It is so hard to believe that it has been nine months since we had Gracie. We have come a really long way from 1 lb 10 3/4 oz to 13 lb 8 oz. The top picture was taken when she was a week old and the bottom was taken on Monday. You can really see the change in her size by the rattle that is in both pictures. We are amazed to see the changes in Gracie recently. She rolls around and we're working on sitting up, still a little wobbly. She can be a real chatter box at times and is developing new tickle spots each day. The sweetest sound on earth is to hear her giggle. I can't help but smile every time I hear it. We are really chowing down on food and hope that we can graduate to the next level at her check-up next week. She is still getting the RSV shots to help keep her from getting a respiratory virus this winter. So far we are doing really good, please pray this will continue. We hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years.

Merry Christmas

We are getting ready for Christmas in the Ring house. We finally got the tree up this week, Gracie loves the lights. We had a good Thanksgiving with our family unfortunately Gracie didn't get to go to either family dinner. We took turns staying home with her and going to eat. She won't get to go to extended family dinners for Christmas either. It's hard but in her best interest. She got her second RSV shot last Friday and weighed 13 lb 8 oz! Me and the nurse couldn't believe it. She gained a pound and an ounce in a month. Somebody really likes eating real food. Gracie is currently fighting a head cold and a sinus infection. The doctor started her on antibiotics on Monday hoping that we caught it soon enough and the infection doesn't move in to her chest. We finally broke ground on our new house last weekend. I was hoping to be in the new house by Gracie's first birthday in March but that's just not going to happen. We just hope the house is done by summer. Please pray for good weather and a smooth process, we are really excited! Merry Christmas we hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

We had a great Halloween. Gracie was the cutiest Snow White there has ever been but all she wanted to do was eat her dress. After the last hospital stay, the doctor has put us back on "house lock-down" for the winter. This means no more church, stores or large groups. Gracie did get two flu shots and an H1N1 vaccine but it's just too risky to take her out. We need to try to limit her exposure to germs as much as we can. We only get to do the holidays with immediate family which is really hard because of course everyone wants to see and hold her. She is eating all kinds of food now and really loves prunes. It's so funny to see her eat new textures. As you can see by the picture of her in the bed she is turning into our little monkey. She can roll over but mostly just inches around. At her last appointment on the 13th she weighed 12lb 12oz. She is sleeping 10 to 12 hours at night. This has been really nice for mommy and daddy! I can't believe she is going to be eight months old on Saturday. Please keep us in your prayer that Gracie is able to stay well this winter.

It's going to be a long winter....

Alot has happened since the last post...Gracie is now eating cereal and loving it. She weighs 12 lbs and is 22 inches long. On Friday the 9th, she started a little cough. Nothing bad and so we didn't think much about it. Gracie and I went to Gatlenburg with my family for the weekend. As the weekend went on she started to cough a little more. She never ran a temperature, just coughing. We came home on Monday the 12th and I decided to take her to the doctor just to let him check her out. They swabbed her for the flu and RSV and both were negative however he did not like the sound of her right lung and her oxygen saturation (level of oxygen in the blood) was low. He said that we should take her to Vanderbilt to get an x-ray just to check the lung out. We got to Vanderbilt around 6:30, by 7:00 they had an x-ray and said that it was pnuemonia and they were admitting us. They started her on antibiotics and breathing treatments. On Tuesday the doctor told us that it would probably be her worst day since it was day 5 of the symptoms, boy was he right! Her breathing got extremly worse and they considered moving us to ICU so they could do more to help her breath. Each day after that she got a little better. Her immune system is very weak and will take longer to recover once she gets sick and this is why we are going to have to be very careful this winter. Each little cold or virus and we are going to be a Vanderbilt with a very sick baby girl. Please pray for us to have an sick-free winter.

Finally got to go to church

Today was Gracie's first time to church. I wasn't sure if she was going to stay quite the whole time or not but she did really good. She wore a dress and bonnet that was mine. She looked so cute! She continues to do really good. She probably weighs somewhere around 11 lbs now. I can't believe she is going to be six months old next Monday, were does the time go?

growing like a weed!

At the check-up on Aug. 31st Gracie weighed 9lb 15oz. That was her five month check up so she got two shots that day. The doctor said that she is having a steady weight gain so I don't have to take her for weekly weight checks anymore. She doesn't have to go back until the end of Sep. for her six month check-up. She is really changing. She is starting to giggle a little when she smiles and is constantly active and moving. She watched her first Penn State game this Saturday, the first of many to come :-)

Finally 9lbs!

Gracie went to the doctor on this past Monday for another weight check and she weighed 9lb 2oz. She is keeping the ounce a day gain which is really good. We got her a jumparoo today and put her in it to see what she'd do. Wasn't crazy about it at first but then kinda liked it. She needs to get a little bigger before she can really use it.

update

I know we're behind on posting new info. Things have been going really good. At Gracie's appt last monday she weighed 8lb 11oz. We can't belive how quickly she is growing. On Friday the dermatologist office called and told us that at the monthly meeting the doctors discussed Gracie's case and they all feel that the hemangiomas on her liver are only going to get smaller from this point and there is no need to check the other parts of her body again. This is wonderful news! Gracie is really starting to develop a personality. She has really started focusing and following people that are moving from across the room. The latest thing we love to see is her smiling. She is a morning person who loves to lay there and smile at you. It simply melts our hearts! She has pretty much got the head control down, can get a little bobbly at times but can hold her head up when on her belly. She is sleeping thru the night most of the time. We go to bed around 11:00 and she will sleep to 6:00.

Been a crazy and long week!

Gracie started a little cough last Saturday. We didn't think much about it until Sunday because it went from every couple of hours to a couple times each hour. I could tell that she was having a hard time breathing and sounded congested. We called the pediatricians office and they said to take her to Vanderbilt just to get checked out. They said that she had a viral chest cold and it would have to run it's course. They did a chest x-ray to make sure it wasn't the beginning of pneumonia and the x-ray showed that the lungs were clear but it did reveal a mass in the chest cavity that they said could be a hernia or a hemangioma but imposed no immediate threat and they decided there was no reason to keep us and let us go home. We took her to the doctor the next morning to follow up with him. He agreed on the chest cold and said he would monitor her for the next couple of days. We got home about lunch time and Gracie went to sleep. Finally around 6:00 Ryan woke her up cause we knew she needed to eat. Her diaper was dry and she wouldn't eat. You could just tell she felt really bad. We once again called the doctor and he said that we needed to admit her to the hospital for dehydration. Back to Vanderbilt we went at 8:00 monday night. They didn't have any rooms open on the floor so we spent the first 24 hours in the ER. That was horrible. Ryan and I slept on the floor until they found us a single gurney to share. They did a chest C.T. Tuesday to see exactly what the chest mass was and it turned out that it wasn't a big hemangioma but several small ones that shadowed and looked like one big on x-ray. Tuesday night they moved us to the 7th floor in a regular room. What a difference location means. Gracie's breathing was getting better by this time and she was finally starting to eat more. On Wednesday Gracie was showing signs of the cold going away. They discharged us that night, we were happy to go home. I took Gracie back to the doctor today for him to re-check her. He said her lungs sound much better and she had gained 10 ozs since Monday, so that tells us that she is getting enough fluids. She weighs 8lb 6ozs. She still is a little congested and coughs a little but hopefully it will be gone by the end of the weekend. Thank you for the prayers!

Please Pray!!

Gracie had her liver ultrasounded yesterday at Vanderbilt. Dr. Ervin called last night with the results. She has some hemagiomas on her liver. We do not know how serious this is right now. The specialist is out-of-town but Dr. Ervin is going to try an reach him to discuss what to do next. This is something we have feared could happen due to the high number of external ones. I will try to post more information as we get it, but please pray for us! The power of prayer has brought us this far!

weight update

Gracie went to the doctor on Friday, and she now weighs 7lbs 6ozs. She has manage to keep growing at close to the same rate as what she would have done in the womb which is pretty rare.
She is eating about 3 ounces at a feeding. She is alot more alert during the day and has learned how to work her lungs really good crying. She can focus on your face when you are talking to her and follows the sound of your voice. We are very happy with her development. She goes to Vanderbilt on the 13th to have another ultrasound to re-check for internal hemangiomas.

Okay, so I'm a little behind on posting. Gracie went for a check-up last Tuesday and she weighed 6lb 12oz! We couldn't believe it! We thought she was around 6lbs, little did we know she is closer to 7lb. She goes back tommorow for her two week check and we'll see what she has gained in 10 days. She finally out-grew the preemie clothes and is wearing newborn size. I will try to post after her appt and let everyone know what she weighs.

Working with mommy

Things are going really good. Gracie went to the Ped. dermatologist last week to have her checked about her hemangiomas. He said that they don't look bothersome and we are just going to monitor them. He does want her to have another ultrasound to check for internal ones though. She can develop new ones for about 10 more weeks. Please pray that her scans will continue to be clean. We go back to the doctor in the morning for our two week check-up. I am guessing she weighs somewhere around 6 lbs now...we'll see. I have returned to work after being gone for six months. It's good to be back and hard at the same time. Thank goodness I have a wonderful boss that is allowing me to bring her to work for now. Once she gets a little bigger family will be keeping her during the day.

We love to eat!

Gracie went to the doctor on Friday for some shots and check-up. She now weighs 5lb 6oz! That means she gained 15 oz in 13 days since she has been home from the hospital. The doctor was very pleased. She is eating around 2 to 2.5 oz at each feeding. We are sleeping pretty good thru the night. The doctor will continue to see her every 2 weeks till she is 4 months old so he can monitor her growth. She is starting to be alot more alert during the day and makes eye contact when you speak to her and can follow your voice.

We love being at home!

Gracie went to the pediatrician last Tuesday for him to check her out and see how she was doing since being discharged from the NICU. She weighed 4lb 11oz. We can't believe how big she is getting. We are settling into a routine at home with feedings and sleeping. Right now she kinda has days and nights mixed up. She loves sleeping in the day and babbling in bed at night. :-) She goes back to the doctor on Friday to have her blood count checked and get a vaccine. I can't wait to see what she weighs.

We're home :-)

We are finally at home. Gracie did great last night and we actually did sleep some. I thought we would be up all night staring at her. She now weighs 4lb 6.75 ozs and is eating almost 2 ounces at each feeding. We are so happy to be at home and are really blessed that she was ready to come home when she is still 6 weeks away from her due date. She is really quite and doesn't do alot of crying, I am sure this will change eventually but we are enjoying it for now.

So close to home....

We are rooming in at Baptist tonight and going home with our sweet baby girl in the morning. They have rooms in the NICU for us to stay with Gracie and we take care of her by ourselves till morning. The doctor will have to check her out one more time and they will do a blood count and then we can go home. After nine long weeks we will get to finally settle in at home as a family of three (plus the dog :-). We are so exicted and nervous at the same time. I worked like a mad woman today getting her room ready and trying to find just the right outfit to bring her home in (big thanks to Mimi for finding it and doing a quick alteration). It seems so strange sitting in here alone with her grunting in her bed without a nurse around. I am really going to miss the nurses here, they have all been great and a few we have gotten really close to. We have an even bigger extended family keeping up with our little miracle. We are truly blessed to be taking her home this soon. When I had her they told us to plan on 3 months which would be Father's Day. She would only be 34 weeks if I were still carrying her. The doctors call her amazing and I think that really sums her up in one word. Thanks again for keeping us in your prayers!

God is SO GOOD!!!

We got two pieces of good news, first and foremost, Gracie ultrasound was clean!!! She only has hemangiomas on the outside. We had a huge sigh of relief when the doctor told us. Second, we are scheduled to take Gracie home on Saturday. She has passed all of her test (car seat test, hearing test, etc.) and we will stay at the hospital on Friday night and take her home Saturday morning. The hospital has us stay there the last night in a room with her alone so that we can't get used to taking care of her alone but they are still close if we need them. We hope that she does not have any breathing spells or she won't go home for another week. I am trying not to get too excited till we walk in our door with her. She is doing great in an open crib. We are loving getting to hold her all the time. Please pray for us as we take her home. We are excited but extremely nervous as any new parents are.

Another big week...

Gracie had another great week. On Sunday night she passed the 1800 gram(3lb 15oz) mark. She now weighs 4lb .5oz. She gets to move to an open crib like the ones they use in the regular nurseryand she gets to wear clothes. She has not had anymore spells since Mother's Day and is taking all of her feedings by bottle and doing some breastfeeding. Dr. Rojas has ordered an ultrasound to be done tomorrow which has us very anxious. Gracie has several Hemangiomas or as most people call them strawberries on her body. She has one on her chest that she has had since birth but continues to get more. Ryan and I just thought that was normal but come to find out that usually babies have three or less. Gracie has more than 20. There is a chance since she has a high number on the outside that she could have some on internal organs. So they will do the ultrasound to check mainly the liver and brain. The doctor told us to doesn't expect to find anything it is just something that needs to be checked. Please pray for we are very nervous. The best news of all is that there is a chance that we will get to take Gracie home this weekend. She still has a few test to pass but we are getting very close.

Big Week

This has been a big week for our little girl. We were a little worried about how she would do off of her oxygen but it seems we were worried about nothing as she has kept her blood oxygen levels within the normal range for a baby her size. Her next big step was being able to take a bottle on Thursday. The doctors thought it might be a little soon since most babies have trouble sucking, swallowing and breathing at the same time until they are 34 weeks gestation(Gracie is 32 weeks), but being a Ring, she loved to eat and had no problem finishing her first bottle in 18 minutes. Starting off she will only be allowed one bottle feeding a day. Also on Thursday she passed the 1500 grams(3lbs 4ozs.) mark. This is a big milestone for many reasons. The biggest thing for us is that we now get to hold her twice a day. She is now big enough to regulate her tempature so she no longer has a temp probe stuck to her side, she is now allowed to wear clothes and we can give her nightly bathings. Saturday was another great day for Gracie. Her doctor bumped her bottle feedings to twice a day. Then the big surprise was that Gracie was moved to the stepdown unit. The stepdown unit is for stable babies that are close to going home. Babies in this unit typically do not need the intensive care they were receiving and now just need time to grow and get stronger. Seeing her move is a great feeling. This lets us know that the doctors feel good about her overall health and that she is really is getting closer to going home. And as of Saturday night, Gracie was weighing in at 3lbs 7ozs. She's getting closer!!!

Look, NO BREATHING MACHINE!!!!

The doctors decided to take Gracie off of the breathing machine today. She had been on 1 liter of air(very small amount of air) for the last couple of days and was doing really well. The next couple of days should tell us if she is ready to breath on her own or not. We are very excited, this could be one step closer to coming home! :-)

She did it!!!

Gracie broke 3lbs tonight!!! I was so excited that I didn't get the camera out till we saw what she weighed because I didn't want to jinx us. Gracie did have a spell tonight when we were at the hospital. She stopped breathing and her heart rate dropped but it only lasted for a couple of seconds. That was the first spell she has had since April 7th, so that is really good. Please pray that this was an isolated event and not the beginning of a trend.

Gracie's hiccups

Gracie get the hiccups all the time. I thought it was too cute so I had to record them. :-)

So close to 3lbs!!!

We are so excited! Gracie continues to do very well. As of last night she weighs 2lb 14ozs, we are getting very close to 3lbs. The doctors are going try to lower her oxygen to 1 liter of air again(which is not alot). She is having to do most of the breathing. They tried this a week ago and her lungs just weren't strong enough to handle the work. She is really filling out and changes on a daily basis.

These pictures were taken on March 25th (4 days old). We used Ryan's wedding band to give people an idea of just how little she is.

the long road getting here....

Okay, I guess I will start at the beginning of our story. I was diagnosed with cervical cancer in April '05. I was told by the first oncologist to have a total hysterectomy at age 25. After much praying and information searching we found a doctor who could perform a different surgery that would remove just the cervix and leave everything else un-touched. The surgery was a success at completely removing all traces of cancer. After getting married in June '07, we began to try for a family. We began fertility treatments in March '08. After a tough summer of four failed insemination attempts, we began the process of doing IVF. We started the shots September 15th. We did the egg retrieval on Oct. 8th and implanted two embryos on Oct. 13th. We found out the great news on Oct. 22nd that it worked and we were pregnant!!! We found out a couple of weeks later that only one embryo took, this turned out to be a blessing in the long run. Everything was going great and we were so excited until Dec. 2 (10 weeks pregnant) I started bleeding at work. We were so concerned that we had lost our baby. After getting an ultrasound immediately we found out that the baby was just fine. I was placed on bed rest for three weeks. We had a great Christmas and I was allowed to go back to work. After 2 weeks of work the bleeding started again and I went back on bed rest. On Jan. 9th we found out that the baby was a girl. I had weekly appts with a high-risk OB and during the Jan. 16th appt it was discovered that my on again, off again bleeding was being caused by bleeding along the placenta. I was sent from the doctors office to Baptist Hospital to be admitted for observation. I was 16 weeks and 3 days pregnant. After a rough first 24 hours on magnesium in a labor/delivery room, they moved me to an antipartum room. I had daily ultrasounds to monitor the bleeding and the health of the baby. After six weeks and four units of blood, the bleeding seemed to stop. The doctors were talking about letting us go home then we hit the next bump in the road, my water broke. We were heart-broken. I was 23 weeks pregnant and we were scared to death that I was going to have to deliver her but the doctors informed us that the baby was capable of living in the womb without the ambionic fluid. I was able to make it 13 more days which made all the difference in the world. This gave us the chance to get the steroid shots to help speed up the development of Gracie's lungs. On March 21, 2009 at 10:19 Gracie Marie Ring made her way into this beautiful world. She weighed only 1lb 10.75oz and 11.5 inches long. She was very stable from the beginning. The doctors were very optimistic. She stayed on the ventilator only 48 hours which is amazing for a baby her size. She is now 5 weeks and 3 days old. She weighs 2lb 10.5oz and around 14 inches long. She continues to do good with her breathing. She is still getting air through her nose which we hope she won't need in a week. We want to thank everyone who has continued to pray for Gracie. God has been good to our family and continues to bless us.

starting blog

After viewing another NICU baby's blog I decided to try one for Gracie. I will try to post info and pics regularly. We'll see how well I do. Thank you to everyone who has prayed and continue to pray for our family. We would have not made it this far with out the amazing power of prayer!