Cheyenne’s World

Cynthia, the kids and I were finally able to go to visit Cheyenne (and her parents) last week. We drove up on Sunday evening, and got to stay through Monday, and head for home on Tuesday. It was a brief stay, but such a good visit. While Cheyenne was in the hospital, we had to come home before getting to hold her. It was such a relief to get to see her without all of her tubes, and sensors. It was a real treat to get to hold her in our arms for the first time!

The kids really enjoyed getting to see Cheyenne and hold her. All of the kids were thrilled to get to see her. I think Skylar was about to bust with excitement when she heard that Cheyenne went home from the hospital. She could hardly wait to get up there and see her little cousin for the first time. It was so nice to see them enjoying little Cheyenne. They had been praying so hard for her (and continue to do so.)

As we were leaving Cheyenne’s house, we stopped at McDonald’s for some breakfast. Jacob asked if he could say the prayer because he wanted to say an extra special prayer for Cheyenne. He said such a nice prayer, and even remembered to thank God for letting Cheyenne go home. It is certainly encouraging and exciting to see what power there is in prayer!

Here are a few pictures of the kids together. Hope you enjoy them!

Click on the picture to see the full size image!

Well, its been several days since I posted an update, and wanted to remedy that problem. We are starting to get into the swing of things around here, and developing as much of a routine as you can with a newborn.

Cheyenne still has her days and nights mixed up. She does really well sleeping during the day, but doesn’t like to sleep at night unless someone is holding her. We’re hoping she outgrows that.

I got back to work last week, and I have to admit it felt a little strange. I had been off for several weeks, and had been able to spend all day with Nikki and Cheyenne. It has not been easy leaving them during the day while I go to work. But one has to do what one has to do.

Nikki and I still look at Cheyenne sometimes and have a hard time believing she is ours. The Lord blessed us so greatly with this wonderful child, and we love her so much. Nikki sometimes catches me just watching Cheyenne sleep. It is amazing to see the wide range of facial motions she has developed already, and she causes us to laugh quite often. Anyone who has any doubt that the Lord created us needs only to watch a newborn baby move around.

From our family to all of you: Thank you so much for opening up your hearts to us. So many people offered up prayers on our behalf, and many also graciously made financial sacrifices to help us through our difficult time. May the Lord richly bless your generosity. We can never fully express our gratitude, but please accept our thanks.

I thought I would give a little update. Cheyenne is doing good. As you read in her Daddy’s update, she is gaining weight.

Cheyenne came to visit us for the first time. Her mama had a doctor appointment, so papaw and mamaw got to babysit for a while. Yes, we took pictures

Both mama and baby have had good checkups. Praise God for answered prayers. Thanks to all of you who continue to keep them (and Aaron) in your prayers daily, and for all the encouragement you have given to them.

I just wanted to update everyone about Cheyenne’s second pediatric appointment. The doctor was thrilled with Cheyenne’s progress in the last week! She is now 6 lbs., 3 oz. That is a gain of 11 ounces in just a week!

She is doing very well waking herself up to eat now. In fact, for about the last two days, she has been waking up about every 2.5 hours instead of every 3. The doctor was also happy to hear that news. He says that means she has “turned the corner” on eating, and should have no problem with continued weight gain now!

We’ve also had some company this weekend. Uncle Kris, Aunt Cynthia, and cousins Jacob, Skylar and JonDavid came to visit. They were really excited about getting to hold Cheyenne and see her without all of her wires! This is the first they’ve been able to hold her, since they had to go home before she was able to be held at the hospital. Jacob and Skylar seem to be quite impressed with her, and they have been anxious to help Aunt Nikki take care of baby Cheyenne this weekend! It has been great to see them, and we’d like to thank them for all that they have done for us over the last couple of months.

We were able to get some pictures taken of Cheyenne and all the cousins today. As soon as we’re able to get them uploaded to the server, we’ll get them posted on here.

I found this online, and thought I would pass it along, since Aaron and Nikki will be needing some good parenting advice…

And here is one more, just for Nikki…it takes so much to be a good mom…

Hope you all have a good laugh!

Cheyenne made it out to her first worship service this evening! As you can see from her picture, she was pretty tuckered out by the time we made it home. Her mama and I thought she did a great job, though. She was very quiet through the whole service, and didn’t cry a single time! The only noise anyone heard from her was her hiccups, which she gets 8-10 times a day.

The folks at Brown Street in Akron were very happy to see Cheyenne out and about, and some even expressed surprise that she was able to be out so soon! As well all know, however, she’s been ahead of the curve the whole time!

Many people at services talked about the fact that we were able to be there showed God’s answers to our prayers, and they are absolutely right. We are so thankful to Almighty God that He heard and answered the many prayers that went up on Cheyenne’s behalf. Her mother and I are grateful that the Lord allowed us to have this healthy baby girl that is bringing so much joy into our lives.

And, as always, we are ever thankful for your prayers and all the cards and gifts that you have sent.

Here I am in Ohio! I have the privilege of helping out Nikki and Aaron with Cheyenne. I have the 1 am - 7 am shift. We are getting along fine She is eating good, and going back to sleep pretty quick. The first night, I held her most of the night because I was afraid I wouldn’t hear her if she woke up (yes, they do have the monitor) but I felt better holding her. We both slept on the couch.    Last night, she woke up only when it was time to eat, then right back to sleep.  She is a good baby.

I will miss her when I leave!

Everything continues to go well at the Brewer household!

We met Cheyenne’s new pediatrician yesterday, and we thought he was very good. Even Cheyenne seemed to like him! We really liked the fact that he had done his homework and was prepared for us. He had received the discharge summary from Children’s Hospital, and had thoroughly reviewed it and made his own notes to work off of while we were there. He was pleased with Cheyenne’s progress. She is approximately back to her birth weight, and continues to eat well! The doctor chose to leave her on her current diet for the next week, and will reassess her diet plan at her next appointment on Monday morning. He also did not see any problems with her lungs or any of the other things that the NICU had to deal with over the last couple of weeks.

Mamaw Brewer is here to help us while we continue getting settled in. She has been very helpful so far! She took care of Cheyenne for a good portion of the night last night so that we (and especially Nikki, who has been sick) could get caught up on some sleep. It seems to have had the desired effect, as Nikki is doing better today. We were even able to go to the grocery store for the first time in two and a half months while Mamaw watched the baby.

We are so thankful for the continued prayers on Cheyenne’s behalf, and for the continued interest in how everything is going. It is encouraging to visit the site and see how many visitors have come to check for updates since the last time I had been to the site. I will try diligently to continue updating as often as possible, and I hope you will continue to check back.

Thank you all for the prayers, and thank God above for His wondrous care of Cheyenne!

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EDIT: Kris here, answering the demands of the masses by adding in a few pictures. I am going to get him to learn to add pictures himself…ok…its my fault that he can’t add the pictures yet, but I will try to fix that little problem tomorrow!

Well, we successfully navigated the first weekend at home with Cheyenne. Or rather, Cheyenne successfully navigated the weekend with two inexperienced parents at home with her. All in all, I’d say it went pretty smoothly. Cheyenne is starting to get the “day is night, and night is day” routine out of her system.

Of course, you might notice I’m updating at 3:30 a.m. She woke us up because she was hungry (which is great! - we had been having to wake her to eat), but now she’s not wanting to go to sleep. She’s finally settled down now, and we’ll see if she actually stays asleep this time.

Nikki has been a little under the weather for the last couple of days, so she’s been trying to manage that on top of taking care of Cheyenne. I’ve been trying to help as much as I can, especially with sitting up in the night with the baby so Nikki can try to get a little sleep and get “on the mend.”

Mawmaw and Pawpaw Thomas got to spend a couple of days with us and help us get settled in. I think they really enjoyed it, and it was difficult for them to leave.

Mamaw Brewer is coming today and is planning to spend a few days helping us out, as we continue getting settled in, and I start to get back to work. It will be great to have her help as we make that transition.

Well, I think I’m going to try to get some sleep now, since Cheyenne seems to have settled down again. Her first pediatric appointment is this morning at 9:30. We hope she gets a good report!

Thanks for your continued prayers on Cheyenne’s behalf. We have faith that our God will continue to answer all the prayers and grant increased strength to little Cheyenne day by day!

We arrived home, at last, at about 4:00 p.m. this afternoon!! It is so amazing to have her home, and we are so excited! She seems to be adjusting to her new surroundings well. Papaw Brewer played with her until she finally got her eyes open, and got some pictures of that. He says he will work on getting Uncle Kristin some pictures to upload to the site as soon as possible.

She handled the trip pretty well. We stopped a little more than halfway to give her a break, and that really seemed to help. Her momma took her out of her seat and held her for a few minutes, and changed her diaper, and she seemed pretty peaceful the rest of the trip.

We got her bassinet put together so she could sleep in it for a few nights before she moves to her crib. She’s going to look lost in there!

We are so thankful to finally have her home (and have Nikki home-she hasn’t been home since January 27th). Thank you all for your kind interest in our family, and we will continue to update for those who are interested. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we try to get “settled in.”

Look for pictures soon!

Edit by Uncle Kris: I am going to add in a few of the pictures into this post…hopefully Aaron will write another post later with more of the pics!