November 1, 2008

Good Evening!

We are all beat and tired, but we have all of our big furniture and 90% of our stuff is moved into the new house! Big thanks to Mark, Megan, Scott, Joel and Kristina! Our friend Mark was able to borrow a trailer for us to move all our stuff with and it only took two trips....(wow!)

Riley has adjusted well to the new house. She has not had any crying issues with naps today and she went down to bed rather easily. I know the next few days will be the true test, however so far so good.

Bree had a little bit of an eventful night last night. She was in an open crib (which I was excited about), however, she wasn't gaining weight fast enough. The nurse explained that she was using her energy to maintain her tempature in the open air bed instead of using it to "pack on the ounces". So they have switched her back to the isolette to help her conserve her energy a bit more. It is the "two steps forward, one step back" dance that we were warned about when she first went into the NICU. I know it is best for her to be back in the isolette, but I cannot help but feel a little disappointed. We did buy a mobile for her crib today (okay, Mama bought it...I picked it out!)

On the plus side, she is up to 2 lbs, 10 oz and her feeds have been increased to 22 cc's every three hours. She is still recieving the breat milk, but it is being "enhanced" with calories. Each feeding is 26 calories total. She is also recieving a liquid multivitamin, and few other meds. (like sodium...etc) Well, I have to go help move the futon into the house so Mama has somewhere to sleep!

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

October 31, 2008

BOO!

I am sure that that did not scare many of you, but I had to throw it in there! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Bree is a bumblebee for halloween, you've seen her cutie little outfit I made for her. It is a picture from Carrie Fay (it's a few posts back!) Riley is being a nurse (in training of course). We thought it would be rather appropriate considering that more than half of our time is spent at the hospital. Tonight we are not doing too much...I am spending the day packing and doing schoolwork. This evening we are going to our church's "Festival in the Park"...it will be loads of fun I am sure! Then it is back to our house to pack some more. We are moving tomorrow morning, so it will be a little crazy tomorrow and I may not get a post up.

Bree is a healthy 2 pounds 9 ounces today (which is 1160 grams). She is down to 2 liters and 28% oxygen on her nasal cannula and is doing well with it. There is not much else going on with her....we're back to no news is good news! Woo hoo!

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

October 30, 2008

NO MORE ISOLETTE!! Yay! Bree did so well with being an an open air bed that she is now in a big girl crib with a mobile and everything! WOO HOO! Riley and I are about to head down there in our halloween costumes to show off to Courtnee. Both Riley and I are being nurses. Okay, I am really just wearing scrubs from my CNA days, but Adam thought it would be cool if I wore scrubs with Riley.



Bree is now 2 lbs 9 oz, so she is slowly growing...six more ounces and we'll be in the three pound arena! Woo hoo....



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

October 29, 2008

Good morning!

I am up bright and early this morning so that I can go clean the rental house for a bit while Adam is home with Riley. Okay, I am actually up so early that it is not even bright out...still dark outside. Adam doesn't have to go to work until 11 today so I am going to go clean the new house from 7-9 in the morning, come home and pump, take Riley to Aleasha's and then go to a dr appt at noon. It is my six week well checkup so it's not really a kid friendly appt.

This week must be a week of milestones and events for our family! Let's see first bath for Bree yesterday, Friday is halloween, and Saturday we are moving into our new house. Why I say this is because Bree is now such a big little girl (there's an oxymoron for ya!) that she is now in an open air bed!!! YAY! This means that she is not closed in her 'box' anymore and they have lifted the lid of it. If she continues to do well with maintaining her tempature on her own she gets to move to a real little baby crib. WOO HOO! I can't wait to go and see her in her big girl bed!

She has also been weaned down to 2.5 liters on her nasal cannula. She is also needing less and less oxygen support. The nurse tonight informed me that when she is on her tummy she does perfectly fine with room air (21% oxygen). When she is not on her tummy she is requiring 30% oxygen....I think my little heart will burst from being so proud of her!

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

October 28, 2008

Woo hoo! Three milestones have been reached! Okay, really only two of them are milestones to most people, but as I have mentioned before we are bit on the odd side. First, (the "real" one), Bree had her first bath in a baby bath tub! Up until now she has been getting sponge baths. Courtnee was able to assist me in all my bath-giving glory (quickly wiping her with a washrag), so now Bree has soft fuzzy clean hair, and a smell good little body!

The second milestone happened right before her bath. We had stripped her down and I was holding her as Courtnee was bringing the bath over to us. Just as I was lowering her into the bath, she peed on me! Woo hoo! I have finally been christened! Ha ha!

Thirdly, and lastly, Bree is officially a member of the United States of America! After much worrying and waiting, her social security card came in the mail today! It only took like seven weeks! Whew! That's one less thing to worry about....

Since they have taken her PCVC out, Bree now has no more IV lines! So all that is on her is her nasal cannula for oxygen, her feeding tube, and her "leads". (The leads are for vital signs: oxygen saturation, heartrate and breathing). Each time there are less and less "things" on her so it means that we are on the right track!

Riley also had an exciting day. My good friend, Aleasha, watched Riley for me while I was up with Bree this morning. Aleasha's son, Ethan (aka Riley's boyfriend!) gave Riley her first kiss from him. Up until this point it has been Riley laying on the smooches. When we were leaving Aleasha asked Ethan to give Riley hugs and kisses and he very slowly (and 'gentlemany') gave her a sweet kiss on the forehead. Okay, all together now, let's say "Awww!". :)

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

October 27, 2008

Good morning!


We have had a rather successful morning so far. Riley had a WONDERFUL photo shoot with Carrie Fay, and of course I was there too. She played, ran around and acted just like a antsy little toddler. I think we got some really good shots in there. Ironically, this photo shoot is EXACTLY one year from her first photo shoot with Carrie Fay. The only reason I know that is because we did it on my birthday last year...and so we did it today on my birthday this year.


I am the big 2-3...okay, so it's not that big, but it's still something fun to celebrate. We aren't doing anything special that I know of, and Adam isn't known for surprising me with things so I am sure we will just have a lazy night at home. He won't even get home from work until 7 ish, so I will have already eaten dinner. (Speaking of which I need to take something out for dinner).


While at Carrie Fay's house this morning, I picked up the pictures from when she went with me to see Bree in the NICU. Bree had just turned one month old and we wanted to get some pictures since we had done Riley's at one month. The pictures turned out beautiful!

These were eight of my favorites! A huge thank you to Carrie Fay for taking these beautiful pictures! I will upload all the others to my flickr account tomorrow (busy day today!).In case you don't know, my flickr account is at www.flickr.com/photos/gonce .

Bree is up to 2 lbs, 8 oz as of this morning! She had gone down to 2 lbs, 5 oz but she gained three ounces in one day! Big girl! We hope she starts packing on the ounces!

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

October 26, 2008

Good afternoon!

Adam and I are about to head off to see Bree with Joel and Kristina. Kristina works right by the hospital so we gave her a wristband to be able to see Bree on her lunch hours. Her husband Joel, then hears all this information about Bree...but has never seen her. So we want to be able to "put a face to the name" for him. :)

Bree is up to full feeds! Because she is tolerating full feeds, it means that she is not getting TPN anymore. She is strictly getting breastmilk and they do add some vitamins into it to make it 24 calories a feeding. They have to make sure that she is getting her caloric needs to be able to grow. She has lost a little bit of weight lately, so she is 2 lbs 5 oz as of last night. Since she is just on breastmilk, the nurses are taking out her PCVC line. This is exciting because it greatly decreases her risk of infections. Yesterday, we went to see Bree after we went to the pumpkin patch and Adam's mom got to hold her. I am going to post all the pictures after all this...

Riley had a good time at the pumpkin patch...Adam, Mama and myself found it disappointing though. Adam and I grew up in Washington state...and where we come from (wow I sound old!) you go out in your boots and tromp around in the mud to find your pumpkin. Half the time you get stuck in the mud about 2-3 times! However, we got to play with Riley and we picked out pumpkins for Riley and for Bree.

Adam and I are off to see Bree...and to go to his birthday present from his parents....WWE Wrestling! They are in town tonight for the "Cyber Sunday" Pay Per View, so it should be a whole bunch of excitment, loud noises and fireworks...

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