Category: Jena

Baby Update

.Reading time 3 minutes.

I had to share an update tonight, I just got some pictures from the mall. To you people who can take pictures of your children with your own camera, and have results that look more like a child and less like an alien, be very happy.  I’m trying to weigh how much I care about this.  Enough to go buy a big girl camera? As I see it, with my little point and shoot, there is no pressure for stellar pictures. If I buy a dslr  then suddenly I have to worry about aperture, exposure, ISO numbers, depth of field and whatnot. I’m not sure that I have the wherewithal to attack that monster right now.  However; I am sick of taking tons (literally tons!) of pictures and being disappointed at the alien-ish qualities of my children.

Onward and upward…Jena is doing…good.  She is finally eating like a champ.  I never realized the stress of trying to get a child to gain weight until now.  She keeps me busy, because she is not seeing one doctor but three different doctors. (Family Doc, Feed Specialist, and the NICU miracle Doctor)
We brought her home from the hospital at five weeks, when she was barely 8 lb.

I got to experience the newborn stage for what seems like quite a while.  She (in my opinion) was still like a new born when she came home.  Her feeding issues resolved themselves, there is nothing “wrong” per say with her palate, it turns out she needed more time to develop those special sucking muscles.

I think she may be one of those children that needs more time to accomplish all those milestones, but she’ll get there at her own pace.  She hovered in “my tiny head is much too heavy for my neck so I will let it dangle” status for a long time, but finally has graduated to “bobble-head” status.

She has always been a cuddle bug, but now she is thrilling us with her smiles and giggles.  Did I mention she is precious?  She is.   This child has wiggled her way into my heart, and I love loving on her.  I was worried before she was born that she wouldn’t feel like she is mine.  My worries are put to rest, when I look at her in the morning, I see my girl.  I see someone who brings out the softness in so many different people.

She is a sweetheart. And we love her so much.

Sitting and Watching Bubbles Rise

.Reading time 6 minutes.

That is what my days look like folks. I do a lot of bubble watching.
Yesterday, Jena turned seven weeks old.  We have been home from the hospital for two weeks now.  Try as I might to get to the computer and an update punched out, it simply has not happened.

My brain feels a little fizzy, and my reasoning skills have vanished.  When people ask me questions about Jena, I find myself saying things that I think are true, but upon further reflection, they are false.  At church I was asked when my mother left for Ohio, and I supplied a totally fictitious date. (Innocently though)

Every I think of what I need to do, and then I mentally cross out about half the list and focus on one or two things.  Must fold laundry.  Must wipe up spill on carpet.  If I get those two things done, along with the care and feeding of the “youngsters” I call it a good day. (Why don’t we say youngsters anymore? It has such a cool 40’s ring to it)

And its ok.  Life is truly good, and I am loving these days that I sit and hold my baby guilt-free.

So when Jena was discharged from the hospital, the doctor did something she only did once before, she released Jena with her NG tube.  We had a couple of whirlwind days at the hospital when they decided that it would be  safe to send her home this way, and that I was competent enough to re-stuff the tube down her nose in the event that she pulled it out.

I passed the test, and its good I had to learn because it turns out the Jena pulled it out every other day.  I now have had lots of practice threading it into her nose and down to her belly with her screaming and gagging the whole time.  Its about as fun as it sounds.

And now I think we are nearing the end of her use of it. The last two days she has finished all her feeds from her bottle.  I hold the bottle and will the bubbles to rise.  They used to float lazily to the surface, or or two at a time, until a whole hour had passed and it turns out she had only eaten about one ounce.  Now, seven weeks stronger, the bubbles rise, too many to count, all at one time. Success!

One last thing that I have been thinking about so much lately.  How is it, that we have been so surrounded by such supportive people?  The phrase “It takes a Village” has a new and significant meaning this year.  Adoption from beginning to end is reliant on so many different people, it truly took a village to bring our little girl home.

PEOPLE have blessed us so much!  Friends who brought burritos to the hospital, and just hung out with us.  Friends who delivered Books and Hershey kisses (My love language…books and chocolate for sure)   The neighbor who has helped me most days by doing laundry and washing my dishes.  Family who did a bang-up job on my yard.  I came home from the hospital one day and found everything (Yes EVERYTHING) weeded and pressure washed.  My mom and sister who stopped, dropped and rolled to my rescue when Jena was born.  Care packages in the mail. Friends who take my kids for the day. A long-distance friend who prayed with me on the phone.  The nun who visited the NICU every other day and prayed for Jena.  Church ladies dropping off casseroles, and all manner for cookies and bars that are keeping us all chubby. Nieces who bring their homework and chill with my kids in the evening.  The special nurse who would read to Jena during the night, when I was asleep forty minutes away.

I feel like a got a tiny glimpse of the body of Christ. So many people who did lots of little things, that put together, made a huge difference.

So I don’t have lots of rapturous words, and wonderful stories that will make everyone weep.  My brain is too foggy and sleep deprived for that.
What I do have is a heart that is overwhelmed with His goodness, because that is what I have seen, cloaked in the actions of his people.

My next post (next week? next month?) is going to be me answering frequently asked questions.   So if you have a question about our adoption, about withdrawal, or maybe my favorite breakfast cereal, feel free to ask away in the comments.  There are alot of questions that people ask, and they usually hover around the same themes.  So I will answer them. No question too stupid or too nosy. And if it is too nosy..well I will be sure to make you feel like an inferior human specie.