Blessings and Protection

Hello friends and family,

Mommy and Daddy here with another update on Katherine from our perspective. It's been two weeks since she was born.

Katherine is doing SO WELL! She had her first doctor's visit today and came through with flying colors. The best news was that she's gained so much weight that she's passed her birth weight! She's now five pounds, nine ounces. The doctor said that they expect a baby to only get back to their birth weight after two weeks, so meeting that and passing it is quite an accomplishment.

All of her other stats are great. She's keeping her temperature up really well and breathing fine. Boy can she cry with the best of them! She's also moving all her limbs great, tracking slow moving objects with her eyes, hearing well, and even lifts and moves her head better than you'd expect a preemie to do. Another amazing thing she's already doing is trying to turn over when we give her a little "tummy time."

Our little girl has truly been blessed. Numerous people have said how lucky and/or blessed she is to be doing so well after being born almost six weeks early. LOTS of people comment on how big she looks for being so early. Many think she looks like a full term baby.

We attribute her blessings to prayer. We prayed for our baby every day before she was born. We believed that God would do miraculous things in her life and He did.

Where the blessings of physical health and strength ended, they picked up with her mental strength. Katherine is a fighter. She fought to come into this world (early) and then fought to get out of the hospital. You might recall that she was expected to be in the hospital two to three weeks. She left after less than 10 days. Wow.

But Katherine still needs our help. She's still fragile and we can make it easier on her for the next few months. We three (Big Brother, Mommy and Daddy) will all be getting flu shots to protect ourselves from sickness and, in turn, protect her. Giving our little girl the flu could be devastating for her. We'll also be limiting her exposure to the public for a while just to be safe.

We do ask for anyone who could possibly come in contact with Katherine this fall and winter to get a flu shot, too. That goes for family and friends alike. You may think you're healthy when you see her, but the bummer about the flu is that you're most contagious before you show any symptoms of it. Independence residents can get the shots each Wednesday from the Health Department (more info). Obviously we'll continue asking for people to wash their hands before interacting with her as well.

If we're all vigilant, our little fighter will stay healthy with God's help. If she can stay healthy then there'll be few road blocks along the way to getting bigger and stronger.

Thanks again for all the prayers, thoughts, and support that have been sent our direction in the last month or so since Mommy was first put on bed rest. It's all been such a blessing to us and has really lightened the load of the stressful times we've experienced.

Keep watching this blog for further updates...and don't forget your flu shot. ;-)

God Bless,
Michael and Glenda

Home, Sweet Home

Hello friends,

I hope you didn't think I was done with this blog now that I'm home. I just took a few days off to get settled into my new digs.

Home life is pretty cool. I still sleep a lot, but now instead of sleeping in my apartment or crib all the time in the hospital, Mommy and Daddy hold me a LOT. It's pretty awesome!

We're starting to figure out a routine around here. The stinky part about it -- literally -- is that they always change my diaper when it's time to wake up to eat. I don't like getting my diaper changed. I mean I REALLY don't like getting my diaper changed. I make that known each time by screaming and crying my head off. Mommy and Daddy do help me out by singing to me to calm me down. It helps a lot, but it's still uncomfortable and awkward.

I'm eating awesome now, too! I love eating so much that I'd do it all the time if Mommy let me. Unfortunately that's not in the cards, as they say. Of course, it also would help if I didn't fall asleep after a while. Hey, I'm a growing girl and I need my beauty rest!

I overheard Mommy and Daddy talking about taking me to the doctor today. I hope they don't poke and prod me too much. I got enough of that in the hospital.

That's all for now. Keep checking back every once and a while to see what I'm up to.

love,
Katherine Tiona

You know I'm gonna post pictures:

Here's the cart of all the stuff we built up while at the hospital!

Mommy carries me out.

Big Brother and I were so tired that we both fell asleep on Mommy the night that I came home. Mommy looks really tired too!

Sometimes I hold the binky in my mouth so it doesn't fall out.