Maebry Updates - Week 2

Wow! Our daughter is a week old. Dusty and I marvel at the fact that we use to call this little one "bunny" in the beginning. Then we found out her gender and found a name and started calling her "Maebry." Now, we get to call her "daughter" and we both try to remind ourselves that we are parents...we are Maebry's parents and she is our daughter.

Anyhow, Maebry is doing well. All of her stats have improved. She is still breathing room air. She has a few "A and B's" where she needs assistance or reminders to breath. Our little bunny is gaining weight and getting longer as well.

And please note that Dusty and I have been holding our daughter using the Kangaroo Care method all week long. We trade off each day and sometimes we get to hold her 30 minutes and sometimes an hour. It some times depends on the nurse and some times on Maebry. So please enjoy the pictures and we hope you like Maebry's cute blue and pink toboggan.

Here is Maebry at exactly a week old. She is weighing about 2 lbs 5 ounces in this picture. She still has her little dried up umbilical cord on her soon to be belly button. You can also see her little Velcro circles that hold her shades on for her when the lamp is on.






Here is Maebry and her momma giving one another a cute little nose rub or "Eskimo kisses."
She is just a little over a week old and has so much love to give.








Here is a picture of Maebry sitting with her Daddy in Bay 2 of the NICU. She looks so cute
with her toboggan on. We love seeing her cute eyes and mouth open. You can tell that she sure does love her Daddy.







Hello WORLD!!

Maebry wanted to say hello and thank you for all of your heartfelt prayers and kind words.










Don't you just love watching our little angel sleep. I know, we do too!

And, don't you love her little open mouth. She sleeps just like her momma and daddy.

Maebry's Shower - May 16

Maebry had her first shower which was at her second cousin's house in Rockne. It was hosted by her mommy's Aunt Peggy, Aunt Brenda, Aunt Rhonda and her cousin Kelly.

Dusty also got to come to the shower because his lovely wife needed a ride and still not allowed to drive. And well, you just cannot keep such a cute and loving guy away from all the fun.

We want to thank our lovely hostesses and attendees for their loving words, thoughtful presents and wonderful well-wishings for our daughter Maebry.

Please enjoy all the photos. And once again, thank you to our very kind and loving friends and family. We love you all. And one day soon Maebry will give you all big kisses to show how much you all mean to her and to us.

There were too many great photos, so, I decided to add them all to our Photobucket account and have a slideshow for you guys. It should be up top on the right.

If you want to see them larger then here is a link directly to my Photobucket - http://s664.photobucket.com/albums/vv7/clkraatz/

Dusty and Christa's Hospital Stay - Sore, tired and homebound

These are just a few photos from our hospital stay at St. David's Hospital (Main) in downtown Austin.

Here is Christa sitting in her lovely hospital bed. Please note the beautiful floral arrangements sent to us from our family and friends. They really helped us not focus on the dreary side of hospital stay and/or the room you have to live in while there.







Here is Dusty's quarters during our stay. Poor guy, yes he has a bed to sleep on but the mattress would lean forward and it would make him feel like he was going to fall out of his bed. But I was so glad to have him there and near enough to be with me through all of this.







Yeah, I was finally discharged and made it back home to San Marcos. Here I am about to get out of our car with the sweet door decoration that the hospital gives you announcing the birth of your little girl or boy.








Here is a picture of our yard. Our good friend Philip Muzzy came up with the idea to decorate our yard and our house. You can see the lovely welcoming sign and congratulatory sign for our baby girl. Our special thanks and much love goes out to Philip, Leo and Melissa who help decorate our yard and the inside of our house. Thank you all for doing this for us...you guys are the best.





Here is another picture from inside the house. How sweet is this poster. We love you guys and thanks again Muzzy!!!
















Again, we are glad to be home. It's a little hard being 30 miles away from our baby girl. But it makes our heart grow even stronger for our time with Maebry. We love you all and please check Dusty's Facebook and the blog for updates when we will be up at the hospital, which is daily, but you can see what time we are there if you would like to see our sweet little Mae.

Maebry Updates - Week 1

Here are some photos from Maebry's first week of life. She was officially a week old at 6:48 a.m. this morning. We could not be any happier to share these precious photos with you all. Please note that Dusty and I will try to have weekly updates about Maebry Lucille, who will be your recurring star and focal point, during the duration of her stay at St. David's NICU.

Here is Maebry on her second day. She is wearing her C-Pap, which helps keep the oxygen regulated in her lungs.










Here is another photo of Maebry with her nice shades on. She has to were these because she has a special lamp on her that helps get out the Bilirubin that is in her system. Bilirubin shows up with preemie babies who have jaundice or bruising caused by birth.

Also look how cute she looks holding on to her pacifier.








Here is another one of Maebry. She is sleeping and she really loves to be in this position.











Here is Daddy with his daughter. Dusty is washing little Maebry's head right now. Look how gentle and sweet Dusty is cradling and bathing his sweet baby girl.









Here is Mommy putting back on her little-bitty diaper. Her diapers are too cute. Each time we have to fold them down to avoid her little belly button. And the nurses tell us she fills these diapers up quite a bit but the littler diapers fit better.






Here is a front view a little Maebry's Isolette or Incubator, which we call her heated crib. The NICU nurses get together and help make these sweet little name tags for each of the NICU babies.








Finally, on Sunday night, which made Maebry a week old, Christa was able hold her sweet daughter using Kangaroo Care. The NICU uses this method to help with bonding between the parents and their premature babies. Kangaroo care is a way of holding a preterm infant so that there is skin-to-skin contact between the infant and the person holding it. We think she looks so peaceful and ready to go back to sleep.



We hope you enjoy these photos. Please note we have tons more but want to have room each time to tell you all about her goings-on and still have the pictures at a good size.

Also, we are very thankful for all our family and friends who came to visit us and little Maebry during our week at the hospital. Please know that is meant the world to Dusty and I to have your love and support. We are thankful and grateful for each and everyone of you.

It's BATHTIME!!!!

We were lucky enough to come just in time for Maebry's very first bathtime!  She was sooooo incredibly good and calm.

As you'll see, she frowned at us a bit during, and loved being completely held by her mommy the very first time!

Our nurse was also nice enough to put one of Mae's new blankets in with her, making her space a little more homely.  Thanks to Momma and Pop K for bringing and washing the bunny blanket!

She also ate 2cc's of Christa's yummy milk twice today!  All of the nurses and Dr.'s keep talking about what a strong and great girl she is...very impressive!  =)  

Here's some pics...we go home tomorrow, but we'll be back every moment we get!

Day in the life Maebry Kraatz - Day 3

Here is a WONDERFUL photo montage that our great friends Matt and Abbey made for us last night...here it is! Enjoy!!!

www.aberdeenstudios.com/2009/maebry

Love,

Christa, Dusty Maebry

Here's the video we took during the very first time Christa got to meet Maebry.  The look on her face is so sweet and Mae knew here mommy was there right away!

Maebry's very first photo!!!  Story from momma to come!  

Love - C, D and M

Best Rest 2009

Hey guys and gals. I know it has finally reached some of your ears that we had a little event happen to Maebry and I last week.

We will be 26 weeks this week. However, last week some spotting started to happen to me during my pregnancy. Which lead our OB/GYN, Dr. Irwin, who wanted to be a on the safe side, to have me under bed rest until this Wednesday, which turned into our regular schedule appointment and checkup. Woohoo!!

Anyhow, Dusty has been great about everything. I don't remember the last time I had this much time at home. I have watched ton of shows. Let see, I have watched numerous HBO movies that I have seen a billion times...and now I have one more under my belt, which seems to only help out during Pop Culture Trivia Games. I also watched tons of Bravo, E! and Discovery shows. Good times. Oh yeah, the really not so attractive couple on "Real Housewives - New York" really need to go away. I don't know either of them but their kids are cute...I don't know there names but Dusty agrees we both don't like them.

Anyhow, thanks to all my family friends for there well wishes and prayers. It means a lot to Dusty, myself and to the ever-growing Ms. Maebry.

So, like I told my moms. If you need me, well, you know where I will be.

PS: It's almost nap time...just kidding. Ok, not really :)! No, seriously...it's nap time.