She is FEEDING!

Happy to report that the little one is out of the tanning bed :-) She is holding temperature and looking a bit more pink now. She did look cute with her little sunglass shades but I do prefer her more in natural light.

So yesterday was a tough day. Aub watched little P's heart rate drop to about 90. For this little kid, that is low. That was the first sign.

The hormones are coming, the hormones are coming!

She really struggled through the day. I think seeing her do so well and then needing the Isolette, the light and some extra heat just set things off. I know Aub also felt like she didn't want to disturb her as the more time in the light, the better. However, our nurse also wanted to get her breast feeding. We did have a few tries before but nothing really happened.

So this time was tough at first but after a few tricks from our fabulous nurse, Porter latched on and started feeding... and feeding... and feeding. They were going to give her 5ccs of mama's milk. The nurse joked with us that she thought she was getting much more than that. We weighed her and ... 18ccs! It's the silly little things but I LOVE that she is getting food going through that little system. And it really helped Aub. I mean REALLY helped her. This bonding was wonderful to witness and just what she needed. I think the nurse saw that right from the start.

Today Aub fed her three times. 30 ccs in one feeding. She really is a Morck, she loves to eat! I want her to get those chubby little legs and cheeks before we get her out of there. One of the things they are really looking to see her do before she leaves is that she is eating well. Hopefully, we are on that road.

I will again say it is the little things I love. I see daily changes in her like watching her get stronger with the binky, learning how the whole breast feeding thing works, etc. This is something I don't think anyone who is not a parent could understand. I just keep thinking forward to how much I can teach her, and how much she will teach me.

It is still hard to leave her every day but I always know she is in good hands. I hope Aub can get some sleep. She has been so good in getting up and pumping every three hours. She lets me sleep through the night even though I always ask if I can help. I'm sure there will be plenty to do here soon enough!

Minimork Update

After a few days of recovery for mom we have been discharged from the hospital. We ended up staying one extra day since it was just nice to keep close to little Porter. We still don't know how long she will have to stay here but most people estimate it will be a few weeks. As there is part of me that would love to bring her home, I know full well that this is for the best. We are also very thankful of the great staff at the hospital. We have learned some things that should really help us going forward. It has been helpful to always have someone there to answer our questions.

We were relieved to see her the morning after that she had been moved out of an Isolette into a regular bassinet. It is also really good to know that all systems are looking good. No need for extra oxygen, those little lungs are working great! At first, her digestive system wasn't exactly kicking in gear but it looks like that has changed. Once she got a hold of mom's milk, she started eating well. Good thing too as that hopefully will be all she is getting for a while :-)

However, she did seem a bit cold this morning and combined with a little hint of Jaundice so they have moved her back into the Isolette. They have told us again and again that this is quite common. The little one's system is still immature and needs to work this stuff through and a little help will be all it takes. Hopefully she will only be in this bed for a few days.

Since we had really just begun to spend time with her, this is a little hard on Aub. We have to limit the time we have her out of the unit as the more continuous treatment she gets, the less time she has to spend in there. They have these cute little eye protection pieces that look like little sunglasses. Really, it looks like she is just getting a good base tan for Heidi's wedding. :-)

Right now our schedule is kind of up in the air but really we will probably be there together twice a day for some one on one time with her. Consider us the milk truck and we make two

deliveries a day. Keep those good thoughts and prayers coming our way. I have all faith that our little one will be coming home soon.

Ok, the whole story

Sorry for the lateness of this post but I was too tired following the event of yesterday. Aub did all the real work but yet it still wore me out.

The day began as expected, with our nurse Kelly coming in to get us around 7:30. We were still sleeping (:-) as we heard this birth thing can be quite exhausting. The IV for the Pitocin went in around 9 a.m. and seemed to take effect pretty quickly. Aub had a few contractions the night before. Apparently her and Porter had a talk and Aub convinced her this would be the day. Luckily, she played along.


The contractions came in quite regularly. Aub knew she would get the epidural, it was just a question of when. It only took about a half hour from when we asked for it to show up. Aub was definately feeling pain and you could see the epidural take effect. Her face relaxed, her voice calmed and she was in a much better mood. The pushing began. We were making progress!


This peace would last for a while when all of sudden, Aub felt pain. BAD PAIN. It hit like a truck and started to really be concerned. She suffered through this but the pushing had to stop. We went from 0-100 in about 10 minutes. Kelly got on the phone right away calling the anesthesiologist and Aub's doctor. Things were not pretty and I began to worry for my wife. The anesthesiologist showed up about 5 minutes later and quickly found the line had been disconnected. Huh.

After a quick spurt of the fluid on Aub's face when he reconnected the line, life became good again. It took about 20 minutes to catch up to the pain, but then we were charging forward again. Around 5 or so, Kelly told me to look and you could just see this little bit of black hair. SHE WAS COMING!

There was another point where I looked down and saw the whole top of the head with this beautiful black, curly hair. I started to cry. I knew it would it would just be a few minutes more. Then we gathered everyone in the room. Grandmothers, doctor, another doctor, nurse, another nurse, lots of equipment. The room is filled. Not much room to breath, much less be modest at this point. And then, it happened. I saw the top of head poke out, then go right back in. One more big push and ... BABY!

Crazy! That is all I can say! The next thing I know I am cutting the cord. Again, CRAZY!

Then she is wiped down and mom gets to hold her. They need to take her upstairs quickly to make sure she is alright so I get to carry her. Look at this scared guy. Never has something so valuable and so fragile been in my hands. I love this little one and I have just met her.

I missed the rest of the action downstairs (not that I minded) and stayed upstairs with little Porter. The whole way up she watched me. These beautiful brown eyes stared up at me as if she already knew me. When we put her in the isolette she grabbed my finger. She let go only a few times to grab it again. She has quite a grip for those tiny little hands. She kept watching me. I kept thinking I could just look into these eyes forever.

A quick thanks to Kelly, our RN, she was great! She really helped us get through the day.

SHE IS HERE!!!!!

Ok, papa is VERY tired but little Porter Jolie Morck has arrived. I will post the whole story tomorrow but everyone is doing great and we are going to sleep. She came at 6:23 (we should have waited for one more push for 626 on 6/26).

Thank you again to everyone! More to come.... zzzzz.....zzzz.....zzzzz

Midnight train not to Portland....

So it is what it is. Your friend decides to break her water to keep me in the State of Washington a tad bit longer... no longer will I have the day and nights wondering if I will be here, china, sf...NO I will be here. Porter is making sure of that. So days progress, with food and movies (did Aubrey even watch one?).. and hours to wait and incubate....
So I get the news that she will be induced Thursday morning... "not good" I said, "have to take the train to Portland that day...Porter will have to wait til Friday"... well I guess my super powers did not come into effect on Porter's decision. So Thursday it is. I sit on my couch 11:30 pm about to purchase my train to portland and instead... I decide to create a grand story to get out of my trip to Portland and cancel my meetings... so as the story goes... Dave is stuck in Chicago and I need to be with mom til he returns. Ok.. not a great story spin.. but it did the trick.

So one drive through lunch for dad and a little drugs for mom.. all is good in the morckland hood. Aubrey is a trooper.. she is surrounded by these beaming parents (always dressed in bright welcoming colors I might add)... her tubes and monitors are everywhere....the contraction mounds on the monitor closer together and huge summits compared to the past few days....but Aubrey is steadfast, determined and ready for this.


I am of course am trying to get the dish on all the single doctors and gathering gossip from the nurses that we are blessed with this day. We have already planned the 9 pound porter party...and every other celebration we can pack in. I have realized as the doctor checks the amount of dilation...(we are at 7 cm folks!) when the doctor asked if I was her sister Aubrey said, "we are close... but not that close" So I moved to the side of the bed, happy to be here...and no need for the front row seat:) Porter is ready to come today.. I have my catchers glove, and nanu nanu hand signs ready to welcome mini morck. What a blessed little girl to have the wonderful parents that she has. I am personally applying to be adopted by the morcks.. but will be happy with my role as Aunt-E instead. Amazing this process..... truly amazing
(guest blog by Erica)

Downstairs again and the process begins

We are back downstairs again and right across the hall from where we were before. Just found out this is the same room the Pettits had little Avery! Another fun fact is Eric and Mya were in our original room. They were moved to another room before they gave birth as they wanted a room with a tub. That was our original idea as well but things really didn't go as planned. :-)

We are now in room 2128 but we will move back to our room upstairs after the delivery.

Another good sign is Aub started contractions last night. It looks like this baby wants out. They just started her on the Pitocin around 9 and it seems like things are already accelerating. Aub is defiantly feeling a bit nervous today. I am doing what I can to keep her relaxed so we can move this along.

Quick edit, contractions are about 8 minutes apart right now.

She is dilated!

Well, another good sign! This was the first time Aub has been checked as they wanted to minimize the risk of infection. Apparently her body is getting ready. She is dilated to 2-3 cm. so looks like we are getting ready to go! That was a nice sign since otherwise they would have to use either a chemical or a balloon to stimulate the process. Nice to not introduce anything more that we do not need.

We will be doing what we can to get a good nights sleep. We have a big day tomorrow. Thank you again to everyone. We now need a new table to hold all of the flowers that people have set! Good lord :-)

I think we are really ready. Well, as ready as any new parents can be. Again I am very thankful we have had time to prepare for this. I know Aub is ready to get up and walk around, even though it may be a few days. But really, having at least a plan helps. As comfortable as they have made us, I am sure it is still hard for her to have to sit still all the time. She is one who loves her down time, but no one likes to be forced to not move. Especially someone who enjoys walking as much as my wife.

This may be the last post until the delivery. I may post something if I get a chance once the process is underway. Obviously I would like to stay married to this gal so I doubt I will be typing during the delivery. Talk to you all soon and hopefully with one more addition to our family.

Looks like Thursday is the day

Our doctor just came by for a consult and it looks like she is shooting for Thursday. We have to balance out the risk of infection (since the water broke) and how long we can keep her in there. They are going to check her out tomorrow internally to see if all parts are ready and determine what we need to do for sure.

So now, if all goes as planned, Thursday morning Aub will be put on Pitocin. This will start the process but worst case is if she doesn't respond then there is the option of the C-Section. The doctor doesn't want to do this electively nor is she worried right now that it will come to that. She is also not concerned if that does happen. Really, they all feel the baby is strong and with the right help, she can come home to us soon.

Aub is doing really well. Since this is more than a month before all of this was supposed to happen, it has to be hard for her. She also wasn't prepared for the premie stuff so really I think she is handling this really well. I am very proud of my wife watching her go through this process and I think she is going to be a wonderful mother. I love her very, very much.

I will keep posting although there may not be much to report. However, check this out: they have massage available here! How great is that! You can get all kinds of services. Manicures, pedicures, etc. This place is wonderful. They really understand what these moms go through and they do a great job of making them feel at home.

We've Moved

Since we are going to be here all week, we have moved out of the birthing suite to the plush hotel-like room of the NICU. This is the area for bed rest moms and premature babies. This facility is first rate. We have learned so much here. The doctors and nurses have been so great, guiding us through the mental and physical aspects of what we are dealing with. I would not want to be any other place.

We had an ultrasound tonight. MiniMork is right where she is supposed to be. They estimate she will be 5lbs 2oz. However, ultrasounds are not usually right so who knows. But everything looks good and that is what matters most. The coolest thing was watching the heart. Now that she is so big we can really make out the details. You could see all of the chambers, pumping away. You can even see each of the valves. We know she has a strong heart and to see it is just breathtaking.

There is one nurse here, Sherry, that we want to adopt. She is amazing. She knows what Aub is thinking before she says anything. She also knows exactly what to say to put you at ease. I wish we could have her here the whole time. She came to see us today even though she was working in another area of the hospital. I thought that was really sweet and hopefully we will see her more during our stay.

So check out these pictures. This is such a great room! Hopefully this will help ease this week on by and we can keep this going until this weekend. I will keep posting as we go when there is something to report.

Please send good thoughts and prayers our way. Just give me a healthy baby and healthy mom. I keep saying I can't wait to meet this beautiful little girl, but right now I can wait!

Water Broke! Holy Crap!

Well, so much for a plan. :-) Aub's water broke Friday night. She came right to the hospital. Luckily, her mom wasn't too far away. I was pedaling home so I didn't hear the phone nor did I think it could be that important this early. I never have been accused of being smart. So I come home, don't see anyone but the cars are both there. I knew her mom was over helping us get ready for the show on Sunday so I figure they are out to eat. I see a pizza sitting on the counter so I start to heat that up and then I see the note. "My water broke. At the hospital"....

You can imagine that my heart jumped up to about 180.

When I called her she said she was fine and was surprisingly calm. That calmed me down. So I pack and come to the hospital. And now we are in the big holding pattern. They didn't know what to expect when we came in. However, little MiniMork has been showing a strong heartbeat and is moving around. The doctor thought Aub might go into labor at any minute but she hoped we could hold out a while. It looks like now we are holding out until at least next weekend. If we can hold off infection and she doesn't go into labor on her own, we can keep her in natures own incubator. Once she reaches 35 weeks, they are not really worried about the little one.

We have had fantastic support from our family and friends. People have been bringing food, movies and anything and everything we could need. Thank you to everyone who has come and/or offered support. We really feel blessed that we have such a phenomenal support group. We love you guys and you are really helping us through this process.

Classes

Just starting the classes. Wow there is a lot to learn. Two days into the birthing class and I'm very glad we are doing this. If I went into this with no education I would freak out. I like the fact that we are making decisions now before the real stress comes.  Just did 'Happiest Baby on the Block'.  The thing I like most about the classes is that you realize others are going through the same things you are. And they are just as unprepared. :-)  I think I learn as much when the teacher rambles as they have a lot of experience to share.

However, I know there is much to learn but I can see how everything is so valuable. We shall see how we are when the kid is crying her eyes out. Hopefully we will have some tools we can use.  I know we won't be perfect and I can live with that. I just want to be a good dad (and husband). 

Pictures

June 23rd










June 12th










May 17th

May 9th

April 11th

March 26th

March 18th

February 5th

June is here

We are now into June. MiniMorck is really growing. It is just amazing to feel her kick. I think she likes massage as she is definately reacting to touch. Aub is dealing with everything really well. Not sure I would do so well with the extra load she is carrying around.

Working on the nursury tonight. Had to put another coat of paint up as I was a moron and didn't keep the last can I used before I put up the crown moulding. Thought we had a perfect match. Ha! So close but so far. Oh well, it will be done soon. Anytime I need motivation I just look in the closet. How cute are little girl clothes!

I will post some pictures as I learn this thing.

Cheers all! She is coming soon!