Nursery Tour

Since Lee came early, we didn’t quite have his nursery done when we brought him home. We had the furniture set up and had put some things away, but it was kind of a mess and we hadn’t put any decorations up yet. Luckily, Casey stayed with us the weekend we brought Lee home and she helped us finish up his nursery! Thank you Aunt CJ! We did a little cowboy theme and we love the way it turned out. Here are some pictures.

The design above the changing table was creatively inspired by Casey Jo.

Lee’s crib – he hasn’t slept in it quite yet because he’s been sleeping in the pack and play in our room.

Some neat keepsakes for Lee. See the A&M football helmet Lee was given. Cole was very excited that Lee got this! We have to start teaching him early.

These spurs belonged to Lee Jr. (aka Duke) when he was a little boy. They were then passed to Cole and now to Baby Lee. Very special!

Lee’s little hand and foot prints. So sweet and tiny. One of the sweet nurses did these for us in the special care nursery.

The rope used here was one of Cole’s ropes from when he was little.

Our wonderful friends Reecie and Matt Crotts gave us this canvas painting. It is something I will always treasure because it was painted from a picture of Cole when he was about 2 or 3. It looks just like the picture – they did a great job!

View walking into the nursery.

Comfy rocking chair.

NICU and Special Care Nursery

Lee spent Saturday, June 25 through Tuesday, June 28 in the NICU. From there, he was moved to the Special Care Nursery where he stayed until Friday, July 1. The NICU and Special Care Nursery at Presbyterian Dallas were awesome. Lee was taken care of by wonderful doctors and nurses.

The NICU doctor, Dr. Green, and all of the nurses were wonderful! We tried to be there as much as we could, but only 4 people could be back there at a time and I had to go back to the room to rest at times. They also didn’t want Lee to be held a lot and passed around. We would usually try to be back there when he ate and we would hold him while he got fed through the feeding tube. Cole got to hold Lee for the first time on Sunday in the NICU. I know he was so anxious to hold him since he didn’t get to the day he was born. Sunday night when I was so tired and resting in the room, Cole went back to the NICU and just held Lee in the peace and quite. It had probably been two hours and I started wondering where he was. I texted him and he said he was just so happy and relaxed holding his little boy. They were finally able to have some time to bond. What a sweet moment!

We felt so lucky to be at Presby because of the Special Care Nursery. Presby is the only hospital in Dallas to have this transitional nursery to get the babies ready to go home. They still have around the clock monitoring and a nurse watching over them, but most of the babies in Special Care are working on their feeding and so they aren’t needing as much care as the babies in the NICU. The thing that Cole and I loved about Special Care is that we had our own room and I could stay there overnight with Lee. It was torturous to have to go home on Monday night without our baby once I was discharged from the hospital. I know we were so lucky that I only had to spend one night away from him whereas I know some babies born early have to spend months in the NICU. I can now understand how hard that is on the parents!

Cole and I both stayed in Special Care with Lee on Tuesday night because I was a little anxious and didn’t want to stay by myself. Cole was such a trooper and slept on this little cushion on the floor. He didn’t get much sleep and had to go to work the next day. After that, we decided it would be best for Cole to spend the night at our house instead so he could get some rest for work. So, for the next couple of days, Cole would come to the hospital and stay with us until late at night and then come back again in the morning on his way to work to say hi.

When we got to Special Care on Tuesday, Lee still had an IV and feeding tube. Since he was a little jaundice, it was very difficult to find veins and keep his IV in. They were having to change his IV every 12 hours or so. They had put it in his hands and feet. On Tuesday night, when they were having to change it again, they ended up having to put it in his head of all places. This momma was not happy about that, although the nurses reassured me that it was not anymore painful than an IV in the hand or foot. I still bawled when I saw it because it just did not look comfortable. Early Wednesday morning when I got up to do his 6am feeding, I noticed that the area around Lee’s head where the IV was had started to swell. The nurse looked at it and called her charge nurse to look at it and they said it was fine. It did not look fine to me. Luckily, the day nurse, Wendy, got there soon after and I told her to look at it. She immediately said that the IV needed to be taken out because the vein was bad. She called the doctor and told him the situation and recommended that we remove the IV. Luckily the doctor agreed and gave orders to remove it. I refer to Wendy as my angel nurse. I had prayed so hard that night that he could get the IV out. God answered my prayers and sent a wonderful nurse to take charge and do the best thing for Lee. I knew he was not comfortable because he was not eating well at all that night. As soon as the IV came out, he started eating well again and from that point we never had to use the feeding tube again. Wendy worked so hard with us that whole day on feeding and it was such a turning point.

Our feeding schedule was 12, 3, 6 and 9. The nurse would come in and do whatever they needing to at that time. They might have to take his blood pressure, take blood, weigh him etc. Then, I would take his temperature and change his diaper. The nurse would unhook him from the monitors and weigh him before she gave him to me to feed him. Then, when we were done, the nurse would weigh him again to see how much he ate. Since he was a preemie, one of the big problems is that they don’t have the stamina to eat for long. So, sometimes he might get 6 mls (which is basically nothing) and other times he might get 25 mls (still not much, but closer to an ounce at least). We would then have to give him a bottle for the rest of his required amount (this would be such a battle because he was already exhausted). He had to at least get 30 mls but his goal was 50 mls. And we couldn’t have two feedings in a row that were only 30 mls. If we didn’t reach these goals then we had to feed the rest through the feeding tube which we really didn’t want to do. They wanted to see us get through 48 hours without using the feeding tube. Oh, and I didn’t mention that after we did the bottle feeding, I then had to pump. The whole feeding process took between 1-1.5 hours. So, needless to say, I was lucky to get an hour nap in between feedings. I never knew I could be so tired, but we powered through with the goal of wanting to go home. By Friday, Lee had proven that he could eat like a champ and that he was ready to get out of there! He did so well and I was so proud of him for being able to go home so quickly.

We had to go through a whole checklist of things we had to do before we could be discharged (i.e. the carseat test where he had to sit in his carseat for 1.5 hours hooked up to a monitor to make sure he could breathe). Once we got through everything that Friday afternoon, we headed home. I have to say that our stay in the Special Care Nursery made me more confidant taking Lee home. We had a week of practice with nurses all around showing us how to take care of our little boy. Once we got home, we continued our same schedule for two weeks. Cole was a lot of help and would get up with me during the night and give Lee his bottle. We eventually got to the point where I was able to just breastfeed him and we didn’t have to go through our whole process. This definitely allowed for more sleep!

Here are some pictures from our stay in NICU and Special Care Nursery.

Family picture in the NICU

Cole and Lee in the Special Care Nursery

Me changing Lee to get ready to go home!

Family picture in the Special Care Nursery before going home.

Ready to go!

Loaded up and ready to go home.

Happy BIRTHday Lee!!

June 25, 2011 is a day that Cole and I will never forget. It is the day we welcomed our precious little boy into this world! Baby Lee wasn't due until July 30, but he decided to make an early appearance and came 5 weeks early. I was exactly 35 weeks the day Lee was born. To say the least, we were in shock that he was born so early. We were nervous hoping that he would be ok since he was not full term yet. We also still had so much to do to get ready for his arrival. But, as we have learned through many circumstances in our lives lately, God is in control, not us. If the Lord wanted Lee to be born early, we had to trust that he was in good hands and the Lord was walking with us and watching over our sweet boy. Lee's birth story is not short as I was in labor over 30 hours. I had to write it all down though so that we don't forget it, so here it is....


My whole pregnancy was so smooth. I was never sick, my blood pressure was always great, no problems on the sonogram, the doctor said everything looked wonderful and I was right on track each appointment. I always felt great being pregnant - I felt really lucky that I had such an easy pregnancy. That is why I was completely caught off guard when I started having contractions on Thursday, June 23. I was at work and started feeling some cramping. I noticed something felt different, but I kind of just brushed it off. That night, the cramping (aka contractions - who knew??) started feeling worse. By 4am I couldn't sleep and was up off and on until about 7 am. At 7am, I knew something wasn't right, so I called the doctor. The on call doctor called me back and said I needed to come in that morning. I was at the doctor's office by 8:30. Cole met me there even though I told him it was fine and not to worry about leaving work (good thing he didn't listen to me). Dr. Lombardi saw me that Friday morning. He checked me and said I was 1.5 cm dialated and 50% effaced. He then proceeded to tell us the directions to labor and delivery where I needed to go and be admitted. That was a shock for sure! He explained that what I was describing as "cramps" were probably contractions and that I needed to get hooked up to monitors to make sure. He also started explaining if we were to have the baby that day, he would most likely be fine but would probably have to stay in the NICU for a little while. He said that we were past the point where they would give the steroid shot to make sure the baby's lungs were developed. As he was talking, I think I was just looking at him with a deer in the headlights look. Again, it was a good thing Cole met me at the appointment so that someone was absorbing what was going on. Also, I would have been a basket case if I had to check myself into labor and delivery alone. The bottom line is, I have a wonderful husband! So, Cole and I got directions from the doctor on how to get to labor and delivery since our hospital tour (that was supposed to be that previous Monday)got cancelled. We got checked in and they hooked me up to all kinds of monitors and machines. Sure enough, I was having contractions...every 4-6 minutes. Now, we did make it to 2 of the 4 Lamaze classes at this point, so I did realize that these contractions were at the point where you are in labor and you are supposed to call the doctor. It all kept slowly sinking in. They gave me a shot to stop the contractions. Nothing happened. They then gave me a pill to stop the contractions. Again, nothing happened. They checked me again and I was still 1.5-2 cm dialated and now 90% effaced. At that point, they decided to put us in an actual labor and delivery room. We basically waited in that room where I continued to be observed. Through the afternoon, I still wasn't progressing any. The doctor had me get up and walk around the halls to see if that would help progress anything. That didn't work. Since I was early, they weren't going to give me any medicine to progress my labor. So, at about 5 pm, the doctor said since I still wasn't progressing, that we had two options 1) stay overnight and continue to be observed or 2) go home and come back when the pain gets worse or if my water breaks. Although it seemed crazy to go home when I was still having contractions every 3-4 minutes (it's been about 12 hours of this now), Cole and I looked at each other and said let's go home. We had been sitting in the labor and delivery room making packing lists and lists of things we needed to get done before Lee arrived. So, we headed home with my prescription for ambien (big mistake) in hopes to get a few things done and get some rest - ha! When we left, the doctor said she might see us at 2 am or my contractions might just stop. I knew deep down when we left that we would be back soon (at least sometime that weekend). There was no way that these contractions were going to just randomly stop. So, we get home and I have to say that the next few hours at our house were quite comical. They weren't comical at the time as I was in a lot of pain and couldn't really do anything. But now, looking back, it was like something you would see in a movie. Cole was running all around the house trying to pack a bag for himself, me and the baby. I was laying on the couch or on the bed in pain trying to tell him in between my contractions where everything was that he needed to pack. My contractions were lasting a minute long and were 2-3 minutes apart. I couldn't talk to him or move whenever I was having one. So, the process was taking a while. Then, Cole went to get me some food since I didn't eat all day. He then came back and put the car seat and pack n play together since we hadn't done that yet. I took a shower (another plus of going home) and then took an ambien to try to get some sleep. As I said earlier, that was a huge mistake. I will never take ambien again. Basically it helped me sleep for 30 minutes and then I was up because the pain was too much. At that point I literally stumbled across the house to go to the bathroom (we have a bathroom in our room). Not sure why I went all the way across the house. Then I came back to our room and told Cole to make the lady get out of our bed. I guess I was hallucenating or something. I thought there was a lady in our bed with a bunch of gagets to help me with my contractions. Needless to say, Cole was very confused by my comment. About an hour later I told Cole I had to call the Doctor because I couldn't sleep and the pain was getting worse. The doctor told me to go ahead and go back to the hospital at this point. It was about 1 am. So, we checked back into labor and delivery and I got hooked back up to all the machines. They checked me again and I was 3-4 cm dialated. They then confirmed we would be having our baby that day. All I could say is please give me my epidural!! Everything is such a blur to me up until I got my epidural. I was drugged up on ambien, tired and in pain. Not a good combo, but the epidural was my saving grace. After that, Cole and I were finally able to get a little rest. I continued to progress throughout the rest of the morning. We finally welcomed Lee into the world at 12:07 pm on June 25. Much to our surprise (and the doctors), Lee was 6 lbs. 9 oz. and 19 3/4 in. long! That's a big boy for being 5 weeks early. Right before he was delivered a team of 4 NICU doctors and nurses came into the delivery room. I was really worried as soon as he was delivered because he wasn't crying. He finally made some little noises which made me feel better. The NICU team took him and started working on him. He was grunting so they weren't sure if there was fluid in his lungs or if his lungs weren't developed. They let me hold him for approximately 30 seconds, enough for Cole to snap two pictures, and then they wisked him away to NICU. Cole went with him to make sure everything was ok. I then quickly realized it was just me and the doctor left in the delivery room about 5 minutes after he was born...not the way I had pictured our son's birth. But, I was thankful that the NICU team was there and able to help Lee. They finally took Cole and me up to the NICU to see him. He was all hooked up to machines and monitors so we couldn't hold him which was very hard. Here is a picture of our little guy when we first got to see him.

Lee had a C-Pap, an IV and a feeding tube and was hooked up to a lot of monitors. Luckily he was able to get the C-Pap off 12 hours after he was born.

Here are pictures of the family getting to meet Lee on his birthday

Duke and My Dad (name TBD)

G-Mom and Gramma

Uncle Rusty and Aunt Ali

Aunt CJ and G-Mom

Uncle Co-Ro and Cole

Baby Lee is so blessed because he had so many visitors in the hospital. Thank you to everyone who came to see us and support us and to those who prayed for Lee to get strong and healthy so he could get out of the hospital quickly. The prayers worked because we just had to spend a week in the hospital before he was ready to go home. More on our time in the NICU and Special Care Nursery to come.