Grandymom Whipple came all the way from Utah to help me heal and get back to normal when Dave has to go back to Iraq. She's not only a pro at raising kids after having 8 of her own, she's also a pro grandmother with more than 20 grandbabies!
Megan, Paul, and baby Zoey stopped in and brought beautiful happy flowers in a vase with a purple ribbon and all. So thoughtful! Thanks!
Grandpa Clay sees baby Victoria with socks on her hands to help keep her sharp nails from scratching her face.
Grandma Clay came to visit lots too.
Grandymom helps Victoria nap while chatting with Grandpa Whipple in Utah. We finally got to have her in the room with us after 3 days of trucking back and forth to the NICU. they were worried about her lungs and any meconium that she might have from the birth. But, thankfully, the tests just showed some extra fluid and trauma to the lungs that, after a few days of an IV and time in an incubator, dramatically improved. She'd lost some weight but was still in normal range so they released her from the NICU just in time for 1 full day in our room before being sent home from the hospital.
The happy (though visibly sleep-deprived and exhausted!) parents. Dave was absolutely INCREDIBLE in making this whole motherhood thing easier on me. He held my hand the whole time and came and cuddled in the hospital bed whenever we got a chance to sleep. It's almost been a mini-vacation in the hospital after spending more than 7 months apart. I can't express how much I missed being next to him and how wonderful it's been to have my kind and loving husband back at my side (if only temporarily). I know it's been a rough experience for him, too, and he's going to need his own recovery after his long return air flights to Iraq. We are SO blessed that the timing worked out to have him here for Victoria's birth. She will only be 5 days old when he boards the plane back to Baghdad, but we will all be happy and grateful daddy was part of this life-changing experience.
Baby's first stuffed toy--a smiley snowman from Grandma Kathy. It's as big as she is! A perfect memento of our sweet winter baby.
Our sweet baby girl asleep on my legs. And check out that head full of DARK, STRAIGHT hair! Dave promises she's the right one--that he actually saw her come out of me in the operating room--but I don't know where she would have gotten that dark hair from! :) J/K. Her daddy had dark hair when he was a baby but we hope it will lighten and she'll look like her mommy and daddy soon. She's amazingly expressive with her little hands. They are ALWAYS up at her face just like they were in her sonogram pictures. I have to fight her hands away in order to try and feed her and she's already opening them up and wiggling her individual fingers around. She likes to make circles with her wrists like she's stirring a pot. It's really cute.
We'd just had her first photo shoot with the in-hospital company that comes around to take pics in your room that they put online.
Hanging out on our last day in the hospital as we wait to be discharged. It's been a LONG and emotional journey, but we are grateful to have our beautiful girl coming home safe and healthy.
Hanging out on our last day in the hospital as we wait to be discharged. It's been a LONG and emotional journey, but we are grateful to have our beautiful girl coming home safe and healthy.
