A few more days in the NICU

Jake is not happy about his stay being extended. We will hopefully be discharged on Thursday. He is eating great and all his vitals are normal. He just needs a couple more days of antibiotics.
Marcio and I feel blessed beyond words.

My boys

Our baby has arrived!!

Our baby in 3D....

I didn't expect to see our little miracle in 3D...Katie had an ultrasound today and at the end the tech took some 3D shots. I keep looking at the photos and each time I fall more in love. We leave in less than 2 weeks, unless we get a call to come sooner.

Practice Round Done!

Yesterday I was getting stuff done around the house before leaving for work and my phone rings and its Katie. So I get all excited and answer, "Hello" no response, but I can hear some sound in the background which I think sounds like she's at the hospital..again now louder, "Hi Katie it's Beth" no response, I wait a few more seconds and try again "Katie it's Beth are you there?" No response. So I hang up and call her back a few rings and I get voicemail. So now my heart is totally racing and I'm feeling beyond excited. I wonder if I should call Marcio at work, but decide to wait a little longer. So I send Katie and Jay a text and I start to pull up flights on my phone. Jay calls me and said everything is fine, he just talked to Katie a little bit ago and she probably pocket dialed me. Yep that's what happened, she texted me that she had her phone in her shirt pocket so she boob dialed me. I told her no worries, it was a good practice round and everyone passed. We all had a good laugh.

Reflecting on 2011...

Wow as I sit here trying to recall all that happened in 2011, I find myself overcome with emotion. There were two really BIG events that will change my life and my family forever. Henry Albert Vlaming was born on July 2, 2011, 6 weeks early. When I spoke to my sister the morning of July 1st, she said she was leaking a little and was going to see Dr. Z. While she was waiting in the waiting room her water broke, so when she got in the room with Dr. Z he said "well looks like you are having your baby, probably not today, but definitely by tomorrow!" I will never forget the moment Jim called me and told me they were on their way to Good Shepherd to have the baby. I was shopping at Meijer and had a cart full of groceries that I left in the middle of the store. I couldn't get to the hospital quick enough. In between calling my Mom, Dad, Marcio and Brian & Renny, I remember just praying everything would be ok. I have never known anyone to have a preemie baby so I didn't know what to expect. I also remember texting Katie and asking her to pray for my sister and the baby and she said everything will be fine; babies do really well after spending sometime in the NICU when they are born at 36 weeks. She always knows what to say to make me feel better and at ease. It's a true gift. When I walked into the room my sister & I immediately both burst into tears. I was so scared but didn't want her to sense that I wanted to be strong for her. So I noticed she had a paper and pen in hand and was making a list of things that needed to be done. My Mom and of course Jim was there too so we all started talking about dividing and conquering the list. We were all anxious for Dr. Z to arrive to give us an update. What seemed like forever, but was realistically probably only an hour or so he finally showed up. He checked Christine and then explained that the baby was going to be fine, but would have some issues and spend sometime in the NICU. As he listed off the possible things that could go wrong, I just sat there listening and praying harder than ever that he would be ok. So several hours go by and no progress, so my Mom, Dad and I decide to go get some of the to do list items done and leave for a while. After we get back there is still no progress so we all decide to go home for the night. I made Jim promise to call me with any changes. So I went home and didn't sleep that great, every time I woke up I would check my phone and then just pray that God would watch over Christine and the baby. I would keep praying until I fell back asleep. The next morning I went back to the hospital and it wasn't until the afternoon that Henry Albert Vlaming was born. My Mom, Jim and I were all hanging out in the room and Christine was clearly uncomfortable and she asked that we all be quiet. So we were for a while and then Jim and my Mom started whispering to each other. I knew this was not good, so it didn't take long before my sister ordered everyone out of the room. So as I'm walking out, she says "oh I didn't know you were in here" I said yeah, "because I wasn't whispering." Anyway we joined my Dad in the waiting room and Christine's friend Erin came over to see her too. Erin used to be a NICU nurse, so I was trying not to ask her too many questions, but I could tell she was a bit worried too. I can't remember exactly what time it was but Jim text me that she was starting to push. So I am a total nervous wreck. The receptionist must have sensed that me and my Mom were about to jump out of our skin so she asked who we were waiting for. I gave her the room number and she gave us a big smile and thumbs up and I asked her "is everything ok? He's 6 weeks early" and she said yes and then gave me the shish sign over her mouth. Clearly she was giving us privileged information and I was so thankful she did. A little while later Jim came out to the waiting room, looking like one proud new Daddy! He showed us pictures and the baby was so adorable. They hadn't decided on his name yet, so his hospital tag read: Baby Boy Vlaming. So cute. He spent about 2 weeks in the NICU and did just wonderfully, they had one episode where he stopped breathing while he was eating, but that was all. I was so nervous when Dr. Z rattled off the list of possible issues and said he would have some hurdles they just weren't sure what they would be. Besides his one breathing incident he has been just fine. Hank is one tough little guy and oh so cute. 2011 was also incredibly exciting for me because we found out in June that our last and final transfer worked. I have previous posts that go into the details, but I could not leave it out of my top 2 highlights of 2011. It's kind of funny because I do think of myself as unique, I seem to always have things happen to me that really shouldn't, mainly like being diagnosed with RA at age 23 and cervical cancer at age 28. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard "Oh my you are so young to have RA" I'd be rich. But what I'm trying to say is that the odds were not in my favor for my eggs and embryos to be better quality than our 21 year old donor. So this is one time when I'm so happy that these odds didn't work out like they were supposed to. Our baby is going to half of me and half of Marcio. I've always loved seeing parts of my brother and sister in law in my nephew and niece and I so wanted that too. I remember Marcio telling me one time that he can't wait to see my qualities in our baby and I always remembered that and God must have known how important that was to him too. So the second half of 2011 was very special spending time with Hank and just hanging out. It was really neat for me to watch my sister as a Mom. Our whole life has really been Christine following in my footsteps so this is a little adjustment for me. I honestly have to say I feel so blessed that the tables are turned on this one. She has given me such great advice and I really value and respect the way Jim and Christine work together as a team in parenting Hank. I hope and pray Marcio and I do as good of a job. One of the things I've been a little worried about the past several months is if Jake is going to have trouble bonding with me, since my heartbeat and voice will all be new to him. But then I see the way Hank lights up when Jim walks in the room and I realize I've been worrying unnecessarily. So the year was filled with the joy of welcoming Hank and I honestly feel like the rest of the time I spent taking it one week and appointment at a time waiting to hear from Katie about Jake's progress. Just praying that everything continued to go well with our little miracle. And it has, everything has gone so well. The year was also full of our usual gardening, hanging out with friends and celebrating holidays with family. We also were fortunate enough to be able to go to the Packers Pre-Season Game with my brother, Dad and Luke. We had so much fun and agreed to make it an annual event. We missed Christine and Jim and look forward to going with them in 2012. After our 5th BFN (big fat negative) we decided to adopt a Husky dog, long story short he lasted 3 months before we had to return him to the shelter. He responded to Marcio, but felt he was dominate over me and that will not work in our home. I'm really glad we don't have a dog right now. As much as I love dogs, I don't want anything else distracting me from time with my baby. I know we will have another dog someday, but I want it to be when Jake is old enough to help with the daily duties and he can feel like it's his dog. So that won’t be for a while, which is fine with me. I look forward to 2012 with such a sense of joy and excitement. Various people keep telling me, "oh enjoy this quiet time you have now, that's all going to change soon" I respond with a smile and say "yes I know and I can't wait" Most of all I feel so thankful to Katie for helping us achieve our dream of becoming parents. She is one in a million and so is her loving and supportive fiancé Jay. 2012 is going to be an exciting year for them too; they are getting married in May!