Raelyn @ 5 weeks

Baby girl is 5 weeks old and somewhere in the 6 pound range. She finally fits into her preemie clothes. Newborn sizes still swallow her up. I took her to the doctor last week and he was pleased with her weight gain, but she is not on the growth charts because she is TINY. Colton was always in the 75-95th percentiles, and now I have a tiny baby that doesn't even make it onto the chart at all!

She is a great nurser. When we left the NICU, they told me it would take about a month to wean her from the bottle completely, but she was done with the bottle about three days after we got home. Now she solely nurses and my life is so much easier.

She sleeps a lot...much more than Colton did. But once again this has to do with the fact that she is a preemie. At night she can go 4 hours in between feedings, so if I time it right I may only have to get up once per night...but that doesn't always happen.

Raelyn is a very loud baby. She is constantly grunting, making noises that sound like a pig, pooting, or burping. She can't even nurse without being noisy. She hates sleeping on her back and loves sleeping on her tummy. I usually let her sleep on her stomach during the day when I'm awake and can keep an eye on her. But at night she has been sleeping in the swing so she can sit upright. Recently my friend, Katie loaned me her Nap Nanny and Raelyn LOVED it. She went 4.5 hours between feedings the first night she slept in it! Now she sleeps in it every night.

I LOVE my Moby Wrap and so does she! I didn't have one with Colton. It allows me to carry Raelyn around and have both my hands free. She is so snug and tight in there that she just falls asleep. I've found it's much easier than carrying the heavy pumpkin seat inside everywhere I go. Tonight Cam and I went out to eat and I wore her in the Moby Wrap while she slept and we ate.

Colton is an awesome big brother. He loves her to death...sometimes I'm afraid that may literally happen. He is way too rough with her.  Patting her on the head may actually mean beating her on the head. And the other day I walked in on on him shaking the heck out of the swing...with her in it. He is obsessed with changing her diapers and looking to see what's inside of them. I love to hear him talk to her. He says things like "It's okay baby sissy, big brother is here to protect you." The other day she was upstairs crying and he came running up the stairs shouting "Big brother is coming!"The first day I took Raelyn with me to to pick up Colt from MDO, he jumped up out of his seat and couldn't wait to start showing her off to all of his friends and teachers.

"Yes, and the Lord will deliver me from every evil attack and will bring me safely into his heavenly Kingdom. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen." 2 Timothy 4:18

What else could happen?

I have done a terrible job with my blog and with my coupons lately. When life gets busy, some things just don't make the cut. The past month has been one of the craziest of my life!

About four weeks ago, I caught a really terrible virus that made me as sick as a dog. The doctor prescribed a Z Pack for me, and as soon as the virus started to clear up, I found out that my placenta was no longer providing nutrients to Raelyn and an emergency c-section was scheduled. Meanwhile, we were right in the middle of moving out of our rental house and getting our furniture situated in the garage of the new house. I didn't even have enough time to grab a sufficient amount of clothes from the closet to get me through the next three weeks that we would be living with my parents while our new home was  being renovated.

The night before the c-section, Colton had an asthma attack so Camron had to take him to the doctor the next morning and then drive like mad to get back in time for my c-section. Apparently Colton had caught my virus. Baby Raelyn was born and whisked off to the NICU. And so began a very difficult and exhausting 10 days of constantly pumping milk and driving back and forth to the hospital every day.

Back at home...Colton, my dad, Camron, and my sister were ALL sick with the virus. And our new home was still under renovation!!! At this point my parents had pretty much taken over all of the work. My mom went and picked out our granite, appliances, light fixtures, etc. My dad oversaw everything and in the meantime they did all of our laundry and took care of Colton full time.

Once the new house was nearly done, there was a VERY thick coat of dust EVERYWHERE from where we had the hard wood floors sanded. I wasn't able to help with any of the cleaning because I was recovering from surgery, had a newborn at home, and another child with asthma...so he couldn't be anywhere near all of that dust. Camron's family and my family both pitched in and worked lots of hours getting the house ready to be occupied!

Since then we have been trying to get everything unpacked...and still have a long way to go. We have one bathroom that we haven't even touched yet. Literally, there isn't even a light in there yet! I am still trying to take care of a little preemie that needs to stay at home for the next several weeks and Cam is working lots and lots of hours!

Three nights ago the basement flooded when I tried to do a load of laundry in the new house. I thought the washer was hooked up...and it was NOT! Then that very same night, Cam woke up because he was freezing. Guess what? Our furnace had completely gone out. We spent the rest of the night trying to keep the baby warm. The next morning my dad got a crew out here to put in a new furnace...and that was a $4,000 bill. Camron and I keep asking each other: "What else could possibly happen?"

One thing I have learned from all of this is how faithful God is. He provides for all of our needs and MORE. I can't wait to see what 2012 holds for our family. We trust in HIM. 

Another thing I am super duper thankful for are all of our friends and family and how awesome they have been at helping out with Colton, bringing TONS of food, and offering to run errands for us. We have the BEST family and friends and words really can't even express how grateful we are to them.

At some point, I plan to post some "before" and "after" pictures of our house...but that may have to wait a while.  

Today is the Day!

Martina,
You are amazing! Thank you for letting us be a part of what God is doing for Raelyn.  We are honored to get to pray with you for our little sister. Clearly God has a great plan for her life…look how he is using her already!

We get to have a role in this...it is teaching us to know God better...to depend on His mercies...to trust in His Word...to draw from Him for our strength today! I believe today is the day...

I say that God is in control…that He is calling her body to grow with leaps and bounds and that she is headed for a good day today!  We are praying. We believe God!

Love you,

C

And look who got discharged today!

If this news surprises you, imagine how we felt! We never ever expected her to be discharged this early! We were shocked! I called the NICU this morning to check on her 8am feeding and when I did the nurse told me to hold on for a minute because the doctor was examining Raelyn. I could hear everything that he was saying but the only thing I clearly remember is "this baby is ready for discharge". I took off running all over the house exclaiming the news to everyone. We kept it under our hats all day because there were still a few tests that she had to pass and we wanted to be 100% sure she would be able to do that first.  Thank you all so much for your consistent prayer over the last 10 days. God heard and he answered! He is so good and faithful. Now I plan to take a blogging break and spend the next several days staring at her beautiful face!

Arms that Hold the Universe

Martina,

So, I heard this song and immediately thought of you guys and wanted to share! His goodness & His Presence is surely with your family. He is our Emmanuel, God With Us, and His love endures FOREVER! Continuing to pray for sweet Raelyn's steadfast progression and that He would give you and your family His strength, endurance & peace that transcends all understanding as you guys continue to walk this path.

Love,

Nicole

Christmas 2011

We spent Christmas morning at my parents house (that is where we are currently living while our new home is under renovation). It was fun to see Colton wake up and be so excited about Santa, but it was also a sad Christmas for me because Raelyn was not home. We definitely made the best of it though and Colton got lots of great things from Santa.

As soon as Colt woke up, he asked "Did he stop here?" We were all still in a dead sleep at 7am and Colton was the first to wake up so Camron went to get him out of bed and take him to the potty while I rushed downstairs to wake up my parents, turn on the Christmas tree lights, and put Santa's half eaten cookies back on the fireplace.

Coltons favorite gift from Santa this year was his "pirate stuff". When he opened it, he said "It's just what I always wanted!"

After we opened gifts and ate a big breakfast, Camron and I headed up to the NICU to visit Raelyn. She wasn't having a good day. She didn't want to eat and they had to tube feed her for most of the day. We went back for her 4:00 feeding as well with the same result. It was a discouraging day for me. But when we got home, we got to eat some Happy Birthday Jesus cake and once again I was cheered up by my son. I feel like he has been a bit neglected over the past week because Cam and I have been so busy going back and forth to the hospital. But I know he is in good hands with my parents. I'm so thankful that my sister was able to take the time to make this special cake for him. Hopefully we can all be together as a family soon.

Today (12-27) Raelyn had a good day. She took two bottles all by herself. She also took the majority of the rest of her bottles, but still had to be tube fed for the last little bit. We are seeing some progress. It's very SLOW, but at least it's progress. We are just so thankful that she is alive and with us. I am just now starting to realize the seriousness of her situation before her birth. We are so thankful that God was watching over her.

"Peace comes from HIS Presence, not our understanding of events." -Graham Cooke

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was sort of a blur this year because Cam and I were up at the NICU several times that day. We had to squeeze in the regular Christmas traditions wherever we could. Gigi helped Colton make cookies for Santa earlier that day since I wasn't able to do it this year. Here they are getting his plate ready before bed. Please excuse his dirty shirt and Vick's chest...he is still sick.

 Carrot for Rudolph

PapPaw had to taste test the carrot to make sure it was a good one

E-Mails

12-26-2011
Hi all. Thanks for all the encouragement over the past week. It means so much to us that we have such a wonderful support system of praying friends. Baby Raelyn is still in the NICU. Today is day #6 and we still aren't sure when she will be home.

When she was born, she was only 35 weeks developed so they are trying to get her up to the 37 week mark. At that point, we are hopeful that she will start eating on her own. The big goal for her is that she will take her milk from a bottle all by herself without the help of a feeding tube. Every once in a while she will suck down an entire bottle on her own, but for the most part she is still too weak and small to sustain herself. Please pray specifically for this. Because once she starts taking bottles consistently she should be able to come home. Everything else has evened out and she is doing well in other areas that she was struggling in a week ago.

We know that God is so good and we have given it all over to Him. I have offically decided that I am too exhausted to carry this burden any further. His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Also, please keep my family in your prayers. We are EXHUASTED! Colton is still sick. Driving back and forth to the NICU every few hours has been so draining. I am not able to drive yet so I always have to have one person who can drive me and one person who can babysit Colton at home. My family has been AMAZING. But they are just as exhausted as we are!

-Martina

12-24-11

Martina, You are an amazing woman and I am thankful God has allowed our paths to meet.

I am thrilled to hear that Raelyn is doing so much better! I felt peace in my prayers for her. I remembered how you prayed for another child and asked others to pray with you. I think about how faithful God was to give you the desire of your heart and answer our prayers. It reminded me that God is always with us and continues to walk with us in all things, even this time for you.

Praising God for His unfailing love for us. Praising God for hearing our prayers and giving us the desires of our hearts when we love and serve Him. Praising God for healing our hearts and hurts and wiping our tears when we don't understand. May the true gift of Christmas continue to dwell close to you and your wonderful family.

Much Love,
Donna

Jaundice baby in the tanning bed

This is our goal...eating from a bottle for every meal

Baby sister's crib is decorated with big brother's artwork

Raelyn Gloria Penter

On Monday, December 19th I went to the doctor for my 26 week check up. Raelyn was measuring at 35 weeks gestation and my placenta was failing. An emergency c-section was required. When Raelyn was born she was only 5 pounds and 4 ounces and considered a "late term preemie". We tried to let her transition in the well baby nursery, but she wasn't strong enough to keep her oxygen levels and body temperature up. After 24 hours they moved her to the NICU and she has been there ever since (tomorrow will be day 5). She is doing very well, but still not eating enough on her own to come home. She has to use a feeding tube for at least half of her feedings. I have been pumping milk for her every 2-3 hours and taking it to the hospital so we haven't had to supplement with any formula.

We are so ready to bring her home and the last few days have been a roller coaster ride. We go back and forth between good reports and bad reports and it definitely gets frustrating at times. It's very difficult to be separated from my baby and only able to hold her 3-4 hours per day while other people get to decide her schedule for the day.

Cam and I are EXHAUSTED!!! We hadn't finished moving out of our old house yet because we thought we still had a whole week left to finish up. Now we are temporarily living with my parents while our new house is being renovated, and Cam is spending every spare minute trying to pack up and clean our old house. We also sqeeze in visits to the NICU every 4 hours.

My family has been AWESOME. They have been keeping Colton full time for us, helping us pack and move, preparing food, driving me to the NICU when Camron can't go, and everything else in between! There is no way we could make it through this season without them.

Lamentations 3:22-24

It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

We LOVE her so much. She is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen!

Trying to regulate Raelyn's body temp and breathing...

1st time to meet baby sister

Colt was sick so he had to wear a mask

A few family and friends

Then she was off to the NICU. We have had some very discouraging days. Cam and I are both ready to bring her home.

"When a problem arises, whether personal or otherwise, I work to remain conscious of the Spirit of God upon me. If the problem gets bigger than my awareness of the Holy Spirit, I will react to the problem. Living in reaction to the devil gives him too much influence over our lives. We must live as Jesus did - doing what the Father is doing. Living in response to God is far superior than living in reaction to the devil." ~ Bill Johnson

Merry Christmas!

Class Christmas Party!

Here are the wise men bringing gifts for baby Jesus. (Colton's school is collecting gifts to help babies at Choose Life.)