My feet are so small!!

Well, it's been a while since I've updated. Gabriel is doing so well! We're so proud of our baby boy. He's a whopping 2 pounds 6.1 ounces. Whoa! That's huge! :) 


We go to see our baby boy at least once a day, if not more. Like I said before, it seems like everytime we go to see him he's made so much progress. It's amazing how just a few ounces can make such a difference. I was looking through all of the pictures that we have of him...and believe me, there's a ton...but you can definitely see a HUGE difference in him from the time he was born to now. Gabriel is now breathing all on his own. :) Though, this might not seem like a big deal to some...for us, it's huge. He's also receiving breast milk every 3 hours through the feeding tube that goes straight to his stomach. He still can't eat on his own, but his belly is getting stronger, so we know it won't be too long. He smiles ALL the time...tonight he was making faces too...he even crossed his eyes at one point. It was so cute and funny...Jesse and I just laughed. He's so calm too. He hardly ever cries...even when they take a blood sample from him. He just seems to go with the flow now! :) 


One big change is that his IV's that were in his belly through his umbilical cord are now out and he now has a pic line that goes through his little hand all the way up his arm and down close to his heart. I know, scary! It was scary for us to imagine, but this line is better for him. It lasts longer than IV's...which is good because we didn't want him to have to get poked all the time for new IV sites. 


We got to hold him for the first time last night. No better feeling in the world. Jesse and I each got 10 minutes to hold him. He was so precious and tiny. Rylee weighs more than him...which blows my mind. Holding him felt perfect. He just laid there...didn't cry...he was just happy and content.  I can't wait to hold him more!


Anyway, my swelling has finally gone down! I feel like a new person. My feet look normal again! I had forgotten what normal was...it seems like my feet were swollen for most of my pregnancy! I find myself staring at my feet when I'm at home...they just look so small! :) My blood pressure has finally gone down as well. This was a concern when I was released from the hospital...since it had been so high. With pre-eclampsia, you're not automatically "cured" of it after delivery... you still have to do some monitoring afterwards. we were a little concerned after we were released because my blood pressure was still high. We went to see Dr. Bishop a week after Gabe was born about it, but he assured us that since my blood pressure was "trending down" there was no need to put me on medication for it. And boy, am I glad he was right! It's totally back to normal! I won't lie...I still have quite a bit of weight to lose, but i'm slowly feeling like myself again. I had forgotten what that felt like. Even Jesse commented on how much better I look...neither of us noticed it until we went back through old pictures. It's crazy how swollen my face, hands, legs, and feet were. We were looking at a few pics we took in the delivery room a few hours before Gabe was born, and man, was I ever swollen! haha. 


It's almost been 2 weeks since Gabriel was born. I thought time would go by slow since he's still in the hospital, but it actually hasn't. I look forward to the day he gets to come home! We've been working on his room and the house, trying to get it perfect for him to come home too! All of his little clothes are washed and put away, and his bed is all put together. Slowly, but surely, things are coming into place for his room. We weren't ready for him to be here so soon, so his room was not even close to done when we came home. However, we are making progress! Hopefully we only have about 4 more weeks or less until we get to bring our baby boy home! :)