It's been a long 8 days.

This was me when we first got to the hospital last night.




Do I look really nervous? Why? Because I was waiting on the nurse to put Junebug in my arms for the very first time! I was so nervous. They had to unhook her breathing tube for about .75 seconds so they could place her in my arms and I cried so hard to see the look of terror on her face. It almost made me not want to hold her anymore. The nurses and doctors have all assured us time and time again they will never make the decision to move her if they don't think she can tolerate it. But still...it is heartbreaking anyway.



I was sooo thrilled to be able to hold her. It felt so good. She really is soo tiny, and her features are so mini. Her little nose is about the size of the pad of my pinky finger, if even that big! She just snuggled right up to me and either slept or stared at me when I was talking or singing to her. My favorite song to sing to her is "He's Still Working On Me." Kind of fitting, seeing as how she came out so tiny and a bit underdeveloped. Jesus is still working on her, to make her what she's going to be...just like he's still working on me and you. And personally, I hope he never stops working on me!

Leaving you with one last picture, our first with both of us and Junebug. Sara is still in here because she isn't allowed in the NICU. Also, I just wanted to say that June now weighs 1 lb. 15 oz.

Bad days and good days

My sweet June is one week old today. This first week has held many challenges and many accomplishments for her. She was born with no heartbeat and not breathing which of course resulted in her being fully resuscitated at delivery, then she had several cardiac issues on the transfer from Florida Hospital at Celebrations to Florida Hospital at Orlando. But, praise God, she stabilized soon after. I was released from the hospital 12 hours after birth so that we could go be with her.

Since then, she has had issues with losing too much sodium through urinating too much (which seems to be righting itself), her body is producing too many white blood cells which is not normal considering she's already on antibiotics, which should be preventing that. All of the cultures taken have not grown anything and two tries at doing a spinal tap has proved unsuccessful. They will give her 2-3 days to see if they're still elevated, and if they are, they will bring in a Hematologist to run some test. They believe she may have an overactive bone marrow which is producing too many white blood cells. I'm not sure how that's treated, we're just trying to take it one step at a time. Last night they tried to take her off of the breathing tube and put onto a nasal CPAP, but after a few hours her oxygen had gone from 23% to 78%, which is not okay. The decision was then made to put the tube back in, and while she had a difficult time adjusting to it, she eventually stabilized and was okay through the night.

The most challenging day has been today, by far. An ultrasound of the brain was done this morning and we learned that June Claire has a stage 3 Intraventricular Hemorrhage, or IVH. This is basically a brain bleed. There are 4 stages, but the doctor and radiologist are confident that she is on the mild side of stage 3, which is good news. There is a 60% chance nothing will be affected long-term, but there is that 40% chance that there will be long-term side effects.

I touched her head for the first time today. The nurse showed me how to cradle her feet with one hand and her head with the other, and it's the closest I've been to holding her since she was born. We are gradually becoming more and more comfortable with touching her. She's so tiny that it feels like we're going to break her! The above picture is of me taking her temperature. I was soooo nervous. And when we change her diaper...well, you'd think we'd never changed a diaper before in our lives! It was so nice to connect with her today.

We ask that you continue to keep June Claire in your thoughts and prayers. We get Sara back tomorrow, and I AM SO HAPPY! I have missed my oldest sweet girl something terrible.

June Claire was born unexpectedly on our vacation to Orlando on April 21, 2010, at 6:05 AM. She weighed 2 pounds 6 ounces and was 13 inches long. We will be staying here with the Childrens Hospital until July, at least. She had a very rough beginning but has stabilized and continues to remain stable each day. Please, please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers. I will continue to update as I am able.

Menu Plan Monday!

I'm actually writing this Sunday evening, because our Monday is chock FULL of tons of stuff to get done. I love how you can schedule post on here! (And that's why I included Sunday on it!)

Sunday: grilled chicken marinated in Italian dressing, steamed broccoli and carrots, baked potatoes

Monday: homemade chicken nuggets (I'll post the recipe Tuesday -- they're deeeelicious!), green beans, corn

Tuesday: roast with carrots and onions, english peas and mashed potatoes

Wednesday: grilled pork chops, white rice and lima beans

Thursday: grilled chicken sandwiches on french bread with tomatoes, cheddar cheese and avocado, pasta salad

Friday: leftovers

Saturday: on vacation in sunny Florida!

Sunday: on vacation in sunny Florida!

$100/month grocery budget -- Week 2

Sooo...let me just say -- a pregnant woman going to the grocery store hungry is a sure made recipe for DISASTER! I cannot tell you how many things I had to talk myself out of buying, and I STILL ended up with a turkey cobb salad and sushi (which I'm taking out of our "miscellaneous" budget, because I counted it in the eating out category). I forgot to take a picture, but here's what I got this week:


Green Giant boxed vegetables -- on sale for $1 each (from $1.66) and I had (2) $.50/2 coupons
Yoplait Fiber One yogurt x 2 (4) packs -- BOGO free at $2.50 each, and I had (2) $1/1 coupons
eggs
Ball Park all-beef hot dogs (on sale for $2.50 with a $.75/1 coupon)
bathroom tissue
ranch dressing

Total spent: $9.28
Total savings: $10.13
Monthly total so far: $58.04
Savings: $ 33.06


That means I got the yogurt for just $.25 a box, and the veggies for $.75 a box! AND I walked out leaving the sugary Lucky Charms and Cocoa Puffs still on the shelf....even though I had awesome coupons for them. The yogurt is nice to have for breakfast and snacks, the veggies ALWAYS come in handy, and the hot dogs are nice for quick lunches -- and probably will be used as a quick meal on Friday night as we're getting ready to head out for our vacation Saturday.

Today...

I noticed my belly officially touches the table before any other body part. I'm not sure whether to be excited or nervous!