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

Major Update!

Sorry everyone it has been soooo long since I have wrote on here. School and work and being pregnant completely wears me out everyday. But the semester is now done, I completed another 19 credits! Only 14.5 more to go, so I graduate in April! We are so excited for Christmas and are spending it with Jay's family this year. They live in Boise (they moved from Florida last year). So, I went to the doctor this morning and come to find out I have lost weight. I am 34 weeks along now and have gained a total of 11 pounds. They told me to enjoy the holidays! AKA, EAT! haha. I am getting so excited for our little one to come. I can't believe how close it is getting! Well, I never got the picture up last time I promised, so here you go! Here is a picture from this week. I feel so big and think I look big in the picture. But, the doctor keeps saying, "you don't have much of a torso and you are so short that it doesn't have anywhere to go but out!" So, it is all going out haha, but not much weight gain. So, I hope you enjoy the picture, finally... I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas! Happy Holidays!

Life Update

So, I really can't believe that I am now 23 weeks along. Time has really gone by fast now that I am back in school. Things are going well so far. She is very active and I feel her kicking all the time now. Jay actually felt her for the first time the other day too, that was really neat for him. We have gone on a couple shopping sprees since finding out the gender; it has been sooooo much fun! School is very hard this semester and I am really having a hard time keeping my head above the water between my 18 credits in school and working 15 hours a week. I am also taking all of my last hard classes before the baby comes. So this semester is very hard, but I know it will be worth it next semester when she comes! I know I need to put up a picture, everyone keeps asking me to. I will do it soon I promise! Jay is also doing well. He is working more than full time and staying busy with that. He has been such a big help around the house each evening when I am so busy with homework. He is such a wonderful husband and I know he will be a great daddy also!

It's a........

So on Tuesday September 15th I had my 20 week ultrasound. The doctor checked everything to make sure everything looked good. He kept saying how active the baby was and it was just moving around like crazy. Then, what we have all been waiting for, he told us what we will be having..... and.... it's.... a..... GIRL!!! I was so happy, I didn't care either way... Jay on the other hand was a little um shocked I guess I should say. I think he was a little dissapointed, he really wanted a boy. But afterwards we went to eat and went shopping and found a few cute outfits. He kept looking at the girl things and saying "this is cute"! Then today he told me how he really felt. He told me he was dissapointed, but today he is SOOOO EXCITED to have a little girl! I am so excited to have a little girl and think of what the future will hold!

Our Changing Life

I know it has been a very long time since I have updated on here. I really haven't had a whole to to talk about lately. Jay finished his summer semester back in July and has been enjoying his break from school. It has been nice to have our evenings free of homework and work. We have been able to do a few fun things during the break. I go back to school on September 10th and am actually kind of excited to go back to school. I only have the Fall and Winter semesters left and then I graduate in April! I am very excited about that. So I'm pretty sure most if not all of you know that Jay and I are expecting our first baby on February 2, 2010. We are so excited and happy. We have been wanting to know what the gender is ever since we found out and it is finally getting closer. But, when Elise (my sister) had her little baby boy on Thursday morning it just made me want to know even more and made Jay and I even more excited for our little one to come. I have my appointment on September 15th and hopefully our little one will cooperate so we can find out if it's a boy or girl! Jay is really hoping for a boy and I really don't have an opinion although he will be happy with either! :) We are enjoying life and everything it brings our way. I promise it won't take me this long to post something again.

Family Pictures

So when we went to mom and dad's in May we took some family pictures, here are a few of them!