Lucky--First Full Post By Lisa

Jeff often says that I am the best sell he ever made.  He then proudly goes on to tell about how we met.  A little embarrassed by the attention, I quietly sit by and wish I could express how much I love him as beautifully as he does.  I definitely got more than I bargained for.  He is far better than I ever expected.  I often wonder how I got so lucky.

I sit here with baby sleeping nearby and Jeff at work.  And again, wish that somehow I could pay tribute to the man who exceeds my wildest dreams!  Jeff went to work for his first full day yesterday.  I miss him!  It was a wonderful blessing to have him by my side for almost 4 weeks!  While being 800 or so miles away from our "Big Four" and having our child in critical care was very difficult, in a way it was a blessing, as it allowed Jeff and I to be on one continuous date for a month straight.  We got to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner together everyday--just the two of us. We got to sit by the bedside of our infant, talking, laughing, and sometimes crying.  The only thing that mattered was us, our family, our friends and our faith--everything else was pushed to the side.  That month together was in some ways the most romantic time we've ever spent together--a long overdue second honeymoon 15 years into our marriage.

Jeff is very passionate about his work.  He is a wonderful provider, but he dropped it entirely to focus on us.  I was so appreciative to have his undivided support and attention.  He was an amazing strength and blessing.  Jeff was has been so compassionate and concerned about my recovery.

He has supported me, protected me and spoiled me- washing out pump parts in the middle of the night, taking freshly pumped milk down to the freezer (also in the middle of the night), dropping me off right at the door and picking me up everywhere we went, parking the car and making a solitary walk a zillion times to the hospital, staying with Abigail while I slept, running countless errands, handling all the logistics and headache of hotels/airline flights/ insurance, making a heroic effort to make sure that all my pumped milk made it on the airplane instead of being dumped down the hospital sink, getting me a massage, arranging for our kids to visit and then spending time with them while I stayed at the hospital etc.

Jeff was definitely a father bear watching out for Abby.  He was so on top of everything that was happening with Abigail in the hospital:  asking questions, pushing for things to be done, taking countless pictures, blogging etc.  Abigail was a daddy’s girl from day one.  Even in her tiny and sedated state she would recognize and respond to his voice.

Jeff loves his little Abigail as he does Samantha, Jeffrey, Daphne, and Emma.  He is so tender with Abigail and I love to watch him.  In the middle of the night a few nights ago, Jeff was feeding Abigail- at time that most people are not happy to be awake- he made the comment, “I love having a baby.”  How blessed am I, and how blessed are my children to have a husband and father like Jeff.  We love you!

Abigail Update:

We went to the pediatrician yesterday, and she's on the right track.  She had even gained a half pound since Friday; of course, who really knows--it was a different scale.  Weight gain really is the last major milestone Abby must meet.  The Stanford doctors had been fortifying my breast milk with formula to add calories to it.  They called for us to continue to do so for the time being.

But there's a tiny bit of rebelliousness in us, and we chucked the formula just after we left the hospital.  We've never been big formula fans, and synthetic stuff can never come close to real thing.  However, when she weighed in less at Primary's on Friday than when she left Stanford, we started to wonder if our disobedience was going to come back to bite us.  We were grateful to see some gain on Monday!

The pediatrician wants to see us in a week to check her weight gain.  If it doesn't increase by enough, then we may be back on the formula fortification plan.  As her nursing increases, however, formula fortification will only get in the way of that.

Well, I'm heading off to pump--yet again.  Abigail hasn't caught up with my milk supply, so I continue to pump to keep the supply up.  I spend most of day  nursing, pumping, and feeding her a bottle.  And I'm loving every moment of it (okay, so I'm sick of pumping, and I now know what those dairy cows feel like--but everything else Abby-related is wonderful).