Tuesday, October 14, 2008

October 14, 2008


Good morning!

Today is my first day alone with Riley in over a month. It feels strangely familiar, but not quite right. I have an urge to go see Bree, but I know I can't with Riley. I could, but I wouldn't be able to touch Bree, hold Bree or do anything like that. So, I will patiently wait until I get a chance to go see her without Riley. Other than my panicky feeling about that, our morning is going great. Riley woke up wet from head to toe this morning so she had a bath ASAP! We had a fun bath time, and we even got her hair washed without crying...big girl!

Later in the morning, Riley and I spread a blanket out on the ground, and played blocks for a good fifteen minutes . The block playing ended when Riley started to throw them at me...wooden blocks hurt! So we picked up the blocks, and got out some books. She now sits on your lap when you are reading to her, and it is so adorable. It is comforting to feel her sitting on you and to be able to smell the Johnson and Johnson baby shampoo her hair was washed with. For me, my grandmother always had Johnson and Johnson baby shampoo at her house, so when I smell that particular smell, I think of her house and the fun bath times I had there when I was small.

Adam took Dad to the airport this morning so we are on our own until Mama flies in on Saturday. The house is oddly quiet right now (Riley is down for her morning nap...score one for me!). Adam stopped by the hospital on the way back and gave me report over the phone on his way to work.

Bree is doing well, not too much has changed. She is now up to 2cc of breast milk every three hours! Woo hoo! The PCVC line that was in her left arm went bad so they had to put a new one in. Her new PCVC is in her leg. She did have to have a blood transfusion last night, however I am not sure what level was low or needed replacing. I will have to ask tonight when I call for an update. So her PCVC is in one leg, and she has an IV in the other foot from which she received her blood transfusion through. They are now trying to avoid putting IV's in her arms since she has proven to them more than once that she can either pull them out or wiggle them out of the vein. She's a very determined little girl!

Carrie Fay and I had a great time yesterday...and we got some Bee--u--ti-full!! photos of Bree. It will be a week or so until she is able to get them back to me because her computer is in the shop getting all fixed up. I was able to hold Bree skin to skin, but only for about fifteen minutes. The nurses were not aware that she was to have her first eye exam so she had to go back in her bed to get eye drops to dilate her eyes. They were checking for ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity). Here is a link that helps to describe it: http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/rop/ I wasn't able to stay and watch them do the eye exam, but Carrie Fay assured me that it wasn't as bad as they made it sound when they described it to us. Her eye exam went great and the doctor said that obviously her eyes are very immature due to her age, but that there is no sign of ROP. She will have another eye check in two weeks...

It was great to get out of the house yesterday with Carrie Fay. We had some wonderful conversations and it was wonderful to get caught up with all the news of their family! We had a scrumptious lunch at Paradise Bakery and we both made it home before 2 in the afternoon...I miss having 'girl' time. It makes me miss Ashley just a little bit more than the normal...well, I better take advantage of Riley's morning nap and go get all ready for the day!

Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!

1 comment:

Fiery said...

Riley is just to cute... your really going to have your hands full... I can definately feel you on how strange it is to suddenly have a child all to yourself after having other people around to help out.... I am looking forward to seeing the pics of Bree and am so every thankful that they did not find ROP when they did her eye exam... Continued prayers for Bree on good exams....