This is what our house typically looks like on a weekend morning...
Naked play time on the sand/water table
Burke sleeping in his car seat. Contrary to what this may imply, we are not actually about to leave the house. The car seat has become Burke's happy place. Forget about all of the other baby paraphernalia we have (swing, pack and play, rock and play, bouncer, nap nanny, crib), just throw the Burkester in his car seat, pull up the white noise app on my phone, and he will be out like a light in seconds. He may or may not have been known to sleep in here at night, as well. Hey, it's all about survival these first few months, right?
Hope you all are getting a tad more sleep on your weekends than we are currently... ;)
I'm wanting to change the name of this little blog to something more fitting (ie. something to do with our family since that's really all I ever post about). I'm liking The Nevels Nest, but my creative juices are running low due to lack of sleep. All you creative folks out there please feel free to leave a suggestion or two on what you think we should re-name it!
We were lucky enough to have the wonderful Christen Foster come to our home to take some newborn and family pictures for us a few weeks ago. I am so pleased with them! To say it's a miracle we got several good pictures after the insanely chaotic experience that was is an understatement. We had fits galore that morning on top of an anxious and hormonal me that was sweating profusely trying to wrangle all 3 kids together and get them in happy, picture taking mode. At one point, we had Campbell laying face down on the bed screaming, Sophie slapping Burke on the forehead, me trying to make the sweat-matted hair on my forehead look good, and Kyle making fun of me for sweating so much. Why does taking pictures make me a sweaty mess?! After that experience, I'm fairly certain it will be approximately 12 years before we pay for professional pictures again. And thank God for the gummy bears that I was able to use as bribery to get my girls to smile. Nevertheless, Christen was amazing and I will cherish these pictures of this crazy time in our lives forever. ;)
One of my very favorite features of his... ;)
Ornery Sophie
I can't believe these three angels are all mine.
Sweet CJ
Sophie + Burke = BFFs
I think my jaw hit the floor when I saw this pic. CanNOT believe everyone was looking at the camera and smiling!
Now that Burke is almost 4 weeks old, I thought I'd share some pics form his arrival. Ha! I don't even know where the last 4 weeks have gone, but I do know that my free time these days is pretty much non-existent, as you can imagine. So here are some moments we captured from his grand entrance...
One last belly pic
Dad getting ready to go
Welcome Burke! 7 lbs. 13 oz, 21.5 in. long
Meeting my little man
Nurse Kimak! How many girls are lucky enough to have one of their best friends help deliver her baby? ;)
Getting wheeled out
Me and my son (and me working the hair net...)
Family of 5! Wish we had gotten a better pic of all 5 of us, but we didn't have much time since Burke was taken to the nursery shortly after this.
Girls meeting their brother
In the NICU
Kangaroo time
Going home after 11 days at the hospital
Mommy getting a little too excited about photo shoots...
Can't believe we are finally HOME
Sophie loving her brother like crazy (In case you're wondering, Campbell was throwing a fit and wanted nothing to do with him after we first got home. She is slowly coming around...)
Little angel in his swing
We are all hanging in there in the sleep department. My days are all kinda a blur right now. ;) We also had some newborn/family pics taken that I'll be posting soon!
I have wanted to update the blog on his arrival for awhile now. He is 2 weeks and 2 days old, so my apologies for the delay. As many of you already know, our sweet boy had a rough start to his little life. After being in the NICU for 11 days, we are thrilled and relieved to have him home and 100% healthy. For those of you who don't know the details of why he was there, I'll explain.
Burke was delivered at 39 weeks via C-section. As he was being "pulled out", he aspirated (breathed into his lungs) a large amount of amniotic fluid. This is very common among C-section deliveries and can result in intensive care that ranges anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks. With Burke, he was considered to have TTN or Transient Tykipnia in Newborns. Basically, the fluid in his lungs made it difficult for him to breathe on his own without the help of oxygen. He also, we are fairly certain, acquired an infection as a result of this, too which is why his stay in the NICU was a bit longer than normal (he had to receive 7 days of antibiotics). As you can imagine, we were devastated to hear that our third baby was also going to have to receive care in the NICU.
Those 11 days our baby boy was in the NICU were the most difficult 11 days of my life. I can't even begin to filter through all the emotions we experienced during that time that brought back all of the emotions we experienced when our girls were in the NICU plus some new ones. A few hours after he was born, we received the news that he just wasn't strong enough to come back to our room yet and would need NICU care. Hearing those words made me feel like someone had just punched me in the stomach. Again? I thought. Why us? We've already done this, surely God wouldn't do this to us again. Is he OK? Will I be leaving my baby at the hospital again? I also felt angry and stupid. My whole pregnancy I assumed we would get to have the "normal" baby delivery experience. Having my baby sleeping next to me, having friends come up to visit, taking him home with us, etc. And all of that, in just a matter of hours, was taken away from us. And there I was again being wheeled down to the NICU to scrub in and ask permission to hold my baby. What was supposed to be a joyful day of celebration had turned into a sad day of worry and stress. Post-delivery hormones multiplied my sadness of seeing my new, precious baby hooked up to monitors and an oxygen machine. This just wasn't supposed to happen again.
The more I thought about what was happening to us, the more I questioned God. Every night I had prayed for a healthy baby, trusting that God would provide that for us. Why had he not? What else could He possibly have to teach us through this experience? Hadn't we been through enough? Infertility, check. Carrying, delivering, and then experiencing the NICU with twins, check. Getting through the first year of raising two babies, check. I have learned hard lessons, God. Please, not again. But then I realized that the real stupidity for me was to assume that God is ever done teaching any of us hard lessons. And even more depressing knowing this will definitely not be the last one. Throughout Burke's stay in the NICU, I was forced to empty myself of all the worry, sadness, and burden and allow God to fill me with hope, joy, and grace. Although I cried more tears that week and a half than I have cried in the last 5 years combined, I also experienced a peace and a grace that only He can give. I also was reminded of all the incredible people in our lives that love us so much. We were shown once again through our family and friends' offers to watch the girls, bring us dinner, pray, or do anything they could to make the experience a little easier, that we are beyond blessed to have such special people in our lives.
I will do a post soon on all of the pictures of Burke's first few weeks of life. But I wanted to share a few special moments we had this week where we saw God's hand in our lives.
While we were still in the hospital, Kyle was reading an email that had the quote on the bottom of this sheet. For whatever reason, the word "fortitude" caught his eye and he looked up the definition. He told me how much he really liked the word and its meaning. I kinda stared at him in disbelief for a minute because just a few weeks earlier I had looked up the meaning of Burke's name which means "fortification or fortitude." I had never shared the meaning of Burke's name with Kyle. When I told him that is what Burke's name means, he decided to make this when we got home to keep on our bathroom mirror and tape to Burke's crib in the NICU. Looks like we really did pick the right name for our little man. :) He certainly faced this early obstacle in his life with remarkable courage.
Long Way Home by Stephen Curtis Chapman
On my way home from the hospital one day, I heard this song on the radio. All I can say is that I have to believe that God meant for me to hear this song. It soothed my heart and soul so incredibly much. I immediately downloaded it on my phone and listened to it countless times that week. I can't even pick out my favorite line from the song because every word of this song touched me so deeply. What an awesome God we serve.
I really can't thank all of you enough who prayed for our family during this time and helped ease our burden. No words, thank you notes, etc. could ever express how thankful we are for each of you.
A happy post soon to come with pictures of the most handsome little man we've ever met (and his doting sisters) included. :)
