Spa Day

 It's A GIRL 

I had to take Olivia's first naked picture! 

On the 15th Olivia got to have spa morning with two of her favorite nurses. I let them bath her and I took the pictures. It was so much fun.

 Nurse T and Nurse M putting Olivia in her bath!

 You can't have a spa day without some rejuvenating cucumbers! (Those are really stickers for her temperature probes)

 Scalp massage. Miss Princess loves getting her hair washed.

 Loving being pampered, look at that face.

 Relaxing in her warm bath and don't you worry she's getting fed at the same time.

 Full body wash to make sure she smells perfectly sweet.

 Has to get moved out of her bath to go to...

 her warm blanket!

 Nurse M and Nurse T giving her the royal treatment (also known as diaper, new probes you know the works.)

Then wrapped up, hat on and snuggle with mommy!

3 Pound Baby!

 From CPAP ickyness to HIGH FLOW goodness!

 Olivia is doing well at being a big girl and got to go to high flow on the 12th. Tayce and I came in to see her before we headed up to Provo for Baby Canyon's sealing and she was miserable. Her CPAP wouldn't stay in, her heart rate kept spiking to 200+ and I was just not super happy about the whole situation. NNP T came in and asked me what was the matter, so I explained. She asked why she wasn't on high flow and of course I said I don't know. She said I'll be right back and in 10 minutes RT G was in her room with the high flow equipment (which wasn't much compared to CPAP).

 Thank goodness this is gone, she just looks so unhappy and she always acted that way too.

HIGH FLOW BABY

 Here is our darling Olivia on high flow! And she's being a pirate, ARGGG.... :) The white thing on her mouth is a contraption to keep her feeding tubes in. For two reasons she need's this. One, she slobbers like crazy. We thought it was the CPAP because it does cause more saliva and two she thinks she doesn't need them anymore and won't keep them in. She pulled them out on Friday so many times we had to do something. She pulled them out and her feeding got all over her bed and she got all stinky!

 This picture is from Nurse M who we love so much. While Tayce and I were gone to Provo, nurse M and NNP T sent us pictures to let us know she was doing well. What great people we get to associate with.

 This one is from Nurse M also.

Here is our first real smile picture. She was just smiling up a storm and I finally caught it with my camera. She's just darling! Love her so much.
Other things that happened this week:
Echo was done on the 10th, this is looking at her heart. They decided to have a look at her heart to make sure her murmur was normal and it is. They will take another look before she goes home and she'll have to have another when she gets bigger.
Eye exam on the 12th went well. Eye Dr. R said her eyes look awesome for how early she was. Her eyes are not all the way developed, but that is expected. She will have another exam in about 3 weeks to see how things are progressing.
Over all she is doing fantastic. Dr. C asked if we were getting ready to discharge (which he was just kidding around because she is doing so well) and it really freaked me out. I want to take her home more then anything in the world, but I want her to be healthy and ready to go home. She's still a little too little to go home.
Things she's working on or getting ready for:

• Continuing to breath
• Getting ready to eat (not from a tube) (tolerating her food she's getting)
• Growing
• Pooping and peeing (without any assistance, every once in awhile she needs some help pooping)
• Keeping herself warm so she can get out of her spaceship
• Weaning down on the high flow so she can wear clothes (the above bullet is also a stipulation on clothes wearing)

Luckiest Girls In The World

If this is not the sweetest picture you've ever seen I don't know what is. 

My heart feels so full of gratitude for my many blessings. The two biggest ones are above in that darling picture (and I wouldn't be surprised if two others were in the picture with them). Having a family has been my dream since the day I knew I could have one. When I played pretend I was always a mom and my heart was thrilled when I was a mom with a desk (as a child my mothers ironing board was my desk :) Being a mom is such a blessing to me. I know I have been a mom for like 3 years now, but this time it's different. I get to worry about someone and be the one that she needs. When I walk into her room and she hears me and opens her eyes I am thrilled. When she reacts to my touch I am over joyed. When the nurses say your mommy is here and tell me that she hasn't calmed down since you got here, I actually feel needed. This little girl means more to me then I ever knew could be possible. In the middle of all the stress of getting used to not being home and waiting to know she was going to be okay I didn't feel like a mom and now 44 days later I am really starting to feel it as I look at my amazing husband hold our little girl. My heart feels over full with love and gratitude for a Heavenly Father who through all we go through, each and everyone of us, gives us what we need when we think it might never happen. He loves us enough to let us go through trials and hardships that we might become someone a little better, a little more compassionate, a little more empathetic and little more Christ like and eventually we will be able to be the persons He knows we can be. It is amazing that we live in a world that can be so bad and evil, but if you look and remember through our jaded eyes that things are still good and lovely. There is light anywhere if we look for it and recognize it, it is just waiting to be found. Words are hard to find to describe my feelings about how blessed I feel, not only for Tayce, Graydin, Alice and Olivia, but blessed to have family and friends that mean the world to me. I am blessed to be around the greatest people ever and I love them so much. This night I just feel blessed, blessed to have talked to some of the greatest friends, have sat with an amazing family, heard such wonderful news from friends, talked with my own mom and so much more. I apologize if you have read threw my babbilings and I've wasted your time, but I would have felt ungrateful if I didn't express this today. I love each one of you so much and appreciate the blessing of you in my life and  your support.

We Love Miss Olivia

 Here is our little princess on the CPAP. She does not like it at all, but it helps her breath. She is not strong enough to breath on her own yet. So she has to wear this contraption. Nurse S made it so it wasn't all around her head so her little head got a break, thank you Nurse S!

 Look at that cute bum. Christy made her the cutest diaper cover and hat, in her favorite colors. Unfortunately she is a little too chunky to wear them so we faked it and tucked it around her diaper so she could have a photo shoot. Thank you Christy for the gift, she loved them!

 Here is the hat and diaper cover. They are so cute! We love them so much!

 Look at those faces. She is so dang adorable, but she hates that CPAP. I just keep telling her every single day to keep breathing like a big girl then they will take that off your face, thus far it seems like it is working. We will just keep praying for her little lungs to continue to develop and before we know it she will be on high flow and then we will be able to see her happy face. :)

 Here is Daddy sitting by his little girl. He is so dang cute with her. He is very protective of her and I love it. He told me yesterday he would sit and watch her stats all day every day if he could, so he could make sure she was okay. How cute. I love him so much.

 Olivia has a purple binkie! She likes her binkie, but she just can't keep it in her mouth yet. It is a little big for her especially because the CPAP is in the way and she has her feeding tube and venting tube in her mouth too. But when she is really upset we can give it to her and she calms down. It is cute. I don't mind having a binkie baby, really all that she goes through she deserves a binkie at the least!

 I had some requests of a ring picture again and here it is Her hand is too big to fit in my ring anymore! And it won't fit on her foot at all, I tried to get a picture with her foot, but she got all upset so we just didn't bother with it. So here are some ring pictures.

 

Here is the first ring picture when she was only a couple weeks old. She's gotten so big!

Hope you all have a great week and know that we appreciate your love and support. Words cannot describe how blessed we feel to have so many loving family and friends. Thank you a million times over. Olivia is so very lucky to have such great friends!

POST 100!

To tell you the truth I never thought I would get to 100 posts, but here we are. :) Look at me be a blogger.

31 Weeks!

Many many pictures below!

Olivia's 1st Bath
(At 41 days old, she needed one.)

We wrapped her in a warm blanket and then put her in her little tub. At first it seemed like she didn't like it, but we figured out quickly that it was the CPAP she didn't like, her bath was good.

Nurse S held her up while I washed her little body. She was really wiggly until we got to her head and then she settled right down. She just laid her head back while I washed her hair, she loved it.

Sorry that it's not turned around, but here she is in her first bath.

Look at those cheeks! She makes the greatest faces when she has everything off. She loved when her CPAP came off in her bath and when they put it back on she threw a fit! She is getting louder, that is for sure, especially when she's not all trapped in her box (bed) she's loud.

You can see that she's a little mad, the CPAP was not being very kind to her (because she was wiggling it off).

Here we are: RT K, Nurse S and I. 

Olivia is doing well. As you could tell from her bath pictures she is still on CPAP. The NICU staff think the best thing for her is to wean her slow from the CPAP, they are doing all they can to not intubate her again. She is breathing really well and not having very many spells at all. The other day she was having some spells, but Nurse T realized that the prongs on the CPAP were leaking air, so she was having to work harder to keep her stats up. Once they changed the prongs she was perfectly fine.

This week she had a lot going on. Monday they are lowering her flow on her CPAP to 7, which means the amount of pressure she is getting. The pressure is what is a little reminder to breath. When they lower it to 5 is when they will give high flow a try. Monday she is also getting an ECHO which is a picture of her heart. Miss Olivia has a heart murmur, this is normal for babies her size, they usually grow out of it, but just to be safe they are going to take a look. Also this week she gets her first eye exam. This exam is to see if the development of her eyes are correct. She's got herself a long week, but a good one. 

MY FIRST EVERY BABY SHOWER

Brought to you by Brenda Carling
(with the help of Christie Fisher, Ashley Pollock, MaLynda Groke and Mom)

The shower was at Mama and Papa Groke's house. When you walked in these tables (above and below) were set up with all these cute things.

There was such a good turn out. I feel so very blessed to have such amazing friends. My friends mean so much to me and to have them here to celebrate Olivia was so special. They spoiled Olivia and I with such cute amazing gifts, it was way more then we needed. Thank you friends for all of your love and support I know I couldn't do it without you.

Look at all that! We are spoiled. Kayce you made it on the blog! :)

This is my good friend! She's pretty much adorable and I am sure glad she came to the shower.

Here is Mrs. Carling who is a professional party planner. If you ever need a party let me know and I'll give you her prices! :) She is amazing and I am grateful for her friendship and love. What a fun shower she planned. THANK YOU BRENDA!

Here is some of my service girls fighting over my little friend! Love this picture.

Jenni was the photographer during present opening. Thanks Jenni!

There could be two of the bestest husbands in the whole world. They are very loved and really I know a couple of ladies (me included) that couldn't live without them. We love you guys!

Funny story. Kayce has a friend named Christy Fischer and I have a friend named Christie Fisher well Kayce, Brenda and I are friends with both of the Christie(y)'s and for so long we would say my Christie or my Christy and finally after a long time they met! They both have cute babies that I love! Thank you to both of you for being so dang amazing! We love you both!

Well friends! Olivia is doing well and so are we. We are going to have a little photo shoot today with some cute clothes she got from the shower and then we will be posting them also. Thanks again to all of our family and friends. We love you so much!
HAPPY POST 100!

Queen Olivia

 "Queen Olivia"
She has moved from Princess of the unit to Queen.

It seems she might need to be the Jester of the unit, because she was being silly! This is Olivia making faces at me. I was trying to get her smiling and then I got this beauty above! I just love it, it shows some personality. She's gonna be so much fun! L-O-V-E Miss Olivia.

 BEAUTIFUL BABY OF MINE

 Olivia is doing well and she is so beautiful! She was extubated today and put back on the CPAP. We're giving it another shot and thus far she's giving it a go. She is breathing and sometimes A LOT! But, RT MJ says better a lot then none. So, we are just praying hard for her to catch on to the breathing thing. She hates things on her face, even if I just touch her face she freaks out, so all of the mask stuff on her really bothers her. RT MJ today asked how she was so smart, because once the CPAP was on she was figuring out how to get it off. She's doing better this evening, but you can tell her little body is still learning how all of this works.

Holding is such a great adventure. This afternoon I was holding her and Nurse B said I could tell everyone that she spit up on me like a big baby because her feeding spilled on my shoulder and it looked like a spit up for sure. I actually held her today just wrapped in blankets so I could see her face, I wanted to see her before they put the CPAP on, so I sat for almost 2 hours and looked at my beautiful girl. We had some conversations about breathing like a big girl, listening to her brother and sister and remembering that she wouldn't have to wear the CPAP forever. Hopefully the talk works. :)
Also she kept her body heat  up. That is one thing they watch for when they are letting her move to an open crib (so she can wear clothes) and going home is if she can keep her body heat up when she is not doing skin to skin and today she did. I actually had to take a blanket off because she was getting too warm! GO OLIVIA!

 Here is the little misses first month's calendar. This is the calendar I get to put all the things that go on each day, so we can remember. She's had a full month, we hope she has a little less going on in October.

 Our gorgeous little lady is in the middle stage in the diapers. She is wearing the preemie diapers now! The miniature diapers are too small and the preemies are too big, so she just wears the preemie ones now and it makes her look so big. And it makes her legs look short.  Not only did she go up in diaper sizes, but she also went up in binkie sizes. The mini binkie she just didn't like too much, but she loves to suck. She is always sucking on her feeding tube or tongue and even sometimes if she can find her hand she will suck on her had. So, today we went a size up in her binkie and she loved it. I will try to get a picture of her with is.

 She's become a pretty good sleeper and eater. They are starting to wean her off of continuous feeds. So before she was getting fed all day long, drip by drip. Now she is getting fed every three hours, but it takes two hours to feed her, so she only is not getting food for one hour. This will help her get ready for nursing when the time comes. And we are happy because if she doesn't eat she gets mad! That is good because we want her to be a good eater. That is one of the things that makes you stay in the NICU the longest, the eating issues. She has to be eating so much to be able to go home, when the time comes I bet I will have loads to tell you all.

Here is dedicated Daddy doing his homework! He has to work really hard to get everything done. I am so happy to be his wife. We celebrated his 26th birthday on Friday! He didn't want to do much so we didn't. It was a good day filled with lounging around, spending time with our baby, eating at a new restaurant, seeing Tiff and Seryn! and being together. We also got to spend conference weekend together, which was so nice to listen to the words of our church leaders and spend time with Olivia. There were so many talks that we loved so much. The one that made me so happy to be Tayce's wife was the one by Sister Dalton about raising girls. I was so filled with Joy that I married a man that will raise my daughters the way she said in her talk, what a luck woman I am. I am happy that I get to say I am his and he is mine, he is an amazing man and I proud of him! I love you Tay, keep up the good work.