakes :) 

liza was rather unimpressed with the park and target. little does she know, both of those places will probably become favorites of hers. the big girls did great and were super cooperative. which i appreciated, but i also know that won't always be the case. but, we'll cross that bridge when we get there (likely tomorrow - ha!) 

so, aside from lack of sleep - things have gone rather smoothly so far. of course, i also realize that as soon as i hit "publish" on this post - i may very well be eating those words.  ;-)
but for now, i'll enjoy it. 

one week....

it's been one week since liza was born, although it feels like MUCH longer. we have covered a lot of ground in one short week....most of this will probably be boring to a lot of you, but i wanted to write it down so i can have it for memory's sake.

thursday, july 18th: 
welcome to the world liza june! born at 1:57am. we were overjoyed and so excited to finally see our sweet baby! we spent about three hours together while they monitored her, and then around 5:30am, the decision was made to move her to the NICU.

throughout the day on thursday, liza's breathing was monitored, she was hooked up to an IV (since she was unable to nurse), and jeffrey and i met with what seemed like a million doctors and nurses.

friday, july 19th:
liza's sisters came to visit! they weren't able to hold her, but libbi and laney were at least able to come visit in the NICU.

liza had an ultrasound of her heart to determine the cause of her heart murmur. the cardiologist did find a small hole in her heart, but we were relieved to hear that he felt certain it would close on it's own.

she continued to receive fluids and antibiotics via her IV. jeffrey and i went down to the NICU as many times as possible, but were able to hold her during "touch times" three times a day.

saturday, july 20th: 
liza started feedings via a tube. we were so excited since this meant we were one step closer to "normal feedings" and to going home! she wasn't thrilled with the tube that went down her throat, but she tolerated it. i would pump every three hours or so and we'd transport it to the NICU where they would put the milk in a syringe and feed it to liza through the tube. i was also able to hold her during these feedings so even though it was exhausting to trek down to the NICU every 2-3 hours, it was well worth it. even at 12am and 3am. :)

before each feeding, we would take her temperature, change her diaper, and the NICU nurse would draw blood from her heel to check her blood sugar levels. it was difficult maneuvering around all the wires and tubes, but again - well worth it to be able to hold our baby.

after each feeding and before the next, the nurse would insert a syringe into the feeding tube and check to see if there was any of the previous feeding "leftover" in liza's stomach or if she had digested it all. the goal was to have her digest it all knowing that she had tolerated the tubal feeding so we could begin nursing as soon as possible. we were thrilled that she tolerated every feeding.


i was officially discharged from the hospital on saturday, but we were so incredibly thankful that our hospital has such a generous "room in" policy. as a courtesy to us, as long as our baby was in the NICU and as long as there was an open room, we were allowed to stay so we could be with her. although the hospital accommodations were not ideal, and i'm sure jeffrey would have much preferred a bed to a futon, we were so grateful for the blessing of being able to stay with our baby.


sunday, july 21st: 
when we arrived in the NICU early that morning for liza's feeding, we were so excited to see that the tube had been removed (thanks to liza - ha!) so they decided it was a sign that she was ready to try nursing! i was able to hold her and nurse her for the first time! she did great :)
it was a long and tiring process for sure, though. we would go down to the NICU every 2-3 hours depending on when liza was ready to eat. we'd check her temperature, change her diaper, and wait for the nurse to check her blood sugar. then i'd nurse her, and when we were done jeffrey would hold her while i pumped to keep my supply up. it was about an hour long process, so by the time we finished up
and headed back to our room, it was basically time to go back again.

the cultures from liza's bloodwork came back on sunday and were negative for an infection, so they were able to stop the antibiotics. they were also slowly weaning her off of the other IV fluids throughout the day.

we did have to start treatment under the lights for her jaundice levels on sunday. they weren't quite as high as what would normally need the lights, but the doctors didn't want her bili levels to be the only reason we couldn't go home. so we proactively started treating it on sunday. that was probably her least favorite. she'd rip her little glasses off all the time and just was not happy to be under the lights.

monday, july 22nd: 
at 12:30am on monday, the NICU nurse took liza for her carseat test. she had to sit in her carseat for
90 minutes while her oxygen levels, heart rate, stats, etc were monitored to make sure nothing was elevated. thankfully, she passed! who knew that our girl would be such a good test taker at all hours of the morning?! ;)
the last step to going home was for her biliruben levels to come back at a level the doctors were comfortable with...and they did! we were discharged for HOME around 11am monday morning. and we couldn't have been happier!!

tuesday, july 23rd:
her sisters were THRILLED to have her home. they literally can not get enough of her. they want to know where she is every minute of the day. it is just about the sweetest thing i've ever seen.

wednesday, july 24th:
both of the big sisters had camp today, so it was just me and liza.... she spent a lot of her time sleeping, eating, and even practicing a little whistling ;-)

thursday, july 25th:
liza is one week old today! we celebrated with more of the same... sleeping, eating, and lots of love from her sisters.

we have never been more thankful for a week of progress, promises, and possibilities. Praise God our sweet baby is home and we can start adjusting to life as a family of five! thank you all for your prayers, comments, texts, messages, and phone calls. we are so blessed to have so many friends praying for us!

five on friday with Liza June...

this week's five on friday is a little different from week's past....
no educational activities or crafts to share. just five updates on our newest little love, Liza June.

one.
i went to the hospital on Wednesday afternoon because i had been feeling kind of sick all day. i wasn't necessarily having contractions, i was just feeling "odd" and hadn't been feeling the baby move as much, so my doctor told me to come on in and they'd check everything out. the girls were already at my mom and dad's since i hadn't been feeling well so, i waited for jeffrey to get home from work and we drove to the hospital around 6:30pm.  we were about 99.9% certain that we'd be sent back home an hour or so later. (so much so that we didn't even bring my hospital bag with us!) 
but, lo and behold, i started having contractions once we settled in and before i knew it, i was getting an epidural at 10pm. jeffrey ran home to get our things, we called our parents, and just a few hours later i started pushing. Liza June Tippins was born on Thursday, July 18th at 1:57am. She weighed 7lbs 11.5oz and was 21 inches long. She was born at 36 weeks, 4 days. 

two. 
we knew that i would be induced right around 37 weeks because of 1.) high blood pressure, 2.) history of heart issues and 3.) both libbi and laney were born right around 37wks and weighed close to 9lbs! 
i guess baby liza wanted to "one up" her sisters already and come even earlier than they did. the NICU team was prepared and present for the delivery, "just in case" and we knew that she had already swallowed a bit of meconium, so we were prepared for her to be taken as soon as i delivered. we were overjoyed to hear her cry immediately and to see that she was a nice sized baby. the delivery went smoothly and all seemed well. 

three. 
unfortunately, liza wasn't able to get her breathing regulated on her own. after she was first born, the doctors/nurses gave her a few opportunities to correct her breathing, but she was unable to slow it down. she was taking about 100 breaths per minutes while they would like to see her take about 40. so, long story short, liza was taken to the NICU around 5:30am on the morning she was born. she was around 3 hours old. once she was in the NICU, the doctors determined that she may have a few other issues in addition to her respiratory distress. 

four. 
baby liza continues to breathe more rapidly than what we'd like which results in an inability to eat. since she is breathing so quickly, she is unable to nurse or eat anything because it would inevitably result in choking. she has some fluid built up in her lungs and we are waiting and hopeful that this will clear and reabsorb on it's own. she is currently receiving IV fluids and has been since early yesterday morning. BUT today we were able to hold her while she had her first feeding via a feeding tube! the doctor's had a few concerns about her heart, but after an ultrasound yesterday we were SO thankful to find that the results showed her heart defect to be one that they felt would correct itself. she does have a small hole in her heart, but the cardiologist feels as though it will close up on it's own. we will follow up with him every few months until it does. finally, there is a chance that she has a possible infection, so she is being treated with two different antibiotics while we await the results of her blood cultures. 

five. 
praises and prayers - 
first of all, we are SO thankful that liza is here. while she has a few issues to work out, and her beginning is not what we would have chosen - we feel confident that she will make a full recovery in due time. and for that we are extremely thankful. we are so thankful that the ultrasound of her heart showed an issue that would resolve itself. we are praising God that she is making progress and that slowly but surely we are seeing improvements. we are so thankful that we were able to hold baby liza today and that we were able to begin feeding her via a feeding tube. we are also thankful for all of the doctors and nurses that have been taking such good care of her. 

while there have been many improvements and strides made over the past day or two, baby liza still has a way to go before she's cleared to come home with us. 
we are praying her breathing is regulated so that she can begin nursing and being weaned off of the feeding tube. she must be breathing without incident or without assistance for 48 hours before she will be cleared. we have yet to begin the 48hrs. we also know that more than likely (okay, very likely) we will be going home without our baby. while we know she is improving and that she will be home soon, it is is still difficult not being able to hold our baby and to know that she will not immediately be coming home with us.

so far, libbi and laney have been wonderful. of course they don't really understand much about the whole "bringing home a baby" process so they're not really even aware that this is not the norm. we were thrilled that they were able to at least go in and see their new sister. i had initially thought they would be unable to while she was in the NICU, but that wasn't so! they were both so sweet and loved seeing "baby wy-za" as laney calls her. we love our girls and miss them like crazy, but at this point - we're thankful that they are so content being at the grandparents' house. we are praying that they continue to loved and content during this time of transition. finally, we're praying for sweet baby liza to keep getting stronger each day. we want nothing more than to bring baby liza home, but we really want to bring her home to stay and without incident. while the NICU was definitely not part of our "birth plan" we are thankful that liza's issues were realized before we were discharged for home and that she is being so well taken care of. 

thank you to everyone that has called, texted, emailed, and messaged us. we are so thankful and humbled by all of your prayers and support. we will try our best to keep you updated on baby liza and all that is going on. for right now, no news is good news as we are just watching and waiting for her lungs to clear and her breathing to slow down. we can't wait for y'all to meet her! she is as sweet as can ben and just a tiny little love. she has blonde (blonde!) hair and i think she looks like jeffrey. :) 
thank you again for all of your prayers and encouragement while we navigate this unexpected path. we love you all! 

"Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand."  Isaiah 41:10