June Pictures

What a month! June was quite the busy month here in the Stampf household. The month started off with me being admitted to the hospital to stay until the little one decided to arrive. It was very stressful for me and hectic for Jeff trying to keep up with everything. The hospital stay did not last as long as the dr's hoped though and Braenna Paige entered the world on June 7. Luckily for me, the delivery portion of my pregnancy was a breeze in comparison with everything else. They brought me over to Labor and Delivery around 11:00 and I was back in my room in recovery by 3:30. Pretty darn quick! I guess that's what happens when you get to 7 cm BEFORE labor technically begins!

The rest of the month is a blur. Mikaiya had a lot of fun at Aiden's big 2nd birthday party and then Riley's 3rd birthday party. She got to swim at both parties and it is her new obsession! Braenna stayed in the hospital for 14 days, so Jeff and I kept busy running back and forth up there and trying to spend as much time with her as possible without neglecting Mikaiya. Grammy (my mom) came in to help us out with Mikaiya after we found it so difficult to get to the hospital the first weekend Braenna was in. It ended up working out great because Braenna came home that weekend and it was super helpful to have an extra set of hands to give Mikaiya some extra TLC when her new sister came home. That being said, Mikaiya ADORES her baby sister. She can't get enough of her and is so excited to see her and kiss her and hold her. She is an amazing big sis already!

Well, I think that's enough of an update for the month. Here is the link to the pics. Sorry there are so many, but as you can see, it was a busy and exciting month here in Texas!

http://photos.walmart.com/share/p=896301214875363690/l=12506097/g=3342801/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Braenna Comes Home!

Braenna has finally come home! She came home after a 14 day stay in the hospital on June 21. She is doing well and the whole family is glad to have her here. Big sister Mikaiya has adjusted very well, just like we expected her to! She LOVES her baby sister! Here's some pics of Braenna's homecoming:

Sisters...

Braenna was so cute and passed out today at the hospital, so I took some pics of her. When I looked closer, her pose reminded me of one of Mikaiy's pics from when she was about 1 month old. So I put them side by side...it's pretty obvious that these girls are sisters! Braenna looks just like Mikaiya did as a baby, except she has dark hair. Check out the comparison!

One Week Old

Braenna at 1 week old

It's hard to believe it's been a whole week already! Braenna is slowly making progress, but is still not home with us. This has been very difficult and I definitely feel like I am missing out on my newborns first days. Braenna had a great day today though as far as drinking out of her bottles. She had two today so far and drank 30 cc and 40 cc. A full bottle has now gone up to 50 cc. This is still progress though since she took both bottles without too much trouble. We both think she is full after she has that much. She is still awake and alert when she's done, she just does not want anymore.

Braenna Update June 12

It's hard to believe that our new little one is a whole 5 days old already! She has made some improvement, but is still not ready to come home with us. She has been off of all of the breathing assistance since Sunday evening, which is very good. She is now breathing perfectly on her own and maintaining her body temperature well. She is still not really into eating on her own though. They started out giving her just fluids through her IV. Monday we began incorporating bottle feedings at 4 per day and then giving her the other 4 feedings through her feeding tube. As of Wednesday, they moved her down to 2 bottles per day and 6 feedings through her feeding tube. She still just does not understand that the bottle is food and exactly how to get the food out of there. She is currently eating a lot for a newborn, but the dr's tell us that preemie's need extra calories, especially when they are stressed like she is. I have been supplying as much breast milk as I can, but it's not even close to what they give her in a day, so she is currently receiving a lot of formula as well. Hopefully soon she will drink her 2 full bottles per day so that she can move up to 4 and make it up to 8. Unfortunately, as of now, the end is not really in site for her hospital stay. We've seen little to no improvement in her desire to eat over the last few days. The dr's say she is right at the age where she should be able to get it very soon...some babies do, some babies don't. We are very hopeful that her time is coming soon because we really want to bring her home. Here are a couple of pics from the last few days:

Her first onesie:

Sucking her thumb:

Wide awake...for once!:

5 days old today:

At the Hospital...

Ah, the joys of this pregnancy continue. I noticed over the weekend that baby had been pretty quiet, so I called in on Monday and they had me come in just to check her out. Turns out she is perfectly fine, but I was up to 5-6 cm. They sent me to the hospital where I had lots and lots of contractions all day Monday. They got to about 2.5 minutes apart, and then just slowed down and stopped. They put me back on the anti-contraction meds on Tuesday, and informed me that I am now here for the long haul. It has all been very stressful and disappointing for me. Here I thought baby was on her way, and now she's not here yet and I am stuck in the hospital until she makes her grand entrance. This has been one trying experience all the way through. I really have had it with the bed rest. As a person who doesn't sit still for 5 minutes normally, going on 6 weeks now is about as torurous as it gets. The good thing is they took me off the anti-contraction meds tonight. The bad thing is that I am not convinced I will ever have strong enough contractions on my own for this labor to proceed. The dr's will not help things along prior to 38 weeks, and even then, it's a maybe. So, depending on what this little one decides to do, this could be yet another LONG HAUL for all of us. I hate being stuck here and leaving Jeff with all of the responsibility of Mikaiya and really feel like I have abondoned my family. Hopefully this whole ordeal will be over soon and we can actually enjoy the presence of our new little girl and be back to a normal family all living under one roof!

May Pics

What a month! It's been busy for some and boring for others! I've been on bedrest all month, so I apologize that there are not that many pics. Jeff has been running around like crazy working full time and playing Mr Mom to Mikaiya (and me!). I am finally somewhat released from bed rest, but still not supposed to do too much. Now that I'm moving around again, I am sore and exhausted from spending a month laying around.

We've also been getting our new patio and patio cover built this week. The patio is about done and the cover should be finished in a couple of days. It will be nice to have some outdoor space we can enjoy!

Here are the pics from this month:

http://photos.walmart.com/share/p=8211212341862364/l=12396777/g=3342801/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB