Saturday, March 27, 2010

Lilyana is 4!!!

My oldest baby turned 4 today! Man, how time seriously does fly. You do not learn this until you are graduated from high school, are married, and have started a family of your own! I have learned this lesson all to well! Lilyana is very excited to turn four! She now gets to sleep on the top bunk and start ballet lessons! I thought this year would be a great year to start doing annual birthday surveys with my kids as I have seen some of my friends do, so here is what I have learned:

How old are you? 4!

What is your favorite color? Pink, I love pink!

Who is your best friend? Nataleigh (cousin) and my cousin Diego (Go Diego Go)

What is your favorite movie? Giselle (Enchanted)

What is your favorite thing to do inside? Play dolls.

What do you want to be when you grow up
? A Mommy and drive the yellow bus to take the kids to school.

What is your favorite food? Candy is my favorite food.

Who do you want to marry? A boy!

Who is your favorite person
? Mommy! (that's right!)

What's your favorite TV show? A princess one.

Where is your favorite place to go
? To the doctor.

What is your favorite Ice cream? Strawberry Ice cream!

When was the last time you cried? About sissy hit me.

What is your favorite toy to play with
? Princess and the Prince dolls!!!

What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my tricycle.

Who is your favorite Princess? The Princess and the Frog. . .Tiana.

What is your favorite song?
"Follow the Prophet"

What do you want to do now that you are four? Ballet! Like this (stands on tippy toes and twirls)


Happy 4th Birthday Lilyana! You are our ray of sunshine!


Thursday, March 18, 2010

Homecoming

We were so surprised on Friday the 12th to hear from Sawyer's NICU nurses that he would be coming home on Saturday! We had just been told Thursday night that it would be at least a few more days for him, so imagine our surprise when we were told we would finally get to take our little baby boy home with us a day later!
Michael and I were not prepared in the least. Because of Sawyer's itty bitty size, we were told we had to find a car seat that was no more than six inches between the lowest strap insert to the bottom where his tushy would sit. The car seat that we has just bought him did not fit, so we spent all of Friday night running from store to store to find a car seat that wold work! We seriously had the hardest time! It was ridiculous! All the car seats we found had seven inches are more between the two points! After a few hours and 3 stores, we finally found one at Target for 150.00! 150.00! And that is not even including a stroller! I couldn't believe it! SO, we bought the 150.00 car seat for our little man, as well as a play yard/bassinet for him to sleep in! Babies are NOT cheap!!! 30o.oo and some odd dollars later, we finally arrived home to get some sleep before bringing our Mister Man home on the morrow.

Here are some pictures from the BIG day:

Getting ready to take off all the monitors and get dressed to go home!
Mommy dressing Sawyer in his cute little outfit.
Daddy's Little All Star
Daddy and his boy
So excited to be taking my little man home!
Ready to go home!
Snug as a bug!
Fighting over him already!
Proud big sister!
Alex loves her new little brother!
Grandma enjoyed having her turn holding our newest addition!

WELCOME HOME SAWYER!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

My Little Monkey Man

By golly I LOVE this handsome little guy! It is amazing to me how a heart can grow and LOVE this new child just as much as you love your other children. God has truly been kind and has blessed us with our beautiful baby boy. He is getting healthier every day! He is not on IV's or bili lights or even his feeding tube anymore! His breathing episodes have gotten less too!He is feeding really well on his own and has even been nursing wonderfully! The nurses say it is only a matter of days before he can join our family at home! It is hard to believe that 2 weeks ago he had so many tubes and wires attached to him! In my completely non-biased opinion, we have the CUTEST little boy ever and I just cannot wait to have him home to hold, kiss, and squish whenever I want!

Here are a few pictures we have taken of our handsome boy over the last couple of weeks:









Sunday, March 7, 2010

The Newest Addition to the Brown Family

Sawyer Liam DeLette Brown
Born February 24, 2010 @ 10:04am
Weighing in @ 4lbs. 13oz.
and 17 1/2 inches long


It all started with me feeling really ill with fever and cold chills on Tuesday Feb. 16. Wednesday I only got worse and I just couldn't take it anymore. I felt horrible all over and I had this aching pain in the top right of my abdomen, so I called my OB and she told me to go straight to the ER. So, Michael and I went to the ER where they ran an IV and pumped me full of fluids and then sent me home. Thursday I woke up feeling absolutely awful. I already had a scheduled OB appointment that day, so I called and told them I was really sick and needed to come in earlier. They told me to come in right away, so I did. My doctor told me she thought I might have the flu and then I mentioned to her the aching in my abdomen and that concerned her, so she sent me to the hospital to get some blood work done and to get the materials to do a 24hr urine culture.
The next morning, at about 9am, my doctor called me to tell me she was worried about my test results because they were showing I had a low platelet count and high liver enzymes and there was high protein in my urine. She told me she was admitting me to the hospital and that I would be there for awhile and she was going to call them to tell them I was on my way. Can you say total PANIC attack! Not only was I worried about the baby, but I had my two girls to figure out what to do with and my daycare kid. Thankfully, my friend Bridget had already planned to pick up the girls and take them for the weekend!
So, after rushing around to take care of what we could, we went down to the hospital where I was admitted, put on this crappy drug called magnesium that made me feel like I was burning up, dehydrated, and made my eyes burn and gave me blurry vision, and confined to bed rest. Over the next three days, I was stuck with needles and made to have done and do embarrassing things. I was stressed, worried, and I missed my family terribly, but by Sunday things were looking better and I was taken off the drugs and IV's. My labs were all looking better. On Monday, my doctor came in and said she wanted to keep me at least one more day to monitor and do another blood test. I was absolutely convinced I would be going home on Tuesday. Little did I know!On Tuesday when my doctor entered my hospital room and I saw the look on her face, my heart sank. She told me that my lab results had gotten worse than before and I had what she thought was HELLP syndrome (low platelets, high liver enzymes, very very bad illness) and that she couldn't let me go home sick. She told me she was going to call Maternal Fetal Medicine and talk to them about what they should do. She told me if I didn't improve, they would have to induce labor. Again, I took another moment to completely FREAK OUT! I was only 33 weeks along and worried about having a preemie baby. Throughout this whole ordeal, Michael was completely awesome, comforting, and supporting. He put on a brave face where I couldn't and I am very thankful for that!Needless to say, my results did not improve and I was told they would be inducing Tuesday afternoon. I was put back on that horrible magnesium and back on bed rest. I suffered without sleep throughout the night where every three hours they came in to "torture" me. By Wednesday morning I was in hard labor, gave half a push and out my little man came screaming with all his might! We only got to hold him for a few minutes before he was rushed off to the NICU and put on oxygen and IV's :(. Happy and sad moment. I was completely out of it having to give birth on that magnesium. It completely relaxes your muscles and makes you feel like you have the worst flu ever! I had to stay on the stuff for another 24hrs. Wednesday and Thursday morning were pretty much a blur. My doctor came in Thursday morning to tell me that all of my blood tests were back to normal. Funny thing what giving birth can do! I was kept for another two days before I could go home. . .without my baby :( .Sawyer is still in the NICU but doing very well. He is back on bili lights because his bili reuben went back up. He is starting to nurse and he is no longer on IV's or oxygen. We are not sure when he will be able to come home, but we are counting down the days until he can be with us. Until then, we visit him every day at 5pm, which is not enough time to get all the lovin' in, but we take what we can get. We all miss him and hope that we will soon be bringing him home! Sawyer is definitely the cutest little baby ever! The nurses just swoon over him. With his beautiful white blonde hair and little dimple in his chin, he has stolen the hearts of many. We are grateful to have such wonderful nurses taking great care of our baby.
Thanks to all who have thought about, prayed for, and supported us throughout this scary ordeal! Please continue to pray for Sawyer that he will get healthy so he can come home soon!