Week in Photos- 1 year 3 weeks

 {April 9th-April 16th}

Insisted on feeding herself while Mums kept her.

Before

 After

She's becoming quite the little piglet!  She loves to eat.

On April 11th, this little beauty joined the Coots family.  Ellis Paige is adorable and so sweet!

While in Austin, I took advantage of Kyla's big front porch and took some pictures of Evin.

 

 

Evin discovered the stairs while we were there, and thought it was big fun to climb up, but she had no idea how to get down.  We had to watch her like a hawk while we were there because of this!

 Cousin time on the iPad.

She and Scout became buds while looking outside.

No so thrilled with her tiny piggies!

She took a bath in the big tub and LOVED Lane's plastic fishing pole and fish.

Ellis came home from the hospital on Sunday, so we saw her for a few minutes when they got home and then we headed out.

Paw and Kathy drove in for the afternoon to meet Ellis, so we got in a quick visit too!  

Paw and Evin had fun playing peek-a-boo around the column.

And Evin & Kathy were twins in their black, white & pink.

 We made in home in time for some play time, dinner, bath & bed before jumping into another week.

Blowing kisses

Check out this super cheesy face for Beckham.

 Dinner time buddies.

 

Sharing dinner.  Yuck.

 

She had more fun with bunny ear dress up round 2 than she did a couple of weeks ago.

Ellis Paige Coots' arrival

 The morning of Friday, April 11th was a crazy one!  My mom got a call from Kyla early in the morning that she had been having regular contractions all night and that she was going to call the doctor.  The doctor advised that she go ahead and head to the hospital.  My mom was supposed to keep Evin that day, so we contacted Mitch's mom to see if she could keep her while we were both at work so my mom could head to Austin.  My mom took off with Claire, Kyle's mom, and I headed to work.

I was getting text message updates from Kyle and my mom throughout the morning, and I was very selfishly praying that the baby wouldn't come until later in the day or at night so I could be there.  Since I was in a long-term sub position, it was kind of difficult for me to take off and try to get another sub in my place for the whole day. 

Around 10:30am I got a text message that Kyla was about to start pushing and at about 11:30 I got this picture:

Ellis Paige Coots had arrived!  She was born at 11:20am at 7 lbs 8 oz and 20 inches long. 

I had so many mixed emotions...of course I was thrilled that she was here and healthy, but I was also SO disappointed that I wasn't there for the birth. 

I ended up leaving school just a little early while another teacher covered my class.  I ran home to pack everything up so we could head out right after Mitch got off work.  He was dying to meet Ellis too, and it would have been silly for my mom, Mitch, and I to all be in Austin in separate cars, so I waited for him so we could all go together.  

On the way to Austin I learned that we weren't going to make it there in time for me to see Ellis that night because their visiting hours ended earlier than when we would arrive.  I almost cried when I found that out!  I couldn't wait to get my hands on her, but I would have to wait until the next day.

I settled for seeing several cute pictures of her instead of meeting her.

 

Big Brother & Little Sister

A new family of 4!

 

Isn't she perfect?!?  Love, love those chubby cheeks!

 

Lane had a soccer game the next morning, so the rest of the crew went to watch him play while I went to meet Ellis and keep Kyla company at the hospital.  Evin was getting over an ear infection and a cold, so she never came to the hospital to meet Ellis.  She would meet her later!

Mama & her girl

 

So happy to have a niece!

 

 We heard that Lane had a GREAT game and scored his first goal (actually 2 goals!) at the game.  He was awarded the Weekly Sportsmanship Award.  Kyla was so sad she missed it!

 Lane came by the hospital after the game to share the news with his mommy & Ellis.  He was pretty excited!

Mitch meeting Ellis for the first time.  Excited to be an uncle again!

 

Mums & her 3rd grandbaby

 

I brought Ellis a gift to the hospital- a cute bunny outfit since she arrived just in time for Easter...

...and a gown that I had appliqued her name onto.  

 Kyla snapped some great pics in the hospital.

Such a sweet, beautiful girl!  So proud that we share a middle name. :)

 Happy for her to be a mama to a little girl!

We love you, Ellis Paige!

NICU Reunion

 On Sunday, April 6th, we attended our first Cook Children's NICU Reunion.  I think they had planned on it being outside, but it was unusually chilly and drizzling rain, so it was held indoors.  They had food, face painting, a bounce house, arts & crafts, and they were giving away prizes.  Evin was too little for most of it, but we did enjoy going and seeing other NICU graduates.

The invitation for the event said that we could bring a posterboard including pictures and the story of Evin's NICU stay.  They display a few posters in the main hallway of the NICU and rotate them out every week or so, and I remember very well standing & reading them while we were there with Evin.  It was comforting to read about babies and families that had gone through what we were going through and to see where they were now.  

Of course, I waited until last minute to make the poster, but I think it turned out ok.  I don't know why I didn't think to get a better picture of it before we dropped it off, but this is the best I got.

 

This is what the text on the poster says:

We joyfully welcomed Evin Kate on March 20, 2013 and enjoyed our time in the hospital with her, having no idea that she was critically ill.  We were scheduled to be discharged when she was 2 days old, but that morning as the nurse was conducting her normal newborn tests, she noticed that Evin’s coloring was off.  She checked her oxygen saturation and it was in the mid-80s.  That day, Evin was rushed to Cook Children’s and diagnosed with several congenital heart defects.  Evin’s defects include: Double Outlet Right Ventricle, Severe Pulmonary Stenosis, Atrial Septal Defect, and Hypoplastic Branch Pulmonary Arteries.  We were shocked and heartbroken that our tiny baby girl was born into this world fighting for her life.

Evin spent several days in the NICU leading up to her first surgery to place a BT shunt at 6 days old.  Post-surgery, she spent 6 days in the PICU, and then she moved back to the NICU to learn to eat again.  It took nearly 2 weeks for Evin to start gaining weight, and we were discharged when she was 24 days old.

Evin had a catherization and her full repair surgery at 5 ½ months old and did wonderfully.  We went home after just 1 week in the hospital.  Evin shouldn’t have to have another surgery until she is in her teens.

Our lives changed drastically when we found out our sweet Evin was born with a broken heart.  Our now 1 year old has bravely endured more in 6 months than most people do in a lifetime.  We are so proud of our happy, sweet, sassy & STRONG heart warrior!

Dropping the poster off.

 If it brings even the tiniest bit of comfort to another family then it was well worth making!

Several of the other posters that were left.

It wasn't long before Evin was ready for a snack break.  They provided hotdogs, chips, lemonade, and cupcakes.  Evin's favorite part was the hotdog bun. :)

 The part of the reunion I was looking forward to the most was seeing some of Evin's doctors and nurses, so I was disappointed that we only saw 2 of her nurses!  We saw one from afar, so we didn't get to talk to her, but we did get to chat with Stephanie, who was one of our favorites!  She was Evin's nurse several times when we were working so hard on getting Evin to eat and weaning her from the methadone.  She was so sweet and we could tell she really loved Evin. 

Not a great pic of Evin, but it's the best we could get at the moment.

There were some therapy dogs hanging around, so Evin gave them some pats.

Sad, but I think her favorite part of the whole thing was the fish tank.  :/

A few weeks later the Cook Children's NICU Facebook page posted pictures from the reunion, so I was able to snag these pictures that the photographer took.

Thanks for a fun afternoon, Cook's!