Baby Bean

Somewhere along this journey, I started calling Reese "baby bean". Probably because she's just a small little bean-y baby.

Reese's size is kindof a novelty. Everyone is always interested in how "big" or rather how small she is. Today she weighs 5 lbs. 4 oz. At birth, she weighed 1 lb. 15 oz (that was weight after she had a diaper on, fluids pumped through her, vent in- so probably less than that.) and she was 13.5 inches long. Tiny!

She is really growing and seems big to me now. In fact, a set of preemie pjs at the NICU were too small for her today. My friend stopped in during her bath and could not believe how small she was. I guess I'm just used to her so she doesn't seem that small to me anymore. She actually just seems more like a baby now.

When I was getting stitched up from the c-section, Justin brought his phone in with a picture of her. I actually thought she didn't look that small. The next day when I went to see her though, I realized the pictures were a little deceiving. Several family members felt the same way- once they saw her in person, they couldn't believe it. Much smaller than they were expecting based on pictures. This was one of her first pictures next to Justin's hand for perspective.

 

 This was day 2 of life. Outside the isolette and inside. Hard to tell just how small.

 

 

 Her feet and hands were so tiny.

 

Once again perspective against Justin's average man-hand. Her footprints looked like a scrapbook stamp.

Her diaper was about the size of my iphone.

Compared to a $10 bill, small stuffed animal and king-sized candy bar.

 "Kangaroo care" is holding her down your shirt, skin to skin- it helps keep her warm. This is a look at her tiny hand.

 Justin's hand inside isolette.

 

 We took Justin's wedding ring in to see if it fit her. The nurse suggested this idea and I honestly thought her arm would be too big, but actually his ring was too big for even her upper arm. Unbelievable.

Look how gigantic a normal binky looks compared to her.

 

But.....I love this saying outside of the NICU.

 She's a little person with hopefully a big future ahead of her.

 

 We love this little baby bean.