Elijah’s funeral is Tuesday, September 25th at 10 am. It will be a graveside service at Auburndale Memorial Park. Thank you for all the prayers and support.
Some gifts from God are too precious to remain on this earth for very long. We are so grateful for the love that Elijah brought into our lives, and will miss him so much. Continue to pray for us as we cope with the loss of this special baby boy.
Dear Elijah,
Today, your Daddy and I got you back around 7:30 this morning from the NICU nurse. I was so happy that you were back that I held you against my chest and you stayed there for a long time. 🙂 I didn’t want to share you with Daddy. 🙂 Some people may say that you’re spoiled, but you are really, really loved. Later this morning, Grandma and Grandpa from Arkansas arrived to stay with us during the day. Your Grandma and Grandpa love holding you. Doctor Pitts came in during the afternoon to discuss with us what your daddy and I wanted to do once you and I were discharged from the hospital. We have decided that we’re going to go stay in a hospice house with you where you can have 24 hour care, but be in a more homey atmosphere. Aunt Sara and Aunt Tiffy came in the afternoon and stayed until about 8. They got the job of going shopping for you to get clothes and other things for you that Daddy and I didn’t have. I think they’ll have plenty of fun and I can’t wait to see what they picked out for you, baby boy. We’re spending the night in a family room on the NICU floor since I have been discharged and in the morning you will be discharged. Your daddy is holding you right now. 🙂 I love watching Daddy hold you. Tomorrow will be a big day for us when we leave the hospital and go to the hospice house that will be our home away from home.
Elijah, Daddy and I love you so very much. We feel so blessed that we are your parents. Mommy loves you, sweet baby boy.
Love, Mommy
Here are some of the pictures taken of our sweet baby boy, Elijah. 🙂
Isn’t he just the sweetest you ever saw?! 🙂
After a long day with family and visits from doctors, we are settling in for the night. Elijah’s nurse just took him with her down to the NICU for the evening so we can get some rest. I almost changed my mind about her taking him for the night, but I know we need our rest and I, definitely, won’t get much sleep with his feedings being every 3 hours.
We have some decisions ahead of us that we’ll be having to make so we would greatly appreciate the prayers. I’m sorry I don’t have any pictures to post from today. They are on Tiff’s phone and she hasn’t had a chance to send them to me.
Again, thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers. We appreciate the love and support. We feel so blessed to be Elijah’s parents. 🙂
Well, since welcoming our little bundle, Elijah Drake, we have been moved from a labor and delivery room to a regular room, where we will stay until we leave. In order to feed Elijah, they had to put in a feeding tube, which gave us a scare because he started to turn blue the first time they tried it. BUT since then, he has been fed with the tube 3 times and he’s doing good. We’ve been doing a lot of skin on skin to keep him extra warm and Elijah seems to enjoy that. 🙂 Around 2:30 this morning, the nurse, who has been doing his feedings, took Elijah with her to the NICU so Cory and I could get some much needed rest. Now we’re both awake, feeling a little bit more rested, and waiting for her to bring our little bundle of joy to us. 🙂
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday! We appreciate them very much. And thank you to all of you who were at the hospital too. We don’t know what we’d do without all of you! 🙂
Since I got moved from triage to my own room a lot has happened. By the time I got to the room I needed an epidural. It took several painful minutes before I got it, but with the epidural my contractions were much easier to take. I am now fully dilated and Elijah is slowly working his way down. I am just waiting for him to get to where I can push him on out. I am ready for my baby to be here but he is being stubborn like his daddy. I am trying to take a quick nap to try and regain some strength. Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers.
Around 11:30 last night my water broke. After calling around trying to figure out where to go, Cory and I headed to the Regency in Winter Haven. Shortly after arriving, they confirmed that my water had broken and the nurse said that I was 2 cm. Cory’s parents came to see us and to bring our camera that Cory had forgotten on the way out the door. The on-call doctor made some calls to Winnie Palmer and at 2:30 am I was being loaded up into an ambulance to be transported to Winnie Palmer. After that short ride, I’m perfectly fine not riding in an ambulance for a long while. About 20 minutes ago, the doctor checked me and said that I was 3 cm and fully effaced (which she said was half the battle). Now we’re waiting for me the be fully admitted and then I’ll be moved into a room.
Just a quick word about Friday. Cory and I stayed home and relaxed. Mostly because he had community service he had to do for his class early this morning.
Today, I restlessly slept in and got up at 9 to start my day. After breakfast, I laid on the sofa playing on my phone until Cory called and said that he was on his way home. When we got home, I called his sister to see if they wanted to go out to eat tonight. They already had plans and let us join them. After killing some time at Wal-mart, we went over to Tiff and DJ’s and hung out while they got ready and we waited on Sara and Eric to arrive. We went to Kobe Japanese Steakhouse, which was delicious and I’d love to go again in the future, and then went to Old Town, where they had a car show going on. We walked, well, in my case, I waddled (Sara said so), around Old Town and then headed back to Tiff and DJ’s. Now we’re at Sara and Eric’s watching the Gator game that Eric recorded.
Elijah has moved more yesterday and today than earlier this week. Today, Cory and I watched him move around. It was really neat for us. 🙂 We can’t believe how time is flying and that before we know it, Elijah will be here.
Elijah Lanier 