October 18, 2008

Good morning everyone!

As you can see, we have a pacifier loving baby on our hands...Riley loved hers as well, so she is already following in her sister's footsteps. The nurses are really impressed with how well that she does with it. It even helps to calm her if she is a little more fidgety than normal. Now I did ask this morning, and it is not for another 3 weeks until she develops the suck, swallow, and breathe reflex. So we are still on the feeding tube for a little bit...

It is so great to see her on the CPAP..however, now we just can't see her nose. Ha ha! We can see her little lips tho, and they are just as beautiful as we expected them to be. The CPAP is less tubes than the ventilator, so in our world, less tubes is a good thing!

As of this morning, she is doing well. She is breathing a little harder than she was, but Patricia said Bree is overdue for a poop. So, she is probably a little 'full' (which can cause pressure on her lungs) and uncomfortable, which could be causing her to breathe a little harder. I never thought I would say this, but let's all pray for Bree to poop! I can imagine that it is so uncomfortable for her...poor little one.

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

October 17, 2008

Good morning!

Yes, indeed it is a good morning! Bree is still on her CPAP, and last night she had the best blood gas she has had in weeks....wow! Patricia, her night nurse, told us that her blood gas result had everyone jumping around they were so excited that it was so great....it was so good that they have not ordered one for today. They will probably do one in the afternoon just to check, but it is not 'needed'. What a good girl!

She did have a little bit of difficulty last night at one point and Patricia thought they might have to switch her to a different CPAP machine, but she pulled right out of her little funk. I am so ridiculously proud of her!!!!!! I don't think that I could fill this blog with more exclamation points!!! Ha ha....

She's still on the 3cc's of breastmilk every three hours, and there is nothing else that is really new. No news is good news!

In other news (I feel like a news reporter), Riley has recently acquired an obssesion with the computer. This would be okay except for the fact that she wants to "type" when we are typing. This consists of her banging on the keys, which makes it very hard for us to do anything. So, we have started the warning system. The first time we say "No thank you! This is your warning, next time you will get your hand smacked." We then follow through if that happens with "No thank you! Next time it is time out"...then if we need to, she goes into her crib for five minutes. That is where she is now. However, I am not sure if it is working...she alternates between whiny crying and squealing happily....we'll keep trying it to see if it works!

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

a BIG step

Miss Bree has had a very eventful day today! (in a good way!) She is now up 3cc's of breastmilk every three hours. I got to 'feed' her today, which consisted of me holding the tube of breastmilk as it drained into her tube, then into her stomach. It woke her right up and made her be a little wiggly worm. After she ate, Courtnee repositioned her and she was an awake little girl! I have never seen her that awake, her eyes were open and alert for a good fifteen minutes.

Her BIG step of today was that they took her off of her ventilator!! As of 3:45 this afternoon there is no more tube down her throat for breathing! Now they have her on a CPAP, which is a device that goes on the outside of her nose which applies continuous positive airway pressure (hence the name...CPAP). Here is a link to a page that explains the CPAP and shows a picture of one: http://www.mtnaneocare.com/Whatrespiratorysupportmightbeneeded.html With the CPAP, she is taking the breaths on her own, it just helps to keep her lungs open and to remind her to breathe.

When I called at 4:30, she was resting comfortable, keeping her oxygen saturation at 90 percent, and breathing at a rate of 60 breaths per minute. We were informed that sometimes babies as small as she is do get tired from all the work of breathing on their own and have to go back on the ventilator. Even if this were to happen, we are both overjoyed that she has shown improvement and a wanting to be off of the ventilator...every little bit of forward advancement is exciting to us.

Bree is thriving, growing, and doing all the right things...and I truly believe that all of the prayers that have been said for her are the reason why. Our God is a big God and a God of miracles! I believe in my heart that he knows what is best for her, and all we can do is to continue to pray for her healing and well being. The rest is in His hands! He will not give us anything we can't handle. We love Bree with all our heart, and we thank all of you for your prayers. They mean more to us than you can ever imagine!

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

October 16, 2008

Good mornin..

Bree is having a bit of a rough morning. She is having a hard time with her oxygen saturations...it's nothing life threatening or harmful yet, but they are drawing blood to make sure she doesn't have an infection anywhere. I love how everyone that is taking care of her always errs on the side of caution. It is easier to catch things early and treat them than to find out when it is too late, or is just much harder to treat. I didn't really get too much other information when I calledthis morning, but I am going in to see her here soon so I will have much more info later today!

At eight thirty, (which is soon!) I am leaving here to take Riley to hang with Ethan for a bit today. Aleasha agreed to watch Riley for me so that I could go see Bree. I am so grateful to have such wonderful friends! It means so much to me to be able to go see Bree...I constantly feel torn between my two girls. I can't imagine what it is going to be like when they are both at home! But, for right now, I am taking things one day at a time. Today is a good day...and I plan on enjoying it as much as possible!

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

October 15, 2008

Once again..no news is good news! Bree has had a very uneventful day and night. She is down to 32 on her rate of the ventilator, and is breathing on her own above the ventilator. She did have to have her intubation tube retaped today, it just helps to keep it stable and in place if they retape it every few days. She is resting comfortably right now because they sedate her for the retaping. Her skin is so sensitive there from the constant retaping.

Riley and I are headed off to our yearly WIC requalification here shortly so this will be a shorter update...I still need to shower and get ready in order to leave at nine! Ah! Nothing like rushing to make the time go faster...

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

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!

October 13, 2008

Good morning all!

Bree is doing awesome today and dun, dun, dun! She is over the two pound mark! Adam and I have been waiting to hear that for a while now. She's been hovering at the 1 lb 15 oz mark for a while (in true fashion of our family...she's a smart aleck already)...and we are so happy and proud that she is gaining weight and growing! She's doing great with her feeds, and we got to see her be given one yesterday. And yesterday she got to have her first taste of breastmilk. They put a few drops in her mouth and she wiggled around, made a face, and it dripped right out of her mouth. We could then see her sticking her little tongue in and out of her mouth. It was so cute!

This morning, Carrie Fay and I are going to see Miss Bree, and to take her one month photos. The nurse this morning said that I will get to hold her skin to skin too! I am sure Carrie Fay will take some beautiful photos...she always does. I am very excited to have these pictures taken...even though Bree's one month celebration is in a different place, and is a little bit earlier than we were expecting we still want to celebrate it as we celebrated Riley's...Carrie Fay does such beautiful work...here's a picture from Riley's one month shoot. We are going to try and duplicate this one with Bree as best we can...

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

October 12, 2008

Mornin Mornin Everyone!

Riley is dancing to Imagination Movers, and we are all vegging and resting this morning before church. Bree had a great night and she slept most of the night. The nurse did comment she had a few 'wild' moments. She works herself up and starts flailing her arms and legs. She's such a fiesty little girl, she's too much for her own good. But with some hands-on containment and swaddling, she settles right down. This morning Bree was at 28% oxygen, and they have successfully weaned her off of her morphine.

I have a confession to make...I am thoroughly frustrated with pumping! I know it is best for Bree and I will continue no matter what. I am determined that she is going to get only breast milk for her first year. However, my determination doesn't help with the time it takes, the planning, and the changing of plans. Today we (Adam and I) were planning on going to our children's ministry planning meeting. We will be planning the whole next year of curriculum! I love planning, and I love brainstorming ideas for crafts and games. Everyone is going to have lunch together and it will be great to socialize with everyone.

However, this morning I noticed I am running out of the bottles I have to put my breast milk in. Which means we have to run to the hospital to pick up more...this wouldn't be a problem if I had noticed sooner that I needed more bottles. We were there yesterday and I could have picked up more! Now I only have two bottles left and as of 11 o'clock today I won't have any left, which means I can't go to the meeting. Rrr!

Another frustration I have with it is the time it takes. I have to pump every 2-3 hours, which doesn't allow for much time outside of the house. For example, today I pumped at 7, will pump at 9 before going to church, and we will have to be home by 12 for me to pump. If I go beyond 3 hours for pumping my milk supply starts to dwindle, which is not a good thing. Even if I hadn't run out of bottles, the meeting starts at 1. If I had pumped at 12 I would need to be home by 3 to pump which would have only gave me an hour and a half at the meeting before I'd have to leave to make it home to pump.

I wish that it wasn't so inconvenient. It is so much easier when you can have your baby with you...however, this is the best for Bree and I am the only one who can give it to her. So, I guess it is a sacrifice that is necessary. I just hope that our friends are understanding of the situation we are in, I am sure it is just as frustrating for them that we can't stay for a day and hang out, or be in planning meetings from 1-6...etc, etc....

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