Elizabeth Day 2

The days seemed to run together for me because we didn't sleep much and just took naps, but here is what Day 2 was for us.  Elizabeth did well through the night and we enjoyed watching her sleep, eat, and just loved being with her.  Jake changed her first wet diaper sometime early morning and turned to me and said, "is it weird that I want to keep it" I said no but of course we didn't. Every little thing she did even changing her diapers was such a privilege for us that we wanted to hold onto those things for as long as possible.  When he changed her though it was like we were going back to being first time parents.  Jake forgot to have everything ready so in the midst of changing her she peed all over her outfit and the blanket.  So we changed her and got her squared away in new clothes and blanket.  I was hoping to have my mom take them and wash them and get them back to us to put on her again so we could have her smell just not her urine, but we forgot so we don't have those particular clothes with her smell on them.  This may seem weird but anything she touched and wore became so special to us. I wanted to be able to have her smell after she left us.

After the changing diaper we started to get ourselves up for the day.  I still wasn't getting up and down much at this point.  Jake's dad came to the hospital first that day to see sweet Elizabeth and then he decided to go get Jake's mom so she could come visit her too.  The pediatrician came in and did some vital checks.  She said that Elizabeth's heart rate was good and strong, and she couldn't hear any murmur at this time.  Her breathing was a little fast but overall she was doing good.  Her temp was getting better and she seemed to be starting to regulate it better herself.  We were thrilled with the news and started to think maybe she would be coming home with us after all.  Jake's parents were back and spent some time with her.  Then my mom came up so she could see Elizabeth but we also asked her to bring Addison so she could see her too.  Addison loved seeing Elizabeth and spent a lot of time looking at her and tickling her.  We laid Elizabeth in the warming bed and Addison stepped on a stool and just tickled her it was so cute.  Addison and Kaylee (my niece) started to get restless and so they left.  My good friend and her husband stopped by during the day too so they could meet our sweet baby.  They ended up coming separately but said they loved feeling her sweet spirit and how adorable she was.

Jake's parents had picked Michael up from school and brought him up so he could see his sister also.  He was able to be with her for a little while before my sister came up to get Michael.  When my sister got there my body decided to get this horrible gas bubble (you can get these after surgery I guess) in my shoulders.  It was very painful and nothing they could do to help the pain besides just letting it try to pass.  So my sister's family wasn't able to spend much time with Elizabeth but her kids were still able to come in and see her and meet their newest cousin.  I loved watching their reactions to how tiny and cute she was.  They did awesome.  After my gas bubble passed I ended up taking a nap for a little bit and Jake got some alone time with Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was handling the feeding every three hours well and seemed to have wet diapers.  She still hadn't had a bowel movement but nurses told us that was quite common.  Her breathing did seem to become more struggled so we upped her oxygen from a 1 to 1 1/2.  This seemed to help a little bit.  That evening my dad came up by himself and spent time with Elizabeth, and walking me around the halls.

All I can say is Elizabeth had both her grandpa's wrapped around her finger and she wasn't even a day old yet.  I loved seeing both the grandpa's interact with her.  I don't think my dad held a baby in the hospital as long as he held Elizabeth.  You could just feel her amazing strength and spirit that you just wanted to hold her and be in that room.

Later that night at 11pm we had a nurse come in and do some molds of Elizabeth's feet and a mold of my hand holding Elizabeth's.  They turned out so amazing, during the process I was a bit skeptical of whether they would work but they did and I will treasure those forever.  Elizabeth had the most perfect feet ever.  They were long and perfect.  Her hands were so sweet to, the left hand was clubbed and the right was just clenched.  She would still grasp our fingers and hold on.  After we were done with the molds we turned the lights down and tried to rest a little.

 Elizabeth getting her feeding

 Cuddles with mom and dad

 Her sweet feet getting ready for molds.