Saturday, June 30, 2012

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button

Mila is only 2 weeks old and already losing things. But this time it was something good that she lost. After bath time this morning Mila lost her cord. I told her, "The Cord Fairy isn't as generous as the Tooth Fairy but go ahead and stick it under your pillow anyways."


Mmmmmmm.... Bacon Nugget!


Lookin' good Mila. I hope I am wrong about the Cord Fairy and she brings you an Audi to match your new "outie."

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

One BUSY Week!

At 7 days old Mila made the long flight from Lexington, Kentucky to Salt Lake City, Utah! I can say I am a very proud mother! She slept the entire way from Lexington to Atlanta where we had a 90 minute layover; she needed a diaper change and a bottle then she slept the rest of the 4 hour flight from Atlanta to Salt Lake, the flight attendants were loving her, and one of them pointed out that some elderly people had never even been on a plane and here was this little 7 day old baby making a cross country trip! She made a lot of friends on the way everyone adored her! 

Turns out It was well worth the trip; her dad was waiting to meet us; Mila and Jeff had some serious snuggling to do to make up for lost time!

Look at the comfort level on that baby.

two very happy buddies

Nothing like sleepin in dad's arms


Well, seems Someone else was waiting for Mila to get here too.  My Friend Brittany was due June 18th  and was a few days over due I told her as soon as we get there she could go into labor, we flew in Friday afternoon and Friday evening she went into Labor!!! Here is Baby Avery; she had to spend a couple days in NICU too just like Mila, I am so happy that she made it here safe, I can't wait until they can play together! I know they are going to be best buddies! 

Avery Jane Trujillo born June 23, 2012


Pretty sure no one was more excited to meet Baby Mila than Grandma Ebert (Jeff's mom) she loves holding Mila and seems to have the magic touch- she puts Mila right to sleep every time she holds her! This makes the 6th Grandchild for her 3 girls and 3 boys! Whoever's next better be ready to offset the perfect balance or else hope for twins!

So happy to be with Grandma!

Mila has busy little baby arms and legs:




This is my parent's dog Apollo he is 5 years old.  He was born with bad hips and had to have surgery as a puppy to put pins in both of his back legs because he couldn't walk very well, the surgery made it so that he could get around and even run with the other dogs, over the past few months he developed diabetes and has started to lose his eye sight, he has chronic pain and has to take pain medication multiple times a day.  His condition got a lot worse just over the past couple of days.  He has gone completely blind and has lost control of his bladder.  So we had to have him put to sleep on Monday.  Here is Mila saying goodbye to him.  I know he is happier in Heaven free from pain.  There is a Song Jack Johnson sings that says new life makes losing life easier to understand.  We are going to miss you Apollo! You will always be one of my very Best Friends.




The First 12 days of life have been busy: We have held up well: and the good news is that Life just gets better my little one! So stay strong and be ready for whatever this life has to offer!
big yawn

Mom's new obsession: BABY FEET


HAPPINESS

Goofy Goober Face
Oh By the Way Mila's appointment with the Doctor went very well; she is back up to her birth weight 7Lb 2 Oz ahead of schedule! Looks like Jeff's Buffet tips really worked! Way to go GIRL! Keep up the good work! And I am Still loving life as a MOM, this little girl makes me smile all the time! 



Just so I don't overlook my first babies: Nixon and Nikita are also doing well with my Parent's dog Zeke the golden Retriever: they all got sprayed by a Skunk out in the backyard the first night they were here! Ask me if I'm suprised? Ha ha.. Gotta love my little trouble makers!

Monday, June 25, 2012

So Far, So Good

Jen and Mila made it to Utah without any problems. In fact, Mila slept the entire 7 hours of travel. Ya can't ask for a better way to travel with an infant.

Jen, Mila and I have loved the last couple of days spending time with family. I will post some pictures later but I felt I needed to at least write to let everyone know we are safe and sound.

I am really enjoying my clerkship. I spend most of my time researching cases and issues but I did get to go with one of the partners, Mark James, to watch him argue in court. I really enjoyed that.

All things considered we have nothing to complain about and everything to be grateful for.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

From KY to UT

Yesterday morning Shaun, the dogs, and I packed up and headed out for Utah. It was about 1,700 miles and took us a total of 33 hrs from departure to arrival. Roughly 28 hrs on the road and 5 to stop and get some sleep.

So sorry Mila for up and running out on you like this. Please understand that it's only because the pressure of fatherhood was just too much and I didn't know what else to do... just kidding. (That's not funny.) I miss you so very much.

The dogs didn't seem to mind having the entire back of the car to themselves for the ride home.


It was a very calm, uneventful trip except for the dump truck rolling on the freeway almost pushing another truck into us, the one or two confrontations with police officers, the seven hours of pure mind-numbing nothingness (thanks Kansas), and a couple big horn mountain sheep.




This guy was obviously packing all his belongings and had this green sign taped to the back of his boat, "Thanks to Obama, this is all I have left."






It felt good to finally roll into Utah and put that trek behind us.



Home and in Heaven

 The last few days have been a whirlwind, I'm so grateful for Jeff and my Mom and Sister for helping out so much, and for all of the love and support coming from all directions, we are so loved and so blessed I have had a lot of emotions, but I have never felt alone, thanks to all of  you!  

Now that we are at home things have settled down and I am LOVING being a MOM! There is nothing I have ever experienced that I could compare to the feelings I get when I look at our precious little Mila June.  She is beautiful and I know that she is a perfect addition to our family.  

Heaven on Earth







My Mom says she loves being a GRANDMA!



 It has been fun looking at her and trying to decide which features come from who! sometimes I look at her and think she looks just like Jeff and sometimes I think she looks alot like my baby pictures.. It will be fun to watch over the next few weeks/months as her features become more developed!


All ready to go to Mom's Doctor's appointment
The Doctor's appointment may have taken a tad bit longer than we wanted it to..
K, check out the little monkey toes!





 Despite the unhappy pictures, She has actually been a very happy baby thus far, she loves hearing Jeff's voice, even over the phone (he headed back to Salt lake yesterday with our good friend Shaun and the dogs so that he could start his summer internship.. WE can't wait to see him in a couple days and are missing him already)


Here is our attempt at a bath without getting her cord wet, I thought she was going to hate it, but she was actually very relaxed once we got some warm water running.
Not sure how to feel about BATH TIME!


LOVED IT!
ONE clean BABY GIRL.. and one HAPPY but TIRED MOMMY


 Happy and healthy! Seems to be doing just great. Haven't seen any signs of pain from the healing fracture. She hasn't needed any Tylenol since we got home, we are just being super careful with our "Porcelain doll " baby girl.  We went for a check up at the pediatrician today she is down to 6lb 10 oz  (this is normal, but we should see only weight gain from this point forward: goal is back to birth weight by 2 week mark) So time to bulk up a bit little girl.. Jeff says he is going to give her some of his Buffet tips! Gotta pick up the pace!

Loving this new adventure.. Can't wait to see what Life brings!

Monday, June 18, 2012

Homeward Bound

Today has been a busy day. We met with the geneticist, Mila did all sorts of tests, had blood drawn multiple times, and finally we were all able to get to go home!!


Our time in NICU was helpful and the staff were all so friendly. The geneticist, Dr. Gowans, shared with us a lot of encouraging information. Mila's official test results will be available within two weeks and then we will know exactly what type of OI she has.

Dr. Gowans said that she probably won't break many bones during infancy as long as her parents are careful. She will probably have most of her fractures during toddler stages and young childhood as she learns to crawl, walk, run, play and just live life.

The good news was that usually once people with OI hit puberty all the new hormones strengthen their bones and she won't see a lot of fractures up through adulthood. (We'll just have a whole new set of issues to deal with during puberty.... but let's not get ahead of ourselves.)



Leaving the hospital felt great. Today is the same day we originally planned on coming home, but it feels so much longer. We had this unexpected diagnosis and were at a different hospital.


I don't know who was most excited about coming home. Mom is still recovering from surgery and hasn't slept much; Dad mostly just sat around watching Tiger Woods play horrible and the Thunder lose; Baby Mila has been poked, prodded, examined, woken up at all hours for assessments, been told she has this bone thingy, seen nothing but new face after new face (not sure which one mom is yet), and covered in tubes and wires.

I think Mila is happiest to finally come home.


Yup. She slept almost the whole way home. I can't tell you how terrifying it is to drive with a brand new baby sitting shotgun.... just kidding she was safely buckled in the back with Jen of course, but still scary.

Once we got home Mila was able to meet some of her super nice neighbors and then just passed out in her aunt Kat's arms.


Welcome home, Mila. Welcome home.

In the Dark, But Going Home

The doctor told us this morning that Mila is doing good enough to come home today!!

We haven't met with the geneticist yet, and we may not today. There's a chance we'll come back as an outpatient to do the tests.

So we may be going home without any certainty as to the severity of Mila's condition and just continue being overly cautious.


Thanks to everyone for your prayers, concern and support.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Progress

Mila is doing really good. She hasn't needed any morphine through the night and has been sleeping just fine. Late last night and this morning we were able to hold her and feed her with a bottle.





It has been the best Father's Day I've ever had.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Handle With Care

Life is fragile. We all know this and every now and again we are reminded of it. Mila was born with osteogenesis imperfecta. This is a genetic disorder that results in a lack of collagen in the bones among other things.

Because of this Mila must be on close watch in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). A specialized geneticist is going to do some tests on her this Monday to determine exactly which type of OI Mila has. They suspect she has type 3.

What this means is that she will be prone to bone fractures throughout her life, and perhaps a relatively shorter stature as an adult as well as blueish-grey tint to the whites of her eyes.

Life is fragile.

However, it isn't the fact that we'll always have to be extra careful with Mila that reminded us of this. What really reminded us that life is fragile is that we aren't allowed to hold and hug our new little daughter.

People always have and will continually break bones, have discolored eyes, or even have non-functioning pancreases, be too short or too tall, have this disease or that disorder. But not being close to those you love is a trauma worse than any physical diagnosis.

Stay close to those you love, hold them and give them a hug. Very soon we'll be able to do the same with Mila.


Welcome to the family, Mila. We love you very, very, very much.

Friday, June 15, 2012

The First Day of Her Life

Mila June Ebert. 19.5 inches. 7 lbs, 2 oz. 













Both Jen and Mila are doing great! We are so happy to have her in our family and we love her lots!