2/21/2011 76 Days Old
On the 76th day in the life of the most beautiful girl in the history of the world the morning began peacefully. Today was presidents day and I did not have to work. Thank you John Adams. I think we should thank him more. Everybody remembers George, and Abe, sometimes Thomas, but never John.
The day at home today was great. We stayed in bed and passed Maya back and forth all morning. She had a good night last night. She woke up hungry at 4:45 but there was no painful crying and writhing, just normal baby stuff. A great night turned into a great day. This afternoon Grandma Kathy came by. She had presidents day off as well. Soon after Grandma got here Maya woke up. She woke up and opened her eyes wide. We got to see her beautiful baby blues all afternoon. Maya and grandma read a book. Maya intently watched the animals on the page. Grandma swears she recognized the puppies. She stayed awake through dinner time. It was the longest I have ever seen her awake.
Grandma left early tonight, and we sat down to dinner just the three of us. It felt great. It was like we were just a normal family. No special needs, no worrying about life and death. Just a new family and diner and TV.
2/22/2011 77 Days Old
On the 77th day in the life of the most beautiful girl in the history of the world the morning began peacefully. She stayed asleep through her 5:30 feeding before I headed off to work. While I was out today Maya had a visit from Michelle. She got to have a little Maya time and help Erin for a bit. Maya was very chatty today and exploring a lot with her eyes. This afternoon Maya’s nurse came by to look at Maya. We have spent the last two weeks thinking that Maya was in congestive heart failure. When Janet listened to her lungs to day she could not hear a crackle. Her chest congestion must have been caused by her vaccinations and not her heart. These last two days have been fantastic. Maya has been awake and active for large periods of time throughout the last two days. We are so happy that our beautiful little girl is doing better. Getting to see her blue eyes searching around the room and learning more about her world is so special to us. Today the worst thing that we had to deal with was a diaper assassination. It was a bath worthy event. Lost in the crossfire were a onesie and an outfit. We will try to revive them with some oxyclean. 
2/23/2011 78 Days Old
On the 78th day in the life of the most beautiful girl in the history of the world the morning began peacefully. Maya stayed asleep as I fed her and got ready for work. When I left her oxygen level was at 100% and she was sleeping soundly. While I was at work Grandma Patti came by to see Maya. She still insists on calling her a little princess much to the disapointment of dad. I tell her to call her a little CEO, or pulitzer prize winner, Maybe even world famous artist, but she still calls her princess. Grandparents, They never listen.
This evening Grandma Kathy came by to see Maya. She held her while we ate dinner. Now KC and David are over to watch our cats play them dirty huskers. Maya is cuddled up on KC’s lap, taking a little after diner siesta. She has been awake a lot of the day today again. She is doing so well. We are so impressed with her strength. Today she laughed at a diaper when it tried to contain her. No diaper can match the diaper assassin. We ought to buy stock in oxyclean.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (0)2/24/2011 79 Days Old
On the 79th day in the life of the most beautiful girl in the history of the world the morning began peacefully. Maya and Erin stayed asleep until 11:00. I had a half day of work today so I was home by 12:30. When i got home Erin was holding Maya in bed. Maya had a heart problem this morning. Her alarm sounded at 11:00, her heart rate was too low. She is normally at about 160 beats per minute when she is awake. The alarm sounds at 75 beats per minute. Her heart rate stayed low for a few minutes before it gradually increased to normal. This happened three times today. We thought it might have been a faulty reading from the monitor, but I don’t think that is the case. She isn’t irritable or upset when this happens. She is a little lethargic, but that is it. In fact if she was not hooked up to her monitor we would probably never know that it had happened. We don’t know what any of that means, or wether to worry about it or not, but we are concerned. She seems to be doing fine now.
This afternoon our social worker from carousel came by. It is always good to talk to her. We met for about an hour and talked about every thing that is going on, with us and with Maya. After she left we sat on the couch and relaxed.
Tonight was just the three of us again. Erin cooked dinner while I played guitar for Maya. We ate dinner together and then watched us some Abed. Maya is a big fan. We just put Maya into a sleep sack and are trying to convince her that sleep is the cool thing to do.
2/25/2011 80 Days Old
On the 80th day in the life of the most beautiful girl in the history of the world the morning began peacefully. Me and Maya were able to sleep in till 10:30 this morning. She had a good night. This afternoon Petra from Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep came by to do another photo shoot for Maya. Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep is a charity that arranges for photographers to take pictures of high risk newborns and still births at the hospital. We haven’t seen Petra since the day Maya was born. She was there to take pictures of Maya while she was in the NICU and after we brought Maya back to our room.
It was good to share our miracle baby with some one who does so much work for so many families like ours. I think it brought a little sunshine into Petra’s day, and that made us happy. Maya is just to special to keep to ourselves. She needs to touch the lives of as many people as possible in her short time with us. She doesn’t get to see much happy in what she does with NILMDTS but this was a happy moment. A couple of the images below are ones from today’s shoot.
Maya received some mail today from a friend of Erin’s. It was from Texas and contained a beautiful letter to Maya and a gorgeous necklace. Maya has touched so many lives, it amazes us how far her reach really is.
This evening Sam and Gayle came over to eat with us and watch a movie. More of our life like before Maya, but better. Both of them have held Maya tonight.
2/26/2011 81 Days Old
The images below are from Petra, a photographer with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. It is an volunteer organization that provides photography sessions for high risk infants and stillborns. They provide such an amazing service to families like ours to have incredible images of one of the greatest days of our lives.
2/27/2011 82 Days Old
On the 82nd day in the life of the most beautiful girl in the history of the world the morning began peacefully. We slept in this morning. I would like to say that we woke up to a beautiful sunshiney day, but reality would dictate other wise. It was ugly outside. We had fog so thick the sunshine could not make it through. All the better for sleeping in I guess.
When we finally did get out of bed we changed Maya into a a hoodie sweat suit. It even has pockets on the tummy. She looks so cute. Not that she needs any accessories to do so, but the hoodie sure doesn’t hurt. This morning was relaxing. I can’t even remember any thing that we did. We just sat around looking at Maya.
This afternoon Grandpa Bob and Grandma Chris came by to see Maya. They both got to hold her and didn’t even fall asleep a little bit. In the evening Susan brought by dinner. Originally Bob and Chris had planned on eating at home, but they were coerced into staying for diner by the aroma eminating from our oven. Susan made the most amazing meal we have had in a long time. Bob and Chris were glad that they had stayed, and my normal thought of how are we going to eat this much food was not an issue. Well done Susan.
This evening we held Maya and caught up on some TV watching. The fog of the morning has turned into thunderstorms tonight. Which I am sure will mix with the several inches of snow still on the ground to lead to flooding tomorrow. Oh well, at least we are cozy and warm, cooped up with the most beautiful girl in the history of the world.
Grandpa called this one Maya being G
2/28/2011 83 Days Old.
On the 83rd day in the life of the most beautiful girl in the history of the world the morning began peacefully. JJ had to go to work this morning, so Maya and I slept in a bit. JJ woke me up before he left because Maya was fussy. I think it was because she didn’t want him to go to work, and she wanted him to play hookie at home with us. She didn’t fuss for too long though.
Grandma Patti came over this morning to help me with Maya. She held her while I got some laundry done and made chili for dinner. It was not a super exciting day, but to us that is ok. After JJ got home David and Grandpa Greg came by to eat dinner with us. David stayed to watch the basketball game. Maya thinks David gets a little excited and is sometimes too critical of her cats. She thinks it is funny he gets so worked up over the refs.
A little explanation of picture below… JJ got me this ring for Christmas. It is a custom ring from a jeweler on Etsy. It is my take on a mothers ring. The large blue stone is Maya’s birthstone, and the small white stone is for JJ and I ( we both have April birthdays). The third ring is just a little bit to make it pretty. It is a stacking ring set that I plan to add to later. I love it, one of my favorite gifts from my husband.
