Home Sweet Home

Today was the day we've been anticipating for almost 7 weeks. We were able to bring Faith home! It was almost surreal for all of us and we didn't quite believe it was happening until we closed the car doors and drove away from the hospital. I think we both breathed the biggest sigh of relief we've ever breathed. Hands down the best day of our lives together! It was quite the exhausting morning packing things up from literally having moved into our hospital room. Once Dr. Taylor cleared us for discharge, then of course nurses and other hospital staff were in and out all morning saying goodbye. Actually, since we found out a few days ago that we'd be leaving on Friday morning, folks from the hospital have been in and out saying goodbye to Faith. She's quite the celebrity at Johns Hopkins Bayview. We left with many nurse's private email addresses and promises to bring her back for visits and to send pictures. She put on her going home outfit, her first dress (picked out by Mommy) complete with baby pink ballet slippers (compliments of Auntie Hannah). Then we snuggled her up in her car seat with the beautiful blanket that was a present from her birth parents. She even finally got to meet Mommy & Daddy's buddy Martha who is the security guard on the second floor who was always taking good care of us. I know we've said it before, but the folks at that hospital are AMAZING! They have changed our lives forever. Not only did we leave there as a new family, but we gained extended family in so many of them. There were many happy tears shed today and not just by Mommy, but by lots of them as well.

Faith slept almost the whole car ride home with Mommy sitting in the back seat with her. She didn't seem to mind her car seat and was really hungry by the time we unpacked. She got to meet Joey and had her first bottle in her own house. She and Daddy spent the afternoon napping in the recliner while Mommy unpacked and got things put away. She was noticeably calmer & happy all afternoon & evening and we were all just happy to be under one roof doing normal things like cooking dinner and reading stories. She's become quite the good sleeper at night time since we've been in Pediatrics. We all hope that continues at home. I don't want to jinx us, but so far so good. You'll all be happy to know that Joey loves his sister already. He has been keeping a close eye on her all day, but doesn't get too close. He checked Faith out as soon as we walked in the door and later while she & Daddy were napping together he even gave her a few kisses on her hand.

Both Randy & I will be off work until early April to spend time bonding as a family. We are beyond excited about our time together and want to cherish every day as we know that it will go by too fast. We have our first visit with our pediatrician tomorrow morning and then we plan to go into hibernation for a while. We all need it after all we've been through in the last 7 weeks - and really even longer than that for Randy & I since we found out Faith was joining our family. We know you are all anxious to visit with us and meet her so we promise to let you know just as soon as we're ready for that. Thank you for your patience with us and understanding that we need this time together.

We couldn't have gotten through these last months without ALL of your love, support, and prayers. We feel like the luckiest people on earth right now and all of you are a part of that. So from the bottom of our hearts, thank you! Now we start the next chapter and oh the fun we're going to have! We'll keep up with the blog as much as we can, especially for those of you who live so far away. There all lots of pictures to enjoy from today since it was quit the occasion!

All our love,
The Groves

Making Progress

Hello everyone,

I'm sorry that we don't write as much as we used to. The days are just flying by and they kind of roll together since we are up with Faith every three hours. We really hope she will sleep longer when we get her home and she's such a good girl that I'm sure she will for mommy & daddy. Speaking of home - we are getting closer to that day. It looks like we are in the home stretch and should have her sleeping in her own crib in the next 10 days or so as long as we don't have any set backs. Fingers crossed and keep those prayers coming. They are really working!

Daddy has spent the last two nights in the hospital giving mommy a chance to come home and regroup (and get some much needed sleep in our own bed). She was at the hospital with Faith from last Saturday afternoon until Friday night. Daddy visits most days after school and there was one short outing to Baltimore's inner harbour for a late Valentine's dinner. It was so great to get out of the hospital for a few hours and have a date. We have literally moved into the hospital and are quite comfortable there - at least as comfortable as you can get. We continue to be more than pleased with her care and have developed a great routine. We still have visits from our favorite NICU gals. I've included a picture of our favorite NICU nurse Jenny.

Faith is growing so much and learning new things every day. It's amazing to watch how much she changes in just a 24 hour period. Some exciting moments from this week include her starting to reach for the fishes in the aquarium toy on the side of her crib. And the most exciting moment thus far was when she laughed out loud. She was actually taking a break from a major crying fit and mommy thought she was about to start crying again. Instead out came this wonderfully cute belly laugh. I wish my eyes & ears were video cameras so everyone could see it.

Please know that even when we don't write - we are so grateful for your thoughts, prayers and support. The last 6 weeks have been one crazy roller coaster ride and we wouldn't change a single second of it. As we've said a million times, we can't wait to get Faith home and settled and start showing her off to all of our amazing family and friends.

Here are a few recent shots of our days together.

Much Love to all,
The Groves

Happy Valentines Day!

As you can probably tell (since Jess hasn't posted a blog for days and Randy has only posted in the middle of the night) things are a little busier around here lately. Now that we are lucky enough to spend 24/7 with Faith while she finishes up her hospital stay - it means that we are providing round the clock care to her just like we would at home. Except we're not at home and Mommy & Daddy are both still working (Jess from the hospital on her laptop) so we can save our leave for when we can bring our Faith home. So, there's not much time for blog posts, returning emails and phone calls, showering, and even eating sometimes. For example, I've been working on this post for almost three days and I am determined to finish it tonight.

So far, we have a good routine. Mommy takes the Sunday through Thursday night shifts and Daddy takes Friday and Saturday nights. It's not ideal, but it works and we'll do whatever we need to for Faith. Although our poor cat Joey is even more confused now since only one of us comes home at night. You'll see in one of the pictures below how he spends his days on one of Faith's blankets. We continue to be blessed by the amazing nurses here - we just see them less. Our nurses from the NICU still come over to visit and Nurse Bonnie from the NICU even brought Faith a Valentines card today. Now we have our own room with a door that closes and our own bathroom and shower. Very exciting! It's the little things these days. We will never take those little things for granted - okay well at least not for a long time. And we will definitely be the happiest sleep deprived parents to ever walk this earth when we can rock our baby in her own room at home!

The days actually go by really fast and now that Faith is over 5 weeks old she doesn't sleep as much. She's definitely a morning gal (she'll get along great with Daddy - Mommy on the other hand, she'll learn to be a morning girl too). She loves to play - although that's a little difficult to do in our 15' x 15' room, but we manage with books, dolls, and rattles. She's even gotten some tummy time with her Occupational Therapist, Miss Emily. Her little personality is really starting to develop and she's even given us a few smiles (and not just in her sleep). She continues to do well, but we most likely still have about two weeks left of our stay here. Not that we're counting the days or anything :)

PS - I may have gone a little overboard with posting pictures, but it's been a few days and I didn't think any of you would complain.

To give you a real sense of a day in our life I thought I would give you a top 10 list from what I imagine Faith's perspective is of all this:

Top 10 Things we have a love/hate relationship with in PEDS

10. It's either too hot or too cold in this room. And no matter how hard they try, Mommy & Daddy can't seem to get the thermostat to work correctly. I don't mind because Mommy found the best swaddle blankets which I love to be wrapped up in, but I can tell it annoys them.
9. I'm tired of smelling hand sanitizer and watching mommy wipe everything down with clorox wipes or spray it with lysol, but it's better than picking up the flu or germs from the other kids.
8. Mommy & Daddy have finally figured out how to quickly open the ready to serve formula bottles so I don't have to cry as long while I wait for my next bottle.
7. The view outside our window is air handlers & other equipment on the roof of the hospital, but at least we have sunlight. Mommy wants to decorate the windows with pictures so that we have a better "view".
6. The arm chair is made of pleather, but it does have a foot rest, which is great for feedings.
5. Mommy & Daddy complain about the parent trays of food we now get, but they forget it is hospital food and it's "free".
4. Mommy thinks I'm ready to sleep more than 3 hours at a time at night, but I can't because they have to wake me up for my medicine every 3 hours. Little does she know what I'll do when we get home.
3. My hospital crib is really nice don't get me wrong, but I'm ready to go home to my real crib! I don't think I'm going to need that bassinet that they borrowed for me to sleep in.
2. Am I ever going to get to take a real bath? This sponge bath thing is over rated.
1. I'm over this getting weighed EVERY night thing. Don't they get it when I scream my head off the whole time I'm laying on the scale with no cloths on! Of course Mommy & Daddy love knowing exactly how much I grow every day.

While You Were Sleeping...

Sounds like a bad scary movie...
Anyway, Faith continues to make progress every day and we have enjoyed staying with her at night even at the expense of much needed sleep. Saturday night, we decided that both of us would stay with her (shhhhh, don't tell-only one person is supposed to sleep over each night). Jess was great to give me a break tonight and let me sleep first. I woke up around 2 am to relieve Jess for morning feedings while she is taking the chance to catch up on sleep as well.
Some highlights of the weekend: Faith's dresser came and mommy said it looks great in her room! Her mobil also came, so Mommy brought that in and Faith is enjoying the Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven music not to mention the crazy animals flying around. Daddy (for the first time) gave Faith a bath and lotioned her down, she smells so good!
While my girls are sleeping, I decided to send work email and download some new pictures to the blog. I hope you enjoy!
Thank you again for all your continued love and support!
Jess, Randy, Faith and Joey

Movin' On Up...to the Peds Side

Not to be confused with the Jefferson's Movin' On Up...To the East Side. We have finally moved to the Pediatrics section of the hospital out of the NICU area, which means one of us can now spend the night with Faith whenever we want. Awesome, this is when the real exhaustion is going to set in right?? Mommy spent the first night last night (Thursday night into Friday) and I am having Daddy/Daughter time tonight and tomorrow. I will let Jess give all her details tomorrow, but I think they had a pretty awesome time together last night and during the day today!
Our night has been pretty fantastic so far. Jess left sometime before 8:00 to make it through the Harbor Tunnel before she got stuck in two-way traffic and stuck in the tunnel like I did going home Thursday night. By the way, if I ramble and these blogs start to not make sense, I will blame it on the lack of sleep. Anyway, Faith's nurse Miss Marla came in after I returned and gave me the rundown on her cares for 9:00, which sounded great. Miss Marla was with Faith last night and had her previously when she was still in the NICU area, so Faith is a favorite of hers. Faith slept pretty well between her 9:00 and midnight cares, but was ready for Miss Marla by 11:15 and was ready for daddy to wake up from his power nap as well! Faith did an awesome job with her midnight bottle, so we followed this up by catching a little Jay Leno with a nightcap of Water Dance by Thomas Locker. She was not too interested in the pictures, which I love, but loved hearing about all the different forms water takes through the environment. Faith's favorite form of water is described on the first page of the book:
Some people say that I am one thing, Others say that I am many. Ever since the world began I have been moving in an endless circle. Sometimes I fall from the sky. I am the rain.
She liked the rest of the book as well, but once we got to the end she didn't really want to hear about the water cycle. Touche Faith, touche!
With her dreaming about rain, mountain streams, rainbows, waterfalls and of course the water cycle I should probably do a little dreaming of my own.
Pictures to follow sometime this weekend!
Good Night!
Faith and Daddy

I'm One Month Old

Wow! Faith is one month old today. We can't believe how time flies, but at the same time how slow the days can sometimes go. Our little girl is growing up so fast. She's over 9 lbs. now and is almost outgrown most of her newborn clothes. A few outfits still fit but we are already in 0-3 month stuff. Thank you to everyone who has given us clothes to borrow or as gifts. She has quite the wardrobe for a one month old :-)

We had a great day today & yesterday. Daddy has been sick since Monday morning so he had to miss a few days of visits, but he was feeling better today and he & Faith were really happy to see each other (as you can see in one of the pictures below). She also graduated into yet another big girl bed today. She got too big for her bassinet so the wonderful Nurse Bonnie got her a small crib and even found a musical aquarium toy to hang on the side. She loved it and slept like a little angel all afternoon. Oh and Miss Emily came by today to work on her arm & shoulder exercises and is quite impressed with her progress. She is still struggling with bottles, but we are getting there.

We continue to be grateful for all of the support from all of you! The food, help with laundry, errands, emails & texts keep us going and help us find the strength to do what we need to do to get Faith better & ready to come home as soon as possible.

All our Love,
The Groves