New Digs

Yesterday I received a wonderful phone call from the nurse taking care of Allison... She was going to be a giraffe!! A vacancy became available in NICU south and she was moved yesterday afternoon!! Her new room has a convertible couch, a recliner, personal sink, breast pump, and lots more space... Most importantly, there is more privacy. It was really hard to stay with her in north since it was pretty tight quarters. I'm looking forward to spending more quality time with her now. In addition to her new accommodations, she was also moved from the isolette to an open crib and had nippled all of her feedings that day!! She is now up to 4lbs! Of course, she would only take half of her dinner by bottle for me, but it's tough work sucking down 32ml of milk, so I'm sure she was just pooped from all the changes yesterday.

Playing Dress-up

Here are some cute pics of Allie being dressed up by the NICU nurses...
And, Man, do I hate bath time!!!

Progress Report

Life in the NICU is certainly a roller coaster, but last night we really made some good progress! Allison had previously been on 24% oxygen with a nasal cannula, which is now gone as well as she is off IV!! All the excitement has made it difficult for her to take down her increasing bottles, so she is being fed through an NG tube, but she is beginning to figure out latching and last night did really well with me. We are hoping that she will be moved from NICU North to South (where the healthier babies are) within the next few days.

Surprise!!

Well, I'm a little behind in blogging and there has definitely been a lot to tell about in the last week... Our most exciting story is regarding baby Allie's untimely arrival. Matt and I had gone down to Dogtown to watch the St. Patty's Day parade on Tuesday and I had this strange feeling that something just wasn't quite right. After fighting the crowds for an hour and a half, we decided to head back home so that I could rest. And after a big jug of water and some bed rest, I was feeling back up to par. So, much to my surprise, I woke up at 4am to go to the bathroom and found that my water had broken! And of course, Matt had just left for work. So I called the doctor and headed in to the women's eval unit at St. John's to get checked out. Not wanting to wait, I decided to drive myself and meet Matt there once he could get some additional coverage at the store. Once I got there, things moved pretty quickly and within an hour we were told that we would be parents within the hour! Pretty shooken up, it was hard to keep up with all the doctors and nurses prepping me for surgery. It was all we could do to get a hold of our parents before heading into the OR. The C-section went smoothly and at 7:49am Allison Grace Binning was brought into the world kicking and screaming! It was reassuring to hear how strong her lungs were despite her 33 week and 4 day gestation. Matt did get to hold her for a bit before they took her off to the NICU, where she is expected to stay for another couple of weeks. I'll continue to post updates as they come available.

Allison Grace Binning
Born March 18, 2009
4lbs 2oz
17 1/4"

Busy Weekend!!

Sorry for the delayed post, but I spent most of yesterday recovering from the exhausting weekend!!

Friday night we had an impromptu dinner party since the weather was so gorgeous!! Katie, Ian, and Julie came over for grilled pork chops and shrimp and played games until about 1am! I can't tell you the last time I was up that late (except to pee in the middle of the night, of course)!

Then on Saturday night, we joined the Emersons to celebrate my Aunt Fran's 70th birthday. We had a great time eating (mmm, Pappy's BBQ), drinking, and conversating. We've have had a rash of pregnancies lately, so it was fun for the 3 of us that were there (me-32 weeks, Shannon-19 weeks, and Michelle-10 weeks) to compare notes! I can't believe there will have been 6 new Emersons in just 12 months!! Of course, Matt always seems to get into trouble around the boys, so at midnight I had to call it quits and my cousin Shannon and her husband Kirk dropped him off a bit later.

It was tough getting up after losing an hour to the time change, but on Sunday we headed out to St. Charles for our first baby shower. Susan, Julie, and Lynn were great hosts and everyone had a great time. (See the baby blog for more details.) Afterwards we decided to take advantage of another beautiful day and head to the park. We ended up staying for burgers and a movie, after which I was pooped!!

It's been a long winter...

and we have been taking advantage of the beautiful weather this week! Today Matt and I took Denver to Forest Park for a walk and picnic, then came home and worked outside. We cleaned up the front and back porches, raked leaves, and waged war on the mint garden. I've been really bad about posting pics, so I will do my best to post some of all the projects we've been doing lately- inside and out! I've still got a little daylight left, so I think I'm going to Furminate the dog now!

Redbox

You guys all seemed really excited about the free Redbox movies, so here is another deal... Check out Redblog every Wednesday for a free rental code in the month of March. I wish I had known about this yesterday!!

Don't forget...

to pick up a copy of the STL Post today! There are LOTS of great coupons this week as well as an entire section devoted to tips designed to trim your budget... Also be sure to check out Walgreens ad this week as there are some really good deals like free toothpaste after RR (combine it with a coupon and it's a money maker)!