I'm Home!!

Baby Aine was transported from the NICU to the PICU on Tuesday night. This was done because she was scheduled to possibly have surgery on Wed AM and they wanted to have everything ready for her along with all the staff members available and ready to go. We were very happy that we were blessed with the opportunity to have the camera in our room to watch her 24/7 during this time. The good news is that during the night (Tuesday) Aine remained stable and they were able to post-pone the needed surgery as this gave me more time to heal and work on getting an early release. (They don't like to release C-section births prior to 3 days & since Aine was born at 6:30pm, they started my count on Tuesday am). I had a conference with the doctors on Wed that Aine's surgery was going to either occur on Wed PM or Thurs AM. At 5:00pm Wed, they decided the surgery would take place at 7:00 am on Thurs Morning. It was a 4 hour procedure that went really well and which she is recovering from very well. So that being said, yesterday was a happy and sad day as I was released from the hospital, but our darling daughter Aine must remain where she is so she can get better. The surgery she had is on her brave little heart. They connected the pulmonary and aorta so that oxygen can get to where it needs to go.

Waiting to get to hold Aine for the first time (prior to transport to the PICU)

Daddy & Liam having some fun time in the nice weather today

Getting ready to go see AineSitting nicely while Daddy talks to AineDaddy & Aine (One day post-surgery)Baby Aine one day post-surgery The "Drug Tree"

Heart of a Lion

Some may know & some may not know that our Little Princess has Arrived! She was born on Monday April 4th at 6:30 pm. She arrived weighing a whopping 6#'s 1 oz & 18.9 inches long. She has the start of rubberband arms, so that is very good news. We have named our Little Princess Aine EllaRuth Casey. (pronounced: On-ya Ella-Ruth) She was immediately taken by the NICU staff to start her observations and make sure that everything is going the way we expect. As the title says, she has the Heart of a Lion - but as the pictures will show she needs the help of the doctors to make it that way. We will be posting more information as time goes on but at the current time it may be spotty due to the busy schedule that we are running into since we are all in different locations. We are asking everyone to be patient with us and would love as many prayers for our baby girl as possible.

Daddy Getting ready to meet his DaughterMommy Meeting Baby Aine for the first time Liam loved riding in the wheelchair

Hospital Mac & Cheese - what kid wouldn't love that??

Flowers from my daycare baby & family :)

Baby Aine all settled in bed.

This is my view from my room - I may not get to hold her, but I get to look at her beautiful face 24/7 & talk to her nurses, doctors, and support staff when ever I want to.

Gotta Love Modern Technology.

32 Days!!

We just had another appointment for our little princess today & we are hoping that we will make it the full 32 days that are left, but you may be hearing news of her arrival well before that. Our Precious Princess is coming in at 5 #'s, 9 Ounces as of this time & is literally swimming in her own swimming pool. This is good for her muscles & tone development, but not for me as my body is saying she is ready to meet the world before it is time! She has beautiful chubby cheeks & a smile that will melt anyones heart (not to mention that Liam will not be able to deny that she is his sister ;) We are still not going to announce her name until after delivery (probably a good thing as we have started to toss some of it around). Sooo....... Stealing an idea from a friend (thanks Lib!) I'm looking for some ideas for middle names. I know it's hard not knowing her first name, but I am looking for something that means Strong, brave, or something of that sort. As with her brother - she will have 2 middle names & one has been picked out already.

First Haircut!!

Well,

We finally broke down and got Liam's haircut. The sides were getting really long & I just couldn't handle it any longer.

We scheduled an appointment with Shawn's barber who ended up calling in sick. So... we chose our next best option, calling around to find someone comfortable with cutting a 2 year olds hair (we both had the day off & wanted to be there).

We found a place that was close to the house & had a spot open.

Being concerned that he was going to crab, cry, or fuss (teething is a huge issue this week), we did the ulimate no-no & bribed him with fish. We were given a tank by some friends, but didn't have any fish to go in it.

Our next concern was when we walked in & discovered that our stylist was COVERED in tattoos & facial piercing (would we hear screaming, crying, or anything else???)

Nope! He did Great & got his fish.

I still need to get after pictures, but here's some of the good ones :)