London is finally home!!!!

Today, London came home and we are so excited! I am also relieved and feel like I can somewhat relax...that is for about 5 seconds until I realize that I have 2 babies!!! I had to laugh at myself because when we got home I told Jason that I was crazy for thinking I never got things done with 1 baby...ha...now I really never get anything done with 2 babies!

We found out yesterday evening that London was going to come home. I was all ready to camp out at the hospital over night to make sure she took all of her bottles but the doctors went ahead and wrote the orders that night so I went home because I knew she would come home. Before going to bed last night, Jason told me to enjoy my last night of good sleep...I said yeah right and that is about how it turned out because Brayden decided to wake up multiple times last night. Oh well. The doctors also pulled the feeding tube last night and it was finally nice to see London without anything taped to her face.

We took London home about 9:30 this morning and, due to hospital protocol, they had to wheel me out of the hospital in a wheel chair. So there is my big picture before we get in the car to come home. When we got home, we were finally able to introduce Brayden to London. He wasn't quite sure what to make of her and was way more interested in his new toy that we gave him at the same time. He got a toy workbench and toy power tools. He is already carrying his hammer and cordless drill around everywhere....he must take after his dad!

London has been a breeze so far...all she does it eat and sleep and then eats again. It made me wonder why I was in such a hurry for Brayden to grow up when being a new baby is so much easier! I have learned my lesson and am fully enjoying London just being a little ity-bity thing.

As the day progressed, Brayden decided that he did not like sharing mama and did not like when I held or fed London or showed her any attention. Lets just say that he has a bit of an adjustment to make now that he is not the center of the world anymore. Thank heavens for Grandma today! She helped to distract Brayden so he wouldn't be so upset. He also did not like that I wouldn't let him steel London's bottle and drink it. I told him that he couldn't have London's bottle and drink her "liquid gold", as this formula is nicknamed since it is the most expensive one out there. The house has turned into Babies 'R' Us with all of Braden's toys, the diapers, bottles, and now the baby swing and bouncy seat to add to the collection. Thank you mom and dad for putting up with us and all of the stuff that is seeming to take over the house!

Tomorrow, we begin the frequent journey to all the many doctors. We kick it off with a visit to the pediatrician tomorrow morning in fact. It has been a bit of a challenge with London home because Brayden has a cold so we are trying to keep them apart so that London does not catch Brayden's cold.

For now, all is well and we are just happy to have London home and to begin a new chapter in our lives. The Lord has blessed us tremendously along this journey and we could not have done it with out all the help from friends and family...especially Grandpa and Grandma Rupp who spent hours and hours babysitting Brayden. Thank you so much.

Brayden with his new toy...his consolation prize for having London come home.

Can you believe that 13 months ago, Brayden looked the same as London does in this car seat? Now he barley fits in it!

My little "Lolly Dolly" London...trying to hold off a nervous breakdown...

This past week has been extremely long and frustrating and I am glad that it is over! London is getting big...4lbs. 14oz! A lot has happened and as my dad calls it, "I had to put on my mama bear hat" and get some action from the doctors and nurses. In short, London did not like her new formula and Jason and I had to fight to get her put back on her old formula: Neocate. She is getting 6-8 bottles a day now and just has to get to where she eats all 8 bottles for 48 hours until she can come home. London also passed her car seat test...she had to sit in it for an hour and not drop her oxygen or heart rate. It was the longest hour of my life becasue every ding on the monitor, weather it was her or not, scared me and made me think she had failed the test. We had to do the test twice becasue the first time the doctor came in and looked at her and then she started wiggling all over. So...this means that we have jumped through all the hospitals hoops so far...only a few more to go. It was a long week because London was not making progress on the formula she did not like and we had to force her to eat it. Also, the doctors kept giving me estimates of when London would be going home and it went from the beginning of this week, to the end of the week, to in about 2 weeks. Lets just say I was near a nervous break down. I told the doctors that if they really didn't want to see me have a nervous breakdown she better be coming home before 2 weeks. We got the GI doctor to approve her to go home with her feeding tube in but the neonatologists wont even consider it until next week. I am trying not to get my hopes up because they keep getting dashed but I cant help it. For now...no discharge date...but we will see how it goes. 8 1/2 weeks and the count continues....

She looks so tiny in her car seat! She barley fits in it!

London's latest...

I had some cute little pictures of London I thought I would share. Her hair is getting so long and is so cute so of course, I had to see how the bows and headbands look today...cute, cute, cute...but a little big still on her tiny little head. London is doing great. She is 4lbs. 9.5oz and up to 5 bottles a day. Her formula got changed and she seems to be doing well on it. And the most exciting news of all...the doctors think that she will go home next week!!!

The end of this long haul may be in sight?...

It has now been 7 weeks and this long haul is starting to feel very much just like that....a long haul. But, we are hoping that the end is in sight and that London can come home within 2 weeks. London is doing terrific! She is 4 lbs. 8oz as of last night. She currently gets a bottle every other feeding (4 times per day) and is doing well at eating them. We are hoping she can advance to 5 bottles today. She has to be able to take 8 bottles and drink the full amount for a couple days before coming home. Today, London gets her final head ultrasound to make sure she has no bleeding in her brain (the last one they did she did not have any but they have to do a final one to make sure) and she gets seen by the GI doctor for her milk protein allergy. The doctor may switch her formula, they may not...we have to see what he thinks about the severity of her allergy first before any decisions are made. It has been a long haul and I am so ready for London to come home. I feel like I have been living at the hospital as I have been going down 3 times a day to feed London her bottle at 8am, 2pm, and 8pm. The nurses were having trouble getting her to eat her whole bottle and I was the only one that could get her to drink the whole bottle, which she has to do to come home, so, I would go down and feed her so she could advance. However, for the past couple of days, she has been eating better for the nurses so that is good. I come home in between feedings instead of staying at the hospital because I don't want to neglect Brayden either. It's been a big balancing act. We are so glad that London is doing so well and I am so excited for her to come home although for as tired as I am now...its only going to get worse. Oh well...such is life with a newborn.
London makes the funniest faces...here are some of them. I don't have a lot of great pictures since the feeding tube makes her nose look funny but oh well. She is still cute to me!

An official toddler...

Brayden officially began walking last week. Here is a video that we took of it. Let toddlerdom officially begin...

Let the boating season begin!

We are so excited to be here in Atlanta for the boating season! We have already gone 3 times and are loving it. Brayden is a terrific little boater. He is so good about not fussing when he has to wear his life jacket, he loves to help drive the boat, ride the tube, and splash in the water. This last trip, he and Grandma got some ducks to come over and they fed them crackers together. The boat is still magic and can still lull Brayden to sleep. Here are some pictures from our trips so far. Em water skiing. I was a little out of shape but hey...come on now..i had a baby 6 weeks ago so its ok!

Jason got some really great air on some of his wakeboard jumps...unfortunately this was not one of the successful attempts.

What a stud muffin!

Brayden driving the boat with Grandpa. He was so tired and it mesmerized him so much he feel asleep right them on Grandpa's lap and the wheel. It was pretty funny.

The water was a little cold but Brayden didn't mind getting his legs in the water and splashing around.

Jason slalom skiing.

We teach them young how to waterski and wakeboard. Brayden has already learned how to hold the rope.

Dad, in his old age, couldn't bear getting into the cold water without a wetsuit.

Lots of progress for London....

I am so happy to report that London is doing much better. On Thursday, London got her oxygen taken off since she does not need help breathing any more. On Friday, London graduated to a crib from her isolette! Today, Sunday, she got her iv turned off and is back to her normal feeding amount. Hopefully she can begin taking bottles again tomorrow. London is getting big...she is 4lbs. 2.8 oz. She is now as big as Brayden was when he was born and the funny thing is that she looks so huge to me now and I remember thinking how tiny Brayden looked when he was born. We are so happy that London is doing better. All she has left to work on is eating and then she can come home! Yay!

Check out all that hair!

London's new crib!

Our sweet London Taylor Sessions (given the middle name of Taylor after Brooks and AmyAnn who set Jason and I up.)

London Update...a few set backs but some progress once again...

These past couple of days we have been sort of at a stand still with London progress. On Saturday and Sunday, London got really sick and couldn't keep anything down at both ends of her poor little body. She lost about 4 ounces and so the doctors did a bunch of tests to see what was going on. She got put back on an IV and all of her feedings were stopped. They thought she might be lactose intolerant or that she had colitis or that she had some virus. She got put on no contact and then reduced to only contact precautions, meaning that we had to wear gloves and a paper gown in case she had some disease. They were able to rule out colitis and all of her virus tests have come back negative. We are still waiting on one virus test result to come back. The doctors think that London has a milk protein allergy. They started her back on a special formula, neocate, yesterday and she has done good on it so far. We are hoping that they can try and wean her to another type of formula that is cheaper (the one she is on is about 40$ a 14 oz can and special order only). Today they were able to turn off her oxygen since she is doing good breathing on her own and if everything goes good today they will be able to put her in a crib tomorrow. The doctors are cautious about making lots of changes because they don't want to stress London out. We hit 6 weeks old on Saturday. I can't believe it has already been 6 weeks! London's gained back most of the weight she has lost. She is 3 lbs. 13 oz now and has grown 2 inches since she was born. We are hoping that she can begin taking a bottle again on Monday or so. No word on when she can come home yet but for now we are just hanging in here and glad that London is doing as good as she has been. Until then, we will continue the daily trek to the hospital...not much different i guess from when she will first come home and we will make about 3-4 trips a week to the pediatrician to check London's progress.

(On Sunday, I was talking to my visiting teaching companion and she was telling me how they had a baby at 26 weeks that did not live because it's lungs were not developed enough. It made me think of how grateful I am that London is doing as good as she is since that is only a 3 week difference. )

We are so grateful for everyone's messages and support and love. They make a huge difference and help us keep going! We will keep updating everyone on what is going on. (I didn't put up any new pictures since London has been covered in tubes recently and that isn't very fun...hopefully some new ones soon)

All I want to do is...

Brayden is such a true blue little boy! He wants to grunt and groan and play with his trucks and toys. He loves to be loud and hear himself talk. All he wants to do is walk around and go outside. He loves being outside! He makes the funniest faces as seen here in these pictures. He is growing like a weed and is getting to be a heavy chunker and we love him!

London Update: A long and frustrating week...but she finally got a bottle!

We have now hit the 5 week mark. London has had lots of ups and downs this week. Her breathing has been all over the place and so she still has her oxygen on. She is still in her isolette since she can't quite maintain her own temperature yet but she is close. London is up to 3 lbs. 14oz...were almost to 4 big pounds! She has been having trouble with her digestive system and bowels again and so they did x-rays this afternoon to see what was going on and they are watching her to see is she has developed N.E.C. (pronounced "neck") ( i think that is the initials for it...i don't know). They will do another x-ray tonight and then tomorrow morning to see how things are looking. So that means they put her back on an iv and are holding her feedings for now until they figure out what is going on. On the positive side, London got her first bottle on Friday. She did really well with it. I had prepared myself for the worst since Brayden had such a hard time learning to eat but London did really well. She drank half of the bottle and then the poor little thing was so worn out she went to sleep but I am not complaining...15 out of 30 cc's is good! (That's 1/2 an ounce she drank). She only gets one bottle a day and then rest of her feedings are done through a tube since she doesn't have enough energy to do more right now...or so the doctors tell us. We are trying to take it one day at a time but it can be frustrating. After 5 long weeks, I am ready for London to come home. But, I am grateful that she is getting the care that she needs and is doing as well as she is. Things could be a lot worse. I have to keep reminding myself of that. I am cherishing my sleep at night though since I know it will all go out the window when she comes home and then a chance of a nap during the day with Brayden and her will be slim to none. It is nice to have some energy again and not be pregnant and to wear regular clothes...well most of them. If I actually started running or something maybe they would all fit but I will get there eventually. We are hoping for a good week so that London is closer to coming home and being with us!

London Update...my purple girl...

Just trying to keep everyone updated on our little London...
It has been an ok past week...some progress and some low points. Last Sunday, they had to give London a blood transfusion because her blood count was so low. She was also having trouble breathing and kept D-stating (forgetting to breath and dropping her heart rate). They increased her calorie rate yet again so she is on a super super high calorie formula plus human growth hormones. Currently, London weighs 3lbs. 7oz. They are working on weening her out of her isolette since she is almost 3 1/2 lbs...the bench mark for being in a bassinet/crib. She still has her oxygen on but we are still hoping that she can get it off soon. I can't believe it has been 4 weeks since she was born! London got a stuffed lamb from Grandma Rupp which is actually a 3 inch finger puppet and yet it is almost too big for her little size and she can fit her whole hand in the finger hole. The first picture is of London in a premie onsie...still huge on her! I have to say that this hospital is great at dressing London. They have so many people donate blankets and clothes. We have gotten onsies and little dresses and blankets and hats...she is a purple girl...she looks terrific in purple with her dark hair.

This picture shows a great representation of how little London is...compared to the 3 inch finger puppet...

Video of Brayden walking...

our little london's progress...and a funny boy named Brayden...

I know that I have not been so great about updating everyone on London's progress but here it is finally!...
London is doing really good. She is 2 lbs. 14oz now! She went down to 2lbs. 3oz and has been making the climb back up and has gained 4oz above her birth weight. Her oxygen is slowly getting lowered and we are hoping to have all her breathing aids off this week possibly. The dr. stopped her IV's today since she is finally eating enough to get the needed nutrition for her weight (about 1/2 oz of food every 3 hours) . London is still in the isolete and will be there until she is about 3 1/2 lbs. She still has her feeding tube through her mouth since she has oxygen so we haven't tried giving her a bottle yet. She is coming along slowly but surley. All of the nurses tell us how feisty she is and how much personality she has. She is always trying to pull out her tubes and "escape out of her isolete" as the nurses call it. She pushes off her bedding and scoots herself around. One nurse took a picture of it one night for us so we could see what they kept talking about. We are still hoping that she can come home by the end of May but who knows....

Grandma Rupp made this blanket to go over London's isolete. She even embroidered her name and her birthday on it also.

London is just like her brother and likes to sit and grab her ears or her hat.

I know that London seems to be getting all the attention on the blog but I have to say Brayden is not lacking for attention. He now has grandpa and grandma, mom and dad, and now aunt lizzie to keep him occupied. We couldn't do everything without your help. Thank you so much mom and dad and lizzie! Brayden is growing like a weed...a loud little thing who seems to be a true boy more and more every day. Brayden is always making everyone laugh and has really become a happy little boy. His smile is contagious and it is hard to be upset with him when he looks and you and smiles and laughs. He gets it from his dad! Brayden took his first real steps when I was in he hospital but the best part was that he did it while Jason and he were visiting me one night so I got to be there for it. He is doing better and walking between people and will take about 5-8 steps in a row. He wont attempt to walk if no one is around though...he likes to know that someone will be there to catch him if he needs it. He certainly keeps us busy but we love him!

Brayden with Dad's hat on. He likes to play with hats but hates to wear them now.

Holding London for the 1st time and an update...

I know that everyone has been asking for an update on London and new pictures. I have been too sore and tired and am just getting around to an update. London is doing great! She dropped down to 2lbs. 3oz but is gaining the weight back slowly and is now at 2lbs 6.5oz. She got put under the blue lights for jaundice for a couple days but she got them turned off yesterday afternoon. Today, she tried to pull out her CPAP breathing aid and so the doctor switched her to a nasal canola where she has the regular nose tube. Now we can actually see her face! She is still having trouble getting her intestines to work and hasn't been allowed to eat for 3 or 4 days now and has just been iv fluids. The doctor is hopeful that she can start eating again as soon as tomorrow. We finally got to hold London for the first time on Tuesday night which I was so excited about! I was feeling sad that after 4 days, I still hadn't been able to hold her yet and so it made my whole day to be able to. We are so proud of our little London and happy that she is continuing to do well.

Brayden wearing his I'm a big brother pin.

Em holding London for the first time. She is so ity-bity! Such a change from holding Brayden who is like a solid bag of bricks!

Jason the proud dad! He already calls London his princess...she has him wrapped around her little tiny finger already.

4/16/09 The first picture of London where you can actually see her face. She has dark dark hair...almost black, and it's curly! I know she looks big in the picture but without her CPAP on she looks so much tinnier. We determined that her head is the size of a baseball and her diapers are the cutest little things there is. They are special made for hospitals and about 2 inches by 2 inches...like a little doll diaper (smaller than a regular preemie diaper!)

Baby London Taylor Sessions...

At 2:15pm on Saturday, April 11, 2009, London Taylor Sessions was born. It has been quite an eventful week and we are grateful that everything has turned out ok so far...well as good as can be expected.

Jason, Emily, and London before London was whisked away to the NICU

I got to give London a little kiss before she was taken away. I didn't really get to see her since she was all wrapped up and had the CPAP on. I then had to wait 16 hours before I could see her in the NICU.

Seeing London for the first time in the NICU. She is so inty-bity...tinier than most play baby dolls.

London has a full head of dark hair! We got the nurse to move her CPAP and little hat so we could see it.

For our eventful week here is the run-down of what happened. On Saturday April 4th, after the 1st session of General Conference, I started hemorrhaging and so we rushed to the hospital. The bleeding finally calmed down after 9 hours and luckily, we were able to avoid a blood transfusion for the moment. Because I was doing better, I got moved to the high risk, long term stay room. My blood count continued to drop and on Wednesday, they had to give me a blood transfusion. They gave me 3 units. It was an interesting experience...kind of gross to watch all that blood hanging there on the IV line and then going into me. It did make me more grateful for blood donors. The blood transfusion helped and my blood count went up. I stuck it out until Saturday when I started to hemorrhage again. The doctor decided they needed to do a C-Section because if my blood count dropped again it would cause too much distress to the baby. The minute the doctor told me they were doing the C-Section, I called Jason and told him to get to the hospital now. The doctor was not messing around and within minutes they had given me an epidural and were prepping me for the surgery. I was afraid that Jason was going to miss everything but luckily, they had more of an emergency C-Section to do and it bought Jason enough to time to walk in, get dressed and we were on our way. Within minutes, they had the baby out and it was all over. London weighed 2 lbs. 10oz and was 15 inches long. Jason was able to go up to the NICU with London while they let me recover since I was all druged up and really out of it. They made me wait at least 12 hours before I could see the baby but it turned out to be 16 hours before I got to see her. She is so tiny! The doctors think that it will be 6-8 weeks before she can come home. She is doing great so far and we are so proud of her and love her so much. We definently have to buy her some premie clothes and even those are going to be huge on her! We will keep everyone updated on how she is doing. We havn't been able to hold her yet but are hopeful that we can within the next day or two.

Brayden's 1 year old pictures

For Brayden's First birthday, we decided to get some professional pictures taken. I had not gotten any taken because I wanted to make sure that he would smile in them and they would turn out good. We went on the afternoon of his birthday and here are some of the pictures that we got.

What a little cutie pie! I can't believe how big Brayden is getting and how fast he is growing up!

So proud of my future bulldog....

I wanted to spread the good news because I am so excited for Jason. This week, he found out that he was accepted to The University of Georgia for their professional mba program. We were both excited as this is our first choice in schools. We are going to wait until we finish hearing from the other schools to make or final decision about which school to go to but so far at least we have one option! Jason even got a little scholarship from UGA because he did so well on his GMAT! It was a nice piece of news to get. It gave us both some hope that things will be ok and work out in the end. Congratulations Jason!

Hopsital stay #2...an indefinent one....

I missed the hospital so much that I decided to come back from a second stay with this little baby....J/K!!! After being moved to the "longer term" room today, I guess it is inevitable...I am stuck in the hospital until this baby is born. We had quite the scare on Friday afternoon when I started hemorrhaging out. We rushed to the hospital where things have been crazy...however..they seem to be slowing down now. My case seemed to have caught the attention of every high risk nurse, doctor, noenatologist, and perinatologist here at the hospital and everyone wanted to get in on the action of what was going on. We thought they were going to have to give me a blood transfusion and then a possible C section but so far we have been able to avoid it. My blood count doesn't seem to want to go up but it isn't dropping so for now we are ok. The baby is doing great though so that is good! The doctors have come to the conclusion that I have a placental abruption (a tear in the placenta) and it doesn't help that I keep "going into labor" with contractions and then stopping. I am currently 28 weeks pregnant and they are trying to keep me so till about 30-31 weeks...so for a few more weeks. Although they won't stop me, if i do go into labor due to the placental abruption. And lucky us....they are telling us that there is a 90% chance this baby will be born a C section due to complications and risks.

With all of my free time and just sitting here, I couldn't help but count my blessings and see the silver lining to all of this going on. First, it has been a huge, huge, huge blessing living with my parents. With all of this going on I know that Brayden is in great hands with dad and grandma and grandpa. Thank you mom and dad for all you guys do and for all of your help. We couldn't do it with out you! (My parents had left the day before I went into the hospital this time, to go on vacation to Panama City FL for a week. When they found out what was going on, they turned around...after only being in FL for 1 day, and drove back home to be here and help with Braden) I have such terrific parents and I love you both! Jason, my sweet husband, has also been a huge blessing. Of course, marrying Jason was the best decision that I ever made and it continues to be and will always be! Jason has been such a sweetheart through all of this. He so selflessly has taken on the role of caring for Brayden and is such a great father! Not only that but he takes such good care of me...calming my worries and and doubts, giving me extra hugs and kisses and being the sweetheart that he is! I love you Jason! You are my everything! I couldn't do this without you nor would I want to. Another silver lining has been all of the wonderful doctors and nurses here at the hospital. With Brayden, I constantly felt like I was being belittled and felt stupid by the doctors and nurses. Here, all of the staff is so nice and helpful. Not once has anyone made me feel dumb for asking a question.
I'm not thrilled about being here in the hospital for so long. I feel horrible that I am not at home with my family and that I am not with my Brayden. I also know that this is where i need to be also. I am grateful, at the moment, that Jason is unemployed so that he can be there to help with ever thing going on.

I will keep you updated on any exciting developments!