Isabel Renee

To re-cap, Isabel Renee joined us at 3:59pm on March 13th weighing in at 7lbs 8oz and 20" in length. She arrived healthy and happy and we are all settling into our life as a family. Geoffrey and I both love being parents and it really is amazing the amount of love you instantly feel for your child. We arrived home from the hospital Saturday evening and after a rough first night, have been blessed with 2 nights of very little fussing. She is quite the eater and nurses about every 2 to 3 hours. I've actually felt pretty good on the sleep I'm getting, as when she sleeps, I sleep :). Dad has done a great job of taking care of mom and even brought me breakfast in bed the first two mornings! The pugs are adjusting well and are VERY interested in this little thing that makes funny noises. They have gotten to sniff her and General has given a few licks.

We had our first pediatrician's appointment yesterday and she got an A+. She is just 2oz shy of her birth weight which was a relief to mom, since now I know she is definitely getting enough to eat :). We also had to take Isabel to a pediatric cardiologist, as they discovered she was having some extra heartbeats (called PACs - Premature Atrial Complexes) while at the hospital. This was the second time we met with the cardiologist, (who is fantastic). He feels the PACs are probably the harmless kind, since everything else is normal, but still wants to watch her. She was hooked up to a holter monitor, and has 5 leads attached to her chest and a bundle of wires attached to a data recorder. We call her the bionic baby and will get a picture, as its pretty silly looking :). Once the doctor confirms that they are the harmless kind of PACs we won't have anything to worry about, as it won't matter whether or not they fade with time. Our pediatrician said the PACs must be there so that we have something to worry about, since she is such a healthy baby otherwise.

This is the first of what will be many installments of pictures. With 3 different digital cameras in the home it will take a while to sort through them all. And when you have such a beautiful baby to look at, blogging takes a back seat.

Isabel got to meet her Uncle Kevin and Uncle Eric in the hospital on Friday night. She is looking forward to meeting her Uncle Peter and Uncle Jerry soon :).

Although we weren't able to pull off a basketball win over UNC Saturday, Isabel still proudly displayed her "baby hokie" hat when we left the hospital.

Isabel was born on Cousin Rita's birthday (well really, Grandpa Schaeffer's cousin). So it was fitting that the blanket she wore home from the hospital was made by cousin Rita! It sure is warm and kept her nice and toasty for the car ride home.


And finally, a little video. Not that babies this age do all that much, but I still thought it was fun :).

Enjoy! We'll get more pictures up as we have time.