Voyages of the S.S. Whalen: The Early Arrival of Everly Kaye Whalen

On March 22, at 8:30 pm, one month ago today, we received a call from our adoption agency saying that Katherine was going into labor. Her due date was May 06, so we weren't very concerned, we just assumed that she was having Braxton Hicks contractions. We got a couple of things organized just in case, but weren't too convinced that it was time to go. Imagine our surprise when a text message came through, at 10:00 pm saying that we should get to Austin, TX, because Everly Kaye Whalen had been born! Throughout the evening we received texts and phone calls with updates. One of the main ones - She was born at 11:06 pm, weighing in at 3 lbs 14 oz, and 16 inches.

We had no idea what we were about to encounter and we frantically packed our bags (with five days worth of clothes), filled up the car with luggage and other random last minute household goods for the apartment, settled down for a sleepless night, and then woke up at around 5 am. We dropped off the boxes filled with stuff at the apartment, took Asher to a friend's house, and then started the 8.5 hour trek from El Paso to Austin (not the most scenic of road trips...).

We arrived in Austin and went straight to the hospital to see our very little girl, who was in the NICU since she had been born premature at 33 1/2 weeks.

Our first visit with Everly.

Us with Bryan and Katherine (Everly's birth parents).

We had a great opportunity to sit down and talk with Katherine, such a great, loving person.

Our extended family continues to grow...

Katherine at Everly's bedside.

Shortly after we arrived, they put a feeding tube in, just in case.

Everly with Sean's hand, this photo was taken within 24 hours of her birth.

She almost literally fit in the palm of his hand...

Gifts for the birth parents:

For Bryan: An Austin guitar pick with Everly's date of birth and birth name (Rue)

For Katherine: A locket with photos of Everly

Being parents to a baby in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit is a different experience.

The focus is on the baby gaining weight and growing, so the NICU staff encourages parents to keep visits where you handle the baby to a minimum. Consequently, we would go to feedings every three hours for the first week, and then every four hours following an adjustment to her feeding schedule.

Everly did great from the start. She never had to go on the respirator (almost unheard of for a baby born at 33.5 weeks), she only had the stomach tube feeding once, she immediately took to a bottle, and she quickly began gaining weight.

Everly was all smiles from the start. Some may call it gas, we hope it is a sign of her personality :)

So, with Everly thriving under 24/7 professional care, and the emphasis on letting her sleep so she can gain weight and grow, we decided to take a day trip to nearby San Antonio (neither of us had ever been there). Following the San Antonio trip, Sean went home to go back to work (he'd take his paternity leave after we had left Austin and were in El Paso), and Grandma Barb flew out with Asher to Austin.

A few days later, Grandma Barb flew out from Austin and Grandma Trish flew in.

Shauna also went back to San Antonio with Asher and Trish.

San Antonio's River Walk - a gorgeous area! Asher and crew took the river boat tour.

Austin is a great town for families and kids.

In between NICU visits, Shauna and Asher (along with Grandmas Barb or Trish) explored the town.

Below are photos at "The Thinkery," a great hands-on kids museum in Austin.

With time to kill, we decided it was time to get Asher a haircut. Why not?

And as a reward for doing such a great job and sporting a killer faux hawk? Frozen Yogurt!

We continued to explore Austin's kid attractions and made it to this gem, Zilker Park. There was space to run, botanical gardens, an old fire engine in the play area, and a train; Asher was in heaven :)

Then there were the down times where Asher was kept entertained by the Ronald McDonald playroom...

by walks and lady bugs...

...by Jamba Juice, which was within walking distance!!

...and by himself :)

There was one time that we were hanging out in the hospital courtyard and he spotted this statue. His reaction? "Mom! That little boy is in time out!!"

We love that kid :)

While Everly was in the NICU, we were able to stay in the Ronald McDonald House, free of charge.

What an amazing and unexpected blessing! Volunteers came in everyday and cooked us free meals for lunch and dinner, snacks were provided for the down times, we were well taken care of and taken aback by the outpouring of support and love for us and all other parents of NICU babies. If you have a Ronald McDonald house in the area, there are so many opportunities to serve! Cook meals, clean the common areas, man desks, or just donate household goods. There are so many ways to help these families that are going through difficult times. It would provide a great personal progress project! :) We were so incredibly blessed and humbled by the whole experience. www.rmhc.org

This is what greeted us whenever we turned the corner to go into the building... slightly unnerving. I definitely had a Seinfeld moment every time I passed him by...."Ronald" (Newman)
- while Sean recalled clown-themed horror movies (behind the smile you never know what a clown is up to)...

And as we explored, we made it to the majority of Everly's "touch/feeding" times. She continued to grow!

The nurses even provided her with a handmade, girly hat :)

She's already started practicing her selfie poses :)

While we waited for Everly's release, we got Asher a baby doll to practice being gentle. The photos that we took before this, where he was whipping the baby around helicopter-style, did not make the cut for the blog.

After 18 days in the NICU, Everly had her sleep study/car seat study done to see if she was breathing well enough to go home. Unfortunately/fortunately, she did not pass. Shauna was a bit relieved, especially after helping Everly into the carseat and seeing how incredibly small she was.
She was barely over 5 lbs at this time! Yikes!!

To give you an idea of how small Everly was, here is a picture of when Asher left the hospital after two days, weighing about 8.5 lbs :) Everly is actually two weeks older than Asher was at this time!!

Then, after 23 days in the NICU, and after a smooth sleep study, Everly was finally discharged! Yay! She weighed 5lbs 8oz upon discharge. Woohoo! You grow little girl!

Our trip through the hospital :)

Since no one under the age of 18 could go into the NICU, this was Asher's first time meeting Everly! He didn't look too thrilled about it either! He was actually pretty good about it, and kept asking Grandma to move so he could see his sister :)

Shauna, Trish, Asher, and Everly started the road trip home to our El Paso apartment, stopping in Stockton, TX (a random midway point) for the night. Shauna then took the first photos of Asher and Everly interacting.

The ground rules were simple, "Asher, lie still, don't move, freeze, and smile!"