Month to Month

We are playing catch up for the past 3 months and posting the month by months. I can't imagine why I have not been able to do that yet. HAHA! I hope you enjoy Collins at 1 month.

Collins you are 1 month old today sweet boy!


You weigh in at 4pounds 2 ounces and growing! Today was a huge day for you. You were able to move out of your incubator and into your first big boy bed. Mommy and Daddy have been waiting for this day to come for what seems like forever. Ms. Erin even made you a special welcome to the one month club sign to hang on your bed. You are now part of the 1800 grams club too!

You are able to regulate your own body temperature and this means you are one step closer to being able to come home.

We have loved having this sweet baby in our family for the last month. It has been tough but we would not change a thing. We can not wait to get home and see what it is really like to be a family of four.



Carter and Collins look so much alike! It is so weird for us. Here is Carter at 1 month. I forgot about his really bad baby bumps at this age. Poor Guy.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful mothers out there! Those of you who this is your first time to celebrate mother's day, I hope this is the best day of the year for you. I still can't believe this is my 4th mothers day and that this year I am blessed to be the mom to two wonderful little boys. If you would have asked me last year if today would look the way it does, I would have told you no way. We had been trying to have another baby without being succesful after the loss of our angle baby. We had a rough month this time last year after two very long unsucceful rounds of doing IUI. Little did we know that 1 month from now 1 year ago we would becoming pregnant to our new little man. Tonight my heart hurts for all of you out there who have been longing to fill your life with a baby. No matter what never loose faith that the lord will fulfill the desires of your heart. Continue to hold true to knowing God has a plan for your life even if you can't see it right now. Tomorrow I will continue Collins journey home from the NICU.

On our way to the NICU...

After I had Collins all I could think about was what would come next. When would I be able to see him? When would he be ok? When would we get to go home? Little did I know that these questions and so many more would take weeks to figure out.

I had told Dr. C. and the nurses that I wanted to try and make it to where Carter could see the baby before they took him to the NICU. We knew this would be the only way for him to see him before he came home since children under 16 are not allowed in the NICU during RSV season. They had told our family and friends which elevator the NICU doctors and nurses would be taking Collins through to get from the delivery floor to the NICU floor. The hospital plays a little song when a baby is born so they said when you hear the song go to the elevator. You can only imagine how many people were at that tiny elevator. Carter was able to see his baby brother for a short time. It was so good for him to know the baby was not in mommy's belly anymore and that he was ok.

From 12:38 - 4:00 was the longest time ever for me. I had to wait until I had gotten back to my room and was able to move my legs before they would let me go to the NICU to see the baby. I knew he was breathing, at that point they had not intubated him, and that he weighed a whopping 2.15 pounds. That was it. All I wanted was to get down to see him. Later that afternoon I was able to go and visit for the first time. I was still on a lot of meds for my current condition so things were a little hazy. I found out later after becoming such great friends with the NICU nurses that they laughed at me the whole time. I was their entertainment that day. HA! When I got there he had been intubatedand was on C-PAP with lights for jaundice. Neither would last long but for me that was the worst thing in the world. I just wanted to hold him and tell him I was there. His little body would not permit it. It needed time to adjust to being outside in this world.
We knew right away what a fighter we had on our hands.

Collins' Birth story

Collins Birth Story: This is long warning :)



On January 13th I started having symptoms of high blood pressure at work. I went to the nurse to get checked. Sure enough I was running really how on both top and bottom numbers. I went to the doctor that afternoon and was 150/100. They decided to do a test over the weekend for pre-eclampsia. What a fun test that was! If any of you have ever had to do this you totally know what I am talking about.  When I went in on Monday it was negative. Woo Hoo we were all very excited. They told me to come back on Tuesday and get checked again. Tuesday, I was still running high. They said I should not go to work on Wednesday and see if that would lower it. I went in on Wednesday, January 18, and was 166/122. Then everything started happening really fast. They said we are admitting you to Labor and delivery. I heard the doctor call into the hospital and let them know I was coming. This is when I started to realize that things were not going to go as we had planned. Funny how things work out. My doctor and I have been together for the past 15 years. So, he knows me pretty well. I think he could see the panic starting to set in so he came in and told me everything that was about to happen. He said that he needed to admit me to prevent a stroke since my blood pressure was so high. He thought that he could keep it down and keep me on bed rest in the hospital for the next 6-8 weeks. My friend is a nurse there so she drove me over to the hospital and waited with me until Ryan or my mom could get there. My first concern was Carter. He was at his babysitter and needed to be picked up and taken care of. Thank goodness for great friends. Tiffany was right there to pick up the slack that day. She went and got him and later brought him to the hospital to visit before taking him home with her for the next few days. Ryan’s sister and Tiffany switched off watching Carter for the week we were all in the hospital.

When we finally got settled in at labor and delivery things started moving in fast forward. We would be told you will be here for a long while then that there would be a possibility they would take the baby. This went on for 48 hours. Ryan’s step-mom came in on Thursday morning and sat at the hospital with us all day. They monitored me every 30 min. Dr. C came in on Thursday and said he thought that I needed to go ahead and get 2 rounds of steroids to help develop the babies lungs in case of an early delivery. We had an ultrasound done around noon and saw the baby. He was measuring on time and was right at 3 pounds. Later that evening we were told by one of our night nurses to prepare to have the baby the next day. She was under the impression that they had decided to take him since my pressures will still running so high. (Freak out moment happens here) We went ahead and called all of our family to let them know what we had found out. We began praying that Gods will would be done. I had a friend that had both of her babies at 32 and 33 weeks who I called to get as many tips on delivering early as I could. Bless her heart she talked with me for hours just trying to calm me down and prepare me for the reality of having a 9 week early baby.

The next morning Dr. C came in around 9 and said it was baby time. They prepped me for a c-section and Ryan and my mom were there to hold my hands. The NICU doctor came and talked with us and said just pray he comes out screaming that means his lungs are working well. So, that is what we did. We prayed he came out mad. That was one thing we got good at during this whole adventure. We prayed for specific things everyday. We found that it was easier to think it terms of 1 thing at a time then all the things that were happening or could happen at one time. At 12:38pm On January 20, 2012, Collins Oran Harrison came out screaming at the top of his very efficiently working lungs.

Praise God. 2 pounds 15 ounces and 16 inches long

More to come……

A New Chapter....

Hello again blog world! After much debate and talking with so many of our friends and family through the past 15 weeks, we have decided that I will start blogging again to keep our loved ones updated. I am excited to share with everyone the past 15 weeks of our lives and the many more to come. I am working on putting together Collins Birth-Day post now and I should have it up today. Thank you so much to all of you for your kind words, thoughtful gifts, and many prayers. We could not have made it to where we are today without all of you. May God shine in your lives like he has in ours!

From this to this in 31 weeks :)