Karlee update

So, she was getting hungry, but I had to finish doing one thing first, she had stopped crying and I looked down and she was sucking on her thumb, all by herself. She does this often now. I think it is so cute!

Such a cutie

Her eyes were actually open!

The morning Jay's mom was leaving

Doing homework with mom (kind of)

Her first night in her crib

Karlee when she came home the first time

We have now had Karlee home for a little over a week. Jay's mom was here for a while when she first came home, but she left on Saturday so we have been all on our own. It has been a little difficult, but fun too. I love my little family and they bring so much joy to my life. My mom is coming Thursday night and I am so excited for her to come see us. Karlee is doing great now and is growing already! She changes everyday it seems like. Her hair is starting to get a little bit lighter, it looks more like a dark brown now instead of black. I have a feeling it will continue to get lighter and lighter. She is so fun to just watch and see the facial expressions she makes. I think she is going to have a little bit of an attitude (like her mom)! Since she has been home, Jay has learned that babies like to eat, sleep, and poop, that's about it. I think he is excited for her to be awake more and interact more when she gets older. She went to her first doctor's appt. last Friday and they said she is doing great! I was so glad to hear that. We are still trying to get her to figure out that night time is when you sleep and day time is when you are awake, she hasn't caught on to that one yet, but we are working on it. She is such a sweetheart and I love her to pieces. I am so grateful that she was sent to Jay and I and that we have the opportunity to be her parents and to raise her. I love all the adventures we have already had and the things we have learned because of her. I love being a mom to Karlee. She brings so much joy to Jay and I.

Our Little Girl

Last night there

Her last night there

Kisses from mommy

She had to have an IV in her head

Proud daddy

She was holding her own pacifier in by herself

So many cords and IV's and monitors

First time I got to hold her

First family picture

The first time I got to see her







The morning after she was born

So, my pregnancy came to an abrupt end about 3 weeks early. When I was 36 weeks the doctor put me on strict bed rest because my blood pressure was high and they weren't too sure why. I didn't like bed rest at all. I hate sitting around the house and not doing anything. This also changed my plans. I was suppose to graduate this semester, but being on bed rest I couldn't go to school either. So, I am taking a lot of online classes and will have to go one more semester, but I will only be taking two classes which will be very nice. While on bed rest I had to go to the doctor every other day which was also a pain, but it's something you have to do. One week after being put on bed rest (January 11th) I went to the doctor again and little did I know that would be the day I would be having our little girl. I went to the doctor at 9 am and they did an ultrasound to make sure she was ok and then they checked my blood pressure and decided it was time for her to come out. So I checked into the hospital at 11 am and they put me on medicine to help lower my blood pressure. At about 2:45pm they started me on pitocin to start everything up. When I went to the hospital I was already progressing on my own, but the pitocin made things go a lot faster. So, they started things at 2:45pm and our little girl was born at 9:49pm that night. Things went very fast, no time for an epidural or any pain meds. It was a really neat experience to do it all completely natural, but very painful! Then came the biggest scare of my life. I pushed her out and they put her on my chest, nothing happened. She wouldn't cry and she was quickly turning blue. Immediately they took her and 6 nurses surrounded her and started doing CPR and putting tubes down her lungs and doing everything they could to make her breath. She wouldn't breath and she didn't have much of a heart beat either. I fell apart and didn't know what was going on. Jay wouldn't let me look over at it all, he was trying to help me. Then they rushed her away to the NICU. I didn't know anything and was very panicked. Jay was able to go see her at about 11:30pm. He was a mess also and was very happy to get to go see her. The medicine I was on for my blood pressure was the worst stuff ever. It made me so sick and I couldn't focus my eyes on anything and I was in a complete fog and daze. I didn't know what was going on around me and I had to stay on it for 24 hours after she was born too. We didn't hear anything about her condition for a while. At about 1:30am they brought in some pictures of her for me to see and they told us she was stable. That was a big relief to me. Sorry this is getting really long. So, to make a really long story short, I was discharged on Wednesday evening and went home and did the hardest thing ever, leave my baby at the hospital and go home without her. Then I began to live at the hospital. I am at the NICU probably about 17 hours of the day. I come to feed her at all of her feedings except one (which is during the nurse rotation so nobody can come in) but I even come during the nights. I feel like I live here. (Yes I am here right now). It has really been wearing me out. I am excited to be able to feed her in my own home with no nurses coming in all the time and I don't have to drive to go see her and report everything she does. I know I am already a mom, but I think I will feel more like it once I am her full caregiver and she is at home with me. Guess what... she is going home today!!! The doctor just came and checked her over and did her discharge paper work. Now she is doing what is called a car seat challenge. This is where they put the baby in the car seat for one hour and watch her vitals to make sure she can breath ok and can get enough oxygen and that her heart rate is good. She is about half way through and is doing great! They do this with babies that are pre-term. She was only pre-term by about 2 hours, she was 36 weeks and 6 days, but only two hours away from 37 weeks. I think it's kind of funny she has to do it, but better safe than sorry right. So, once she finishes this she will be good to go home!!! We are so excited to finally be able to take our little one home after a week of her being here. But I am so grateful it is only a week. There are some babies in here that will be here for weeks and even months, I don't know how they do it. I am so grateful for our little girl and she is such a miracle. She almost didn't make it, but she fought through it and is doing wonderful. She is so sweet and loves to sleep. Here are just a few pictures of our little angel.

Karlee May Christiansen

Born- 9:49pm on January 11, 2010

6 pounds 4 ounces 19 inches long