the life of Karis

Ok, so we haven't posted much lately.  Sorry for that.  I've been waiting for Holly to post something about the whole birth event, but she hasn't had any time.  If you are interested I talked about it here on my personal blog.  This is by no means the whole account and some of the timetable might be out of order.  (Give me a break, I typed it a few days after the whole ordeal was over.)

Anyways, I wanted to start this little update on Karis that we'll try to post from time to time.  We will try to let you in on her little milestones and such.  But I first want to play a little game called, "What is Karis really thinking?"  Even at 5 weeks old, Karis has quite a bit of personality through various looks that she gives us.  I will describe a few events and the look on Karis' face and what I think she is really thinking.  Hopefully you'll get a kick out of it.

Scenario #1:  Holly and I were putting a preemie gown on Karis that my parents bought for her.  The only problem is that her head is a bit big for said outfit and Holly and I had different philosophies on how to put the outfit on.  In the process of Holly and I trying to figure out the best way, the outfit rested over Karis' shoulders and she let out a cry.  When we finally got her head through, she shot this hilarious look at me that I interpreted as, "Would you two figure out what the heck you are trying to do and just put this on me already!!!!"

Scenario #2:  One of my favorite things to do to Karis is to kiss all over her face and neck while I'm on the way to change her and start her feeding.  Of course this is usually about the time that Karis is uncomfortable from and dirty diaper and an empty stomach.  While in the process of this, Karis usually looks right at me with a look that I interpret as, "Stop it, Stop it, STOP IT!!!!!!!! And get on with the bottle already."

That's it for now, I'll try to post some more stories later.

If you are looking for pics of Karis they are on facebook.  Here is a link to a few of the albums.

Karis is home

Coming home

Karis 3 weeks

Karis

Birth announcement

Today at 10:01 AM our daughter Karis Olivia Blankenship was born via c-section at roughly 32 weeks old.  We will report more later on the ordeal but I wanted to let you know that both mom and baby are doing well.  Karis weighed 3 lbs 14 oz and measured 17 1/4" long.  The doctors are telling us that she is developmentally further along than she should be which means that they are not having to do a whole lot to help her breathe, etc.  She will be in the NICU for at least 3-4 weeks as she continues to develop and be closely monitored.  She is so beautiful and precious and we will be posting some pics soon, I promise.

Mom is doing well too.  As I am typing this she is sleeping soundly for the first time since Friday night.  Hopefully I will do the same tonight.  Thanks to the many that prayed for us as they found out.  Sorry to those of you who have found out unexpectedly, just know that things were crazy and we wanted to keep communication to a minimum.  We would appreciate your continued prayers for mom and Karis as mom heals and Karis continues to grow.  Dad is doing well.  He is very relieved that this crazy journey is finally over and is now trying to get used to fact that he is a father.

Wrapping Up

As we are wrapping the last Christmas gifts and wrapping up the year, Jared and I are realizing how many new beginnings are ahead of us as we embark on 2009.  As Jared mentioned, we haven't had many posts in the last several weeks since we have been completely out of our routine.  Just before Thanksgiving, Jared and I took a road trip to the Youth Specialties Conference in Nashville with our "Philly relatives," Doug and Mear.  Once Thanksgiving was over, Jared and I had to part ways once again (yes, this gets very old) as I started a rotation at Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga and he headed back to Philadelphia for the next month.  We were finally reunited just before Christmas when Jared drove 14 hours in one day to Murfreesboro, just so we wouldn't have to spend yet another night apart.  After 4 years of marriage, it still feels like we are dating...and long distance at that.  Fortunately, this past month was supposed to be the last rotation completely apart, which we are very thankful for.  Since then we've enjoyed all the Christmas festivities (including too much down home food) with my side of the family here in the Boro, and we will be headed to Gatlinburg to meet up with his family to celebrate Christmas/New Year's Day at the beginning of this next week.  

     Our lives have certainly been chaotic lately with these away rotations, holiday traveling, residency interviews and a baby on the way, but we look forward to a couple of short months of routine life in our humble Philly apartment before all of the new but welcomed chaos begins.  If our baby allows, I will be working through the end of February and will then start some of my vacation time that I have saved up over the past couple of years the first week of March, which is when our baby girl is due.  Later in March, we find out through the match where we will be moving for residency.  Then, I will hopefully be finishing my last 4 weeks of medical school during April by doing a local ENT rotation in Philadelphia with an ENT doc I have worked with previously.  I graduate in May, and we will then move as close as we can to my residency hospital (wherever that will be) in early June.  Residency begins the last week of June.  Sound crazy?  It will be.  We are also not so naive to believe that everything will go according to plan.  This is just the skeleton of a plan that we have in place.  Usually when I get my ducks in a row, God flicks at least a few of them down just to show me who is in control, and I am ok with that.  He's has brought us to where we are today, and we lead content (although complicated) lives as a result.  

     We are now 30 weeks along in the pregnancy, but here are some pics taken at 28 weeks for those of you who like visuals.  Hope you have all had happy holidays.  [gallery]

All quiet

Just so you know, we haven't posted much lately because Holly is in TN for a rotation and Jared is back in PA. We are both lonely and pathetic shells of ourselves so there's nothing interesting to post. Unless you want us to talk about the wicked virus that we both caught from my grandmother at Thanksgiving. Or how we traversed across most of KY while Holly was interviewing at 2 residency sites on back to back days, right after we were starting to recover from said virus. Or how we are very thankful that my sister, who Holly is staying with, has the ability to iChat on her computer and we can therefore see each other when we talk at night. Other than that, you should know that Holly crosses into the 3rd trimester tomorrow. It's getting closer and we can't wait. Thank you all for your prayers and support. We'll try to post some pics of Holly or Thanksgiving or both soon.

The Family That Eats Together Stays Together

One of the priorities in our relationship during med school has been eating dinner together.  This has become somewhat easier as Holly progressed into the rotation phase in her 3rd and 4th years of med school.  But at her last rotation she had a few late nights at the clinic that caused our already late dinner hour to be pushed back a few more hours.  So I was home patiently waiting for Holly to let me know when she was going to be able to leave and as 6, 6:30, 7 and 7:30 came and went I began to wonder if we were going to eat together tonight.  Finally Holly called me around 8 and I started the grill on a cold and very dark night so that we could eat together.  Here is a picture of me outside in the 40 degree weather grilling with a small flashlight.

[caption id="attachment_78" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="A close up because you know you wanted one!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_77" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="It's cold out there"]
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Holly I hope your veggie burgers were cooked how you like them!

Baby shower!!!!

Last weekend Holly and I were given a baby shower at her parent's house.  In attendance were many family and friends from the area.  We had a great time and received some cool gifts as well.  Thanks to all of you who were able to come out.  Below are some pictures of the event.  Notice there are men at the shower...Holly likes for there to be men there to even out all the estrogen :)  Thanks Brenda, Marina, Lori, Ash and Lynz for planning such a fun afternoon!  [gallery]

24 week pics

Here are a few pictures of Holly at 24 weeks.  She has been doing great and the baby has been very active at various times in the day, especially at night which I love!!!  We still have not picked out a name yet, so keep on holding your horses.  We're really close to figuring it out though.  Thank you for your continued prayers and words of encouragement.

[caption id="attachment_71" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="From the side"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_72" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="Front view"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_73" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="Other side view"][/caption]