Gracie's 1st Football Game

Gracie went to her 1st football game on Friday night and it was a victory for the Wolves!!




I took her to the doctor on Saturday morning because her breathing had become a little labored and she was wheezing. The doctor took one look at her at told the nurse to call an ambulance, she was going to Scottish Rite for a chest xray. OK, so I freaked out, seeing the professional react in such a way. So, her 1st trip in an ambulance (hopefully her last) and the 1st emergency room visit. In the ambulance her oxygen levels were at 100% which is the highest, and her vitals were fine. She just sat there in her car seat, strapped to the gurney checking out all the sights. She was very good. Then it became feeding time.....not so happy. The doctors checked her out and her lungs sounded fine. They checked her for RSV, a common virus in infants that can cause respiratory issues, along with a host of other not so good things. The RSV test was negative....YEA! She was diagnosed with bronchiolitis which is a common illness of the respiratory tract caused by an infection that affects tiny airways - the bronchioles - that lead to the lungs. In adults it is bronchitis but in infants, the airways are so small that they close off, making breathing more difficult. She never had a fever, or slowed down eating to throw up a red flag that something was wrong. She is just amazing. So she has an inhaler that she gets every 4-6 hrs, and she barely cries....bless her heart. She went to the doctor yesterday for a follow up visit and she said all looked good and keep her on the inhaler for the rest of the week. Oh, and she weighs 8 lbs. 7 oz. Just growing like a weed!

Happy Halloween!! We have so many Halloween outfits, that I put one on her on Sunday from Uncle Tony when he came over for dinner. She looked so cute! Here is a cute picture of her....




Then the look like.....what the heck are you doing to me, and why do you keep taking so many pictures of me....like this!!


I still can't get over the "look", makes me laugh! I am sure that won't be the last "look" she gives her mom!


I worked up in her room over the last couple of nights doing the fun accessorizing, here are some pictures. Most of these are from about 10:30 PM after I woke up Michael with the drilling...oops! I should be getting the rest of the accessorizing done with some final pictures. It is looking so cute!



I bought this the day before we got the call about Grace "Children are the anchor that holds a mother to Life" - simply amazing!



Another victory for the SOX!! Go Red Sox....way to sweep the Rockies in the World Series! What a year, 1st a baby, then a World Series, then Boston College in 1st Place, then the undefeated Patriots.....who could ask for more!

Gracie with Daddy and Nomar hanging out watching the Red Sox!

Baby Grace Update - GO SOX!!

OK, where does the time go?? I can't believe it has almost been a month since my last update. Gracie is growing! I weighed her today and she was just about 8 pounds. She is 20 inches long and changing every day. She is just amazing......Amazing Grace! She had a hearing last Tuesday and her birth mother didn't show up. Actually, we weren't expecting her, since we have no way of contacting her, and she hadn't contacted DFCS to find out when the hearing was. So now we wait until January 15th for the next hearing, where they will terminate the birth mother's parental rights, and she will be released for adoption. This will still take some time, but we are moving along quickly which is good.

Can you see the resemblance between Gracie and Manny? Took this shot the other night, and now we can celebrate more this week with the Red Sox in the World Series.....GO SOX!!



Some more flattering pictures of the cutie pie!!








Some more pictures of her room - I still have a lot of work to do, but it is so fun, and cute!!

Baby Girl is GROWING!

Took Gracie to the doctor yesterday. It was 10 days since her last visit. I had bet she weighed 5 lbs. 11 oz. up from 5 lbs. 1 oz. and she was actually 5 lbs. 14 oz. and had grown 1/2" up from 18" to 18 1/2". Our doctor is very pleased with how she is progressing........and thinks she is pretty cute too!

We have been so blessed this week with food from our Wesleyan family. It is nice to not have to think about cooking. Thank you!!

My mom (Janet - Nana) came in on Saturday for two weeks. So we have started working on sewing Gracie's bedding. Painting is all done, and the rick rack is up....oh how cute! Feels like you are inside of a Tiffany box. Here are some pictures, and we still have a lot of sewing to do to get all the finishing touches done.

We continue to have visitors, and we are so blessed and showered with gifts. So cute! She will be the best dressed child in Gwinnett County. She is set with clothes at least through 6 months, and has so much pink. She is growing out of some of her preemie stuff, and the newborn diapers are getting tight. It is amazing how fast she grows. I will need to have at least 4 wardrobe changes each day to ensure that she can wear everything at least once. She has some books, but would love more of them. You can't have too many books....right?

Take care, and I will try to post more often.





Uncle Tony exposing her to NASCAR

A visit to Daddy's classroom

Here are the fabrics for her room and the cutest ric rac!


Much love, Jodi, Michael and Grace

Well awaited update

Sorry I have been slacking on the updates. It is just so much fun, and I haven't had time to get on the computer. Gracie is doing great. At her last Dr's visit she was 18" long and weighs 5 lbs. 1 oz. She is getting bigger every day. She is out of preemie diapers and is outgrowing some of her preemie stuff already. She is just a sweet heart, we are truly amazed and blessed to be able to raise her.

She continues to have a great wardrobe. At the moment, she is stocked up on clothes in sizes newborn and 0-3 months. Thank goodness for consignment and Ebay.

Our DFCS worker has put in for an adoption ruling with the judge. There will be a hearing in October to see if the mom will show up, and to move things along toward revoking custody due to abandonment on the mom's part.

Thanks for all the sweet gifts and emails. We love reading them and opening the presents. It is amazing how much cute stuff there is for girls.

Gracie's room is underway. Her nana (my mom) comes this Saturday, so let the sewing begin. Here is a sneek peek of her fabrics, and her room painted. I am putting a jumbo rick rack inbetween the 2 colors, and it came today.....so cute! I will send more pictures as things get going.






Here is a picture of Lillian Grace (Lilly), and she has made herself right at home in Gracie's nursery.




Bye for now,

Jodi

Gracie is HOME!!

Friday at 3:00 PM I went to the hospital to pick up sweet Gracie Jean. Betsy Dodson was there to wish her farewell. Michael was on his way to Hart County (almost in S. Carolina) for a football game. Of all the days for her to come home, this was the least convenient. But...when he got home from the game, our family was together. The 1st feeding of the night was 4 AM, and then 8 AM. Michael took the 4 AM feeding, and it was somewhat of a rough night. Gracie's nickname is Squeeky Jean, and she does just that. She doesn't really cry, just squeeks. Very tired from the 1st night, we are working our way into it. She feeds every 4 hours, and pretty much sleeps in between feedings. She is a good girl so far. Here are some pictures of our first days, it is very fun, but yet doesn't really seem real. I have to pinch myself sometimes, and really take it in that she is our little girl. We are so blessed.

Gracie is coming home!!

As of a couple of days ago we thought Grace was coming home around 36 weeks which would be a couple of weeks. Last night we were at the hospital and she had her feeding tube in and she was still in an incubator. Today, I got a call from the hospital social worker that the doctor had ordered her to be released in the next 3 days. OK, a little bit of a shock...but so excited. I have to bring her car seat by the hospital tomorrow so they can check her vitals while in her seat for 45 minutes. They haven't nailed down a date, but it is a day by day process. She is eating 60 cc's of formula, which is about 2 ounces. She is doing really well, and you will see from the pictures, getting a double chin. She is so precious, and such a good baby. I think I have heard her cry only a couple of times and she is very sweet. Hopefully she isn't behaving so we will take her home and she will let us have it. We will be so blessed if she keeps up the good behavior. So the magic question, is are we ready? Well, we have a bassinet, some clothes, a couple of cans of formula, couple of packs of diapers, and the car seat. I am picking up the paint for the nursery tomorrow AM, and that is in the works. I just registered, yikes I thought I had more time! I have registered at Target, Baby's-R-Us, and Pottery Barn Kids, and we are working on the baby shower shortly. Wow, is all I can say :)

I will send out another update when we know more, so check back.

Labor Day Weekend Update

Sorry for the delay in updates. We were having some landscaping work done, and they cut our phone/cable/internet line. So I have been out of touch. Well since the last update, I got more info about her 1st feeding. The goal on the first feeding is 2 cc's of formula, and she took 9 on her first feeding. Then the next day she took 10 with me. Then with her daddy feeding her for the 1st time, she took her whole bottle 20 cc's. Our little over achiever!!

She weighed in last night and is 4 lbs. 1.8 oz. They moved her into another nursery room in the NICU and when I went looking for her, she was gone. I freaked out for a minute when I saw another couple with what I thought was my baby girl. Her new nursery, is where they put the babies when they are getting close to going home. She is still in her incubator, until she can keep her body temp regulated, but she is almost there. She fed with her bottle 25 cc's at the 8 AM feeding with Louise. She said she downed it in about 5 minutes. Then I fed her at the 11 AM feeding and she drank the whole thing then too. At this point they said that they will try to feed her at each time and see how she does. If she takes longer than 20 minutes, she will be expelling to many calories, and they will put the rest in her feeding tube. She also got her IV removed, so she isn't on fluids anymore. Haven't received word from the nurses of when they think she may go home, but I would think over the next two weeks.

I need to call about the pediatrician and get a car seat tomorrow!

Here are a few pictures:

Started on a bottle and Foster Update

Well, lots of news today. Gracie is up to 3 lbs. 14.2 oz. and she should be out of her incubator by Sunday at next weigh in. She has the IV out of her head, so that is great. She started taking a bottle once a day to see how she does. Good sign, but they will still tube feed until she really gets the hang of it.

Talked with the social worker and there is a hearing on 9/7 to formally place her in child care with pending adoption. I will be at the hearing, and they will see there is a family ready to adopt. Still no word from the family or birth mother, and not sure about father. So at this point, no news is good news.

Daddy is better, so he got to give her a bath and long awaited cuddling. He missed her so much. We will get lots of time with her this weekend.

Here are some pictures.