We LOVE our Kara...

Has it seriously been 2 weeks?...

Wow. I can't believe that we have a 2 week old perfect little peanut already. Time has flown by but yet it has gone so slowly over the last 14 days. These have, hands down, been the best 14 days of our lives and we wouldn't change them in for the world. Honig and I love our little Kara more than we thought our hearts could handle and the love was instantaneous from the second we saw her. She is perfect in every way and she already cracks us up and makes us cry at the same time.

We have been home since the 7th and I apologize for the lack of posts or updates but we've had company here with us and I didn't want to spend a lot of time on the computer and I wanted to spend time with Kara. She is napping right now next to me and I finally had to put her down because I figured I needed both hands to type.

Honig and I want to thank everyone from the depth of our souls for all the care, concern, prayers, and fasting that took place for our little Kara. She made drastic improvements right after everyone fasted and prayed for her and we KNOW Heavenly Father answered all of the many many prayers that were said on her behalf. We saw miracles happen in that NICU. And we want to thank everyone that prayed for the sustaining of Honig and I while in the hospital; we found out we are a lot stronger than we thought we were and that our bodies and minds were capable of handling a lot of stress. Of course there were tears that were shed in our room because one thing after another kept going wrong, but new mommy and daddy adrenaline kept us going. Those 7 days in the NICU are such a blur but yet we can remember everything that went on there. We both slept maybe 3 hours per day there because they kept me on a rigorous feeding schedule and then I had to pump, Honig would clean the bottles, I'd go potty, make sure to drink enough, find something to eat, and the nurses came in at least once an hour to check on Kara and my adrenaline just kept pumping and my brain wouldn't shut off to let me go to sleep because I knew I had to feed her again in less than an hour so I just stayed up. It's easier said than done, sleeping in a NICU. Honig was a PHENOMENAL support from the second my water broke until we walked out of Genesis as a family of 3 a week ago, and of course he still is an amazing support to Kara and I. I am amazed at how much dedication he has as a father and husband, and my heart wants to burst with love and appreciation for him.

Thank you everyone that visited and that called and texted. Sorry we couldn't return everyone's phone calls; those were busy times and we were deliriously tired sometimes. We feel so loved by so many I can't quite find the words I want to express our gratitude. Thank you, just thank you.

Life at home is wonderful and it isn't hard like so many people say it is. We think that's because we had such a baptism by fire experience in the NICU so life here in the Sheldon household is so easygoing and quiet and we can hold Kara all we want and she doesn't have to be stuck and poked and prodded several times a day, which I know she appreciates. She still has her days and nights mixed up but that's ok. We'll fix that over time. She is quite the master of making faces and she loves to "sing" while sleeping. It's hilarious. She makes us laugh all the time, and we're pretty sure she's trying to set a record for going through the most diapers in one day. She has a talent for having a poopy diaper and then as soon as she's changed and has a clean one on, she poops in that one 2 seconds later. She's awesome.

We LOVE LOVE LOVE being parents and it brings us more joy than we ever thought possible. It's so much easier than we thought it would be, and plus we are easygoing people and that transfers over to her and she is such a good baby. It feels so natural and it feels like she's been a part of our family forever.

We are blessed.

Now for the real reason you are stalking our blog.... PICTURES!!!!

Kara laying on Mommy's tummy when she was just 10 hours old.

She likes to lick her collar.

Look at our little chub. She's so gorgeous.
Mommy loving her baby right after she came down to the NICU.


I'm gonna guess she was hungry.



Kara getting her first round of antibiotics.



I love those chubba ckeeks. I could just eat them up.

So sad.

She is DEFINITELY honig's daughter. Just look at that.

Could she look any fatter?

She's the cutest.

Mommy crying because of how much I love her and my heart felt so full.

Mommy and Peanut.

I couldn't stop kissing her and still can't.

She probably burped in my face right after this was taken. She likes to do that to Mommy and Daddy.

I LOVE HER!!!!

Our poor little baby girl had to be under those bili lights for 4 days and we could only hold her when it was time to nurse. That was the hardest part of our whole hospital stay.

Our amazing friend Jessica came with some friends from church and they sang church hymns to Honig and I out in the waiting room. I couldn't stop bawling because the Spirit was so strong and I felt so loved by Heavenly Father which I really needed right at that moment. She brought me a delicious basket of goodies and also this picture of Jesus with the children and we put it in Kara's crib so He could look over her. It was perfect.

Sleeping princess.

I love it when she cries. She has the most beautiful cry I've ever heard.

Daddy sitting vigil by her bedside and rubbing her arm.

Her first bath. She decided she only liked it 50% of the time.

Look at that cute bum sticking up.

Our last day at the hospital. You can see where her leads were.

Rock-a-bye Road. Kara's home for the first 7 days of her life.

We get to go home tomorrow!!!...

PRAYER WORKS!!!! We want to thank everyone who has so lovingly offered prayers and fasted for our sweet little Kara. We cannot adequately express how touched we are to know that she has had family, friends, and complete strangers fasting and praying for her to get better. We attribute the many many prayers made on her behalf to 110% improvement that Kara made in the wee hours of the morning and throughout today. Peanut is peeing and pooping finally like she should, which means her bilirubin levels are starting drop thankfully. She's still a finicky eater, but that is just something that we'll have to work with her on. Her white blood cell count is in safe range and her frenulum snipping went well. She's still the most gorgeous baby we've ever seen and has the best little personality and we can't wait to take her home tomorrow. Again, thank you to everyone who has called, emailed, texted, visited, and prayed for Kara. She is our resilient little baby and has such a strong spirit and is loved by so many. The neonatologist said she gets to go home tomorrow morning as long as her last bilirubin draw, which they'll do at 5AM, comes back in safe range and since the pooping gates have opened up and she is able to get rid of that bili waste, it should hopefully come back fine. So hopefully we'll be strapping her into her adorable car seat and whisking our daughter away to her loving home that is waiting for her.
Thank you everyone. We love you all and are eternally grateful in behalf of our daughter.

less than 10 minutes old...

We're in love with her.

Our little opera singer...

Kara has already decided that she wants to be an opera singer and we managed to get a snapshot of her practicing. She'll wow 'em all with her vocal range like she's already done for the NICU nurses and her eyelashes that go for miles are the talk of the town as shown in the picture...

Stress and Crying

Dean here.

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First off, Kara is not dying in any way shape or form, contrary to what we've been hearing from concerned friends and family.

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So, this morning was a little stressful. We woke up to find Kara under a bili-light. Now, this was brand new to chelle, but I vaguely remember the nurse coming in around 3 telling me her bilirubin was at critical levels and she needed to get some UV light exposure and was that ok for her to do? In a half asleep voice my response probably sounded like this, "what? Ok sure, I'd love some pancakes for breakfast", roll over and back to sleep within mili-seconds. This was compounded with a lot of other issues, for example she hadn't peed or pooped all night long and that was not ok, she was jaundiced, she's had a hard time figuring out how to eat, she's super lethargic, and even though she's on an IV she's not out-putting what she ought to.

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When chelle woke up and saw her she just started to cry because it was one more thing that went wrong and we couldn't figure it out. When I wake up a little bit later after only a couple of hours sleep in days to see my wife crying, my baby under a lamp wearing goggles which weren't see through, and chelle saying that once again she wouldn't eat I tried to be strong. So we prayed to understand what was happening, and to be able to get through yet one more hurdle that was placed before us, and then I start to lose it, which I NEVER do.

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After our prayer we feel that we need to ask our family and ward to fast and pray for her. It seems like after one thing gets cleared up there is something else waiting. So I go out to the family waiting room to start calling people thinking I can be composed. Throughout this whole labor and NICU ordeal I haven't let myself be emotional because I need to be strong and supportive. But now I start to lose it a lot. I just sit and cry for a couple minutes before I call our Bishop to ask if the ward would do this for us. I try to tell him a little bit about it, but I think it came out worse than I meant it to. After I talked to the bishop I called a couple of other people from church, my grandparents, sister, some friends to ask them the same thing, and I can't help but cry in between calls and have crying voice. When I went back to our room I recieved an email from my grandpa to the whole family that kind of makes it sound like Kara is on death's doorstep, and talk with a friend who asked us if Kara was really going to be leaving us. That's when I start to think that maybe I was a little too emotional. Since I don't EVER cry people probably thought that only the worst thing ever could make me cry.

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Also, after I came back to the room we talked with the doctor and he alleviated all of our fears telling us how things were connected and that it wasn't really all that bad, just a lot of little things and she ought to be fine within a few days at least. The night nurse 'Radney' had told us she might have to stay for up to another week if Kara doesn't start to turn things around soon.

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So to sum it all up. Kara is still sick but is going to be fine. We still need and appreciate all of the prayers and fasts on her and our behalf because she still has quite a bit of work to do and improvement to show before she's allowed to come home with us. I am imposing a ban on myself that I do not get to talk to people when I'm super emotional, chelle and I are feeling way more positive now than we were this morning, and we have a lot of friends and family that care a whole lot about us and her. We're just taking one hour at a time.

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Thank you to all of you who have offered support, love, and prayers. Our spirits have truly been lifted thanks to you.