3 weeks!!

Hello Everyone!!

Little miss Evelyn is three weeks old today! Wow! What a whirlwind so far! She is doing really well besides the reflux that she came down with recently. We had such a tough time with Logan having reflux, we really hoped it wouldn't rear its ugly head with Evelyn, but alas, it has. She is up most of the night eating, then grunting and grimacing in pain. She is on medication for it, so hopefully that helps, otherwise we might have to switch it. She was 5 lbs 7.5 oz at the doctor on Friday, so she is gaining weight like a champ!

Logan is taking to her really well too. Much better than I thought he would. Obviously things will change when daddy goes back to work, but he really is a pretty helpful guy with her. He likes to watch her get her diaper changed, and ask her what's wrong when she's crying. Very cute!

Sean and I are doing pretty well too. I am recovering pretty well from my c-section, although I do still feel quite lethargic most of the time, probably a mix between the surgery and not getting much sleep. I need to start going on more walks to get some energy but sometimes it's just so much easier to stay cooped up in the house with the baby.

Lastly, I took Evelyn over to my neighbor's house on Friday to get a photo shoot done. She is a really talented photographer and all around sweet person! All of you facebooker's have probably seen this pic, but I just LOVE it! As most of you know, her middle name (Louise) is named after my Grandma Louise. Grandma loved peacock feathers, and when my neighbor had the peacock feather headband for Evelyn I about died. The picture is just so lovely and a nice tribute to her. I have yet to see the rest of the pics, but I'm super excited to!!!!! Signing off to feed the little one. Hugs to you all.

<3 Katie

I'm finally home!!!

Hello,

Well I am sure all you FB'er's already know, but our little missy finally came home today. 13 days later and the hospital called unexpectedly and told us we could pick her up in the afternoon. I think both of us were excited and hesitant at the same time. Are we ready to bring a baby that is only 5lbs 1oz home? Well, whether we are ready or not, she's here to stay. Logan has been pretty ecstatic about having a little sister here since he got over the initial "whoa" look. He's enjoyed going over to Evelyn's pack-n-play to show her all his toys, and watch momma change her diapers and has since started drinking milk again after seeing Evelyn drink her whole bottle.
We will see how tonight goes. It will take some getting used to a little baby on a 3 hour feeding schedule to get used to again, but we have been able to slowly adjust already.... haha.
Anyway, here are some pics....


(Am I even big enough for this thing?)



(the guy smiling in the pic doesnt even have a clue)



(I think I can get used to this)



(I can already tell this kid is gonna be fun!!!)

Evelyn is 1 week today... YAY

Good evening everyone,

Welcome back!!! Evelyn turned one week today and is doing well. She is still in the NICU and we don't have a timeline when she will come home yet, but we are happy to say she is out of her isolet[??]. As of this morning she has been doing a great job regulating her own temperature. She is still 4lbs 13oz and that seems to be the major reason now she is still in NICU. She needs to show the Dr's that she is able to eat enough on her own before they will remover her feeding tube. So far, she has only eaten all of her food just a couple times.
Overall we are really happy with the current pregression and as much as we cant wait to bring her home with us we do want to make sure her health is at the forefront. After all she is only 36 weeks old today.
Katie spent the first night in the "parents room" at the hospital but has since moved back home since we live so close. It opens the room for parents that arent as fortunate as us and live 15 minutes away or have babies that are sicker than Evelyn.
Logan is doing well too. We are working on trying to get him back on somewhat of a normal schedule again. He is as happy as a two year old could be and looks forward to another day with dada home from work.
Here are a few more recent pics. We didnt get one of Evelyn in her isolet, but it is in some of the previous posts.

Evelyn Louise Kirsch

As promised here are some more pics....

welcoming our newest edition, baby Kirsch

Hello everyone,

Well I am sure many of you, if not all, have heard the news that our newest member has arrived into the family. She is much earlier than we expected, but she knows " when its baby's time, it's baby time." We are more than happy to welcome her, too.
We still haven't found her perfect name yet, but have narrowed down the list to two, so standby for her name very soon.
What we can say about her, is that she is a very precious, beautiful little girl with blond hair like her mom. She was born 5lbs 4 oz at 11:09am Jan 8th. She was born via C-section because she was transverse. (I'll let Katie talk more about the procedure or the early stages) To say the least it was unexpected and sudden news for the 3 of us.

At first she didn't have to go into the NICU because she met the weight criteria of 5lbs or more, but has since been admitted into the NICU. Initially her respiratory rate was in the 90's which is high but not too abnormal for the first 4 hours as she was 5 weeks early and only 5+lbs. Having been born via C-section, she didn't get the chance of going through the normal birth canal which allows all or most of the fluid in her lungs to be pushed out. So, she retained some of the fluid hence the higher respiratory rate as she expels the fluid. She has also recently had a hard time regulating her temperature so they have moved her into the incubator to assist keeping her warm. They found that she would spend so much energy trying to stay warm that she didn't have anymore to eat so would then become hypoglycemic and lethargic. She has already lost 5% of her birth weight; the normal is 6% so she will have to catch up a bit, but has taken to a bottle of formula pretty well until Katie's breast milk arrives.

Katie's mom made it out here from Minnesota and has since been an enormous relief for all of us. We obviously can't thank her enough, and my sister Heidi for helping us get her tickets out here.

Logan has been handling it well so far too. He has yet to see her as he isn't allowed in the NICU, but Amy Jo hart helped us watch him all day on the 8th so he still got to have fun at the park and play in the abnormally warm 70 degree California winter.

Even though "she" is in the NICU, Katie has still been able to go see her and feed her. At first Katie was confined to her bed post-surgery, but after a few hours of momma being away from her little cub she had had enough and put her foot down. Since then she has got to hold and feed her every 3 hours. Katie has developed a sudden pain in the same side of her chest that her pneumo was on so they are looking into that but hopefully its just post surgery symptoms or dehydration.... More to follow on that.

Ok, well here is a much awaited picture or two of our newest baby Kirsch!!!!




Sean