Weekend Warrior

Well, Lily has made it through the weekend and is doing fabulous. We have been so blessed by all the help from our family to make it through these first few days. Grandma Dranselka and Grandma Patty have constantly been over here, literally from the moment that we got home from the hospital. It has been such a huge blessing to have them over here. Neither Katy nor I have been very good in the past about accepting help from others (we like to give it), but this has been a time when we have not been afraid to say yes when asked for help. Our house has never been so clean, laundry has never been done so regularly, and things have never been taken care of so well than when we've had them over these past few days. We've also been extremely blessed by our small group from church who have been mobilized to bring food over to us. We had G & Nancy Williams bring us over empanadas on Friday, Todd & Candes Shewmaker bringing us spaghetti on Saturday, and Jeff & Lindsay Farley bringing over some creamy chicken casserole. It is so reassuring to know that we are not going through this alone and know we have so many family & friends nearby, just asking to be helped.

Both Friday & Saturday night, Lily had some fussy times in the middle of the night. Dad and Mom switched off taking care of her during her awake time from 11 pm Friday night through 3:30 am Saturday morning. Grandma Dranselka was over bright & early on Saturday to give Dad & Mom a chance to nap. We had our first middle of the night unfortunate incident as Katy had fallen asleep around 2 am on Saturday morning with a bag of ice on her chest; she woke up around 3 in a pool of wet water as the bag had opened and fallen all over her and the bed. Our bedroom is normally a bit warm, but going to that extreme to cool off was not necessary. So, we had to take care of the wet sheets, move the cradle to the guest room, and try to make the best of that situation, even though it was the middle of the night. Lily woke up again around 2:30 am on Sunday morning and got to spend an hour with Dad before falling asleep again.

One thing that Katy and I have both learned is to make the most of our available time to get some sleep. Before Lily came around, if I was a bit tired, there would be no way that I would lay down if I had to get back up in half an hour. This morning, when Lily fell asleep around 3:30, even though the next feeding was at 4:00 am, I took advantage of that 30 minute block and got some sleep. You take it when you get it. We let Katy sleep through the next feeding and used some pumped milk to get Lily happy, and Mom actually got to sleep for like 4 consecutive hours (wow, a week ago, we would not have been bragging about 4 straight hours of sleep; I guess our whole world has truly changed). Mom woke up around 9:30 am and let Dad sleep until noon.

We had a major victory (and defeat) today. It was a victory because we had been praying for Lily to have a dirty diaper and she finally came through around 5:30 pm. Lily had a good day of dirty diapers on her first day and then a couple on Wednesday. But, then nothing dirty on Thurday, Friday, or Saturday. We were obviously a bit concerned because the baby books give you dirty diapers thresholds to look for to make sure they are growing and getting the food they need. The lactation people at the hospital gave us some tips on how to "help" the situation along and that did no good. Sunday morning, we got a hold of Dr. Rodriguez who was not too concerned. But, all of that concern was for naught as Lily came through in quite a big way. We smelled something (but Lily has been letting out some gas over the past few days, but just with nothing to show for it), and then when we went to check the diaper, Katy and I let out a joyous wail of celebration when we some something inside the diaper. It taught us that maybe we shouldn't have been so anxious about wanting to see a dirty diaper. I guess from this point on, we are going to be a whole lot more diappointed, rather than happy, when we see a dirty diaper. But, our little girl is showing us that she is feeding well and having something to show for it, so we are happy.

We've had some more visitors by. Mike & Heather Gaven came by on Saturday night. Buck's aunt, Shanna Yates, came by. Both of them were quite excited to see Lily dressed up in Aggies attire. When Todd came over with the food, his son Tucker was with him because "he wanted to see the chicken in the front yard" (meaning the stork yard decoration that Grandma Patty had rented for us. On Sunday, Heidi from next door came over, Lindsay & Jeff brought food, Joy McQueen, and Robi White were all over. It has been real nice to see everyone and everyone has been so gracious and patient to space the visits out and be mindful of our needs as well. But, we are incredibly blessed that everyone has been so excited to see our little princess.

The other big event was the first bath at home. Mom & Dad were a little nervous trying to make sure we did everything right, and Lily seemed to be as unhappy at bath with us as she was at bath in the hospital. Lily did really good during the bath (until it was time for washing the hair). I didn't realize exactly how light her hair was until we started scrubbing it. I have felt pretty comfortable holding Lily and not thinking that I would drop her, but when she was kinda wet and a bit slippery, I was a little nervous. But, I think her being home now for 4 nights and getting a bath and getting a nice & dirty diaper, I think we can all agree that the little one is doing quite well.