Melanie's week

Melanie has had quite a week. Monday she took her first shopping trip - to Babies R Us and Barnes & Noble. We pushed our luck, since she was behaving so well, and stopped by my work, but that didn't work out too well - it was well past her feeding time, unfortunately, so my coworkers didn't get to see a nice quiet Mel.

Other activities this week included going to lunch with Aunt Julie, Grandma Doan, and Suzi, getting babysat by Grandma while I went to the gym, meeting Shelly & Natalie Nutt for the first time, and picking up her head and moving it to the other side during tummy time. She has done this head trick before, while on my chest, but I was impressed she did it from a completely prone position on the floor.

Friday, Melanie's Great Uncle Rick, Great Aunt Sandy, and cousin Becky came for the weekend, and we enjoyed spending some time with them. The guys even got on the golf course! Melanie enjoyed her SECOND shopping trip on Saturday (we're teaching her early!), and Grandma & Grandpa D came for dinner with the rest of the gang on Saturday night. It's 5pm and Mel is still in her pajamas from last night, so it's been a nice lazy day for her (mom and dad have both changed and been out of the house, though, so we're not TOO lazy on this rainy Sunday!)

Melanie is doing better sleeping - and we have a new contraption that is helping. Jeff's coworker brought in one of those machines that makes all kinds of different background noise - anything from a heartbeat to a tugboat.... and Mel (or at least her dad) seems to like the heartbeat sound while sleeping.

Have a great week!

Big Easter Activity!

Melanie got to spend time with her Grandma & Grandpa Worzala this weekend, including Saturday night while Jeff & I got to go to dinner on our own!!

She has made it three straight nights of sleeping on her own!! We are very excited about this development - but then I broke the streak last night, because she was so off all day on Sunday - wouldn't sleep, wouldn't eat much - I think there was too much going on at Grandma & Grandpa's for Easter, and she got overstimulated! She got to meet lots of new friends, and looked adorable in her little Easter dress AND her backup Easter pajamas (that came complete with bunny slippers).

She found her thumb yesterday (the second picture above) - Grandma Doan has been coaching her on this for days, so we've already arranged for the orthodontic bills to be sent to Frankfort!

Great news to start the Easter Weekend!!

Melanie does not have Cystic Fibrosis!! A score of under 30 is "good" - 30-40 would have been considered "borderline," and more than 40 would have been considered "bad." Mel is a 16!! Thank you for all of the prayers; the kid continues to be our little miracle baby :)

Happy Easter!

I'm afraid to jinx it....

Last night, Melanie didn't fuss at all between 6 and 10.... AND she slept on her own ALL NIGHT. AND she ate quickly during each feeding (we've been struggling with the time it takes her to eat.... sometimes it seems she just gets done eating when it's time to feed her again, since she takes so long...)

I almost didn't even post this here, since I'm afraid by talking about it I am jinxing it - but I am so excited about the sleeping on her own thing....

Heading out to the CF tests soon - we'll keep you posted!!

7 lbs, 1 oz

Our next step for Mel's CF test is tomorrow at Riley; we're scheduled at 11:30am. The doctor shared my frustration that the lab at the hospital acted unprofessionally, and he supported my decision to do future labs at Clarian. Extra points awarded to him! We go to Dr. Megremis, who is at the clinic within walking distance of our house, right at 108th & Michigan.

Today, Mel weighed in at 7lbs, 1oz - the little chunker! To hear her eat is hilarious; she grunts like a pig, especially if you try to stop her in the middle to burp her. She just snorts until you give her her bottle back. The doctor was pleased with the weight gain, and she doesn't go back for an appointment for another five weeks! She's not going to know what to do with herself!

We have some concerns about Miss Melanie being a little colicky - since she's fussy every night from about 6 until 10 (not necessarily nonstop), the doc said it sounded pretty classically colicky. Daddy hasn't let us use the bouncer or swing or let her sleep in her car seat, but these are all things that the doctor recommended to calm her down, so we'll see how the next few days go.

Okay, time for Melanie to watch her first NCAA tournament game; Purdue vs. Baylor. Go Boilers!

After five days of waiting....

No results! We did the "sweat test" today to test if Mel has CF, and she didn't sweat. That was bad enough; but in my opinion, the lab staff were not very supportive, and I left not feeling so great from the whole experience.

Now, we're just waiting for further direction from the doctor. I love, love, love our pediatrician (he called us on Monday night just to check in to see how we were dealing with the impending test, for instance). However, I am planning to talk to him about his hospital network; we have been much more impressed with Clarian (where Melanie was born), than the (to remain nameless) other hospital with which he is aligned. Hopefully there might be a way we can get labs and tests done at Clarian and still retain him as a pediatrician....

Prayers needed

During Mel's hospital release, they did some standard 48-hour tests on her - screening for things like Hypothyroidism, PKU, etc. Well, at our doctor visit last Friday, I learned that she tested positive as a carrier for Cystic Fybrosis. Jeff and I have never had the CF test, so we're not sure which of us is a carrier (and now I don't want to know); but what this means for Melanie is that she has to be tested to see if she actually has Cystic Fybrosis.

I keep reminding myself of the odds - even if Jeff and I are BOTH carriers, there is only a 25% chance that Melanie actually has the condition (who knew that I actually learned something in High School Biology??) However, it is still, as you can imagine, pretty scary, and we will accept prayers that Miss Melanie is a healthy baby!! We're hoping to find out the results tomorrow -but we have a follow-up doctor visit on Thursday, so we should definitely know something by then. Hopefully it is not a repeat of the last test we had done at the same hospital, where they messed up the sample and we had to get retested!

We'll keep you posted!

Our excursions

I'll get some pictures posted soon - I dropped my camera yesterday and need to do some minor surgery to it!

On Sunday, Grandma and Grandpa Doan came over to visit, and within about 10 minutes of their arrival, we suddenly had come up with a list of errands we could get done. So we went to lunch and got some things done while Mel hung out with Grandma and Grandpa - it was very good to get out of the house!

We had another big excursion yesterday; Melanie and I went to Frankfort for the afternoon. Melanie hung out with Grandma while Mommy ran errands and set up a bank account for her. It was good for both of us to get out of the house, but now I'm second-guessing that big of a trip, since she was so darn fussy when we got home! It was a bonus day for Melanie, though - not only did she get to see Grandma and Aunt Julie in Frankfort, but then Grandpa stopped by our house after his meetings (and before she got too fussy). Lucky girl!

Melanie continues to do well; she definitely likes to eat! We had a breakthrough last night (let's hope it can be reproduced); she slept from 10pm until after 1am by herself; AND she did three-hour intervals of feeding overnight.... two big steps!! Again, we'll see if that can be replicated!

Up above birth weight!

Today Mel's weight was 6lbs, 7.5oz! She looks even chunkier than that to me, but I'll take it! She measured 19 and 7/8 inches (so she's grown about 3/8 of an inch since birth) and her head circumference was 34.6".

She also received her social security card in the mail today, so she's looking forward to starting her new job on Monday! Her social security card arrived the same day as the hospital bill for having her - what a mail day :)

Melanie spent the afternoon with Grandma Doan, who came to help with the doctor visit, but more importantly to watch Mel while Mommy took a much-needed nap. I didn't think I was tired enough for a nap, but that was before my head hit the pillow with Lucas curled in my arms. Thanks Grandma!

Abandoned attempt

As an update, Miss Melanie is a formula-fed baby! Her mommy turned out beautiful and oh-so-smart being raised on formula, so we're confident that Mel will do just fine. And, as the pediatrician himself said, "if the baby is happy and mommy is happy, then everything is going well."

In other news, Melanie's umbilical cord fell off this morning! She is growing up so fast! :)

Outpouring of Love (and food!)

We continue to be so blessed with so many wonderful family, friends, and neighbors. We have been well-fed by members of our church and neighborhood, and Mel got to meet Alli and Bella earlier this week when they fed us too! Melanie also got to meet Great-Grandma Huck on Wednesday.

Medical Updates

Miss Melanie is doing much much better sleeping now, and we're all getting used to each other!

She went for a weigh-in on Monday, and was up to 6lbs, 1oz. She has another weigh-in tomorrow (Friday), and I think she'll be back up to birth weight!

In the meantime, I went to the doc too, to determine where my appetite went!! The good news is I have lost 24 pounds since pre-Mel, but the doc put me on an antibiotic, and I'm already starting to feel a little better now that I'm getting some sleep and routine is setting in a little.

Lots of visitors!

Saturday was a big day of meeting new family and friends for Miss Melanie. She met Uncle Randy for the first time, and got to see Aunt Cory & Cousin Charlie again; she met Shirley & Suzi, Scott & Lori, Christal, and saw Laura, Aunt Julie, and Grandma Doan again. She slept through most of the visiting, and also slept through most of the night! She continues to prefer to be held while she sleeps at night, but that's okay - the "sleeping" part is the beauty of it! She slept on her own upstairs this morning for a while, so at least she knows how to sleep on her own!

Mom continues on the mend; I don't think I took it easy enough the first couple of days (hard to when your newborn is literally inconsolable all night long), and my stomach has started really bothering me. Today is a take-it-easy day, and I'm going to try to limit climbing the stairs today as much as possible.

Melanie and Daddy are watching the Purdue game now; this is her second game since she's been born, hopefully this one will have a better outcome than the last one!

Next weigh-in is tomorrow morning; I think she's going to top 6 pounds!

Packing it on

Now that Melanie is on a formula diet, she is doing MUCH better, in all senses of the word. She slept last night (!!), she is consolable (!!), and she is up to 5lbs, 14oz (!!) YAY Melanie!!

She has a big day planned today with lots of visitors, including meeting her Uncle Randy for the first time. Will post pictures of Melanie's latest adventures later. In the meantime, wanted to let you know that everyone at the Worzala household is feeling much better!!

Lab follow up

The doctor didn't agree with our self-diagnosis to forgo the lab work, so we headed back out to the third medical establishment this afternoon, and Mel got her heel pricked again - again sleeping right through it!! I of course have more photos of this adventure (including the big heat pack they put to warm up her heel), but photo downloads will have to wait. In the meantime, I have posted another picture of her adventures from the first two doctor visits earlier this morning. Yes, that's the disposable hospital hat on her head. Nothing else fits little Miss Melanie's head just yet!!

Big day for Melanie

Last night, we called the on-call doctor at about 3am because of the gas we thought we were hearing in Melanie's tummy. We started giving her gas drops, applied a warm compress to her tummy, and took her for a car ride. Since the car ride calmed her down, the doc said she probably wasn't in pain. Well, we learned this morning that the "gas" we thought we were hearing are probably hunger pains because she's not getting enough food!

We went for our first weigh-in this morning, where we found out that Miss Melanie has lost a pound since birth. No wonder the poor girl can't sleep at night; she's HUNGRY!! We are going to start feeding her more frequently, and using formula as well as the breast milk that we were already attempting. So far, today, she has been very content, sleeping while lying down by herself (which she hasn't been doing), sleeping through a needle stick in the heel, and being a little calmer. Well, she's always calm when being held; but not so much when it's really time to sleep. In the last two nights combined, we have gotten about 3 hours of sleep. Hopefully this new diet will satisfy Miss Melanie and let her and her parents sleep a little.

We're going for a follow-up weigh in tomorrow morning (Saturday), and a follow-up doctor appointment on Monday morning. In the meantime, we went to get her bilirubin retested (picture of her battle wound above); but the lab just called and they messed up the sample when they went to process it!! The doctor doesn't see any cause for concern over the bilirubin (which measured borderline when we checked out of the hospital on Wednesday), but in the bright lights of the doc's office, we thought she looked a little more yellow. Now we see we were probably imagining things, since we were slightly hallucinating this morning from the lack of sleep.

Please keep Mel in your prayers while we try to bulk her up for her next weigh-in! If only mommy had this problem of losing weight so quickly!

Lucky Girl!

Melanie is surrounded by people who love her - including all four of her grandparents! This is the first granddaughter for both sets of grandparents.

Grandma & Grandpa Doan, who live in Frankfort, are welcoming the first of two grandbabies for 2008; Melanie will have a new cousin in July when Aunt Julie & Uncle Matt have a new baby. Julie, Matt, and Baby Miller live in Frankfort.

Grandma & Grandpa Worzala, who live in the Detroit area, have one grandson, Charlie, who will be two in August, and then Charlie will have a little brother or sister in August when Cory & Randy have their 2008 baby. Cory, Randy, Charlie, and new BabyW live in Chicago.

Melanie will have a lot of fun over the years, not only being spoiled by her grandparents, aunts, and uncles, but also having cousins who are so close to her age. Also, both of her aunts (Julie and Cory) are licensed teachers and love kids, so even more reasons to be so lucky!

Miss Melanie and Daddy

Jeffery is in love with another woman. And that is okay with me - I am too! Here are a few photos so hopefully you can get to know her a little better. We go for our first weigh-in tomorrow morning; after being born at 6lbs, 6oz, she was at 5lbs, 14oz when we left the hospital (perfectly normal). She is so TINY for a full-term baby; I was under the understanding that she was going to be 40 lbs?!?

We are giving blessings for such a wonderful gift from God.

The story behind the name....

I'll get more pictures posted soon, I promise!

Melanie's first name was one we just fell in love with (but, I was telling the truth when I said we weren't 100% decided before she was born!!) Once we met her, we knew her name was Melanie Grace.

Grace is my great-grandma's name; my dad's mom's mom. It is also my sister's middle name (Julia Grace). I always teased Julie that if I had a girl first, I was using Grace - it's become pretty popular over the last couple of years, but I still love it, so I used it as a middle name.

Melanie Grace has a good set of lungs on her, and is calling me now; but I always want to hear how people pick their babies' names, so I thought I'd share our own story with you.

Introducing.... Melanie Grace Worzala!

Miss Melanie Grace Worzala was born on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 4:57pm at Clarian North Hospital in Carmel. She weighed 6 lbs, 6 oz, and was 19.5 inches long.

As far as Mommy & Daddy can tell, she's the cutest baby that was ever born. We got home on Wednesday sometime after 6pm.

Everything went well with the birth; it was a long day, and we can share more details as you would like, but right now, Melanie is crying and hungry :) Welcome to parenthood, right??

As you can probably imagine, we haven't gotten much time to update this site.... and the computer at the hospital left something to be desired. After I get more photos uploaded, I'll share!!

Thank you to everyone for all the prayers and well wishes over the last nine months - and the last 48 hours!

Love,
Angie, Jeff & Melanie

No baby!

Still waiting.... no update from here. Lots of Braxton Hicks contractions, but I don't think I've had any "real" contractions yet.

We spent the morning watching Will Ferrell's new movie, which was funny & distracting away from the no-baby activity :)

So, my update for the day is "no update"! Keep BabyW in your prayers as we hold out on this waiting game!