Lilia Overload!! (For Cliff)

Cliff can't be here this summer to see our little one in person so I am going to send him as many pictures here as I can! She is growing very quickly and sometimes she seems to grow overnight! I don't want Cliff to miss anything so expect a TON of pictures in the next few months!
Happy girl!!
Peek-a-boo!
Hmm... what am I thinking about?
At the zoo with Mama Mia and our friend Ainsley! ( My mom keeps changing her grandma name, but Ainsley refers to her as Mama Mia and that might be sticking...)
First of many trips to the zoo! 5 weeks old.
Sleeping on my Mama Mia
Aren't I ADORABLE? The bonnet is ... a little big... but I'm still so cute!! Thanks Mama Mia!
Awww!
I'm so happy! This is my favorite toy! A scary screaming monkey!! ( It makes a squealing sound when you pull this string and vibrates.) I thought it would scare her, but she seems to like it??
I'm happy to have her home from the hospital!!
What am I looking at now?

Laughing with my mom.
Beauty queen!
Yeah, I'm gorgeous.

Lilia had her check up with Dr. Miyaji at the hospital yesterday. She seems to be healthy and has gained a LOT of weight! At 6 weeks she now weighs 5.2 kilograms! She was 8lbs 4 oz at birth and now she is well over 11 lbs! In other news she has started cooing and making what my mom and I call "dinosaur sounds." Sometimes she sounds like a raptor or a pterodactyl. Does she already know how much her mom and dad like Jurassic Park? She is also finally starting to get on a more regular sleep schedule. This has just been the last few days but I have noticed that I am getting more sleep and am thus in better spirits.

My mom leaves on Sunday and Cliff won't be back for a few months so Iam very grateful to have this little sweetie here with me. I am hoping that now that she is home from the hospital and passed her check up that I can relax a little and just enjoy my time with her :) She sure is a lot of fun!

Happy Belated Father's Day to Cliff!

Lilia absolutely LOVES her daddy. She likes to give him hugs!
Here is a recent picture of her getting a bath. She actually seems to enjoy her baths now. I think she really enjoys having her scalp shampooed and massaged. It must be all of those baths I took while I was pregnant....
A NAVY baby!
This was taken the last day that Cliff got to see Lilia before he left for his summer cruise. Ironically she was discharged from the hospital the next day :(

Father/ daughter bonding :)

Cliff has been gone a week now and it already feels like a CENTURY! I miss him a ton and I know Lilia does too. Cliff has been such a fantastic father to her already. He was absolutely incredible with her and with me during Lilia's time in the hospital. Cliff would wake up every three hrs with me at night and set up the breast pump and then wait for me to finish. After I was finished he would let me go back to sleep while he washed and sterilized everything. He even set an alarm so we wouldn't miss a pumping. He is so devoted to this little family. Cliff always takes over the burping duty when he is around and he loves to hold Lilia until she falls asleep. My FAVORITE thing, though, is to hear him sing to Lilia in Spanish. We would very much like to raise her bi-lingual and I think Cliff has us off to a good start. He only speaks to her in Spanish. She stares at him so intently when he sings or speaks too. I think that is because he used to sing to her when she was inside me all the time. I really couldn't have asked for a better husband in this life and Lilia couldn't possibly have gotten a better father. We are two very lucky girls. I am so grateful for Cliff and for the sacrifices that he makes for us. I miss him a lot but I know that we are blessed to have a job right now with the way the economy is and a good job at that. Thank you Cliff! You are the best!!

1 Month... and what a month it has been

I'm home from the hospital!! With my Mama Gia!

Disclaimer: The following pictures are from most recent to oldest.

Guess I should have turned this around...
Getting healthier day by day
Holding daddy's hand
My daddy has the most fascinating nose!
Sleeping on the soft hospital towels
Flying in my sleep?
First day at the hospital... not such a good day.
All hooked up
Poor little sweetie :(
Before I got sick! This is my mama's favorite outfit! (She's already outgrowing it)
Don't I look cute in green?
Victorian baby
Peeling feet!
I like to sleep with my hand by my face
Happy girl!
Giving daddy a hug :)
They're related :)


So Lilia is exactly a month old today and what a fun surprise - she got to come home today! Unfortunately today was also the day that Cliff set out for his summer cruise and he didn't get to see her before he left. He did get to spend a lot of time with her this weekend, though. She will be thrilled to see him again in a few months :)

Here are some updates on our little lady:

- She is getting stronger and stronger and she lifts her head well.
- While nursing, she drinks way too fast and often chokes. This scares me half to death every time. Sometimes she will also pull away without me noticing right away and she will get sprayed in the face. This is both funny... and kind of sad.
- She is smiling! I don't care what people say - she is absolutely smiling. At first I know it was just gas but this past week she has been reacting to our smiles and smiling back. I don't have any good pictures yet, but my mom got some good ones, so I will put them up soon.
- She's has gained over a pound since birth.

I can not even begin to describe how wonderful it is to be home, but I have to say it actually was a little tiny bit sad to leave the hospital. The nurses were so sorry to see her go! They all came out to say goodbye to her and everyone cheered and clapped. It was really sweet. I have a follow up appt. next week at the hospital but otherwise I will probably never see these people again and I wish there was some way I could express my gratitude for the way they cared for my daughter. All of the nursing staff and the doctors were just incredible. The Japanese people are some of the kindest sweetest most considerate people I have ever met. I never once doubted the care Lilia was receiving at night from the nurses when I couldn't be there with her. They are going to miss "Lili chan" :)

Road to Recovery ( A brief summary of the scariest two weeks of my life)

Lilia in one of the many smocked dresses her Mama Gia has made for her.
Cliff was able to give her her name and blessing at the hospital.

I am finally feeling like I can talk about this a little bit. I am much too tired to attempt to revisit all of the details right now but I realized the other day that a lot of my close friends have been in the dark these past two weeks when it comes to Lilia and I would like to remedy that now.
On the morning of Lilia's two week doctors appt (She was actually only 12 days old) I thought she felt really warm when I was nursing her and so we took her temperature. She had been fussy all night and the entire day before but the last time we took her her temperature it was normal. This time it was not. She had a fever of 101 at our house and when we got to the urgent care center it was actually 102 and her breathing was shallow and labored. The doctor on call decided that she needed to be sent to a hospital immediately as Atsugi did not have the means to treat her. I went with her in the ambulance to the Japanese hospital in a state of mind-numbing fear fighting back tears. We were admitted to the hospital after she was tested for the "swine flu" and here is where things got even scarier.
We had an interpreter with us and although Yoriko has been truly wonderful it is agonizing to have to wait for a translation of what is going on when your child is in critical condition. Again, I don't want to revisit all of the details of that particular day right now but here are some of the key points:

Wednesday May 27th
- Lilia was admitted to the Japanese hospital and tests began immediately to try and determine what had caused her high fever.
- They drew blood, took x-rays, and did a spinal tap.
- They started antibiotics after discovering that she had an extremely high white blood cell count (indicating infection.)

Thursday May 28th
- She had an abdominal ultrasound and a CT scan
- It was determined that the infection was bacterial when her white blood cell count dropped after administering antibiotics.
- further testing revealed that the bacteria was in her mucus, umbilical cord stump, and her blood (sepsis)
- Antibiotics were narrowed down to specifically treat sepsis.
- They also started her on gamma globulin which was a little scary because we had to sign a consent form. (It's made from human blood which always come with risks including the body's rejection of said blood)

Friday May 29th
- The bacteria in her blood is determined to be Group B Streptococcus (GBS)

At this point we began to see results from the medicine and improvement in Lilia. I absolutely credit this to blessings that were given, prayers that were answered, and fantastic medical attention. We weren't entirely out of the woods yet but we had a lot more hope. Upon finding out that the bacteria was GBS we also had a mystery on our hands. Here are some facts and statistics about GBS:
- All pregnant women are tested for GBS during their pregnancy. I was tested at 35 weeks and my test was NEGATIVE.
- When a woman tests positive she is simply treated with antibiotics during delivery and the child is usually fine. 20-25% of women are carriers of this bacteria. Most never show any symptoms. Apparently you can be a carrier on and off throughout your life.
- There are two "kinds" or manifestations of this bacteria in infants. If the child shows symptoms during the first 7 days (week) of their life then it is determined that it came from the mother. If they show symptoms after the first week then it is called "Late onset GBS" and only 47% of these infants contracted the bacteria from their mothers. It is mostly unknown where the other half of these infants get the bacteria.
- GBS is extremely rare in infants. It's something like 3.3 out of 10,000 infants contract this bacteria and late onsent is even more rare. Only 15% of that 3.3 have late onset. Lilia's case is/was late onset.
- If it is not caught early on, 50% of infants with GBS do not live.

Did that get your attention? I know most new parents don't get much sleep. We haven't gotten much sleep

So here is the crazier thing. Our doctor, Dr. Miyaji wanted to have me go back in and be tested for GBS again. He said it would not prove too much, but if it came back negative again we would have to notify Yokosuka (where I gave birth) of the situation in case of a contamination problem on their part. I went back in for the test last Thursday. We got the result today. It was POSITIVE. So what does this mean? Did I have a false negative before? Did I pick of the bacteria sometime between 35 weeks and now? Did Lilia get it from me? If she didn't get it from me, then where? It doesn't really make a difference at this point. The antibiotics are working and she is definitely getting better. It's just scary. These past two weeks have just been absolutely horrifying. Japanese hospitals have very strict visiting hours and they don't allow you to stay over night with your child. Every night at 8pm we have to say good bye to her. The first few night were just .... awful. I can't think of a better word right now. I was so afraid I was saying goodbye for good. Even two weeks later it hasn't gotten much easier.
I have been able to visit her from 10 am to 8pm each day although Cliff and my mother are not able to as early as I am. Breastfeeding mothers are welcome from 10am-8pm but everyone else it's 2pm to 8. I have been getting up every 3 hrs each night to pump so that I will have milk for the nurses to feed her the following night. I am grateful that I have still been able to feed her. I am even more grateful that she should be able to come home in a week. Dr. Miyaji said that as long as her blood test results are clear this Thursday, they should be able to discharge her on the 15th.

I just want everyone to know that I am very grateful for their love and support and prayers. I KNOW that prayers have been answered and I truly feel that my family has experienced a miracle. I want to thank everyone in their concern for their patience as well. This has been a very difficult time for me and I couldn't talk about it right away.