Reflecting On My Miracle

Before I keep playing catch up with picture posts of N8, I wanted to take a few minutes to share about my miracle as today is a very special and significant day.

December 16

One year ago today we were smack dab in the middle of our IVF cycle.
One year ago today I was put under anesthesia and had 8 eggs extracted.
One year ago today our DNA was put together and created 6 amazing microscopic babies.

And now for a short rambling... I have been thinking a lot about how amazing our God is. Even when I was dealing with negative result after negative result with our IUIs and I was busy doubting, worrying and grieving I still had this immense sense of peace. I felt we needed to go through those IUIs but I had this voice telling me that we would get our baby(ies) through IVF, that I would get pregnant. This peace did not make it less terrifying for me though (how many attempts would we have to endure, what kind of loss might we be faced with? where will the money come from? what if I'm wrong and it doesn't work? etc.) but it gave me moments of calm and serenity that I desperately needed to continue taking steps forward through this process. So many Sundays tears would end up falling from my eyes while I worshiped, crying out to God and He gave me more moments of peace to help me make it through.

Thank you Lord for your peace, I am forever grateful.

It is absolutely amazing what a difference a year makes.

N8's 1st week

September 17-22, 2013

The first night home was ROUGH! N8 was soooo hungry and not satisfied with what he was getting so there was much awakeness and crying all night long. Lucky for us there was a doctor apt. the next day and we discussed some options in order to help satisfy N8's hunger. Using a syringe we are feeding him some formula while he is nursing, it has helped a ton though it is tricky and time consuming to do. The doctor wants to see him back in a few days to check on his weight and make sure he is gaining instead of losing since he dropped 10 ounces from his birth weight. Otherwise we have been adjusting to our new roles and getting to know our little guy. He is quite a content baby. N8 squeaks most often when he is hungry but once fed he goes right back to sleep. He is so snuggle-y, he will sleep on you for hours and hours if you want him too. 

Hanging with the Grandparents, Uncle Bradley, Auntie Christie and meeting Cousin Stephen

Meeting Great-Grandma McIver AKA Mair

Meeting Great-Aunt Jean

Every single time there is a diaper change we were greeted with the highest pitched screeches ever! We have been doing team diaper changes to try and speed along the process so that we minimize the amount of screeching time by N8. 

Erin was super kind to drive up to meet Nate and bring my mom with her!

Meeting Grandma Goedhart

Cyndi's mom took a week off work to come up and stay with us to spend time with her new grandbaby.

As you can see Nate had a very busy first week. :)

Going Home

36 hours after having N8 we were finally heading home. 

Someone made it very well known how much he did not enjoy being put in his car seat to go home. His entire body turned beet red. One of the nurses insisted on me taking a pacifier with us, you know just in case, since he was making such a racket. (I will have to find that photo and scan it in later)

Since he was being so noisy about the car seat I sat in back with our little guy. Once in the car he calmed down and wanted to hold hands during the entire trip. He ended up falling asleep but would not release his grip on my thumbs. 

Time to meet Gizmo. G carefully crept up to investigate and sniff the new addition. He started with the toes and worked his way up. He continued doing this for a few days anytime N8 was quietly sleeping, G had to check him out.

Hospital Stay

September 16-17th 2013

Not much sleep was had during our hospital stay (not because of the little one) as people were in and out of the room constantly checking the baby or checking me. We tried to make our stay as short as possible so I made sure to check everything off my to-do list for the nurses as quick as I could.

Getting to know our little guy. 

N8's 1st visitors

September 15-16th 2013

These wonderful people waited & waited & waited...

So that they could meet N8!

And.... we're back!

Wow! I didn't realize it has been so long since I last posted on this blog. Now that the little Hutchkin is here I will be back to posting on this blog with more regularity and only occasionally posting on my Reproductively Challenged blog.

Here is the link to the story about how our Hutchkin made HIS arrival: Labor & Delivery