God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.
(2 Corinthians 1:3b-4, NLT)


Saturday, November 22, 2008

Daddy's first post

I'm making Dave write in this post, since it is going to be about him finally getting to hold Faith for the first time :) We are loving reading all of the comments, knowing that everyone is enjoying reading about Faith's progress... but sometimes we are having a hard time figuring out who different people are... So could you please just sign your name at the end of the comment, so we can know who's been reading? Thanks! :)

Dave:
So when I got the phone call from Raeanne on Friday telling me that she is finally holding our daughter it REALLY made my day! I had been having kind of a crummy day at work being overwhelmed with all the work that I needed to get done and I had just gotten out of a staff meeting that was filled with a bunch of information that really didn't make my day! But talk about a massive turn-around! It's amazing how God works sometimes!
Anyhow, so when Raeanne called and said "guess what I'm doing... holding our baby!!!" I had mixed emotions from jealous to excited to get off work and go straight down to Denver to see my 2 beautiful girls... Raeanne and Faith. Because I have have been working 4-10 hour days my work days have been a little longer than I'm used to but because of the news on Friday my afternoon could not have moved any slower!!!

So I got off work and headed to Denver... driving somewhat quickly so that I was able to go see Raeanne and Faith (Noah is in Loveland this weekend with Raeanne's parents because he and Nathan really needed a break from the camper) but not so quickly that I got a speeding ticket... that's all we need is ME getting a speeding ticket!!! Anyhow so I got to the The Children's Hospital and went upstairs. Because neither of us had eaten dinner we ate quickly and went back to Faith's room... I was really itching to be able to hold Faith. After over a week of not getting to hold anything but Faith's hand or her foot I really wanted to hold our baby!

A little while later after Kate (our nurse) finished doing some things I asked her if I could hold Faith. I never really realized that it might be a bit of an ordeal to get Faith all set with unhooking and rehooking up all of her cords and wires and such and making sure that her breathing tube was in the correct place. It makes sense now that I think about it, but I had never really thought about it prior to getting to hold her last night.

When Faith was all hooked back up and settled in my arms it felt so great to get to finally hold my daughter! It is indescribable the feelings I had as I sat there finally holding my daugher! It was the culmination of everything that we as a family have been going through for the past few months since we found out about Faith's gastroschisis. To know that she has made so much progress even in the last week that we get to hold her is very reassuring. Perhaps our hope of making it home by Christmas isn't all that unreasonable?!?!? I guess we will see. Because of the timing of everything I only had the chance to hold Faith for about 45 minutes... but wow did that time fly by! I'm really looking forward to holding her without all of the wires and the breathing tube! I know she needs all of them at this point, but it make me nervous that I might bump something or I might do something wrong... Raeanne keeps assuring me that it will all be okay and that as long as I'm careful I can't really do anything wrong or hurt her. I guess my nervousness comes from not ever holding a newborn that is hooked up to all of this stuff before. I have held newborns before... just never with all of the tubes and wires attached.

One thing that I noticed as I was holding Faith was that man she is STINKY!!! I guess that happens when you don't get a bath for over a week... our nurse today is Becky, and Raeanne asked her around noon if we could clean her up. We had to wait a little bit for the results of her last blood gas, but everything came back fine and Becky said yes. She gathered all the supplies, since Faith had never been bathed before, and we got to it. I am proud to say that we now have a beautiful little girl who smells like a baby should.

Another cool thing that happened today was that as Raeanne and I were downstairs eating breakfast, someone who recognized us from the Vineyard in Fort Collins (our home church) walked up and began to talk to us. Neither Raeanne nor I could figure out how it is that she recognized us, but we thought it was really cool that she thought enough to come up to us and to introduce herself to us. It turns out that she is down here with her daughter to have surgery. It's pretty cool how God works sometimes! To bring someone into our lives, even if only for 5 minutes or so, that is from our home church to know that we and our families are not alone in this situation.

Raeanne:
Having been here every day, and spending so much time with Faith, I am SO impressed with how well she is doing today! Her vitals are amazing, and even when we bathed her, something that could or should have upset her, she stayed nice and calm. :) I think she was thankful for the opportunity to get cleaned up; she is resting wonderfully now. I can't wait to hold her again, I think Dave and I are both looking forward to doing that again today :)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so happy for all the progress Faith has made. She is beautiful. Congrats David and Raeanne!

Laura
(David's Co-Worker)

Jenae said...

I can see Noah in these last few pictures of Faith. Can you see a resemblance? I love seeing daddy getting to hold his little girl. It warms my heart. I'm so proud of Faith for the progress she is making. She's a little girl..of course she LOVED her bath. I hope you both get to hold her agian soon!
Jenae (BirthChat friend)

Mrs Mar said...

WOW, it must feel grate to hold her. Seems like she realy injoyed her bath.

Marlis
(babfit, natural birth board)

Bowman Fam said...

Faith is so beautiful and praise the Lord for His healing! It's been a true blessing reading up on the updates. :)

Blessings,
Lori

Lexiconmom said...

Okay okay I have updated my sign-on so you know who I am:) You never know if you need an original blah blah. Anyway, Dave, you are a natural. You have been with all of our kids and I am SO SO SO happy you have been able to hold her. You guys look so happy! We love you!!!
William, Amy, Kylie, Will & Connor

Anonymous said...

Great Grandmother Robertson and Aunt Eileen just went through all the posts. We enjoyed reading all about Faith and especially enjoyed the pictures. We will continue to pray that things will progress quickly and you will all soon be going home.

Beckie said...

It is so encouaraging to see Faith progress and heal so quickly. You are all in my prayers.
Beckie
(Calvary Chapel)

Anonymous said...

You are right Amy, Dave is a natural! He has been so fantastic with the boys!! We worried about how he would handle walking right into having two 2 year olds before we knew him and I have to say he handles them so terrific, there was no reason to worry. He is the only dad that they have ever had and is definately the only one they will ever need or want!! Thanks for teaching him so much about children. By the way, while we don't really know each other - I have heard great things about you!
He sure looks great with Faith and she with him! Their family is so perfect, we couldn't be more happy for everyone!
Momma
(Raeanne's Mom)

Unknown said...

I injoy reading this , it is like reading a novel. Or watching a TV showine as it happens. We are really happy that things are going so well. Our prays are with you as everyday goes by. Aunt BoBBoB

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