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Introducing our daughter...

Olivia Bain, our little Livi.


We fall more in love with our little girl everyday. She has quite a big personality for someone so small. All the nurses comment on how opinionated she is for a baby born just shy of 24 weeks. We love our feisty fighter. The doctors and nurses continue to tell us how well Olivia is doing. Her weight is hovering around 1 lb, 5 oz (her birthweight). She is stable, tolerating feeds that are "priming her gut", and is regulating her blood pressure well without meds. Everyday she continues to thrive is a huge milestone. Her eyes are still fused, but she is trying really hard to open them. I'm thinking this week, week 26, will be the week. We can't wait to see her pretty eyes! 

Friday, her two week birthday, was the first time she really responded to our touch. She held and squeezed our fingers for a long time. Not being able to hold her has been really hard, but Friday I felt like we finally made a connection with our daughter. Here are a few pictures that show just how small she is.


Mommy taking her temperature.



 She loves to keep her hands by her little face.


Livi holding daddy's finger.

Olivia, 
Being your parents is such a gift and makes us so proud. We have so many hopes and dreams for our life with you. We can't wait until you're keeping us up all night long. Daddy says someday we might not be so happy about it, but mommy disagrees. You have stolen our hearts, sweet girl. We love you fiercely.
Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Comments

  1. Oh, Mare and Reid......what a precious and beautiful baby girl little Olivia is (of course I can hardly see her through my tears!!). Thank you so much for sharing her with us. What a brave little fighter she is.......and what a brave mommy and daddy she has! Continuing to lift her up to her loving Heavenly Father....love you all.....Kay-Kay

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  2. she is perfect.

    nothing more to say! except that i want to cover her with kisses...

    congratulations on the birth of olivia...
    and thank you so much for sharing her photo. she really is perfect.

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  3. She's beautiful! Olivia and your sweet family have been in my thoughts and prayers!

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  4. She is precious. What a sweet little fighter! Mark and I continue to pray for all of you!

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  5. Oh my goodness; she is absolutely precious and so, so sweet. Thank you so much for sharing pictures of her with us. All of my friends who have been praying so fiercely for you all will be so happy to see her as well. Praying for sweet Olivia to continue to thrive every day and for you to catch a glimpse of those beautiful eyes this week!
    And the service for your other three sounded and looked perfect, and I'm just so thankful it went as well as you had hoped.

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  6. Soo sweet! We can't wait to hold her! Especially Emerson! XOXO

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  7. She is beautiful, saying lots of prayers for you and Livi.

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  8. What a precious girl she is, praying for each of you!

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  9. THESE PHOTOS BRING HAPPY TEARS TO MY EYES! She is sooooo beautiful Mare...... thanks so much for sharing.

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  10. Wow, she is so beautiful! Thank you for sharing your precious photos!

    Continuing to pray for your sweet family.

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  11. oh Mare! She's beautiful! And that picture of her holding Reid's finger gives me chills. Praying hard for her, and for you and Reid. I love you so much!

    And little Livi-- I love you so much too! I've prayed for you before you were ever conceived-- you are the answer to SO many prayers. When I get to meet you you can bet your bottom dollar that I will spoil you rotten :) Your daddy even said I could get you a pony... hope mommy's up for scooping pony poop in the backyard ;)

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  12. Mare, I have been following your blog for several weeks now. I havent commented because I know how emotional reading comments can be. I have been praying for your. I am not sure what God's plan is in all this but I am glad your faith has kept you strong for your lil'Olivia. One of my quads was only 1 lb 4 oz at birth. Although she was 29 weeks. Sever growth restriction on 2 of my 4. At one point the doc was willing to sacrifice the two for the good of the others. My body had its own plans. She is doing great now for how little she was. I know how fragile a 1 lb baby looks and its hard to imagine what they will look like with a few lbs on them. Charlotte was and is a fighter. I think being that small and dealing with everything sure made her the baby she is today. One tough little squirt! I know you are missing a huge chunk of your heart right now but put all that extra love in her as I am sure you are already doing. I have cried with you and for you every day. Bless you and your family.

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  13. She is perfect and absolutely beautiful. Thank you for sharing her with us. You all are constantly in my prayers.

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  14. I have been watching for your post!!! God bless you all.... My daughter is at 24 weks with her quad pregnancy. I have been 'following' other quads since she has been in this journey.....and have been praying for you and yours. I am so thankful you have this precious tiny baby! She will continue to bless you.....all the days of your life.

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  15. Precious. Continuing to pray for God's grace and peace.

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  16. She is beautiful! My daughter was born at 26 weeks so our journey was different that yours but you can find micropreemie inspiration at lifewithjackdotcom.

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  17. I just heard about your story through Heather Cox. We became friends through Facebook due to having preemies. I had twin sons at thirty weeks. Jaden passed away at fifteen days old due to NEC. My other Ryan also had NEC. But thankfully he pulled through and thrived. He is now two and has no issues due to being born at only 2lbs 11oz. I will pray for your beautiful daughter every night.

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  18. Mare,
    Olivia is just beautiful. Thank you for sharing pictures with us! She is a glimpse of our heavenly Father and His love for us! I pray she continues to thrive each day and that you get to be there when she opens her eyes! You and Reid are amazing parents and she is so blessed. Love you sweet friend and continuing to pray for your healing. Henry sends hugs and kisses to Olivia!

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  19. Take care of yourselves as you care for her. Going through the NICU experience was the most emotional and exhausting thing I have ever done and it was such an easy road compared to what you have had to deal with. If I could go back in time and talk to myself at the beginning of my journey I would encourage myself to slow down and take care of myself. This time is so precious and it is so easy to exhaust yourself. Praying for your family
    Joy

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  20. Mare, Thanks for sharing Olivia with us. She is so beautiful and a glimpse into the BIG God we serve! Your family is never far from my mind and I will continue to pray for your sweet girl!

    Leah

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  21. Beautiful and so glad you shared pictures on your blog!!!

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  22. You, Reid, and Olivia have been in our thoughts and prayers everyday. So happy to see these sweet pictures.
    Bradford and Carrie

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  23. Aunt Chelle can't wait to spoil that little cutie!

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  24. stumbled upon your blog, but just wanted to tell you your family is in my prayers. Your Olivia is just beautiful! Baby girls are so sweet!

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  25. Wow! Little Livi is the cutest with that dark hair! I can only imagine her sweet eyes are equally as beautiful! That will be such a special moment for your family when you finally get to see them! All FOUR of your daughters are precious, unique, and beautiful. Your family has touched so many others, the strength you have shown on this journey encourages others to not break under times of stress but to continue to follow the word of God. I am so happy that Olivia is doing so well and hope that each day she becomes more feisty and strong! Go Livi :)

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  26. May God's comfort and peace be with you and you'r family during this difficult time. Thankyou for sharing her with us. I pray that you'r precious "Livi" will grow and thrive in the Lord's Arm's each day. She is Beautiful and
    her eye's will be a glimpse into the Grace and Power of our Lord and Savior. I'm going to cry, I do know full well what you are going thru, I have lost a child as well a boy named "CHRIS" I
    lost him at 17 and a half week's.hEwas truly my
    Angel. Haven't been able to conceive again, but
    I'm not going to give up. God bless you and your
    family Richly.

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  27. Hi! I found your blog through Kelly's Korner and was instantly attracted as I'm a NICU nurse in Houston. May the Lord Jesus comfort you through this difficult time. Congratulations on your beautiful baby girl!

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Past Posts

Mary Grace

At 2:00 am this morning, our sweet Mary Grace was welcomed to Heaven. We found out this afternoon that she had a large brain hemorrhage. Reid and I spent three precious hours holding our daughter tonight. The nurses wrapped a pink bow around her little head and we swaddled her in a soft pink elephant blanket. During those hours, we told Mary Grace how proud we were of her fight, how she fulfilled our dreams of one day having a daughter to call "Gracie," and we even took a little nap, snuggled together as a family. If we told her we loved her once, we told her a thousand times. We prayed over her and gave her back to the Lord. We miss her more than words can say. I feel like we were punched in the stomach today and left with the wind knocked out of our lungs. Its so hard to understand "why?" in all of this. Tonight when we left the hospital, Reid turned on this song by David Crowder Band and we listened to it on repeat the whole way home. Its the exact state of our

One day at a time

For the first time in my life I feel like I'm truly living one day at a time. Reid and I had a pretty good day yesterday. We were able to sleep in which was wonderful. Reid made us lunch and we sat outside in the backyard. It was a beautiful day and being outside did a lot of good for my mental health. :) There were still a lot of hard moments as memories from the night before would come rushing back to mind. We miss our sweet babies so much. Olivia had a good day yesterday. It was uneventful (which is a very good thing in the NICU) and they were able to turn down some of her medicine. We call every morning to check on our sweet girl and her nurse was quick to tell us how feisty our daughter is. We picked up on that in her first day of life, but it was funny to hear that someone else had observed the same. We are so in love with our feisty little Olivia. After we left the hospital, Reid and I went on a dinner date. It was so good for us to get out and feel like we

Madelyn Barrett

I really don't even know where to begin or how to write this post. I've put it off for several days hoping that maybe if I let things sink in a little more it would be easy. This will never be easy. As you know, we welcomed three beautiful little girls into the world on Friday afternoon. We had hoped to continue to "buy time" and hold off on delivery for several more weeks. God has always had a plan much bigger than either Reid or I could ever imagine. I have to chose to believe, everyday, that somehow this all fits perfectly into that plan. We knew from the time of her delivery that Madelyn was struggling the most. The circumstances surrounding her birth caused a lot of trauma to her tiny body. After a day of fighting for a positive outcome, the neonatologist came to visit with us and told us it was time to let her go. Late Saturday night we went to the NICU to hold our precious baby for the first and last time. She was absolutely perfect and looked just like h

Surprise!

God has blessed our family with quite a surprise! Olivia is getting a little brother or sister in early December. We are thrilled! As of today I am nine weeks along. We went to the doctor several weeks ago and were able to see the tiny bundle and hear the heartbeat. Everything looks great and we are so thankful! I'll share more details in the next few weeks. :)

The babies are here!

Friends and Family, Late this afternoon we became the proud parents of three little girls. Madelyn Barrett: 1 pound Olivia Bain: 1 pound, 5 ounces Mary Grace: 1 pound, 10 ounces The babies are stable in the NICU  tonight and we are hopeful that God is going to move mountains as they grow and thrive. Madelyn's (Baby B) amniotic sac ruptured on Sunday night. We had a sonogram done each day this week to check her heart beat, fluid level, and position. The doctors told us Friday morning that she was not likely to make it and that delivering her was not an option as it put too much risk on Mary Grace and Olivia. Once again, we were told to wait and see. Around 4:30 Friday afternoon I delivered Madelyn. The NICU team was here immediately to begin working on her. When the doctor checked on the status of the other girls, he saw signs of infection and he immediately performed an emergency c-section to deliver Mary Grace and Olivia. We have seen the Lord's mercy through each to