Chunky Monkey!

Mia takes after her mother and is quite the eater! We're so happy to share that Mia is feeding amazingly. All babies will lose weight after they are born and doctor's will generally give about 2 weeks for them to get back to their birth weight. In the 11 days Mia has surpassed her birth weight and has gained 5 more ounces! Her skinny chicken legs will be a thing of the past! =) She came out of the hospital eating 35 mL of milk and now is drinking 75-100 mL of breastmilk each feeding!! The doctors have told us that she needs to be at least 10 pounds to be ready for her first surgery. So please pray for continual growth!

Here's one of our favorite feeding pictures...Here's Mia getting ready to feed:

Visits to the doctors...

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. An the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philipians 4: 6-7

Ever since Mia was born, we've been so incredibly blessed to be surrounded by professionals who are so knowledgeable. From the moment she came out lactation consultants were at our side helping Mia to feed. Because of her cleft, she uses a special bottle called a Haberman feeder which allows me to press milk into her mouth as she sucks. We were then visited by the Craniofacial Clinic from Atlanta Children's Hospital who helped us to better understand Mia and the treatments that she would be receiving.

This clinic is renown for their work with cleft surgeries and has a unique practice where Mia will receive all the care that she needs from this one clinic. She is able to see a feeding specialist, a dietician, a plastic surgeon, a dentist, an orthodontist, and speech therapist all in the same office.

Today we had the meeting with the plastic surgeon who looked at her mouth and has tentatively set a time frame for Mia's surgeries. Mia will have her lip repaired at 3-4 months (this fall) and this will be cosmetic with some gum work done. Then at 6-9 months (next spring) Mia will have her palate repair surgery (The inside of her mouth). Dr. Burnstein has done over 8,000 surgeries and really reassured us that Mia will have an easy recovery and that she will have a wonderful outcome!

Back from the doctor's office!!

Life as a Parent

The second night that we were in the hospital, we saw a glimpse of what it might be like to take a newborn home. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that our new daughter had quite the lungs...she proceeded to cry and scream on the top of her lungs ALL NIGHT. Jeremy and I got only 30 minutes of sleep. As Jeremy put it, it was like someone took our sweet, quiet, sleeping baby and replaced her with a different baby at night.

There was a moment of sheer panic when she was crying on the top of her lungs while I tried to prepare her bottle and I opened her diaper to find it overflowing with poop. Then in her hysteria, Mia proceeded to kick her feet into the poop! What to do first? Finish preparing the bottle? Wipe the poop? Cry? I thought I was going to faint from exhaustion and panic.

Since coming home, the first two nights were also filled with delirium. I felt like I was on this high during the day, but at night it was as if I was sleep walking!! After the first few nights, we figured out that she was crying because the poor sweet girl was not getting enough to eat! Now she's an eating, sleeping, pooping monster!

Baby Mia Noelle Chou is here!!!

Hi Everyone!
The long awaited arrival of Mia Noelle is finally here!!! She is absolutely perfectly beautiful and amazingly sleeping long enough for me to write this email (Last night, she proceeded to scream ALL night and gave us only 30 minutes of sleep). Mia was born July 13th, 5:36 pm after an induced labor, 6 hours of natural labor, 5 hours of an epidural and only 20 minutes of pushing!!!! She was 6 pounds 13 ounces and 20.5 inches! She has a FULL set of pitch black wavy black hair, huge eyes (in our opinion), and her daddy's skinny chicken legs! Much to our surprise, Mia was born with a cleft lip and palate. To be honest, it has been a rollarcoaster of emotions, but every time we look at our little miracle, WE'RE COMPLETELY IN LOVE!! Below is Jeremy's email...yes, being a doctor and a guy, he goes into much more technical detail =). It's a joy knowing that Mia is special, but as parents, it's overwhelming thinking about the surgeries, the hurt she may endure, and the long road ahead for our family. Please keep us in your prayers and as soon as things settle down, we'll share the 100's of pictures and video clips we've taken. Please pray that Mia's feeding continues to go well and that she will grow exponentially. Because of her cleft lip and palate, feeding time is challenging and requires special bottles and nipples. ENJOY the pictures and please come visit!! I'm already getting restless being at home! =)

-Eunice Chou, Mia, and Jeremy

Here are some pictures of our beautiful daughter! ENJOY!