Most of
you have heard the news by now but we wanted to post an official message up for
everyone to announce that baby Izabelle Jane Fackler was born on 10 Jan 2013 at
2:35 pm, weighing 6 lbs 6 oz and 18 ½” at Holy Spirit Hospital. Mom and baby are both healthy and daddy is
home from Japan. Izabelle arrived three and
a half weeks early from her due date which was originally 03 Feb. She has been making her rounds and getting
lots of attention and love from family and friends.
In the early
morning of 10 Jan Natasha woke up and realized that her water had broken. After contacting her doctor and throwing
together her bag she called Jake in Japan who is 14 hours ahead. Jake began to make arrangements to take leave
and fly home. After this Natasha drove to
the hospital and was admitted. During this time she was not experiencing contractions
but she knew that the baby was on its way.
Her good friends Eileen and Jen met her there to provide support during labor
and delivery.
Throughout
the morning Natasha continued to progress and contractions began. Jake kept calling every hour to stay up to
date on how things were going. Natasha,
her friends, and the hospital staff tried to get a laptop with SKYPE to work so
that Jake could SKYPE in for the birth but none of them would work. Thankfully though Jake was able to call in
and be on speaker phone. Natasha’s labor
went quickly. Over the phone along with
Jen and Eileen, Jake encouraged Natasha as she delivered Izabelle only ten
hours after Natasha’s water had broken.
We had waited to find out the gender of the baby until birth so it was a
true surprise to find out we had a little girl.
The
next day Jake hopped on a plane and flew 20 plus hours home, while Natasha and Izabelle
were visited by many friends and family in the hospital. Once the news spread that we had a girl, Izabelle
received lots of cute, girly outfits.
Jake arrived late Friday night a little after midnight and was able to
hold his baby girl for the first time.
Early on Izabelle had difficulty
feeding and had jaundice which made her very tired and uninterested in eating. We found out at a follow up doctor’s
appointment that she had lost too much weight (1 1/2 lbs) and was down to 5.1
pounds. After a few days of testing and
Natasha and Jake working to nurse Izabelle back to a healthy weight her jaundice
went down and she gained weight. We are
thankful that she is gaining weight and that her jaundice has gone away.
Izabelle
is a very content baby. She likes to
snuggle in her big soft blankets (and with Daddy) and to be clean. She sleeps a lot in between meals. Currently her days and nights are a little
mixed up (she must be on Daddy’s world clock in Japan) as she is more awake at
night. Natasha has been trying to catch
up sleep as the constant feedings are tiring.
We have started to develop a rough routine and process for
everyone. Izabelle hasn’t worn the same
outfit twice since she has been home from the hospital as she now has a very large
wardrobe thanks to all her relatives and friends, especially her
Grandparents. For those of you wondering, she looks just like her daddy and the Shannon/Fackler family. The last photo attached to this message is Jake's hospital photo. Can you see the resemblance?
Jake
will be home until 06 Feb and then will have to return back to Okinawa. He will be home again for good in June. Natasha will return to work at the beginning of
March. We have enjoyed all of our visitors
over the past two weeks. We are
thankful for all the support, prayers, gifts, and food everyone has offered us.
We are most thankful for a beautiful and
healthy baby girl. Please feel free to visit us anytime.
Until next time,
Jake, Natasha and Izzy
