Love at first sight

On Friday June 6th, 2014 our prayers were answered with a beautiful healthy baby girl named Caroline. Everything with the surgery went calmly and smoothly and the instincts on how to care for a newborn kicked right back in. Evan was so great the entire hospital stay and cuddled with Caroline so much that I was starting to feel like I was missing out on all the newborn cuddles.

It was so amazing to see Liam later in the day meet his baby sister. He was so excited to see her (until we gave him his 'big brother' present from Caroline), then he could have cared less about the new baby and just wanted to play with his new giant sticker book. Turns out that Liam and Staley brought a present for Caroline as well. Thanks to Aunt Ellen who thought of the idea of buying one of those books that will record your voice reading out loud when you turn the pages. Liam and Staley (with the help of Aunt Ellen) took turns "reading" to Caroline. As any new hormonal mother of six hours when I heard their little voices "reading" I was an emotional wreck. 

It is a beautiful time for our family right now. We made it home Monday morning and I have been feeling pretty good considering I just had surgery 4 days ago. Caroline's favorite thing to do is sleep. We have to force her to wake up to nurse and even after she's awake we are fighting to keep her awake so she can get some milk in that tummy. She must be getting some nourishment because Saturday night when they weighed her she had dropped from 7 lbs 12 oz (at birth) to 7 lbs 4 oz. Sunday night she had already gained back an ounce to the pediatricians amazement. 

We do have one concern regarding Caroline's health. During the pediatrician's assessment at birth she felt that while examining her hips they easily slipped out of socket or dislocated. We are to see an orthopedic surgeon in a couple of weeks to determine how severe this is and also what treatment will be necessary. The pediatrician has reassured us that it is not a major problem and that she may have to wear a harness for as long as necessary to fix the dislocation. The issue is supposedly very easy to fix when they find it at birth and she most likely will only need this harness for one to two months. Caroline does not appear to be in any pain and can move and kick her legs like any other newborn infant. We are praying that God will heal her and guide us to the right doctors so she will not have any long term issues.

Besides that Caroline is one healthy ray of sunshine and we feel so blessed that we get to be her parents (and big brother).