What a face!

The first time without 'stuff' all over that beautiful face :-)
This is Caleigh and her favorite Respiratory Therapist, Velvet. Velvet just took the Sipap off of Caleigh's nose and man was she happy! The doctors are weaning Caleigh off of assistance by taking her off for 3 hrs at a time to train her muscles to breath on her own. She is doing great! She is much happier without it!

Look at that.....fast asleep and breathing great on her own!

Sneaking a peek at mommy! Caleigh was more alert today than I have ever seen her. She was super happy to be off of the breathing machines. See that arm??....Caleigh was pushing herself and turning her head from the side to face down. Mommy had to 'rescue' her from moving the wrong way several times. Her muscles are really strong! Were so proud!

Please keep the prayers coming!

2 weeks old & off the Vent!

Today Caleigh is 2 wks old! I can't believe it has already been that long. Yesterday the doctors weaned her off of the ventilator. They then put a 'sleep apnea' type of machine in her nostrils. This blows air into her lungs to keep them inflated. The nurses told us today that they are trying to wean Caleigh off of this machine within the next couple of days. Eric and I got to hold Caleigh for a long time today and her stats went up and she was doing really great with the kangaroo care.

Snuggling with daddy

Caleigh's very first binky! She loves it!

Caleigh's very first outfit! (Thanks Diana) This little onesie is the only preemie clothes we have and it swallows her up! All the nurses say that she'll be out of preemie clothes in no time. She wasn't very happy about the outfit and it gave us the chance to hear her little squeals. She sounds like a precious little kitten!

Kangaroo Care @ 11 Days

Today Caleigh is 11 days old and mommy finally got to hold her! The process is called Kangaroo Care and it is very important to the growth and stability of a premature baby. Plus, it definitely helped mommy and daddy's spirits lift.

All I could think about was how beautiful, perfect and tiny she is. What a miracle.

Kangaroo Care helps the baby's heart rate stabilize, oxygen produce better stats, and levels out the heart rate. Caleigh fell into a deep sleep while I was holding her skin to skin, and she started breathing a whole lot more on her own. It was absolutely amazing and I can't wait to do it again!

She is doing really well today. The doctors are slowly weaning her off the ventilator and we are just waiting for her bowels to show signs that they are ready to start trying milk. Thanks again for all of the thoughts and prayers. Caleigh wouldn't be the feisty, little fighter she is without them.

Last Surgery?

Caleigh had her 4th and hopefully last surgery yesterday morning and it went great. The surgeon reconnected all of the small intestines to the large intestines. Now we will wait for her bowels to start working and then begin to introduce milk through a feeding tube. On to the next step!

8 Days old

Caleigh still wearing her super hero glasses to protect her eyes from the jaundice lamps.

Caleigh's last surgery went very well. All of the questionable sections of intestines had pinked up and looked good. She will be having surgery again tomorrow (Friday) to try to re-connect the clamped sections of small intestines. If the surgeon is able to re-connect we should be done with surgeries for awhile and the long road of feedings will start. It is very hard to get the intestines 'running' right after so much trauma. As far as prematurity goes she is still doing wonderful. She doesn't even need the ventilator but they don't want to take it out while she is still having surgery every other day so it is on the lowest settings that they can have. She seems to be taking the nutrition through IV very well and she is tinkling in her diapers just great. In fact she gets very cranky when she has a wet diaper or wants to move from one side to the other! She is just an amazing little girl.

Eric and I are doing good. Exhaustion has set in and we realized today that we may be doing this for the next several months to come. Kinda shocking when we think about it. Everyday when we go to the hospital to see her; we really get a little 'pick me up' and then when we have to leave it is really hard us. The room in the NICU that Caleigh is in is closed to most visitors and they are constantly getting new babies. We aren't allowed to be in the room when they are bringing in a new one. In the past 2 days they have gotten 5 new babies, so we have been asked to leave several times. Hopefully when she gets closer to coming home she can have more visitors, and hopefully that won't be more than her original due date which was Nov. 1st. This is the guesstimate that we were given. We can't wait for everyone to meet her, but the possibility of infection is really scary to us and that is why the NICU has their rules. We tell Caleigh daily of all the people that love her and pray for her and we hope everyone can understand.

Mommy & Daddy got to give Caleigh her first bath! No dunking allowed :-)
Just a small wipe down and she was ready for a nap! It is really hard on preemies because they get tired so easily. Daddy holding Caleigh for the first time. Only for a minute while we changed out her bedding. She got to wear a towel on her head after her first shampoo.

All in all, she didn't like the bath experience. This is her cry face! Just look at that frown. If she didn't have the vent still hooked up we would have heard her cry and tell us all about it.

Thanks again for all the sweet words and prayers. I will post an update after the surgery tomorrow.
Have a great Friday!
Much Love

5 days old

Caleigh's daddy holding her tiny head. Already she has him wrapped around his finger. She just took her superhero glasses off so you can still see the outline from them :-)

Thank you to everyone for their comments, emails and continued support for our family! Caleigh is doing really well. Everyday she changes for the better. Sunday morning she had her 2nd bowel surgery and a portion of her small intestines was removed. Tomorrow (Tuesday), Caleigh will have her 3rd surgery to go in and check out some 'questionable' bowel that was discovered during the previous surgery. As far as her prematurity goes, she is doing great, but the troubles with the intestines seem to be holding her back. Please Pray for live, healthy, pink intestines during tomorrow's surgery.

The staff, nurses, and doctors at the NICU are amazing. They are truly a blessing to our family. Today, Caleigh opened her eyes for a brief moment and we got to cradle our hands on her. She has really started to respond to our voices and touch. Eric and I get to do some of the more routine things like diaper changes, and temperature checks. We are loving every precious minute.

Thanks again for all of the support.
Much Love,
Holly, Eric & Caleigh

Caleigh Amelia Gray

Caleigh Amelia Gray was born at an early 29 wks on 8-15-07 at 2:25 pm. She weighed in at 2lbs. 2 oz.
Her first Gastro surgery went well and she will be having another in the next few 2 days. She is a fighter very feisty, beautiful, and amazing.

Mommy and Daddy are doing fine and Caleigh is doing as well as expected.

There will be a long road ahead. Please pray for a steady recovery from prematurity and surgeries to come.

Thanks to everyone for their continued prayers and support. Were sorry we haven't gotten back with everyone's phone calls. The way Caleigh responds and looks changes daily. She is truly doing an amazing job. We will try to keep everyone updated as soon as things settle down.

Thanks for everything and Much love,
Holly, Eric and Caleigh

You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Mommy & Daddy right before c-section & CaleighCaleigh, a few minutes after birth. Her Gastro belly wrapped up. 2 lbs. 2 oz. with plastic wrap.Caleigh, about 8 hrs after surgery. Her little hat protects her eyes from the bright lights. They still had her sedated so she can rest.

Caleigh, day 2, she gets to put on her super hero glasses to protect her eyes from the jaundice lamps. Her skin is tight with fluid and shiny. Caleigh started responding to our voices. Look how little compared to daddy's hand!
Mommy and Daddy with baby Caleigh

LAMAZE

Here I am 28 wks and 2 days pregnant with Baby Gray! Getting much bigger! This weekend Eric and I went to Lamaze class! Friday night and all day Sat. we were in a room full of pregnant women. Even our instructor is pregnant! We watched the ever famous birth videos, toured the hospital, and learned about massage and breathing techniques. I think it was totally worth it and we really learned a lot about the labor process.

Doctor and Pediatrician Appointments on Tuesday!

The Nursery

Eric and I had a lot of fun painting the nursery this weekend. The color....SUNBEAM....aka....yellow. It's bright and I just love it! I think the color really goes with the bedding set that we picked out. No pinks or blues, all neutrals just in case! Nothing on the walls just yet, but with the help of proud grandparents to be; the crib and dresser are in one piece and ready to be used!

We had a little fun painting messages to the baby while we were working so hard :-) We started painting at 9 o'clock in the evening and finished the next morning.I'm on my way to buy a curtain rod for the window, and then the matching curtains can go up! It's all coming together and so exciting!

Brody is finally here!

Congratulations, to my cousin Dawn and her husband Chad. They welcomed their first child, Brody Micheal Goodwin, on July 29, 2007!

Isn't he just the cutest?!?!?
Love you guys, xoxo