Yay! Almost done with a semester of School!

The main reason why we haven't posted since Gabbie got put under the lights is because this last week has been my last week of classes at school before finals.
I've had 4 papers due that have needed to be between 5 and 10 pages long.

Christy has not gotten a whole lot of sleep lately. When she does get sleep though, she is super cute!

Here's some more fun pictures of the Gabbie Girl!

She only had to stay under the light for two days. It has been really good to be able to have her wear clothes and sleep in a bed. We love our healthy little Gabriella.

Mom loves this picture of Gabbie. It really shows how fun her hair can get after she's been sleeping for a while.

After the first few days of Gabbie, we began realizing that this whole not getting much sleep thing is pretty hard to do. We decided that we should find something that will help us stay up with her at night.

A while back, My sister Chelle got me addicted to the TV series Lost. I got to the point where I stayed up super late watching it.

We have some friends that, knowing about my love of Lost, have recommended to us the series Heroes.

We figured that, since we are staying up with Gabbie anyway, we would check out what this Heroes thing is all about.

As was expected, we have definitely become addicted. This show is like a mix between X-Men (the feature lengthed movie series) and Lost. We love it!

(And it sure helps keep us from being upset we're awake at night.)

Day Three

Gabbie's day three was one that Christy and I will never forget. It was one that had many good things and many hard ones.

The happiest part of the day for Gabbie was her chance to meet two of her cousins, Millie and Maddie:

Millie would have been happy to sit and hold Gabbie all day.

We also loved the picture that we got of Gabbie in her car seat before we took her out to get her tests done.

The last thing that was requested of us before they discharged Gabbie from the hospital was that we come back this morning to get a Bilirubin test done... they thought that it was a possibility that she might have Jaundice.

So, this morning we got all loaded up in the car, drove back to the hospital, and had the test done. This afternoon the tests came back to our pediatrician in Payson (Dr. Johnathan Peterson) and we got a phone call. I don't think either of us really expected what came next... we still don't really understand it completely.

Gabbie's test results were that her Bilirubin level was 17.5. Her doctor requested that we have a Bili light brought to our house and that Gabbie stay in it until further directed (even when being fed (Christy has to pump and then we feed her with a bottle)). The only exception to this is to bring her to the doctor. He said that if her levels get any higher, he is going to order that she be put back into the hospital.

Needless to say, it's been a bit of a hard day as new parents. The following pictures show what Gabbie's new (temporary) bed is like:

At least she still gets to be at home with us.

This has definitely been the hardest day as a parent yet.

We've shed our fair share of tears of helplessness, but also understand the big picture. We know our Gabbie girl will get through this, and so will we, with the help of Heavenly Father. We trust our doctors and know that the medicine they practice is based in true modern miracles. We also realize that we are lucky we have really good insurance. We'll get through this, I have no doubt about it.

Gabbie Snores!

This video should explain it all:

Some more fun pictures and experiences

Here's some more fun pictures from the last few days:

Christy got really tired of being in her hospital bed. When I came back from getting some food, this is what I found Mom doing... (Gabbie was asleep on the other side of the room)

Here's another fun picture of our Gabbie girl:

Mom woke up from her nap and this is the first thing she saw:
(Dad brought a few movies that he could watch on his laptop during some of the down time... Gabbie didn't mind)

While we were at the hospital we didn't get a whole ton of visitors, but when we did, it was a really nice break for us.

Here is a picture of Christy stretching her arms from all of the pushing and holding she's done in the last couple of days. Uncle Jake (Kyle's little brother) is in the background holding Gabbie for the first time.

All of Kyle's younger siblings really liked having the chance to hold Gabbie:

They loved seeing her little feet and hands:

I think that their favorite part of the visit, however, was the chance that they had to look at our blog for the first time (and play the game at the bottom of the page).

I was really excited to be able to be the first one to dress our little Gabbie Girl.

She looked so pretty in her little ducky outfit with her little bonnet and booties:
(she has recently developed a strong affinity for her paccie... which is interesting to us, because she hasn't really cried too much yet... she just likes playing with her tongue and sucking...)

Her first car ride... Mommy likes sitting in the back now.

She's decided that her new favorite spot is in her swing at home with the rain-forest froggy sounds. She likes to just sit and watch what's going on.

We really feel like we've been blessed with an amazing little spirit in our home. She is so happy and just contented with being here with us. (Much to the dismay of anyone that has to spend time with her when we are not around... hehe...)

Gabbie's Birth

It's Official:
Gabriella Marie Christensen
was born December 4th, 2007
at 12:35 pm
at the Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem, Utah
she came weighing 8 pounds 1 ounce
with a length of 20 and 1/2 inches

Here are some pictures from the occasion (there are quite a few):

Christy was having some pains in her legs around 12 midnight on the 3rd, and after calling the doctor was asked to come in and get checked for blood clots.

They hooked her up to the monitoring machines around 1:00 and proceeded to do an ultrasound to make sure that there was no blood clot.

The Ultrasound turned out to show no problems, but they did notice (nothing new) that Christy had consistently high blood pressure, so the doctor decided to go ahead and induce her.

Kyle was attempting to humor me while I was getting the magnesium and pitocin piped into my blood.

The doctor checked me shortly after I got my epidural and said I was completely dilated and effaced. I started to get really excited, thinking that Gabbie was going to be here in a little bit.

Unfortunately, I was wrong.
It was a really long day of pushing. Gabbie's head was turned the wrong way so we had to fix that.

Here is Grandma Christensen taking a rest on the couch before she had to help me during pushing.

Grandpa Christensen got in some good reading time while he was waiting on Gabbie to make her appearance.

One of those candid pictures of Kyle falling asleep during one of the breaks between contractions.

Yay! The doctor finally arrived and it was time to bring Gabbie into the world.
Susan, the nurse that worked with us up until the doctor arrived, was amazing. She was very encouraging and explained everything to me as it was happening. I'm very glad that she was there to take care of me.

Because Grandpa Christensen works on the weekends at the hospital where Gabbie was born, he got to be Gabbie's first nurse to take care of her... Here he is with the doctor getting things ready:

Her first picture! Dr. Lind was great. He really helped me understand things as they were happening. His confidence in my ability to keep pushing also helped Gabbie be born without a c-section.

Our beautiful little girl...although she's still pretty dirty.

Here's Grandpa Christensen cleaning her up and checking all her vitals while Dad watches and holds the oxygen close to her mouth:

Check out the beautiful cone head from the 3.5 hours of pushing.

Her she is getting weighed for the first time. A big 8 pounds 1 ounce.

Look how happy Mom is to be done with the pushing!

Proud Dad!

Gabbie has this cute little habit already. She likes to stick her tongue out and move it back and forth.

Check out the beautiful hair. I can't believe I let these pictures get taken. I guess this is what three hours of hard pushing does to you.

We are so glad to finally have our little girl here with us.

Our first family picture:

Here's Dr. Lind with Kyle. Kyle and I are really grateful for the role he played in bringing our daughter into the world.

This was grandma Christensen's first time holding her brand new 12th grandchild.

This is a picture of Susan, my nurse. She is trying to get Gabbie's temperature but our little girl didn't want anything to do with that.

There are so many things to look forward to as new parents. Life will never be the same for us.

We tried to breastfeed shortly after Gabbie was checked. After feeding on one side, I kind of passed out. I was completely exhausted and with the magnesium still pumping in my blood, I felt really weak. They said that my body actually went into shock. So that Gabbie could still get fed, Dad took over and fed her through a syringe.

After getting checked out and leaving Gabbie in the nursery for a couple hours so that Mom and Dad could get some rest, everything turned out alright.

While they were checking out mom's shock episode, Dad got to go to the nursery and watch as Gabbie got her first bath.

Look at her long feet. We aren't quite sure where she gets these from yet.

She's got a full head of brown hair. That was surprising for us. We thought she would either be bald or have really light blond hair like her dad.

Check out the cute purple bow they put in her hair after getting all cleaned up.

She didn't even cry when they did her footprints.

Here's Mom finally getting some nourishment while Gabbie sleeps a little. (Dad thought that this was a really cute picture of his two girls). The ordered nap from the nurse did wonders refreshing mom and dad.

Thanks to everyone! We are really grateful for all the love and concern that you have shown us during this new stage of our lives. Gabbie has so many people around her that love her so much. What more could a child ask for? We love you all!!


Oh, and by the way, on the 30th of December Kyle will be presenting Gabbie before the congregation of our church and giving her a name and a blessing. This will most likely be done in our sacrament meeting at 11 o'clock and anyone who is interested is invited and welcome to come. We hope you all will come. If you want details of how to get to our Chapel, (or if you just want to wish us congratulations) give us a call on Kyle's cell phone at 801-471-7391.